I want to look at the reasoning at which we surf traffic exchanges. But first let’s take a look at other available methods of advertising.
PPC (pay per click)
CPM (pay per impression)
Article Marketing
Social Networking Marketing
Email Marketing
Email advertising doesn’t really count, though. Because that’s what you should be using traffic exchanges for. You should be advertising squeeze pages to build your list.. and then emailing your list.
So with that said, traffic exchanges are a fast, easy, low-cost (or free) way to generate an almost endless stream of visitors to your web site. Pay per click costs money (sometimes a lot of it - especially if you don’t know what you’re doing). CPM also could cost a lot of money but you’re not even guaranteed one click-through to your web site. Article marketing takes a while to be picked up by search engines and lots of good frequent content is needed. Social networking also takes a bit of time to build up your network for your advertising to be worthwhile.
But you know you can stick your page in a traffic exchange and surf for 20 minutes a day and get people instantly looking at your web sites and what you have to offer.
But, is this a good medium of advertising in comparison to the others (once you’ve tested, tracked, let the search engines love you, and built up your networks)?
Some of the people who swear by the other types of advertising might tell you no, but let’s take it from a mathematical point of view.
Let’s take the assumption that you buy 1000 credits for $10 (a very standardized and normal price) at a traffic exchange. Then we will assume that you get 1 sign-up to your list for every 150 views of your well-designed squeeze page (which is also very attainable).
This equates to you getting 6.66 signups for that $10 you invested. It also equates to paying roughly $1.50 for each sign up to your list. So to turn a profit you just need to make $1.50 average from each new person to your list (which is also very attainable).
$1.50 per lead into your list can be even better than medium costing CPC campaigns. It definitely can be better than your CPM campaigns.
But what I listed was very attainable figures (and traffic exchanges are great for testing what works and what doesn’t work).
So let’s say you tweaked everything and bought a total of 50,000 credits in 10 top exchanges.. since credits get cheaper by buying them in bulk. I’ll make a guess and say that’s going to cost you between $300-$400… shall we go with $350? And let’s also say that you super tweaked your squeeze page and got one signup per 80 page views..
On to the math..
You’re going to have 625 new leads for a cost of $350.. or, $0.56 per lead!
In conclusion, I’m not going to say any method of advertising is better than any other. But I will say that traffic exchanges do have their place and they do work. If you’re not using traffic exchange advertising you’re leaving thousands of leads and dollars on the table that others will happily grab up.
And back to the title of the article.. why do we surf traffic exchanges? Results. And hey, if you’ve got the time to surf a bunch you can get enough results for free (so to speak) to begin buying credits.
OK, now I’m going to show you step by step how to combine the powerful tools SplashPageMaker and AWeber to create squeeze pages. These squeeze pages will get subscribers onto your list.. and it’s not hard. You just follow some step-by-step wizards and you’re done. You can have a nice attractive squeeze page minutes from now.
Video 1 starts with SplashPageMaker.
You can see how easy it is to get started making your squeeze page just by clicking some buttons.
Video 2 shows you how to get your form code from AWeber. This form code allows people to subscribe to your list from your squeeze page.
And finally, video 3 shows you step-by-step how to put that form code into your squeeze page and complete your squeeze page. Once done, you’ll have a fully hosted squeeze page that you can start advertising immediately and growing your list.
That’s it! SplashPageMaker and AWeber make it dead easy for anyone to start building a list of interested people that you can email at any time — and that’s where the money is!
Simply put, a squeeze page is a web page with a place to enter your email address. These pages can have fields for other information, too, such as your name. They are designed to “squeeze” your information from you for later followup - hence the name.
For a squeeze page to be particularly effective (especially in the internet marketing world) it’d likely have to be fast loading, visually appealing, and interest you enough to want to know more.
So, if you’re designing a squeeze page keep these points in mind.
Less is more. You want your page to load quick and capture attention. So, don’t put more content on there than you have to.
Get good graphics and use nice looking fonts. On the internet, presentation is a key factor in deciding if someone wants to even view your page!
Write good copy. Use bullets, steps, good headlines and more to intrigue the viewers enough to enter their email address into your form.
If you’re able to do all of the above, odds are a pretty good squeeze page will come out of it.
AWeber is the list building tool choice for many top internet marketers. In fact I would be doing you a disservice if I recommended anything else. In this video, I explain how list building will help you. I explain how AWeber makes it easy and powerful. And finally, I give you an inside view of AWeber just to show you how easy it is.
With my last post, I seem to have struck a chord with a lot of people. I do believe this is because a lot of the people reading this blog are new(er) to Internet Marketing and are looking for direction on where to go.
If you got anything out of the last article — it needs to be that you should be and have to be building your own list! (My recommended method is using AWeber for list management and autoresponder messages, then using SplashPageMaker or InstantSqueezePageGenerator to make your marketing materials - and YES, those are my affiliate links ;)) Then you need to be networking. Then you need to be consistent. Well, there really is no order. You need all three at the same time to be successful (and successful is NOT filthy rich (though it may eventually lead to be), successful would be turning a profit from your efforts).
So I’m writing this blog post to answer some of the great comments you guys left.
Question:
Than One can use aweber (or similar) service to send emails to list. And then there is a problem. One cannot send a lot of emails without substance (something that make list happy).If one try that (sending no substance emails, or affiliate link emails), very fast one will receive a lot of unsubscribe messages. So, doing a business is not so easy. In marketing books, everything start with product. SO new enterpreneur MUST ,first, develop his business structure (what are You doing?
I found this to be a great question. How does a list builder continually send emails with substance to keep in contact with his or her list and make money?
I realize I don’t have all of the greatest answers so I asked some other marketers as well.
My Answer
If you can provide emails that your subscribers will enjoy reading and be able to help them while you are helping yourself, then they will not unsubscribe. No matter what niche you’re in, your subscribers will be able to see through you if you are just out to help yourself. So instead of just posting affiliate links, explain to them how they can benefit from what you’re offering. (Think about it - my affiliate links are everywhere in this blog. Do you mind looking at them and using them if they can help your business?) Offer bonuses as well.
“Through education and research. It’s easy to promote everything that moves but, as a list owner, your prime responsibility is to act as a filter so that you only recommend quality products targeted to the style of list you are managing.
So, a new list owner needs to invest in their own education first so that they can identify good products and bad and justify their role as “filter”.”
Tony Tezak (A non-program-owner list builder. One of the (if not THE) most successful surfers of all time)
“I find material for my emails by reading others’ blogs, emails, forum posting and while attending online seminars conferences. Everyone ought to attend the weekly SWAT and Affiliate Funnel conferences. You can get valuable information from experts in the internet marketing world.
Also many programs have suggested emails in the members area. Put them in your own words and use them. They work.
In every email to your list you have opportunities to expand your business. For example if you want to give away an ebook or report, why not give away those where you can rebrand them and your affiliate links appear in the ebook/report. Instead of just giving them the ebook, send them to a download page. On the download page give them the link to the ebook and add an advertisement for something else. Here is an example of this that I learned from Soren Jordansen of DragonSurf: http://tonytezak.com/dailyniche/download.html
Do not forget to use the signature file and the ‘PS’ feature in emails. Two more chances to get them into something else. Here are a couple of examples I am currently using:
P.S. Earn GREAT Residual Income - On AutoPilot!
Discover the ideas, tools and tips to help you on
the road to SUCCESS!
P.S. It’s good to stand out in the crowd,
as long as you look good doing it. Get your own
attention grabbing graphics for free at
Do not wait until the list is bigger, start using the info above from day one.
With those answers there is no solid absolute answers (though Tony does provide a few examples). My general consensus is that you will have to come into your own to develop your style. Then tweak it. Learn through trial and error.
And here’s another great question that came about:
Question
“I would like to get my hands on some great info to help with what to do with a list after it is built or while being built as it scares so many newbies wondering what to send and how to create great letters for an autoresponder.”
Basically, what do you do after you have a decent sized list?
My Answer
Keep building. There’s no limit to the number of subscribers you can have. I would say AFTER you have a decent sized list, make a free membership site that has upgrades and offers available. Promote this to your list so you can earn from your list and from the free membership site. Start to create multiple streams of income. Now you can concentrate on building your list and offer your free membership site to everyone that subscribes (perhaps in an autoresponder message). Now you have created yourself more validity and more substance (and a great “filter”, as Paul says!).
Paul Kinder
“Well, same answer, educate yourself. Learn more so that you can identify the best products that will benefit your subscribers. The key to success in IM is self-education just the same as any other business or occupation, it’s not difficult to “fake it” for a little while but it doesn’t take long to get found out. The really successful marketers actually have a good grounding, and really understand what they are doing.”
So again, it seems that there is no concrete answer. I love how Paul mentions educating yourself. That really is absolutely necessary. If you don’t know what you’re talking about.. how can others believe what you’re saying?
In conclusion, be a sponge and soak up all the information you can, implement it, and find out what works! And that’s not all, here’s what Soren Jordansen had to say about the two questions above, which leaves a few pondering points!
The question itself is flawed because it assumes
that content is good and pitching is bad.
It does not work that way - the only sane reason
for providing content is to increase the conversion
on you pitches.
Go read the “Follow up email series” chapter in my
IMSF ebook and pay special attention to the 3C’s
of marketing blog post it links to.
… and if you have a medium list the obvious next
step would be to build a large list
I was just sitting down and having a conversation with a guy, Jeremiah, that has been trying internet marketing for 3 years and has only made a few bucks. We’re talking $5 here and a few bucks here.. maybe winning some surfing contests or something like that.
Basically very little success.
I thought to myself, “Hmm, 9 months ago I was a complete newbie. I’m having more success than this guy in far less time.”
I continued to think to myself.. what am I doing that Jeremiah isn’t doing? So we talked a little bit more. We were basically doing the exact same thing! We both surfed traffic exchanges, we both bought credits from time to time, we were both promoting affiliate products, we were both using safelists, we were both getting the word out about ourselves and what we bring to the table.
Why am I enjoying the fruits of my labor and continuing to build while Jeremiah is going basically no where — a few steps short of wasting his time?
I took it upon myself to investigate and here’s what I found:
I am networking
I am list building
I am consistent
That’s the only three differences I could see between myself and Jeremiah. And boy what a difference it makes!
Networking with your peers, as i wrote about a while back, is vitally important. You gather friendship with like minded individuals and you push each other to become better at what each of you do.
For me, I was approached by Paul Kinder and that’s how my networking begun. I got lucky because I had something he sought and he was networking, so I got drug into it by him. Luckily I stayed networking and began meeting people that gave me ideas, helped me further myself, and gave me knowledge and insight. The learning curve was high.. but I was addicted and this is still what I do. You can find me in NetMarketingForum or Affiliate Funnel networking a lot of the time.
Secondly, I was building my (ever-so-hyped-and-talked-about “magical”) ‘list’. I also did this unknowingly. I was trying to build blue-surf (a free membership program).. but what I was building was far more valuable. Each member has what everyone wants — an email address. And now my list is getting strong. I have thousands of email addresses that I can email to whenever I want to inform them of a new product or idea.. and they don’t mind because they can make a few bucks from it, too.
Jeremiah had no list. He had, however, made a couple ‘cold sales’ . Great! But, the problem is, once the sale was over with - that was the end. He could not contact them again. He could not follow up and ensure they were happy with what they bought.
So that brings me to list building. Build your list. Follow up with automated messages. Make people happy and they’ll trust you and continue buying from you again. (Actually, think about how you got to this blog post — you’re probably on my email list. And, although I am not selling you anything.. I am conveying to you a message, which is equally as important.)
You do not need a free membership program to build your list. You can in fact use AWeber as your mailing solution and promote splash pages or squeeze pages and build a nice list.
The money is in the list. Do not ignore this overused almost cliche-like saying. Your list is the most valuable asset you will ever have in this business.
And, finally, I am consistent. Jeremiah, like a lot of people, struggled to stay on top of his internet marketing when things just weren’t happening. He’d take a few months off and then try at it again. Perhaps the next time he tried it would be.. magical. It wasn’t, and this cycle repeated.
On the contrary, I can think of very few days (days when I was extremely ill) that I wasn’t on the computer for hours on end building me and my business.
As I like to say I was (and continue to be) persistently consistent. There are good days and there are bad days. There are good weeks and months and there are bad weeks and months. But you never know… that next subscriber, that next squeeze page, that next whatever might build a relationship between you and a customer that lasts a lifetime. You might get your next sale. And before you know it.. you might have a few extra dollars in the bank.
Pardon the title, this post has nothing to do with TrafficGoldRush. Though, that allows me to tell you, that right now TrafficGoldRush is THE place to be. Over 3000 members in one week? WOW. I know this is where I’m having my sites, banners, and text links seen right now.
But on to the subject matter at hand. Recently, I’ve been attending SWAT Traffic Seminars (except last week when I was ill).
I don’t really know why I’ve neglected going in the past. I thought perhaps I was too busy to re-iterate over what I thought I already knew.
The seminars were a very humbling experience.
I’ll tell you that the information I learned is not going to save me money (personally - though some others DO save money there). BUT, what I learned has enabled me to grab the mindset I need. It has taught me things that will enable me to handle my time better. To get more things done. To not spread myself too thin. And, with the time this training has taught me, I’ll be able to make thousands more dollars in the future.
I don’t know about you — but I do what I can to help myself today to help myself in the future. I work on what needs done right now to prosper in the future. I’m always building building building (and hopefully, you are as well).
SWAT TRAFFIC SEMINARS ARE WORTH THEIR WEIGHT IN GOLD!
“But, you’re a programmer, what are you doing there?”
I get this kind of question all of the time, believe it or not. I cannot shed the programmer label it seems. But, I’ll tell you I don’t go to SWAT seminars to learn programming. In fact, if I did, 99% of the room would glaze over and fall asleep.
I go there to learn internet marketing. And learn I do, indeed.
Learning is the key word there. I’ll go against the grain and tell you NOT to go to the SWAT seminars if you’re not passionate about your business, if you’re not willing to learn, and if you’re not willing to implement what you learn.
I may act a bit cocky from time to time but when Jon Olson, Robert Puddy, Jerry Reeder, Soren Jordansen and others speak - I LISTEN.
They personally answer my questions that I have (even though a 7,000+ member traffic exchange to some of you may make it sound like I know everything - I do not).
There are no egos there. There are real genuine caring people who know what they’re talking about and offer advice to help even the newest of newbies all the way up to the guru internet marketers.
If you’re a surfer, list builder, exchange owner, program owner, email marketer, ezine editor.. WHATEVER.. go there.
You won’t be dissappointed.
Sign up for SWAT Traffic Exchange, upgrade, and attend the weekly seminars every Wednesday at 8PM US EST. You’ll be glad you did. It’s one of the highlights of my working week.
This post is continuing on my earlier post regarding my entry into the world of safelists. I have an update. To get the most out of safelists I’m going to need some resources to help me do it.
Now, I am a programmer and I can make most of this stuff myself. Thus, why should I join any programs instead of making my own tools? I’ll tell you why. Time. Have you heard the saying “time is money”? I’ll bet you have. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel and waste time creating what these services already offer. Also, these services are dedicated to doing what they’re doing — so they’re probably done better than what I can do in a short time frame.
First off, I do believe that if you’re not using safelists or traffic exchanges to build your own personal list then you are leaving dollars on the table. Dollars that someone else will snatch up while you’re helping to build their list.
I guess that’s why you hear “the money is in the list” so often. It’s true!
OK, so now I need a list manager. Ideally, this list manager should manage my list(s), send auto-responses when someone subscribes, allow me to send one-off messages, import and export, and all of the other great features that come with list managers.
Regardless of the recent debacle or controversy and partial make-up regarding AWeber and traffic exchanges, that has nothing to do with me (I’m building a personal list here!). So I went with AWeber and it is without a doubt exactly what I’m looking for. No wonder it is so highly praised in the internet marketing community. I was able to quickly and easily set up what I needed and I’m already all ready to begin receiving subscribers.
But wait.. I need something for them to subscribe to! I can’t just make a page that says “hey buddy, join my list!” Well, actually I could — but I reckon I won’t get many subscribers doing that.
So I thought for a bit. What do I know about that a lot of people don’t? Aha! Computers. I’m fairly nifty at those. So I wrote up an email series regarding some computer stuff. That is one of my options. What are your options? Let’s take a look..
I’ll actually probably do all three of those when I get deep into this stuff.
So what is next on my list now that I have content to deliver and a way to deliver it? Ah, the subscribe pitch! Like traffic exchanges I believe you need a quick loading page with good ad copy to truly grab the readers attention and push them to subscribing. I need splash pages and squeeze pages.
I made my own splash/squeeze pages because I felt that I could do it quicker and with more control than using a splash page builder or a squeeze page builder. That is just my preference. It was quick and painless for me to do. AWeber even gives me the option to copy and paste the subscriber form into my HTML. Awesome!
However, I realize that a lot of you scream and throw fits when it comes to HTML and building web pages. Luckily there are some really good resources available that will allow you to make and host splage pages and squeeze pages quickly and easily.
With those tools you should be able to create just about any page you want and link the subscribe form (if you use one) to your list manager.
Next up for me I’ll be finding more content to offer to people to get them to subscribe to my list. Then I’ll be making more splash and squeeze pages to highlight what I have to offer. Then after that I’ll be ready to start my promoting and building my list!
A few days ago in Saturday’s Affiliate Funnel seminar I was asked to respond to the question, “How does an itty bitty exchange make it to the next step?”
Now I’m not that good with speaking live, I’ll admit. So my answer probably missed out on a few key points. However, I did mention the most important point. Networking and joint ventures. Now that I’m armed with my backspace key I’ll discuss this point a bit further.
This does not apply only to traffic exchanges but I’d say to any business at all!
Do you know what the most powerful form of marketing is? It is, without a doubt, word-of-mouth advertising. This is when a friend tells you about a site or business and personally recommends it. You trust your friend and you are very highly likely to take up their recommendation.
In the internet world, you want your friends to be the industry leaders. The people who’s names and faces are plastered and branded into the back of everyone’s minds. The people who everyone trusts and listens to their recommendations. THESE are the people you want recommending YOUR product or site.
So how do you do it?
You may think that offering them 50% commissions and a year free upgrade on your site (for example) is enough motivation to get them pushing your site like there’s no tomorrow. The simple answer is you’re right. The right answer is — you couldn’t be further from WRONG!
Let me explain a little bit. After all I did just contradict myself in the above statement.
You have to get on their radar screen before you should ever offer them a joint venture or any kind of deal. They should be familiar with you first. If you offer a “cold” deal to one of the industry leaders and they haven’t heard of your site or you — you’re probably going to get rejected. In fact, I’ll go as far to say you WILL get rejected.
So how do you get on their radar screen?
For me it was pretty easy. I want to be the best at what I do so I aligned myself with the best. You should do the same and here’s how you do it!
Hang where they hang. Forums are a great place to meet and converse. NetMarketingForum and TheMembersForum are two popular forums where a lot of people hang out and talk business. Go there and get involved.
You can also send these people private messages or emails asking for advice. Nearly every one of the industry leaders will give you good solid advice. Asking for advice is okay! I have asked for advice from many people and they gave it. The most important thing that I did that most people don’t after asking for advice is acting on the advice given. Don’t reject their advice. They’re not out to get you. They really are trying to help you.
What can you offer these people without getting anything in return? That will surely get you on their radar screen. At first you may think you have nothing to offer — but you do! Are you a programmer? You could do a little bit of work for them. Graphic designer? Those are always in demand. Don’t have any special skills? You’re still in luck! If they have a blog or website — comment on their stuff. If they’re a member of your program, leave THEIR referral link in your blog comment. Help them get referrals or sales for stuff they are promoting. The bottom line is to get noticed and help them to be able to help yourself in the future.
Branding yourself while doing all of this is a must! After all if they don’t remember your face or name your efforts are way less likely to pay off.
Okay, I’ve mentioned lots of good points already. Are you ready to pitch your offer or joint venture to them yet? Absolutely not. You may be wondering why..
The most important thing to learn from this article and the one thing you should take from this article is the following point:
You must show them that you are capable of helping yourself!
If I recommend your program or web site, I want insurance. I want to know that I’m not recommending a piece of crap with a lousy owner. After all, my reputation is on the line. Prove to me (or whoever you’re trying to network or joint venture with) that after I promote you a little bit, you’re capable and willing to put in hard work, dedication, and time into sustaining your program.
So, help yourself help yourself. Be a hard worker. Get noticed. Get active. Get involved. Learn. Participate. Prove that you’re capable. Etc etc etc. THEN pitch your offer. You’ll find that you get a much better success rate. Heck — you may even find that some people start to come to you.
A while back, Solomon Huey wrote a lesson on branding. It makes for a good read and shows the results of branding your name and face. I’m going to go a step further and introduce a complete lesson on branding. I’ll cover three important parts of branding:
Why you should brand yourself.
How you should brand yourself.
The results of branding yourself.
So, let’s jump right in.
Why you should brand yourself.
Take the following scenario into your imagination. You’re interested in buying a product and you go to your local market to purchase. Two salesmen approach you and are offering you the same identical item for the same price. You’ve never seen the first salesman before, but you’re familiar with the second salesman. His face is familiar and you know his name. He’s everywhere and people seem to trust him.
Who are you going to buy from? Exactly. You want to be like that second salesman. You want your face and name in front of as many people as possible. If a buyer knows you, has heard of you, or has seen you around — you have established a trustful relationship with that customer and he or she is more likely to buy from you.
The relationship I mentioned above is particularly important. Establish your relationship with thousands of people online by including a photo of yourself with your name. It’s that easy.
How you should brand yourself
You would think that putting up a picture of yourself along with your name would be easy, but plenty of people get it entirely wrong!
You should have a photo of yourself. Primarily of just your face. Anything else is out of the question. I know, I know.. your kids are adorable, your pets are too cute, your husband is awesome, and your wife is gorgeous. But you’re not branding them. You’re branding yourself. You should be the only one in your photo.
Another problem plaguing branding is the quality of the photos. Don’t use a scanned copy of your high school yearbook or a photo of your drivers license. You’re in the internet marketing industry — have the right tools available to get a decent photo online.
Okay, so I’ve told you how NOT to brand yourself. So how should you? The following people you may recognize — because they’ve branded themselves correctly.
Odds are you recognize some (if not all) of those faces. From left to right is Paul Kinder, Soren Jordansen, Jon Olson, Solomon Huey, and Cindy Battye. You recognize them because they’ve done their branding the right way. Just copy them — I mean, they’re getting good results!
Another important aspect of how you should brand yourself is where you should brand yourself. The answer is simple — everywhere you can! Have your own web site? Brand it. Using generic affiliate pages that are identical to the affiliate pages thousands of others are using? Make your own and brand it. Advertising a splash page? Brand it.
The results of branding yourself
You may not know it, but as soon as someone sees your picture and reads your name you are getting results. The more they see your picture and name the better. You’re being burned into the back of their mind. You’re subconsciously making others aware of who you are. People liken names and faces to success. So when someone is ready to buy your product and they have to choose between the salesman they don’t know or you, they’ll choose you. So even though the results may not be immediate, they are there. By branding yourself, you’re establishing the groundworks for a trustful relationship with thousands of people.
It’s really that easy. I understand that I may have missed out on some aspects of branding so feel free to leave a comment and tell me what I left out and I’ll add it in.
