Think about how a woodpecker spends EVERY DAY of its life. The woodpecker must peck, peck, peck away all day and every day looking for food. It’s a matter of survival. The woodpecker doesn’t peck frantically for a few hours then take the afternoon off to snooze on a comfy branch.
Nor, does it peck frantically for one week straight to fill his tummy, then take a 2-day break snuggled up in its nest. Instead, it pecks away continually, rain or shine. If it doesn’t find food in one place, it’s off to the next tree to find a tasty morsel.
And the woodpecker can’t give up when the first 4 trees have no bugs, throw its wings up in the air and say I quit!
The woodpecker knows what you need to know for internet marketing: survival requires continuous pecking. In your case, your success is 100% dependent on your continuous pecking strategies for the survival of your business.
In my line of work, I talk to marketers, entrepreneurs, and home business operators every day. Just like in all walks of life you have all kinds of personalities from a variety of backgrounds and skills. The backgrounds are diverse, but they all bring one thing to the table in common. Essentially, a dogma of what they can (or are willing to) do TODAY to build their business.
I am always amazed at how people approach building their home business or business opportunity. Some will tear into it like a dog on a bone for a month, then give up and I never hear from them again. Others will study, analyze, learn,listen, think, and digest but will never actually DO anything. Some will find fault or make the most ingenious excuses for why they are unable to run their business.
Then there are my favorites… these are the woodpeckers.
These are the people that give 100% effort to building their business EVERY day. Like the woodpecker they peck away at the daily required tasks of building their business to call prospects, promptly reply to email, promote their business, take care of customers, generate leads, build their mailing list, generate traffic, network with others, solve problems as they happen, plan, and prepare, and the list goes on.
They don’t try to do everything in one day; they work every day, steadily and consistently, pecking away at their goals. Like the woodpecker, they know not to overextend themselves and try to climb too many trees in one day. Instead, they peck away daily at the necessary tasks, being sure to maintain a balance with other important aspects of their lives.
The Woodpecker’s attitude is a realistic one, it must search out food every day to survive and feed itself and it’s young. No one is going to show up at his nest every day and hand over the bugs.
The wise entrepreneur also has a realistic attitude, he or she may not want to do a certain mundane task but knows it is necessary, even a requirement, of building a successful business. They know that they must work to earn success.
For our feathered friend the woodpecker, some days the worms may be juicier and more plentiful than others. But often, the tasty worms are hard to come by and only the bitter bugs are available. Some months there will be more plentiful and larger bugs than other months, but the woodpecker keeps on pecking away.
It seems that the true meaning of Thanksgiving may be getting lost in today’s society.
Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks and express gratitude, but it seems like people are more focused on Black Friday and consumerism.
I think it’s important to take a step back and think about what we’re really grateful for.
Here’s an exercise that will help us feel better than any materialistic item ever could.
Make a Top Ten list of things you’re super grateful for!
Here’s my list:
1. I’m grateful for my wonderful wife and family (and pets, because they are family too!).
2. I’m grateful for my health.
3. I’m grateful for my faith.
4. I’m grateful for my friends.
5. I’m grateful for my business.
6. I’m grateful for my home.
7. I’m grateful for my ability to work.
8. I’m grateful for my freedom.
9. I’m grateful for my education.
10. I’m grateful for my opportunities.
(And I couldn’t stop with only these 10, so I added a few more)
11. I’m grateful for the chance to help others.
12. I’m grateful for the chance to make a difference.
And honestly, I could go on.
Share your list on social media… or just give it voice inside your own head.
What we think about expands, so let’s expand an attitude of gratitude that brings more abundance in every area of life.
Being grateful is contagious for ourselves and others. Let’s all take time to assess what we are grateful for.
I wish all the best to you and all in your life. And of course this includes any and all pets that are such a wonderful part of your family. I’m a true animal lover and grateful for all! Guess that should be on my list too!
You know it takes a lot of hard work and dedication to get your business off the ground. But what about your personal brand? Do you have a personal brand?
Many entrepreneurs put all their focus into their businesses but while doing so, they neglect their own personal branding. This can be a huge mistake…
A solid personal brand can help you build a loyal fan following and authentic engagement. Having a solid Personal Brand strategy in place from day one is beneficial to help you get off on the right foot. In this blog post, I will discuss tips and strategies for building a reliable personal brand as a startup.
Personal branding is a massive leverage
You got it! You wear many hats as a founder and business owner. You’re the CEO, the marketing manager, the sales team, and the janitor. You must be able to do it all, and you must be able to do it well. But too often, there isn’t enough time or focus on one of the most important hats you’ll wear – marketing yourself and your startup…
This is known as personal branding, and it’s essential for any entrepreneur who wants to attract readers, followers, customers, partners, or investors. It is imperative that you take time to strategize and incorporate personal branding in all you do. Think of personal branding as a marathon, and not a sprint. It takes time and is a long-term initiate that will pay considerable dividends.
In fact, personal branding may be the difference between success or failure of your startup. A key point that I want to make is that you need to start off with a Personal Branding strategy from the very beginning.
Your personal brand is essentially what people think of when they see or hear your name. It’s the sum of your values, personality, and reputation. And it’s something that you need to have complete control over. So why is personal branding so important for startups?
Personal branding can help you attract the right kind of attention. If you can position yourself as an expert in your field, you’re more likely to attract readers, followers, and potential customers, partners or investors who see you and your offerings as a value or an asset.
Additionally, personal branding can help you build trust with others. In an era where anyone can start a business with very little investment, people increasingly turn to brands they know and trust. Establishing a solid personal brand will give people the confidence they need to align and do business with you.
Ultimately, personal branding is all about creating a positive association with your startup in the minds of others.
By taking the time to craft a strong personal brand, you’ll be able to build relationships with the right people and grow your startup into a success story.
There are many benefits of having a solid personal brand, such as:
• Growing your business and your following!
• People will be more likely to buy from you or use your services.
• You will build trust and credibility.
• You will be more likely to attract investors and partners.
• You will have an easier time recruiting top talent.
So now, we know a few of the many benefits of growing your personal brand, so let’s move on to the best steps to do it. In this blog post, you will gain a better understanding of building a critical foundation and primary steps to create a compelling personal brand for business and long-term goals.
Develop your personal brand strategy and road map as part of your business plan. The personal branding strategies that you will be using will integrate into other components of your business plan. Don’t just leave branding to a time in the future when you “have more time”. A good personal brand strategy will help in many other components of your business and help guide you in how to promote, market and communicate.
Determine Your Personal Brand Archetype
The first step in building a strong personal brand is to figure out your personal brand archetype. This will help you understand and assess the image you want to project and how you can appeal to your target audience. There are 3 primary personal brand archetypes that you can choose from. Which type feels like the best fit for you and your business? Are there benefits of one type vs. another for you and your business strategies?
There are many archetypes, however the 3 most common are:
The Innovator
This archetype is all about change and disruption. If you’re running a startup, chances are you may fall into this category. As an innovator, your personal brand should be all about showing people that you’re constantly pushing boundaries and coming up with new and better ways of doing things.
The Thought Leader
This archetype is all about expertise and authority. If you want to position yourself as a thought leader, you need to focus on building a personal brand that showcases your knowledge and experience. This can be done through blog posts, speaking engagements, coaching, or influencing and interacting on social media.
The Changemaker
This archetype is all about making a difference in the world. If you’re passionate about social issues or causes, this is the archetype for you. As a changemaker, your personal brand should be all about showing people how you’re working to make the world a better place, or that your business, products, or services will make the world a better place.
Once you’ve figured out your archetype, you can start to build out the other elements of your personal brand. How will you communicate and promote yourself? What types of platforms will you use to deliver content, information, products, or services?
Develop your message and tone
Once you have determined your archetype, you can begin to develop the overall tone for your personal brand and use the tone to develop and drive clear messaging. This will help you stay consistent across your channels and ensure that people always know what to expect from you. When crafting your message, make sure to focus on what you want to be known for the type of impact you want to have.
Your tone should be aligned with your archetype. For example, if you’re positioning yourself as a thought leader, your tone should be confident and authoritative. If you’re trying to appeal to a younger audience, your tone should be more casual and approachable.
Create a strong visual identity
Your visual identity is one of the most important aspects of your personal brand. This includes everything from your logo to your social media profile pictures to how you dress when representing your brand. Your visual identity should be cohesive and consistent across all platforms.
If you’re not sure where to start, consider hiring a professional designer to help you create a strong visual identity for your brand. There are plenty of opportunities to get high quality results, which I will note below.
Use social media to build a community around your brand.
Now, it’s more important than ever to have an engaged online following. This includes people who follow you on social media, subscribe to your newsletter, or read your blog. An engaged online following is essential for any personal brand because it allows you to reach a larger audience and build relationships with people who are interested in what you do. Social media is a great way to grow your following through engagement such as comments, likes and shares.
There are a few different ways to build an engaged online following:
• Create interesting and shareable content: This could be anything from blog posts to infographics to videos.
• Be active on social media: Interact with people discussing topics related to your brand.
• Participate in online communities: Join forums or groups relevant to your industry and participate in conversations.
• Network online and offline: Attend events, meetups, and conferences where you can connect with people in your industry.
One of the best ways to build a solid personal brand is to create content that helps your audience solve problems, issues, or concerns. Above all, provide value.
This could be anything from blog posts and articles to podcasts and videos. If you can provide value to your audience, they’ll be more likely to remember you and recommend you to others.
Some ideas for creating valuable content:
-Share your expertise: Write blog posts or articles that offer advice or insights on topics related to your industry.
-Interview experts: Conduct interviews with people who are leaders in your industry and share their insights with your audience.
-Create how-to guides: Help your audience learn how to do something by creating step-by-step guides.
-Review products: Share your thoughts on products or services relevant to your industry.
-Create learning materials, courses, or membership sites.
Be authentic and transparent
People are drawn to brands that feel real and human. In order to build a strong personal brand, you need to be authentic and transparent with your audience. This means being honest about your successes and failures, sharing your personal story, and being open about your values and beliefs.
People can see through inauthenticity, so you must be genuine in everything you do. If you’re unsure where to start, consider sharing a vulnerable story or experience that helped shape who you are today. Share your personality and make yourself personable.
Developing a solid personal brand takes time and effort, but it’s worth it. By following the tips and strategies in this post, you’ll be well on your way to building a personal brand that will help you achieve your goals. Thanks for reading!
Invest in quality design and branding elements
A solid personal brand requires quality design and branding elements. This includes everything from your website and logo to your business cards and social media profile pictures. If you want people to take you seriously, you must invest in quality branding materials.
Hire a professional designer or agency like ours that focus on helping startups with their design and branding.
Stay consistent with your branding across all channels.
Your personal brand should be consistent across all channels, from your website and social media profiles to your email signature and business cards. This means using the same colors, fonts, and logo across all your materials. Consistency will help people recognize your brand and remember you when they see it again.
Strategize for success
When developing your personal brand, it’s important to consider how you want to be perceived. What are your core values? What do you want people to know about you? What kind of image do you want to project?
Answering these questions will help you determine what kind of content to create and how to present yourself to the world. Keep in mind that your personal brand should be an accurate reflection of who you are and what you stand for.
Staying true to yourself while building your personal brand
It can be challenging to stay true to yourself while you’re building your personal brand. After all, you want people to like and respect you, so it’s only natural to try to put your best foot forward. However, staying authentic to who you are would be best. Otherwise, people will see through the facade, and you’ll end up losing their respect.
Here are a few tips for staying true to yourself while building your personal brand:
-Be honest about your successes and failures: Don’t try to hide your mistakes or paint yourself as perfect. People respect honesty and vulnerability.
-Share your personal story: Share what made you who you are today. People will appreciate your transparency and authenticity.
-Be open about your values and beliefs: Let people know what you stand for. This will help them understand who you are as a person and what you’re all about.
Building a strong personal brand takes time, effort, and commitment. But if you stay true to yourself, you’ll be rewarded with the respect and admiration of your audience.
Call to action
Don’t miss out on any opportunities. We have discussed that personal branding is important for all entrepreneurs, but it’s especially critical for starting up. You will want to strategize to set yourself up properly with the right foundation and footprint to create the right personal brand for you.
A strong personal brand will raise your profile in your niche or industry and differentiate yourself from the competition. It will also help attract the right investors, employees, and customers as you grow. So, as you strategize on the various ways you can promote, don’t miss out on any opportunities to utilize calls to action.
Use all “space” opportunities. You will want to strategize on how best to maximize CTAs in all your postings, blogs, and articles. Don’t miss opportunities to add additional information and CTAs on your checkout pages, thank you pages, or confirmation pages. Be creative in utilizing all avaialbe space, including something as simple as a “PS” at the end of your emails.
You don’t want to come across too “salesy”, but you do want to take advantage of space opportunities. A typical rule of thumb that I use is that if the content of your CTA is relevant to the subject, or can be helpful to the recipient, it is fine to include. Strive to incorporate CTAs whenever and wherever possible and appropriate.
Tools to build your personal brand
There are various tools that can be valuable for entrepreneurs looking to build a profitable personal brand. With so much noise on all platforms, it can be hard to stand out from the crowd. Here are a few tools that can help get the most out of your activities. Whether you’re looking to grow your business or just establish yourself as an expert in your field, these tools can be your best friends.
Looking to get the most out of your Twitter activity? Tweethunter is the perfect solution. This powerful tool automates your tweets and provides valuable insights into which ones are performing well. This means you can save time and ensure that your tweets reach their full potential.
Pricing: Free and Paid. Free version is offers a great introductory to capabilities. Tweet hunter has a premium version that starts from $49/month and can unlock extraordinary features like AI tweet generator and Tweet schedule like no other tool.
If you’re looking for a way to monetize your personal brand, Gumroad is a great option. With Gumroad, you can sell digital products and courses. This is a great way to make money with your passion and expertise and grow your brand. Plus, Gumroad makes it easy to get started. Create an account, add your products, and start promoting. Gumroad provides powerful marketing tools to help you sell more. So, if you’re looking for a simple and effective way to make money online, check out Gumroad.
Pricing: per transaction. Gumroad charges 5% + $0.30 fee from creators and has a lot of tools and groups available for learning.
Canva is the perfect way to create visuals for your personal brand. Easily create beautiful headers, logos, and more – all in just a few clicks!
Canva makes it easy to start and is perfect if you’re not a graphic designer. Simply choose a template, customize it to your liking, and voila – you’ve got a professional-looking image that’s perfect for your brand!
Plus, with Canva’s built-in tools and extensive library of photos, illustrations, and fonts, you can really let your creativity shine.
Pricing: Canva comes with free and paid versions. The free version serves most users well and should be on everyone’s bookmarks.
One of the best ways to drive traffic to your personal website or blog is to include a link in your bio. But what if you have more than one link that you want to share? That’s where LinkTree comes in. With LinkTree, you can add multiple links to your bio – perfect for promoting your latest blog post, video, or product. Plus, LinkTree makes it easy to track your link clicks, so you can see which links are performing well.
Pricing: Free and paid versions are available. The free version allows for one link, while the paid version starts at $6/month and allows for up to 5 links.
Grammarly is a must-have tool for anyone serious about personal branding. With Grammarly, you can be sure that your writing is error-free. This is essential for building a credible and professional personal brand.
Plus, Grammarly can help you improve your grammar and spelling – two important factors in personal branding.
Pricing: Free and paid. The free version is basic, while the premium version starts at an economical $11.66/month.
Traffic is the lifeblood to any business, website, or blog and achieving high traffic is key to personal branding. Traffic Generation is a tool to help manage your social media presence and websites. This free membership site provides strategies, tips, and tricks to exponentially grow traffic to your sites and get more eyeballs on your content. Getting comments, likes, and shares is a great way to expand and leverage your personal brand.
Pricing: Free and paid. There is free access to the membership with a ton of resources and additional features.
Buzzsumo is the perfect tool for researching personal branding content. As a leading Content & Social Analytics platform, Buzzsumo helps marketers create more engaging content and grow their personal brands. Discover and quantify the impact of your coverage, and a whole lot more!
Pricing: Free and paid. The free version allows you to track up to 5 topics and receive results.
Hootsuite is a great personal branding tool for managing your social media presence. With Hootsuite, you can quickly and easily schedule tweets, posts, and more. This is a great way to save time and ensure that your content is being seen by your target audience. Plus, with Hootsuite’s reporting tools, you can track your social media activity and see which content is performing well.
Pricing: Free and paid. The free version will let you manage up to 3 social media accounts and provides a few additional features.
Systeme.io is a new all-in-one platform touted as “the World’s Easiest All-In-One Marketing Platform”. Create a powerful website to sell services, hold webinars, post, and position yourself as an expert. Host online training, create webinars, communicate with your audience, and create your personal brand. Systeme.io has all the tools you need on a single platform. AND they will move all your products, pages, funnels, and customers to systeme.io at no extra cost with any paid subscription. Save business costs with this inexpensive platform!
Finally, Success Upgrade is the perfect tool to help anyone develop the right mindset. Learn and develop the important qualities and characteristics of the most successful entrepreneurs. Mindset, attitude, and your personal perspective are all critical components to your success as an entrepreneur. Success Upgrade is a free site that provides access to strategies and tools important to personal development. Plus, with Success Upgrade free access, you won’t leave out the mindset component that so many overlook, or don’t make the time to develop.
Pricing: Free and paid. The free level offers plenty of great information to get anyone started on the right path.
Remember, the key is to start off right with a Personal Branding strategy and incorporate that strategy with everything you do and across all your platforms. Personal Branding can be simple steps and does not have to be elaborate or costly. Just do it in a methodical, planned way. Don’t underestimate the importance and long-term benefits and opportunities of Personal Branding.
With a bit of creativity and the right approach, you can boost your personal branding to shine a positive light on you and your business. Work smarter, not harder. Have patience! All good things take time. Social marketing and personal branding are no exception. And utilize tools to maximize your efforts.
To your success,
Dave Seth
P.S. – As a special thank you for reading, we are providing a 50% discount to you for our Personal Brand course. This is a quality course, check it out.
P.S.2 – As a 2nd special thank you for reading, we are providing a 50% discount to you for our Advanced Social Media Course. This is a quality course, check it out.
*Please note that this course was just updated in 2022 with all the most recent changes in social medial platforms. Not all courses update to stay current!
Gumroad.com– Self-publishing digital marketplace platform.
Canva.com– Graphic design platform to create social media graphics and visual content.
LinkTree– Freemium social media reference landing page.
Grammarly– Cloud-based typing assistant using artificial intelligence to identify and search for an appropriate replacement for the located errors.
Traffic Generation– Free membership to discover strategies and growth opportunities for traffic generation.
Buzzsumo.com– Discover the best engagement, content, and outreach opportunities across social and search.
Hootsuite– social media management platform supporting social network integrations.
Systeme.io– All-in-one platform to market and sell your products and services online. Sales funnels, autoresponder, membership site, affiliate program & more.
Success Upgrade– Personal development of mindset required to succeed in marketing, business, and entrepreneurship.
Affiliate U– Courses and learning opportunities for marketing, coaching, personal branding, and more. Includes podcasts and journals for ongoing news and learning.
Power Copy– Free Membership site with tools and strategies to learn and thrive with the art of copy.
Web Profits– Everything you need to know about making money online, including positioning yourself to create a thriving business.
Power Marketers– Strategies, personal growth, and mindset for successful Entrepreneurs online.
I just wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a happy Veterans Day and provide my sincere thanks to all who have served, both past and present. We all owe so much to you and your families for your sacrifices that provide for the freedoms that we enjoy in our great country.
Are you a fan of newsletters? They can be a great source of information. Here is a list of the best newsletters designed to help founders stay up to date, learn, and grow their businesses.
I subscribe to a lot of newsletters, but I don’t have time to read as many as I would like. And I do want to provide a shout out to the indie hackers newsletter. This article’s sources for a large portion of its material include the indie hackers newsletter, its contributors, and its readers.
Now here are different categories that you will want to check out.
Marketing Newsletters
Here is a great marketing list in no particular order:
Stacked Marketer: Curated marketing news, tech, and advice by @Manu_C. They have a fun approach and provide a lot of great short summaries of marketing news and tactics. And it Free!
tl;dr Marketing: Marketing news curated by @SaijoGeorge. Each email includes a ton of links with short summaries. I’m a subscriber and have found some great insights and nuggets in these links and summaries. And it’s Free!
Growth & User Acquisition: @zerotousers has analyzed 100’s of interviews to determine which acquisition channels consistently work for founders. He summarizes those opportunities plus a whole lot more in his weekly newsletter. And it’s Free!
Marketer Crew: The latest news, tools, and insights from @FalakDigital. I subscribed to this one and it has a ton of info in every email. And it’s Free!
Gene’s Weekly: This is weekly growth, marketing, and design tips. Always worth wile and impressive. It is a Freemium!
Positive Human: This one is B2B SaaS marketing and growth with a human spin. Recommend if you’re interested in SaaS growth marketing. And it’s Free!
Marketing Examples: @harrydry provides actionable marketing tips and writeups. I’m a subscriber. Always enjoy his content. Very interesting, personable and sometimes adds some humor. And it’s Free!
Honey Copy: For@KenyanChale, Honey Copy focuses on the lifeline of any business – SALES. Cole writes on how to sell ‘ice to eskimos’ using copy. And it’s Free
Raisin Bread: This one includes Q&As with top marketers, as well as news, tool discounts, and more. A good read in 5 minutes. I subscribe to this one and it is also mentioned by a number of people. And it’s Free!
Growth Hacking Newsletters
Here’s an interesting group of marketing newsletters that specifically focus on growth tactics.
Growth Currency: By Dylan T (@growthcurrency), offers resources, tools, and courses for creators. There is a boat load of content here. It’s Free.
Growth Unhinged: Author, Kyle Poyar, calls it “an unorthodox take on how to grow a SaaS company.” Each email includes interesting commentary and links. And it’s Free.
Ariyh: An acronym for “Academic Research In Your Hands,” Provides a lot of science-backed advice for growing a business in an easily understood format. It’s Free.
Kickstart Side Hustle: By @Michal_kanka, a newsletter that focuses on psychology and how to incorporate into psychology into your marking strategies. It’s Free.
Growth Memo: @Kevin_Indig A newsletter on SEO and growth. Lots of thorough information and case studies. It’s Free.
The Growth TLDR: Interesting write-ups by @kflanagan on various topics relating to business and growth. It’s Free.
Epic Growth: By @pisarevsky, get this one to receive B2B SaaS growth insights. It’s Free
First 1000: This is weekly with articles on how different companies achieved their first 1000 customers..
SEO Newsletters
Of course, when we’re talking about marketing, you have to include SEO newsletters too!
SEO Notebook: Tons of great tips, strategies, and tricks from Steve Toth and other experts. Get some really solid information, for Free.
Ross Simmonds: Essays on how successful businesses do what they do by @thecoolestcool and his team. Really great long-form writeups. It’s Free.
Ahrefs Weekly Digest: Weekly articles from their blog (and elsewhere). Get some real gems for Free.
The weekly SEO: SEO articles curated for you each week – It’s Free.
#SEOFOMO: SEO news and resources recommended by experts. It’s Free.
Entrepreneur Newsletters
And one of my favorite areas; entrepreneurship newsletters.
Indie Hackers: News snippets, interesting articles, top posts, and tips — if you haven’t already signed up, it’s definitely worth it. I really enjoy reading it. Note: this is where I found the majority of this material, and lists. I highly recommend this newsletter. One of the best I am subscribed too — it’s just really good and it is Free!.
Morning Brew: They’ve got multiple newsletters — news, marketing, tech, finance, and more. They are Free.
For the Interested: Daily tips, articles, and tidbits from @joshspector. This has valuable (and entertaining) stuff. And it is Free.
This is How I Do It: @joshspector also has this paid newsletter. I’m not a subscriber but it includes practical advice for creators. $120/year.
Maker Mind: @anthilemoon delivers neuroscience-based strategies for makers. A newsletter for staying sane while you work as an entrepreneur. Breaks down neuro science in an understandable way, with tips for a healthier mind and being more productive. It’s Free.
Ungrabbed: By @sasan, high-quality domain opportunities sent right to your inbox. FOMO is what makes it so effective. It’s Free.
Check Your Pulse: A a newsletter about tech and startups. It’s Free.
YC’s Newsletter: Read what the folks at YC are reading. Free.
hackernewsletter: Curated articles from Hacker News. These are curated links that made frontpage on HN each week. It’s Free.
Founder Weekly: Features must-read articles, how-tos, tips, resources, and events for entrepreneurs. It’s Free.
Trends: Vetted business ideas in your inbox. Interesting insights with high quality content. It’s Free.
Trends.vc: Newsletter to help you discover new markets and ideas. So much information distilled into such few words. It’s Free.
Massive Profit Marketing Journal: A 40+ page monthly journal of current, up-to-date pure Internet Marketing content with the Latest News, internet marketing Ideas, cool Resources, an Epilogue, Feature Length Articles and Additional Exclusives. Annual Subscription $129.
Software Ideas: By @Kevcon80, you’ll get validated SaaS ideas delivered to your inbox. $57/quarter.
Here’s Why Paying For Your Traffic Can Be A Smart Move
There are so many success stories you will hear about businesses making it big on the internet. The troubling thing is, for all the success stories, there are likely tenfold or even more likely a hundredfold of stories contradictory to theirs. These are the business that have not been successful. Many have launched a business enterprise that is internet based, however only a handful truly succeed.
So, is this through luck? Well no, not at all. Of course, a little good luck always helps, but it takes good business sense, a whole lot of planning, (i.e. a good business plan) and a just plain hard work. Most importantly, it takes a deep seated, gut instinct and desire to succeed, the determination to learn and the willingness to invest in a lot of hard work and some money.
The Very Basics: targeted site traffic and membership site traffic
Traffic is “it”. Without traffic, all your effort would just go to waste. Every business needs customers, without them you wouldn’t have anyone to sell your products to. In the internet world traffic is the walk-in customer. The more traffic you have the more people would be able to sell your products to.
But like any business that’s in every corner building or in the mall, not everyone that goes in will buy, but the greater of number that do come in to browse your merchandise, the greater number of people that have potential to buy your products. It’s just statistics, or to use a sports analogy, “shots on goal”. The more shots you take, the better the chance of scoring…. Even if you’re a bad shot.
But how do you get traffic – traffic scaled large enough that can make a difference? Most of the big companies and corporations generate traffic by the tens of thousands a day and an even if a small 8-15% converts, (buys), a small percentage is enough to really add up. And conversions vary tremendously depending on the type of ad, the market and timing, event, or season.
So of those businesses that do go on to become successful, many of these success stories get a majority of their traffic from paying others, or buying ads. Yes, that’s right; you must spend money to make money. Advertising is the key. The more traffic you have, the better opportunity for sales. Generally speaking, that is. There are big differences in the type of traffic, and finding buyers for your products, services or whatever you’re selling. (That is another article for another time).
While there are many ways that can get you advertising for free, this may not generate the same type and kind of leads as those through a more targeted paid. There are also differences in free traffic vs paid targeted traffic that I will get into more detail in another article. For now, let’s just focus on a few sources for paid advertising.
The Value of Searches
Searching is the easiest and fastest medium in finding what a person needs on the internet. Search engines are extremely valuable as they provide a vital service that we all use. Everyone knows the value – we have all used search engines to find needed information……
How to fix something, how to make or cook something, DIY help or projects, where to find something, or for learning just about anything. And on and on. And for the purposes of this discussion, all sorts of relative buying information. What, where or how to buy. Buying reviews, bonuses, discounts and coupons are big! And a great source for SEO.
Search engines are free and easy to use. With this popularity, they get many visitors and clicks that they are the most common sites that people go to. So of course, it is easy to understand why so many companies pay to advertise with these search engines.
Search engines provide information to the millions of users that they have each day. They provide links to many sites that a user may be looking for. If your sites link pop up in the high ranks of the search results page, you optimize the chance that they will visit your site. While search engine optimization is a cheaper and low-cost way to get your site a high rank, paying for advertisements will ensure that you will be on the top ranks. SEO generally take more time. It can be very beneficial and successful, but just plan to take more time. Purchasing advertising is more immediate and direct.
When you pay for your advertisements, it is paying for your traffic. This may not sound like a great idea, but depending on your results, you may have a payoff or ROI (return on investment) that indicates differently. When you pay for your traffic, you are guaranteed of a consistent traffic flow to your site. You will never go with an empty sales day. So, the key is finding the right kind of paid advertising that converts to sales for your goods or services.
Paying to Increase Your Traffic
A typical type of paid traffic is when you are charged with the number of hits a link gets when your ads is clicked, called pay per click. Another type of advertising is when you are charged with the number of times your ad shows up as page views when a certain keyword or keyword phrase is searched. It is imperative that you have good keyword content in your ad. There are many tools that aid you in using the right keyword for the right moment. Again, that’s getting into SEO and is a whole article, (or rather book) on its own.
And I will post again with more about paid ads on social media. Of course, Youtube and Facebook are the biggest players, but there is a whole lot of opportunities out there. It all depends on your niche, audience, and budget. There are specific methods for marketing using Facebook Groups and Business pages as well. For example, I use a closed group to advertise and recruit 300-500 members for a 12-Day Challenge and Training, present the high-ticket offering and then close and clean the group out. Then repeat. Just another method of paid traffic. More on that later.
Paying for traffic is a deep subject. When done correctly, with diligence and strategy, paid traffic can be very profitable. However just the opposite is also true. If not done correctly, and just “wingin’ it” and hoping for luck will likely end up having less than satisfactory results and a poor ROI. So don’t go into paid traffic with a haphazard attitude. Learn as much as you can. Some sites have a wealth of information about traffic. For example, here’s a free pass to access a traffic club. You work hard for your money, so take time to learn the ins and outs of paid traffic before you leap. A few hours of research will be well worth your time, (and $’s).
Till next time,
To your success,
Dave
PS: For a limited time you can get a free report showing how to get floods of free traffic to your sites. Simply visit the Traffic Generation Club, and download the report
