According to the results my subscribers reported, the following traffic generation methods are unreliable at best – and in most cases, they utterly stink:
> Pay-per-click
> Facebook
> Article posting
> Forums
> Twitter
> Print ads (newspapers and magazines)
> Other social media
There’s a good reason for this – and understanding this reason holds the key to solving your traffic generation problems.
So here it is: the reason why these methods (and so many other lead generation and traffic generation methods) fall flat on thier faces is that… drumroll please… there’s no way to tell if the prospects you attract are buyers or tire kickers.
Now, that doesn’t have to be the case with print ads, but because most people use print improperly, they still run into this problem.
But here’s the important part: if you can’t clearly identify people who have an actual history of buying a product similar to yours, you’re wasting the majority of the time, effort and money you invest in lead and traffic generation.
Buyers buy. Lookers look.
It’s that simple. And if you don’t use this as the driving factor in your marketing decisions, you’re really putting yourself at a disadvantage.
There are a lot of ways to identify people who are actual buyers, but it takes a lot more leg work, and usually more money to do this properly. That’s why the promise of the next “free magic bullet” traffic system is bound to fail too. Because there just isn’t any free and easy way to generate qualified leads in your sleep. If there was, we’d all have a different color Ferrari for each day of the week.
Here’s a quick way to begin determining which people on your list are truly qualified prospects and which are tire kickers. Take one of your most popular products or services and offer a small piece of it at a great bargain price. The goal is to make it as painless as possible for someone to start buying from you.
The people who take advantage of this offer have immediately raised their hands and identified themselves as actual buyers. And by using a reliable marketing system, you can upgrade them to buyers for life at much higher prices.
The people who ignore your offer are tire kickers. You can try to coax them along into becoming buyers, but you should not devote as much of your marketing budget to them as you do to the true buyers.
There’s a LOT more to be said on this topic, but this should give you a solid foundation to start with.
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Now I have a question for you
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Through the questions I’ve been asking you over the past week or so, it’s become clear that a lot of people would like help with almost every area of marketing.
So in order to serve you best, please take a minute to post a comment below telling me how my team and I can best help you. What would be the ideal solution for you to get the help you really want to improve your marketing?
Regards,
Bob Serling
22 Responses to “Why most traffic generation fails miserably”
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Does tire kicking really apply now Bob? There is so much information online that’s free in a very crowded and competitive Internet Marketers niche.
Too get people reaching for their wallets offers have to be real no brainers and packed full of value!
When top Internet Marketers are giving information away free online Live! Via vido almost every night of the week, you know the competition is hot!
Question of traffic generation is not resolved by this answer
in detail to learn how to do this, as you do…..
Regards
Interesting post. While it makes sense to target buyers on an existing list, I didn’t see any mention of how to target cold prospects. Or is this the hook to get us to contact you for more info? Still, I’d like to know more.
Yes, this assumes that you already have a buying list – or at least a product that one would expect to see repeat buyers. In terms of a physical product like, iPhone battery rechargers, most people only buy one, possibly two. How would you suggest we weed out the tire kickers?
Thanks!
Hi Bob. For 17 years I’ve ran a small successful wholesale business where I sell to retailers. I have a great formula for sourcing good selling products and establishing and maintaining accounts for a consistent six figure annual income. I need some help in leveraging my experience, to put together an actual product and material needed to market this money making opportunity to others online. Ebooks, teleseminars, mps, cd’s,websites,landing pages,ect. This is a great and legitamite money making business, where I’d love to help others have a chance to become successful. Thanks, John
I sell a service (home staging) how will this apply? My trainer and mentor begs us to not give away anything free, she says you devalue your profession when you do so. What advise do you have?
I don’t fully agree with Fandros, but I do agree in large part. Yes, some will always be “lookers,” but many lookers become buyers. How can anyone, except a fool, know if they want to buy, without looking? You have the same outlook that’s killing the lists of most of the IM Guru’s. What;s in everything I do, for me? How do I make as much money, as fast as I can?
Money is made on a lasting basis, by trading value for money. Each believing that _they_ got the better of the deal. List members are not cattle to be slaughtered for a quick profit. They are like dairy cattle to be fed and give return for the investment. Forget that at your peril.
To the stager, how do I know if I want your service, if I can’t see what you do. Claims are like opinions, everyone has one. Proof of value is what sells, not claims.
OK, a couple of quick replies:
Nathan: For targeting cold prospects, there are many things you can do. First, you could arrange to do joint ventures with other businesses targeting their buyers only. We’ve done this with great success a number of times. Second, and this is much more complicated and expensive, if doing email campaigns, you can pay to profile your list of buyers against the lists you’re considering renting. If a lot of your buyers show up on a given list, it’s highly likely there are many buyers on that list.
Mili: With a commodity like an iPhone battery, there’s less need to weed out tire kickers. People tend to only look for batteries when they really need them, so nearly everyone looking at your web page is a potential customer. The real issue is what else can you sell to them beyond that battery sale? Because with items that are purchased infrequently, you need to have other products to offer on the back end in order to optimize your profits.
IMPORTANT: There was one rather nasty comment that we deleted because of language. However, the general idea was that the reader thought I was saying to treat “tire kickers” poorly and kick them off my list. Not so at all.
Lookers DO turn into buyers. I stated that clearly. But you should also segment your list and devote more attention to actual buyers than prospects. In addition, you definitely should strive to attract prospects who are known buyers. It makes your life easier and your business more profitable. That’s why I personally give very low priority to pay-per-click – because there’s no way to predetermine who is a buyer and who is not with ppc.
Hi Bob,
I had been ignoring this blog up until now, but you finally got my attention.
First of all, I appreciate this perspective as I believe it applies to me. I have a list that is about 10 months old and I have all but neglected it until recently. I’m now trying to breathe new life into it and weed out the folks who have given up on IM after joining my list because they realized it was more complicated than buying some dream and hoping for the best (I never sold a dream, btw).
I think I will try your suggestion and offer a $2-5 product that is worth a whole lot more and see where it goes.
@Sean Generally, people ignore free stuff, no matter what they may say. I’ve downloaded countless ebooks for free and attended dozens of free webinars, calls, etc. Honestly, very little sticks out in my mind from that experience. But the stuff I PAID for, I remember. Even if it was only a couple of bucks. Financial investment gets your attention. At least for a little while.
@John Good for you, bro! I’m curious to hear about your product. I’ve found the best way to have a successful product launch is to focus heavily on generating a good buzz during pre-launch. Give away great content and value, softselling your product along the way. Bob, if you don’t have an interest in partnering with John, I’d like the opportunity to speak with him privately about some direction.
@Lisa I’m a real estate agent and understand your field quite well. Pretty much any effort at providing value and social proof will go a LONG way. Most of your competitors are just putting uninspired “We’re Great!” ads on craigslist. I would recommend selling a $2-5 report about how to stage a home that softsells your premium services. Target real estate agents.
@Walter It’s a fine line, I think. I agree with you that most IM Guru lists are pitch after pitch. I usually unsub if there is not at least one valuable email out of every 3-5. But sometimes, it’s good to see what they’re doing, because it’s obviously working for them. For instance, I get an email from Mike Filsaime about every 5-7 days telling me about a different guy who “went from rags to riches” and who’s selling me the solution for $497. What is remarkable about this is the fact that ALL of their sales letters are video and follow the EXACT same format. I’m hangin on to that tidbit, there has to be value in that observation (even though it is a pitch fest).
@Bob Well, it looks like I totally hijacked your blog here. I apologize for that, but it inspired me to respond and before I knew it, I had written an epic. Thanks for offering this thought provoking discussion here.
Josh Thomas
You rock, Josh!
Thanks for your insightful contributions.
Bob Serling
Bob,
Thank you for your post. I am a IT consultant/Joomla CMS web designer. I have spent many hours constructing websites, but am trying to take that next step of offering more value to my clients by helping them understand that you don’t just throw facts about your business onto a website and expect the world to come banging on your door. I find prospects looking for just a website are looking for a cheap solution. Prospects looking to grow a business through their website are looking for a relationship. I much prefer working with the latter group.
Over the years, I have been trying to fine-tune my business to figure out how to turn those just looking for a website into those looking to grow their businesses long-term. In learning more about SEO for the web, I have found it is also about knowing more about marketing. Like anything else, I find conflicting strategies for implementing SEO and marketing.
Bob, I appreciate your blog post, as on that list you started with, I have tried most of those items at one time or another with not much success. And with the big push for a social media presence coming from clients – I have wondered if those who have tried it are getting the return they expect, for the time they put into it.
I find that because I charge more for building a website presence, that I have to explain why and start building a trust relationship between myself and my client. Most of my new clients are referrals from my other “trusting” clients. That is only something you can do over time.
Bob, I came to find your blog from a SeoBook.com link. I trusted SeoBook.com enough to follow the link for your free ebook. So I would disagree with @Josh (just a little, cause Josh had other very good things to say) in that I am looking for information I can rely on (trust), to help me get a little further down the road and be more successful with my clients (and hence, my business). I do not expect to learn all the nuggets for free. However, since I do not have a huge budget to be spending on marketing tools (and many are very expensive!), I have to be selective. So I read the free stuff and see if it persuades me that my trust is warranted. If I think it is, then I will subscribe to the plan or buy the product. Though not necessarily today.
So I guess I would also have to disagree with the statement that lookers don’t turn into buyers. They can and do. But in looking at a product, each person comes to a point where we try to match up our level of interest with 1) how much do we have to learn to implement it and 2) how much are we committed to spending dollars right now to get what we see.
I don’t think anyone can be everything to all customers. That is why (in my opinion) you are not going to convert everyone that looks. So, @Bob, what I am looking for is information to help me make sure I am striking the key chords with those customers who are most likely to turn into my long term clients. Like strategies and best practices.
And to @Lisa, I have heard that advice from coaches and trainers, too. But you don’t have to give away a product for free. Make it relevant to your business. When you meet with a client to discuss a staging job – how long does it take you for that conversation? An hour? More than an hour? Figure that as your stepping stone to getting the business – Arrange your initial consulting time to go over the basics and give them that hour free. If you haven’t made the sale at the end of the hour, you can say to your customer – “We have come to the end of the free consultation period. I think we have made great strides and I have some wonderful ideas for your project, if you would like to continue.” Only you know what your time is worth, but I have used this successfully with prospective clients and not had one walk away. Keep in mind money talks and your competitors may be less expensive than you – but are your services “value-added” enough to keep your new client’s interest? You need to sell those value-adds to your new client.
Sorry, @Bob, I didn’t mean to be so long-winded. Just wanted to weigh in as I am interested in better marketing and I would like to do it more “holistically” as part of a total strategy as opposed to using the “on-fire this week (month, year)” methodology.
Thanks for the space,
Maybe it is a “timing” thing for me, but, for me, this is a very timely blog post. I just recently took on a client that wanted ‘lead generation’ services from me. A significant part of our discussions centered around the conversion of “qualified leads” as opposed to ‘tire kickers’ that are window shopping freebies. We decided to distinguish between the ‘buyers’ and the ‘tire kickers’ on the opt-in page. Your suggestion of offering ‘high value’ at a bargain price should work perfectly. (by the way, the business is in the home remodeling contracting industry)
I would like to see more such ‘conversion’ articles on your blog.
I’d love to read more about effective tools to generate some constant traffic, preferably in a crowded niche, because getting traffic when there are only two contestants isn’t really that hard
I’m not talking about thousands of people going to your website every day, but without traffic there will be no money, so there should be a constant stream of people coming.
What would be even better, would be free means to get traffic of course, although I understand that Google Adwords for example will often get you very qualified traffic for little money.
This is to Lisa (Home Stager),
Lisa why not create a “how to” document on home-staging. Make it as detailed as possible and really showcase your expertise. Then give that away for free while you simultaneously pitch your “done for you” service.
I am betting that those who try to do it themselves were never good potential clients anyway.
The rest will gladly hire you when they realize how much real work is involved to do it right.
John S.
Great info as always Bob; thanks!
As for “What would be the ideal solution for you to get the help you really want to improve your marketing?” I’d say it’s two points:
1) evaluating a market, product or service as quickly as possible to determine if it has a chance or a dud; and
2) once you find those opportunities worth following, how to determine the most efficient lead generation methods (SEO, PPC, JV, print ads, etc.) to reach your market.
Thanks for this conversation Bob!
Re: What would be the ideal solution for you to get the help you really want to improve your marketing?
I’d like to answer this question by breaking down the list you provided at the start of your post more:
> Pay-per-click
> Facebook
> Article posting
> Forums
> Twitter
> Print ads (newspapers and magazines)
> Other social media’
Specifically, I’d like to know how you would recommend targeting each one of these mediums. I’d be especially interested in knowing how you would reocmmend approaching print ads. In my business, this is an area I would like to explore and take more advantage of. The price is right with one local newspaper, and I’d like to know how you;d recommend approaching someone to design the print ad for us.
A key to the effective use of lead generation software, or any software for that matter is consistent use. Wholesaler
Hmm, so “wholesaler” states that the key to making something work effectively is consistent use.
My take on that is quite a bit different.
For example, if you sell high-ticket software systems with a long selling cycle, you could keep working pay-per-click for the next 20 years and it would not work for you. It wouldn’t matter how consistently you used it.
I believe the point he/she was really trying to make is that too many people give up on a tactic too soon and jump to the next “flavor of the month”. And I wholeheartedly agree with that.
how can i get my website ranking in search engines such as google ? do i focus on backlinks ? How can i get traffic that will buy? i figure my site should be making 5% conversions, but i cant seem to make more than 5 sales total! lol what am i missing. thank you
The competition is increasing everyday, so it is important to use good keywords to attract your ideal prospect, plus provide good value so that they stay and buy. Not an easy task, but do-able if you are consistent in your actions.
Hi Bob,
I liked a few things in particular that you suggested…for instance, when to bring in affiliates.
It’s rather ironic that I listened to this tonight because I followed many of the same steps leading up to a big webinar last night.
We have a great 67% front-end conversion product (free), and we followed it with a conversation and free content delivered through Facebook, our blog, ezine articles, etc.
We had our second best sign-ups ever for our webinar. We had lots of great comments and WOWs, yet few conversions last night and today. I am worried that I gave them too much great content and didn’t build a big enough case for purchasing the product (which we’ve sold twice before and it solves a major pain in our industry).
Luckily, I listened tonight to your process, and will break the content into pieces and send it out in the next few days, and go back to a few of our affiliates to promote it again and add the press release.
We went through this shift in our marketing after hearing one of your competitor’s products that had a similar approach, and yet, what you offered were some interesting twists.
For everyone participating in this conversation, we started the blog conversations about 4 weeks ago for our product, and it has taken all of that time to totally rewrite our sales page, and all promotional materials, so Bob is exactly right…it takes 2 – 4 weeks to do this on top of creating the product. We didn’t use the survey process because our product is already done.
I think we got the front end right, and yet, somehow, there is a disconnect from the amazing comments about the webinar, and 100 questions and comments on the blog to a very poor result on sales so far. It’s not an expensive product, and yet it is our lead product that is most needed by our members.
We have the deadlines, great prices, stacked bonuses, etc. I hope I can take your suggestions and improve conversions. This is so frustrating to me because I think we improved so many things…
We did build a relationship with new people and even our current list, and we have the credibility. Now we need to analyze what’s not working quite right and see if we can make this a success.
So…thank you for sharing your valuable content. I wish we’d taken your class before the current promo!0
Great video content. I wish there was a replay.