Traffic is the easy part
If you ask the average Internet marketer what the most important thing in Internet marketing is, most will say: traffic!
The gurus take advantage of this by pushing one new loony traffic scheme after another.
Are they right?
Is traffic THE most important thing in Internet marketing?
Let’s take a hard look at this…because frankly, if you get this one thing wrong, it’s practically impossible to succeed.
So onward…
It’s called media buying
In the real world of marketing and advertising (as opposed to the make-believe one sold by the Internet gurus), advertising is broken down into:
* research
* creative
* media buying
RESEARCH is figuring out who to sell to, what to sell and how to sell it.
Smart companies invest in research BEFORE they commit time and dollars to running ads. This is the approach we teach at the System Seminar.
CREATIVE is creating the ads. Pretty straightforward.
MEDIA BUYING is the relatively simple and straightforward process of buying ad space or TV and radio time so that your ads have a place to run.
“Traffic” in Internet marketing is nothing more or less than online media buying.
Reality 101
A good media buyer can be worth his or her weight in gold.
They know all the outlets, they can negotiate good deals, they’re aware of “off radar” opportunities…
All good things.
But at the end of the day, it’s a mechanical function.
“Take this ad, put it here, pay this much…”
Here’s the bottom line:
Without a business model and an ad that works, media buys (including Internet traffic buys) are worth ZERO. In fact, they are worth less than zero because they cost you money.
It’s the business and creative strategies that make things happen – NOT the media buy and not the “traffic.”
Look at it this way: Without oxygen, you can’t fly a plane, so oxygen is, in fact, essential to flight.
But it’s the engine and the fuel that gets that plane off the ground.
Traffic is the oxygen. Yes, you need it, but traffic (like oxygen) is not exactly a rare commodity.
A winning creative campaign plugged into a business model that makes dollars and cents is the fuel and engine.
The ONLY way you’re going to get your plane (or your business) off the ground is if you’ve got an engine that works and fuel (business model + creative.)
It’s a jungle out there
So why do the Internet gurus rattle on and on about “traffic?”
Six months ago, it was Twitter. Twitter traffic was going to be the “solution” to every business problem… Now, apparently, it’s Facebook.
Give me a break! These people know they’re selling smoke – but they don’t care, so you need some tools to defend yourself.
Here’s a reliable guide you can use to dissolve the latest “traffic fad” junk the second it hits your inbox.
I recommend that you cut it out and paste it above your computer…
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Traffic + conversion = profits
On the one hand, if I can make the conversion work, I can make the traffic the pay.
On the other hand, if all I have is traffic – “free” traffic, social media traffic, SEO, whatever – and I can’t convert it profitably and on the scale it takes to build a business, I have nothing.
Traffic without conversion = ZERO
Conversion without traffic = POTENTIAL
Traffic + conversion = PROFITS
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What the heck is “conversion?”
Conversion is a term from direct marketing that means a “measurable response.”
In smart Internet marketing, EVERYTHING is about measurable response.
* An opt-in is a measurable response…
* A download is a measurable response…
* Watching a video is a measurable response…
*A click through is a measurable response…
*A sale is a measurable response…
Conversion is getting a prospect to take a specific action you want him to take that leads him closer to making a purchase.
The whole game – the WHOLE game – of Internet marketing is:
– Converting readers to clickers (click through)…
– Visitors to action takers (opt-in, download, buy).
Successful Internet marketers tracks these things.
Tracking tells them what media to get, where to get it, when to buy it and how much to spend.
Buying, or otherwise, acquiring traffic, without this information is flying blind.
The greatest conversion secret
There’s a group of people out there who are experts in the art and science generating maximum conversions.
They’re called….
<drum roll please>
Copywriters.
Copywriters are people who write ads (also known as “ad copy” which is why they’re called “copywriters.”)
These are the guys and gals who put the words on the page that inspire people to click… download…opt-in…and buy.
The surest method I know for getting rich is to connect a sound business model with a skilled copywriter.
But notice, please, that you need BOTH.
The world’s greatest copywriter can’t turn a pig’s ear into a silk purse.
Now, here’s something that few people realize…
Veteran copywriters from the real world – as opposed to make-believe gurus from the Internet world – are also VERY good at creating and
improving business models.
Why?
Because they’ve seen the inner workings of hundreds of businesses…they actually get “under the hood” and tweak the mechanics…and SEE the effect their work has on their client’s profitability.
Bottom line: If you want to improve your conversion (and profits), it’s COPYWRITING that you want to focus on NOT the latest guru-hyped
“traffic-scam-of-the month.”
Masters of conversion
These days it seems everyone and their brother is a copywriter.
That’s understandable because skilled copywriters are very well paid – for obvious reasons. They can actually make or break a business.
But calling yourself a copywriter and charging as if you were a copywriter is not the same as BEING a copywriter.
That’s why I’ve always taken great care who I endorse in the field of copywriting.
I’ve had three copywriters TOTAL speak at the System Seminar: Gary Halbert was one of them.
When I endorse books and home study courses, I talk about John Caples, Claude Hopkins, Vic Schwab, Eugene Schwartz, David Ogilvy, Gary Bencivenga – and the real practitioners who acknowledge these giants – and that’s it!
Selective, very, very, very selective…
When the going gets tough, the tough get going
If you’ve read this far, you know two things:
1. Conversion is FAR more important than traffic or media buying tricks.
2. Copywriters are the world’s best converters.
Enjoy!
Ken