How do you generate targeted traffic to an offer and make money online?
This simple question is pretty much the foundation of Internet marketing. And the answer is surprisingly easy.
Last week I launched a traffic campaign for a new product I’m promoting in the personal development niche.
Now this niche is completely foreign to me. I don’t have JV partners. I don’t have an existing list.
So I went with the fastest, most efficient way to generate targeted traffic. And that’s through paid solo ads.
Solo ads are the quickest way to build an email list and generate targeted traffic. It is also the quickest way to lose money, if you don’t know what you’re doing.
I spent $29,000 on a number of different solo ad providers and made $16,000 worth of sales. Now some people may see this as a loss.
But through my strategy I gained 19,000 new subscribers to my email list.
So what does this mean? Did I gain, lose or break even?
In order to answer this question, you must first understand the strategy.
You see, whenever you are paying for traffic, you absolutely must make it worth your while by utilizing the power of the sales funnel.
It doesn’t matter if you’re spending $29,000 or $29 on paid traffic. If you don’t have a deep sales funnel in place, you will always be running at a loss.
So let’s break down the concept of the sales funnel.
Tier 0: Capturing Emails
At the very top is your tier 0. This is also known as your “Ethical Bribe.” You offer something for free in return for an email address.
Your tier 0 is a squeeze page.
All you ask for is their email address. Once they type it in the box provided and hit the button below, they’ll receive their free gift and you’ll receive their email.
And this is the single most important step you must have when you run a paid traffic campaign.
Always direct your traffic to your squeeze page.
Never direct your traffic to the sales page.
Why?
- Even if you make a few sales and receive your commission, as an affiliate you will NOT receive the contact information of the buyer
- For the traffic you paid for that clicked on your link but did not make a purchase and left the sale page, you will never find them again
The way I see it, it’s a lose-lose situation for you.
You lose out on the contact information of the people that purchased and you lost out on the contact information of the people that did not purchase.
The rule of seven: a prospect needs to engage with a brand, product or service at least seven times before they take action.
By building your email list, you have a direct line of contact with prospects who are interested enough to click your links and sign up for free information. Nurture them, build rapport and promote again further down the line. The chances are they will make their purchase through you.
If you are not building a list, you are not building a business.
The size of your income is equal to the size of your email list.
There are marketers who state that one subscriber on their list is worth $1 a month to them. I’m going to tone it back and be a little more conservative.
For me, one subscriber on my list is worth $1.
Going Down The Funnel
Once your lead gives you their email address and claims their free gift, they go deeper into your sales funnel where you introduce them to your tier 1. This is your low-ticket item that is priced between $27 – $50.
For this case study, I was promoting a $37 product.
If the lead purchased the $37 product, I offered a one-time offer. A premium version priced at $67.
If the premium version was purchased, I offered a second one-time offer. A membership priced at $37 a month.
And so as the customer goes deeper into the sales funnel, the potential to earn increases.
Knowing Your Numbers
Now that you have a sales funnel in place, you have to know your numbers.
The $29,000 was spread out across more than 10 individual solo ad vendors.
I kept an excel spreadsheet with each vendor and the results they created. This is another must for you if you are planning on paying for traffic. You have to analyze the quality of the clicks you are receiving.
In order to know if you made money, lost money or broke even, you must track your numbers.
DISCLAIMER: I want to make it clear that these are my personal results and yours will vary. I am neither endorsing nor bashing the solo ad vendors listed in this post. There are multiple variables and factors that make it impossible to determine which vendors are “better” than others, if at all. My email swipes, headlines, squeeze pages, copywriting etc. could all be reasons for good or poor conversions.
So back to the question…
$29,000 spent on solo ads.
$16,000 worth of sales.
19,000 subscribers on my email list.
Did I gain, lose or break even?
Front end sales alone obviously didn’t cover my spending. And that’s why it’s so important to have a deep sales funnel that offers either a high ticket item down the line, or a recurring billing product. Better yet, both.
On top of that the size of the list I generated by driving the traffic to my squeeze page before promoting the offer more than makes up the remaining $13,000.
When it comes to making money online, don’t get pulled into the thrill of short term gratification.
Although I technically lost money in this case study, in the long term my new subscribers are going to make back that money and more.
