Internet Business Formula

[Matthew]

While I do not want this to just sound like an ad (which it really is), I will post nonetheless.

I have been running a free email course for those that wish to start their own Internet business. There really is no catch - I give as much information as I can away for free. I was able to generate over $120,000 of sales in the last few months of 2005 from another niche market and decided to help others to do the same.

The site is www.internetbusinessformula.com

Remember, it is FREE. This isn't some autoresponder email course that will give you two issues and then try to sell you the rest of the product.

[Matthew]

Oh, and if you do sign up, please come back here and post what you think. Or you can email me just by replying to the newsletters that you get. I am always trying to improve the course, so user input is essential.

[LordKaT]

Sounds useful, so what the hell, I signed up.

One thing I wish more people would discuss is how to gain traffic without first having an already popular site. Every system out there already assumes you have the traffic ;)

[Matthew]

That's true, and that's actually one of the top questions that I get from my readers.

The funny thing is, I didn't start having success getting a lot of traffic to my websites until I gave up trying and just made the sites for fun. It turns out that when you make a site without thinking of making money from it it ends up being a bigger success because it ends up getting designed for the user rather than the webmaster!

Just some quick tips for getting traffic to your website for free:

1. Write articles. Submit them to article directories like www.ezinearticles.com and similar sites. I will discuss that in the email course more.

2. Start an email list. Although you might get little traffic you should convert as much of it into a newsletter list. This helps to make your website more viral. It also helps you to build a relationship with your visitors rather than just making $0.20 from them when they click on your Google Ad and then that's it! This too is discussed in the newsletter.

3. If you really like to write, start a blog. Heck, Joel even does this, so obviously there must be some merit to this!

4. Don't think about making money until you have built a solid relationship with your customers. Do you know how to do this? Actually answer their emails! That's a strange concept to some marketers, but it is probably the most powerful way to make money online - actually get to know your list.

There's lots of other things you can do too, like link exchanging, search engine optimization, etc. The truth is I don't pay for any advertising for the site that I mentioned above, and yet I am building a newsletter list faster than any of my other websites.

[markp-r]

I just signed up for your email course. I'm excited...

Always a good idea to listen to people who are actually generating revenue online.

I'll keep an open mind, and see what you have to offer...

Thanks again...

[Matthew]

You're welcome!

And don't forget to tell me what you think!

[webmoolah]

Hi,

I think LordKaT makes a valid point here. Internet marketing success depends largely on your ability to drive targeted traffic to your website both in the short and long term, but this is often easier said than done. Here are some ideas and techniques I personally use to drive traffic to my sites without having to rely to heavily on search engine placement:

1. Adwords - Build up a HUGE keyword list that relates to your specific topic and budget a set amount to use each day. Set your bid to around 2-3 cents per click (ignoring what others are bidding) and write about 10 good ads. When you look at your keyword list google puts the words "inactive for search" next to each of those keywords that require a higher bid to activate - BUT, believe it or not, they want YOUR money, so they display your ads as vigorously as possible to try and meet your budget. This works in your favour, as not only does it generate alot of traffic at little cost to you, but also gives you the ability to "trade off" that traffic for profit by optimizing your pages for adsense. Now the key term here is "inactive for search", not "inactive for content"! Despite the fact that you may or may not end up in searches, you will end up embedded in content - I have tested this and it really does work. I generate thousands of hits everyday to my sites using this method and it costs me peanuts.

2. Get 1 or 2 links on reasonably good PR sites. This gets you indexed fast. I have fine-tuned this to the point where I can publish a site and within a week pages are indexed and drawing traffic from search engines. If the site you have your link on updates its content regularly, then that is even better as it could be just days before search engines are lapping at your door.

3. Use Content Effectively - Use content to the fullest possible extent, and add content on a regular basis. If possible, automate this process so that you don't have to manually do it. All of my sites are auto-updated with information freely available in the public domain - but the secret is to make this content "your own" through positioning and relationships with other content. Look at any one of my sites and you will soon see that I use this to maxium effect. Free content is everywhere, you don't have to look far to find it. Again, place your adsense ads in this content and really make it work hard for you. Affilitate products also provide excellent content - if integrated effectively promoting these products adds keyword rich content as well and aids significantly in making each page "unique". It doesn't matter that the same article or press release is available on a million other sites - what matters is that it is integrated successfully and "personalized" on YOUR site. Value-added content is the key to internet marketing success - whether you are trying to generate traffic, sell affiliate products or services, or make money with adsense - if you ain't got content, you ain't got nothing!

4. Buy Targeted Traffic - You would be amazed at how little targeted traffic will cost you and how effective it can be. You only need a very small percentage of traffic to be responsive and you are making money. I personally use a reputable traffic wholesaler and buy in batches of 100,000 unique visitors per month. The cost per 1,000 is pennies, and you only need a very small number of these visitors to respond and you are making money in one way or another.

5. Find Good Long Term Link Partners - I use SEO Elite for this purpose. There is no other software that comes even close to the magic this software performs when it comes to finding good link partners. I would rather have half a dozen good link partners, than 100 moderate ones. Choose your targets carefully and reward them well - these types of linking arrangements are worth gold to you in the long run.

6. Use Press Releases - Publishing a press release costs very little, but provides an abundance of backlinks and targeted traffic. I have used this method of publicity very successfully to launch niche products and the response is truly unbelievable. A well worded press release can be the start of something huge and provide the foundation upon which to build your future success. Take a look at Press Equalizer for this - personally recommended!

If you want to see any of the above in action (putting my money where my mouth is so to speak - take a look at www.softscript.biz (http://www.softscript.biz) - www.123webmarketing.biz (http://www.123webmarketing.biz) - www.myarticles.biz (http://www.myarticles.biz) or www.tradingbureau.com (http://www.tradingbureau.com) where
you can see the free content integrated with clickbank products and adsense. Each of these sites makes money!

Hope this helps and if you have any specific questions relating to any of the above I am happy to help you out if I can.