Yes, it’s true some methods take anywhere from 3 days to 90 days to take root, and that advertising can be faster. (We already went over the fact that you cannot get fast, cheap/free and good countless times, so I’m not going to go into that).
No, it is not true that all free traffic methods take forever to start working. Almost every method has a fast-track, you just have to find it. Is that fast track as good as building a system? No. But for fast, free and okay? Can’t be beat.
Let’s get right to it.
#1 – Choose the Right Traffic Methods.
We went over the Avalanche and the Blizzard the other day. Why?
Because with every traffic method you have to ask yourself, am I going to get immediate results with a short term burst, or am I going to patiently build a system that will bring me long-term results?
If you know what you’re doing, you can get social media, social networking, article marketing, expertise marketing, affiliate/referral marketing, and organic search results within the first 24 hours.
If you don’t know what you’re doing, go find someone who knows and ask them to do it.
Picking the wrong system will crush you. If you want immediate traffic, rather than a traffic system, starting a blog isn’t the best strategy. Blogs will bring you traffic forever. But the momentum doesn’t start until it’s up. If you’re not technically inclined, you may not have a blog up today.
If you don’t know what to say in blog comments, you might not be able to start the traffic train this afternoon. If you don’t know what to put in the ping section, it could be a day or so before the notification sites list you.
Picking the right system is critical.
#2 – Employ the Method Efficiently & Immediately, Even if It Means Getting Help
Here’s one example. I defy you to try this, right now, today and if you don’t get results by tomorrow, come back, leave a response to this thread, and I’ll look at your link and tell you exactly what you did wrong.
Turn every single distraction off. Do not open your email, answer your phone, text anyone, go to Twitter, or respond to questions or even look at your staff members until this is done.
Go write a top ten article. If you can write a grocery list, even if you’re completely inept at writing an email, you can manage a good top ten article.
Send it to a submissions service to post it online. Article Marketer will let you sample their service for free.
Publish the article on your site.
Set up a Google Alerts on the title of the article.
If you did nothing else but that, you should be done in a couple of hours max. It’s not that the activity takes forever. It’s that we’re all so paralyzed in wondering if we’re doing it right, and busy doing non-work that we don’t finish.
And you know what else? If you didn’t like your article, if you hate your results? Outsource it. The whole thing. Have someone else write the article, and give you the rights. Have someone else do the submissions and hand you a report.
Not free anymore but it’s done, and still faster than most ads go up. Yes, 24 hours is sometimes faster than it takes for advertising to show up in an ezine.
Tomorrow your article should start appearing on various sites. Today if you like, you can start posting it to sites online yourself.
#3 Do It Again. Learn from mistakes and do it better.
Here’s a simple concept.
Do something.
If you get any measure of success?
Do it again.
Then.
Do it again.
Then. Keep doing it. Ask our good friend Mr. Joyner about his Integrated Marketing system if that confuses you.
For now, just know that when you hit on that great traffic builder? Your first job is to see if you can duplicate your success and for how long. If it keeps bringing you traffic, and better traffic at that, turn it into a system. If it only brings you a lot of traffic once in a while, then obviously that’s one of the avalanches you can only use a few times.
Digg traffic? Is an avalanche. For some sites, they’re lucky if they can get on the front page once a year, some get on the front page once a day, but it’s just not a source of traffic that helps lay a foundation you can build on forever.
StumbleUpon traffic? Is a blizzard. No, it’s not going to covert to sales. Anyone who discounts it because of that, is, quite frankly, a dumb ass. That’s like saying water sucks because it doesn’t turn into soda in your mouth.
SU isn’t for that. Networking and gaining leads? Sure. First-visit sales? Don’t be silly.
Wrapping It Up
Does that mean don’t pay for traffic?
Heck no. If you’ve got the money, spend on advertising, but track and test. Spend as wisely as you can. Speed is a wise expenditure – you can get advertising to show up on Google in 15 minutes. If I don’t want to stand in line, I go to 7-11 and pay almost double.
If saving the time a- makes sense for YOU and b- you can now, and know you’ll continue to afford it, then that’s all that matters.
Just remember that an ad doesn’t get you expert status, links, or make it easier to convert sales. Nor can you get more of it with less if you fall on hard economic times.
Trust me, when you have your last dollar in hand is the WORST time to try and find out whether you can get customers in a place other than advertising.
Still, I’ll be the first person to tell you that when you find a good paid advertising source keep using it, forever if you can.
But especially while you ramp up the traffic from free or inexpensive sources. To paraphrase John Reese in the original Traffic Secrets promotion, the only way to know if your product sells well enough to rely on free traffic – test it on paid traffic.
At the same time, passing up effective, no-cost marketing strategies is like flushing your money down the toilet.
