Traffic generation is one of the most important things you’ll need to do as an affiliate marketer. Simply put, without traffic you don’t have an Internet business.
The problem most people have with traffic generation is they understand the techniques, but NOT the mindset behind many of them.
Fortunately Logan has a great guest post which details a number of “Inner Game” strategies that can take your web traffic to the next level…
You’ve read all the blog posts, you’ve spent DAYS on social media, you’ve written until your hand aches and your pen runs dry…
…but the people are elusive.
They won’t come.
No matter what you do, your site remains a barren wasteland of unseen dreams.
Empty.
Worthy of attention, but invisible to the masses.
Does this sound familiar?
You have an idea, you create a website, you spend COUNTLESS hours writing dozens (or hundreds) of blog posts.
But…
No one links to you, almost no one comments, no one shares what you have to say and your analytics look like a heart attack victim.
Not anymore.
In this post, I’m going to expose the TRUTH about what it really takes to get visitors.
Traffic.
Loads of traffic.
No…I’m not going to give you 29 amorphous “traffic tips” or any other rehashed B.S. We’re gonna dive deep…to the heart of the matter…and tackle your traffic problem once and for all.
Sound cool?
Awesome. Let’s start.
[title color=”green-vibrant” align=”scmgccenter” font=”verdana” style=”normal” size=”scmgc-2em”]The “Deep Inner Game” of Traffic Generation[/title]
Most people look at generating traffic completely wrong.
Like absolutely backwards.
Here’s the thing:
Building massive amounts of traffic is NOT about learning the latest “shiny object” tactic or strategy.
Not at all.
In fact, building traffic isn’t even about traffic.
It’s about CONVERSIONS.
It’s about getting actual human beings to click your ad, follow your link or “like” your fan page.
And how do you increase conversions?
First, you understand the deep inner desires, fantasies and “hot buttons” of your target audience.
You research your market and find out exactly what people are ALREADY looking for. The struggles they are going through, their pain points, the dreams that even they can’t put a finger on…
Then, you optimize your marketing to speak directly to these emotions.
You create a powerful “connection” between your conversion system and the needs of the people you are trying to reach.
You provide a solution so right-on-the-money that people are fighting like hungry sharks to get at your bait.
Literally banging your door down to get access to your material.
Once you can achieve this kind of “feeding frenzy” effect, you will never have to worry about traffic ever again.
But before we get ahead of ourselves…let’s take a step back.
Let’s take a deep breath and approach this traffic puzzle from square one: The place 99% of affiliate marketers never go.
[title color=”green-vibrant” align=”scmgccenter” font=”verdana” style=”normal” size=”scmgc-2em”]Your Job as an Affiliate Marketer[/title]
Okay so before we dive into the “nitty gritty” of this post, I want to establish something of paramount importance: Your job as an affiliate marketer.
Your job as an affiliate marketer is simple: to provide solutions to peoples problems.
To cure pains.
To fix ailments.
NOT to tell/sell people what you think they need.
Sorry, but your readers don’t care about you.
Not even a little bit.
They care about themselves and their needs…and whether or not you can solve them.
Simple.
With this in mind, if you want to make screaming progress you must identify an unfulfilled need…and then fill it.
Better than anyone else.
Fill it so thoroughly that people are left dumbfounded by the amount of value you’ve given them.
Reeling in the awesomeness of your content.
Unfortunately, this is not what most people do.
Most people write (mediocre) content and marketing about what THEY think their readers want to hear.
They focus on their credentials and fill their site with random musings while ignoring the hulking problem that is “emotionally motivating” their readers to search for a solution.
Don’t make this mistake.
Spend some time to uncover your audience’s hidden motivators and watch your traffic soar.
[title color=”green-vibrant” align=”scmgccenter” font=”verdana” style=”normal” size=”scmgc-2em”]The Four Step Process To Flooding Your Site With Traffic[/title]
Okay, now it’s time for the good stuff.
You understand how flawed most people’s perception of traffic is.
You realize the importance of providing solutions.
Now it’s time to take this theoretical philosophy and bring it down to Earth. Tomerge it with the specific, actionable strategies that will create HUGE results in your business.
Here’s the deal:
Traffic comes last. Yep, last.
Before you even think about writing guest posts, buying Facebook ads or building links, there are four steps you must complete. Four steps that are absolutely essential to your online success–especially in today’s crowded markets.
Here they are:
[title color=”green-vibrant” align=”scmgccenter” font=”verdana” style=”normal” size=”scmgc-2em”]Step 1: Uncover a common problem you can solve[/title]
It all starts here.
With you recognizing a need that is being unmet.
This can be a bit tricky and will evolve over time…but here’s a few tips to get you started:
1. Be an idea hawk
The first step is to consciously look for unmet needs while running your business. When you’re reading through comments, answering emails and connecting with other marketers.
Once you start looking for unmet needs, you’ll start to see them everywhere.
2. Run surveys
If you already have an audience, one of the best ways to uncover unmet needs is to run surveys. Use the free tool SurveyMonkey to compose regular surveys that dive into the fears, desires and frustrations of your readers.
This can be a great way to gain insight into the minds of your audience…but you have to do it right.
Surveys can come across as annoying and it’s important to ask effective, high leverage questions.
For a great “survey crafting” resource, check out Ramit Sethi’s “How to Write a $100,000 Survey.”
3. Use email
I’m all about automation, especially when it comes to my email list.
But there’s one (unconventional) email strategy I will never automate.
Here’s how it works:
Every time someone joins my list, I take the time to send them a personal email.
From my “private” gmail account.
In this email I thank the person for signing up, build anticipation for the value to come, and then ask one high-leverage question:
“What is your biggest marketing problem right now?”
This “insight gaining” question, combined with the relationship-building power of a personal email is extremely powerful. (I must give credit where credit is due. Thanks to Derek Halpern for sparking this idea)
In addition to this specific strategy, I also try to weave powerful questions into my blog posts and follow-up emails.
4. Actually Talk to people
While email and surveys can be effective, nothing compares to speaking one-on-one with your readers.
This can be via email or on social media.
Or IDEALLY…you offer free or paid consulting and talk with dozens of people over the phone.
However you do it, the most important thing you can do for your business is to spend time everyday interacting with your customers and asking what their needs, problems and fantasies are.
Remember: you are looking for an “emotionally motivating” UNMET need that people are ALREADY trying to solve but have few perceived options.
Uncover a problem like this and you win.
[title color=”green-vibrant” align=”scmgccenter” font=”verdana” style=”normal” size=”scmgc-2em”]Step 2: Define your audience[/title]
Trying to appeal to everyone is one of the biggest mistakes you can make as an affiliate marketer. It will ruin your business.
By trying to appeal to everyone–by not taking a clear and specific stance–you will end up appealing to no one.
By targeting too wide an audience you will dilute your message and end up not even connecting with your ideal customer.
Not want you want to do.
With this in mind, the next step is to determine a SPECIFIC segment of people who you want to “talk to.”
Who you’re going to direct your marketing at.
If you’ve done the last step, you should already have an idea of who you want to target.
Maybe it’s 30-50 year old chronically injured Republican male tennis players.
Maybe it’s 18-30 year old females who want to lose weight but hate exercise.
Whoever it is, here are five guiding questions to help you identify your ideal target audience:
- Is this person experiencing an emotionally motivating pain, problem or (as Eben Pagan calls it) “irrational passion?”
- Is this person already looking for your solution?
- Does this person have few or no perceived options?
- Is there potential for a long term relationship? (can you make money over and over again?)
- Are other people making money targeting a similar audience?
If you can answer yes to all five of these questions, you’ve got your audience.
Awesome.
Above all, remember this:
When defining an audience…go narrow, polarize, and talk to one specific group of people.
Not ten, one.
People follow leaders who stand for something so speak enthusiastically to one group and IGNORE EVERYONE ELSE!
[title color=”green-vibrant” align=”scmgccenter” font=”verdana” style=”normal” size=”scmgc-2em”]Step 3. Craft your marketing message[/title]
Okay so by now you’ve uncovered and unmet need and defined a narrow target market.
The next step is to craft a USP that speaks directly to your audience’s “pain points.” A message that makes people stop DEAD in their tracks and give your site their full attention.
While I could create a whole course on this topic, here are a few key things you need to remember:
1. Give people what they want, not what they need
When crafting your contagious marketing message, you must speak to the DESIRES your audience has, even if that’s not what they need.
For example, people looking to build a popular website want that one killer strategy–that “magic bullet” tactic that will virtually guarantee their success.
And as you probably know, such a tactic doesn’t exist.
What that person really NEEDS is a holistic education in marketing, copywriting, traffic and conversions.
But people don’t want to hear that.
They want a push-button solution that will solve their problems fast with little or no effort…
…and your job is to give that to them.
To draw your audience in with a killer tactic that will excite and motivate people to take action, THEN give them what they really need.
While marketing is all about fulfilling expressed desires, you can still give people the holistic solution that will give them real, long term results.
Just not at first.
2. Make it tangible not abstract
People are FAR more motivated when others speak to tangibles rather than intangibles.
I realize that sentence is probably horrifically intangible, so let me put it another way:
We are far more motivated by hard, real world, “tangible” things than abstract, up-in-the-air concepts and ideas.
For example, “gain financial freedom” is quite abstract.
On the other hand, “Have $1,325 deposited directly into your bank account in two weeks” is much more tangible. And much more motivating.
You can “see” it in your mind.
In order to captivate your audience, speak not to “wishy-washy” concepts but to real world tangible BENEFITS that represent their problem being solved.
3. Use the words they’ve given you
When you’re interacting with your audience, pay attention to the words they use to describe their needs.
Are there certain phrases that keep popping up?
Are there certain ways of describing the problem that you hear over and over again?
If there are, you may have just found your marketing.
If several people are using a similar “emotion filled” phrase to explain their problem…chances are it will resonate with many more.
4. Make it Purposeful, Original and Pithy
In the (fantastic) book Pop!, Sam Horn lays out three rules for creating a marketing message that stands out:
- Make it Purposeful: Accurately articulate the essence of your offering. Make it clear not clever.
- Make it Original: Offer something unlike anyone else. Create a “new tell-a-friend phenomenon.”
- Make it Pithy: Make your message concise and impactful. People are impatient so make your long story short and motivating.
Like much of what we’ve talked about here, creating and refining your message will be a process.
You won’t get it exactly right the first time.
But with enough testing and refining…you’ll eventually be able to “crack the code” and initiate a frenzy of excitement from your audience…every single time.
[title color=”green-vibrant” align=”scmgccenter” font=”verdana” style=”normal” size=”scmgc-2em”]Step 4: Filter and Convert[/title]
The final “pre-traffic” step is to create a system designed to convert traffic into internet gold: email subscribers.
Like traffic, most people approach conversion entirely wrong.
They ask for the opt-in/sale BEFORE they demonstrate value. Before they show the prospect that they can solve their problem.
This is a huge mistake.
As you’ll see when you visit my site, I take a radically different approach.
I create a “system” that is designed to demonstrate enormous value, invoke curiosity, and MAXIMIZE the leverage of my actions.
While my “gift package” is only one way to convert visitors, there are two things you need to remember when designing a conversion system:
- You must “emotionally motivate” your visitors. You must speak to your audiences “pain points” and “sell the dream” in a way that inspires them to take action.
- You must deliver value BEFORE you ask a visitor to take action. Unless they see that you have information that they want, why should they care?
[title color=”green-vibrant” align=”scmgccenter” font=”verdana” style=”normal” size=”scmgc-2em”]Bottom Line[/title]
As you can see, there is more to building traffic than meets the eye.
Far more.
Before you even think of buying Facebook ads, writing guest posts or creating a Youtube funnel, spend at least a few days (yes, days) sorting out who your audience is, what problem they have, and how you can speak to them with a dynamic marketing message.
Yes this will require significant effort, time and testing…but the results can be mind-blowing.
Astronomical.
If you spend the time to sort out these critical aspects of building traffic…your analytics will take a sharp turn for the heavens. Click through rates will skyrocket, conversions will increase, your email list will flourish.
I know I’ve given you a lot to think about in this post, but don’t become overwhelmed.
As I said earlier, this is a process. It won’t happen overnight.
They key is just to get started.
Put up an opt-in form, plan a survey, take action and then tweak your site/message/conversion system along the way. Hundreds of tiny improvements can add up to one helluva traffic system.
[title color=”green-vibrant” align=”scmgccenter” font=”verdana” style=”normal” size=”scmgc-2em”]My Special Gift to Steve Scott Site Readers[/title]
I’ve put together a resource kit just for Steve Scott Site readers that I think you’ll love! Check out this page, enter your email and I’ll immediately send you some awesome free material that I’ve prepared specially for you.
You’ll receive a BRAND NEW guide I’m calling the “New Guest Blogging Formula.“
In it you will learn:
- Why 99% of bloggers are literally flushing money down the drain when they write a guest post…and how to avoid their mistakes.
- How to make guest blogging work again and gain HUNDREDS of email subscribers per guest post.
- The secret “formula” I use to create killer blog posts every single time.
Thanks so much for reading this post and don’t forget to pick up your exclusive free gift.
Take Action. Get Results.
Wow this is a big, but surely helpful post. It is hard to stop being a blogger that noone likes. But after reading this, i understood that there is a reason for this happening. Thank you for spending so much time and effort to provide tips!
No problem Rashmi, glad you enjoyed it!
What a great 4-step strategy, Steve.
Guest posting is really powerful way to earn new subscribers, traffic and links. I am heading over to download the free ebook. Thanks for giving away the free stuff.
-Dev
Hey Logan (and Steve),
This is one of the best guest posts I’ve read in a very long time. Like you said, a lot of people are doing it the wrong way. They are just looking for the traffic, and the high numbers. They’re not looking for what’s behind the numbers. And that’s exactly what I used to do.
When I looked at the stats on my blog, I didn’t care where the visitors came from, and why they ended up on my blog. If I had 1,000 unique visitors a day, I was the happiest man on earth. But, the 1K visitors a day didn’t help me grow my business, they didn’t even comment or share my posts. But I didn’t care. I had more than 1K visitors a day. That was an achievement.
Now, I feel that it’s not a numbers game really. I’m thinking that people aren’t equal. One person that visits my website can end up buying a lot, while another person might not buy anything.
What you’re saying reminds me of the traditional marketing mix. Most people seems to think that marketing is all about promotion, but in the end the thing that matters are also the product, price and place. Research is more important than ever, especially now that we know that most people are more or less immune to traditional advertisements.
Exactly Jens. In my experience, the numbers don’t matter at all. I’ve seen people generate more profit from a few hundred people than the “gurus” do with lists of 100,000 people.
It’s all about driving TARGETED traffic, creating a relationship with people, and showing each and every visitor that you understand their problems and have the perfect solution for them.
Thanks for the comment!
Nice post, Steve can you please tell us your thoughts on the recently released search algorithm update and if you have noticed any effects in any direction. Thanks.
Traffic is vital for any blog. that’s why tips such as these are sure to help. I love the part about “Define Your Audience”. I think that Content is King, so once you get the target audience right, you’ll know exactly what type of content to write.
Hi Logan,
it’s nice to read you here. Great post.
Just one thing, I didn’t know who was the author of the post until I read the comments.
There’s no short introduction about you in the post (nor at the end). It only says “Logan”.
It’s actually a great and helpful piece of information. I am happy that you shared this helpful information with us. Please stay us informed like this. Thank you for sharing.