I seem to see two different sets of marketers on this site: a) People are making consistent sales, and b) People who's sales are sporadic. I'm not an expert, but I did some article and PPC marketing, and I must say it's a lot harder than sending out an email to someone. I see it to be really strange that people are not generating a mailing list. I send out mailings on a daily basis. Most people get into this because they want "freedom." I don't want to work 9-5 and make some other jack**s rich while I toil away at making HIS company successful. No, I want to be successful with my own project. That's the first reason. The second reason that I'm personally doing it is because I need a way to finance my lifestyle. There are lots of things that I want to do with my life that will not be possible if I end up in somedead end job. So here are 2 reasons why your CB sales suck. And I hope this helps people out: 1) You're not retaining potential clients Do you really think people buy on the first visit? How many times have you gone to a mall, or store, or looked up a product and said, "Hey! I need this. I'm going to buy it!" Never. I'm not an impulse buyer. I'm really really frugal. But at the same time, I purchase at least one fitness product per month. Why? Because I'm interested in it. Which brings me to my second point - 2) You're not attracting the right clients What you want is someone who needs that product. The people that come to my site are people that already workout. I've had people buy multiple times from me because I showed them a need through my blogging. I had one guy buy 5 products from me! So in conclusion, what you need to do is start an opt-in list. Don't do bum marketing. Instead, write your articles and target keywords that arespecifically for your target market. Make the articles really good so they click on it. The idea is to win their trust as quickly as possible so they sign up to your list. I had one guy buy from me 2 days after he signed up after my email list. Now that's how you convert people. Not by sending people to a vendors site and hoping for the best. Yesterday I spent around 6-7 dollars onPPC and didn't get a single sale. I realized this morning that I need to what's working and stop listening to all these people are supposedly experts - but I'm making more sales than they are. I'm officially putting a hold on allppc marketing. It's going to be solely about growing my list as quickly as possible with relevant people. Don't be afraid to send out email everyday. The only people that will unsubscribe are people that will not buy from you. Hope this helps people out!
Well PPC isn't magic, you don't just put 7$ and expect miracles, Especially in the high-competitive niche you're in. You need to put a couple hundred bucks, to filter out the converting and non-converting keywords. It usually takes quite a bit of keyword testing in order to have a profitable campaign. Yes, some people manage to be profitable right off the bat, but you usually need to be at a loss for the first few hundred bucks to get profitable.
Ripped, I wasted close to $800 on PPC marketing last year. And I didn't get close to the amount of results I'm getting with email marketing. All I'm saying is that maybe it's time for a change.
Before sending emails, you dont know he or she will buy your products, so the traffic is not target traffic. You seem got every WHY the sales suck. There are other ways to make sales except email marketing. Sometimes SEO would make more sales than PPC when you have MORE links. Maybe you are right from your personal experience. It takes time to learn IM, I dont think the top affiliates would say they are professional, but from what you said, you seem an IM professional. All in all, it is a good post. Wish you good luch with your email marketing.
No, your email list is your MOST targeted traffic, becuase you are doing two things: 1) Giving away a free gift to people who are already interested in what you're offerring them. In other words, I'm teaching people how to workout with no equipment. They wouldn't download the manual and give me their emails if they don't already workout or familiar with high intensity exercise. and 2) For those that may be beginners/ or not willing to purchase a product, I'm loosening them up with the free manual I'm giving away. They're slowly beginning to trust me. With the manual and every single blog post I send them, they trust me a little bit more. If they don't then they would just unsubscribe. I get around 20-30 emails a day, and only 1 -2 people unsubscribe per day. So, I'm doing a pretty good job at retaining my potential clientelle. And no, I'm not an internet marketing professional.
EXCELLENT write up and great explanation of why we need to use email lists over bum marketing articles. Thanks.
Frankly I don't understand this argument, because building my mailing list requires leads from articles and PPC. In the end you will still need some source of high quality traffic, and some way to convert them whether it be through email blasts or a landing page. I do agree that you need a mailing list however if you wish to consistently bring in sales and retain the few high value purchasers.
Gallito - most people have this problem with PPC, and Article Marketing - some visitors come and purchase the product, but most just leave and never come back. An email list allows you to capture emails, win their trust through giving away some information. You can market to them later on and experience higher conversion rates for the products you are promoting.