I believe this is probably the blueprint that most people are actually seeking and will work for most marketing endeavors, here goes:

Targeted Traffic + Great Offer = $$$

This is the very simple blueprint but guess what, it works!

So how do we get targeted traffic?

Im sure you have read all the information possible about getting traffic from 100′s of different sources and the truth is that you only need to be KIND OF good with around 2 sources.

Here’s what you need to do:

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GETTING TRAFFIC
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Write 3 articles per day, ending up with 50+ articles all with varying anchor text (long tail keywords) and I generated alot of traffic just from these, I believe this is the best method when your just starting a new website and entering a new niche, you can become an expert, you build natural direct traffic that is pre-sold, you build authority in the niche and in the search engines and best of all, your articles get picked up by other sites which means your links actually grow over time WITHOUT you needing to do anything.

I only submitted to ezinearticles and originally I sent them to a squeeze page and collected email address, this was cool as I was getting lots of traffic and building my list, but guess what, list building is pointless unless you have cash flow!

The more people that see your offer the more likelly they are to buy it, put the sales letter up the front where it will get the most eyeballs, you can add the squeeze page when you know people actually want to buy your stuff.

I also have some previous experience with SEO, now I love free search traffic, its about as targeted as you can get if you find the right keywords, you see people who are searching are ACTIVELY seeking your product, anyways to learn SEO I recommend that you download and watch the stompernet CD’s, the red,blue, gold and purple pack, get ‘em, take a day off and learn it, take notes and implement the ideas as quick as humanly possible.

Lets say you get great at SEO and you decide to go for a term like "dog training", this traffic is great because it will build your list and you will get authority status BUT FOR CASH FLOW IT SUCKS!

There are 3 types of keywords:

a) info seekers (HD Televisions)
b) comparison/pricing (42" HD Televisions)
c) buyers (Samsung 42" HD Television with Wall Bracket)

Im sure you can see above just what im talking about, now the trick for this is to aim your site at high traffic terms (weird huh?) most people would say this was the worst way but I actually think its the best way, here’s why:

If you dominate for a broad phrase the search engines tend to rank you higher for long tail terms almost AUTOMATICALLY, this is especially the case in non-competitive niches, its like they cant find anything relivant so they just assume your the closest match and rank you at the top, this is great because we can get some traffic to the site and find out our buying keywords ($$$).

So how do we find those? Get traffic and install google analytics.

I then stick up an order form or a basic opt in box or something where I can set up a goal and measure the interest and track what keywords converted, if your just testing you can set up a landing page that says:

"Hey are you interested in buying {product xyz}? If so just hit the button below"

Then set up google analytics and set up a goal to track what conversion rate you get and which keywords converted, I see to many people trying to launch huge sales letters and spending so much money on adwords to build a list BUT THEY DONT KNOW IF THESE PEOPLE WILL ACTUALLY BUY SOMETHING!

I’ve often found this easiest way to answer any question is just ask directly, forget surveys, forget opt ins, just have ONE question, the response rate is higher and you will get a faster feel for the market place.

So here is the summary of what you need to do:

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SUMMARY OF TRAFFIC-GETTING
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Write lots of articles for ezinearticles.com, 1 per day for 30 days would be fine.

Learn SEO by watching stompernet CD’s (red, blue, yellow, purple)

Install google analytics, make a landing page with just ONE question on it (HINT: Would you buy product (XYZ) today for [PRICE]?)

Monitor conversion rates and get converting keywords.

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CREATING A GREAT OFFER
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A great offer can be the difference between a dead business and a thriving one (and I learned that the hard way), I initially ran a half price offer when I started to get some traffic and it did pretty well, It was just an order form and I billed them when I completed the work.

Then it got to sucessfull so I thought id change the offer around, I created a survey and the last question was about what kind of price the customer would expect to pay, they said a really low number so to test it I created a buy now button that was for that price and they would pay upfront, the result was shockingly bad, 1 conversion in 500 website visitors, I know for a fact that this was NOT due to rubbish traffic as my offer was working when I just had the order form up (and no buy now button).

Sometimes what people say and what they do are simply NOT congruent, they give logical answers instead of actual ones, price point is an example, when asking the customer what price they expected to pay they quoted a low price because they all wanted a cheap deal, when infact I know this was a total BS answer and I know that BECAUSE I TESTED AND GOT THE ACTUAL DATA.

The next thing id recommend is that you implement feedback loops, get to know the buying triggers and questions that you market place has, I mean really dig deep, your competition has probably NEVER done this but you need to if you want to suceed.

Just implement a small survey or even just one question every week or month, run it for 100 responses and take a look at the feedback, im sure you will find it facinating to read what actual visitors are saying.

One example you might do is under the buy now button or order form you should ask "If your still hesistant about purchasing today could you please tell me why?" I mean its such a simple idea but that data is GOLD, if I can find out why someone isnt buying from me then I can correct that problem and get more sales!

I think we often just ASSUME we know what people will do when they get to our website, we know what to do so they MUST know, however you cant just assume with these things, you have to test and get some feedback from the market, ask them so many damn questions over time that you could write a book about them as a "herd".

You should know why they buy, you should know how they buy, you should know what other products they want to buy, you should know what thier budget it, you should know how they found your site, you should know what they eat for damn breakfast!

Get as much data as possible on them by asking quick one question surveys, then all you do is take the feedback you get, find the trends and common issues and work them into your sales letter, pretty easy!

As for the offer you should test differnet ways to get the sale but I find the best one is giving them a chunk of the product and telling them to pay when happy, this is good for the service based industry, info products you can give away and tell them you will bill them 30 days later, membership sites give them a free 30 day trial, physical products you can do 3 easy payments with 30 day free trial or whatever.

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SUMMARY OF GREAT OFFERS
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Test different ways of getting conversions (30 day trial, bill me later, free shipping, 3 easy payments)

Put your offer where the most traffic is (homepage is preferable)

Focus on sales, nothing else matters but cash flow unless you are making BIG money.

DO lots of ONE QUESTION surveys and just ASK people directly what you want them to answer, you never know unless you ask!

Gather together the feedback and find commen problems in the marketplace then just work them into a sales letter and address each issue.

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IF YOU DO NOTHING ELSE, DO THIS:
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Install Google Analytics, monitor results and note down BUYING keyphrases, build links for those phrases and build out web 2.0 properties and dominate the entire page for your buying terms.

Implement ONE question surveys, what is your biggest question that you want to ask your website visitors?

ASK THAT QUESTION DIRECTLY.

Thats it, thats pretty much all you need to know.

Forget everything else and just focus on building THESE areas, seriously dont waste your time with anything else, its not important, you can be a great copywriter, ad tweaker, seo’er, carpet cleaner, fitness trainer, list builder…WHATEVER, but if you dont have any cash flow and sales and you dont know your marketplace and converting keywords then you aint gunna last long!

Go make some money.