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The 5 Worst Traffic Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

What would you do if you were piloting a Boeing 737 down a runway, throttle maxed out…

…only to see another jet barreling towards the same runway intersection, timed to meet in a perfect disaster?

That’s exactly what happened on a June evening at Boston’s Logan airport. Only the quick thinking of the first officer saved the lives of the 381 people on board both planes, which otherwise would have collided just after lifting off the ground.

One plane had already reached its liftoff speed and couldn’t abort the takeoff, but the other pilots were able to keep their plane on the ground, which passed just 70 feet under the other plane as it lifted off.

As it turned out, the whole problem was a traffic mistake caused by busy and distracted air traffic controllers. One gave permission to one plane, another gave permission to the other.

With a terminal in between their lines of sight, neither plane could see the other as they moved forward in their X-shaped patterns until it was almost too late.

Deadly Mistakes…

Such traffic mistakes can be nearly as catastrophic for your business, too.

You might be humming along, doing your thing, with no idea how close you are to a disaster that could completely cripple your business, waste your advertising budget, and crush your entrepreneurial dreams.

Here are the top five biggest traffic mistakes to avoid at all costs…

 

1. Poor message to market match

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First I want to mention the deadly mistake of crafting a non-compliant message for your traffic platform. For example, advertising any kind of “get rich quick” or “make money” offer on Facebook will quickly get your account shut down, so don’t take any chances there!

Next is not understanding your prospect’s level of awareness or the traffic source’s culture.

For example, “cold” traffic mediums (like banners, solo ads, or PPV traffic) are going to expose your offer to the least aware prospects, which simply means they aren’t going to know who you are.

By their nature, cold traffic sources are an “interruptive” medium; those who see your ad didn’t specifically raise their hand and ask to see it. They weren’t actively searching for your solution. And therefore it is interrupting whatever else they were doing online.

Note that this isn’t good or bad, it’s just the nature of cold traffic methods.

Cold prospects will typically have little to no knowledge of your company, your opportunity, and possibly even your industry, and certainly not awesome value you personally have to offer!

The only thing they are likely to have an awareness of is their own pains and frustrations and the only style of advertising they will respond to is very aggressive and based in benefits and curiosity. (Like “make money” or “lose belly fat.”)

Warm” traffic mediums—like readers of your blog or emails, or your fans on Facebook—already know who you are and what you have to offer. You’ve already established a certain level of likeability and trust.

These prospects want to be engaged. They want to be educated. They’re looking for leadership. They know they have a problem and are actively looking for a solution. You just need to catch them at the right time and convert them into your customer. And you do this by continuing to ingratiate yourself in their world and providing value.

Key take away:

Your message is dependent on your audience and platform.

 

2. Relying on free traffic

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Yes, free traffic is great. Yes, you should start working to get it. Yes, blogging and video marketing are amazing vehicles of exposure … but you shouldn’t rely on free traffic exclusively when you’re just getting started.

Think about the unknown artist who is singing and playing a guitar on a street corner, hoping for some change in his guitar case compared to today’s most popular acts—Taylor Swift or Ed Sheeran or The Rolling Stones—playing sold out concerts to tens of thousands of fans.

When you’re new, your value isn’t established. The cold hard reality is that nobody cares what you have to say. Not yet, anyway.

Free traffic is based on producing awesome content that people want to consume. Free traffic takes time, knowledge, and consistency—daily, for a long time. Free traffic is also not scalable because you don’t have any control over what and when something might go viral.

Plan to use a paid traffic strategy to get your business started.

Paid traffic gets your message in front of potential leads without them having to search for you, and as a new business, you need to get eyeballs on your offer sooner rather than later.

Serious business owners take control of their traffic by using paid sources, and they do it consistently for the long term. That’s what it means to be in business.

Key take away:

Start with paid traffic from day one.

 

3. Not having an advertising budget

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You just learned why you need consistent paid traffic. You have to invest in your business to get it off the ground. That’s what serious business owners do.

It doesn’t matter if it’s $5/day, $10/day, $10/week, or $100/month.

Pick a number and commit to that number, knowing that your commitment will build your momentum.

When you spend your advertising budget, you have to be completely disassociated from what comes of it.

Think it this way: you’re buying data.

You can talk forever, but the only way to really learn how to be a marketer is to buy some ads, quantify your results, and do it again, making all the necessary adjustments to your strategy. You’ll discover how to tweak and target your ads more effectively to produce better results and scale as time goes on.

This is incredibly valuable, you’ll gain real experience and generate real results.

Now it’s time for a little tough love…

If you think you don’t have money for advertising—unless you’re straight up homeless—you’re lying to yourself. You can find a way to rearrange something in your budget to come up with an extra $10 a week.

If you say you want to be a business owner, this is where the rubber meets the road on your commitment. Demonstrate your leadership by realizing a way to make your advertising budget an expected part of your budget and a consistent part of your routine.

Key take away:

Pick a number and stick to it.

 

4. Not committing to yourself

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If you’ve already made goals regarding what you want from your business, committing to yourself is the first step to start reaching them.

Get “all in.” 100%. Don’t hold anything back. Believe in yourself. Trust yourself. Push yourself. Don’t ask for anyone’s permission. You’re not an employee; you’re an entrepreneur.

Create goals. Working towards them. Quantify. Hold yourself accountable.

If you don’t make a commitment to yourself, you’ll never hit those goals. You’ll never achieve your aspirations. You’ll never realize your potential.

Think about how badly you want the freedom of a lifestyle business. Think about what’s waiting for you. Do you want to give up or make it happen?

Key take away:

Commit.

 

5. Giving up too soon

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When you start filling a marketing pipeline, progress might look slow.

Just like realtors may fill their pipeline for a season before the listings and clients start to come, you too may be filling your pipeline for a time before you can tap into its true potential.

The big mistake here is getting discouraged and quitting too soon.

What you may not know is that the small sales are just around the corner, and the bigger sales will come just after that, and the game-changing sales will follow in time.

They come. Always. It just takes time.

And it’s all-too-common for people to get frustrated in the process and quit just as the momentum starts to turn in their favor.

Who Do You Want to Be?

Kyle Maynard, the man without arms or legs who summited Kilimanjaro, talked about his struggle to reach the top. He shared how his body was in incredible pain and his will was almost crushed.

He felt that he had nothing left to give, and he wasn’t at the summit yet.

He wanted to quit.

Then he thought of the mother of the fallen soldier whose ashes he was carrying up the mountain. He thought of having to face her and tell her that he had quit, and that he hadn’t scattered her son’s ashes at the summit as he had promised.

That was the moment he knew who he wanted to be. He couldn’t be the guy who quit for that mother, and he couldn’t be the guy who quit on her fallen son. He was going to be the guy who kept his word no matter what.

That gave him the fortitude to reach the top of the mountain.

Don’t make the mistake of quitting too soon. Stick with the process, even if you have to dig to the core of your soul to keep going.

Create a vision of yourself as the person who keeps their commitments.

You’ll be surprised at how quickly the sales start coming, then thrilled as they keep multiplying as you gain momentum.

Don’t give up too soon.

Key take away:

Entrepreneurs don’t quit; they fail and fail and fail until they succeed.

 

Generate leads and get paid in the process

Once you’ve committed to yourself, your advertising budget, and the process, then you’re ready to master the process of matching your advertising message to the people you most want to work with, who are also looking to work with you.

Who are these people? And what kind of prospects are they?

Well…guess what—they’re probably not who you think they are.

Lots of novice marketers make the mistake of…

  • Trying to sell network marketing to someone who’s already sold on network marketing
  • Trying to sell an opportunity to someone who already loves their opportunity
  • Trying to sell a marketing tactic to someone who’s already sold on said marketing tactic

Notice a pattern?

(Hint: this is a very expensive mistake when you’re just starting out.)

Bottom line is that if you’re not targeting a demographic that’s receptive to your offer, you’re notgoing to make any sales.

Luckily Ferny Ceballos, CMO of Elite Marketing Pro, has already done the “heavy lifting” of identifying exactly how to get started quickly and shortcut the process of generating 100s and even 1,000s of red-hot leads online … with practically just a few keystrokes.

Ferny’s generated hundreds of thousands of leads—netting a cool 7-figures in the process—and reveals in The Attraction Marketing Formula how to transform your business overnight and create a perfect “Doorway” into your business that’s virtually guaranteed to generate an endless stream of high-quality leads.

Now imagine this…

You’ll also discover how to get paid … even if your prospects NEVER join your opportunity!

This strategy works even if you’re on a shoestring budget.

It’s all explained in detail on page 30.

Check it out right here.

 

Until next time,

michaelmartin

 

 

 

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