Wasted money on PR guy...need help figuring what's next

My answer to questions like this for years has always been "yes!!!" Here lately, after watching and reading this forum and a few other forums, I'm backing off of my enthusiasm a little bit as I have realized that not all people are created equally when it comes to learning things.

Based on what I've had time to read over in the PPC forum, I'm sure that I could learn and start running successful campaigns in a month or so using any network that I could find. I don't know if I'd be hitting grand slams with the knowledge at first, but I know I could break even and start turning a profit pretty quickly, so I wouldn't "waste" money hiring someone.

You have to assess your available time and skill set, though, to see if you think you would be capable of it as well. If one of those factors is lacking, then you may well do better by hiring someone.

-- j

I know how tough it can be to balance everything (especially when you have a full-time job to contend with, too!), but by only focusing on 1 type of marketing, you're putting all of your eggs in one basket -- and that's never a good idea.

The first thing you need to do is get your site in order. Without an intelligent, authoritative site, all of the ads in the world aren't going to convert. If I were you, I'd avoid some gimmicky sales letter and focus on how your products/services benefit people. Forget the hype, the red exclamation points, and the big bold guarantees, and just be honest. (just my $0.02 )

You may also want to start a blog. It's a great way to establish yourself as an expert (and with a niche like yours, I'm sure there's no shortage of things to write about). Plus, every time you update it, you'll get "credit" with the search engines for updating your entire site. Remember, the search engines love sites that frequently get updated with quality content. If you don't have the time to do it all yourself, you can outsource the writing -- so that all you have to do is copy/paste the finished product and hit "publish".

Once you've got the site taken care of, move off-site. PPC probably offers the most immediate traffic. I used it when I first started... I gave myself a $10 daily budget and told myself I would only use PPC until I could build up my SEO and start to generate "free" traffic. It took 2 or 3 months, and I haven't had to use it since. At $10 a day, I didn't have a ton of ads, but I was lucky enough to get a few bigger clients out of it that at least paid the ad bills!

In the meantime, look for guest posting opportunities in your niche. Again, if you don't have the time to write the posts yourself, hire a writer to do it. That way, you'll build some decent backlinks (but, more importantly, get your name, your link, and your expertise out in front of targeted traffic). There are a couple of free sites that provide great guest blogging resources -- Ann Smarty's MyBlogGuest and Cathy Stucker's Blogger LinkUp. Luckily, even just 1 great guest post can spread like wildfire and bring you a ton of traffic. Publish them on a consistent basis, and you'll see a massive traffic boost.

Since you've already got it up, keep up with the Facebook Fan Page (post all of your latest blog posts, links to your guest posts, interesting tidbits, etc.) You won't see a ton of success overnight from it, but it's something that can build slowly but surely.

It may seem like alot, but once you get a strategy in place, it's really not that hard. Hope it works out!!

From what I can tell, PR should be just one part of what you're doing. It can really help with backlinks, and it can also get SOME visitors to your site.

I've found it quite helpful for certain lead generation projects, but not so much for selling stuff.

What's on your site is important too. Do you have a high quality free or low cost offer that will entice people to sign up for, say, your newsletter, so you can continue to build a relationship with them and market to them?

I wouldn't spend ANY money on PR until all that's in place, and working well.

Also, making sure your copy is good should come way before you drive traffic to the site...

One more... have you thought of using teleseminars to promote your site/page/product. None of these bring huge numbers, but everything helps you build that presence and reputation.

I need help with my new mineral makeup site. I need PR and other white hat traffic generation techniques.

You don't hear enough about this. People think you can get good PR written and distributed for $32. I went to a workshop, followed the directions and wrote my first PR piece.. Sent it out through free services. The local PR master got his piece re-published 400 times. Mine- less than one.