Hi (Again) I Need Basic Advice

So...fundamental reasoning flaw...basic error in choosing your criteria of evaluation: web traffic is NOT the measure, or at least the "only" measure...or even the "best" measure.

Especially in your field.

There are some misunderstandings and limitations I can see you've been applying to your situation, which have been blocking your advancement.

My sites don't get a ton of traffic...and it doesn't matter. What matters is PRE-QUALIFICATION.

That means finding traffic sources that will filter people before they are ever sent to you.

WHO gets there is more important than HOW MANY get there.

Who the people that reach me are...where they come from...what level of awareness they have about their problem...all these are far more important than quantity of leads. When my conversion rate from conversations is half to three out of four people I talk to, you can see the impact of pre-qualification.


Whatever path you take, you're going to have to do work. Even if it's work to get money to spend on traffic generation.

Paid traffic is not the path I recommend for you.

Paid traffic managers will lie through their teeth and tell you, "Oh yes, I can certainly get you leads." Then the results are $16 clicks, no opt-ins, and hundreds of dollars a day being sucked out of your bank account in return for...nothing. Been there several times. Yeah, you FB ads managers, I'm calling you liars and charlatans.

For the local business, local referral networking is what I would work on. Find experts who already understand what you do, and get them to refer potential clients to you.

When you're a specialist, you walk around telling random people you're a "Rare Four Foot Tall Pink-and-Yellow-Striped Alabama Swamp Monster Bird"--and no one knows what that means.

Either the description/label/title is too specific, or it's too vague ("Shit Organizer". Huh. That says to me that you're terrible at organizing--NOT the impression you wanted to make, is it.)

But when you have another specialist, who fully understands what you do and who best to do it for and doesn't want to get anywhere near that area of work themselves, they are happy to refer the right people to you.

And as for the prospective clients...well, they neither need to know about the Alabama Monster Swamp Bird description--nor do they want to know.

All they want is a referral from someone they already trust, which you are now leveraging, to be sent to "the person who can fix me."


Now for the online part of the business.

You must identify a high quality traffic source. That means a) not relying on organic traffic, and b) finding a pool of leads who are already at least somewhat aware that they have a problem you can fix.

Possible traffic sources could be a trade magazine, forum, Facebook group: somewhere people are already gathered who are likely a fit for your services.

Then figure out a method to pull pre-qualified traffic from that source to a place you can capture the lead.

Then take them through a warm-up sequence that educates them up on their problem, so their awareness is fully raised: bring them around to your point of view of what's important in their situation and solving their problem. Frankly, you could do this all in a Facebook group with a Units sequence.

This is called Positioning. Positioning done right sets you up as THE source of the solution for them. The obvious choice.

THEN you make the offer.

The offer could be a 15 minute screening call at the end of which you make a coaching offer if it's a fit. Or it could be a 20 minute mini-webinar with an offer at the end, which is nice because you can automate it so you don't have to be there. Or you could pick something else as your conversion tool.


There are a lot of people running a lot of crap quality traffic to their conversion tool...and getting lousy results. Quarter-percent, one-tenth-of-one-percent conversion rates or less. Why would you follow them? Of course, they won't tell you that...they'll just say they paid $X for traffic and made $Y in revenue. And, frankly, if they made a profit, I guess "Who cares how they did it?" People with a high ticket back end offer can shove cash into their funnel and make it work with volume. But this process would not work well for you.


Go get yourself a copy of Dan Kennedy's No B.S. Price Strategy book. Look for the concept called the Hidden Costs of Free. You'll see how that fits into your positioning.

Think about your business model, your strategy. Are you selling someone one thing one time...or are you figuring out a continuity model where they come back to you for more? Will there be a small initial offer, and then a big ticket back end for a year of coaching?

And the real expertise on this forum is in the Offline section. Go there and ask some questions: you'll get far higher quality answers overall than up here in the main forum.

Despite your research up until now, in my opinion you have a long way to go. A marketing & sales process is not a simple thing to set up, despite how many WSOs will lie to you in contrast, and it's a serious barrier to entry. You won't get this done overnight. Sorry for the bad news.

This thread might be a useful next step: https://www.warriorforum.com/main-in...ing-stuff.html

When you tried paid ads, what was the specific issue? No search volume? Decent volume but no clicks? Clicks but no conversions?


Who's your clients? Where do they hang out? I'd start by checking if there's related groups on FB and LinkedIn.

You have rec'd top advice from two of the best Warriors in Jason and Kurt.

What I don't see is the WHO. Who did you target with your ads? What are you offering?

Who can you coach? Are you a life coach or something like that?

My gut feeling is, you don't have a clearly identified PROSPECT, the person most likely to benefit from what you do.

Once you know the WHO. Then the WHERE to find them gets easier, doesn't it?

Once you know who and where, then your OFFER, or ad, or promotion is targeted to them and a response is asked for. If you don't get a response or enough of them, you have to examine the WHO, Where and the WHAT you are saying to them.

Who exactly do you want as a customer/client/consumer?

And WHAT will you do for that person?

GordonJ

Thanks for answering. I knew I have been wandering around in the dark.

The clients that I was used to seeing are those with Major depression and panic disorders, but they are not a good source. They have to have relatives drag them in when they do show. Then they frequently no show to other appointments.

So I am just trying out with different targeted niches now, but even though my ads are targeted, I still feel like I'm throwing spaghetti against a wall. My best source for ads is Psychology Today, but I still feel like my conversion rate is way off.

Google Ads Express has sucked and so has FB ads. All I get from a 10 mile radius from my office is people in the Middle East. I totally don't understand.

It seems like every therapist sells more worthless crap about 'how to make your business a success' than they do actual therapy.

Thank you for your help though!

You can use Microsoft Ads it is more affordable than Google Adwords and Facebook Ads. Also look into Reddit Ads and Quora Ads.

Start building backlinks. Either by guest posts, buying links, social media or some other ways.
Without links, you won't rank!

For this, you need a social media presence. Go on all facebook groups, find subreddits, have Instagram and Twitter followers. And you must put in some content like what can be done and engage with your users. You will have to start from square one. It will take time, yes, but if you put in the effort now, you will definitely be reaping the rewards soon.