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Looking for advice from some who have made it

by GaroSteering
6 replies
Hello,
I know there are some brilliant internet marketing minds on this site and there are even a some who make a living from it. I want a little advice, I wlll listen and you wont regret it because Im ready to work.


So, It's an e-commerce website focused on selling car steering rack and pinions. I know there is significant demand because I am able to sell them low cost and I have tested the business model on ebay. Right now I have a prostores account and have paid someone to do the initial design ( he says ready by next monday).

Right off my bat my gut tells me I need to draw traffic to the site and that is my main priority. I know about google adword and Im working on a few campaigns, my budget is between 10 - $100 a day. My main goals are search rankings and drawing traffic to my site, is this correct?

Its a pretty narrow niche market so it should be simple enough to target. I have the product and an excel file with all the prices and descriptions, Im going to load them up to my website just like I would to ebay.


I know very little about SEO, internet marketing, affiliate marketing, or even how cookies work but Im young and I will learn. Really I want someone who has done it so they can point out some tips I should know. (Whats the best form of online advertising? What works? Who should I not waste my time on?)
#advice #made
  • Profile picture of the author Andy Money
    PPC is going to cost money, don't waste it.

    Read more about SEO and that can bring in free traffic.

    Use tons of free traffic methods like article marketing and Squidoo and YouTube to bring in people.

    Get targeted traffic no matter what. Don't waste time just getting ANY traffic, get QUALITY traffic.

    Fill your site with valuable content that the search engines will love and that people will want to visit (seo 101 and reality 101).

    Good luck.
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    • Profile picture of the author doop
      Originally Posted by mrsleep99 View Post

      PPC is going to cost money, don't waste it.
      I don't want to question this advice but do want to question the logic....


      Paid traffic that converts is the fastest way to get lots of traffic right?!


      Here's an example:

      Say you have a $27 ebook in a certain niche.

      You BUY traffic and it converts at 0.75% - at 25 cents per click

      ie/ 1 in 133 visitor convert to a sale costing you $33.25/sale

      So obviously you don't continue you'd lose money every sale

      So your options?

      1 - Up the sale price ie/ at $37 you might make a small profit
      (although conversions will probably drop a little)

      2 - You split test your ads/sales page to optimize your Cost Per Sale

      3 - You add an upsell (ie/ 20-40% buy the upsell of $27-$47)

      4 - Capture leads to follow up with using an autoresponder

      Either way your now making money using PPC.

      AND BUILDING A LIST OF BUYERS....


      And even if you only make a very small % from every dollar spent on advertising.....

      You make lots of money with every additional dollar spend on paid traffic.

      Looked at another way...

      Once your system is in place and it makes even 20cents for every dollar put into the system - how many dollars would you put in? EVERY DOLLAR YOU CAN GET YOUR HANDS ON!!! WOULDN'T YOU?

      I realize that this is an commerce site but in principle it is the same thing...

      -ensure you have a converting offer
      -capture leads
      -try and upsell increasing the $ value of each customer
      -increase your PPC $$$ until you can no longer buy any more!

      Is my logic flawed?!
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  • Profile picture of the author nicholasb
    focus mainly on free traffic sources like
    article marketing
    video marketing
    forum marketing (car related)
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  • Profile picture of the author DavidO
    You going to have an easier time getting traffic than many of us because your niche is highly specialized. I haven't checked the search figures but I'm sure it's not nearly as competitive as the bigger markets like making money or health and fitness topics.

    But that's not to say you can't make money with it. People who search in specialized areas are more often buyers than information seekers.

    This may give your venture some advantages. Firstly, concentrate on free traffic. As others have already advised, do some article marketing. I would also recommend Youtube. It could work very well for you. Create a video on rack and pinion systems with a link to your site.

    Although I would give priority to building free traffic you may want to try PPC. Start small because it can be expensive until you know what works and what doesn't. Again, you have some advantages because yours is a specialized area and your keywords will be less expensive due to less competition.

    Good luck!
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  • Profile picture of the author Barry Davis
    I would use PPC with Google until you start getting enough natural traffic. I start off almost every new product that way and it has worked very well for me. And yes, I do this full-time.
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    • Profile picture of the author marcanthony
      Set aside a small budget for PPC and other paid advertising. Just make sure that you can afford to lose a little of your budget.

      All this talk about working your way up to PPC is false. You're either going to screw it up now or later. Learn from your mistakes early.

      Don't ever be afraid to spend and lose a little money. Just be smart... you don't want to throw your money down the toilet. Remember, you can always justify the money that you lose by calling it a testing expense. But again, be smart...

      Take advantage of free marketing also:

      Video
      Articles
      Blogging

      Set aside a few hours everyday to work on marketing, product creation and so on.

      Lastly, hard work does not pay off. Soldiers and employees are all under-appreciated and/or overworked. Work smart, like an employer or a king.

      Again, hard work does not pay off. If the work is hard, you don't understand it yet. Find ways to make your work easy, effective, and productive.

      Think of how easy Kobe Bryant makes a job that is so difficult to others look... That's why he makes more money than everyone else.

      Hard work does not pay off... efficiency does!
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