Seeking Advice from the Elite!

Hey Steve-

As you already know, content in king online. So use your blog to your advantage, pump out great content to Google+ and LinkedIn, and you'll quickly start to get those clicks. If you're not a strong writer, then hire one locally that you can train in SEO and work with moving forward.

Also, Craigslist still works well for me...even though everyone else says it's dead. So write 2-3 variations of strong ads (mostly informational) and post a few times per week. Your phone will start ringing. Be sure that you're on every possible local directory as well; those routes do not take mass traffic but they do add up.

On your site, video testimonials work extremely well. I haven't done that personally yet for my business, but all the other firms I work with have had huge success going that route.

One final tip; reach out to the professional organizations in your area and network in real life as well. Have these folks leave you reviews on LinkedIn so other locals can see that you have community support. Then do the same on your website and your social sites.

For ads/banners, the strategy would depend on whether you want to stay local or go national. So I'll skip that for now and let someone else answer once you reply.

I hope that helped.

Steve,

Essentially, your first step should be to pinpoint your ideal customers ...
Are your ideal customers individuals who want to venture into Internet marketing and affiliate marketing? (many of them most likely need your services)
Or, experienced Internet marketers and affiliate marketers who want to venture and expand to other industries and niches? (yeah, this group, too)
Or, service providers and small businesses that want to position their brand and reach wider markets by establishing their Web presence? (there are many businesses that don't have websites yet or any sort of Web presence, which means they may need your services)
Or, small start-ups? (many of them most likely need your services)
Or, established companies and corporations? (their inhouse and outsourced teams may not be doing agood job, or you may be able to provide results and value-added benefits that their inhouse and outsourced teams can't) ...

Second step is to develop your ideal customer avatar ...
Where are they based? What gender? What age and income bracket?
What are they currently searching for / watching / buying / sharing / talking about (of course in relation to topics and sub topics that are relevant to your services)?
Where are they hanging out? What publications are they viewing?
Basically -- What does your ideal customer want in relation to your services?
Where do they go to look for what they want?
And, what are their relevant content viewing and product / service buying preferences?

Third step is to develop irresistible offers that exactly match what your ideal customers want ...
Use the data you've gathered at this point -- This is self-explanatory ...

Fourth step is to create softsell and hardsell materials for your site and for Web platforms that they use and for offsite locations where they hang out and for relevant publications that they view ...
Of course, use the data you've gathered at this point to determine how exactly to create your softsell brand positioning materials and your hardsell advertising materials ...

Fifth step is to effectively integrate the six scientific principles of persuasion into your offers, softsell materials, hardsell materials, and basically into your entire frontend and backend campaigns ...
This is self-explanatory, if you know the six scientific principles of persuasion, which include reciprocity, authority, social proof, likeability, exclusivity and commitment / consistency ...

Sixth step is to develop traffic generation and traffic conversion campaigns using the data you've gathered at this point ...
Your objective is to grab the attention of your target audience, entice them to view the rest of your content, engage them with your content and compel them to do whatever you want ...

=>> Everything I said above in each step involves some sort of creative process ...
This means everything about your offers, onsite and offsite softsell and hardsell marketing materials, frontend campaigns and backend campaigns will primarily depend on your ideal customers, their preferences and what they exactly want, what they're currently searching for, what they're currently watching, what they're currently buying, what they're currently viewing, what they're currently sharing, what they're currently talking about, where they're currently going and what they're currently viewing in relation to your services ...

=>> And, this also means platforms like Google Adwords, Bing Search & Display, Facebook PPC, LinkedIn PPC and Sponsored Updates, CL and so on, which work for others that offer the same products / services, may or may not work for you ...

=>> This is because you may or may not have exactly the same ideal customers in mind ...

=>> And, personally -- This creative process is exactly why I've been fascinated with running and growing and expanding my own brick and mortar company for more than 9 years now ...

Here are my recommendations

1) Build a SOLID BRAND by blogging

2) Reach out to sites that cater to your target market and contribute content

3) Link from contributed content to your blog

4) Get people to sign up to your mailing list by offering FREE Email-based seminars

5) Upsell through your list

It's all about TRUST. People won't trust your brand the first time they come across your link or offer. You have to PROVE your authority to them.

If your website offers a free service like free hosting package then your target market could build a relationship with your product/service like that.

Also create a WSO teaching people how to effectively make money using your website service. Offer it as a free WSO to build your list or offer it for a really low price like $5 to $10 to ensure you get buyers on your list. That's a really fast way to drive targeted traffic to your website.

How is this working for you?

It's all about testing.

There are many great traffic sources, and you can't get a straight up answer for your question.

Test:

Facebook
Adwords
BingAds
SoloAds
BannerAds
List Mailings/Ad Swaps
Free Traffic
SEO
etc...