When I speak with clients and online marketers, the one thing that comes up consistently is everyone wants more web site traffic. On the surface this makes perfect sense. Send more traffic to your web site and they will surely buy.
If life was only that easy online. Sure, brute traffic will generate more sales and/or opt-ins. But the question is how much did that traffic cost? If you spent $100 to generate your traffic, and your conversion value is $50, was the traffic worth it? On the surface, most web site owners would answer no.
If the answer was only that easy online. You see the hidden answer to that question is how much the web site owner was able to monetize from that customer after the first capture. Was he able to up-sell and cross-sell additional products and/or services to that customer over time? If the answer was yes, then there stands a chance that the $100 that the web site owner paid for that traffic could return a profit after all. If the answer was no, well then the $100 resulted in a $50 lost.
Web site traffic, you see, is only part of the equation. For many people, they see traffic as the only part of the equation because most web site owners are starving for it. If only they knew how “easy” it is to get traffic. They can take their pick of traffic from SEO, SMO, PPC, CPV, email drops, co-registration, mobile ads, banner ads, contextual ads, thank-you page ads, ezine ads, online videos, RSS placements, podcasts, blog commenting, forum posting, profile creation, press releases, articles, guest blogging, online classifieds, directories, pay-to-post, picture tags, pop-ups, print ads, radio ads, tv ads, … the list of traffic sources is long.
The meatier part of the equation is conversion. How well does that traffic convert to a sale or an opt-in after it hits your web site? The meatiest part of the equation, however, is the hidden part: How well can you monetize that conversion in the back-end? In other words, do you have a business system that maximizes the value that you deliver to your customer while at the same time is efficient enough to be replicated? And by the way, is it low cost?
The business system is the critical part of the online marketing equation that can set your business apart. Everything up to that part — keywords, traffic, niches — are all transparent. In other words, your competitors have full access to that data. What they can see and monitor, they will steal. Count on it. Your business system is hidden. Only you know what happens after the customer enters your system. And that is your secret sauce.
So stop worrying about getting more web site traffic. I’ve showed you that that part is easy and can be duplicated by your competitors. Instead, focus on the part that will bring you the most value to your business. In fact, I would argue that it is your business. And that would be your business system.
