Internet Marketing 101: Traffic + Conversion = Profits

This is a very important and fundamental lesson if you plan to use the Internet to make any money for your Hypnosis business.

There is a basic formula which you should learn and always use to evaluate Internet Marketing. It's an adaptation of offline Lead Generation Marketing.

TRAFFIC + CONVERSION = PROFITS

Credit for this formula goes to Ken McCarthy founder of the System Seminar and the very first person to hold a seminar about marketing on the Internet in 1994 (yes, you read that correctly).

Let's see why this is so useful. Ready? Cool, let's go...

TRAFFIC

It all starts with traffic.

If a tree falls in the forest does anybody see or hear it? Do they even know the tree fell? No! It's not even on their radar.

The same thing happens when you put up a website because someone told you... "you have to have a website". There are billions of websites in hundreds of languages. Last time I heard, there were 6,000 new websites coming online each week.

My point... you can put up a website and the only visitors you get will be you, your web person, and your family. Hardly a way to make money.

Now, some people might say it's like opening an office on a deserted highway, but that's not really accurate, because on the Internet you can build 'roads' to your virtual storefront. And when you do... you get TRAFFIC. (Yay!)

But, you don't just want any traffic. You could put up a nude video and get tons of traffic of the wrong kind. Like you've heard me say before (or you will hear me say again) you want to ATTRACT qualified prospects. There are a variety of tools to do this which I won't cover today.

All I want you thinking about is, without traffic you can't do any business. You can't do any testing. You can't build a list. You can't sell services or products. You can't do squat.

Repeat after me... Step 1: Get Traffic

Say it again.

What is step 1? Good. You've got it. Let's move on to...



CONVERSION

Conversion is when you visitors perform a certain response which you want them to do. And there can be multiple conversion steps before you get a sale.

Examples:

• You get an email address
• You get a mailing address
• You get a sign up on your e-zine
• You get a new member of your forum
• You get a new appointment for your free consultation
• You get one of your videos watched
• You get one of your free reports downloaded
• etc.

What is important in each case, is you have built a marketing funnel and they take at least the first step into the funnel. And they do this in such a way that you can measure it and follow up with them.

If you can't measure it, you have no idea if you have a conversion or not. This is how most businesses operate. You can NOT afford to operate this way. You need to track every dollar spent and the ROI (Return On Investment) for that dollar.

Thankfully, the Internet has made tracking and testing so much easier to do because once you set it up, it's automated. (Setting it up can be a little tricky depending on the system, but you can pay people to do it. If you are computer savvy it's not that hard.)

Recap: First you get traffic to your website. Once you have traffic, you track and test until you have maximized your conversion (and thus your ROI).

PROFITS

Once you find consistent sources of traffic and you have fine tuned your conversion, then you will find a constant stream of profits.

Each tweak you can make to get more targeted traffic, lower costs for traffic, and higher conversion rates at each step of your funnel, can make a huge difference in your profits.

And if you see profits go down, you can instantly check if your conversion is down. If not, then is your traffic down. It has to be one or the other. That's why this formula is so useful. It tells you where to start (TRAFFIC) and where to look if things change.

Now, when you want more business from the Internet you can figure out where you need to focus.

"Do I have a steady amount of traffic?"
"Is it qualified traffic?" (are these people who would want my product/service?)

if YES, then...

"Do I have a measurable conversion event?"
"What is my conversion rate?"
"How can I increase my conversion rate?"


If you have both parts of the equation you will be making money. (Note: I say profits, but if you don't have high enough margins, the math won't work. Good marketing can't overcome bad economics.)

Let's look at an Example. From traffic to sale:

Google Ad (PPC) -> Your Landing Page -> Get email address -> Follow up emails (10 total in sequence) -> You get a call for free consultation -> You sell $1,500 program

I have a client who does exactly this sequence (which I designed for him and wrote the copy) to attract people who want to start non-profit charities. (He is an attorney.)

This sequence has worked gangbusters for him for over 2 years now, and frankly if he would let me, could be drastically improved by using streaming video, webinars, and blogging.

He also has one offline step, when he mails out a package with full information and agreements. He does the consultations on the phone since he now has clients all over the USA.

The point is, it works. And if I told you his numbers, you'd be floored. But he has asked me not to tell anyone specific dollar amounts.

Now obviously there are important factors in each step, but I wanted to get you thinking about this simple formula which has been used, and still is used by some of the most succesful people in the Internet world. And it is one of the first things taught to newbies at the System Seminar.

Let me know if you have questions.

Cheers,

Craig Eubanks
http://twitter.com/CraigEubanks

P.S. There are over a 120 hundred articles, videos, and podcasts on my blog about marketing specifically for hypnotists. Find them here: http://HypnosisMarketingTips.com


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