Welcome to Part 2 of our guide to driving traffic online!

In Traffic Academy Part 1, we covered what online traffic is, why it matters, and how you can increase it using free methods.

In this section, we will cover the paid methods you can use including Facebook ads, banner ads, solo ads, and PPC advertising.

By the end of this series, you will have the knowledge to form a strategy which integrates both paid and free traffic methods to get the results you are looking for.

Let’s get started!

Paid Traffic Methods

Facebook Ads

Facebook ads are available through the Facebook platform as long as you have an active Facebook business page.

Facebook offers a user friendly ad creation process that you access right from your profile page.

The native ads they provide can appear in the newsfeed of your audience so they blend in with other posts.

Alternatively, they can appear in the right hand column of the desktop version of Facebook.

There are many objectives you can choose from depending on what your goals are.

You can drive traffic to your website, drive conversions, increase app downloads, increase video views, or even just boost a post to reach more people!

Once you select your objective, you can target your audience using very detailed options.

From demographics to interests to behaviors, Facebook really allows you to fine tune your audience.

They even allow you to create custom audiences through existing lists you have, and look-a-like audiences so you can target users who are similar to those on a list you already have.

For more on targeting and audiences, check out our Facebook Targeting 101 post here.

Once you target your audience, you will select your schedule, set your budget, design your ad, add in calls to action, and then place your order.

When you have ads running, you can track their performance and cost in the Facebook Insights section.

It is a relatively easy process and the ads have shown they can be very effective.

Facebook continues to focus on improving the experience for their users by limiting the amount of organic business posts in news feeds in favor of friends and family posts.

Facebook ads can help you to still get the exposure you need to reach your desired audience!

Best Practices

When designing an ad for Facebook, keep in mind that visually appealing ads do best.

Be sure to choose engaging media whether it’s an image or video.

You will also want to invest some time into strategizing your ad copy as you have a small amount of space to engage and interest the reader to click through.

It can also be helpful to create different messages to different audiences.

You can create an ad targeted at people who have never heard of your business before, one to retarget those who have previously visited your website, and one for those who have watched your videos, etc.

Lastly, once your ads are posted, be sure to always follow up to gauge ad performance and make adjustments accordingly.

Better yet, try out this tool to check out the ads that have worked for your competition and save yourself some of the guesswork!

Banner Ads

Next up are banner ads.

These are advertisements that you can purchase that will show up in rectangular displays horizontally or vertically on host web pages.

They are typically image-based with some text and can link to the destination that you choose.

You can pay host sites for these advertisements using 3 pricing models: views, clicks, and conversions.

If you are interested in investing in banner ads, you can buy them direct from websites (i.e. Waze), by joining an ad network, or by hiring an ad agency through a catalog type environment where you buy remnant from various publishers (i.e. Google Adwords).

There are various sites available for banner ads, but here are some options you can check out:

http://web.blogads.com

https://www.buysellads.com

http://valueclick.com/

http://www.bannerspace.com/

http://www.eads.com/

http://www.doubleclick.net/

Best Practices

When using banner ads, you’ll want to identify your goal, who you are targeting, and what websites your target audience visits.

Once you know, it is time to design your banner. Here are a few tips to keep in mind:

• Identify what you want to communicate in the small space available
• Keep your message clear
• Include a call to action
• Use colors that match your branding
• Consider interactive elements to attract more attention
• Stick to standard sizes
• Create a hierarchy
• Forget flash

As far as designing the banner, you could hire a professional web designer, a freelancer off a site like 99designs, or create your own.

There are also services like envatostudio available which handle all the back end coding for you so you can just design it from the front end.

These can be a viable option for reaching a new audience and directing them to your desired destination.

Solo Ads

Above is an example of a solo ad vendor website.

Solo ads are another great opportunity for you to reach a new audience, particularly if you know your conversion rate based on past data.

With solo ads, basically you create an ad in the form of an email.

Then you find a vendor who has targeted lists of email addresses and you pay them to send your email to their list.

Now, to be clear, you are not buying an email list.

An email you create is sent out to someone else’s list as a way for you to reach their audience.

It is important to understand that there is a risk in solo ads because you are trusting that the vendor has a list of of engaged recipients and that they are actually sending your email to them.

You will want to choose a vendor who is reputable to decrease your risk.

You will also want to look for a vendor that offers performance based pricing models in comparison to fixed rates.

This will ensure you are only paying for click-throughs, opens, and conversions.

Best Practices

Once you decide you want to use solo ads, it is important to calculate your marketing budget in order to ensure your investment is profitable.

You will need to name your goal, for example: email sign ups, sales, etc.

Then calculate how much each conversion is worth to you and how often conversions to your target audience occur.

For example, if you get 100 email subscribers and 5 out of every 100 subscribers buy your product or service which costs $150 a piece, then every 100 email subscribers is worth $750 gross.

Then look at your conversion rates from the solo ad.

If you can get 100 subscribers and still end up profitable after your costs then this can be a useful tactic.

To find reputable vendors, you can go to well-known sites like Udimi.

In general, just keep in mind that if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is.

Lastly, when creating a solo ad, keep in mind you have a small window to make an impression.

Your headline must be eye catching, your copy engaging, and you need to include a strong call to action that directs readers where you want them to go.

For more information about solo ads check out our Beginner’s Guide to Solo Ads article here.

PPC

In section 1 of this guide we talked about SEO and how to increase traffic organically by using certain tactics.

While highly impactful, it can take quite awhile to climb up to first page rankings.

If you need results faster, that is where pay per click (PPC) comes in.

PPC advertising allows you to display ads and only be charged when people actually click on them.

This means you can be making impressions and increasing brand awareness without paying.

Paid ads show up above organic search results on the search engine results page (SERP).

Here is an example where you can see the top results are marked as ads:

While getting to the top of search engine results can take some time with SEO, paid ads allow you to buy your spot right away.

However, it has been reported that organic search results have an 8.5x higher click through rate.

So, paid ads have their place as a part of a joint campaign with organic SEO efforts.

Best Practices

When running a paid ad campaign, keyword research is of the utmost importance.

You will need to use a tool such as the Google Keyword Planner to identify the right words to target.

You will find that short tail generic keywords like ‘sweaters’ are searched more, have more competition, and cost more to bid on.

Long tail keywords like “hoodie sweaters for women” which are more specific to your product or service, are searched less and are more affordable.

Additionally, these long tail keywords often have higher conversion rates as the people who type them are further along in their buying journey.

So, your campaign should include a balance of both.

Once you have your keywords chosen, you design an ad which will be relevant and attractive so that searchers will click on it.

Then the ad should lead to a destination which is also relevant to the ad and keywords.

In choosing which ad gets shown, Google takes into consideration what is known as the quality score.

This is basically an analysis of how relevant and effective your ad is to the page it leads to as well as the results of the click through.

So the more relevant and effective your ad, the more it will be shown.

As your campaigns run, you should be tracking and analyzing results to find out which ads and keywords are most effective.

Over time, you can improve campaigns and earn a higher ROI.

The ideal ads will result in high click through rates and conversions with a lower cost per click.

To learn more about PPC Advertising, check out our article on 8 Reasons to Try PPC.

Time for Action!

Now you have an understanding of the fundamentals of driving traffic!

It’s important to consider the benefits available from both paid and free methods and to combine them strategically.

For example, if you have implemented an active social media presence on Facebook and Instagram paid Facebook ads can expand your reach even further.

Additionally, by implementing SEO practices on your website and blog you can climb the ranks of organic search engine results, while PPC advertising campaigns can give you visibility in paid results.

By doing both, you can end up with total domination of the search results page for your terms.

A combined strategy is the best strategy.

With this in mind, take some time to review your options.

Here is a quick overview of what we covered through this 2-part guide to driving traffic:

Free Traffic Sources

• Email marketing
• Blogging
• Social media
• SEO

Paid Traffic Sources

• Facebook ads
• Solo ads
• Banner ads
• PPC

By experimenting with the different channels available and tracking your results, you can gradually find those which work best for your business.

As a result, you can invest your marketing budget and time into those channels.

Also, always remember to strike a balance between free and paid traffic.

This will benefit your wallet and help your efforts since free and paid traffic methods drive different types of results.

Finally, don’t be frustrated if your results aren’t what you hoped for right away.

It is important to think of your marketing strategy as an ongoing process of refinement rather than one you get perfect on the first try.

The only way to really know what works is to research, plan as best you can, experiment, track and adapt.

Best of luck in your traffic driving efforts and if you have thoughts to share, feel free to comment!

The post Traffic Academy: Get In the Driver’s Seat! (Part 2) appeared first on Snaptactix.

If you have a website, you have to understand online traffic.

Entrepreneurs who know how to drive traffic to their sites (and convert it), are the ones who are making 5, 6, and 7 figure incomes.

As for those who haven’t quite figured out the traffic formula…they are more in the 2, 3, and 4 figure range.

As you can see, traffic is a crucial piece to the online business puzzle.

So, we created this guide to teach new digital marketers owners how to use it effectively.

We’ll start by introducing you to online traffic and all the basics.

Then, you’ll learn tried-and-tested traffic strategies that work, so you can hit the ground running!

Since there’s a lot to cover, we’re breaking the training down into 2 parts:

• Part 1 (that you’re reading now) will teach you the methods of driving free traffic
• Part 2 will dive into paid methods of driving traffic

Let’s get started!

Online traffic basics

What is online traffic?

Online traffic or web traffic is technically the data that moves between online visitors and the websites they visit.

But, from a marketing standpoint, traffic really refers to the flow of visitors to a location online – whether that is a website, a landing page, a social media profile or anything of the sort.

Why is online traffic important?

For one, online traffic equals people visiting your website.

In the digital world, this is the equivalent of people coming into a physical store.

The more people who visit, the more opportunities you have to close sales.

More sales mean more revenue and who doesn’t love that?

Plus, traffic can provide great data and insights into a website’s performance.

For example, you can see where traffic is coming from, allowing you to invest more into the channels with the highest ROI.

Or, alternatively, you could see that a sign-up page isn’t as effective as it needs to be, and enable you to make edits to your copy – improving conversions accordingly!

How is online traffic measured?

Online traffic can be measured very simply.

All web servers generate a log file where traffic statistics are kept.

This data can be easily viewed and managed for free through Google Analytics or various other heat map/analytics tools.

When looking at online traffic statistics, the key metrics which you can learn from include:

• The number of visitors pages receive
• Average page views generated by each unique visitor. Higher page views indicate a visitor showing an interest in a site and looking at the various pages it offers.
• The duration that each visitors stays at a particular website. Again, the longer they stay on a website the more interested they are.
• The duration they spend on each particular page.
• Times when most traffic is generated.
• The most popular pages.
• The pages first viewed. This helps to show which pages are attracting people to your website.
• Exit pages. Those that cause visitors to leave a website.
• Paths. How visitors navigate through your site.

How do websites gain traffic?

Earning traffic can be done in numerous ways, some of which are free and others which are paid.

In this first part of the series, we will take a closer look at the following free methods you can (and should be) utilizing:

• Email marketing
• Blogging
• Social media
• SEO

Free Traffic Methods

Email Marketing

The first free traffic method we’re going to cover in Part 1 is email marketing.

Email marketing becomes a traffic source when you drive traffic from your emails.

By adding links and enticing copy to your messages, you can direct subscribers to visit your website, an affiliate offer or another place of interest online.

Email marketing traffic should always be driven by personalized emails that are relevant to where the recipient is in the buying cycle (i.e. new visitor looking for information, has shown interest in specific products or services, has made a purchase, long time loyal customer).

This way, the messages help to engage readers and nurture them further through the buying cycle.

How effective is email marketing?

It has shown to offer the highest ROI of any online marketing tactic!

Email Marketing Best Practices

Emails are a great opportunity to entice your audience with promotions.

A key to successful conversions is segmenting your audience properly.

You want to send the right message at the right time.

For example, a 10% off coupon would be a good idea when someone has left their shopping cart before checkout.

Besides promotions, you can stay at the forefront of your audience’s mind by sending regular monthly newsletters which share what’s new, links to blogs (more on those next), recent projects, or industry related news.

This helps to build the relationship and keep your audience engaged.

By choosing your links wisely, you can drive customers back to your website on a regular basis.

You can use Sendlane to engage your audience and send out timely, personalized emails right now!

Blogging

Next up is blogging.

You probably read a few blogs regularly but may not know they are a key tactic for increasing traffic to a website.

Research shows blogging can increase traffic by 55%.

Blogs provide an opportunity to inform potential customers about your company while sharing information that is useful and interesting to them.

Blogs work to drive traffic through SEO tactics and links.

In the example below you’ll notice this blog article has internal links to a variety of helpful resources available elsewhere on the site.

The author is sharing valuable content that not only teaches the reader about the subject, but also more about what the company can offer:

Blogging Best Practices

When writing blogs you want to think along the same lines as you use on social media which means quality, engaging content.

People want to be informed, entertained, or inspired… not blatantly sold to.

So write about topics related to your industry that customer want to know about and that they will find interesting.

You want to show users how your products or services can be used in daily life, and guide them through FAQs about them.

Once they are interested in the actual messaging in your blog posts, they may find subtly included links to your products and services helpful.

As far as optimizing blogs, keywords will come into play and long tail keywords are helpful.

You will want to optimize all posts with keywords, tags URLs, and Meta descriptions which work like the directions for search engines to find them.

Also, Google looks for active sites that are providing consistent content so you will want to plan a blog schedule with regular posts and stick to it!

Social media

Practically everyone is on social media nowadays, which means these platforms are senda great source for traffic.

In fact, you’d be missing a huge opportunity if you didn’t make efforts on the different platforms (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, etc.).

To use social media channels effectively you will want to post content that your followers see as relevant.

This should also include links to your website, so customers can easily make the jump, like this example from the Sendlane Facebook page:

Most importantly, social media shouldn’t be used just to promote your website but should have content that will interest your followers.

For example, share relevant blogs, free eBooks, videos, online courses or webinars that will draw followers to your website – like the “Free Training” shown in the example above!

Post on a consistent basis about stories, thoughts, photos, and videos that relate to your business but are not just about your business.

Remember: People don’t go on social media to be sold, they want to be entertained, engaged, and are looking to interact socially, so humanize your brand and post content that people will find helpful. 

Social Media Best Practices

As we said, social media is a place to engage with people and it offers a broader reach than most any other marketing medium. (1/5^th of the world’s population is now on Facebook!)

One of the best ways to reach an audience of people who will likely be interested in your business is to look to influencers in your industry.

Who is making big waves and generating a lot of attention?

You want to target their audience and build relationships with them.

To do this, you can begin engaging with the influencer’s page with likes, comments, and shares.

You can also create infographics, tutorials, or whitepapers that offer value to others in your industry (not just your customers), add your name and link to them, and send them to influencers.

This can be a great way to get more exposure and build your network as others share your work.

After some rapport has been established, you can ask if you would be able to guest post on their page, channel, site, or blog, or if they would like to work out another type of collaboration.

Furthermore, you want to become known in your industry yourself and can do so by joining groups and participating actively.

Remember you don’t want to go in with a mindset of sales, but of positioning yourself as a thought leader in your niche with helpful and relevant information.

Comment on issues, reply to any messages, and participate in conversations.

This will build trust and credibility.

Once your audience starts to flock, be prepared with a call to action button on your page for those who are interested.

Also, continue to nurture your relationships with consistent valuable content.

A good practice is to provide 80% engaging content and 20% promotional on social media.

SEO

Next up is SEO, which Google in particular has made very important for businesses.

Just “Google it” is such a common phrase because search engines have made information so easy to find!

All you have to do it a quick search and a world of information is at your fingertips.

From answers to the most random questions to the “best of” specific products and services.

Because of that, having your website featured on the first page of search engine results is paramount!

It takes time but the first 3 search results account for about 65% of clicks!

The top results are often viewed as the most credible or highest quality, which is great for anyone who does the work to make it there.

Plus, when you get there organically, you have the added benefit of retaining your position longer than paid results.

Even if you stop SEO efforts, it takes about 3-6 months to drop off.

To improve search engine rankings for a website, you need to make sure your website includes a number of SEO techniques.

Of course, you need to start with quality content, but others include the use of keyword targeting as well as inbound link building amongst others.

In the screenshots below, you can see the landing page for Macy’s women’s dresses.

This page ranked #1 for women’s dresses so let’s take a look at what they are doing.

They display all of their dresses for sale first and then accompany the page with a keyword-packed piece of content at the bottom of the page.

These keywords shows search engine crawlers what the page is about and help it come up for a variety of searches.

This page would trigger results for cocktail dresses, little black dress, bridesmaid dresses, and more.

If you are unsure of how SEO works, take a look at our SEO 101 article to learn more.

From there, you’ll develop an understanding of how to be sure your website hits all the marks.

SEO Best Practices

While SEO is a very detailed topic that experts take years to understand and perfect, there are a few best practices that can help.

First, keywords are the bridge between seekers and results.

You need to perform an in-depth analysis of what words your audience uses when looking for your products or service.

Over time, you can track, test and optimize your keywords.

Also, functionality is very important as web consumers these days will leave after mere seconds of waiting for your web page to load.

This means anything that causes slow loading (rotating banners, clunky media, etc.) needs to be trimmed.

On the same note, mobile friendliness is a major ranking factor now so you need to be sure your website is responsive and designed with mobile customers in mind.

Build your site for speed, this not only means fast loading but easy navigation, content written for easy scanning, and have the most pertinent information prioritized.

Lastly, your website is on the world wide web, right?

The key word there is web – meaning the more connected it is, the better.

Links are the way you make connections.

Integrating them should be done to direct visitors deeper into your own website, as well as making connections from other sites to yours.

The more high authority sites that link to your site, the more valuable you will look to search engines.

Drive Traffic to Drive Sales

Traffic is what will make or break an online business.

But it doesn’t magically appear once you create a website.

Your website is just one piece of a larger puzzle which only attracts traffic when it’s all put together.

So is driving traffic to your website easy?

I wouldn’t say so.

However, it is very possible when you know what to do and have the dedication to follow through!

Plus you have these 4 methods to get started with right away!

Ready to learn how to drive even more traffic to your website?

Check out the 2nd and final section of our traffic academy on paid traffic options.

Click through to read Traffic Academy: Part 2 here!

The post Traffic Academy: Get In the Driver’s Seat! (Part 1) appeared first on Snaptactix.

I just had my best course launch EVER, and with a much, much smaller audience than I have on this site.

About a month ago, I had a 4-day launch sale for a new course called POD Niche Site Success.

In the first 12 hours, I generated $5,000 profit, which is more than I did for the entire launch of my first course with this site.

The reason why I’m focusing on the initial $5,000 I made in the first 12 hours of launch is I remember that was my goal for my first 2Create course launch, and I didn’t even come close to that.

Let me put this all into perspective with some numbers…

When I launched my first course on this site in 2014, my list had around 30,000 subscribers.

That may sound like a lot, but many of these people on my list were not even engaged anymore and were either not opening my emails or weren’t receiving them (junk/spam filters).

When I launched my latest course for Passive Shirt Profits, my list was at 1400. The difference is this list was much newer/fresher and the audience was more engaged AND niched down.

In other words, most people on the list wanted to learn the same things.

There’s always so much emphasis on “growing a list”, but what’s the point if the people on the list want a dozen different things?

That was always a challenge with this site because I covered so many different topics over the years.

By the time I was ready to sell a course in 2014, I had attracted an audience that wanted to learn everything from WordPress, starting a business, YouTube to affiliate marketing. I also never took advantage of segmenting my list like I should have.

So what else went wrong with my first course launch on this site?

I Was Low-Balling My Products

I thought that offering a very low, affordable product with tons of content would actually make MORE people buy, but I actually think it hurt in some ways.

Not only does it make you LESS motivated to market it (too little profit), but it attracts a lot of people who never even open the course because they didn’t invest a lot.

Super low prices can also send a message of low quality.

I know because some of you flat out told me that.

One subscriber almost didn’t sign up because he assumed it was lacking value due to the very low price.

When he finally did sign up, he was blown away by the amount of content for such a low price.

To this day, I still struggle with what to charge for my courses, but I DO know that it’s NEVER a good idea to sell super low.

It’s better to pack the product with value and charge what it’s worth.

I Didn’t Pay Attention To What People REALLY Needed

This was even more problematic than me low-balling my prices.

I believe this is where most first-time course creators stumble (in addition to not having an eager-to-buy audience.)

Had I really nailed this part with my first 2create courses, my conversions and engagement would have been much better, even at lower prices.

As newbie course creators, we have a tendency to focus on what WE want to sell instead of listening to what people in our audience REALLY need and want.

In 2014 (my first course launch on this site), not many people were asking me to create an affiliate marketing course. The hype for affiliate marketing had cooled off by then, at least for my audience.

But I chose that topic because that’s where I had made most of money, and was still making the majority of my income at that time. I didn’t know what else to do.

And why launch a Photoshop course in addition to the affiliate course? That didn’t even make sense for THIS audience, but it was what I wanted to teach. SMH

Looking back…. it was a such a strange combo of courses to launch to this particular audience.

Again, I was making it about ME and what I wanted to teach. I had learned how to use Photoshop to create images for my sites.

However, learning the program wasn’t really in demand for THIS audience — especially with free products like Canva and Picmonkey on the rise.

I had this big ole’ audience, but didn’t really take the time to utilize it to RESEARCH and ASK what people wanted from me at that current time.

Given the state of my business and the evolving Internet Marketing space in 2014, it would have made more sense to create a course on building authority and credibility for a website.

Looking back at my biz, those are two, foundational things that have served me VERY well amidst the changing times, numerous websites and online evolution. It’s been the BACKBONE of my business, hands down. It’s also something any new website owner or influencer needs, especially when trying to sell products.

Nevertheless, I would have ASKED people on this list what they wanted instead of just hoping people would want to learn what I wanted to teach.

Another disadvantage of not really delivering content people NEED is I never received many questions, comments or interaction on my 2create courses.

Not to mention nearly half of the people who signed up for my courses never even opened them.

I believe a lot of people bought them because they were cheap, but it wasn’t really content they needed or wanted.

So you might say, “So what if half of them didn’t open the course! You still got your money, right?”

Wrong perspective!

If people aren’t even taking the course, they aren’t interacting with you or your content. Interaction is important because it generates feedback on what to improve and clarify.

I learned from my Merch By Amazon course (no longer available) that having specific questions from students helps me learn where the course is lacking and what I need to improve on.

As a result of the many questions, I kept adding to it and improving the course. Consequently, I began hearing success stories from my students on a more regular basis.

When my students get results, that allows me to add testimonials to the landing page, which in turn helps me sell more courses in the long run.

It’s a win for my students and a win for me!

When I added testimonial screenshots from my students in my private group, the sign-up rate tripled for my Merch course.

I Created Buzz For The Course

Because I did a better job of getting in touch with what my potential students struggled with, it gave me a certain confidence with this course that I hadn’t had with previous launches.

As a result, I was more aggressive with promotion.

Before launch, I used my podcast, YouTube, and my list to remind people what was coming.

I also made sure people knew that there will be a limited-time launch discount only, and that I don’t frequently discount my courses.

In the past, I never built much of a buzz before launch. I may mention it in passing on a blog post, but didn’t do a lot of direct marketing prior to launch.

I believe that also made a HUGE difference.

I Was More Strategic About What I Shared for Free

I remember when I thought about launching my first course for this site.

I was so intimidated by the process because I had already shared so much here and on YouTube.

Not that you can’t include info you already have for free, but I always wanted my courses to have so much more valuable than the free content.

That was more difficult to do with 2 Create because of how much free information I already had online AND I waited so long before creating my first product.

You also have to remember, I had a different income model with this site. I was heavily reliant on affiliate marketing and AdSense, so my strategy was to give away tons of free content in exchange for ad / affiliate revenue.

However, when you’re planning to sell courses, your strategy has to change and that was a big adjustment for me.

I didn’t have that much of an issue with PSP because I knew I was creating that site to sell courses, and I didn’t wait years before I launched a product.

Finding The Right Price/Value Balance

I have learned that you should not low-ball your products, but trying to find the happy medium between what it’s worth and making it affordable has been difficult for me.

Nevertheless, it always bothered me when people told me I should charge soooooo much more. Why did that make me so uncomfortable? I wasn’t really sure why until this recent launch.

Just because someone has a large presence on YouTube or social media, doesn’t mean they know how to create products that are worth thousands of dollars.

One thing I KNEW about my courses is I had to improve upon helping people get more RESULTS.

Granted, no course is going to help every single person, but I always wanted to challenge myself in that area. I knew I needed to improve, and I made that my personal mission for my latest course.

I always got “great course” feedback on my courses, but not enough “I’m making money because of your course” kind of feedback until the latter editions of my Merch By Amazon course.

Again, because I got a lot of feedback from students, I continued to add/update the course to reflect any questions/feedback I received.

That was HUGE for me as a course creator. We cannot improve without feedback, and I rarely got constructive feedback on my 2create courses.

Again, that’s a result of the low engagement, and I take FULL responsibility for that.

Within two weeks of launching my latest POD Niche Site Success course I had 4 different people tell me they started making money right away, and a couple of them posted in my private, student group.

Another testimonial came in that same day!

I have blocked their names/faces by request because this is a private, student-only Facebook group.

Yes, within two weeks of launch I’m hearing about success! I’ve never, ever gotten that kind of feedback so quickly.

So with regards to price, I wasn’t all that keen on raising them too much until I got better with helping people GET RESULTS.

As far as the pricing strategy goes, I have yet to test the limited-time enrollment.

I know people are making oodles of money doing this. For some reason, I’m not ready for that just yet. Maybe I’ll test that this year.

The Indirect, Less Obvious Value of YouTube

People always measure one’s success on YouTube by their subscriber numbers.

You know how I feel about the hang up on vanity metrics. [rolls eyes]

Subscribers don’t mean as much if you aren’t using them to help your bottom line, and this time I did a better job of that.

Not just by promoting the upcoming course in my videos, but the comment section was immensely valuable to my course creation process!

I can now say that YouTube was single-handedly my best resource in 2019 when it came to discovering what people in my PSP audience TRULY value.

It all started with my 14-day challenge back in January to get the video momentum going.

I uploaded more videos in 2019 than I have in a very long time, and they were mostly focused on Print on Demand (earning royalties from T-shirt designs).

I hadn’t been doing many videos on the T-shirt biz, so I was out of touch with what people wanted and needed in that space.

I used YouTube to help attract more people to my channel that would be interested in the T-shirt content.

I debated on whether or not I should start another channel. I’m glad I didn’t. Even though the majority of my subscribers subbed for different content and my channel viewing engagement is pretty low, I decided to use the same channel because the newer content is still about earning online.

As a result of uploading more videos, I was rewarded with 10,000 more subscribers this year and finally received the 100K Silver Play Button plaque from YouTube!

Don’t get me wrong. I am proud of that milestone, but what good are new subscribers if you aren’t using them to help your bottom line?

I’ve been on YouTube since 2007, and this was the first time I effectively used my videos to help me grow my product income.

Not just by promoting my upcoming course in the videos, but actually soaking up the comments and using them for inspiration for what to include in a course.

YouTube comments can be one of the best research tools for figuring out what to sell. I took notes on the most common issues with regards to print on demand and used those as a blueprint for my latest course.

It’s a shame people put so much emphasis on subscribers because there’s so many other indirect benefits of being on YouTube.

I wish the mentality of “followers automatically equals success” would die, but I know it never will.

So What Took Me So Long?

I was having brunch with one of my good friends and was telling her about the recent launch. I mentioned how I’ve struggled with selling over the years.

Her response was…

“Still?”

As if to say, “You’ve been out here all this time and you still struggle with that?”

The majority of the money I’ve made online has not been because of selling products to people directly.

It was passive income from ads, YouTube partner income, reselling domains and affiliate links. In fact, I still have some passive income streams that I created over 15 years ago.

So when it came time to actually sell my first course in 2014, I realized I had a lot to learn.

Just because I had a big audience that likes my videos and content, didn’t mean I knew exactly what or how to sell to them.

Passive Shirt Profits has taught me so much and reinforced things I already knew but never really implemented myself…

• It’s not the size of the list but how targeted the audience is.

• People value ACTIONABLE steps with SPECIFIC examples in a course — not just a conglomeration of information crammed into one course.
• It makes a huge difference when you build buzz on multiple platforms before launch.
• Your popularity shouldn’t be the only determining factor when it comes to pricing products. You have to consider the RESULTS the product yields as well.

As far as pricing goes, a lot of you all warned me about low-balling, but sometimes we have to make the mistake and learn things the hard way.

And instead of just focusing on how much you can charge or earn, put as much emphasis on making sure your course generates RESULTS.

Passive Shirt Profits has never gotten close to the traffic or income this site has received.

Not. Even. Close.

But my products/courses have converted far better than any site I’ve ever created because I’m learning to be more results-oriented and my audience is more targeted.

This course launch meant a lot more than the first Passive Shirt Profits course launch in 2017.

It’s hard to know for sure, but I would imagine a lot of those initial customers came from this site because I hadn’t really built much of an audience for the T-shirt space in 2017.

However, this launch was different.

I put 2create on hold last year and directed all my energy and content to the T-shirt space. So the buzz I generated for this recent launch more than likely came from YouTube uploads and podcast content I created in 2019.

It goes to show, that learning to sell online is a process, and don’t expect it to come easy just because you have a large following of people who admire you.

I’ve had to rebuild over the years because a lot of 2create followers are no longer engaged.

Also, earning passively from ads and affiliate links is much, much different than selling a product.

You have to learn how to create products people actually want, need and then you have to generate RESULTS for your customers.

And guess what?

I’m STILL learning to this day!

So the journey continues. Looking forward to growing and helping even more people in 2020!

Thanks, everyone for your support and hanging with me even when I haven’t had much to share here.

I hope you have a healthy and prosperous 2020!

Now that Merch By Amazon has likely frozen the uploads for the rest of the year, that has given me time to catch up on things I’ve neglected…

Like this blog!

Have you joined Amazon’s Influencer Program yet?

It’s been out for many months now, but they recently opened it up to more people and you don’t have to wait as long to get approved.

It’s very much like their affiliate program and managed in the same location, but you receive a personalized page with a vanity URL.

It’s a personalized way to promote products you recommend to your audience without using the long, clunky affiliate URL.

The people who will benefit the most will be bloggers, vloggers and social media mavens who tend to discuss topics that have products sold on Amazon.

For example, if you’re a beauty or tech blogger/vlogger, you may shop a lot on Amazon. No doubt you get questions about what products you use.

This is a great way to display them!

Well instead of creating an affiliate link for the individual products, you can just send them to…

amazon.com/shop/your_link

You can post your vanity URL in your blog posts, social media content and YouTube description like social media diva, Ms. Ileane does in her gear videos.

If you’re interested in joining, I created a 5 minute video to show you how it works.

If you get approved, don’t do what I did. I forgot to use it and got the inactivity warning. They will close accounts that aren’t active.

Hope you enjoy the video!