Back in the Spring of 2003, I was at Joel Christopher's Master List Builder Workshop. Marlon Sanders was up speaking. We had never formally met, but Marlon had obviously read some of the things that I'd written on using pay per click advertising. Back then, I was heavily into pay per click advertising, and had even done TWO teleseminars with my friend Marty Foley on the topic. We called the teleseminars "Master The Pay Per Clicks.
" We recorded the teleseminars and sold those recordings for a long time. I still use the recordings from those teleseminars a few places because much of the information is timeless. Marty and I taught a lot of testing and tracking. What has changed most since then is primarily the rules and policies at the pay per clicks. and which search engines are the most important.
We taught solid basics back then, and they still work. Anyway, as Marlon was doing his presentation, he spotted me in the audience, and used what I did as a simple, proven model of generating a steady flow of traffic to your website and converting it to sales. Back then, for every $1 that I invested in pay per click traffic, I generated $7 in profit. Not a bad return on investment! Marlon referred to me as "The King Of Pay Per Clicks" and asked me a few basic questions.
I answered them, and Marlon proved his points. Actually, one of the points that I heard Marlon make that day was "Whatever they're buying, I'm Selling!" The lesson that I learned from Marlon there was, sell the items that your customers are looking for rather than what you'd like to sell them. In that same presentation, Marlon yelled, "Dead Ducks Don't Quack!" I understood his message there to be, if people aren't buying a product, then stop wasting your time and effort trying to sell it to them. People KNOW what they want. Just those two statements made that entire weekend worth the 13-hour drive from Florida to San Antonio.
I drove because I wanted to use the drive time as time to listen to a course that I had recently purchased. I did listen to the audio tapes in that course all the way to, and from, San Antonio. completely absorbing the course in the process. I absorbed and later applied what Marlon taught during that fateful presentation. I applied what I learned during that time spent in "Automobile U" .
the 26 hours driving back and forth between San Antonio. Both learning experiences shifted my think in major ways. Later that year, Ramon Williamson coached me and provided me with a lot of much needed direction. When I mentioned to him that Marlon had dubbed me as "The King Of Pay Per Clicks," he asked if I really wanted to be "pigeon holed" by that title. Ramon asked me to clarify what "I" wanted to be known for on the Internet marketing landscape. Back then, I decided that I really wanted to be a coach and a mentor.
That's what I still get the greatest joy from doing online. So, while I did leverage the fact that an "Internet marketing icon" had dubbed me "The King Of Pay Per Clicks," I also took Ramon's advice to heart and distanced myself from the label. Today, as back then, I realize that without traffic to your website, your web business CANNOT be successful. You simply need visitors to a webpage who, upon arriving, take the desired action. Since the need for website traffic is so CRITICAL, back in 2003 I purchased the domain name "Website Traffic PhD." I had no idea what I was going to do with that domain, but I KNEW that not having enough website traffic was what "pained" most webmasters, and that if I could show them how to get an unlimited stream of website traffic, I had a product that they would trip over themselves to get.
Marty Foley and I did discuss creating a joint product that would be an "encyclopedia" of proven methods of generating website traffic. Perhaps because I still hadn't learned enough back then, I didn't tackle a job that I didn't feel totally qualified for. I did nothing with that domain, and even allowed the name to expire, but later re-registered it. Back in December 2002, I first met John Reese at a seminar at Hawks Cay, down in The Florida Keys. That was at the same seminar where I first met Ramon Williamson and Marty Foley.
Ramon, Marty and I all gave presentations. As time progressed, I got to know John better, and he and Ramon attended the very first seminar that I hosted. Ramon spoke, and John totally riveted attendees during conversations held in the back of the room during breaks (and at meals).
John demonstrated his marketing savvy when in March of 2004, he conducted his sell-out, $4500 per seat, seminar on website traffic tactics. John leveraged that seminar into his Traffic Secrets Course, which made him $1 million in under a DAY! John validated for me that REALLY studying traffic generation, and then teaching others how to generate website traffics was an excellent use of my time. Between 1996 and today (11 years) I have studied just about every website traffic generation tactic imaginable. Over time, I learned which ones worked consistently "for me" (long-term) and which ones required the least expense and effort. Today, after sifting through what must be over 100 possible traffic generation tactics, I have just a few core tactics that I use and teach.
I even have my "Top 10 Best Free Traffic Generation Techniques." Those are THE techniques that worked for me yesterday, and will work for me tomorrow, without my having to struggle staying up with the latest search engine tricks. I'd rather go fishing, or spend time playing with my grandchild, than spend countless hours chasing after the latest, usually very short-lived, search engine tricks. This strategy is so powerful, that on one site that I recently setup and promoted using my "Top 10 Free Traffic Generation Techniques" I generated over 1 million visitors in under 60 days.
Needless to say, the site is a success, and will earn me a nice income stream for a very long time. I like that model. build a website, plug in free traffic, make minor adjustments, and let the site make you money :-) In case you missed why I'm no longer "The King Of Pay Per Clicks," it's because it takes too much struggle! I prefer the long-term, very effective traffic generation tactics that I share with friends at: http://x-factortraffic.com/ When something works, why change it. When something isn't working, it's insane NOT to change it. Just that simple observation, properly responded to, will make you an online success.
Now, it's time for you to do it!.
Willie Crawford has been teaching others uncomplicated methods of building successful online businesses since 1996. Today, he does most of his teaching inside an exclusive membership site filled with other experts dedicated to uncovering the truth about how to succeed online. Join Willie and dozens of other "old-timers" at: http://TheInternetMarketingInnerCircle.com
