Steve Boutelle has realized this and it sparked this question from him...

Steve Boutelle here . . . LOVED article on ethics! - something that's definitely a major part of any truly successful business practice. I'm sending in my Marketing question- here it is:

What are your top proven recommendations for getting qualified, targeted visitor traffic to your site that will continue over long term?

Great question and one that is on mind of every eBusiness owner "out there."

I know you are probably looking more for "tactics" to put into place rather than going back and regrouping a bit and we will get to tactics but first things first...

The main thing that has to be on your mind is to stay focused. When you first get into an eBusiness you have to do your homework. What I mean by that is find out what people want and need and then build a business around meeting those needs.

You CAN'T BE all things to EVERYONE. It just doesn't work. What you need to be is "expert" per se in one or a group of related needs/wants and build your business around that.

When you are "focused" you will see that a great many things come together for you. You will find that you aren't spending gobs of money on traffic generating systems, with hopes of getting "someone" to buy. You will have a better idea of where those people are and become more proactive in your marketing strategies and budget spending. There is a huge difference in terms of marketing dollars and success rates when you go from a mass marketing approach to a targeted approach ;o)

Go back and look at your web sites and look at it from shoes of a visitor and see what they see. That little exercise will ALWAYS give you a lot of information in figuring out why people aren't buying and what needs to be adjusted.

So...first thing in getting long term targeted traffic is to stay focused and try not to be everything to all people. Meet needs and wants of a targeted market and not masses. One you know your target market and what they want then following kicks in for you as far as specific marketing tactics is concerned...

1. List building - I have sprouted off here continually about NEED to have a list (or several lists) of your own. A list that is separate from your affiliate programs so that it can follow you wherever you go. If you have a focus then of course your lists become more focused as well. You will have a list of people who have a want and need for your products/ services as opposed to just a bunch of tire kickers who aren't really sure what they want or need. Does that make sense??

Your business should have more than just one list. You can have a general list (ie, a subscribers list for your newsletter perhaps), and it should also have specific lists built around sales of certain products and services you offer. If you are in health and nutrition market and sell several different products in line, then for each product your sell, those customers become targeted to that product. You can then look at that and make targeted lists from that and act accordingly.

List building, as I said above, is THE KEY. You have ability through your lists to be specific and target only those who want and need your products/services.

2. Advertising - once you know your market and who needs what you have, in process you find out where they hang out. When you know what newsletters and forums they go to then it makes things easier for you. Again, you are focused with respect to your marketing and are going into newsletters that speak directly to your target as opposed to masses. Prime example here...

ProfitSpace focuses on marketing and copywriting tactics for eBusiness owner. My target market for ProfitSpace is eBusiness owners.I can't tell you how many classified ads I receive from people who are selling health and nutritional products. A person who is selling H&R products specifically is targeting people with health issues. While yes I am sure that there are eBusiness owners with health issues, they aren't in frame of mind to read about it in a marketing newsletter. They are looking for business help. That person selling these products would have generated far better response by going to a newsletter which targets health related issues.

You NEED to target your advertising to fit newsletter you are advertising in. If you are SELLING health products then go to a health related newsletter. If you are trying to build a downline for your mlm then fine, stick with a newsletter geared towards business.

Another thing about advertising that will certainly help you in building long term targeted traffic. DON'T SEND A PERSON TO YOUR SITE, send them instead to a no cost eReport, eBook or eCourse that ties in and relates to your target/focus. REMEMBER if you don't have a list then you are basically shooting yourself in foot. You WANT email address and name of visitor...you DON'T WANT them to go to your site, see what you have, hope they'll bookmark you and come back. They won't do it.

Let me give you an example of what I mean...

In case of Mariangie who is promoting tele-communication products. Instead of placing a typical classified that leads a person to her site, she writes a no cost eReport on, oh...say...how to save money on your monthly cell phone charges and writes a classified promoting that report. BINGO she has a name and email address of someone who has a need to save money on their cell phone. You can go much farther in terms of marketing with a warm body to market to as opposed to marketing to a ghost ;o)

See how that works??

So...look at focus of newsletter you are advertising in and make sure it reaches your target market...AND...lead a person to a report or some other list generating tool...NOT TO JUST your web site ;o)

So, let's work on building a foundation for you. With a foundation in place you will at least know that there are some tactics out there that you can totally count on to deliever a consistent result for you. Once you have a foundation, then you can add in a new marketing tactic into your mix, test it, adjust it where it may need be and track it to see if result is consistent. If it proves to be then of course that tactic now becomes another within your foundation.

UNDERSTAND THIS...not every tactic is going to work for you. There are many reasons why this may be case. You might have decided to cut a step and doing so of course could jepordize your outcome. There are many variables which can come into play. The thing is that you TRACK and ADJUST until you FIND right mix for your business.

So, are you ready? Ok then, let's roll up our sleeves and get at a system here, shall we??

There are TWO credo's that immediately come to my mind immediately when I think of email marketing strategies. I want to share them with you and I really want you to write them down on a sticky note and keep them someone where you will see them constantly.

Here they are... 1. How can I use this tactic so that I am always adding to or building a list?

By asking yourself this question you are putting yourself in a proactive state, which is fantastic! Many people are more reactive when it comes to their marketing efforts and reacting is like little mouse running in that wheel in a cage, he spends all that time running and running and never gets anywhere. Its same with people who are reactive, they spend all that time reacting and not getting anywhere with their marketing results.

2. You CAN'T market to a ghost

Hits to your site doesn't mean "jack" if they don't buy and if you don't have a tactic in place that will enable you to follow up with that traffic. If you can't capture an email address and a name, then all you are doing is marketing to ghosts.