You and I have
been buds a while…
I mean, you
get my newsletter every day.
So for all
intents and purposes, you know me better than my closest friends. I barely see THEM
once or twice a month.
But you probably
weren’t marketing online back when I got started.
So here’s the True Tale of Traffic:
See, in
those days…
Everyone
who made REAL money online was getting traffic from Google. Everything else was
for the small time gullible “newbies” who believed in fairytales.
But I couldn’t
have arrived on the scene at a WORSE time!
It was the early days of the “Second Google Slap”.
If you don’t
know what that is, keep reading…
Oh, boy
what a BAD time to get started with Adwords!
I remember
one time getting in touch with a very famous trainer (who shall remain nameless to
protect his identity)…and asking for help…
He said:
“MLM on
Adwords!? Can’t be done.”
But that didn’t stop me.
Soon i was getting leads like clockwork.
In 2008, I landed
my first big gig as the in-house traffic manager for, arguably, the Founding Father
of Online MLM, Mike Dillard.
That year between
my traffic and their selling skills, we multiplied profit SEVEN times from the
previous year.
Since then,
I drove traffic in a diversity of markets–including real estate, skin care and
cosmetics, limousine services, martial arts, fitness, and bloody everything
under the sun.
You name
it, I’ve stuffed it with traffic.
In 2010
alone, I built traffic campaigns for 100-some online businesses.
I’ve
taught, consulted, and managed traffic for years.
And whenever
the traffic was big…whenever that traffic was profitable…
It was
ALWAYS Google Adwords.
But I didn’t
get there easily. I mean, I walked into the BizOp market, at the WORST possible
time to start with Adwords.
It was
CUT-THROAT!
The
competition, BRUTAL. The cost, expensive. And one little mistake would bury you
in debt. I shudder at the memory.
It was
normal to pay upwards of $50 for a good BizOp EMAIL lead.
But I NEVER
paid anywhere near that.
At my peak,
I averaged 1,000 leads every day for ~$2/each!
Before I showed
up, the whole industry had been at a stand-still because of the first and second Google
Slaps. And I had the answers people wanted.
My traffic
skill became legendary.
And soon I
was asked to teach how I was getting my ads to stay live and how I was getting
traffic so damn cheap in a market no one had been able to conquer.
So I came
out with my first traffic training product. It broke a record, with over 3,000
students enrolled in 5 days and over a $mil$ in sales.
Soon everyone
was on Google, getting opportunity leads DIRT CHEAP, and making a killing.
Top earners
sprung out of thin air…Several of my students were getting 300-500 leads a
day and earning over $100,000 a month in sales.
But not one
of them had a REAL WEBSITE!
Not one.
They were driving
traffic to a single page that collected emails and phone numbers. Called their leads
on the phone and sold their butts off.
One fateful
day, in 2010…
The THIRD
Google Slap hit. This was the deadliest slap of all.
Everyone went
into a panicked frenzy.
The traffic
came to a total life-shattering HALT. Google refused to send any more traffic. Internet marketers were cut off from Google for good.
People who’d
spent MILLIONS on Google Ads were told quite rudely, to “FUGK OFF”.
Google
didn’t even want their money. They didn’t want to talk to anyone. They didn’t
explain themselves. They didn’t offer support or answers.
No one knew
why.
Entire
industries got shut down.
Top earners
who once showed off their “Google Riches”, went bankrupt–one guy i knew,
who was particularly obnoxious about his wealth actually became HOMELESS!
Meanwhile…
And rather
strangely, my traffic kept coming.
I had no
idea why at the time. I thought somehow i slipped through the cracks.
It was
terrifying for me, because my entire livelihood depended on my Adwords
skill–to lose my account would destroy me.
Why Did
Google Go Crazy?
How could
they turn away millions of dollars in business and upset so many of their best customers–without
warning, without explanation, or anything?
I began researching
the problem.
Something really
weird was going on…
Almost
everyone still on Google didn’t seem to use any of the “proper”
internet marketing practices being taught. They had NORMAL websites, pretty websites,
cute websites…the sort of sites Internet Marketers associate with people who
don’t know what they’re doing.
A weird thought crossed my mind…
Maybe it
was the Internet Marketing gooroos who didn’t know what they were doing!
I studied the Editorial Guidelines for all the major ad networks. And I even
consulted a lawyer to help me understand the laws on which many of the
guidelines were based.
After
several
months of research, i ventured out and re-built my website from scratch.
And i
timidly turned on the Google traffic again.
But i
was obsessively careful. I went out on a limb to not even be near the edge of
the rules–i worked completely within them.
It worked…But there
was a problem.
Whenever I kept
Google happy, conversion rates were lower, cost to acquire a lead was 10 times
higher, and sales were even less frequent.
All the
same, I was STILL on Google, and that was a start.
As i became
braver, I looked to the BIG brands of the web that seemed immune to Google’s
bans. And i borrowed from their designs, layouts, and offers.
I intentionally
distanced myself from everything the gooroos taught.
Soon i
found NEW things that most Internet Marketers STILL don’t know.
Stuff that
converted MORE effectively and kept Google happy.
15,000
dollars later, i knew everything i needed to know. And i figured out a way to
profit and get Google traffic, without getting “slapped”.
Amazingly,
it wasn’t even hard.
It just
came down to a) having a real website.
and b) making clarity, transparency, and user-friendliness a priority.
These principles, when combined with good coding practices and clever
marketing, make websites attractive to both search engines AND people.
= MORE traffic,
MORE sales.
Over the
years, i found many powerful formulas (not tricks) that rivet people to the
content on your website and make them spend more time there. Most of these
things are based on information layout and hierarchy–not on “copy”.
On Wednesday’s
90min Website Webinar, I’ll be covering many of these topics with you.
So if you
haven’t enrolled yet, there’s only SIX days left.
Read up
about the class here & enroll before it’s too late:
[interested_link form=”subscribe_form” document=”18045″]Learn UN-ORTHODOX Marketing & Traffic from Jim, the controversial Ex-Silicon Valley TRAFFIC GOBBLER – Free here …[/interested_link]
~jim