[hanzspiritx]

Hi
I'm new to this forum. I've browsed a few threads and looks like there are some really good advice. I've tried to start an e-business some time ago but it shut due to lack of traffic. I've tried Google AdWords but it appears that I'm paying for mostly unconverted traffic. Also, the traffic that comes in is really quite low with barely 300 a month.

Is there any advice on how I can pull in loads of traffic in a short amount of time for a new startup? Or at least generate enough traffic in say, 3 months time?

[usakos]

good product, content, and presentation;

[hanzspiritx]

i understand that but that does not solve the problem of generating enough traffic in.

no matter how good the product or presentation is, if no one knows about the website, it seems futile.

[usakos]

MySpace.com, Facebook, etc., grew from the "Word of Mouth" marketing concept... as far as i know, they have never advertised anywhere. And Yahoo only started advertising on TV a few years ago. I have never seen an advertisement by Google anywhere.

So, this illustrates that if you have a good product, they will find you somehow even if you don't have a budget to advertise. You just have to be patient, it won't happen over night.

You can also do Guerrilla and creative marketing, such as you can now create a video and post it on example YouTube. There was a video on YouTube for a cat playing a piano, over 1 million people watched that video, and now, there's a video for Barrack Obama, it's actually a song by some obsessive Obama fan, which is sweeping the net. Imagine if you create something similar and attach your web site address on to a similar video, so that when people what the video, they also see your web site address on the video, so they will get to learn more about you or what you're doing... instead of just watching the video...

Word of Mouth is one of the most powerful marketing tools...

See the "Word on the Street" paragraph at this link; http://www.rentersq.com/ratings/inde...=ratings&l1=14

[akula]

Originally Posted by usakos

MySpace.com, Facebook, etc., grew from the "Word of Mouth" marketing concept... as far as i know, they have never advertised anywhere.

no true...check the case studies

both myspace and facebook did very aggressive promotional campaigns to build critical mass

hanzspiritx, what kind of site u got? is there a link? rather not say?

[akula]

Originally Posted by usakos

So, this illustrates that if you have a good product, they will find you somehow even if you don't have a budget to advertise. You just have to be patient, it won't happen over night.

unfortunately...this really is not a good idea. The whole "build it and they will come" fallacy aside, to get traffic; startups must a) do surveys b) promote in the manner indicated in the surveys by their prospects c) make mistakes d) do the surveys again, possibly with a different target market/price point e) spend more on marketing to get through the sales learning curve f) repeat d and e until break even or break up

no startup has ever succeeded banking on "they will find you somehow". the team has to work, reiterate their plans and have the funding to finance their sales learning curve, which is a cost that gets minimized if the prospects get surveyed.

the problem for hanzspiritx is that he did not complete point a), which is why he has an unsuccessful marketing mix

the solution is to complete point a) and change the marketing mix
the solution is not gonna come from anything else but point a)

[usakos]

Originally Posted by akula

No...this really is not a good idea. The whole "build it and they will come" fallacy aside, to get traffic startups must a) do surveys b) promote in the manner indicated in the surveys by their prospects c) make mistakes d) do the surveys again, possibly with a different target market/price point e) spend more on marketing to the through the sales learning curve f) repeat d and e until break even or break up

no startup has ever succeeded on the "they will find you somehow" delusion. the team has to work, make reiterations to their plans and have the funding to finance their sales learning curve, which is a cost that gets minimized if the prospects get surveyed.

the problem for hanzspiritx is that he did not complete point a), which is why he has an unsuccessful marketing mix

the solution is to complete point a) and change the marketing mix
the solution is not gonna come from anything else but point a)

I assume that when someone starts a business, he or she has already done his or her due diligent; market research etc. The above stated a-f are what anyone needs to do when starting something, and the question for this thread was not how do i get started, but what to do after already have started.

Like you said, he didn't complete point a.

Public perception seems to be that MySpace launched and instantly grew its user base through word of mouth viral marketing. This was not the case. MySpace used a combination of tactics, including traditional, cost per acquisition (CPA) campaigns through established online brands, which yielded successful results. MySpace was hatched by the former ResponseBase team within Intermix, and thus the team had a strong background in direct e-mail marketing and CPA tactics. Once MySpace had acquired its first few million users, it could then rely on pure viral effects. I have more detail on the MySpace launch in the “Launch Strategy” section, but I thought it was worth highlighting here as well.

I guess I missed this one; and that's why it states that the public perception is that MySpace launched and grew instantly based on the WoM concept. Simply because most of us just never seen their advertisement, except many articles and rave reviews that initially appeared on many news media sites.

I personally learned about most of these sites through news articles, not advertisement.

There are many great companies especially brick 'n mortal companies that were started and grew without paying for advertisement. And this user seems not having a budget for advertisement, and since s/he doesn't have the money to pay for advertisement, that shouldn't discourage him/her from starting his or her business.

If s/he does the points you've stated above, then the WoM concept may help save his or her business grow until s/he makes enough money to pay for local radio or Internet advertisement.

You don't just quit trying because something seems impossible, you keep on pushing, and try to find a way out of no way to make it work.

[akula]

Originally Posted by usakos

You don't just quit trying because something seems impossible, you keep on pushing, and try to find a way out of no way to make it work.

very good points there.

absolutely. the biggest lesson i've learned with startups is having to budget for marketing mistakes. in all probability, hanzspiritx is selling the wrong product, to the wrong target market, in the wrong way and at the wrong price. he's just started his business. he's at the bottom of the sales learning curve. he hasn't done the surveys. it's extremely unlikely that he'd get anything right in his marketing mix, let alone his promotional strategy.

this is why I advise entrepreneurs to have the investment skills for picking investment opportunities with friendly sales learning curves they are capable of suffering and financing.

if the entrepreneur starts a venture with a sales learning curve that knocks her on her ass, that her fault, and there's very little she can do about it other than closing shops and tackling a more surmountable sales learning curve

[usakos]

Yes...

Also, this user wants an instant traffic success with his or her site. I believe for MySpace to amass this huge membership base, it was launched in 2003, but didn't hit this membership base of over 100+ mil overnight. It has taken time for them to do so, plus there was nothing really better for people to do online since TheGlobe.com which was the originator of social networking, except it was not worded like that died in 2000 or so, and when MySpace came, offering new way of interacting with each other, other than the Yahoo Geocities, etc., it was an instant success.

YouTube and Skype hit it quickly too, because their market was also unique, uncrowded. That's why YouTube and Skype grew so fast in such as short time.

This user wants an overnight traffic success, and it just won't happen like that unless you have something real good to offer to users. Let's say this user has zillions of dollars to advertise his or her business, but what he offers sucks, users will go check out his or her site, but will not convert to any sales, etc.

Well, unless if he's Steve Jobs and has an iPhone or iPod prior, then that can happen.

In short, you must have a good product for people to come. Haven't you learn in Econ 101 the Supply and Demand Theory?

[hanzspiritx]

Originally Posted by akula

no true...check the case studies

both myspace and facebook did very aggressive promotional campaigns to build critical mass

hanzspiritx, what kind of site u got? is there a link? rather not say?

the site has shut thus i dun have a link anymore but i wanna find out what is the key to marketing online other than print ads and broadcast. what are the mediums that i can gain access to to begin raising awareness of a new site.

Originally Posted by usakos

YouTube and Skype hit it quickly too, because their market was also unique, uncrowded. That's why YouTube and Skype grew so fast in such as short time.

This user wants an overnight traffic success, and it just won't happen like that unless you have something real good to offer to users. Let's say this user has zillions of dollars to advertise his or her business, but what he offers sucks, users will go check out his or her site, but will not convert to any sales, etc.

Well, unless if he's Steve Jobs and has an iPhone or iPod prior, then that can happen.

In short, you must have a good product for people to come. Haven't you