January 15, 2018

The best way to learn how to drive traffic?

I went down the route of learning to drive “traffic” by providing lead generation as a service to business owners.

I dabbled with affiliate marketing years ago but much prefer the freelancer/agency route. Here’s why:

1) I’m building direct relationships with business owners – rather than with affiliate networks.

2) I get to find out what is and isn’t working direct from the business owner’s mouth.

3) I spend a lot of time talking to, selling to, and brainstorming with business owners. These are the type of people I like to surround myself with. No need for paid “mentors” either.

4) I manage *their* ad spend. I’m not buying the visitors with my own ad spend.

5) I get paid a flat monthly fee even if the campaigns aren’t profitable. (Obviously this can only last long before the business will cut the chord.)

6) I’m likely the only person running campaigns in particular channels for each business owner. They might have other freelancers working on other channels, but that’s a chance to collaborate and learn from them – rather than compete with other affiliates in the same channel for the same client.

7) If I get positive ROI for the business owner, then they often want more services.

8) There’s a lot material out there to help freelancers move to outsourcing and then productised services and then platforms. (i.e. there’s well documented paths out of the time for money freelance stage.)

9) You learn to sell directly to business owners. And it can be a tough sell since so many spammers have shut the doors for you. This is a good thing.

Just thought I’d throw that out there since so many people immediately discount freelancing or agency work as it’s so obviously tied to your time.