The Entrepreneur Forum | Financial Freedom | Starting a Business | Motivation | Money | Success

Welcome to the only entrepreneur forum dedicated to building life-changing wealth.

Build a Fastlane business. Earn real financial freedom. Join free.

Join over 80,000 entrepreneurs who have rejected the paradigm of mediocrity and said "NO!" to underpaid jobs, ascetic frugality, and suffocating savings rituals— learn how to build a Fastlane business that pays both freedom and lifestyle affluence.

Free registration at the forum removes this block.

Getting traffic as a new company with a low budget

Marketing, social media, advertising

ben5blg

New Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
44%
May 11, 2019
18
8
France
Hi, I've just launched my business and the problem I'm hitting right now is the traffic, I don't have any traffic for the moment, and I'm looking for ways to increase it.

Quick introduction of my business:

It's an online business based on education. Long story short, I'm in love with Self-Improvement (how our thoughts can change our lives). So I've decided to share my skills with the world by creating online courses.

My business (once it's done) will be around 2 different skills (in 2 different niches, so 2 different websites), so right now, I'm half the way, I've launched the first online course which aims to teach others "how to hustle without burning out".

Traffic Issues:

Now here the problem, I do not have any traffic right now.

So based on the "Lean Startup" book, I've tested the market to see if there's a demand; I've created a Youtube Ads campaign (just around $100 to test) and my average View Rate was around 50%, which is tremendously high compared to the average 15% view rate.
Which is a great sign, there is a demand!

But, now I want to get traffic not for views, but for conversions and sales. I'm running ads campaigns (display and search network) but I'm on a limited budget (around $1000 to $2000) and don't want to waste it. My ads seem to work, though like I'm on a low budget, it's very slow.

What are the best ways to acquire traffic (for conversions/sales)?

I'm standing as a company, not as a personal brand, so organic traffic will be complicated (and to be honest I don't want to create social media accounts just to get traffic)

I'm already thankful if you read this completely :)
Help needed!
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Andy Black

Help people. Get paid. Help more people.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
370%
May 20, 2014
18,565
68,696
Ireland

mattsteinman

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
126%
May 13, 2019
39
49
Michigan
I would highly encourage you to create a Facebook Group and start inviting people to it. Facebook is putting a great deal of emphasis on Groups and Messenger and will become an integral part of businesses going forward.

From personal experience, it takes a great deal of valuable content, Facebook Lives, and other engaging content to start attracting your tribe. So when you say you don't want to create social media accounts for traffic, you might blow through a considerable budget on ads, unless you have insanely well-written sales copy.

Here's my suggestion (I am a Facebook Group owner too):
Find out where your target audience hangs on online, preferably in a Facebook Group or online forum somewhere. Join 5-10 of those groups and start interacting with people, answer their questions, etc. Provide VALUE.

Then, once people start seeing your name everywhere, they'll roll over your name on Facebook and see your bio. If your bio is well done and has some calls-to-action, it'll get people over into your group. That has honestly worked very well for me. Although my group has not exploded, it has grown organically over the past couple months.

Also, think about your BLUE ocean. You mentioned self-improvement above. What makes you different than all the others out there? Try and really narrow down a specific niche, in the blue ocean, that you can serve. Then serve them to the highest level.

Examples:
- Self-improvement for busy Dad's
- Self-improvement for single soccer Mom's
- Self-improvement for golfers who want to win the mindset game on the tee-box

Hopefully, that gives you some insights.
 

Private Witt

Gold Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
220%
Feb 20, 2018
984
2,168
Oklahoma
I would highly encourage you to create a Facebook Group and start inviting people to it. Facebook is putting a great deal of emphasis on Groups and Messenger and will become an integral part of businesses going forward.

This is a good suggestion. I recently started to dabble with FB groups and launched one into my states industry. Its still small as currently not marketing much as focusing on business structuring, but it consolidated a few heavy hitters I was having trouble breaking through with and now we are all chummy.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

ben5blg

New Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
44%
May 11, 2019
18
8
France
Thanks a lot for all this value! I understood how bad I was about my landing page, so now I'm going to create a "trust" page, and better understand what people were searching when they clicked.

I know that a Facebook Group could be a great way, but I honestly don't want to do this kind of organic marketing. First, it will take a lot of time to create and build a community, and second I really want to build a company, and not a personal brand.

I think I will focus my marketing on Google search ads, do you know other ways to get visitors to your website (paid or free) but without having to build a community?
 

ben5blg

New Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
44%
May 11, 2019
18
8
France
How many people have handed you money to teach them how to "hustle without burning out"?.

Well right now, nobody has made a purchase, some have entered into my funnel but that’s it. (It’s been only 2 weeks that I launched it)
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

astr0

Grinding
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
140%
Dec 3, 2017
356
500
36
Lviv, Ukraine
My client's project is completely different, but you should have some idea. It's live for about a month. Monetization is some sort of recurring micro-payments and we have 163 unique paying customers so far.

It's very niche, so hard to advertise. That's with ads - a lot of media buying and the spike is $200 broad PPM on a somewhat niche network.
ads.png

That's how thing's going now, 2 weeks without paid advertising:
no_ads.png

Media buying sucked hard, PPM too, although they do bring some customers with like $30 CPA. While we still don't know our average LTV we decided to stop the ads. Total ad spent was around $1.5k, we also have 2 sponsored youtube videos from the influencers, one with $50 giveaway.

The majority of traffic actually comes from free sources like word of mouth and App directories.

Your business is pretty mass-appealing, so probably worth spending a few dollars on PPC/PPM to test the waters.

Just make sure to track everything is the funnel.

For, example, like 25% of our non-converting users seem to be interested in a completely different thing. And 30% probably need additional functionality that we'll be adding soon. Those assumptions are based on pages they visit and other stats.
 
Last edited:

ben5blg

New Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
44%
May 11, 2019
18
8
France
My client's project is completely different, but you should have some idea. It's live for about a month. Monetization is some sort of recurring micro-payments and we have 163 unique paying customers so far.

It's very niche, so hard to advertise. That's with ads - a lot of media buying and the spike is $200 broad PPM on a somewhat niche network.
View attachment 24670

That's how thing's going now, 2 weeks without paid advertising:
View attachment 24671

Media buying sucked hard, PPM too, although they do bring some customers with like $30 CPA. While we still don't know our average LTV we decided to stop the ads. Total ad spent was around $1.5k, we also have 2 sponsored youtube videos from the influencers, one with $50 giveaway.

The majority of traffic actually comes from free sources like word of mouth and App directories.

Your business is pretty mass-appealing, so probably worth spending a few dollars on PPC/PPM to test the waters.

Just make sure to track everything is the funnel.

For, example, like 25% of our non-converting users seem to be interested in a completely different thing. And 30% probably need additional functionality that we'll be adding soon. Those assumptions are based on pages they visit and other stats.


Ok thanks for the value!

Just what do you mean by “App directories”?

And may I ask you your client’s business model, I guess it’s an online service? (I’m just really curious)

Thanks again
 

astr0

Grinding
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
140%
Dec 3, 2017
356
500
36
Lviv, Ukraine
Just what do you mean by “App directories”?

And may I ask you your client’s business model, I guess it’s an online service? (I’m just really curious)
Sorry, I can't disclose the directories as then it would be very easy to guess a niche and it's under the NDA. Basically, it's just web sites with listings and small descriptions of apps. There's a ton of them online.

Yes, it's an online service (web app) that fulfills a need for people in that niche. It's also pretty mass appealing for someone in the niche and useless for everyone else. The niche itself is small though, 40-100k people all over the world.

The main source of new users for the nearest future for us that we can control would be from integrations with bigger players in the niche. One should be live tomorrow (hopefully as it should've been done a week earlier). Mostly on the Asian market. Currently, the majority of our users are from Russia and US, slowly moving to China and South Korea on our own too. Localization is pretty important there...
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.
Last edited:

mattsteinman

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
126%
May 13, 2019
39
49
Michigan
Thanks a lot for all this value! I understood how bad I was about my landing page, so now I'm going to create a "trust" page, and better understand what people were searching when they clicked.

I know that a Facebook Group could be a great way, but I honestly don't want to do this kind of organic marketing. First, it will take a lot of time to create and build a community, and second I really want to build a company, and not a personal brand.

I think I will focus my marketing on Google search ads, do you know other ways to get visitors to your website (paid or free) but without having to build a community?

Google (and all other ad platforms) are getting more expensive as well. So if you are willing to put some money into some well thought out campaigns, then go for it.

You want to be vigilant of buyer stages as well. If you are running Google Campaigns, you'll need to nurture them to the sale. About 1% of people will buy on the first visit. It'll take 7+ touchpoints for visitors to become customers.

Make sure you have an email auto sequence setup as well. This is where the relationship/trust is built. AT LEAST a 7-day sequence is recommended.

Also, in order to retarget visitors to your site with ads, ensure you have Facebook Pixel installed so you could retarget and get in front of your visitors again.

One last thing hit me that you stated above: "it will take a lot of time to create and build a community"

Nowadays, it takes months, if not years to create a reputable business/brand, unless you have some influencer or celebrity to endorse you. Business is not easy and there are very few quick wins. Look at the long game my friend.

Good luck.
 

mattsteinman

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
126%
May 13, 2019
39
49
Michigan
Well right now, nobody has made a purchase, some have entered into my funnel but that’s it. (It’s been only 2 weeks that I launched it)

Are you collecting emails? What's your front-end offer?

If it's not converting, throwing money into ads isn't going to help. The offer and copy are VERY VERY important. You need to touch on their fears, pain points, or hit 'em with some emotional triggers that get them to take action.

I've seen this game plenty.
 

Johnny boy

Legendary Contributor
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
620%
May 9, 2017
2,929
18,173
27
Washington State
You're trying to sell something that has no intrinsic value, without giving anything and building an audience or community. You look at people as numbers and clicks and conversions but you haven't thought for a second about the people you are going to serve. You'll blow your budget in ads and walk away thinking it's hard to make money online.

When do YOU spend money? When there's something in it for you, obviously. Everyone else is the same too.

You aren't sharing your skills with the world. If you were, you'd be making youtube videos helping for free, calling people up one on one and giving a shit about them, not wondering why you have no "traffic". You get out what you put in. If your skill is to teach people, then teach them. Nothing stopping you.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

ben5blg

New Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
44%
May 11, 2019
18
8
France
My front-end offer is a free webinar, basically, people can register and get a 1-hour session where they will get a lot of value. Then I do have an automated email sequence of 6 days.

I want to clarify my thoughts here,
I do not want to create a youtube community not because I'm not willing to put time and effort but just because this is not my thing.
However, I completely aware that building a business is a long-term game. And I wasn't saying that I don't want to spend time on it, of course, I'm F*cking ready to put time and effort on it.
 

Andy Black

Help people. Get paid. Help more people.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
370%
May 20, 2014
18,565
68,696
Ireland
Have you listened to the call I linked to? (Who have you helped?)
 

mattsteinman

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
126%
May 13, 2019
39
49
Michigan
My front-end offer is a free webinar, basically, people can register and get a 1-hour session where they will get a lot of value.

But how do they know up-front that they are getting value? Is it pre-framed?

Running cold traffic to it will lead to very dismal results, IMO.

My first question would be, who is this person and why should I listen/trust them. That's what's going on in the head of your visitors.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

ben5blg

New Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
44%
May 11, 2019
18
8
France
But how do they know up-front that they are getting value? Is it pre-framed?

Running cold traffic to it will lead to very dismal results, IMO.

My first question would be, who is this person and why should I listen/trust them. That's what's going on in the head of your visitors.

The registration page is built in a way to show them what they will get inside the webinar, the value inside, and why they can trust me.

Now thanks to this thread, I will first give value to them and then show the registration form.
 

Sadik

Silver Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
305%
Jan 26, 2017
183
558
40
Kolkata, India
Since you asked a few times how you can get traffic without advertising. Here's a not so easy but very rewarding way.

Research top blogs which deal with topics related to your niche. I would research the top 10 blogs. Now write an article that would REALLY REALLY help people in your niche. Ideally you should also create a video on the same topic. Next email / contact us / tweet / DM the owners of the said 10 blogs the outline and well summarised copy of your article and video link. Offer to GUEST post this on their blog with ABSOLUTELY nothing in return. Only that your company's name be shown on the article.

Make it absolutely simple for the owner to see the article and it has to be really good not some fluffy piece. Be nice about it and be genuine. Chances are least a couple will reply back to you positively. Send the best guy the article and make a request for a link back with your company name and if possible a brief bio which you send. At least one guy will agree, maybe more.

Once your article publishes and if you had done your research well, the blog will send targeted hot leads to your site and what's best, It will continue to send targeted traffic for a long time without you spending a dime for it.

And all the best.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

ben5blg

New Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
44%
May 11, 2019
18
8
France
Since you asked a few times how you can get traffic without advertising. Here's a not so easy but very rewarding way.

Research top blogs which deal with topics related to your niche. I would research the top 10 blogs. Now write an article that would REALLY REALLY help people in your niche. Ideally you should also create a video on the same topic. Next email / contact us / tweet / DM the owners of the said 10 blogs the outline and well summarised copy of your article and video link. Offer to GUEST post this on their blog with ABSOLUTELY nothing in return. Only that your company's name be shown on the article.

Make it absolutely simple for the owner to see the article and it has to be really good not some fluffy piece. Be nice about it and be genuine. Chances are least a couple will reply back to you positively. Send the best guy the article and make a request for a link back with your company name and if possible a brief bio which you send. At least one guy will agree, maybe more.

Once your article publishes and if you had done your research well, the blog will send targeted hot leads to your site and what's best, It will continue to send targeted traffic for a long time without you spending a dime for it.

And all the best.

Thanks! I will look at this way in details!
 

Post New Topic

Please SEARCH before posting.
Please select the BEST category.

Post new topic

Guest post submissions offered HERE.

Latest Posts

New Topics

Fastlane Insiders

View the forum AD FREE.
Private, unindexed content
Detailed process/execution threads
Ideas needing execution, more!

Join Fastlane Insiders.

Top