I hope you're doing well.  Before I forget, Happy 4th of July to all of you in the US... I hope you have a safe and enjoyable holiday!

It's officially summer and everything is so slow at the moment.  I find I get very little done this time of year but that's okay... I tend to work in spurts and summer is definitely slow season for me and I quite like it that way :-)

Last month I touched on product creation and how many of us get carried away with our first product only to find things don't work out very well.  I have to admit, I've made this same mistake myself and it's very easy to do so.

After that issue, I received three different emails all saying pretty much the same thing - "how do I get more traffic and sales?"  So lets touch on that...

There are several ways.  Lets assume your product is complete, you've done your research, know there's a demand and are all set to go... you just need customers.

One way is to get customers is through free traffic and the second is through paid traffic.  It's as simple as that.  You need traffic in order to make sales and there's free and paid traffic.

Now, many marketers will tell you not to worry about free traffic, why bother when you can set up a PPC campaign and instantly get traffic, etc.

I disagree. 

PPC campaigns are an important part of marketing but free traffic should not be ignored.  My preference is to test the product using PPC and then once you're sure you've got a winner on your hands start setting up your site to draw in free traffic as well. 

For some, setting up a content site is a long-winded way of doing things, but I believe it's the smartest and best long-term option.  Sure it takes time to set up a quality content site and to drive traffic to it, but once you have that traffic you're set. 

If you solely concentrate on PPC then each and every customer will cost you.  I love free traffic, and I also love the flexibility and control that PPC campaigns offer me.  BUT -- learning how to set up a PPC campaign that actually works a is a learning curve all on its own -- especially in a competitive market.

Let me give you an example...

I have a couple of products in a super competitive niche (it's not work at home or marketing).  It took a lot of time and effort to get my campaigns to make a profit... I had to find the right keywords, test and tweak my pages to increase conversion rates and so on.  It wasn't easy and I had to spend money to test and make sure I got things just right.  I'm in profit now, but it took a lot of tweaking and adjusting to get there.

And that's the thing.  It's easy to say 'start a PPC campaign' but unless you truly know what you're doing it's not actually all that easy -- especially in competitive niches.  This is where free traffic comes in.

At the same time I started the PPC campaigns for my niche, I also started building a large traffic site using Site Build It! .  Sure it's a lot of work putting together a quality content site, but the traffic is now starting to roll in.  I'm already ranking in the top ten for many of the same keywords I was paying good money for in my campaigns... 

Don't get me wrong, I'll still use PPC as well as other forms of advertising but free traffic gives me a certain peace of mind and it's just plain nice to know it's there... it's true passive income in my opinion.

Some will say that if you only have free traffic you're at Google's mercy and that's kinda true but the same thing applies to paid traffic.  All it takes is an increase in bid prices and a few rule changes and many of us will be struggling to keep up...  I say don't put your eggs in one basket and attack from as many possible angles as you can.

So if you have a product and site that you truly believe in and just need traffic, I urge you to think about building a solid foundation for that business.  Sometimes that means doing things a little slower, being more patient and working a little harder to start, but the end result will be well worth it. 

Remember, building a real business takes time, patience and effort, but once you get a winner it's a wonderful feeling and things will just snowball from there.

I would love to cut corners too, but I know the model that works for me and although it takes effort at the beginning once I'm all set up it's really, really easy to keep things ticking over...

For any new niche or business that I consider now, I use my two-step method:

1.  Build a quality content site to attract tons of free targeted traffic.

3.  Use other forms of advertising such as link building, article marketing and banner ads -- these have gotten a bad  reputation but in the coming months I'll show you how to make them work for you... and they do work, once you know a few simple rules.

That's it.

Two steps that take time, patience and effort but will always give me good results. 

And actually there's something else....

For anyone just starting out, I recommend you apply the three steps above but start out by building a quality content site first.  Anyone can build a website that will draw in free targeted traffic.... other marketing methods will take a little longer to perfect. 

I started out with content sites and eventually when I learned all the ropes of online marketing I moved on to other forms of paid advertisement.  If you use the tools at Site Build It! like I did, you really can't go wrong with your content site.  You can even gage the demand and profitability of a niche before jumping in (it's all explained in full detail once you get started).

Whatever you decided to do is of course ultimately up to you, but take it from someone whose been there and done that - it's worth taking your time and building a solid business with the right foundation from the start.

Time will pass no matter what and I've seen too many people stuck in the same position year after year... I often think to myself if only they just had the patience to do things the right way they would be soaring by now. 

I've said it before and I'll say it again, this stuff isn't rocket science.  Success comes down to having the right mentality to succeed and using the right tools in the process -- do that and there will be no stopping you.

Remember if you need any help you can always stop by our friendly forums, also feel free to hit reply to this email with any questions or thoughts you may have.  And for a list of some of my favorite resources scroll down to the next section.

Wishing you all the best,

Mila Sidman

Editor & Owner of Internet Based Moms