How To Drive Traffic To My Online Course
If you built a website and launched your very own online course or coaching program, you most likely are thinking,
“phew, the hard part is over.”
Unfortunately, for most people the hard part is just about to begin. Yes, this is a great first step but the next question you need to ask yourself is, “How do I drive traffic to my online course or coaching program?” During research for our post, the 3 reasons your online course or coaching program is not selling, we noticed a few factors that separated brands with site traffic from brands without.
During our research of the hundreds of online courses and coaching programs on thelifedge.com, we noticed three major factors that played a key role in driving traffic to a course creators site. Those that were succeeding were properly using social media, had multiple forms of content marketing and found new creative ways to offer value.
We understand that you have probably heard this list before. We get it, when we were starting out the first thing we did was go to google and search, how do I drive traffic to my website for free. The difference is, we are going to teach you how to maximize the use of these 3 tools and concepts in the best ways possible according to what we see working with others.
The Social Media Spider Web
You are probably thinking I am on social media so what gives? And, what the heck is a social media spider web? To get the answers to all those questions… Read on.
We commonly hear, “I use social media and I posted my course on Instagram and Facebook.” That seems like a good start but unless you have tens of thousands of followers (DO NOT BUY FOLLOWERS) then you essentially tried to fill the Grand Canyon by throwing a pebble in it. The social media space has grown. Therefore the actions required to be noticed have increased along side that growth.
No longer do we live in the time where you can use 1 or 2 platforms and get traffic to your course. No longer do we live in a time where you can make a couple posts on your preferred platform and have sales start rolling in. You must use all of them, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, TikTok, Pinterest, etc. Why would you not? They are free and so many people use them therefore, this is a great way to build an audience.
The creators that are crushing it with course and program sales are on as many platforms as they can handle. On top of that, they are producing valuable content daily for their users.
During his keynote speech at the Forward Event in 2022,
Gary Vee stated, “You should be producing 10-20 pieces of content a day per social platform.”
It sounds crazy but it is possible. Grant Cardone is a great example of someone who is achieving results.
Understandably it sounds ridiculous to produce that much content but there is a trick. We see countless creators that are taking content and reusing it in different ways across every single one of their platforms. For example, say you make a 10 min YouTube video, take that video and cut it into several 2-4 min pieces and post each piece on Instagram and Facebook. Don’t just stop there. Chop up that video AGAIN and make it into multiple 30-60 second videos that you will use for TikTok and most platforms stories. There you have 3 different slices of the same video and they can all be dispersed among different social platforms which will save you a TON of time.
An important thing to note is that your audiences are not the same on different platforms. Not everyone following you on Facebook is following you on Twitter and so on. So your followers will not be upset by you re-purposing content across ALL of your social media accounts.
Here is a word of caution. Do not be the person that has a sales pitch in every post. Offer value to your audience. Give them actionable knowledge they can use. You don’t have to serve up the whole course for free but a little taste of the paid content will go a long way and get you more followers in the long run.
Let’s get to the most important part, the Social Media Spider Web.
This may seem obvious but our research shows that it is not.
MAKE SURE that all your platforms have easy to find links that lead to your course or coaching site. An audience is no good to you if they cannot find their way to a BUY NOW button. This is the first and most important part of your social media spider web.
Here is where things get fun.
Link content across platforms to other content that is doing well. Example, you create a fantastic Youtube video that is driving traffic to your course and increasing sales. Why not then create 5-10 different pins on Pinterest that direct back to that same video. Why not create 3-5 clips of that video that you can share on Facebook with a link to watch the full video on your Youtube. Leverage the other platforms to double down on content that is already working… Mind blowing right?
This tip alone will help increase your traffic and save you time by optimizing the content you already have.
The Dreaded Content Marketing
When most people hear content marketing they associate it with writing a blog and hours spent searching keywords. To that we say…
YES!
You should have a blog. That is a space where you get to talk about your product and express to your customer your expertise of that topic. This is a great place to build trust and authority with your potential buyer. The best part is, it is completely FREE.
The second best part is that a blog is referred to as something called evergreen content. This means that once you create the content it will be on the internet forever directing traffic to your site. It never disappears.
We get it. It does require some work and time to write a blog. We understand it, as this post would not exist had we not put in the exact tedious work we are speaking of. To be honest, if you are not willing to put the hours of work in to produce free marketing for your own product, then you’re probably not going to sell much.
That is just the reality of the market we live in today. Buyers are becoming smarter and are doing their research before purchasing courses and programs. This means that you need to be doing your best to move them along the path to trusting you enough to purchase what you offer. The blog is just another tool in your tool belt to aid in the process of getting more eyes on your content.
Just like the social media spider web, you can do something similar with your blog. Once you have created content, you can then repost that same content onto other free forums and blogging platforms. Some of those free forums and platforms we would recommend are quora.com and medium.com. Simply copy and paste your blog into whatever platform your using and Voila!
Ok, enough beating the blog horse to death as there is another great form of content marketing. That is…
Podcasting!
By now you should probably know what a podcast is. Most of you can think of all your favorites that you follow and listen to on a regular basis.
Perfect.
That means you know how they work and you are ready to start your own. It’s really not that hard.
Here are the steps. Sit at your computer, start a Zoom meeting, hit record and start talking. Once you are done, Zoom will give you an audio file where you can easily upload it to a hosting service like BuzzSprout. They even offer a free hosting option so there should be no excuse not to.
Again we get it. To achieve all of this will take time and work but we are not asking you to do anything we have not done. To prove it, go check out The Life Edge Podcast.
Don’t shoot the messenger.
We are just explaining some tricks and tips that we discovered work the best. The course creators that are implementing all of these tools are crushing it right now. Most of this stuff is free so why would you not take advantage of it?
Offering Value In New Creative Ways
Easier said than done.
This is the hardest one to pull off but if you can, it always has the biggest payout.
The best example of this would be when the very first free webinar or free masterclass came on the scene. This was a gold mine for content creators. It was a new way for business owners to offer huge value to their audience. It also allowed them to pitch their course as the solution to their viewers problems. These still work well today but they are becoming more common and people are wising up to the tactic.
If you can find a new unique way to bring value to your audience then you will be an unstoppable force.
As we come to an end, please realize that the internet is ever growing. This means that you will have to put in more and more effort each day to get your voice heard.
That is going to require you to do the work that those who are succeeding are doing. You should create your social media spider web so that your followers can easily navigate your platforms. This allows them to find more of the content they like while building trust in you and your brand. Remember to double down on writing your blog posts with value or even consider creating your own podcast. Lastly, if you use your uniqueness to offer value in a new way, then you better be ready to sell your online course and gain the following you have always dreamed of.
Cheers!
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