Let's assume your website has a good conversion rate. Somewhere between 1% and 2% of all visitors become customers. You can continue to split test your site and aim for a higher conversion. But for the moment, it may be wiser to put your resources into bringing down the cost of traffic.

How much does it cost to get traffic to your site? If you are like most sites, you rely primarily on pay-per-click advertisements. Those little ads that appear on search engines when users type in keywords that relate to your website's content.

$2,500 To Attract One Client?

As you may know, keywords are bid upon by you and your competitors. There was a day when 25 cents was considered a high bid. Now I'm seeing some keywords, such as "lawyer" or "accidental death" rising as high as $25. If that lawyer's site is only converting one in 100 (which is good), he has to pay $2,500 just to gain one client. I'd hate to see that client's bill.

Even with a moderately priced keyword at $1.50, you're putting out $300 to gain one customer. (is this now assuming a 0.5% conversion rate instead of 1% as was mentioned earlier?) For high-priced items with a lot of backend, this is still profitable Yet most of us would prefer a cheaper way to advertise.

I have found several methods that are more cost effective. Also, they often generate better, more ready-to-buy customers.

You see, other than just the high cost of pay-per-click traffic, there are other problems

1) Your Prospect Is In Internet Mode: Internet mode is a state where your prospects feel overwhelmed with the massive amount of information and options available. As a result, they think and move fast. They'll jump into your site and be out in less than seven seconds (leaving you $2.36 in debt to Google and that lawyer $25.39 poorer).

2) There's Something About The Internet That Attracts "Tire-Kickers": So much is given away for free on the internet. Often, you'll only end up attracting "prospects" seeking either free info, free trials, or a free bonus. Again, you have to pay money to open the door for these people.

3) You're Dealing With A Lot Of Competition: Pay-per-click is the online version of the Yellow Pages. When someone types in your keyword, and your ad appears, you must know that there are 5, 10 or 15 other ads selling the exact same thing competing for your prospects attention. Even if they click on your link first, they'll likely be back to the search engine page in a minute to compare prices.

Now I'm not saying you shouldn't use pay-per-click. I just wouldn't be investing all your money in it. The days of 25 cents a click are gone for most industries (unless you are selling an ebook on "lighthouse maintenance").

Here's an old fashioned method that can help generate high-end prospects to your site

It's called a postcard. A direct-response postcard. This means we aren't necessarily going to waste an entire side of the postcard with some "attractive" picture. We may even decide it doesn't need any pictures. (After all, we have a message to deliver.)

Also, it will have to be a little bigger. Maybe 8x10 inches? We need it big so that 1) people notice it and 2) we have enough space to convince them it's worth their time to visit your website.

Trust me, it takes a bit of persuasion to do this. You can't just write your company name, what you do and your URL. You'd be better off spending your money on Google Adwords.

No point in paying for colour either, in my opinion. I've tested both. You may, yes, receive a slightly higher response because of colour. But the cost is often four times that of black and white. You'd be better putting that money into printing four times as many cards (and thus quadrupling your response).

Of course, make sure you have a good mailing list. If you're selling ballet lessons, don't be sending your postcard to the local football coachit's going to be a hard sale.