Dirt Cheap Offline Methods of Generating Traffic to Your Website

Most of the Marketing Methods I've talked written about has been methods of send traffic to your site online.  Now, we’re going to get into other methods of driving traffic.  Primarily, how to send traffic to your site from the offline world. 

In some ways, marketing offline can actually be more fun to do and you can get very creative with how you do this.

Join Local Groups in Your Community – I live in Lexington, Kentucky and I can tell you that this is not a big city.  Actually, where I live I can have access to 3 cities that are rather small.  However, there are business groups that have regular meetings to discuss their businesses and network together.

These are usually businesses that perform services or products in the bricks and mortar world.  

So their topics whenever they speak of them are usually about what they’re selling or doing.  In my case, since I talk about dirt-cheap marketing methods and also write advertising copy, I have a pretty wide appeal with my group.  If I were a dentist, well, I don’t think I’d have the same appeal, even though dentists perform a super-important service. 

Finding these groups is pretty easy.  Just Google “Business Networking Groups” and the name of your city or town. Once again, don’t try to be a “Johnny Jump-Up” and try to connect with your group too fast.  Just like online social groups, you’ll want to get to know your group before you approach them with anything.

Once they get to know you. They’ll be much more responsive to what you have to say and your marketing message.  At some point you’ll want to give them a business card or offer to speak at one of the meetings. 

I can’t overstate that you’ll want to ease into these relationships before talking to them about what you do too much.  Just be cordial and attend regularly.

Speak at local business meetings.  

Almost every city or large town has a Toast Masters Club.  These clubs are there to give members the opportunity to speak or help you learn to speak.  However, just like any other social network, you will have an opportunity to network and talk to others that are in business.

And guess what?  You’ll be able to give a speech about your business there and hand out business cards and make connections you can send to your website!

The next move you’ll want to make once you get used to talking to crowds is to research different business groups in your area and contact them.  Usually there are business chapters or clubs that meet regularly and many times they are looking for speakers.  Depending on your niche market, you can speak at some of these events.  All you have to do is send a brief letter to the chair person leading the group offering your services to speak. 

The only words of caution I would have is make sure your niche or subject is relevant and applicable to your audience.  A good way to make sure that you’re speaking on target would be to ASK the person in charge what subject (related to your field) that they think would be good for you to speak about.

This method is very effective, especially if you’re addressing people that are interested in your business.  Usually, people will come up to you and ask you for more information. 

However, I have a better plan for you…

Hot Tip!  Instead of just giving out your marketing materials when someone asks for it why don’t you “bump it up a notch”? 

At the end of your presentation, you could say something like this:

“Thank you so much for allowing me to speak at your event.  To show you my extreme appreciation, I’ve got some free parting gifts I’d like to give you at the door before you leave."

You could give them a free report, complimentary items like pens or key- chains that have your web address and other contact information on it.  This way, you can make sure that just about everyone in the room will have your marketing materials as they leave, rather than just one or two people that just talking to one or two contacts that happen to approach you.