PAID ADS, SEO OR SOCIAL MEDIA TO SELL ONLINE COURSES & COACHING

Paid Ads, SEO & Social Media. You have three options to get in front of your ideal customers in order to sell your courses or coaching. What do you do first, second and last?

In this video, I will let you know what I choose and why I do it. But first let’s quickly understand the key differences between each of them.

SEO
When someone searches for a specific term on Google, Yahoo, Microsoft Bing or other search engines, the results that pop at the top of these results organically are the result of SEO. For example if someone searches for Sales Funnels (as for my business), the top results I get in the organic section are companies such as Keap, Hubspot etc.

But if i change the keyword a bit and say Sales funnels to sell courses, then I get different results, this time from companies like Clickfunnels, Learnworlds etc.

Here is the deal with SEO. 

Your influence over your ranking are minimal. It is a long term process and there is no guarantee that you will reach the top of results for your desired keyword.
The great part however is that, if you do reach, then all traffic you get is completely free.

Also note that competition is extremely high for SEO, because everyone wants free traffic and as a starting solopreneur, you might not have the knowledge, technical expertise or resources to produce content that will rank at the top.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media content is free flowing. There is no long term value in the content that you produce. What you post today will drown within a few days. If you do not have an existing following on your channel or profile, then don’t expect platforms like Facebook and Instagram to suddenly show your content to a bunch of new people.

Social Media works best for nurturing existing followers with creative content that adds value to them regularly and also reminds them of your existence consistently. So, the question then becomes how do you get Social Media followers?

PAID ADS

Paid Ads are exactly what they are. You pay platforms like Facebook, Google, Youtube, Twitter etc and they will place your message exactly where you want it. Google will put your ad at the top of the page for the exact keyword that you want to target. Facebook gives you options to place your message in front of audience that you believe is ideal for you. And they charge you money for it.

Problem, you need to pay upfront. And if you don’t have a system to convert that traffic into paying customers profitably, then you will get a negative ROI.
Good thing is that you can start from as less as $5 or $10 a day and optimize from there.

Now, that we know the three methods in detail, let me tell you my approach on what you should do first, second and third.

1. BUILD A SYSTEM
   Build out a system to convert traffic into customers. That is what a sales funnel does and if you are into selling online courses and coaching, then go check out my 5X Framework where I show you how to convert an interested visitor into a paying customer within 30-45 mins. Link in the description.
   If you don’t have a system first, then you won’t be able to convert any kind of traffic, SEO, Social or Paid.
2. PAID ADS
   Start with Paid Ads. Have a $100 budget and test out your hypothesis. Optimize your funnel and make sure that you have atleast a 2X ROI with Paid Ads.
   Ask your fresh paid clients to follow your social media profiles.
3. SOCIAL MEDIA
   Once you start growing your followers, nurture them with regular content through your social media and you will also get more clients in the process, plus be able to upsell them.
4. SEO
   Once you have 1 & 2 dialed in, go full on into SEO. Research keyword, research competition and write high value articles that readers will love. You also need to learn On-Page & Off-Page optimization to ensure that your articles have a chance to rank for the desired keywords. Keep your expectations low and give Google time to rank those articles.

There you have it. My approach. That is exactly what I do. I build a strong funnel and then start with paid ads. Using paid ads, I make clients and also build a Social media following. I nurture my followers with social media content and then when I have time, I research and create content that is SEO optimized and let Google rank it.

What do you think? Does this make sense? Let me know.
And if you want a strong funnel to sell online courses and coaching, then don’t forget to attend my Free strategy masterclass on the 5X Framework. Link is in the description below. I will see you inside.