A common mistake I hear experienced business people and newbies alike is building what seems like the “killer app”… and expecting users to show up in droves.

Spend tens or hundreds of thousands on a site that’s the perfect solution and the greatest thing since sliced bread, then sit around checking your web stats wondering why no one is subscribing.

The opposite end of the spectrum? The Iterative Approach.

The Iterative Approach to business building when looking at the marketing online (in Search) goes something like this.

1. Identify a market.
2. Do your keyword research. (If you see that Search Marketing would be an important part of your Marketing strategy)
3. Get a sense for what the top keywords are in your market, how much traffic those terms get, how much bidding for Paid Search visitors in those categories will cost you… and then estimate how much it will cost you to get a single visitor to your site, and a single subscriber.

Here are some relative associations for you-

(Cost Per Visitor = Average Cost Per Click)

(Cost Per Subscriber = Average Cost Per Click/ Visitor to Subscriber $)

Now… over a given period of time, here’s the real question. In fact, the one question you need to focus obsessively and endlessly over at ever moment you can steal away for-

Can you make MORE MONEY BACK from a visitor or subscriber than you paid to get them there?

I know this sounds like an oversimplification, but you’d be surprised how many smart complex businesses and projects find creative and imaginative ways to believe they don’t have to obey this simple rule. And that rule is that, in the medium to long term….

Customers should cost less to get than they do to acquire.

So do yourself a favor and find the answers to these few simple questions-

• What is your average cost to bring a single visitor to your site?
• What is your average cost to bring a new subscriber to your site?
• What is the average revenue you get back from a visitor or a subscriber over a given time period.

Focus on these, and you’ll be forced how to identify and create and REAL BUSINESS MODEL.

Oh, and don’t think that any significant percentage of your first-time visitors, or relatively new subscribers are going to buy a single thing from you unless you’re REALLY good at writing sales copy.

And even when you’re good… writing good copy is still a function of “test and measure.”

So what are your numbers?

Would love your feedback on your favorite metrics and important numbers in your business.

What are they?