Blog & Website Marketing Resources
Time Spent: 5 minutes
$ Made: $0
Main Focus: eBay arbitrage
Today’s Value (1 to 10): 1
Overall Value (1 to 10): 1
My Thoughts: Same eBay arbitrage video I saw and reported on a couple of weeks ago. So nothing new here.
eBay Arbitrage Auction Update: No sales yet. Got a watcher on one. Both end tomorrow.
If you want [...]
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Day 27 – Shoemoney System Review
When you start up your web business, you just can’t excel at everything. When a CPA begins explaining how an S-Corp works, and the walls begin to blur and you wonder whether you should truly be the one running your own business, the conversation gets weird:
CPA: …and as an employee, you pay yourself a salary.
me: Hang on, didn’t I start my own business in order to NOT be an employee? I have to create a whole new legal person (we’ll call him “Odie”) in order to have that new person hire me and then pay me as an employee to do everything.
Why would Odie hire me to do the bookkeeping? I hate bookkeeping. Why would someone hire me to keep the books when they know I hate it? Odie must be sadistic. Its the only explanation.
The cool part, is that he DID hire me for the creative work. That Odie really knows his stuff when it comes to marketing and PR. Kudos to Odie (remind me to get him a fruitcake for a Happy Thankschristmukkah). As a matter of fact, he hired me to be a programmer as well. Yet again a superior move on his part. He’s doing well so far, but I finally had to enroll him in a 12 step program to reduce his sadistic tendencies. Until he gets better, I now have a temp filling in for most of the stuff that I simply don’t like doing, and classes to train me in the things that I don’t mind doing, but need a few tips and suggestions to be even better.
Use your strengths to define your business. There is coaching, training, teaching and contractors everywhere willing to help your business succeed. Use them and watch your business thrive.
The dancing is so much better that way.
Toff Ward
OpenSourceMarketer.com
Learn how to build and market your business online using WordPress.
Time Spent: 25 minutes
$ Made: $0
Main Focus: eBay arbitrage
Today’s Value (1 to 10): 1
Overall Value (1 to 10): 1
My Thoughts: No new videos today. Still getting teased with videos I’ve already seen and a few on Facebook I’d like to see. It’s funny. I’ve gotten so used to not having anything new, that my [...]
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Day 26 – Shoemoney System Review
In a market downturn, there is always pressure to cut your prices. Trouble is, the same pressure applies in an up market, too!
Can you ever win? Either the client won’t pay what you’re worth because of tight budget constraints, or so many competitors enter a flush market that there isn’t enough money to go around.
Here are some ideas on how to achieve premium pricing for your PPC services.
As we discussed in a previous post, What Is The Key Skill Of The PPC Consultant, apart from search marketing expertise sales is the most important skills an independent PPC consultant can possess. Without sales, nothing else can happen.
How do you generate sales leads? How many leads do you have right now?
If you have few leads, then you need to put a lot more effort into sales, and think about increasing the channels by which you market i.e. PPC, conferences, cold-calling, agency partnerships etc.
You should always strive to generate far more leads than you ever use. This way, you’ll have your choice of clients, and won’t feel under pressure to cut your prices. Of course, this is easier said than done, but the important thing to think about is how much effort and resources you currently devote to the sales side of your business.
If you’re a sole operator, you may not have much time to devote to sales. One way around this problem is to partner with marketing and advertising agencies. Small agencies may not have enough work to be able to hire a dedicated search marketing specialist, but would certainly like to offer such services. If you sign up three of four such agencies, they’ll do much of the selling for you – typically to their existing customer base – and take a commission on your work. This commission usually works out to be way cheaper than hiring dedicated sales staff yourself.
If I said to you “For every dollar you spend on my services, you’ll make three“, would you hire me? How about if I said “For every dollar you spend on my services, you’ll save three” would you hire me?
Of course.
ROI – return on investment – is a very powerful sales tool. In your proposal and pitch, demonstrate exactly how you will provide ROI. For example, you might approach businesses who market only on radio and demonstrate how PPC can generate more leads/visitors/responses for the same spend.
No business will turn down a positive ROI proposition, no matter what the state of the economic climate. The economic climate is actually in your favour at the moment – money is moving out of traditional media channels, such as television, newspapers and radio, and onto the web. This is soely due to the positive ROI proposition offering by internet marketing.
Are there too many generalist PPC consultants?
How about owning a niche, such as travel, construction, clothing, retailing etc?
Look for businesses in niches that predominately use traditional marketing channels to advertise their goods and services and construct proposals that compare the ROI of PPC vs these traditional marketing channels.
The niche needs to be big enough for you to make money, but small enough to have escaped the attention of bigger marketing agencies. Big agencies with high overheads often avoid small niches because they are too small for them to service and still make a profit. Such niches provide rich pickings for the independent consultant who typically has lower overheads and can adapt quickly.
People like dealing with people they perceive as being notable experts. If you’re already known to your potential clients, or can point to independent validation of your guru status, then you have a massive advantage over unknown consultants.
This is also a reason why focusing on a niche can be such a great strategy for the independent PPC consultant. The world is awash with PPC gurus who have been plying their trade for a long time, speaking at conferences, writing articles for major publications etc. Instead of competing with them directly, choose a niche and become a superstar in that niche. There will be many trade publications that have NEVER had a PPC consultant write an article for them.
Why don’t you become the first?
Always be on the lookout for areas where you can add more value than what the client pays you to provide.
For example, say you have an interest in usability. You note that the client has a few usability problems that could be easily solved. Write up a detailed report and give it to the client as a bonus. View the time spent on this report as a marketing cost i.e. you’re trying to forge a deeper relationship that will lead to ongoing business.
Clients will never fail to be impressed by value-added services.
Under promise and over deliver.
If you’re great at PPC, then why would you sell those skills to others? Why wouldn’t you become an affiliate marketer, or set up your own site selling goods and services? What’s the point of working for a string of new bosses as an independent PPC consultant?
There are a few reasons why becoming an independent consultant can be a great idea. Lucrative, too.
Market research – good market research – can cost a fortune, but the consultant gains an intimate knowledge of their clients market. Not only do you get to see the data, you get to see the marketing and business processes that you can then apply elsewhere. Not so much spying as a valuable apprenticeship and research opportunity, for which you get paid.
The independent consultant gets to choose their own hours and projects. Unlike an employee, the independent consultant can choose their “bosses”. Don’t like the boss? “Fire” the client.
You can also choose your hours of work, when to take holidays, and where you work.
Crafting solutions can be a lot more fun than implementing them. Delivering goods or services can be a hassle, and require a lot of back-end processes.
PPC is mostly a high level marketing function, and the responsibility typically ends once the visitor moves to desired action.
The world is chock full of PPC consultants!
Anyone can call themselves a consultant, so many people do. Assuming the consultant can do the work to a high standard, the most critical skill of the independent consultant – entering a saturated market with no barrier to entry – is the ability to sell.
How do you sell your services?
Do you want to work with big organisations or small? The approach you take will differ depending on your target market.
Small businesses tend to like dealing with other small businesses, as they appreciate the direct level of contact. Big business have larger budgets, but can be harder for the new consultant to engage – many large firms will work with preferred suppliers, and with established agencies.
Tailor your pitch and approach accordingly.
Why would they choose you? You may be great at what you do, but how do you convince others of your worth?
Points of difference can include:
What are your competitors doing? More importantly, what are they not doing? Are there areas you can provide more value to clients than your competitors do?
Think about the points of resistance for a client. Put yourself in their shoes. One major point of resistance for the new independent consultant is perceived risk. Without a track record, the risk proposition for the client is high.
One idea for getting around this perceived risk is to give your services away for free.
Huh?
One local consulting agency I know of sold out to a competitor for a a tidy sum. When they started, they decided they needed a client list, so they offered their services, for nothing, to a list of preferred clients. The agency viewed this as a marketing cost. Once they had proved their worth, clients tended to stay on their books, and at very least, provided valuable experience and referrals.
Of course, you can’t work for nothing/discount rates over the long term, but such a strategy works well if you need to get a few good names – preferably industry leader names as opposed to unknown small businesses – under your belt.
Actors often say you’re only as good as your last movie. In consulting, you’re only as good as your last gig. A bad reputation can be gained easily, and persist for a long time. So when you execute, stay focused on delivery.
The most effective selling method, by far, is good word of mouth. Each new gig gives you a chance to increase good word of mouth.
I hope this article provides you with a few ideas on selling your services.
The techniques you use very much depend on your own skills, history and ability. If you’re new to PPC, in terms of operating as a business, it’s often a good idea to work for a PPC agency before going freelance. This gives you valuable insight into the business of selling search, experience, and the opportunity to build up contacts.
Nowadays the Internet is a battle royal. MySpace vs. FaceBook. We all know how that matchup turned out.
Google vs. Yahoo. This one’s scheduled for 12 rounds, but I think it will be a knock out.
And Google Buzz trained for years for a title match but failed a drug test. So for now, Twitter still holds the Light Heavyweight Belt, but eventually everyone meets their match. Anyone remember Buster Douglas knocking out Mike Tyson?
This spectacular entertainment is appreciated by so-called “gurus” of epic proportions. The fight for Internet marketing supremacy is a quality collection of bouts that will satisfy many an Internet guru, but how will it impact the masses in attendance?
Will they follow the hot trends blindly? Will tricks for quick bucks convince them to throw in their monthly budget for an unproven, highly touted secret weapon?
So whether it’s above-the-fold landing pages or live chats, you need to see the results before you invest your wad. There are reasons galore to believe “best practices” or “paradigm-shifting Internet sensation” hype and hope these latest and greatest tactics to generate revenue make a dent into your bottom line, but if you don’t personally see the fight through you are merely gambling. Do you really want to do that? Before you start paying the piper, make sure you do your own research first so you have a high confidence level to make bets on the entire fight card.
Above “The Fold” Page vs. Sequence of Thought
The Breakdown: The Fold is not new to the fight scene. He originates from a previous generation of fighters who have mostly retired or passed on. The Fold comes from the newspaper ring, where everyone fought for the space on the top half of the page. For people who didn’t read an entire newspaper word for word, the top half of the newspaper page is where you would look for the most important and popular stories. Much of the content below the fold was missed.
The Fold has a new following on the internet. Everywhere I go people are talking about The Fold. He’s the place on the page where a typical visitor’s screen ends. Anything below him takes extra effort to get to either by manually scrolling or using your mouse wheel. Although it only takes a quick twitch of the index finger, many people will not exert this effort.
So what are we supposed to do? Cram every possible image, word, or call-to-action above The Fold? The answer is no, and our tests time and time again prove it.
With over a decade in the game, and 100+ professional fights under his belt, Sequence of Thought enters the ring to take down the champion. At first glance, The Fold appears ready. He’s neatly arranged and he dons a beautiful new robe. The Fold feels this is good matchup for his style. He is typically at his best when he can use his brawn to draw in conversions without much thought. He wants you to press his buttons right away without even doing the pre-fight research.
But consumers are getting smarter, more keen. His tactics have got him this far, but The Fold has met his match.
The reason why Sequence of Thought can defeat The Fold isn’t because of his appearance. The fight for conversions is not won on the page, but in the mind of the user. It’s won before anyone even steps in the ring. It’s won by understanding your visitors’ motivations and anticipating what they will do, what punches they will throw before they arrive on your website.
What’s their thought process? What information are they looking for? Do they need longer copy because the product requires a big decision? Or do you need to utilize the top half of the page to introduce yourself because you’re unproven in the ring?
Not only is it vital to understand the motivations of the user before you build your page, but it’s essential to test your way into an effective page design. Use metrics and data to fully optimize your site. Launch a test for a few weeks then analyze your visitors’ actions in order to identify patterns and find the areas of your site where improvements will produce the biggest ROI gains.
For some product offerings, a short page is effective. But The Fold is not a one-size-fits-all type of fighter. Our research has proven that often a visitor will scroll if you lead them down the page, either through compelling content or product descriptions. If you tap into their motivations and provide them with what they are looking for, page length is of no consequence.
ADAM LAPP’S UNOFFICIAL SCORECARD:
The Fold – 76
Sequence of Thought – 102
Pretty Page vs. Ugly Page
The Breakdown: All of the promoters these days are looking for lean and chiseled with a marketable face. Their goal is to attract attention, put up a visually stimulating facade in order draw viewers to the fight and maximize pay-per-view orders. Pretty Page has lots of colors and images on it. (Do customer service reps really look like the stock photos? Wow!)
There’s lots of flash (along with some Flash). White text on black background. I see at least three twitter icons. Gradients galore. And then there’s that video that I had go out of my way to click pause just so I could focus on reading the actual content of the page.
The Pretty Page looks good. As it should be since you probably paid a small fortune to have it designed and developed.
But does a Pretty Page increase your conversion rate?
Meanwhile in the cellars of the arena, Ugly Page is whaling away at a punching bag. Unlike his opponent, Ugly Page is a grizzled veteran with an acute knowledge of how to win a fight. This comes from years and years of experience. He knows that conversion doesn’t depend on looks, having the biggest biceps, or wearing the most colorful shorts. He knows that conversion depends solely on your strategy. And strategies are not built from the latest trends or by implementing quick hits that you learned at a one-day marketing conference. They are built from testing. From figuring out definitively what works and what does not work.
But the point is not that Ugly Page is a better fighter than Pretty Page. In fact, Pretty Page may eventually become a much better fighter than Ugly Page. The important thing to understand is that strategy is more important than design. You could have the best-looking page in the world, but if it hasn’t been tested, if it hasn’t been optimized based on what you learned from data and results, then it’s nothing more than a pretty page.
The fighter that will prevail is one that tests the layout, tone, copy, and positioning before testing images and color schemes. Ugly Page learns how to communicate his value as a fighter before he adorns himself with a fancy robe. He reduces friction and anxiety before his publicist gives him a makeover.
The bottom line is that the ideal testing sequence is to test key strategies first, figure out which works the best, then add an aesthetic layer.
ADAM LAPP’S UNOFFICIAL SCORECARD:
Pretty Page – 88
Ugly Page – 96
Let’s get ready to rumble
Throughout the week, I’ll be shedding light on more Internet marketing fights right here on the blog. We have Flash Banner vs. Headline, Quantity vs. Quality, Heat Map vs. Data Analysis, Bounce Rate vs. Conversion, and finally…the main card…Tricks vs. Testing.
Related Resources
The Magical Metrics Tour: Demystifying the secrets behind analytical “tricks” to help you drive ROI
Time Spent: 5 minutes
$ Made: $0
Main Focus: N/A
Today’s Value (1 to 10): 1
Overall Value (1 to 10): 1
My Thoughts: No new videos. Just the same “Coming Soon!” ones I’ve had for the last few days.
I really don’t see any way we’re going to make money by the end of the 30 days. Nor do [...]
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Day 25 – Shoemoney System Review
Time Spent: 5 minutes
$ Made: $0
Main Focus: N/A
Today’s Value (1 to 10): 1
Overall Value (1 to 10): 1
My Thoughts: No new video. Same starter video I already watched when the timing got screwed up. Hopefully some good videos coming in the next 6 days. Winding down this test.
If you want to check out the [...]
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Day 24 – Shoemoney System Review
So you’ve sat through our webinars or taken our online certification courses. You’ve identified what to test but haven’t yet thought about how you are going to test. How do you get started on the path to triple-digit returns?
LOGISTICS
When it comes to the “how to test” question, what most people usually want to know is “which tool should I use.” But before you delve into testing platforms, you should really ask yourself a few questions:
TOOL SELECTION
Once you’ve documented the logistics to build out the test, now it’s time to choose the testing platform that is best for your business. There are quite a few options out there right now. To help you pick the right tool, I put together the following list with Jessica McGraw, our technical manager of research partnerships…
Google Website Optimizer
The biggest benefit is quite obvious – it’s free! So what do you get for nothing?
Let’s start with support. There is a lot of instructional information about GWO available on the GWO site, including step-by-step directions and FAQs. This makes it easy for just about anyone to implement. And it is fairly straightforward and easy to use with little IT involvement necessary.
Yet it has the capabilities to allow you to conduct everything from simple A/B split tests to more complex multivariate tests (testing different combinations of elements).
It can take a few hours for data to begin showing in the reports.
Omniture Test&Target
Test&Target also offers A/B and multivariate testing, but it does so with some really impressive in-depth reporting that gives you the ability to pass through product IDs.
You also gain the flexibility to target content to different groups of people based on defined segments. If you don’t know which segment should get which content, you can find out by setting up a test with different segments and watching the results of each segment individually to determine your new content. Test&Target also includes a feature where offers can be automatically targeted to site visitors based on several different variables including observed visitors’ on-site behavior.
In terms of support, you are not on your own. Your contract likely provides access to an account rep along with support hours to gain some insight into reports and help with complex test setup.
You data will likely appear in reports in mere minutes. And you can integrate reporting into a Site Catalyst account (Omniture’s web analytics product).
And while Omniture is a paid tool, the cost difference compared to a free tool might not be clear cut, because your company may already have a contract with Omniture. If it does, find out the additional cost to use Test&Target.
Unbounce
Unbounce bills itself as having “self-served, hosted landing pages for marketers with A/B testing.” It allows you to not only design the page, but build it and set it up all within the same tool.
This is an easy-to-use service which requires little to no IT involvement. You even get a
WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) landing page editor, so you can build landing pages with no web designer or without even having any HTML experience.
The tradeoff is that you can only run simple A/B split tests.
Drupal
If your site uses a content management system (CMS) like Drupal, there is likely a split testing plug-in that is available. Drupal itself is free and open source, and if it is your CMS and you use it for testing, you are assured instant compatibility with no need to pay for extra testing platforms.
As with other open-source solutions, “free” usually comes at a cost. Not surprisingly, Drupal requires a lot of IT involvement. Although, new platform updates are coming that will require less from IT.
On the flip side, since Drupal is open source, you can add any and all reporting features your particular tests require.
Build your own
You can always build your own split testing tool. Well it’s free, right? And by free, I mean that there are no outside costs or need to engage a consultant on product questions.
And you certainly have flexibility to build your own reports. You also have the support of in-house staff with the full knowledge of tool capabilities and ability to add extra features as IT has time.
And there’s the rub…”as IT has time.” You’ll have to gauge exactly what those words mean for your particular organization.
BUILDING THE TIMELINE
This last section usually doesn’t fall under “how to test” for many marketers, but rather “why I really can’t test even though I’d like to.” In fact, in a poll we conducted in a recent web clinic, time was identified as our audience’s biggest challenge to begin the implementation of the testing-optimization cycle in their organization.
This might seem like an insurmountable challenge up front, (since most marketers feel like they can barely keep up with their deadlines as it is). But as with any excuse (I have no time to exercise, eat right, learn Swahili, etc), it can be overcome by simply planning ahead and getting a firm understanding of the resources you will need.
When building your marketing campaign timelines, keep in mind that depending on what direction/solution you take with testing… you’ll need to build in extra time for:
Related Resources
Technology Blind Spots: How human insight revealed a hidden (and almost missed) 31% gain
Cost of Delay: How to win approval for your test and test schedule
What to test (and how) to increase your ROI today
How Can You Make Your Web Site Smarter?
So you’ve sat through our webinars or taken our online certification courses. You’ve identified what to test but haven’t yet thought about how you are going to test. How do you get started on the path to triple-digit returns?
LOGISTICS
When it comes to the “how to test” question, what most people usually want to know is “which tool should I use.” But before you delve into testing platforms, you should really ask yourself a few questions:
TOOL SELECTION
Once you’ve documented the logistics to build out the test, now it’s time to choose the testing platform that is best for your business. There are quite a few options out there right now. To help you pick the right tool, I put together the following list with Jessica McGraw, our technical manager of research partnerships…
Google Website Optimizer
The biggest benefit is quite obvious – it’s free! So what do you get for nothing?
Let’s start with support. There is a lot of instructional information about GWO available on the GWO site, including step-by-step directions and FAQs. This makes it easy for just about anyone to implement. And it is fairly straightforward and easy to use with little IT involvement necessary.
Yet it has the capabilities to allow you to conduct everything from simple A/B split tests to more complex multivariate tests (testing different combinations of elements).
Paired with Google Analytics e-commerce tracking, you’re able to report at the transaction and product level.
It can take a few hours for data to begin showing in the reports.
Omniture Test&Target
Test&Target also offers A/B and multivariate testing along with transaction- and product-level reports, but it does so with some really impressive in-depth reporting. For example, you have access to not only aggregate data, but daily data as well. This gives you the ability to spot cyclical changes within your test data and validate tests quicker.
You also gain the flexibility to target content to different groups of people based on defined segments. If you don’t know which segment should get which content, you can find out by setting up a test with different segments and watching the results of each segment individually to determine your new content. Test&Target also includes a feature where offers can be automatically targeted to site visitors based on several different variables including observed visitors’ on-site behavior.
In terms of support, you are not on your own. Your contract likely provides access to an account rep along with support hours to gain some insight into reports and help with complex test setup.
You data will likely appear in reports in mere minutes. And you can integrate reporting into a Site Catalyst account (Omniture’s web analytics product).
And while Omniture is a paid tool, the cost difference compared to a free tool might not be clear cut, because your company may already have a contract with Omniture. If it does, find out the additional cost to use Test&Target.
Unbounce
Unbounce bills itself as having “self-served, hosted landing pages for marketers with A/B testing.” It allows you to not only design the page, but build it and set it up all within the same tool.
This is an easy-to-use service which requires little to no IT involvement. You even get a
WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) landing page editor, so you can build landing pages with no web designer or without even having any HTML experience.
The tradeoff is that you can only run simple A/B split tests.
Drupal
If your site uses a content management system (CMS) like Drupal, there is likely a split testing plug-in that is available. Drupal itself is free and open source, and if it is your CMS and you use it for testing, you are assured instant compatibility with no need to pay for extra testing platforms.
As with other open-source solutions, “free” usually comes at a cost. Not surprisingly, Drupal requires a lot of IT involvement. Although, new platform updates are coming that will require less from IT.
On the flip side, since Drupal is open source, you can add any and all reporting features your particular tests require.
Build your own
You can always build your own split testing tool. Well it’s free, right? And by free, I mean that there are no outside costs or need to engage a consultant on product questions.
And you certainly have flexibility to build your own reports. You also have the support of in-house staff with the full knowledge of tool capabilities and ability to add extra features as IT has time.
And there’s the rub…”as IT has time.” You’ll have to gauge exactly what those words mean for your particular organization.
BUILDING THE TIMELINE
This last section usually doesn’t fall under “how to test” for many marketers, but rather “why I really can’t test even though I’d like to.” In fact, in a poll we conducted in a recent web clinic, time was identified as our audience’s biggest challenge to begin the implementation of the testing-optimization cycle in their organization.
This might seem like an insurmountable challenge up front, (since most marketers feel like they can barely keep up with their deadlines as it is). But as with any excuse (I have no time to exercise, eat right, learn Swahili, etc), it can be overcome by simply planning ahead and getting a firm understanding of the resources you will need.
When building your marketing campaign timelines, keep in mind that depending on what direction/solution you take with testing… you’ll need to build in extra time for:
Related Resources
Technology Blind Spots: How human insight revealed a hidden (and almost missed) 31% gain
Cost of Delay: How to win approval for your test and test schedule
What to test (and how) to increase your ROI today
How Can You Make Your Web Site Smarter?
