Saturday, October 08, 2005
Improving conversions
I started a big project this week improving a client's site's sales conversions from both free search and paid search traffic. Here are some observations that fall in line with solid marketing understanding:
Conversions, by and large, come from very specific keyword searches. Best selling keywords are very specific ones that show that the customer was looking for pretty much exactly what we sell rather than coming in on more generic terms and eventually finding something they like.
Even in sales from pay-per-click traffic, a significant amount of the converting traffic came not from the exact terms I targeted, but from broad match terms based on the terms I targeted.
The point is, cast a wide net. Don't expect to get conversions from high traffic, but generic, keywords. Use generic keywords to draw people in who can opt-in to your list or newsletter and then build a relationship with them that can persuade them to buy later.
Cast a wide net also of very specific keywords that can generate high-ranking combinations that you might not even think of yourself—but that searchers will. While each keyword might not bring you a lot of traffic, the volume of traffic that many of these keywords build up can be substantial—and will bring you your most ready-to-buy customers.
Jeff
I started a big project this week improving a client's site's sales conversions from both free search and paid search traffic. Here are some observations that fall in line with solid marketing understanding:
Conversions, by and large, come from very specific keyword searches. Best selling keywords are very specific ones that show that the customer was looking for pretty much exactly what we sell rather than coming in on more generic terms and eventually finding something they like.
Even in sales from pay-per-click traffic, a significant amount of the converting traffic came not from the exact terms I targeted, but from broad match terms based on the terms I targeted.
The point is, cast a wide net. Don't expect to get conversions from high traffic, but generic, keywords. Use generic keywords to draw people in who can opt-in to your list or newsletter and then build a relationship with them that can persuade them to buy later.
Cast a wide net also of very specific keywords that can generate high-ranking combinations that you might not even think of yourself—but that searchers will. While each keyword might not bring you a lot of traffic, the volume of traffic that many of these keywords build up can be substantial—and will bring you your most ready-to-buy customers.
Jeff
Friday, October 07, 2005
The Danger of Details
Details can kill your web business. And I'm not talking about details killing your business from the standpoint of being careless about them. While it's true that being careless can hurt your business, everybody knows that (even if they don't always put it into practice).
The way I'm talking about that details can kill your business is if you focus too much on them.
Say what?
How on earth can focusing too much on details hurt your business?
Ever tried to walk on a railroad track?
When I was a kid, my aunt and uncle had a house right next to a railroad track. My uncle once challenged me to walk on the track without falling off.
Hey, it's not like walking a tightrope. That track was as wide as my feet. Should be no problem. So I started walking it, carefully watching my feet with each step to make sure I stayed on the track. But I couldn't get more than a couple of steps before I'd lose my balance and fall off.
My uncle taught me that the only way to walk that track successfully was to look at a point a ways down the track—not down at my feet. By setting a goal and focusing on it, I could walk on that track as easily as if I was walking right on the ground. It was only when I focused on my feet that I tripped up.
It works that way with business, too. Our natural reaction is to put all our attention into "watching our feet" as we deal with this short-term detail and that. But when we do that, we "fall off the track" of where we wanted to go.
Now, I'm not saying that we should ignore the details of our business as we gaze wistfully toward our vision of the knock-out business we dream of building. You never get anywhere without taking step after step after step to reach your goal. But you never get anywhere, either, if all you look at is the present step.
The point in the distance that you need to focus on is the need your audience has and the solution you have that will fill it. It requires you to understand your audience—who they are and what they need and what concerns stand in the way of them choosing your solution.
It's way too easy for us to focus on details, namely, on the latest traffic building tips or tools, the latest bells and whistles we can add to our site. Details are usually driven by facts, and facts are something we feel we can learn and control. Understanding the people who make up our pool of potential customers is a lot more scary. It requires us to step outside ourselves into the hearts and minds of other people.
Given the choice between dealing with predictable facts and details or dealing with unpredictable human nature, most of us will jump at dealing with facts any time.
But that just gets us stuck staring at our own feet as our feet inexplicably slip off the track. The only way to stay on track is by looking toward your ultimate goal: you helping people solve some problem in return for them repaying you fairly for the time and effort you put into it.
That's really the most simple definition of what business is. The details are not your business. The facts and the tips and the tools are not your business either. They're merely the steps you take to get to that point in the distance. And the more you take that to heart, the more easily you'll stay on the track toward your goal.
Jeff
Details can kill your web business. And I'm not talking about details killing your business from the standpoint of being careless about them. While it's true that being careless can hurt your business, everybody knows that (even if they don't always put it into practice).
The way I'm talking about that details can kill your business is if you focus too much on them.
Say what?
How on earth can focusing too much on details hurt your business?
Ever tried to walk on a railroad track?
When I was a kid, my aunt and uncle had a house right next to a railroad track. My uncle once challenged me to walk on the track without falling off.
Hey, it's not like walking a tightrope. That track was as wide as my feet. Should be no problem. So I started walking it, carefully watching my feet with each step to make sure I stayed on the track. But I couldn't get more than a couple of steps before I'd lose my balance and fall off.
My uncle taught me that the only way to walk that track successfully was to look at a point a ways down the track—not down at my feet. By setting a goal and focusing on it, I could walk on that track as easily as if I was walking right on the ground. It was only when I focused on my feet that I tripped up.
It works that way with business, too. Our natural reaction is to put all our attention into "watching our feet" as we deal with this short-term detail and that. But when we do that, we "fall off the track" of where we wanted to go.
Now, I'm not saying that we should ignore the details of our business as we gaze wistfully toward our vision of the knock-out business we dream of building. You never get anywhere without taking step after step after step to reach your goal. But you never get anywhere, either, if all you look at is the present step.
The point in the distance that you need to focus on is the need your audience has and the solution you have that will fill it. It requires you to understand your audience—who they are and what they need and what concerns stand in the way of them choosing your solution.
It's way too easy for us to focus on details, namely, on the latest traffic building tips or tools, the latest bells and whistles we can add to our site. Details are usually driven by facts, and facts are something we feel we can learn and control. Understanding the people who make up our pool of potential customers is a lot more scary. It requires us to step outside ourselves into the hearts and minds of other people.
Given the choice between dealing with predictable facts and details or dealing with unpredictable human nature, most of us will jump at dealing with facts any time.
But that just gets us stuck staring at our own feet as our feet inexplicably slip off the track. The only way to stay on track is by looking toward your ultimate goal: you helping people solve some problem in return for them repaying you fairly for the time and effort you put into it.
That's really the most simple definition of what business is. The details are not your business. The facts and the tips and the tools are not your business either. They're merely the steps you take to get to that point in the distance. And the more you take that to heart, the more easily you'll stay on the track toward your goal.
Jeff
Thursday, October 06, 2005
Small steps to big results
Today was a day to reflect on the past seven days. You know, there weren't any big, dramatic happenings. But there were a lot of small, consistent steps. And those small, consistent steps add up to bigger things. Overall, a week to be satisfied with.
Jeff
Today was a day to reflect on the past seven days. You know, there weren't any big, dramatic happenings. But there were a lot of small, consistent steps. And those small, consistent steps add up to bigger things. Overall, a week to be satisfied with.
Jeff
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
EXTRA!—Old Dog Learns New Tricks
I got a chance to explore some new territory today in a familiar task. It was time to overhaul a client's pay-per-click ads and I decided I would finally break down and buy Perry Marshall's Definitive Guide to Google AdWords and see if it had any tips I could use to improve my AdWords ads.
Now, I've been doing pay-per-click ads for years and have gotten some pretty good results at getting click-throughs and decent results at getting conversions. But this ebook blew me away. Sure, it contained the basic stuff like, "Use the keywords you're targeting in the title instead of using your company name," and "Direct your ads not to your home page, but to pages that relate directly to your target keywords."
But there were so many little things, like how to structure your ad, and ways I had never thought of to improve click-through ratios and obtain higher positions without raising my bids. There were even tips about how capitalization can affect your click-through rate.
It lived up to its reputation as the best tutorial on the market for learning the ins and outs of advertising through Google AdWords. I'll write a full review of it (hmm, seems I'm a little behind on reviews lately) soon, but I give Perry Marshall's Definitive Guide to Google AdWords a high recommendation.
Jeff
I got a chance to explore some new territory today in a familiar task. It was time to overhaul a client's pay-per-click ads and I decided I would finally break down and buy Perry Marshall's Definitive Guide to Google AdWords and see if it had any tips I could use to improve my AdWords ads.
Now, I've been doing pay-per-click ads for years and have gotten some pretty good results at getting click-throughs and decent results at getting conversions. But this ebook blew me away. Sure, it contained the basic stuff like, "Use the keywords you're targeting in the title instead of using your company name," and "Direct your ads not to your home page, but to pages that relate directly to your target keywords."
But there were so many little things, like how to structure your ad, and ways I had never thought of to improve click-through ratios and obtain higher positions without raising my bids. There were even tips about how capitalization can affect your click-through rate.
It lived up to its reputation as the best tutorial on the market for learning the ins and outs of advertising through Google AdWords. I'll write a full review of it (hmm, seems I'm a little behind on reviews lately) soon, but I give Perry Marshall's Definitive Guide to Google AdWords a high recommendation.
Jeff
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Make sure your right pocket knows what your left pocket is doing
I saw a lesson in pricing today. A reseller who holds his prices down to ridiculously low levels over his wholesale price has succeeded in driving other resellers to stop carrying the supplier's product.
But at what cost has he done this? Let's say he's made $1500 in sales. Chances are, he's excited over the $1500 he's put in his pocket. But I'm guessing he's completely forgetting that he's pulled over $1250 out of his other pocket to pay his supplier. Then figure he's spent a couple of hundred dollars more for pay-per-click advertising and he's left with maybe $50 profit—IF his pay-per-click advertising is converting at a good rate.
Now that's OK for a hobby. But it's not a business.
The mistake is an easy one to make. It's a lot easier to see those dollar signs coming in. Each sale catches your attention in a big way. Meanwhile, the payments going out are almost invisible as they get charged to that credit card automatically, without any need for the reseller to even notice.
But the money going out is just as real as the money coming in. And eventually, when the reseller has to put the two figures together (like at tax time) comes the big shock—that he's made nothing at all.
So what if he suddenly discovers that he's been working for nothing? In the meantime he's hurting the established resellers who give up on the product rather than getting pushed into prices that no resellers can make a profit on. And he's cutting his supplier's throat by driving other resellers away from the product and then, eventually, opening up a big hole in the supplier's marketing when he finally realizes that he's working for free and folds up his business.
It's sad, but it just goes to show the need to keep track of ALL money coming in and going out of your business, or you'll get caught by surprise.
Jeff
I saw a lesson in pricing today. A reseller who holds his prices down to ridiculously low levels over his wholesale price has succeeded in driving other resellers to stop carrying the supplier's product.
But at what cost has he done this? Let's say he's made $1500 in sales. Chances are, he's excited over the $1500 he's put in his pocket. But I'm guessing he's completely forgetting that he's pulled over $1250 out of his other pocket to pay his supplier. Then figure he's spent a couple of hundred dollars more for pay-per-click advertising and he's left with maybe $50 profit—IF his pay-per-click advertising is converting at a good rate.
Now that's OK for a hobby. But it's not a business.
The mistake is an easy one to make. It's a lot easier to see those dollar signs coming in. Each sale catches your attention in a big way. Meanwhile, the payments going out are almost invisible as they get charged to that credit card automatically, without any need for the reseller to even notice.
But the money going out is just as real as the money coming in. And eventually, when the reseller has to put the two figures together (like at tax time) comes the big shock—that he's made nothing at all.
So what if he suddenly discovers that he's been working for nothing? In the meantime he's hurting the established resellers who give up on the product rather than getting pushed into prices that no resellers can make a profit on. And he's cutting his supplier's throat by driving other resellers away from the product and then, eventually, opening up a big hole in the supplier's marketing when he finally realizes that he's working for free and folds up his business.
It's sad, but it just goes to show the need to keep track of ALL money coming in and going out of your business, or you'll get caught by surprise.
Jeff
Sunday, October 02, 2005
Favorite Links (Finding Niche Directories With SearchIt!)
As I promised last Sunday, this Sunday's sharing of my favorite links will be more of a tutorial on how to use the free SearchIt! search tool to find niche directories that can link to your site. As a matter of fact, I plan to deal with the different types of research you can do with SearchIt! in my Sunday favorite links feature for the next few weeks. It's such a useful tool—that is FREE besides—that it only makes sense to help you get the most out of it.
The SearchIt! search tool consists of a window with two dropdown boxes and two text boxes. In the two dropdown boxes, you select the type of search you want to do. In the two text boxes, you select the search criteria (such as keywords or URLs) you want to use.
I know. This sounds complicated when you're not looking at it, but trust me, once you're there and working with it, it makes a whole lot more sense.
There's only one other thing important to realize about the SearchIt! search tool: it expects that you'll read and follow the directions they offer you.
Read directions? How can they expect that of independent minded web marketers?
I know. Guy that I am, I tried to jump right in and just start plugging in search info randomly.
But it didn't work. There's such a wealth of valuable search tools packed into this little-bitty window, that you really need to click the links they tell you and read the directions before you fly off and try to get worthwhile results without knowing what you're doing.
And I promise: I won't tell anyone that you took time to read the directions.
So here's some of the ways you can find specialty hubs and directories to get links from using SearchIt!
In the Step 1 dropdown box, select Specialty Hubs and Directories.
Click the dropdown box for Step 2: Select Search Type. You'll see the following options:
(Note: These options may change. The SiteSell people (who maintain the SearchIt! tool) are constantly adding new search tools to it.)
Google Wide, Google Tight, Yahoo Wide, and Yahoo Tight are actually specially formatted searches of Google or Yahoo, with special criteria designed to return results about relevant link directories.
To search with one of these options, click the link that says Click Here for Information About Search Type AFTER You Complete Step 1 & Step 2. The directions explain what kind of keywords you need to enter into boxes 3 and 4.
Basically, you enter your most important keyword in the Step 3 box. You enter another related keyword in the Step 4 box. Then, after clicking the SearchIt! button, reading the information on the page that appears, and clicking on the link to see your results, you can go back and adjust your keywords to find the different directories that different combinations of keywords give you.
If niche directories exist for the keywords you're searching, those directories will pop up as your top results. If you're searching for narrow niche keywords for which no directories exist, your results most likely will be reciprocal link directories instead. As long as you read the directions, you should find plenty of possibilities for linking, either one-way or reciprocal.
The other three options (SE Guide to Topical Directories, ISEDB Directory Database, and Search Engines 2) are directories of directories that can help you find niche directories to which you can submit your site. Again, the broadness of the keyword you use will affect how many niche directories you find.
All in all, SearchIt! can find you lots of useful information on directories and many other subjects. The main thing to remember is to READ THE DIRECTIONS. With as many tools packed into this one interface, you're not going to take one look at it and intuitively understand how to use every one of them. But the directions they give are easy, and they do more than just tell you how to use each tool; they also throw in tips on how to use the results you receive to make your site more successful.
SearchIt! is one of these free tools that really produces value for you. I recommend that you check it out and make it a part of your web marketing research arsenal.
Jeff
As I promised last Sunday, this Sunday's sharing of my favorite links will be more of a tutorial on how to use the free SearchIt! search tool to find niche directories that can link to your site. As a matter of fact, I plan to deal with the different types of research you can do with SearchIt! in my Sunday favorite links feature for the next few weeks. It's such a useful tool—that is FREE besides—that it only makes sense to help you get the most out of it.
The SearchIt! search tool consists of a window with two dropdown boxes and two text boxes. In the two dropdown boxes, you select the type of search you want to do. In the two text boxes, you select the search criteria (such as keywords or URLs) you want to use.
I know. This sounds complicated when you're not looking at it, but trust me, once you're there and working with it, it makes a whole lot more sense.
There's only one other thing important to realize about the SearchIt! search tool: it expects that you'll read and follow the directions they offer you.
Read directions? How can they expect that of independent minded web marketers?
I know. Guy that I am, I tried to jump right in and just start plugging in search info randomly.
But it didn't work. There's such a wealth of valuable search tools packed into this little-bitty window, that you really need to click the links they tell you and read the directions before you fly off and try to get worthwhile results without knowing what you're doing.
And I promise: I won't tell anyone that you took time to read the directions.
So here's some of the ways you can find specialty hubs and directories to get links from using SearchIt!
In the Step 1 dropdown box, select Specialty Hubs and Directories.
Click the dropdown box for Step 2: Select Search Type. You'll see the following options:
- Google Wide
- Google Tight
- Yahoo Wide
- Yahoo Tight
- SE Guide to Topical Directories
- ISEDB Directory Database
- Search Engines 2
(Note: These options may change. The SiteSell people (who maintain the SearchIt! tool) are constantly adding new search tools to it.)
Google Wide, Google Tight, Yahoo Wide, and Yahoo Tight are actually specially formatted searches of Google or Yahoo, with special criteria designed to return results about relevant link directories.
To search with one of these options, click the link that says Click Here for Information About Search Type AFTER You Complete Step 1 & Step 2. The directions explain what kind of keywords you need to enter into boxes 3 and 4.
Basically, you enter your most important keyword in the Step 3 box. You enter another related keyword in the Step 4 box. Then, after clicking the SearchIt! button, reading the information on the page that appears, and clicking on the link to see your results, you can go back and adjust your keywords to find the different directories that different combinations of keywords give you.
If niche directories exist for the keywords you're searching, those directories will pop up as your top results. If you're searching for narrow niche keywords for which no directories exist, your results most likely will be reciprocal link directories instead. As long as you read the directions, you should find plenty of possibilities for linking, either one-way or reciprocal.
The other three options (SE Guide to Topical Directories, ISEDB Directory Database, and Search Engines 2) are directories of directories that can help you find niche directories to which you can submit your site. Again, the broadness of the keyword you use will affect how many niche directories you find.
All in all, SearchIt! can find you lots of useful information on directories and many other subjects. The main thing to remember is to READ THE DIRECTIONS. With as many tools packed into this one interface, you're not going to take one look at it and intuitively understand how to use every one of them. But the directions they give are easy, and they do more than just tell you how to use each tool; they also throw in tips on how to use the results you receive to make your site more successful.
SearchIt! is one of these free tools that really produces value for you. I recommend that you check it out and make it a part of your web marketing research arsenal.
Jeff
Latest newsletter
Tomorrow my latest newsletter will come out.
Topics include:
Tomorrow my latest newsletter will come out.
Topics include:
- Are You So Focused on Winning the SEO Battle that You're Losing the War?
- Review of Insider Secrets to Marketing Your Business on the Internet marketing course
- Review of The Silent Sales Machine Hiding on eBay
- Special guest article by Joe Robson: How to Win the Sales Copy Writing Game
If you aren't a subscriber, you can sign up from the following page:
http://www.onestopwebsupport.com/newsletter-signup.htm
Jeff
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