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It took me a while to get my act together and post an item for sale on the new SFI TripleClicks online store... but it was well worth it!
Sold after just five click-throughs!
Here's what I did. I live in Japan and play a lot of mahjong. I also handle Japanese mahjong sets for mahjong players around the world. I had a spare set so I listed it on the SFI online store, TripleClicks for just $35.
Then I linked to the listing from Japanese-mahjong.com using a tracking link on my HitsConnect link tracking account. That's how I know it took just five clicks to generate a sale!
Processing the order was also very easy. Note, you need to use a mail service that includes tracking so that TripleClicks can confirm delivery. This is because TripleClicks acts as a kind of escrow service and pays you after either they or the customer confirm delivery. That way, they ensure security for all parties.
If you'd like to try TripleClicks free, click the banner below and register today. (Registration is also free.)
If you want to make money on the Internet, Tiffany Dow is one of those people you want to stop and listen to. I'm also a big fan of Seth Godin, the creator of Squidoo.com. So when I came across this video of Tiffany talking about four ways to make money on Squidoo I just had to take a few minutes out of my day to check it out.
I'm glad I did.
If you want to know more about how to make money on Squidoo, watch the video then click the Squidoo Basics button to get some more hot tips.
If you want improve your website conversion rate you had better start to think a bit about what drives your visitors so that you can give people what they want in the way that they want it...
On the assumption that your website visitors are PEOPLE and that people are pretty much alike, here are a few general guidelines that website owners need to chew on:
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT PEOPLE...
People are not interested in you and your company, they are interested in themselves and their needs.
People scan web pages far more then they read them.
People are in a hurry.
People hate being sold to.
People buy on emotion and justify their purchase with "reason" after the event.
So what can you do to turn that knowledge to your advantage on your website?
Here are a few suggestions:
HOW WEBSITE OWNERS CAN IMPROVE THEIR WEBSITE CONVERSION RATES
Write a short sentences.
Keep your paragraphs short.
Keep it conversational.
Use contractions (don't, won't, I'll, you'll etc).
Write editorial-style content and product reviews rather than blatant sales patter.
Use bulleted lists like this one.
Use a powerful headline to arouse interest and curiosity in your readers.
Place your keywords in bold to help your readers (and search engine spiders) read your stuff.
Use subheadings to split up your copy into small chunks that are easy for people to scan.
Use a large font.
Use lots of white space.
Put your opt-in form where it can be seen easily and offer your readers an urgent reason why they should fill it in, and a nice fat bribe for doing so.
Are you going crazy building web traffic to a site that has pathetic website conversion rates?
Or have you forgotten all about building web traffic because you are so focused on improving your website that you never have time to advertise it?
Plainly you need to strike a balance between the amount of time you take working on your web site to raise its conversion rate, and the amount of time you set aside for traffic building activities.
If you are starting a new business website, it is vital for your success that you research how to set up an internet site that you can expect to convert as many visitors into customers or subscribers as possible.
Here are a few of the common mistakes people make when setting up a marketing web site:
Common mistake #1. Making your website look like a sales website. Remember, people don't like being sold to. They value useful information and that is what they want your website to give them.
Common mistake #2. Adding too many banner ads. Most people have learned to ignore banner ads. It is much more effective to place just one ad per page and use it to backup editorial content. Don't expect to sell much with banner ads alone.
Common mistake #3. Trying to sell before you have won the trust of your visitors. First-time visitors know nothing about you. So why should they trust you? They have no reason to unless you can show them that you are worth listening to.
Common mistake #4. A lot of websites are full of impersonal official jargon that talks about how wonderful the company behind the products is. That kind of stuff is a big turnoff.
Common mistake #5. The website owner hides behind anonymity. On the Internet being upfront about who you are works much better. Remember, people like to know who they are dealing with. If you have nothing to hide, don't hide.
Common mistake #6. The visitor is offered too many options and links. This is counter-productive because it confuses the visitor. It is much better to stick to one theme per page.
Common mistake #7. The visitor arrives on the site only to be shown a tedious flash movie - if he waits long enough for it to download!
These are some of the mistakes you will need to avoid before you even think about building web traffic.
In my next post I'll give you some tips about what you SHOULD be doing with your website to increase the chances of getting higher website conversion rates from your web traffic.
The popular social networking site, Facebook, has produced an exciting demographic pay per click advertising package which goes one better than Google Adwords and its rivals by giving advertisers the ability to define the type of Facebook user they wish to target.
Until now, the big disadvantage of PPC has been that you cannot exercise any tight control over who views your ads or clicks on them. The reason for this is that the ads don't appear on specific user pages. For example, an ad about motorcycles would most likely appear on a web page that is about motorcycling, but anybody can surf in - bikers and non-bikers alike - and click on your ad even if they only arrived on the page to look at the model sitting on the bike in her bikini.
With Facebook PPC advertising however, you can exercise much more control over who gets to see your PPC advertisements. The demographic targeting feature of Facebook PPC ads enables advertisers to specify not just the product category but also as the specific location, age group, gender, marital status, and interests of the target group.
How focused is your PPC traffic?
So if you want to promote a dating site for unattached hetrosexual lawyers in New York, aged between 40 and 55, you could run a clearly defined campaign by using those specific criteria. When ads are as well targeted as this, copywriting becomes a much easier process. Simply stating what you have to offer will be sufficient because the ad will only be placed on the pages or newsfeeds of Facebook that meet the demographic criteria, so virtually every clickthrough will be very highly targeted.
Facebook also allows you to include a photograph with your ad. What's more, a generous hundred thirty-five characters are allowed for the main body of the ad, but the headline can only be up to 25 characters in length.
Facebook does not allow you to link your ads to affiliate sites, so make sure you direct people to a pre-sell page on your website or blog, or to a page that you can set up on Facebook.
If you have been struggling with PPC, demographic PPC advertising on Facebook is something you might like to check out.
A lot of people are complaining about "Twitter spam" these days, but to tell you the truth, I really don't mind receiving tweets with links. I like to see what people are interested in (linking out to) and what people think will sell (affiliate links, self promotional links etc).
What bugs me more than links is all those automated Twitter direct messages that tell me how great I am and then promptly try to flog me something...
You know, they go like this:
"Hi, Thank you for following me. I am deeply honored. Get rid of the recession blues with this AFFILIATE LINK."
Well, for one thing I don't believe you even know I have started following you yet, so how can you be honored you phony fellow, or mendacious madam?
And another thing...
I rather resent you trying to sell to me (remember, people HATE to be sold to...) straight after hitting me with one of the most outrageous automated porkers** I have ever heard in all my life...
Sir, Madam, be off with you.
So, now I have got that off my chest, I will hasten to add that I don't find every Twitter direct message offensive.
It all depends on WHAT you say and HOW you say it. (Remember, the automated message you send to new followers is your first DIRECT contact with them, 1 to 1, so it is the equivalent of those first six seconds when two people meet for the first time...)
So what should you say in your automated Twitter direct message?
I was going to list some general guidelines, but I think it is better to learn by example, so instead, I'm going to post some of the Twitter direct messages that I liked, or at least did not mind:
Twitter Direct Messages That I Appreciated Or At Least Did Not Feel Indignant About...
lindawelch Thanks for the follow! Send me a tweet to say Hi! Looking forward to seeing you in Twitterland!
johnenns Thanks for following me! I'm looking forward to sharing tweets with you!
LyndonWright Thank you for Following me I look forward to what you have to say. I like #seo #iphone #wordpress
DianaSchneidman Let's get acquainted. Send me your website, FB or LI profile & I’ll tweet about it Thx for the follow.
TweeterGreen Thanks for following. I tweet about sustainability, Green Issues and the environment. There is ROI in being Green both at home at in business. If you tweet on these issues I will retweet them.
And here's a couple with links that I found acceptable. Note the restraint in the messages:
So, what about you? Let us know which direct messages you liked by posting them below. Let's reward those who respect the basic courtesies with a bit of publicity!
We are having a discussion over on the Evancarmichael.com forum about "the flaw in personal branding". It started off as a question about whether someone seeking to build a personal brand should be upfront about personal flaws and perhaps even use them as part of the brand image.
The conversation shifted to whether or not branding was useful for Internet marketers. So here is an article I was reading by Michael Masterson on why it is better to focus on USP, and how a strong USP will effectively give your business a brand in its own right.
Michael Masterson is one of the people I most admire when it comes to marketing both online and offline. As well as running an online mentoring site, earlytorise.com, he's written numerous books on the subject - see the carousel below for a small selection.
The Myth of Branding: Why Entrepreneurs Should Focus on the USP
I recently got an interesting e-mail from Brian Ochsner, an ETR reader from Denver. He said, "As a direct-response copywriter, I'm skeptical about the number of marketing people who are enamored with the need for 'branding' or to 'build their brand' to effectively market their business.
"I know that brands such as Kraft and Coca-Cola have power and influence with Americans, but I'm not sure 'branding' has much of a place with most small- to medium-sized business marketing."
He posed three questions:
What, exactly, is "branding" marketing?
Can it be an effective type of business marketing?
Can it work effectively together with direct-response marketing?
As Bob Bly and I have said in past ETR articles, nothing could be further from the truth.
Branding makes sense for Kraft, Coca-Cola, Nike, and Sony. Huge consumer companies have to spend money on general advertising to keep their names out in the commercial world. The idea is that when people make buying decisions, they will favor products whose names they know.
Brand-name consumer products almost always outsell generic products. In 2002, Dennis Dangerfield (the vice president of grocery-store cooperative Topco Associates, LLC) pointed out that private-label products accounted for only 20 percent of grocery sales in the U.S. And the reason brand-name products come out on top is not quality, since many generic products are just as good. The reason is consumer trust.
Trust comes from familiarity, and familiarity increases sales. But it is very, very expensive to create a household name. We are talking about tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars here - which puts branding entirely out of the reach of any fiscally intelligent entrepreneur, even if he is working with a big budget.
Prior to the Internet boom, small-business owners understood that they couldn't afford to spend money on branding. To break into new markets, they relied on traditional techniques: big discounts and bigger headlines. But when billions of dollars started pouring into start-up Internet ventures, the idiot-savant CEOs running those operations had to put the money somewhere - so they put it into advertising their brands.
To justify this enormous waste of money, they invented theories to substantiate their foolishness. Most of those theories were versions of the same, stupid strategy: Spend whatever it takes to garner the most eyeballs to your website. And after you've established first position in the "look-who's-looking-at-me" contest, figure out some way to profit from it. Profiting from something so nebulous needed its own magical name too; they called it "monetizing."
Create traffic first by selling the brand... and then monetize the traffic... and then go public. That was the program. And dozens of Internet entrepreneurs did just that. Most of that brand building went to naught, of course. Sports stadiums were renamed for unpronounceable URLs, and then they were changed back to something else again as the Internet businesses behind them went bust.
It was during that period of chicanery that the modern myth about branding was formed - the myth that the first course of action for any small business should be to build a nationally (or internationally) recognized brand. This myth persists today in books and at conferences and seminars about Internet marketing. But smart would-be entrepreneurs like you have the sense to smell rats when they are rotting behind the floorboards.
The fact is, most of the profitable business in the world is done without the benefit of brand recognition - and 99 percent of new businesses develop without any money or time spent on general advertising.
I can think of only one exception. The George Foreman Grill began as a small business and morphed quickly into a world-class brand. But you are unlikely to replicate that success if you hook up with Mike Tyson - or any other celebrity, for that matter - even if you could afford the price tag. The George Foreman Grill story was one of perfect timing: the right product with an out-of-fashion celebrity who made a miraculous comeback to the mainstream. It won't happen again for another 20 years.
The branding myth persists today, even among experts who witnessed the debacle of the Internet advertising implosion. According to a 2005 PointRoll Inc. survey, 70 percent of online advertising professionals cited "branding" as the most important or second most important goal of online advertising. Interaction rate was viewed as the most important measurement of an online ad's performance, with 53 percent of those responding indicating that the best way to judge an ad's effectiveness is to measure the percentage of users who interact with it.
What's missing from that picture?
Profits, of course. As a future entrepreneur, you want to create sales immediately. But they have to be profitable sales - or at least near-profitable sales - or you'll go broke before you reach your second year of business. There are as many ways to create profitable sales as there are businesses. When you get into your own business, you will have to figure out which way works for you. (I explain how to do this in my soon-to-be-released book Ready, Fire, Aim.)
Direct-response marketing of a hot product is probably the most effective way to create profitable sales. Promoting your brand through general advertising is probably the least effective way.
So now, to Brian's three questions:
What is branding marketing? It's selling the name of a company or product through general advertising so that later on, when the customer is faced with buying your product versus another one, he chooses the brand he is familiar with.
Can it be effective? Not for small businesses.
Can it be combined with direct marketing? Not really. Branding is meant to make selling (either direct selling or retail selling) easier. It is not meant to be used simultaneously.
Those questions answered, let me say a few words about where and how branding can work for entrepreneurial enterprises.
First, understand that establishing a unique selling proposition (USP) is not the same thing as branding.
Many, if not most, products and product lines will benefit from marketing that stresses the USP. If, for example, you are launching a business that sells organic pet food, your USP should emphasize the fact that all your products are green. Your company's name might express that benefit, as should the product names, the packaging you choose, and the layout and design of your marketing and product materials. And your USP should be a major component in the design of and sales copy on your website, as well as your Internet ads and landing pages.
All that promotion of your USP will have the effect of creating an idea in a potential customer's mind that will have the same effect that branding has for large businesses. And that effect - which is a higher-than-average initial response rate to your marketing due to consumer familiarity - will also work with your existing customers on the back end.
Thus branding in this limited sense (consistently promoting your USP) works in conjunction with direct marketing as a back-end mechanism - to sell more products to people who have already bought from you. And that's how people with small- and medium-sized businesses should think of it.
I have plenty more thoughts on this subject, but these are the most important for someone in the early stages of starting and growing a business. Get a copy of my book Ready, Fire, Aim when it comes out in January and you'll learn more.
I have recently been testing a new traffic generation and conversion site called Traffic Python.
The guys at Traffic Python ran some test ad campaigns on their targeted traffic service and they report that the results, if replicated, would guarantee more CONVERTING web visitors with very little effort or cost.
They show how their figures were achieved in the video on this page.
My first impression of the site was positive. It looked clean and professional and, above all, it's easy to read and understand. Joining the site was a simple process. You can get the key benefits FREE, but they also have two upgrade options for the big builders.
Okay, so once I was inside the Members Area, what did I find?
For a start, the layout is clear and easy to follow - I was able to find my way around and figure out what to do within a minute of logging on and was able to get my first ads up & running in under 5 minutes.
Once inside the site, you make links and text or banner ads for your promotions. The Traffic Python generator converts the links them "Python" links. You can make as many links and as many ads as you like, which is great for running split tests as you can create separate links for ads that you run on several sites. So you won't have to invest in any split-testing link builders. Links are displayed in the members area in the order you create them, and your 5 most recent links appear on the main page as well, for quick reference.
Also, since the link generator is the tool you'll use most, it is also right at the top of the main page when you login. That is the kind of attention to detail that makes Traffic Python a pleasure to use.
After you've created at least 1 link and 1 ad you can start to generate traffic. Just use and promote the new Python link instead of the original source link you had. Every time the Python link is clicked, the page loads followed by a cool slide-up ad window at the bottom. It displays an ad PLUS an image with your affiliate link that goes back to Python. So if anyone clicks the Python image they see the site, and if they signup they become your referral. It's a great viral feature because you can build referrals without even trying to just by using the site.
Now every time the ad window displays (your Python links get clicked) you earn credits that get YOUR ad displayed in the ad windows when other members' links get clicked. So the more clicks, the more times your ads get displayed.
And this works virally--meaning as you make referrals into Python (either by promoting it or just using it and visitors click the Python image on the ad window to join) you also earn ad credits on THEIR link clicks. And this works up to 5 levels deep. So you can create a massive amount of free ad views and web traffic by referring others to TTraffic Python also.
I didn't get to test the full effect of a big downline yet (I just got the tool) but I can tell you the rest of the site works exactly as stated--my links got clicked, I earned credits, and my ads got displayed. Python even tracked my results so I know how many clicks and how many ad displays. That was an impressive unadvertised extra feature.
There is one more benefit and feature which might be the best of them all--downline emailing. You can email your downline with offers, promotions, or whatever you like, and here is where Python really shines. They took time to make the emailing often enough that it's valuable as a user, but no so often that it's a burden to your downline. But the best part about this feature (and actually the credit earning too) is that it tells you exactly how long until you can mail again. Now THAT's cool.
Overall I have to say I am impressed with Traffic Python. It is simple yet powerful, and delivers on its promises. Highly recommended to anyone who wants to increase traffic and advertising.
This morning I logged in to my www Empowerism com account to see how much I had accumulated in commissions and check up on the progress of my RSVP orders (that will pay me back several times over on my leads purchases... even if none of my leads signs up).
The first thing I saw was this report in the news section:
"EmpowerBoard Case Studies ROCK! In 2008, Roy, a newcomer to Internet Marketing, volunteered to participate in a case study offered by Johan on our EmpowerBoard. With his www Empowerism com subscription and one-time $21 hosting fee as his only expenses, Roy's site has risen to #28 on Google and #3 on MSN for the very competitive search term work from home online!
That is pretty cool. Note, all the time Roy remains a member of www Empowerism com his lifetime web hosting fee is just $21. Wow!
$20 MEMBERSHIP DISCOUNT COUPON OFFER!
Look, I know the economy is tough for everyone at the moment, but that makes it more urgent to decide TODAY that YOU are ready to join Empowerism and plug in to the resources and support you need to achieve your goals.
I am offering a $20 discount on 3-month and 6-month memberships when you join Empowerism by clicking on the coupon on this page.
Here is the coupon code you will need to get your $20 discount: B8893. Click the coupon and select either a 3-month or a 6-month membership. You will be able to enter the coupon code on the LAST PAGE of the sign up process to claim your $20 membership discount.
Note, this discount is IN ADDITION to the $5 discount on 3-month memberships and the $17 discount on 6-month memberships that you will see when you click the coupon.
Here's a run-down of what you get when you join Empowerism:
State-of-the-art Empowerism Website, built to make the sale when you drive the traffic...
Discount Coupon Tool lets you generate Customized Coupons to provide even more incentive to your prospects...
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Click the coupon to join Empowerism TODAY and claim your $20 discount...
It's a very useful tool for looking up themed tweets with or without hashtags. The distinction is important. Not every search engine for Twitter tweets is able to distinguish between, for example:
Shakespeare
and
#Shakespeare
The second Twitter search term uses a hashtag to identify those tweets that include a hashtagged Shakespeare for search purposes. Inserting a hashtag before a keyword when you tweet offers a convenient way for you to group tweets by theme.
The other cool thing about search.twitter is that you can run a whole bunch of advanced searches and get very specific about what you want, see the full list of Twitter search operators here:
Twitscoop doesn't distinguish between "shakespeare" and "#shakespeare" but it does display a neat trend graph for your Twitter search term.
It also displays a cloud of current Twitter buzzwords (similar to the Amazon cloud thingummy).
You can watch the buzzword cloud as it automatically updates itself, with words appearing, waxing, waning, and disappearing... kinda hypnotizing so go careful!
This is the all-inclusive, #1 RESOURCE on Article Writing and Marketing - a MUST READ!
And best of all, it is FREE to download. Just click the book cover for an instant free download of the book in pdf format.
Here Are Just Some Of The Things You'll Learn When You Download
"Harness The Power Of Article Marketing"
... why THIS is the most important part of an article... p. 12 & p. 36.
... three key elements of the resource box... pp. 13-14.
... master THIS technique and make a fortune online... p. 18.
... which is better, natural or artificial keyword density? See page 19.
... developing this is the FIRST thing you should do... p. 20.
... where to find 24 useful SEO tools... p. 21.
... never underestimate THIS if you are looking for a professional writer... p. 23.
... manual submission versus submission software - pros and cons explained here: p. 27.
... make sure your blog article has this... p. 29.
... get paid for submitting your articles to these two places... p. 31.
... doing THIS is an excellent way to get free promotion... p. 32.
... why leaving your article in the hands of article directories may NOT be the best thing to do... p. 36.
... 7 things to consider when turning articles into e-books... pp. 37-41.
... And much more!
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