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Website Traffic — How Well is Your Copy Performing?

March 26, 2010 Leave a Comment

Measure your copywriting conversionsMy friend Teddy Garcia recently spoke about website testing at his Raleigh Internet Mastermind Meetup and shared some cool tools to evaluate how well your sales pages and other web pages are faring.

Google Analytics — Everyone probably knows this one but even many of the big name Internet marketers who could well afford other programs rely on Google Analytics for ongoing monitoring of their site traffic. Free

Crazy Egg – Gives you heat maps showing how much time visitors spend on each area of your web page and a “treasure map” graphic to show where they clicked. This is a great way of seeing what was read most often (i.e. most important to your visitor) and which links are getting clicked. Starts at $9 a month and up.

Clicktale – Even more Big Brotherish is Clicktale, which records visitors’ movements on your web page and provides you the videos! Now you can see what they looked at and in what order and how fast they scrolled down the page (i.e. are they reading, scanning or just looking for the price?),.

You can also see where they might have gotten hung up and where they were when they decided to buy or leave your website. Clicktale offers a free basic plan.

Woopra – This was the first I’d heard of Woopra, which lets you see in real-time what visitors are doing. You can also send a chat message directly to the person while they’re still on the page!

Granted, that might freak them out a bit. But it can also be invaluable if you notice they’re having trouble with something. This way you can save the sale and have a better idea of what needs to be changed and how. Woopra also offers a free basic plan.

One affliliate link is included above. Feel free to go directly to the site if you have a problem with that. photo courtesy of Oskay @ Flickr / CC BY 2.0

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I Miss Twitter

March 18, 2010 Leave a Comment

…

When I joined Twitter 2 years ago, it was about “meeting” others that shared your interests, your mindset, or even just your love of chocolate peanut butter ice cream.

Your fellow tweeps could be across the country, across the world or even just 5 minutes away. Finding new resources, getting help, and sometimes, sharing what you have to offer with the twitterverse.

But most of all, it used to be about having a conversation.

Connecting with people you would have never otherwise known. Swapping tweets with “gurus” you would have never gotten a chance to talk to in person. Staying in touch with people you met elsewhere.

Then a lot of people started competing to see who could get the most followers. One guy I know would literally get upset if he lost 100 followers one day simply because Twitter cleaned out a bunch of bots. Um, how exactly were those bots useful to you?!!

And a lot of the follow-hungry tweeps automatically unfollow anyone not following them back. Which is just crazy to me…Maybe you’re just not on their radar screen yet. Maybe they manually decide who to follow (like I do) and they just haven’t gone through to update that yet.

Some folks I’d follow regardless of whether they follow me back because I want to keep up with what they’re doing. Or the info in their tweets is usually quite valuable–or funny. (Laughter is always a good thing!)

But nowadays, I hardly ever see tweets from the people I used to “talk” with all the time because my Twitter stream is full of  crap–ghostwritten tweets, pre-scheduled quotes to make it look like someone has a presence on Twitter, and endless promotions…

Especially for get-followers-quick schemes and products promising to show you how to make “a boat load of money” on Twitter.

Hello–you’re MISSING THE POINT!

The most valuable part of Twitter has always been the relationships. But as more companies and spammy marketers fill the tweetstream with their junk, that’s getting harder and harder to do.

Because people start tuning out. Just like they did with TV commercials (unless they’re REALLY good) and just like they do with anything that makes them feel they’re constantly being hounded for the money in their wallet.

Unfortunately, I’ve found myself tuning out more and more these days.

Yes, you can make lists. I’ve done that. But as I move to different Twitter clients or devices it gets harder to take those lists with me. Plus they always need to be updated as you follow new people.

I know some have completely purged their accounts and started over with just the people they really want to keep in touch with. But I like the synchronicity of discovering new people to “meet” popping up in my timeline.

So what do you do to reduce the noise in your tweetstream so Twitter continues to be useful for you?

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A Round-Up of Tips about WordPress Themes

March 12, 2010 Leave a Comment

As you know, I’m not a designer but I’m a big WordPress fan so I recently attended a meetup about WordPress themes and learned a few tips I thought were worth sharing…

Whatever you need, WordPress can do it. Need a contact manager? Or to create a classified ad, job board or membership site? For virtually anything you’d want to do, there’s a theme for that.

Go ahead and take it off. According to Craig Tuller of Studio Press, it’s OK to strip off the promotional information (e.g. “Created by xxxx with a link) for the thememaker at the bottom of the webpage template. The biggest exception to this is Thesis, which requires you to pay for the theme if you want to eliminate that.

In my opinion, keeping the promo is the courteous thing to do if it’s a free theme–the backlink to their site is an always appreciated thank you. I just noticed the person who set up my free theme took it off though so I can’t throw stones at you if you do the same. But in short, it’s your call.

Only download free themes from a reputable repository (such as the WordPress theme directory). There are a lot of sketchy directories out there where the themes have hidden backlinks to spammy and other non-desirable sites–which will come back and haunt your search engine rankings.

Theme customization is easier than ever. Apparently 99% of themes for sale these days have an options tab where you can change colors, the number of columns, and other basic formatting items to personalize your site in a snap.

You’ll soon see plug-ins built directly into WordPress. They’re moving toward integrating some widely used plug-ins into the main WordPress code so you don’t have to add them later. But to keep these “core plug-ins” from bogging WordPress down, they’re working with plug-in makers to strip out any little-used functionality. (Thank you!)

Did you find a custom blog design you love? You can use a FireFox add-in called Firebug to reverse engineer the theme and recreate it for yourself.

Parent and child themes are the new trend. A parent is a theme that provides the overarching framework for a site and has a lot of built-in functionality to boot. (For example, including SEO functionality.) You can use it solo if you’d like or you can add a child theme.

The child theme provides a different look and it’s also where you do all your work and design customization. That means you don’t have to worry about losing your posts, your settings or anything else breaking when the parent theme needs updating.

Each version of a theme adds improvements. But sometimes the new versions make a big leap in functionality. With a standard theme, you’d have to move your site over to that new theme to get those extra benefits. But a parent theme should be able to make those kinds of leaps without problems. For examples, check out the Genesis theme framework from Studio Press.

Want to add a sales page to your site? Maybe you’ve had the same issue I have–where you find a sales page template for WordPress then realize you can’t simultaneously use more than one theme on the same site. Apparently, the trick is to just create (or have someone create) a new page template for your current theme and select that page when you need it.

Moving your site to a new theme? This is something I’ve long wanted to do but have been afraid to because my blog wasn’t set up properly by the person I hired to do it. So I’m afraid I’d click to publish the new theme and the site would just implode. Instead, the safer route apparently is to create what’s called a development site.

Just create a new subdomain in your site’s cpanel. Install WordPress on the subdomain (which most hosts make super simple–just click on the “Install WordPress” option they offer) and install the new theme. Export your current site to the development site and see what happens. If all goes fine, you can just move that site to the main domain.

In fact, a development site is a great way to test drive any major changes you’re planning on making to your site.

Note:  The link to the Genesis framework is an affiliate link. If that bothers you feel free to go directly to the Studio Press website.

Photo courtesy of Flickr, originally uploaded by Peregrino Will Reign

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Copywriter’s Hit List — Don’t Submit!

February 26, 2010 Leave a Comment

One piece of copy found on virtually every web page (or it should be, since your website should have an ezine sign-up form on every page except sales pages!) is the call-to-action aka “submit button.” But the last thing in the world it should say is “submit”!

Let’s look at the definition of submit from The Free Dictionary:

submit–to yield or surrender (oneself) to the will or authority of another

Not exactly a positive thing, is it?

Submit is a holdover from the days of DOS programming but the word itself has negative connotations for most people.  In fact, it’s really hard to think of any PG-13 rated instance where “submit” has a positive feeling associated with it.

And it can take a big toll on your conversions. According to Marketing Sherpa, “submit” has gotten fewer clicks than any other copy in just about every time they’ve tested button copy.

Instead, you should replace submit with copy that either reinforces what you want the the visitor to do and/or the benefit they’ll get from clicking. For example…

  • Click Here to Get Your Free Report Now!
  • Subscribe Me Now!
  • Order Your Sanity-Saving Guide Today!

It’s a little change that can add up to a big difference–especially over time.

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5 Marketing Lessons from Online Dating

December 10, 2009 2 Comments

People often use dating analogies when they’re talking about getting clients and when you think about it, a ton of similarities exist.

So here are some marketing lessons from an online dating site…

1. Whether it’s an online profile or your website, visitors usually don’t know a single thing about you–and they’re pretty skeptical. After all, everyone’s been burned by reality that didn’t end up matching the hype.

Double-Duty Tip: Being authentic and real will go a long way in winning them over.

2. Identifying a specific target audience is a smart way to focus your efforts and avoid wasting so much time with people who are a bad potential fit.

And no, you’re not limiting yourself because regardless of what you say you’re looking for, some people who don’t fit that but are truly interested will contact you anyway. Even if they’re old enough to be your grandfather.

Double-Duty Tip: Being specific will get you more of what you DO want, and people who are still really interested in working with you will contact you anyway. So it’s basically a win, win situation all around.

3. You get four types of messages from other members of a dating website:

  • All about me–a recital of the many reasons why the sender is so great
  • Mass mailings–the generic “let’s chat and see if we’re a good fit” copy where they don’t show any knowledge of you
  • Personalized–sender specifically references something you’ve said or they know you’ll be interested in

And of course, you see the same types of email messages from businesses.

Double-Duty Tip: The more your message feels as if it were written just for the recipient, the more response you’re going to get.

4. Unless you have a super talented photographer, it’s hard to get a good sense of what someone (or something) will really be like from a picture.

That’s why you need copy that reflects your personality to establishes a connection with the reader.

Double-Duty Tip: Pictures are a great addition, but copy taps into logic and emotion to seal the deal.

However…

5. Copy can NOT make up for a flawed “product.” The best copy in the world can’t overcome a product no one wants or one that comes with much too high a “price.”

Double-Duty Tip: A creep is still a creep. A product no one has a use for is still useless. And anything that seems to have a cost far exceeding its perceived value isn’t going to sell. There’s little copy can do to overcome all that!

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Joint Venture Mistake #5 — Thinking Small

October 30, 2009 Leave a Comment

basketball
As Michael Jordan says, you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. So identify the rockstar joint ventures you would love to have and approach them. All they can do is ignore you or say no.

One of my clients was looking for speakers and JV partners for an upcoming telesummit and was happily surprised to get a yes from Journalution author Sandy Grason. Turns out, Sandy was trying to reach out to more women in my client’s industry.

Another copywriter I know got Brian Tracy to sign on as a partner for a teleseminar. He first became an active affiliate for him and then asked if he could interview him. Brian Tracy promoted that product to his list and I believe they did another together as well.

(Tip–no matter how “famous” someone is–they ALL know who their top affiliates are!)

You may have to get creative about approaching them in order to get through their gatekeepers and VAs–a simple email probably won’t do the trick. Here are three ways to do that…

    1. Send them a lumpy mail package
    2. Find out where they’re going to be speaking and go meet them
    3. Reach out via Twitter or Facebook

      So remember–you never know until you ask! And of course, keep the first 4 common mistakes you want to avoid in mind when you do:

      Forgetting the “What’s In It for Me?”

      Failing to Set Your Joint Venture Up for Success

      How to Make It Hard for Others to Promote You

      Don’t Jeopardize Their Affiliate Commissions

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      Don’t Jeopardize Their Affiliate Commissions

      October 29, 2009 1 Comment

      While JV partners may give you more leeway because of the relationship you have with them, affiliates often won’t. If they see something that could reduce their chances of success, they’ll just move on to another product.

      Guinea Pig

      So here are a few things to be mindful of:

      • No one wants to be your guinea pig–wasting their time and money by sending people to a lousy sales page. In fact, savvy partners won’t sign on unless they know how many sales page visitors are currently buying (aka your conversion rate). So track and have those numbers ready before you start recruiting.
      • Also, set realistic expectations by telling them what type of prospects you’re getting those numbers from. Because a 10% conversion rate is much easier to achieve from subscribers who already know, like and trust you versus traffic from pay-per-click ads.
      • Finally, avoid commission-killers on your sales page, such as:
        • Navigation buttons or a lot of links to other pages–which slashes the odds that the prospect will actually buy
        • An opt-in form–which (in their eyes) could allow you to “steal” the customer away and take credit for the sale
        • A link for new affiliates to sign-up at the bottom–which encourages some prospects to sign-up as an affiliate first, hoping to get a commission on their own purchase

      (Most programs prevent this but that doesn’t stop people from trying–and again, it increases the odds the original referrer won’t end up not getting credit for their purchase.)

      Tomorrow, the last of the 5 common mistakes to avoid when approaching joint venture partners and affiliates.

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      How to Make it Hard for Others to Promote You

      October 28, 2009 Leave a Comment

      So far, we’ve discussed the difference between joint ventures and affiliates as well as the first two all-too-common mistakes entrepreneurs make when building these types of relationships–forgetting the “what’s in it for me?” and failing to set yourself up for success. Now we have…

      Mistake #3 — Giving Them the Wrong Promotional Tools

      Just as you strive to make customers feel special, you should make sure JV partners and affiliates feel special too–after all, they’re using their resources to promote for you.

      So keep that in mind when you craft messages to them. Also, make it as easy for them as possible by giving them the right tools. That means…

      • Offering the tools they prefer. Some people won’t do three solo email blasts because they don’t want their subscribers running for the exits. They may prefer having you do a guest article or offering a free teleseminar instead. If you don’t have time to find out what they want then at least offer a variety of options.
      • Sending “clean” email copy. It seems obvious, but check the spam score in your email software program and test it by mailing to yourself before you give them email copy to use.
      • Checking video load time. Your partners won’t be happy campers if they’re prospects aren’t converting because your video takes eons to start playing.
      • Also, hosting the videos for big launches on a different server. When Matt Bacak launched a new product back in August, all the video viewings crashed the server–the same server his sales page was hosted on. Again, a sure way to tick off affiliates.

      Stay tuned tomorrow, for another big bone of contention for affilates–jeopardizing their commissions.

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      Failing to Set Your Joint Venture Up for Success

      October 27, 2009 1 Comment

      One of the biggest disappointments with joint ventures or affiliate marketing is when a big partner (or any partner, for that matter) doesn’t come through for you. Unfortunately, it’s an all-too-common occurrence.

      People forget. Or agree to more email blasts than they can actually do without their subscribers running for the exits. Or sometimes, their own product launches end up happening near the same time.

      That’s why Mistake #2 is Failing to Set Your Joint Ventures Up for Success.

      You can’t totally prevent someone from flaking out on you, but here are a few ways you can minimize those chances:

      Willie CrawfordGet On the Same Page

      First, JV guru Willie Crawford says to make sure you ask for “reciprocal” promotions–whatever you agree to do, they should agree to do the exact same.

      Occasionally, you’ll run into slicksters who say yes, but plan to send your emails to that “junky” list they picked up from a trade show and never use. Or decide to just tweet out your promo via social media.

      That’s NOT the same thing because your relationships with ezine subscribers and social media are very different. If you’re emailing your  main list, they should do the same.

      Check-In Throughout

      Second, you should start recruiting partners 6 weeks before a new product launch–but plan to remind and check-in with partners as it gets closer to the launch date.

      That way, you may be able to head off problems before they occur.

      Check-Up at Show Time

      Finally, monitor their actions. If they’ve agreed to email their newsletter subscribers, then sign-up for their list so you see the email(s) that go out. If they’re going to put an ad on their blog, then make a note to check that it’s there.

      If they don’t follow through on pre-launch promotions and you’re offering one of their products as a bonus, you can always remove it before the launch.

      But even if you have no leverage like that, then you at least know to put them on your “do not call” list for future projects.

      Two JV and affiliate mistakes down–three more to go. Look for the next one tomorrow!

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      Marketing Lists You Can’t Miss — 3 Killer Posts from Around the Web

      October 2, 2009 2 Comments

      Today, I thought I’d share some of the best posts of links I’ve come across in the last week or so–full of great and resources for your marketing pleasure…

      The Internet Marketing List: 59 Things You Should Be Doing But Probably Aren’t gives you even more things for your to-do list–courtesy of @portentint. My personal favorite has to be the first one…

      If you have a Flash introduction on your web site, delete it. If you don’t agree, try this: Shove your head into a bucket of water. Stay in there, not breathing, for 10 seconds longer than is comfortable. That’s what you’re doing to your customers. Delete it, please. (I second that!)

      I bet you’ll find at least one new strategy to attract visitors (and probably more!) in this post on 21 Untapped Traffic Sources from @buzzblogger. I’ve already started implementing the video responses and article site bookmarking ones…the tutorials tip is a great one too.

      4.6 Million WordPress Tools and Training Resources from @bendtheweb has links to, well, a heck of a lot of WordPress plug-ins, plug-in best of lists and more. (Don’t go overboard though, or your blog will load as slow as molasses.)

      Any killer list posts you’d like to share?

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