I’d like to give you something very special this month, because I know a lot of people are struggling, and also because, well, I like to give 
(And of course, I know when I keep doing that, it’s like money in the bank because of the good will it builds)
Anyway, it occurred to me earlier this month during our Rocket Clicks strategy meetings that I’m now in a VERY unique position to offer you content because of the talent we’ve gathered. Literally, we’ve got not only some of the world’s best PAY PER CLICK TALENT, but also a VERY strong LANDING PAGE and CONVERSION team, and TOP NOTCH SEO TALENT too.
So here’s what I’m going to do.
I’m going to put together a series of customer appreciation teleseminars and interviews with our team. (I might even do one of these live in person if enough people wanted to come out to Milwaukee for a day, but for now we’ll stick with the telephone and web distribution).
It’s simple … just answer two questions below (in the comments section) and I’ll take it from there, getting our absolute top talent to address your issues … and I won’t stop until we cover them all.
Here they are:
1) If you could actually sit down for 30 minutes with an entire team of skilled online marketers with expertise in PPC, SEO, and CONVERSION METHODS, and get a detailed answer to ONLY ONE QUESTION … what would that ONE question be?
2) How much of a difference would a genuinely solid answer to your question make in your business and your life? Why? Specifically what would change?
The more details you give, the harder we’ll work to address your question. (Note: in order to prevent spam we’ve had to automatically filter out comments with more than one URL, so please refrain from listing multiple URLs or we won’t see your question)
GO! (Leave your answers in the comment section)
{ 70 comments… read them below or add one }
1)
- What step by step process/system can I use to get REAL results (more traffic, higher rankings, higher conversions etc) for my paying clients?
2)
- Specifically it would get me more clients, (thereby making me an income and being able to pay my bills), then I could provide more value to people who are paying me to get them results
Thank you for this opportunity. It’s nice to see there are some people confident enough in their ability to actually let us “test drive” you before we pony up the dough.
I can’t imagine my question is unique, but here goes:
Our site, ITLiquid8.com, has (or will eventually have) thousands of I.T. parts and equipment. Each part is different, though it all falls into one market genre. The time it is taking for us to manually employ even a few of the SEO and AdWords techniques you and PM teach is, well, exasperatingly time consuming. We’ve done maybe 30 and it’s taken weeks to tweak just those few. My partner and I simply can’t see a path to cash on this venture. If we had only a few or one particular product or service we offered then sure, but how do you do it on a mass scale like this?!?! My brain is fried, my partner is depressed, and we loathe the depression-inducing volume of “grunt” work that hasn’t even gotten us 2% of the way through yet.
Please, I beg of you, throw us a lifeline!
1. I understand the Adwords formula/hierachy: Campaign | Ad groups | Ads | Tightly linked landing pages | Interest Piqued | Sold. Simple. But certainly not easy. My question is: What are “typical” successful businesses doing in real numbers? Implementing this can range from one guy working on it evenings after he gets back from the shop (me) all the way to a capital “M” marketing department with admins, support in India and huge budgets. Please quantify the universe for me in some way. How many keywords, campaigns, groups, landing pages, etc. might work for a small company like us?
2. Knowing this would allow us to concentrate on the content, service, creativity, product improvements, inventing recipes, talking to other crazy charcoal grlling freaks, making people happy with great food. We wouldn’t be constantly getting lost in the fuzz of infinite work. We need a gut feel for the scope of this: OK, for a company like yours, you should have 3 campaigns, each with 2 ads. Total universe of keywords should be 43 split intelligently… etc., etc. You get the drift.
I would love to get a critique of my website, or at least parts of it. I’ve worked really hard on it and I’m getting some traffic, but practically zero conversions. If I could get some pointers, I’m hoping I can make some money and stop worrying about my finances.
Thanks,
Janice
1) I am going to begin the launch on a new fitness product i have put together, what is the number 1 thing that i should do in order to get maximum exposure and publicity in the search engine rankings?
2) Does the internet and marketplace still react strongly when you release a contriversial product still like it did when robert kiyosaki release richdad poor dad, and claimed That your house is not an asset? If so, where are the best places to get this message out in order to get maximum results from my launch campaign(also, how long should i make my campaign, 2 weeks?)?
Thanks heaps for this guys, getting true answers to these questions will hopefully be like gold come time of my launch. Thank you again:)
1.) I have just started a home business with a direct sales company, I would like to learn the most crucial method of targeting people who are in need of a lucrative business to work from home in this economy.
2.) This would allow me to focus on the aspects of marketing that will bring results for my business and allow me to pass on this knowledge to my new business partners, this type of mentorship seems to be lacking in this industry. Thank you so much:)
1. Discuss how we increase #s & % of conversion to maximize efficiently our total volume of traffic & do so with ease
& then follow-up on the large % of conversions.
2. I like this pattern & step by step guide with constructive advice, even in this email alone (can I copy it 1 day
. The difference achieved her would be completing the next step of my committment. That is all, as well as potential to increase $ & downline. Advice here always develops my train of thinking, level of experience, & knowledge. Even with all that I already know & experienced, even just listening to comments from our close group here develops my thoughts & ability to respond to requests from my downline or other experts.
P. S. Step by step guide, advice, & assistance is right here. Listen. Next, as a trial attorney who works early am, alld day, & until early evening & then has dinner/family time, I make it work for me with 1 site, only a few select keywords (see survey results) & then after that is done add lots of content.
1.)My question is actually very simple ( for really smart guys-but very hard for me) but it has 2 parts. I know that the visitors to my website do not want men’s suits or ice cream cones. What I don’t know is what do they want (when they don’t buy what I offer) and what can I sell them so that they get what they want.
Here’s the facts. I buy cars from private parties across the entire country. I don’t pay retail but I have bundled a convenient service (I’ll take your problem away) around a commodity (a car). I get a good CTR. I get a 30% conversion rate (long questionnaire filled out) at the site. But, a disappointing percentage actually take me up on my offer to buy the car. The business is profitable so I keep doing it but could do much better. Here’s the website address; http://www.rpmautoservices.com . What do the rest of them want to buy?
2.)A good answer would make my life better by making my business more profitable. I would have to buy more computers and hire more people. I could do my part to reduce the unemployment rate in CA. I wouldn’t rub a hole in my scalp from constantly scratching my head while I try to answer the questions on my own. And most importantly, I would have more time to work on the really big questions like what should I make for dinner and how can I do something about global warming!
1.) My question is actually very simple ( for really smart guys-but very hard for me) but it has 2 parts. I know that the visitors to my website do not want men’s suits or ice cream cones. What I don’t know is what do they want and what can I sell them so that they get what they want.
Here’s the facts. I buy cars from private parties across the entire country. I don’t pay retail but I have bundled a convenient service (I’ll take your problem away) around a commodity (a car). I get a good CTR. I get a 30% conversion rate (long questionnaire filled out) at the site. But, a disappointing percentage actually take me up on my offer to buy the car. The business is profitable so I keep doing it but could do much better. Here’s the website address; http://www.rpmautoservices.com . What do the rest of them want to buy?
2.) A good answer would make my life better by making my business more profitable. I would have to buy more computers and hire more people. I could do my part to reduce the unemployment rate in CA. I wouldn’t rub a hole in my scalp from constantly scratching my head while I try to answer the questions on my own. And most importantly, I would have more time to work on the really big questions like what should I make for dinner and how can I do something about global warming!
I am just getting started we have a gospel cd to sell and I am looking for the best way to market it. We will be putting it on cd baby and doing an email blast. Do
you have any other suggestions. Our budget is limited.
Thanks
1. How can I use/ maximize PPC / SEO to sell LOCAL organic foods within a tri-city area. (Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbus OH)
2. I am considering starting an online local food coop (internet orders from local farmers)modeled after this one:
http://www.oklahomafood.coop/
I want to ultimately expand this to other locally owned businesses as well but see this as my “Wright Brothers Test Glider”. If I can make this go – I would expand it and I think it’s the future of internet marketing (local that is). With peak oil, and the economic crisis making globalism somewhat obsolete I think it will establish a model for the entire industry to follow as local economies are going to become more and more important.
if you add “/homebusiness” on to the end of my URL it will take you to our blog which has an additional video on the home page that explains a major aspect of our USP.
1. My one Question:
What should I price my membership site at? This is frying my brain.
2. How it would help is at the end…
All the details of my service can be found by following my link to Occupy The City.
In a nut shell:
We are a community that works together to promote our traffic and lead generation sites for generating sales of a shared network marketing and affiliate product portfolio.
I have been pricing at $250 per month. They also incur start up costs ranging from an additional $100- $500 depending on the network marketing company or companies they join from our portfolio. It is mandatory that they join at least one to become a member of the community.
So after start up their current monthly would range from 300 – $400 per month once you add in the monthly cost of their portfolio company.
I can’t help but wonder what would happen if we dramatically lowered our membership cost since they already have to contend with the costs of what ever networking company they decide to promote.
I do have a decent overhead that I have to cover every month. Over $1k. Over 3k if I advertise.
- Members get personal lead gen pages on our network of sites that rank high in the Google top 50 for all of the high traffic network marketing keywords.
- These can be pages that promote The community itself as when they refer someone they earn a $50 recurring Monthly commission. They can be for lead gen for their portfolio co’s as well.
- These can also be pages for lead gen for products they promote them selves out side of the community portfolio, ie. their own business or other MLM.
- They also get access to extremely powerful, perfectly targeted email marketing campaigns. (I’m not selling or exaggerating here. These rock!) They have to pay for these but we set it all up and members can split the cost.
- We manage their personal list in our database & Aweber through their personal salesman ID that is carried through the entire system so that any sales made by marketing to our/their list are credited to them.
- They get a personal mentor that meets with them every week by phone to hold their had through marketing tasks, motivate them, and hold them accountable to moving forward with their business.
- They learn the in’s and out’s of SEO, and site promotion.
- They get a blog on our blog network set up for them.
- They get someone else (me) to close sales in their portfolio companies as new members join our community.
- They get to attend weekly webinars that are set up as workshops where attendance ensures they complete high priority promotional tasks. For example we give them writing prompts and structural formulas for composing articles or blog posts. Tasks are completed during the event.
- We even proofread and edit for them in many cases as well as answering questions and checking their work live during the event.
- We have a members forum and beginners check list that teaches the requisite skills to participate in our community marketing effort.
- Wondering what the effect of the current economy is and what the market can truly bear.
- The best business man serves the good of the people. I want to do that, but need to cover overhead and other expenses in order to continue to serve anything to anyone.
- Currently we are maintaining a growing membership that is gaining major ground with it’s community marketing effort.
2: With the right pricing I believe our numbers would go through the roof??????????????
If you agree let me know, if you think I need to change the offer please explain.
With the right answer I believe my members would be better served though with a higher rate of growth to fuel their own business growth.
My wife would come home from her 2 grueling jobs and work with me while helping me raise our 3 children under 5.
I would start and additional company that was based on philanthropy.
I would help a lot of people achieve their dreams, and do a lot of good in a myriad of ways.
Hah! please forgive all spelling and grammar errors! I\’m not the one that proofs & edits our members work, lol!
1. What one tool do you use to track conversions outside of Google?
2. It would mean being able to target my customers more and increase sales conversions.
I really need some advice on how to increase traffic and most importantly to convert traffice into more sales on http://www.asiaclassictours.com and http://www.classictraveldeals.com. Wish to thank you very much in advance for the help!
I’m an SEM manager and believe I have a firm grasp on adwords and PPC
You’ve have gone through the process of entering new markets repeatedly with success. Over time I imagine you’ve honed attitudes and beliefs that are going to give you success in the future.
What’s the thought process going through your head when entering a new market and building business? Do you get a feeling of success before it happens or do you break it into steps and numbers and remove all emotions from the decision? Or both?
Basically how do you think and act when approaching a new market with PPC and what’s the best way to adopt your attitude?
I’m interested in knowing the Top 3 SEO practices. SEO seems to be made up of hundreds of little tweaks — URLs, titles, tags, keywords, meta tags, anchor links, anchor text, backlinks, etc, etc. But all of these things cannot be equal.
Trying to manage all of these on every post on a multi-page, multi-article website is not efficient for someone like me who does it myself, even though there are tools to semi-automate some of it. So I’d like to know what’s the 20% of SEO tactics that *must* be done to get 80% of the benefit.
Thanks.
Hey, Glenn, we didn’t meet, but I enjoyed your very fine, very mathy presentation at the System Club a couple of weeks ago. Along with the whole seminar, it left me feeling like I need to grow a new brain hemisphere to put all this IM knowledge, which leads to my question:
1. I like the details, epiphanies and exclusive tips, but I also like the fundamentals. Formulas like “Traffic + Conversion = Profits” give me a map for sorting through the vast range of IM approaches out there, for separating wheat from chaff. They especially give me a way to translate IM’s complex possibilities for clients in simple terms.
So, given your team’s particular areas of expertise, from niche research to SEO to conversion of PPC traffic, what fundamental formulas can you offer for each key part of online business? SEO, for instance, has a million things to do. What’s the fundamental principle that guides them? Or conversion: it’s not like an opt-in page is Legos, where you stack up blazing headlines and bonuses and struckthrough prices. There’s a psychology to it, which if you know, you can break all the “rules” and still get results. (At least, that’s what I’m hoping you’ll share with us.) Put another way, what lighthouse can each of your experts point to so I don’t drown while mastering this stuff? If you could break it down into five steps, and spend six minutes on each step, that would be too perfect. So I better not ask for that. The rest, though, I’ll ask, and thanks for the chance.
2. What would this mean to me? I’m not unique in having spent a lot of time and energy in way too many areas of IM just finding what fits. Every time I can have the important things burned into my mind, I’m thankful. It helps cut out the noise; it helps me bear down on the 20% that works rather than chase 80 rabbits. And since I learn stuff best when I hear it a dozen times with subtle variations, I’d like to hear your team’s versions. Even if they’re things I might already have tucked away in that third hemisphere.
I agree with Janice. Critique a few web sites (mine would be nice) so we truly understand areas we can improve. Just like driving a car, once you get the feel for it using the manuel is so much easier. I love case study’s cause there are no wrong answers just ways of improvement.
I really appreciate this opportunity, this is great. BTW, I love Milwaukee…let’s have your meeting at the Pfister Hotel. Here goes:
1) I’m trying to make it in affiliate marketing. I’ve been unsuccessful at profiting. I think I’m pretty good at PPC. Good QS, Good CTR%….however, I’m treading water. I’ve tried really expanding into longtail keywords, testing, etc. I’d love to actually take a “peek” under the covers of someone else’s highly successful PPC campaign. Really see what it looks like…maybe I’m missing something?
2) The difference would be in peace of mind and frustration. All day, everyday, I poor over my results and try to tweak things. So confused on whether to give up or try harder. I’m trying to quit my day job, focus on being independent. Getting over the hump…would be all the difference between despair and freedom. I’m 45 this summer, ready to be on my own and get on with my life. Freedom is my reward.
Thanks
Fred
1.) I want to see a semi-live demo. Review someone’s website including their adwords. Not too detailed. In 30 minutes, give them pointers on getting the low hanging fruit. Then, have THEM do the work and fix ups. Followup a week or two (three) later. Followup live. (Show me your courage to match my own.) Review their stats. Have them explain what they learned… Oh, and get somone that can talk (teach?) onair and also happens to have website issues.
2.) Such stories are inspiring. They make you believe that anyone can do it. I want it like reality TV. It does not all have to work perfectly. Have the person keep a diary that they use as notes during the review. I am mature enough not to fall for “It’s fast… it’s easy… you will make a million.” I will learn from failure, also. (Hopefully someone else’s…)
Like everyone, I am always looking for MORE Qualified Traffic. However, my target market is somewhat unique. Our site, http://www.cvtreasures.com, offers high end collectibles, memorabilia and fine art (noticed how Itried to get an outgoing link here?). I have been online for 13 years. Our “buyers” are high income collectors enthusiasts, tht put a high priority on fulfiling their collecting needs.
So, unlike many market niches, like the online money making opportunists (which can comprise a large percentage of the population), our niche is very narrow.
Hence, I guess my question is how to generate more traffic, more leads of this mainly affluent group of niche collectors of sports, movie & historical memorabilia & fine art?
I’ve been doing PPC for about five years am at a fairly high level , read Perry Marshall, Howie Jacobson and apply most of their techniques. BUt, traffic and conversions are never that impressive.
Kevin
http://www.cvtreasures.com
Thanks Glenn!
1. I’d like to know how to find the best offer to appeal to a particular audience. That is, specific ways to take a large group of people (in this case people with chronic back pain) and break it down into smaller groups, and then find absolute best, most appealing offer for these people.
I’m looking for practical, actionable things, step by step.
2. This would allow me to test the market for the site ww.LifeAfterPain.com and then launch it successfully. Literally, this would be a business maker
Hi Dr. L,
#1: Here the question: Adwords experts advice that a separate relevant landing page be created for each keyword/ad group in order to a) boost the Quality Score, and b) Increase conversions. So if I have five ad groups I create five landing pages with each keyword featuring prominently in the headline and a few other places on the page. BUT the content is mostly the same. Will the AdWords bot penalize me for this? Will the Google organic search bot penalize me for this as it will be considered duplicate content? Is it a good idea to code each page with a robot.txt command so Google doesn’t find it? and while we are it, is it a good idea to bid very high on your initial keywords in order to get a high CTR and thus a lower subsequent bid price?
#2: This would make or break my next AdWords campaign
This is a new business venture. I need the site to convert. 0.5% will be enough to break even and pay for PPC currently ranking in the 3-4 position when I can afford PPC-ing. I am on a very tight budget so I cannot afford to spend too much on PPC until I start breaking even. Any specific advice on how to increase conversions from this site much appreciated.
If I can get some conversions rolling in then the most important benefit will actually be psychological. I appreciate the need for test & measurement but am limited by my budget. Conversions will encourage me to persevere and to reinvest the initial income in growing the business onto a firm financial foundation.
Thanks for all the emails.
Michael G
1) When you run split testing on a web page (be it sales letter, squeeze page, etc), how do you track the results?
(In other words, if you have tested 5 different headlines, three header graphics and five “calls to action”, how do you record that and which KPIs do you measure?) I’m hoping you’re going to say something as simple as a spreadsheet is good enough!
2) We currently get quite good traffic to a few pages on our B2B design and print services website and I am starting to become more savvy about conversion rates and testing. At present, I am not sure we’re making the most of the traffic we do get. Like every business, I want to sell more! As printing is in a horrific decline right now, your help might save the jobs of 10 people!
Cheers Glenn – any help would be much appreciated!
1. How can I use my website to attract more fee-paying clients. At present I feel my self-designed site gives lots of info, some calls to action, some freebies but is still lacking the excitement factor to get people interested.
2. I am just starting my business, so this would enable me to get off the ground and eliminate my self-defeating belief that “It’s hard to get fee-paying clients”! Although I designed the site myself, and am fairly pleased with it, some parts are ‘too wordy’ so I would love it have more impact and encourage potential clients to contact me.
#1.) What tools/programs/strategies do you use to create and manage massive campaigns that are very detailed with different ads, 100’s of keywords, different landing pages, and bid management?
#2.) This would save me a ton of time in building my online businesses, allowing me more time with my wife and kids.
1.How to break into tough e-commerce markets –
I work for an e-commerce website operating in what I am beginning to think is a very tough market. I know my time would be more efficiently spent in a more open market, but that isn’t the task my employer has set before me. This is my first experience with internet business and I have been here about a year. So far all of our efforts have been for nothing. We really haven’t seen the results we need to ever rationally expect to make money. I would like to know how to do my job better. As the web manager in charge of adwords and most of the content on the site, what can I do to help make this site a success. What are the vital few I should focus on?
2. It would help me keep my job. It would help my employers make a profit. It would help the other employees in our company for the internet portion of the business to be profitable. It would end world hunger. It would bring world peace… Ok, maybe not on the last two.
Thanks,
Josh
Josh … if you’re not comfortable providing the market you’re working in, could you give an example of a like kind market so we could address this better? (It’s a GREAT question – thanks!)
Michael, in responding to this it would be helpful to know which tools you’ve tried so far, which have been helpful, and where exactly you’re stuck. At your leisure.
Margaret – this is an excellent question – but could you possibly let us know a little more about your market and what you know about it? What sources of traffic are you utilizing? Have you developed a unique selling proposition for this market yet? If so, how did you come to that? If not, what’s stopping you?
This is an excellent question and I will make sure we address it in our conversion teleseminar (sometime before the end of May). In the meantime, you may wish to look at the free videos I did on multivariate testing in adwords (and also Taguchi Testing part II.)
While these videos were meant for adwords, they ALSO illustrate the PRINCIPLES behind the more aggressive conversion testing which is possible when you’ve got many variables to manage and enough traffic to test with. Plus, there’s a FREE utility which is more than sufficient to run the tests. (Before I leave Taguchi Testing, I’ll point you also to the Taguchi Testing Cheat Sheet post on this blog)
Last … The Google Website Optimizer is rather amazing (and also FREE) … does NOT interfere with your SEO efforts, and allows for FULL FACTORIAL testing of many options. The PLAIN ENGLISH version of this is that full factorial testing tests all combinations of all factors before choosing a winner, while TAGUCHI TESTING uses advanced math to COMPRESS ridiculously large numbers of combinations into a smaller number of tests. (In the latter, you sacrifice a little accuracy for a lot of testing speed, in the former, you test much more slowly in favor of more accuracy … you’ve got to decide which is more important in a given situation)
Michael … can you say a little more about how you developed the site? How did you develop the USP? What have you tested so far? How did you learn about your market? (Nothing confidential of course, but the more you can tell us, the better we can address the question)
Rick – please tell us a little more about the history of your website (how you developed it, where you got your ideas, etc) and we’ll try to address it in one of the conversion teleseminars
Ooooooh … you like Math Marketing huh? Man am I gonna blow your socks off. (Actually, I’ve got 3 simple formulas which have made a world of difference … I’ll share one of them with you right now … just go watch the video at http://www.SuperSplitTester.com )
Terry … we’ll definitely discuss this … but you might want to check out our PREVIOUS SEO FOR PPC TELECONFERENCE … you can download the MP3 and PDF Cheat Sheet there too.
Thanks Kevin … I’ll definitely address this for free in the teleseminars, but you should know I’ve actually made a few products all about choosing a new market … they’re now only available in my systems as a bonus for the low end membership club “Hyper Responsive Marketing Secrets”
And the SHORT ANSWER to your question is yes to both … I break it into steps and numbers, but I also DO wait until I’ve got a strong emotional connection to the market. I once said at a seminar “I won’t go into a market until I feel changed as a person by the research in that market” … which doesn’t happen until I’ve seen the numerical opportunities, and then followed up in person with people aggressively so I really know what they smell like.
Will address in detail on the seminars … but I’d have to say HyperTracker.com
The site http://www.simplywater.com is an information site with 80+ relevant pages indexed by Google.
We intend putting up a dynamic html page in front of this so that we can graft on a product section like this: http:simplywater.com/swheadertest.html
Do you think that this will work or have you a better idea please.
Achieving the link between our info site beloved by Google and our products site will give better visibility with Google.
I have identified a niche I would like to attack but I would like to develop a landing page to collect opt ins. I am not crazy about SEO and would like to launch a PPC campaign and/or JV’s to attract subscribers with some free content. Where is the best place to 1) to find people to design my landing pages and 2)what software would you recommend to find keywords to advertise my PPC campaigns?
Thanks
1 – how to best manage and track a growing PPC campaign and business (i.e, tools, vendor)?
2 – PPC drives the largest amount of sales to my site and if it could be managed and tracked more efficiently, then it would free up a TON of my time to work on other initiatives.
<ahref-\"\"Impartial reviews of PPC software+\"\"
For PPc campaigns, I\’m stuck on what software I really need (that I can afford) to do keyword and ad profitability analysis before actually forming ad groups. Ditto for tracking of conversions at the keyword level and for actually populating the Google AdWords Editor. I\’ve been using some to establish \"dummy\" campaigns, but I\’m not confident in the way profitability and conversions are computed. Forums haven\’t helped, and I\’ve yet to find impartial reviews – they\’re all placed by affiliate sellers.
Glenn-
Thanks for engaging on this. What a great opportunity.
1) My one question: How do I do the Guinea Pig/Pigs thing? How can I cost effectively/efficiently/quickly (i.e., get a Go/No Go answer in days, not weeks) think of/find different niches I can reasonably build a business around, for under $1,000. (Assuming design and development is under $500.)
2) What difference would this make? Are you kidding? The difference between the 10 of us eating and my paying the mortgage and tuition, and…
I would probably be a good customer for your survey product if I knew it would also help me find/think of the niches. I have no problem with the hard, diligent work of making it happen. I just want to know I am going in the right direction from the get go.
And, we can meet in my apartment in Jerusalem, if you will be in the neighborhood soon. Weather is perfect now!
Thanks,
Ted
Dear Glenn,
If you could answer this question which I have dreamedt of asking you for months it would relieve my anxiety about perheps miss out onthe right direction we should go in, in our marketing. I’ve respected you since I read you say “we can’t help everyone. You must count conversions, etc.” nobody else says we can’t help everyone.
Our situation is we offer a service that nobody else offers and more important nobody knows exists and nobody searches for. We are gem buying agents. If you search for gembuying agent we com up first. Nobody does. It’s asking people to search for a phonograph before the public knew such a thing existed. We have made it from our site registants (calling the qualified ones) for over a decade. Before that we were gem merchants.
Our question is: Is PPc a worthwhile advertising medium for us to persue or would our effort be better spent elsewhere ie. Trade Magzines, direct mail etc. since we are basicly launching a new service to the trade.
We have tried to turn the corner as Perry says in his book. Done white papers. Gotten ok hit % but its been the wrong people. When we finally offered free consultantions, still the wrong people. Finally when we tighten the wording to exactly the people we want to help we got %100 conversion on zero hits.
Please what is your opinion? And again thank you very much for this opportunity.
1) Much of the online marketing advice is for websites that sell information products rather than a catalog of physical products. This seems relevant for keyword research, PPC and SEO but as soon as a customer is on the website the conversion seems to be about offering information, reviews and ratings as much as, if not more than, great sales letter copy.
So my question for the experienced online marketers is do they have different techniques for convertion of physical products vs information / digital products?
(If I had another question it would be the same for market research questionnaires. That is do they have different techniques for rewarding responses as its expensive and hard to give them info as a reward when they’re after a physical product.)
BTW – niche traffic doesn’t seem to be a problem. I’m also using clicktale to look at usability which is throwing up some small issues.
2) The difference would be better conversion which means more sales therefore more money. More money means more freedom, sense of achievement and more family time.
1. I am a total newbie so please forgive me if my question sounds really dumb. My business partner and I have a small HR consulting company. Ninety percent of our business falls into two categories: 1. Health and Safety and 2. Recruiting. There are several keywords that are unique to each category. Do we need two different web sites in order to achieve SEO for each category? If so, what do we do with our current domain which incorporates both categories including other services that we offer?
2. Choosing the right web site strategy would be a huge boost to our business as we do not get any new clients from the Internet.
Question – Using Video to increase SEO rank. Seems to be black magic with a lot of mis-information on how to do this on the web. An example. I posted a video on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIomx3GJzPA and how does Google know this video is associated with my web site? My guess is under properties (for a web page it would be meta information), I should have information about my site so the search engine relates it to my site. I used a free tool to create the video from PowerPoint. And of course I should post this video on other sites. For the keyword I am targeting, Chinese Made Easy, Google is not picking up the video yet. Some other activities have been done to help the position that should help the position soon. My guess is google is creating a lot of inertia on the top 3 positions on their search (ie changes do not happen quickly for their position).
2. What it’s worth to me. Looking at my traffic I am only getting X percent of traffic with being number 4 on Google for this keyword. By increasing my ranking to #1 or #2, it should increase my traffic by X10 from where it is now, since traffic seems to be log rhythmic on position on a page as long as you have a good snippet (ie position #1 gets most of traffic, some to #2, and by the time you get to #4 it’s pretty pathetic). The keyword is pretty competitive and I don’t see what the top position page has besides age for this keyword (all sites in top positions have been around for couple of years, as has mine. My page on this product is newer).
I have list of all commercial pools in MN approx 3000
all I have is address and phone numbers. is it better to do mass mailing to try to get emails or call ?
pool guy in MN
Hi Glenn,
A very generous offer.
My one question is simply this: how do I determine the TRUE VALUE of an AdWords ad or keyword?
I’ll give you an example – say keyword ‘a’ has a av. CPC of $1.60, CTR of 0.5% & a conversion rate of 65%, while keyword ‘b’ has a av. CPC of $0.60 CTR of 15% and a conversion rate of 11%. The same scenario could apply loosely to 2 competing ads in a group. So now the dilemma – do I keep the low CTR which impacts my overall campaign quality? etc., etc. – you get the idea. Way too many factors (plus impressions / day, etc.) to take into account when making budget & deletion decision. I’ve even worked on formulas that can be applied in a spreadsheet where I try to find the true value of ads and keywords.
How much of a difference would a solid answer make in my business and life? A truly profound one. I work with narrow margins. I test & track *everything*. A small percentage change would make a huge difference in my financial situation. It would also truly impact my quality of my life; struggling day to day, worrying about advertising costs and sometimes being afraid to make changes that *might* have a negative impact. The hours spent ‘grooming my list’ as Perry would say, seem not to be worth it at times – it can be disheartening. I work hard, I’m inventive & well read, and progress seems mind-bogglingly slow!
Thanks,
-al
Al – I’ll address this in detail on the teleseminars, but please see http://www.SuperSplitTester.com in the interim, which is actually the only answer you’ll really need
What’s the best way to arrange deals with content experts? For example, if you have done a full survey research to find out what your market wants and the best way of supplying that is to interview an authority, or do a JV with them.
How best to approach them and what to say – any examples of letters &/ phone scripts available?
How best to use research & survey results in negotiations? How much to reveal when? For a new marketer, this could be one of the few negotiating elements they have, and so is not to be squandered. A more experienced one with a customer list would have more.
What’s a fair way of structuring a deal? What % split of revenue or profit, who commonly gets, or does, what else (e.g. name on product, customer service responsibilities, marketing actions)?
Is there any good way of making agreements on quality, to assure they perform up to scratch, you too?
I’m interested in going into areas where I’m not (yet) a content expert. So, knowing the structure of a typical deal would help me do so.
Dear Howie:
We thank you for the superb information and compelling data you have been offering gratis.
Instead of being labeled an affiliate of this particular company, we are planning to get permission from them to market their material products under our name and address in a nonprofit website we will set up for good cause. Please let us know if this is a good idea and if there are complicated mechanics involved.
Thank you again.
N.B. Only orders will be placed through us. The producer will do everything else.
Dear Glenn,
Do you know when you might be answering the other questions you haven’t yet gotten around to?
David
Hi David … we’re going to answer ALL of them in a series of free teleseminars, videos, and MP3s over the next 8 weeks. (Thanks in advance for your patience … I’ve already recorded one, it’s being edited this week)
Thank you,
I’m anxiously awaiting.
DSE
I have an information site about water.
How do I graft on a product section that sells.
I need visitors to see immediately that they can either visit the information part of the site or research and buy state of the art water filters right now.
Looking forward to your comments.
Thanks,
Adrian.
There are three areas that I really need specific examples and tips on:
1. Creating landing pages that convert.
I tried to copy landing pages I’ve seen, but my page had a very pitiful conversion rate. What are specific elements I need and how do I get them? (ex. how do I get testimonials from people that help conversion? Do I really need the little book graphic I see on so many pages and where can I get it?, etc.) Or maybe just where is the best place to find someone to do this for me?
2. Creating email campaigns that convert.
I got an AWeber account and tried my hand at sending follow-up emails with helpful information to build trust, and then an occasional sales pitch. Resulting sales? 0. I have no clue how to build an email series that nets me more money than my AWeber account costs per month.
3. Sales Funnel
I get the general concept of a sales funnel, but have no idea how to build my website/email campaign so that I start off selling a low-price item but then lead into more expensive back-end sales.
So I guess in short, I don’t have just one question. What I need is some kind of a soup-to-nuts course, similar to Perry Marshall’s Bobsled Run, but more for beginners because I know his course is aimed at people that already have a business that makes at least a few thousand a month.
I realize this is more than you could put in a freebie teleseminar, but maybe just point us in the first direction of the best resources for these things.
Also, I do have a single question for Glenn:
With your 17 eBooks, did you research and write each one yourself, or did you hire someone to do it? If the latter, what is the best resource for this and do you have any advice/sample contracts, etc. for working with a freelance writer?
Susie … thanks for your questions. I think you’re missing the forest for the trees. The initial question to ask yourself is, are you selling something people really want? If so, do you have a unique selling proposition, researched and communicated in their language? Of course, we’ll review many aspects of landing pages, email campaigns, and sales funnels … but remember, you don’t build the attic before you select the right location for your house and lay a very solid foundation.
I do have a course which takes people from the start, though it’s not a coaching run per se’ … have a look at Hyper Responsive Marketing Secrets please.
Last … for most of my projects I did indeed HIRE writers, interviewers, and experts to do the audios/CDs. Notwithstanding the above I put in a LOT of time editing and ensuring everything was consistent with the research I had done. Again, understanding the market has always been the foundation for me … it’s very easy to get lost in technology, and looking for “rules of thumb” in forums … but nothing replaces really knowing what your customer smells like. (I hope that makes sense)
For e-commerce sites, the products should usually be paramount … but you can put link and abstracts to several articles on the home page, and all the landing pages UNDERNEATH the product categories and SKUs (pictures with links please). This way your browsers immediate “get” that they can buy, but see there’s an “informative sales person” right there in the “store” with them. (Think of how you’d want to treat them in a real retail store … the merchandise draws them in, but a helpful person is there with tons of extremely relevant “just for me” information as soon as they want one)
Brendan – it’s an 80/20 application. Make a list of all your parts in one column of a spreadsheet. The next column includes the sum total of relevant search volume. The last one is your approximate profit margin when you make a sale. Multiply B x C. Sort by the product in descending order. The overwhelming odds are you’ll find 20% of your parts have 80% of the profit potential. Take it a step further and you’ll see 5% probably accounts for HALF. Focus on those, then expand in prioritized order. G
No one ever seems to discuss using the position preference option in Google AdWords. I use it all the time and set it between 1-9 so that if my bid is too low I will not waste getting an impression on the second or third page. What is your opinion of the position preference option? Thank you.
My short answer is to install Analytics on your site and be sure you’re tracking conversions. When you do so, you can run a specific report on the Analytics side to see which positions are most valuable and which are wasting money for YOU. This is a situation where there really is not a rule of thumb, it varies greatly from market to market, and from marketer to marketer within any one of them.
Hi Glenn,
1- If you lost ot all and needed to start from scratch with $200 in your pocket what would you do and why.
2-I\\\’ll know how to start the right way an IM without all the information overload and commit to it until i achieve success.
As you write content to help your site become more authoratitive, how can you make sure the webpages with meaty content rank higher than your site map. Yahoo seems especially bad about sending people to our site map (where the title of a relevant article appears) rather than sending them to the article itself. We have title tags and meta tags and you would expect the article to rank very highly, but the site map just beats it out. I expected that to change as Yahoo found the articles, and it did change for about a month, but yahoo is back to sending them to the site map.
Glen,
Thank you for this opportunity. My first question is…I look at some of your sites and those of guys like Perry Marshall, terry Dean etc…and I read everywhere that links are crucial to organic linking…so why is that on the surface, some of those guru website seems to me to have no linking strategies? Is there a linking strategy in the background that I don’t know about?
My second questions is about research and targeted customers. My company develops character education products. My next line of products is targeted at kids,(7 to 12 years old) no longer at teachers or parents . I have started implementing your marketing research strategy on several fronts (teachers, parents..etc) and those targets are bringing expected results. However where I am a bit puzzle…How does one implement an overall research/ web sales strategy when the targeted audience (kids) is not the buyer? I guess kids, in most case won’t sit down and take a survey…(however no problem setting up focus group-Free Pizza and Pop does miracle!). In the end the parents are going to buy…but the kids are the one who will be pulling on the parents pant’s leg to get these products. I would appreciate your guidance in this regards, I’m somewhat confuse on how I go about this one.
Hi,
My question is about subdomains and SEO. I can’t be the first to have thought of this, so this probably won’t work but…..
So my URL is: landfx.com (we sell landscape architecture software)
And I want to sell a related product: irrigation design software, but all the good irrigation URLs are taken.
Could I make a subdomain on my site: IrrigationSoftware.landfx.com?
Would Google take more notice?
In the bigger picture, could I use this technique to optimize for many different, unrelated SEO terms?
Thanks, Patrick
Hey Jean-Yves,
I think I might have an answer for you. Glenn might set me straight, since I’ve never done a focus group, but here’s how I’d do it.
Hold a focus group with pizza and soda pop. Set up some computer stations with your 2 or 3 versions of website (including the kid-related pages). Then, video record each child as they search for the product they want.
Be sure to record the whole browsing session for each kid. A post I got from Perry Marshall once makes me think you’ll be very surprised by how differently (and randomly) they click on things compared to adults. I bet you’ll find you need a web site where all the pages connect (no dead ends), but they always lead back to the product pages. So your whole website will have a “circular” feel to it.
Tell each kid, when they find what they want, they can play with it, if they answer 5 questions first (or whatever # of questions you have). Now you ask your survey questions.
Then, tell them they can have the product they picked, if they can convince their parents to buy it. The point here is not to sell the product, but to listen to the conversation the child has with the parent as they beg for their toy. What makes the parents say no? What makes them say yes? What change the initial no to a yes? (I’m laughing as I write this, imagining the kids using their best persuasion tactics to convince their parents….) This might be a good opportunity to test different price points.
What a fascinating subject…. You’ve got my mind turning now!
Dear Glenn:
(Sorry for the outrageous, dumb name mistake.)
We thank you for the superb information and compelling data you have been offering gratis.
Instead of being labeled an affiliate of this particular company, we are planning to get permission from them to market their material products under our name and address in a nonprofit website we will set up for good cause. Please let us know if this is a good idea and if there are complicated mechanics involved.
Thank you again.
N.B. Only orders will be placed through us. The producer will do everything else.
Dear Dr. Livingston,
In April you were kind enough to offer to answer any quention. On 15 April at 6:01 i send you one. After answering some immediately you stopped and when i sent you a folow up you said all would be answered within 8 weeks in the emails you send to your list. I think that I have read all studiously and have not found the answer to my question. If you would be so kind as to direct me to it I will go back and read it. I save all your emails.
Most Sincerely,
David Epstein