Category — Web Marketing

The other day, Rob (at Robs web tips) asked which is more important: 3,000 blog subscribers with a 10% open rate? Or 300 active subscribers who all click on your emails?

Is it more important to have high numbers? Or people who are really interested in what you’re saying?

A Little Secret

Internet marketing is really direct marketing. It’s just sped up really fast (and with less paper). When all we had was snail mail, we had a general sense of deliverability (how many letters reached their destination), based on whether any of them came back with wrong addresses.

There was no way to tell who looked at the envelope, who opened it, or who read the letter. All we had to go on to tell if the mailing was a success was the number of orders we got.

The Marketing Numbers That Matter

What really matters is not the raw numbers of subscribers, but the percentage of people who are actively interested in what you’re saying: the opens, the click through rate, and if you’re selling something, the conversion rate (percentage of sales you get).

Monitor your open rates and clicks. If they’re low, find out why.

Are you covering topics of interest to your readers? Set up a quick poll (with surveymonkey) and find out.

Do your subject lines and headlines need work?

If you’re selling something, look at the copy. Is it focused on you, or what your readers will get?

Which numbers have you been tracking on your blog or newsletter? Which ones do you think are important? Not sure? Ask in the comments.

UPDATE:  For another take on this, check out Bob Poole’s post: Wrong

Photo compliments of: lrargerich

In case you don’t know, a landing page is a special web page designed to sell something. It could be a free “sale” (such as an e-newsletter), or a paid sale (an eb0ok or an audio program, or even a physical product).

Here are ten key things that can mess up your landing page (and how to fix them).

1. Lots of other content

I just looked at a landing page with links to sub-topics. blog archives, top posts, and a store. It also featured ads for other products, some of them animated. It was confusing and distracting.

I host mine off my web site (instead of my blog), so that the navigation and distractions are minimized. You can also get a domain specifically for the landing page.

2. Sharing

Sharing is great, but it’s not your first priority for a landing page. You want people to take a specific action (buy something, or sign-up). Don’t distract them with Twitter links.

3. RSS feed (blog subscription)

Sure you want more subscribers to your blog, but this isn’t the place for it. You want to zero in on one thing – getting more people to download your book and subscribe to your newsletter.

4. What’s in it for me?

There was a short blurb about the source of the content in the book, but very little about what that content actually was. Tell readers why they will want to read what you wrote. What will they get from it?

5. Dull title

Calling your book “Dinner menus” won’t attract much interest. Instead call it “Dinner in 30 Minutes.” The title should attract attention, arouse curiosity, and encourage readers to want to learn more.

6. Too vague

Share some hints about what’s inside. Continuing with the cooking theme (I must be hungry), list some of the recipes: Chicken in Basil Cream, Almond-Coated Trout with Sage, Linguini with Pesto Sauce. Be as specific as possible (without giving everything away).

7. No authority

Be clear about your credentials to discuss and advise on the topic. In this case, it might be parent of three children, or testimonials from previous subscribers about your great recipes.

8. Ads for other products

A banner ad for car insurance won’t help you get cooking newsletter subscribers. Neither will your twitter stream or recent blog comments. Keep those things for your normal blog pages (not landing pages).

9. No clear audience

Who is this for? The likely audience for our hypothetical cooking ebook is busy moms. Talk in terms that will appeal to them.

10. No benefits

Tell them why they need this book. “Get dinner on the table fast. Delicious, quick meals your kids will actually eat. And, they’re so good, you’ll love them too. No more making separate dinners for each member of the family.”

Image thanks to: abcdz2000

Someone in a forum recently said, “Why have a guestbook [comments] at all? If a visitor really wants to say something, they can just email you.”

Well, why should you have comments anyway?

Guestbooks or comment threads are a way to interact with people. Have a conversation.

Face it, a monologue can get pretty dull.

Comments let your readers ask questions, share ideas, experiences, or tips on how to make something work better. When your readers ask questions, answer them. Do a little research if you have to. Be helpful.

Leaving comments is also a good way to get recognized. I see people commenting on other blogs that I read, and I feel I “know” them. Oh yeah, there’s Michael Martine, or Dave Navarro. Then, I often go read their blogs. So, insights for me, traffic for them (plus more insights for me). Good deal.

What do you think? Are comments worth it? What prompts you to leave one?

(Tell me in the comments).

Bonus points if you know where the title of this post came from. No fair using Google.

Photo thanks to: alvaspappa

I recently read a memoir (Come on Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All, by Christina Thompson).

In the book, one of the author’s professors complained that she’d failed to say anything new about “‘the intertextual process of establishment of authority via discourses of experience or empirical observation.”

She was also guilty of “presenting empiricism ‘as a form of simplicity,’ rather than as ” ‘a metaphysically complex mode of representation.”

Apparently, this means that she’d taken the words of the writers she was studying at face value, rather than critically. It makes my head hurt.

Take Microsoft’s web site (please)

It says, “Introducing WIndows 7.  Your PC, Simplified.”

Is it?  I can barely read the text on the windows home page because it’s got white type on a background that shades from dark green (OK) on the left to yellowish-green on the right.  The type on the right is illegible.

Then, there’s a box that says compare versions (there are three). Click on that and  you get to a box that lets you compare Windows 7 to XP and 2000.  Not what I thought I was getting.  I expected to see the different versions of Windows 7.  Had to click another tab to see that.

Apple’s site is different

Apple’s web site says, “…Snow Leopard makes your Mac faster, more reliable, and easier to use.”

There are large images, and lots of white space.

It’s easy to read.  Easy to find what you want.

Yes, the technical stuff is there, but it’s presented in a way that’s easy to understand, even if you’re not a geek.

Educating your clients

Take a look at your marketing materials and your emails to your clients.  Are they full of  technical terms like CSS, standards-compliant, and HTML 4.0?

Instead of dwelling on the technical stuff, tell the client that the template they want isn’t good for search engines and will hurt his ranking on Google.

Skip the usability explanation and talk about how making his site easier to use will improve sales (confused or frustrated prospects will leave without buying anything). 

If people can’t read the text, they won’t know what the client offers.  If they can’t find products, they will be unable to buy them.

That’s language any business person can understand.

Image compliments oftowodo

1.  Never explain you you’re doing

You’re a professional.  Doctors don’t explain, why should you.  The client doesn’t need to know why you’re charging, or what your process is, just that you’re doing it.

2.  Don’t put a blogroll on your blog

It takes up too much of your valuable real estate.  Why, you could put more ads there instead.

3.  Hire other people to write all your posts

Your own voice, views, and opinions don’t matter.  Besides everything that you could say has already been said.

4. Replying to comments is a waste of time

Interacting makes you seem approachable (who wants that)?

5.  Use lots of fancy words on your web site and your brochures

Write desiccated instead of dry and obstreperous rather than disruptive.  Acronyms are good too.  Don’t spell them out and never explain what they mean; they’ll show your prospects how smart you are.

6.  Freebies are for sissies

Don’t give anything away or do anything for free (ever).  It will just cut into your profits.

7.  Make your products appeal to everybody

The more average you are, the more money you’ll make.

8.  Advertise to everyone

Your products and services are great.  Everyone will want them.

9.  Ignore emails from your contact form or ebooks

If they really want to reach you, they’ll call.

10.  Do everything for free

Eating is overrated.  So is sleeping indoors.

11.  Never share your ideas

Don’t even tell your partners or your vendors.  Someone might steal them.

12.  Turn off all your social networking tools

Disable Add This, Bookmark, Twitter, and Facebook, on your blog, LinkedIn and web site.  Don’t let anyone share until you have a private forum or something to sell.

13.  Include a 5-page legal policy on your site

Require written permission before anyone can link to you.*

*I am not making these up. They’re real. Even the last one.

Image compliments of Ben Earwicker