36 landing page management secrets for post-click marketing
Repost: Original article by: www.ioninteractive.com

Most articles on landing pages talk about tactics for individual pages, such as tips for page layout or best practices for content. Those are useful lessons, to be sure, but as organizations scale up the number of distinct landing pages and post-click marketing initiatives they’re running, they encounter a different set of challenges.

These are landing page management issues.

Although few people discuss these issues, I can say, after many years of consulting in this industry, that these are ultimately the hurdles that prevent most companies from achieving best-in-class post-click marketing. Or, turning that around, efficient post-click marketing management is an untapped, strategic opportunity for competitive advantage.

With that in mind, I put together a report on enterprise post-click marketing that focuses exclusively on structures and methods to efficiently grow landing page management. It discusses people, processes, scaling mechanisms, and risk management in a collection of 36 recommendations:

1. Build post-click recognition: bring all the stakeholders and participants together.
2. Officially assign responsibility for post-click marketing to someone.
3. Agree on post-click performance metrics and connect them to the online marketing ROI funnel.
4. A pilot program is a splendid way to introduce post-click concepts and processes.
5. Determine an overarching post-click marketing strategy that people can navigate by.
6. Establish a way to coordinate continuity between pre-click ads and post-click experiences.
7. Harness the very best creative talent you can — post-click is a creative channel.
8. Communicate regular post-click updates and feedback with the whole online marketing team.
9. Invest in education and plug into the global online marketing community.
10. Establish a central repository for all landing pages and their components.
11. Provide a standardized mechanism to “preview” and “proof” landing experiences.
12. Minimize IT dependency for daily landing page production and management.
13. Create a set of design templates for landing pages that adhere to your brand standards.
14. Maintain pre-approved content elements that can be reused across multiple landing pages.
15. Standardize data collection and form handling.
16. Don’t fragment your respondent data by turning your landing page environment into a data silo.
17. Interface consistently with enterprise-wide web analytics.
18. Favor A/B testing over multivariate testing (MVT) for the power of simplicity.
19. Handle special-case rules in a standardized manner.
20. Organize your post-click marketing initiatives into campaigns and portfolios.
21. Recycle and test good ideas from one landing page in other contexts.
22. Consider software-as-a-service (SaaS) for your landing page environment to grow smoothly.
23. Rig your landing pages to automatically expire when their content is outdated.
24. Have A/B tests automatically remove underperforming alternatives once statistical significance has been reached.
25. Take notes on your experiments, briefly documenting hypotheses and conclusions.
26. Promote the development of reusable/parameterized widgets and Flash objects.
27. Install post-click marketing dashboards to continually “scan the horizon”.
28. Grow the different stages of your online marketing funnel in proportion to each other.
29. Support international landing pages properly in your environment.
30. Leverage a portfolio strategy: more experiments = more opportunities to find gold.
31. Learn from your shared, centralized campaign history.
32. Use disproportionate traffic allocation for champion/challenger tests.
33. Mitigate unsuccessful tactical ideas by always representing the brand well.
34. Celebrate wins and share the credit — remember, post-click marketing doesn’t exist in a vacuum.
35. Review your ROI, even beyond the scope of your official post-click performance metrics.
36. Finally, don’t rest on your laurels — online marketing is a highly dynamic environment.

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16 Tips to Finding and Using Mailing Lists Successfully
Repost: Original article by: www.bethesda-list.com

1. Do the Math – Plan your mail marketing campaign as an accountant would. Start by figuring out how much income and unit sales the project must generate to break even. Remember, it’s money that matters first; percentage response rate comes second. In other words, your campaign might actually be a big money maker, even if it has a low percentage response rate.

2. Always Key Code, Record and Analyze Results – Assign a key code to each list, record and analyze the responses for each code. You’ll see which files are working better than others. Do this on every mailing. When email marketing, use coded links to a special order page in your web site. Many mailers do the key coding but neglect to record and/or analyze, so they never learn what works and what doesn’t.

3. Test Everything Else, Too – Copy, package design, offer, pricing and timing are key elements that can also affect a direct mail campaign. Key code, record and analyze results of each change in your mailings.

4. Be A Smart List Buyer – Keep in mind a few things when you’re ordering lists:

- One time use – Lists are for one time use only. The names are the property of the list owner. However, mailers do own the names of those individuals who respond to their promotion.

- Be flexible – Direct mail lists offer many options; however, all the bells and whistles may not be available on every list.

- Samples – List Owner Links usually require a sample; even if it’s just a rough sample of what you plan to send.

- Time – Many lists can be shipped in 24 hours. Others may take a week or more.

- Minimums – Most List Owner Links require a minimum order of 5,000 names.

- Prepayment – Most list suppliers require prepayment from first time customers.

5. Build Your Own Mailing List – Your customers, trade show leads, other prospects, inquirers and former buyers are the feedstock for your own comprehensive and direct marketing list. Be sure to include opt-in email addresses. Many BLC list customers have also asked us to market their organizations’ mailing lists. Got an up to date list of 10,000 or more names? Ask us about marketing your file for additional income.

6. Focus on Your Audience – Your selling message should address the specific needs and interests of your audience. A good list professional will be specific too. With the details you give them, they will recommend lists that home in on your best customer prospects.

7. Types of Lists:

- Direct Mail (Snail Mail) – For use in direct mail marketing programs conducted by the marketer. Many of these lists are also available with telephone numbers at additional fees for telemarketing programs.

- Email – For use in email marketing programs. Reputable and effective email lists use only opt in names. Email list owners nearly always do the mailing for the marketer.

8. List Sources – Keep in mind a few terms when considering lists:

- Association – Professional or trade association membership buyers. Many of these individuals also purchase other offerings from their organizations.

- Subscriber – Magazine or continuity subscription buyers. Sometimes offered along with names of expired subscribers at a lower price.

- Buyer – Proven buyers of a list owner’s product or service. Often offered with a “hot list” or “recent buyers” subfile at an upcharge.

- Compiled – Names of prospective buyers compiled by a third party. While not usually considered as productive as association, subscriber or buyer lists, compiled files can be effective.

9. How Lists are Priced – Direct mail lists most often have a base price per thousand names, expressed “/M”. Options to select geographic areas, job titles, industries, or to add key coding and the like are additives also priced by the thousand names. Shipping and handling charges are charged by the order.

10. How Mailing Lists Are Supplied – Today, most mailing lists are sent via email. However, they can also be provided on floppy, CD, Cheshire and pressure sensitive label stock.

11. Get Your Envelope Opened – A live stamp, instead of pre-printed indicia or meter mark, short teaser copy and name and address printed directly on a closed face envelope will go a long way toward keeping your mailing from landing in the trash unopened.

12. Use Color in Your Letter Effectively – Try a blue signature and sparing color use elsewhere to emphasize your most important points.

13. Give all the Product Details in Direct Mail – Give your reader everything he/she needs to make a decision. Features, functions and benefits… the more the better.

14. Be Extra Brief in email – You have just fractions of a second. Be quick and tempting. Use the subject line as your teaser copy. Link to your home page in several places.

15. & 16. Work with a List Professional – (This tip has two numbers because it’s so important.) Use a list pro with years of experience, hundreds of regular customers and a solid reputation throughout the business. They should have access to the best lists and work with sources around the world. List professionals can help you find promising new names that you never knew existed, and they’ll steer you away from those files you ought to avoid. A list pro will also coordinate the time-consuming list acquisition process (ordering, tracking, shipping, billing, etc.) at no additional charge to you.

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Insider’s Guide to A/B Testing
Repost: Original article by: www.mailinglistsworldwide.com

What is A/B Testing?

When deploying a new email campaign, you have two choices, one where every recipient receives the same message or an A/B campaign also known as split testing. Below is an explanation on A/B testing and why it may make sense for you to take advantage of this idea with your
next mailing campaign.

Using the A/B testing method is a way to be able to see which of two different messages results in being most effective when it comes to customer response. This insight will be very helpful with future offers and making sure your mailing campaigns are getting you the most return for your investment.

What should you A/B Test?

You always want to be getting the best results (open and clicks) with your email campaigns and customer response with mail campaigns. A/B testing allows for a variance so that you can measure what is working best. The following items are typically what are varied between message A and message B:

- The call to action – wording, method, size, color and placement
- Subject line
- Headline
- Teaser copy
- Product or service description
- Layout and style of the mailer
- Product pricing and promotional offers (discounts, free shipping, etc.)
- Amount of text on page (short vs. long)

These are only a start. Anything you can think of that is of importance can be tested. Bethesda Emedia Marketing believes you will find the resulting data very important for your future business marketing campaigns.

The 40/40/20 rule of direct mail

Bethesda Emedia Marketing wants you always to remember the 40/40/20 rule. This is simply that 40% of the campaign result is based on the quality of the list you are using, 40% is dependent upon the perceived value of your offer or promotion and 20% relies on how well your layout, copy and production are put together.

Since the 40/40/20 rule is so important to remember, not all tests will produce the same level of results. You will most likely have to conduct quite a few rounds of A/B testing simultaneously during a single campaign to see a clear pattern forming. Once this pattern is analyzed, then you will see what version within the campaign bought the most bang for your buck.

A/B testing is the simplest and least expensive way to determine your best approach during a direct mail or email campaign. A specialist on email marketing concluded “A/B testing is not rocket science, and it’s easy to put into place…A/B tests provide statistically significant results.”

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Social Media, B2B’s new best friend for sales
Repost: Original article by: www.mailinglistsworldwide.com

For decades in most all legal practices, accounting firms and surveying companies the sales team and the marketing team had little to no interaction. Sales professionals were busy constantly following up on leads and handling current clients. The marketing team was brainstorming and executing plans to draw in new prospects. Then comes along this new way of life, AKA Social Media. With this amazing tool we now see many companies able to easily and cohesively combine the efforts of their sales and marketing teams.

In 2010, Econsultantcy studied this very idea. The results of their research are below.

Six of the main strategic lessons Econsultancy learned:

Understand the sales and relationship development processes used by
the organization, teams and individuals before you attempt to see how
social media might support them.

Develop standard policies and procedures to ensure you protect against
inadvertent problems with client confidentiality, brand and reputation
management, disclosure of valuable know-how and the ownership of
critical contacts and network.

Assess which vertical markets externally and which professionals
internally are most enthusiastic about social media, and work with
your champions in a pilot project.

This allows you to bring the early adopters (and potential mavericks)
under the umbrella of the organization’s criteria for effective use.
Particularly cautious firms might explore social media by using an
internal tool such as Yammer for internal communications campaigns.

Look at existing marketing, sales and account plans and try to develop
some measures by which social media activity, when incorporated into
other traditional activities, can be assessed.

Provide introductory training on appropriate social media tools, which
may involve working alongside the professionals as they perform their
day job and delivering new layers of complexity in bite-sized pieces.

Monitor activity and results carefully, be patient, provide regular
support and encouragement, promote successes (however small or
anecdotal) and allow social media use to develop in line with
experience and update the best practice guidelines and systems
regularly.

Six of Econsultancy’s top operational tool tips were:

Using social media as a method to learn more about markets,
organizations and individuals. A targeted form of market listening in
order to gain insight into trends, needs and opportunities and map
client-side relationships.

Using location based social media—particularly those providing
information on different aspects of individual’s preferences, habits
and places frequented—to learn about and connect with different
members of the decision making unit.

Consider how to integrate social media contacts and connections with
traditional “centralized” databases, sales automation and CRM systems.

Ensure that corporate and personal brands (business and self profiles)
are aligned and that consistent key messages about specific strengths
and expertise are promoted through all channels.

Using the traditional networking advice of “Giver’s Gain” and using
social media to add value to every interaction with existing and
potential clients through a careful shared content strategy.

Use status updates, particularly on professional and business networks
such as LinkedIn, on a regular basis to ensure that you remain “on the
radar” of a large number of contacts with ease—and provide hooks to
prompt interaction.

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9 Tips for Integrating Social Media on Your Website
Repost: Original article by: www.socialmediaexaminer.com

Are you leveraging the power of social media on your site?

Together, social media channels and your website should work seamlessly to promote your online brand.

However, if you’re like most businesses, you’re probably missing out on potential interactions, impressions and ultimately sales.

In this article, I’ll dive into a quick how-to guide to ensure your business website and social media platforms are working together to maximize your online exposure.

I’ve included examples from small- to medium-sized businesses that specialize in a whole host of fields to illustrate that you don’t have to be one of the big players to take advantage of these simple tips.

#1: Include Visible Social Media Buttons
This seems like a no-brainer, but double-check. Best practices suggest that social media buttons be displayed on the top, bottom or along the side of your home page. Links or buttons that remain in your navigation as the user moves from page to page are optimal.

To ensure that users don’t exit your web page altogether, you may want to create the buttons or links so that they open your social media pages in new windows.

Also, do not feel obligated to link out to all social media channels you’ve created or dabbled in. If you’re fonder of Twitter and have completely abandoned your Facebook page, there’s no reason to link to any outlet that is not being actively managed. In fact, linking out to inactive channels can ultimately cause more harm than good.

There are several ways in which to display your buttons or links and none of them are wrong. In this case, it is more of a design preference focused on how the user will be interacting with the site.

Below are some examples of ways in which websites have successfully displayed their social media outlet(s).

This eCommerce site specializing in alternatives to dog and horse supplements only links out to Facebook and chooses to do so in a big and bold manner.

This farm credit services business subtly displays their social media buttons at the bottom of their page.

This artist decides to feature his along the top.

#2: Integrate Social Where it Makes Sense
If you use social media to keep your customers or clients apprised of your recent happenings and are actively managing your outlets on a daily or bi-weekly basis, it might be wise to showcase your Twitter feed or Facebook posts directly on your website.

Linking out or displaying inactive social media channels will only cripple your online efforts. If you choose to go this route, it is important that you maintain your presence.

Below are two examples of how vastly different businesses (a web design firm and an online gift card site) have integrated their social media feeds into their websites.

These businesses vary significantly in what they do and the way they make use of social media, but both have found a logical method of incorporating social media into their sites.

#3: Include Up-to-Date Buttons
Social media changes fast—dare we say in real time? So if you added your buttons a year ago, they are probably palling around with the dinosaurs. Facebook fans morphed into Likes, group pages died, +1 is spanking new and LinkedIn improved significantly. Do research to find the most current social media terminology so you don’t get caught mumbling about “The Facebook” and “The Twitter.”

In order to maintain credibility within this ever-changing realm, it is important to stay with the times. However, staying up to date with your terminology does not mean that you need to jump on every platform that springs up. It is important to be tactful with your social media choices and do your research before blindly forging into unknown territory.

#4: Include Share Buttons
If you sell a product or run a full-fledged eCommerce site and you haven’t added share buttons to your product pages, you are missing out on a whole host of potential social impressions.

Share buttons should enable website-goers to seamlessly share or recommend a product.

If you find yourself hard up for a broad solution for this, check out AddThis or ShareThis. Both provide efficient and easy-to-use solutions for social media sharing across eCommerce sites with the added benefit of analytics to see how the content is getting shared.

As illustrated below, these buttons are easy to see.

Similar to eCommerce sites, if you have resources, articles, a blog or other valuable content on your site, you should attempt to make it as simple as possible for readers to share it with others. Social media share buttons should be displayed somewhere easy to see. Nicholas Creative does a decent job with this, as seen on their blog below.

#5: Use Analytics
Pay attention to the way in which individuals are using your social media buttons by tapping into Google Analytics. How many people are actually clicking on your outbound social media links?

An easy way to explore this is by setting up Event Tracking in Google Analytics. If you’re unfamiliar with Event Tracking, Google provides a step-by-step guide on how to incorporate the correct codes into your site.

If you find that few individuals explore your social media outlets once landing on your page, perhaps your social media buttons aren’t in a convenient location. It’s always best to have actual numbers to back up your choices.

#6: Pay Attention to Terms and Conditions

This goes hand in hand with staying up to date and knowledgeable, but I continue to see major brands using social media in ways that violate platforms’ terms and conditions.

You cannot use Google+ for contest entries, a personal Facebook page shouldn’t be used to operate a brand and there are certain rules to adhere to when running a promotion on Facebook.

The way you use social media reflects on your website, as well as your brand as a whole. If you’ve accidentally violated some terms and conditions in the past, delete those pages and do not link out to them even in the interim.

#7: Don’t Over-Do It

You want to make sure that compelling information is easily shareable, but littering social media share buttons all over your webpage isn’t the way to go. Before adding share buttons to a page, ask yourself, “Is there information here that people would find worth sharing?”

If you find yourself on your “About Us” page and don’t see any added value to website-goers being able to share your administrative assistant’s contact information, then forgoing buttons in this instance is totally acceptable.

#8: Stay Knowledgeable

Don’t get it twisted. With the changing social media landscape and array of rollouts these days, it is easy to confuse social media features. Keep in mind:

You won’t be directing individuals to your Facebook page by installing a Facebook “Like” button on a specific website page. Instead, you are allowing individuals to “Like”/share the information, content or product that is found on that specific website page. There is no correlation between Liking a specific website page and directing users to “Like” your branded Facebook page.
Similarly, directing individuals to your Google+ brand page is different than adding a +1 button to a page. At this time, there is no correlation between the two.

As illustrated below on this pool supplies website, social media pages and social media share buttons can be found on the same page. Verbs such as “Tweet” and “Share” often help distinguish between share buttons and social media pages.

#9: Use Social Media Insights Alongside Google Analytics
Many types of software allow you to see your social media insights alongside your web analytics in order to pick up on trends and to better understand the successes or failures of campaigns.

SproutSocial allows users to compare web analytics and social media reporting information from specific timeframes side by side. Being able to see the way in which your social media and website analytics relate proves useful in establishing goals, measuring successes and identifying areas in which you can improve.

There you have it—a quick-and-dirty guide on immediate steps you can take to make your social media and business website play nice.

Do you have any tips or things to avoid at all costs? Leave your questions and comments in the box below.

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5 Content Marketing Ideas Worth Stealing
Repost: Original article by: www.jeffbullas.com

Marketing in the past often consisted of one off campaigns that didn’t build a relationship with your customer or prospect.

It was about the “deal” …closing the sale. It was sometimes called “Hit and Run” marketing.

Content Marketing is about creating compelling, contagious content and sharing it freely on social networks and blogs.

It is about building a relationship with your prospects and customers that builds credibility and trust that turns prospects into buyers and customers into high value repeat buyers.

The initial goal is to obtain the buyers permission to receive that content whether it is a subscription via an opt-in email or a Facebook social opt-in ” like” that delivers information into the Facebook news and “Timeline” stream.

Creating content is time consuming and a creative challenge.

8 Content Marketing Challenges

These are the challenges among many.

1. Finding inspiration and ideas for the content
2. Creating it
3. Making it relevant
4. Resourcing it
5. Managing it
6. Monitoring it
7. Measuring it
8. Making it “Liquid” and Contagious

Sometimes you need some inspiration and you need to try some new ideas and different media that may provide a nudge to try something different and creative outside your comfort zone.

As Steve Jobs says “Stay Foolish”

The Power of Multi-Media

Many of us still don’t think about alternative media to text and articles because online video is still in its infancy. YouTube has only been with us for 7 years and in the world of business and brand marketing this is only a “blip”.

We need to “switch on” our multimedia mind and consider other media rather than just words to get our message out to the world that wants and demands multi-media.

Images and photos are much more likely to be shared than an article or a white paper. Videos or infographics will be shared at high velocity compared the the humble “written word” that have been with us for millenia.

Idea 1: Include Images and Photos

There has been a significant evolutionary shift on the social web in the last 12 months as marketers and social media network startups have realised the growing power of visual content.

By the end of 2011 the number of photos being uploaded to Facebook had reached 250 million a day.

This number hasn’t gone unnoticed and has led to 3 key and noticeable events and changes.

1. The “Success” of Pinterest
2. Google+ being launched with the user interface designed to display photos, and images in high defintion and in a large format.
3. Facebook responding with the Facebook “Timeline” designed to give images and photos greater prominence. In fact you can now “feature” an image in a bigger size. Expect this change to be migrated to Brand “pages” in the next 6 months.

Photos and images drive high engagement on Facebook and if I look at my top ranked content on my Facebook page and measuring the virality index using the Facebook “Insights” tool, the top 10 are all images or photos.

Some are cartoons that are relevant and congruent with my other content (written or visual) and with questions are used to drive conversations, stimulate and create stories. There are photos that may reveal the human side.

The marketer needs to embrace this and work out ways they can use images and photos in their social media and content marketing that

1. Increase Facebook “likes”
2. Inspire comments
3. Drive sharing

Also don’t forget to just have some fun!

Fashion Brands such as Threadless use images in clever ways to survey customers on their Facebook page that ensure that the garments they produce will be successful driven by the crowd sourced voting through “likes”. The garment with the most likes is the one that is manufactured!

The indirect benefit of increased engagement on Facebook with likes and comments is that it increases your Facebook EdgeRank with your fans and so improves the flow of your “Page” updates into their Timeline.

Idea 2: Create a Contagious Online Video

One good example of a contagious video content is Dynamite Surfing created in 2007. It contained all the 4 main elements that were needed for it to become contagious and viral

According to Brent Coker a marketing professor the four key elements required for a video to go viral are:

1. Congruency – The themes of a video must be congruent with people’s pre-existing knowledge of the brand it is advertising.
2. Emotive strength – Creating strong emotions is essential if you want to ensure you are giving your video the best chance of becoming viral and the more extreme the emotions, the better.
3. Network involvement – Videos must be relevant to a large network of people and the larger the better, some examples of large networks are college students or office workers.
4. “Paired meme synergy” – These memes can be elements such as “Voyeur” or “Unexpectedness” that were contributing factors in the success of the “Dynamite Surfing” video

The Dynamite surfing video tapped into all 4 key elements.

So how can you harness these elements to assist in giving your video the best chance of becoming viral?

Idea 3: Design a “Shareable” Video Graphic

Eric Qualmann is well known for his social media revolution video graphics which like “infographics” take numbers, facts and figures and make it entertaining and easy viewing via a video format. These concepts can be applied to many industry sectors.

Idea 4: Use the Hottest Trend in Content – Infographics!

Infographics has emerged in the last 12 months as one of the most popular and shareable forms of social content.

What are infographics?

“Infographics are visual representations of information, data or knowledge that present complex information quickly and clearly”

The internet and social web are a firehose of information and Infographics is one of the appealing and efficient ways of sharing it.

What are the major types of Infographics and applications?

Statistics
Concepts
Business models and processes
Cartoons
Information
Timelines

What sort of Infographic could you create that would be shareable in your industry?

Idea 5: Create a Well Structured Blog Post or eBook

Creating a blog post, article, whitepaper or eBook is a vital part of your content marketing strategy and for B2B companies is the foundational element.

Giving it the best chance that it will be shared and talked about is the biggest challenge.

What are some of the basics that need to be considered when creating text content?

Awesome headlines – This is needed to “Tempt and Tease” the person to click on the link and read your “Tweet” or find out more about your Facebook update!

Great writing – Be a story teller, find your voice

Good Structure – Sub Titles, bullet Points and reasonable readable fonts

Educational – How To’s

Informative – News, Facts and Figures

Visual – Include images in your articles and posts as well as infographics, photos or even cartoons from time to time

Here are 4 great blogs that provide examples of good articles writing but have different styles and strategies but are all effective

1. Social Media Examiner
2. Copyblogger Blog
3. Hubspot Blog
4. Zen Habits

What About You?

How do you use images or photos in your content and social media marketing? What do you find works for you in your content marketing.

What could you do better?


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8 test ideas to help you increase conversion across your site
Repost: Original article by: www.marketingexperiments.com

Sometimes great products can be hard to sell on a website. The market is so saturated with mediocre goods and services that when a truly great one comes along, the same old marketing tactics simply don’t work anymore. Excellent products need excellent websites to communicate their full potential.

And that’s the main problem with this website submitted for live optimization by the makers of the Npower PEG on a past Web clinic.

The product is essentially a battery you can hook to almost any device. But the fun part is that it charges with the kinetic energy you produce while you go about your daily life.

I personally found it fascinating. And I want one.

Unfortunately, (as the owners of the site probably know) the website doesn’t effectively communicate the prodigiousness of the product.

Perhaps you’re in the same boat as the Npower PEG. Maybe you’ve got a great product but you feel like your website doesn’t live up to it. Don’t tune this post out because it’s about someone else’s company.

To help you, I talked to Adam Lapp, Associate Director of Optimization and Strategy, MECLABS, about Npower’s website. From his years of optimization experience, you can hopefully glean some wisdom for your own site.

There are eight main test ideas that Adam highlighted in our conversation about how to improve this website.

Test Idea #1: Make the homepage more like a landing page

One thing Adam noticed was that this entire site is for a single product. Because of that, you could potentially make the homepage a lot more like a landing page with most of the information they need to make a buying decision right there on the first page.

Generally, a homepage like the one they currently have is used to funnel different segments of the audience to the correct sections of a site so they can further engage with the products and services they need.

But it’s not needed here, because you have a single audience looking for a single product.

Transferrable Principle:

Determine the correct use of your homepage based on the number of audience segments and products/services you have. Many segments and products need a homepage that reflects a high number of offers. But single product homepages can generally be thought of as a landing page.

Test Idea #2: Make the entire site more like a micro-site

Another thing Adam mentioned along the lines of idea #1 was that the whole site might benefit from more of a micro-site look and feel.

“Don’t make a complex traditional website for the sake of making a complex traditional website,” Adam said. “You don’t have to have a big elaborate 10-20 page website with dropdown navigation. Keep it simple. Determine what your objective is and make it as simple as possible to accomplish that objective.”

One way to do this might be to create a navigation that is made up of four (or so) key benefits. So for instance, the links might be:

Compatibility
Battery Life
How it works
FAQ

No dropdowns needed. Just four key sections, four single clicks.

Transferrable Principle:

Sometimes you don’t need a website in a traditional sense. What you need is a way to effectively sell a product for the most profit. A website is just a means to an end. With that in mind, think of what your customer needs to know to make a decision and give it to them in the simplest and clearest way possible.

Test Idea #3: Communicate your credibility

Because of the novelty of the product, there might be some credibility issues in the visitor’s mind. Someone looking to purchase the product may be thinking about how reliable it is and what kind of track record it has.

To correct this, Adam proposed using the testimonials that are currently on the blog and moving them to a more appropriate place on the homepage to boost credibility. There is also the issue of who is giving you credit. It might also help to have some statements like, “Used by all the members of xyz hiking club in Portland, Oregon.”

Associations or organizations that use your products can be great credibility sources.

Transferrable Principle:

Consider whether your ideal customer is questioning your credibility (Hint: they almost always are). If so, cite reliable and well known sources who like or use your product.

Test Idea #4: Optimize your buying process

Currently, the funnel for the buying process appears a little over-complicated. The site asks visitors to reserve a Powerpeg, then wait for it to be manufactured, and then pay if they’re still interested by the time it’s done. But it seems like it would be a lot simpler to go ahead and get the payment up front.

Once that’s in place, Adam pointed out that he would “make it clear that they are made to order. Tell the visitor how long it will take to build it and have some specific money back guarantees to reduce anxiety.”

If the reason for reserving the product ahead of time instead of a purchase was to get leads, there may be alternate means of achieving that goal. For instance, you may try testing an offer like: “First-time customers sign up for our newsletter and you’ll receive a coupon code for 10% off your first order.”

That way if they don’t order the same day, they have a coupon code to come back and complete the order, and you have an email address.

You might even lead the checkout page with a coupon code link under the code box that says: “Don’t have a coupon code? Get yours here.” And collect the lead that way.

Transferrable Principle:

Friction in the buying process is one of the easiest things to reduce for large conversion rate lifts. Make your buying process as easy as possible and don’t ask for a lead when you should be asking for a sale.

Test Idea #5: Consider an up-sell

As Adam astutely observed in our conversation, an up-sell for this kind of consumer electronic product might also be a great idea. This is the kind of product that people might want two or three of for each member of the family. So depending on how many items people are currently buying per order, you may want to offer something like, “Buy two, get 10% off the second,” or “Buy 20, get one free.”

Transferrable Principle:

If your product is something people may want multiples of or you have auxiliary offers, test having an up-sell or cross-sell in your purchase process. You may be leaving money on the table because someone wanted to buy more, but you didn’t offer it at the right time.

Test Idea #6: Lead with a clear headline

One of the main problems with this page that Adam pointed out was the lack of overall clarity about what the product is and what it can do.

As Adam said, “I see this image of people hiking. Although there is a description of what this image means, and since its small text, I’ll probably overlook this headline. So you’re wasting about 200px of space here with an image that doesn’t really communicate where I’m at or the value of the product.”

To fix this, lead with a clear headline at the top of the page, rather than the middle, that clearly states the name of the product and the primary benefit. Your sub-headline could then state the different uses or some secondary benefit of the product.

Transferrable Principle:

The purpose of a headline is to drive the reader into the sub-headline or first paragraph. In doing that, it should help the viewer understand immediately that they are in the right place and they should stay on the page.

Test Idea #7: Use relevant imagery

Another problem Adam mentioned was the actual image used on the homepage.

“Instead of a picture of hikers, I’d use an image that more clearly communicates what the product is and how it works. The current image doesn’t connect the dots for me yet.”

One idea for a better image might be a diagram of how the product works. A video may also be a great idea here.

Transferrable Principle:

Images should be as relevant as possible to the offer on the page and should communicate the value of the product in a way that copy cannot.

Test Idea #8: Move the call-to-action into the eye-path

The right side of the page looks like ads … which wouldn’t be so bad if the primary call-to-action (CTA) wasn’t there. The last thing you want your website visitors to think is that your CTA is an ad.

To fix this, simply drag your call-to-action to the bottom of the page after the viewer has been guided through the value of the product.

Transferrable Principle:

As Flint McGlaughlin says in almost every Web clinic we’ve ever aired, keeping the CTA above the fold is like asking for a kiss before you’ve even had a conversation. What’s worse is putting the CTA among things that look like ads. Generally, a CTA should always be directly in the eye-path and after the visitor has been convinced of the value of the product.


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4 Reasons For B2B Marketers To Explore Pinterest
Repost: Original article by: www.socialmediab2b.com

Pinterest has made a big splash on the social media scene, by quickly earning passionate users who log multiple hours per day on the site. Pinterest saw a 4,000% increase in site traffic from June to December of last year, and many consumer-facing and female-centric brands are already using it well. While Nordstrom pins its latest shoes and fashions by boards organized by department, Whole Foods uses the site to pin kitchen design inspiration and recycling projects in addition to recipes using its foods.

But despite its reputation as a service for brides and decorators, only 58% of the visitors to the site are women. And just like its diversity in users, brands on Pinterest aren’t limited to department and grocery stores. News sites such as Mashable and Time Magazine are also using the site to spread cover art, articles and copy included in its news stories.

Pinterest still has a long way to go in terms of its search capabilities and smartphone and tablet apps, but there is value for B2B marketers to start exploring. Here are four reasons B2B should start to look into using Pinterest.

1. Pinterest’s Push Mentality
Pinterest may be one of the few social media sites that requires little, if any, interaction with others – and although that may seem counter-intuitive, it’s also one of its strengths. While Twitter and Facebook require constant upkeep to stay on top of fan and follower comments, questions and shares, brands are able to push out content on their own time without a brand page to constantly update. Just be sure to tag and categorize pins with keywords that make sense for searchers, and pin them to boards that are similarly well organized. Pinterest’s search abilities are lagging, so making pins easy to find is key.

2. SEO value of inbound links
This one is a no-brainer for marketers looking to drive traffic to their content. Pinterest’s major selling point for users is the way it connects images – whether they’re product shots, infographics, photographs or even websites – with a stored link, making it easy to come back to pins’ original sources in the future. These links are logged as inbound links to these respective websites, boosting SEO. When it comes to determining what is “pinnable” on your B2B website, consider helpful FAQs, blog posts, product images, infographics and videos.

3. Niche Value
As many popular social media sites shift from mass appeal to niche servicing, B2B companies are able to better hone in on the industries and people most important to them. Leverage Pinterest’s “pin what you know and love” mentality by creating industry-specific boards and using specific keyword searches to find like-minded pins, boards and users.

4. Expert Positioning
Not sure if your company’s products or services lend themselves to being pinned? Expand your reach beyond your own products and use Pinterest as a way to show your expertise and experience in your industry, location and relationships. Utilize Pinterest’s open boards, which allow multiple users to pin to one board, to collaborate with your B2B partners and clients. If an important tradeshow is coming up, start and share a Tradeshow Must-Haves board that pins comfortable shoes, hotel and restaurant recommendations, and handy smartphone apps that position your company as a trusted expert and friend.

What would it take for you to begin exploring Pinterest for your B2B company?

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10 Email Marketing Tips to Spruce up Your Welcome Messages in 2012
Repost: Original article by: www.emailinstitute.com

First impressions mean everything, so it’s imperative that you take the time to provide your new customers with a proper introduction to your brand.

Here are 10 things to make sure you include in your welcome message(s):

1. Welcome Tal! Don’t forget to personalize the subject line and the welcome copy. As a new subscriber, I just signed up to receive communications from your brand, so make sure you address me properly. Leveraging the information I provided to personalize the message demonstrates that you are listening and sets the stage for future communications.

2. Remind me how I signed up. People register for email (knowingly or unknowingly) at different sources (store, point of purchase, co-registration, etc.). As a result, I might not always remember what I did to start receiving communications from your brand. By personalizing the copy based on the registration source, you can provide me with a gentle reminder of where I signed up, which can eliminate any confusion that might cause me to hit the unsubscribe link.

3. Set frequency expectations. Will I receive one email a week or one a day? By confirming the frequency upfront, you can set my expectations properly. No one likes to be surprised, so be upfront with your intentions to avoid a spam complaint or lost subscriber. Better yet, give me the option to change the frequency to meet my needs.

4. Iteratively profile me. I may not have had time to give you all my information at point of registration. Now that I am part of your communications stream, encourage me to go back to the preference center and give more detailed information – and remind me why it’s valuable. Don’t be shy. With the right approach, you can make the relationship better for both parties.

5. Let me easily unsubscribe. If I didn’t realize…


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12 Tips for Selling to a Global Audience
Repost: Original article by: www.copyblogger.com

Time for a quick pop quiz …

What percentage of online shoppers are from the United States?
Better yet, what percentage of online shoppers speak English?

90%? 80%?

Surely at least 75%, right? Nope.

This might shock you, but according to J.P. Morgan — reporting for the Department of Commerce — only 27% of online shoppers speak English.

By neglecting to communicate with the rest of the non English-speaking world, you’re costing yourself a mountain of money.

In South Korea, 99 percent of individuals with internet access shop online.

97 percent of British, Germans, and Japanese are shopping online, too.

The United States can boast only 94 percent of internet users willing to shop online. Not a bad number, but certainly not as good as it gets.

Bottom line: it’s time to take your business global.

Yes, consumerism is global

Americans do spend the most money online.

They may shop with slightly less regularity than their British and Korean friends, but when Americans shop online, they do it in a splendid fashion.

But if you’re selling strictly to the old red, white and blue — regardless of where you’re located, you’re missing out on a huge percent of convertible traffic — especially if you haven’t maximized all of the markets in your own country.

The Swiss and the Koreans are ready to buy. Are you selling to them?

With huge purchases in everything from airline tickets to books, the global market is exploding every year and studies can’t seem to keep up with the growth.

You should be earning more if you have the cultural insight necessary to make the sale work. And that’s a big IF. You have to know how to make other cultures and groups buy what you’re selling.

Some of the biggest buyers of books on the internet are from developing countries — China, Brazil, Vietnam and Egypt — indicating massive growth potential for online retailers that can specifically target these fast-growing markets.
~ Jonathan Carson, President, International, Nielsen Online

If your content has worldwide relevance, it’s time to ditch your laser focus on a single country.

But how can you properly sell to, say, Brazil or China?

Specifically targeting foreign markets is more than finding a native Portuguese speaker to write up some brilliant Brazilian web copy. After all, how will you know if it’s actually brilliant copy or a bunch of keyword stuffed auto-translated garbage?

In all countries, there are intangible elements to cultures that can make or break a sale, and it’s your job to learn those elements, and make them work for you.

Here are some tips to help you get going on your international sales journey …

12 tips for selling effectively to a global audience

Looking beyond your borders? Proceed with caution!

Cultural differences can be subtle. It’s your job as a marketer to figure out the nuances and preferences of the culture you’re going for.

1. Do your research

Read as if you’re moving to the country you’re selling to.

The more you know about South Korean lifestyle, slang, favorites, celebrities, and cultural elements, the easier it will be to make your website a natural fit for the market.

2. Visit the land you’re marketing to

Nothing will help you like a trip to Brazil if you’re trying to sell to Brazilians. Spend a few weeks soaking up the sun and as much of the culture as possible. You might even end up moving to your target country for a period of time. That kind of freedom is one of the great things about owning an internet-based business, after all.

Consider it a reconnaissance mission to gain information on the target. Build up a team of local professionals, and if you have time, sample the night life. It can be one of the perks of business.

3. Learn what’s offensive

If your entire knowledge of U.S. culture came from Two and a Half Men and Howard Stern, you’d have a pretty shaky sense of what is and isn’t appropriate to say to customers.

Slang expressions can be as offensive as they are common. Stay with classy or at least moderately professional speech to stay above the fray.

4. Check out the competition

Don’t give up what you already know works. Do your marketing basics regardless of country.

What’s the competition up to? What slices of the market are they not serving? How can you set yourself apart or make yourself shine by comparison?

5. Learn the language

Obviously if you can pick up fluent Korean (or if you’re already there), you’re going to have an easier time selling to Koreans. Likewise Italians, Egyptians, and Portuguese.

Fortunately you don’t have to become truly fluent — you just need enough to be able to read your own website and check that it makes sense. Keep learning, however, and you’ll enrich your life and your business.

6. Find people to trust

You’re working outside your comfort zone, so find trustworthy freelancers or full-fledged business partners who can help you navigate these new waters.

You can find work associates through referrals, websites, and online communities. The right contacts can help you break into the market as well.

7. Seek out the niches

Jump in with both feet, but don’t plunge into the deep end right away — the wading pool is a better place to start when you’re learning to swim in a new way.

Flex your foreign creative muscle first in a small pond trying to catch a few fish before you start trying to reel in millions. Better to make a tiny mistake noticed by a hundred readers than a huge glaring error in front of ten thousand.

8. Scale your knowledge

As you learn the language and find elements of success within a new culture, use that knowledge to build additional niche sites for that country or population.

Immerse yourself in the new culture there or at home, and build from there. You may build a network of related niche sites, or build your own authoritative hub like Copyblogger.

9. Don’t get overwhelmed

The world is a big place and it’s easy to spread yourself too thin. As you scale, keep honing your focus.

It’s far better to hit just one or a few geographical areas well than to waste time creating shallow, poorly executed sites everywhere that don’t work.

10. Develop a master plan

Build a global plan ahead of time.

What countries should you target? Why? Which niches? How? Edit your plan as you go, but keep your blueprint visible at all times to keep you on track.

11. Stay aware of global trends

We whip through trends at blazing speeds. It’s hard to get ahead of the trends in your hometown, much less in a new country.

Keep your ear to the ground and watch trends so that you can make adjustments to your master plan as necessary.

12. Take advantage of stable markets

If the fast-moving trends make you nervous, skip them.

There’s no rule saying you have to jump into a fast moving river. Stick with something a bit more timeless like fitness, business, or travel. It’s always a great idea to find a unique corner of a well-established market.

Making global work

You don’t need to start from scratch when you’re constructing your master plan for global sales.

Nielsen and other research firms like JP Morgan have already done a lot of the legwork for you:

* Internet consumers from around the globe are buying everything from books to sports memorabilia
* The most popular items sold online include books, clothing, shoes, accessories, videos, DVDs, games, travel, music, electronics, cosmetics, and nutrition items
* Global e-commerce revenues are expected to grow by 19 percent in 2012
* $681 billion was spent globally in 2011 — how much of that did you take home?
* Of that, only $187 billion was spent in the United States, leaving $493 billion for the rest of the global market
* It’s anticipated that global ecommerce spending will grow to $963 billion by 2013
* High-income families shop online most frequently

Inspiring, right?

You’re probably feeling the urge to act quickly. The online world moves fast, and timing is important.

Fortunately, the world is a big place. And there’s still plenty of room for those looking to expand into new markets.
A great time to start an international business

Online shoppers prefer to buy from familiar sites.

60 percent buy from the same site repeatedly. Kudos to you if it’s your site they like.

As Bruce Paul explained,

This shows the importance of capturing the tens of millions of new online shoppers as they make their first purchases on the internet. If shopping sites can capture them early, and create a positive shopping experience, they will likely capture their loyalty and their money.

JP Morgan forecasts that the global ecommerce market will grow at 12.4 percent from 2010 to 2013.

The opportunity is huge, even with new recession fears looming.

If you ask famous economists and business experts, most will tell you that a recession is a great time to start a business. The current global market conditions are making the internet an even more attractive market than ever for consumers looking to save and shop around for the best deal.

Online advertising has grown at 14.5 percent since 2008. In 2011, it shot up by 20.9 percent according to PriceWaterHouseCooper. More companies are joining the party, and this offers more opportunities to marketers and bloggers all over the world.

Stores are looking to be the first and only shop buyers are looking for. If you can position yourself as the ecommerce store they reach first, you’re in a prime position to profit over time. Build an authoritative website through content marketing, dedicated to the interests and culture of a specific country.
It’s time to go global

The global economy is hungry for content, trust, and value.

If you can deliver, you’ll surely profit. Leverage your previous successes by taking those first baby steps out of your comfort zone.

Cultures and perceptions shift in new countries, but the rules of marketing are always the same.

Build an audience, earn their trust, learn what they most want, then sell that to them.

It works every time, regardless of language or location.


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