We’re going to get into the nuts and bolts of ad conversion.
If your ads are performing badly then pay close attention to the 5 stumbling blocks.

1. You are advertising to the wrong audience. Make sure your product and offer is laser focused on the audience you are trying to reach.  For example, You will get poor results if you are selling an investment newsletter to a safelist of internet marketers. Or, you can expect to see zero sales from selling an MLM product opportunity on a women’s health blog. 

Warning: Beware of sites that offer to put your ad in front of thousands to millions of people.  They WILL NOT work because the audience is untargeted (and maybe non-existent).

2. Vague Call to Action.  Here’s why – you are not selling the click.  Selling the click is telling them what they will get, enjoy, or avoid if they click your link.  You sell the link by finding the juciest benefit your product offers and trimmning it down to one simple promise.  That promise is what people will click to get.

3. Your landing page is weak.  The next page your customer will see after they click your ad is your landing page. Your customer will bail if they don’t see the juicy benefit repeated immediately. Don’t get cute here.  Let them know exactly what they will enjoy as quickly as you can.

4. Make a persuasive offer.  Strip your offer down to its underwear.  Make it as simple as possible.  A confused customer simply will not buy.  the best offers tell me 1) What I’m Getting, 2) How Much it costs, 3) Why I Need to Buy Now, and 4) What I need to do next to pay.

5. Make it easy to buy.  A simple clearly labeled buy button is good enough.  Repeat your buy link often throughout your landing page.  Don’t make your customer hunt for how to pay you.

6. Look professional, credible, and sane.  I visit at least 3 sites a day of people who aren’t getting any sales from their ads.  When I arrive at their website, I am almost always horrified by the hodgepodge of links, banners, adsense, misspelled words, and generally sloppy presentation. Don’t expect your customer to give their hard earned money to a circus act.  Pull your website together and make it presentable.

Hard and fast.  A little blunt but I know you can take it.  If you need me to hold your hand through this process and make sure you’ve got all the right stuff in place – then visit www.WebSalesClub.com.  Club members get an entire quick start module on this topic.

Go ahead and take a critical look at your ads and landing pages – make these tweaks and watch your performance improve.

It was packaged brilliantly, positioned perfectly, and sold by some of the best online marketing pitchmen in the business.

I got the free stuff, the cheap upsell, and the slightly more expensive membership add-on. (I smugly turned down the extremely expensive coaching thingie – I’m no fool)

But my "You Got Suckered Again" alarm bells rang when I read the "meat and potatoes", the real content.

After about 10 minutes, I realized that I’d been fooled into picking the infamous White Elephant gift that gets repackaged and recycled every single year.

In this case, The guru had taken old material, gave it a new title, a new pitch, new partners and went out and successfully bagged a naive customer (who should have known better).

Granted, the information would be slightly helpful to people getting started in online marketing.  But, the techniques being proposed where far from revolutionary.

It seems that all of the Marketing Guru’s have caught the repackage and resell bug these days. For all of our sakes, I hope they get back to innovation and true teaching. (Hat’s off to Brian Clark)

If you are emptying your bank account on Guru White Elephants, then here’s a word of advice.

Study how the Guru is marketing – not what they are selling.  I guarantee you’ll learn far more – for free.

I got the guitar, the amp, picks, and a book.  And for a week, I thought I was Jimi Hendrix.  I "practiced" every night and read all the right magazines and websites.

I also did a fair amount of bragging about my soon-to-be discovered guitar talent.

Flash forward 6 months.

My guitar sits in the corner of my office.  It has a thin sheen of dust evidence of my fast fading interest in the axe. I still want to learn the guitar – the problem is…

DIY Coaching rarely works.

The same goes for online marketing "techniques".  You buy the book. Promise to put everything you learned into action and then "life" moves in.  You delay, procrastinate, and then forget.

Your hard drive is like the corner of my office – where good ideas and intentions go to die.

I took drastic measures

About a week ago, in a flash of parental and personal brilliance, I decided to take guitar lessons. Now my son and I trek to the local music store – him for drums, me for the axe.

In just one lesson, I’vv recaptured my interest in blues guitar and learned some neat tricks that have already made me sound 100% better than when I tried to go it alone…

That’s just how we are wired. Things go alot faster and are much more fun when we have a little help.

Even Tiger Woods has a coach.

Do you have someone who is watching over your shoulder to make sure you aren’t taking the "scenic route" to your goals?  Do you have a guide that can see around corners and help you skip the brutal marketing learning curve?

If you don’t then you may be putting your business dreams in the corner to gather dust.

In the next few posts we will talk about how to find mentors and model people who are getting the results you are looking for.  But for now, decide to take the easy way and get some help…

And –

In a few weeks (I’m a little shy) I’ll post a video showing off my budding guitar skills

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time…

Same goes for your marketing.

What’s your Marketing Elephant this week?

Is it writing a new salesletter? Setting up your tracking? Testing new headlines? Finally hiring a ghostwriter to create your product?

You’ll know your Marketing Elephant because its the task that ties your stomach up in knots when you think about it.  You’ve been putting it off for weeks and there is always a good excuse to delay it one more week.

The reason why the elephant has been giving you fits is because your thinking about how big it is – instead of breaking your task down into manageable pieces.

Step #1:

This week, set a goal for when you Marketing Elephant Task will be completed – Set it for Sunday.

Step #2:

Now break your task into 6 pieces/steps/tasks.

Step #3:

Now assign a deadline for each task this week.  I recommend setting one deadline per day. Next – "Commit" to not letting a deadline slip.  This won’t work unless you can hold yourself accountable.

Ok, this next part is super important. 

Step #4:

Write down your goals and deadlines on your weekly calender.  Make sure you note your commitment somewhere where you will see it every single day.

Step 5:

Last, answer this question: How good will it feel once you’ve finally conquered the Marketing Elephant?  Really take a moment to imagine the results.

Ok – now – GO TO IT!

Twitterless

TweetEffect

Tweetstats

TweetBeep

TwitterCounter

Twitalyzer

TwitterGrader

Trendistic

Great tool for putting a microscope on tracking your brand keywords in the Twitter-Sphere. This is also an awesome tool to see how your followers are getting out the word for a promotion or product launch

 

They are:

It’s not your fault.

As a marketer you are in the problem solving business. Often, we make the mistake of blaming the customer for their problems instead of solving them.

Our powerpoints and salesletters imply that somehow the prospect didn’t do their homework, was too hasty, or maybe was just plain stupid.

This wasn’t your intent, but it helps to know that your customer is on the defensive from day one. They hate the fact that they need help.  They definitely despise the notion that they have to pay you to bail them out.

At the core of the dialogue is the question. “Do you think I’m responsible for this mess?”

Be the first to shout “No!”

It’s not your fault.

• “You didn’t have all the information”
• “Your current solution was the best choice when you made the initial decision, but the situation has changed”
• “Your problem has subtly changed and you need to adapt”

Quickly dispel the notion that your customer is at fault. Immediately position your product as an answer to a NEW problem. Comfort your prospect with the thought that they have the chance to make a new decision, with better facts.

Be warned.

This positive approach is harder than it sounds.

We’re trained to find the negative and solve it.  Which is not a bad idea at all.  I’m suggesting that you work to separate your prospect from the problem.  Give them the chance to examine their needs and devise a solution without the baggage of the “blame game”

Consistently take this approach and you will notice that your salesletters get read.  Your emails get opened.  Your phone calls get returned.

Why?

You erase doubt in your customers mind about their OWN ability to make the right choice.  This is the magic behind –

It’s Not Your Fault.  

Go ahead and return your tray to the upright position…

Must Do Monday Tip: It’s the Tracking Stupid!

Don’t even think about spending money on marketing this week unless you’ve installed tracking on your website and landing pages.

Tracking works like the windshield in your car. It allows you to see where you are at, what’s in the way, and where you are going. Without tracking, you are flying blind.

For tracking, I recommend you keep it simple and free. It’s easy drown in the numbers and complexity of complicated and paid solutions. The idea is to spend less time fiddling with your software and more time acting on your results.

For this, I wholeheartedly recommend Google Analytics. Here’s why I advocate cementing Google’s benevolent chokehold:

1. It’s easy: You can install the tracking codes with to key strokes – Copy (ctrl-c) and Paste (ctrl-v)
    
2. It’s quick: Just open up your web editor – find the </body> tag and go to go to Step 1.
    
3. It’s useful: Within 1 – 2 hours you will start getting marketing data from your website. You’ll start making smart decisions just by having this info at your fingertips.
    
4. It’s free: Nuff said.

Tracking is really the only no-brainer there is in the online marketing world. It is also a tool that small business owners can use to outwit, outhustle, and outsmart their competiton.

So jump all over it.

By the way, I have a video showing you how to install Google Analytics here:How to Set-up Google Analytics

Enter the Web Sales Jam Session Contest and Win -

A 60 minute FREE Coaching Session phone call  with me to crawl inside and transform your business. It doesn’t matter if you have an established product/service or just starting out.  During the 60 minutes I will give you 3 Customized  Techniques that you can use to start the sales rolling in.  Again, don’t worry if you don’t have it all figured out – that’s what the Jam Session is for!

You will also get:

• An MP3 Audio recording of the Jam Session
• Free 6 Month Membership to the new Web Sales Club
• A Quick Strategy Plan explaining my marketing recommendations for your business

You should jump all over this. If you win, you will be armed with some powerful tools for getting your site rocking and rolling with a steady flow of cash.

How to Enter

Simple – Write just one paragraph answering this question "What’s Your Biggest Marketing Challenge Around Selling Your Product or Service?" 

Post it on your blog or Facebook with a link back to www.marketingmutt.com/mutts.  Then email stan@marketingmutt.com with your entry or just email your entry to me at stan@marketingmutt.com

Contest Rules

5 Winners will be chosen at random on Friday October 2nd.  You will be contacted by me to schedule your Jam Session immediately.

1. Get the Right Traffic:
   Yep 80% of salesletter problems can be traced to lousy traffic. Are you driving “researchers” or “buyers”. The buy rate is drastically different between the  two groups. From my experience, researcher traffic barely converts at 1%. Buyer traffic converts at 3-5%. 
    
2. Eliminate Distractions:
   The best salesletters follow a simple rule. One preferred action per salesletter. If you distract your visitors they will click away and put off their purchase to another day.
    
3. Revise Weak Headlines:
   Headlines are your visitor’s first sign to if you can solve their problem. Headlines that lack a strong benefit and power words shout “I plan on wasting your time”.   A simple rule to follow is – your headline should make it impossible to ignore the first paragraph of your salesletter….
    
4. Pump Up Your Lead:
   The first paragraph of your salesletter (the lead) should be a benefit packed, slippery slope the pulls the reader to the second paragraph and beyond.
    
5. Sell Your Big Idea:
   The world is filled with me-too products and your prospects are confused as hell. Help them understand why your product stomps the competition. Build your big idea into the Headline and Lead.
    
6. Get Proof:
   Gathering testimonials, scientific evidence, cashed check screenshots, video demonstrations, and endorsements is the MOST POWERFUL action you can take. Proof seals the deal. 

   The rule of thumb is brutally efficient. The bigger the claim – the bigger the proof. If you are selling a miracle cure – you gotta show the everyday people living the miracle!
    

7. Get the Price Right:
   Are you charging too much? Right now, ebooks aren’t worth $47 no matter what they say. Most people find it hard to pay more than $20-25 for a book. It’s difficult to sell a $67 CD when most people can pick up an audio CD for $30 – and selling a video for $97 is out of the question, when I can rent E.T. for $3 on iTunes. Bundled products are the best way to get a high price point – so an ebook + audio ebook can easily sell for $47. Add a video interviews and you can push the price to $67.
    
8. Simplify Your Pricing: 
   Make sure that your customer can understand your price in one quick glance. You will lose the sale if they need to get a calculator to figure out what to pay.
    
9. Stress Instant Gratification:
   Tell your customer how soon they will be able to enjoy their new product. If it is a digital download tell them that they will be using the product within minutes. If you are shipping a digital product, tell them when they will receive it (and do whatever you can to get it to them quickly).
    
10. Eliminate Risk:
    Dig deep, swallow your fear and offer a truly unique guarantee. Be outrageous and push the line. Your customer is taking a risk doing business with you – work your tail off to eliminate that risk. And no matter what your inner worry-wart is telling you, your customers will not scam you. Yes you will get a few refunds but the added sales will far outweigh the downside risk.

Freshbooks

Harvest

FreeAgent

ToadTime

Cashboard

Blinksale