Internet Marketing Super Conference
Next week I'll be attending my one and only conference of the year (I had to talk HARD to get Tara to let me leave her alone for 5 days with a toddler and an 8-month old! - she must really love me) - the Internet Marketing Super Conference. I've been looking forward to this for months!
The good news for you - if you're not going to be there - is that I'll be posting many of my notes here in the blog.
I learned a ton from last years conference - so much so that I'm only just NOW implenting things that have been on my "to-do" list. Like getting split testing software and planning to use the Ask Database in my marketing. I can honestly say that what I learned - and implemented - from last year has doubled my income.
On to other things . . .
I want to share a real winner with you here (a product endorsement) and a real dud (a product I endorsed in the past, that I currently give my kiss of death rating).
The Rave Review - Jonathan Mizel's Online Marketing Letter
It's $30 per month and so far it's money well spent. It's full of great ideas, delivered in step-by-step bite-sized chunks. I deliberated on this one for a couple of months before I decided to go for it - which to me meant a commitment to really implementing the tactics more than the cost. My hard drive is already full of information I don't use optimally and I'm sure your's is too and that's why I try to keep endorsements focused and limited. A reader wrote me and asked for a recommendation that covered advanced tactics and this is it.
The Dud, Marked by the Kiss of Death
Before I say a word, saying stuff like this is really not what I want to be about. I want everyone to have great products and great success. And in this case I've jumped through a lot of hoops working with the owner to rectify problems. I think the owner is a brilliant guy with a very bright future - sharp, in many ways, well beyond his years (22 or 23).
But when you can actually point to a product LOSING you money, it's not a good thing. And that's why I advise avoiding Clickalyzer. I've had great things to say about the product in the past - I fell in love with it's potential. But after dealing with a string of errors that included causing shopping cart errors with customers TRYING to buy affiliate promotions, links that worked sometimes and not others, and horrifically slow load times on my pages, I had enough.
Then there are the additional irritations, such as getting a "special conference attendee offer" (ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, SAVE SOME DOCUMENTATION - I'll be saving web pages when I buy a product from now on and if I buy anything at the conference I will DEFINITELY keep a copy of the offer, too) only to see it priced for $100 less 2 weeks later, available to anyone. Or forgetting to renew a domain name - which caused the entire network downtime for 2 days. It's a business in chaos, from my POV and that's not good when MY/YOUR business are dependent on it. I've written it off as a less than cheap learning experience - 400 bucks.
So . . . how about a positive note to end on?
Using ideas from Mizel's online marketing letter, I've replaced my old pre-sell page with a page that goes for the "name squeeze". The result is, I'm gaining subscribers at about 15% - not great. But what is great, is that I've tried my own little test and put a banner right below the subscribe form - I'm getting a 20% clickthrough rate on that. That's right - 20% on a banner. And I'm thinking / hoping that my enticement for the subscribe is doing a "to the point" pre-sell in the process. That gives me an idea to try Adsense in that same spot for more lucrative keywords.
I don't know how that banner is impacting my subscribe rate (it's probably not helping - and I DO want the subscribers) - I'll be testing that out with the split testing software.
It's time to get out and enjoy a little sunshine - that's it for now - wishing you all the best,
John
The good news for you - if you're not going to be there - is that I'll be posting many of my notes here in the blog.
I learned a ton from last years conference - so much so that I'm only just NOW implenting things that have been on my "to-do" list. Like getting split testing software and planning to use the Ask Database in my marketing. I can honestly say that what I learned - and implemented - from last year has doubled my income.
On to other things . . .
I want to share a real winner with you here (a product endorsement) and a real dud (a product I endorsed in the past, that I currently give my kiss of death rating).
The Rave Review - Jonathan Mizel's Online Marketing Letter
It's $30 per month and so far it's money well spent. It's full of great ideas, delivered in step-by-step bite-sized chunks. I deliberated on this one for a couple of months before I decided to go for it - which to me meant a commitment to really implementing the tactics more than the cost. My hard drive is already full of information I don't use optimally and I'm sure your's is too and that's why I try to keep endorsements focused and limited. A reader wrote me and asked for a recommendation that covered advanced tactics and this is it.
The Dud, Marked by the Kiss of Death
Before I say a word, saying stuff like this is really not what I want to be about. I want everyone to have great products and great success. And in this case I've jumped through a lot of hoops working with the owner to rectify problems. I think the owner is a brilliant guy with a very bright future - sharp, in many ways, well beyond his years (22 or 23).
But when you can actually point to a product LOSING you money, it's not a good thing. And that's why I advise avoiding Clickalyzer. I've had great things to say about the product in the past - I fell in love with it's potential. But after dealing with a string of errors that included causing shopping cart errors with customers TRYING to buy affiliate promotions, links that worked sometimes and not others, and horrifically slow load times on my pages, I had enough.
Then there are the additional irritations, such as getting a "special conference attendee offer" (ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, SAVE SOME DOCUMENTATION - I'll be saving web pages when I buy a product from now on and if I buy anything at the conference I will DEFINITELY keep a copy of the offer, too) only to see it priced for $100 less 2 weeks later, available to anyone. Or forgetting to renew a domain name - which caused the entire network downtime for 2 days. It's a business in chaos, from my POV and that's not good when MY/YOUR business are dependent on it. I've written it off as a less than cheap learning experience - 400 bucks.
So . . . how about a positive note to end on?
Using ideas from Mizel's online marketing letter, I've replaced my old pre-sell page with a page that goes for the "name squeeze". The result is, I'm gaining subscribers at about 15% - not great. But what is great, is that I've tried my own little test and put a banner right below the subscribe form - I'm getting a 20% clickthrough rate on that. That's right - 20% on a banner. And I'm thinking / hoping that my enticement for the subscribe is doing a "to the point" pre-sell in the process. That gives me an idea to try Adsense in that same spot for more lucrative keywords.
I don't know how that banner is impacting my subscribe rate (it's probably not helping - and I DO want the subscribers) - I'll be testing that out with the split testing software.
It's time to get out and enjoy a little sunshine - that's it for now - wishing you all the best,
John
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