Archive for January, 2010
20 Ways to Up Your Blogging Fun Quota
A Guest Post by Christie Burnett. Image Source.
Feeling sluggish about blogging in the new year? Being innovative on your blog can be a great way to re-energise yourself. The process of being creative and trying something different can definitely up your blogging fun quota when you are feeling stale and uninspired. Trying something new also has the advantage of showing readers a new side to your blogging persona and this could have the added benefit of engaging a whole new set of followers. And you never know, you might just start a new blogging craze. Let me give you an example.
In November 2009, I published my first “From My Notebook” post. I basically replicated what I had written that day in my own personal journal, presenting it on a graphic notepaper page, and the response from my readers to the format was extremely positive. I had lots of Twitter questions about how I had created it and positive comments left in response to the post. And I enjoyed the process of doing something different. It was fun, challenged my creative processes a little and was a much quicker post to put together than many of my others – no photos to edit, no laboring over what I was writing, no research to include. It was simple, yet effective.
Every now and then throwing in a new style of post keeps every one on their toes. So, here are 20 words to get you thinking about fun ways to step away from your usual style and give readers something fresh.
1. Draw
Put pencil to paper or pen to tablet and say something with illustrations, instead of words.
Check out Miao & Wafupafu for inspiration.
2. Photograph
Set yourself the challenge of telling a story without words, just photographs.
Telling Your Story with Words and Images offers great tips for choosing the right photographs.
3. Share
If your blog is usually full of product reviews or technical information, turn things upside down by sharing a personal story instead. Or tell readers something about you that they never would have guessed.
In Why Stories are an Effective Communication Tool for Your Blog, Darren shares his reasons for why stories engage readers on an emotional level.
4. Measure
Insert a graph, pie chart, table or diagram to make your point.
5. Debate
Invite another blogger, preferably one who usually takes an alternative stance to you, to enter into a debate with you via online chat or Skype and then publish it on your blog.
6. Laugh
Make your readers chuckle – self deprecation, jokes, comic strips – whatever works with your target audience.
7. Watch
Give vlogging a twirl or insert a relevant video from YouTube to get readers talking.
8. Give
Give something back to readers by hosting a giveaway. Or donate $$ to your favourite charity for every comment left on a post.
9. Teach
Make something from scratch, and then create a tutorial to teach others how to do it too.
10. Introduce
Invite a guest blogger to be featured on your blog and introduce readers to someone new.
Try You’ll Never Know Unless You Ask for more information about inviting others to guest post on your blog.
11. List
When was the last time you write a list post? If it has been a while, compile a list which will be useful to readers today.
Check out Ali Hale’s guest post at Problogger, 10 Steps to the Perfect List Post.
12. Resource
Develop a free downloadable resource for your readers.
13. Colour
In colour psychology, blue equates to serenity and calmness whilst red is strong and gutsy, dramatic even. Think about creatively using colour to add intensity to your post or to set the mood for readers.
14. Solve
Do readers email you with questions, problems or dilemmas? Take the opportunity to channel ‘Dear Abbey’ and help them out with some useful advice. I did this recently with, “The Case For Not Packing Away.”
15. Inspire
Source relevant inspirational quotes to share with readers. Or include statistics or new research findings.
16. Ask
Find out more about your readership by asking them to participate in a survey or poll.
Read more about surveys – Survey Your Readers and Discover Who They Are and How You Can Be More Useful to Them.
17. Headline
Use the powers of the internet to source news stories relevant to your niche and readership. Include your personal reaction and thoughts.
18. Re-package
Re-package your post differently – standard content wrapped up in a new look. Present it as a postcard, a journal page, a post-it note, a shopping list, a recipe, or a collage.
Try Super Stickies for a bit of fun.
19. Link
Create a list of great posts, linking to other blogs in your niche. Keep them relevant and your links will be popular with readers. You might even find that you get linked back to in return.
20. Challenge
Develop a challenge for your readers and offer to publish the best submissions you receive. It could be a group writing challenge, an online photography exhibition or any challenge that best suits your niche and target audience.
Keep this list handy and come back to it for inspiration whenever you are feeling stale or depressed about blogging. You are limited only by your imagination and willingness to try something new.
Christie Burnett is a trained early childhood teacher, presenter, writer and, most importantly, Mum. She blogs at Childhood 101 about all the things that contribute to growing a memorable, healthy childhood, with lots of ideas, tips and information for families.
Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.
20 Ways to Up Your Blogging Fun Quota
Will My Readers Leave If I Accept Guest Posts?
This post is part of the Friday Q&A section. Just use the contact form if you want to submit a question.
Busing asks:
Are there more risks than benefits associated with swapping guest posts with competitor blogs? Could you find that regular readers call less often, having been directed away from your blog to one that actually better meets their needs? Is this more likely if your blog has a bigger following than the other blog?
Overall the risk you are talking about is the one of having your own visitors stop visiting your blog after they discover the one of a “competitor” through a guest post you accepted. Is this a real risk? In my opinion, no, and for several reasons.
First of all if your content is good (and it should be, else all other tactics will fail), your visitors will return no matter what. Even if all your posts contain links to other useful blogs, sites and resources your readers will come back because they’ll want more of that. If your content adds value to your readers, they are coming back no matter what.
The second reason is the fact that bloggers on your same niche should be seen as partners rather than competitors. If you had a website selling a product or service, then yes another website on the same niche should be seen as a competitor, because once the visitor purchases the product of the competitor he won’t be looking for what you have to offer anymore.
With content based websites, however, the same is not true. Web visitors can consume a very big amount of information, so the fact that a visitor will read another blog on your same niche does not mean that he won’t read yours, too. He can read both. Heck, if he is interested in the niche he will probably read ALL the good quality blogs around.
On top of that there is also the fact that blogs on your same niche will make the niche grow. If you blog about green tea, for example, it would be a positive thing if other blogs about green tea popped around, because they would bring more readers to the niche, would get more people exposed to it, and in the long run you would gain from that effect as well.
In summary: I would not be worried about accepting guest posts from blogs on your same niche. You should see this as an opportunity to network and grow together with your fellow bloggers.
Original Post: Will My Readers Leave If I Accept Guest Posts?
Who Do You Trust for Online Business Advice?
Do you know this story?
A scorpion needs to cross the river. He asks a friendly-looking frog to carry him across.
“Do you think I’m stupid?” asks the frog. “You’re a scorpion. You’ll sting and kill me.”
“No I won’t,” says the scorpion. “That would be completely against my self interest. If I sting you, I’ll fall in the river and drown.”
The frog sees the sense in this and agrees to carry the scorpion across the river. Halfway across, the scorpion stings him.
“Why did you do that?” asks the dying frog.
“I’m a scorpion,” answers the drowning scorpion. “It’s my nature.”
Who are you asking to take you across the river?
This painful little story illustrates something we’ve all seen, but sometimes forget.
Lie down with dogs and you’ll get fleas. Do business with scorpions, and you’ll get stung.
For some reason, until recently, most practical information about how to succeed in online business has come from scorpions.
People who see prospective customers as prey to be hunted. People who teach unethical shortcuts. People who preach games and systems, not value and relationships.
Some of the scorpions have interesting things to say. Some of them are even brilliant. And many of them can teach you good techniques.
But they’re scorpions. And you don’t want to find yourself at their mercy when you’re halfway across the river.
Things are changing . . . fast
Have you noticed? Something fascinating is happening in the world of Internet marketing.
Maybe it’s the widespread adoption of social media that’s made the difference. When everyone can Facebook, Twitter, and blog, all of a sudden it’s very hard for the scorpions to pretend to be good guys. The shortcuts get revealed. The light gets turned on to show the little (and large) deceptions.
The flip side is, now it’s easier than ever for great stuff to get found. If you’re glorious, people start talking about you. Word of mouth becomes “word of click.” And the good guys start finishing first.
Copyblogger was an outlier from the beginning. Brian taught his readers how to combine direct response marketing (a tool that was too good to leave to the scorpions) with content and social media to deliver amazing value to potential customers.
And there were certainly others. Chris Brogan devoting himself to his audience for 11 years to create his “overnight success,” built on integrity and connection. Darren Rowse, unofficial Nicest Fellow in the Blogosphere, showing up tirelessly to create value for his readers and help them become “probloggers” in their own right.
The ranks started to swell. We’ve been lucky enough to have many of them write for us in the past year or two. Naomi Dunford. Dave Navarro. Chris Garrett. Johnny B. Truant. Laura Roeder. James Chartrand.
These are people who don’t choose to be (or hang out with) scorpions. People who went back to just offering real solutions, developing fantastic relationships with their customers, and building solid businesses around that.
The Third Tribe is coming
Almost a year ago, this “new” (actually old) way of doing business started to be known as the Third Tribe. We had no use for the scorpions, but we didn’t want to be the clueless frog, either. We wanted to make a good living and be decent people. And we rejected (ok, I’ll be honest, mocked) anyone who tried to tell us we couldn’t.
We knew better. We were doing it. And it was working.
Brian and I instantly saw that this intersection was the future of Copyblogger. And, in fact, that it was the future for the smartest online entrepreneurs — the ones who wanted to build the most interesting, most profitable businesses.
So for the past few months, Brian and I, along with some clever co-conspirators, have been building something for you. A place for the Third Tribe to come together. To share ideas and inspiration. To educate ourselves about marketing and business techniques — effective techniques that respect our audiences and preserve our relationships. To grow farther and faster than any of us could alone.
If you’re already subscribed to the free Copyblogger newsletter, Internet Marketing for Smart People, you can relax. You’re going to be getting all of the details in the next few days.
If not, you may want to fix that now. Our newsletter readers will be the very first to hear about the new project, and have a chance to take advantage of a ludicrous sweet offer.
If you’re curious about it (or frankly, if you’d just like to take advantage of a free 20-lesson course on what smart Internet marketers are doing in 2010), click here to sign up for the newsletter. It’s free, it’s got good stuff, and it’s where you’ll be able to find out all about the new Third Tribe project.
About the Author: Sonia Simone is Senior Editor of Copyblogger and a co-founder of Inside the Third Tribe.
Branded3 is hiring an experienced SEO consultant
We’ve had a really good year so far at Branded3 and are looking for at least one/two experienced SEO consultants to join our Leeds office. I don’t want to make this post sound too much like a job advert because I’m sure most of you know the skills and qualities that an SEO consultant needs to have.
You will be working with some of the leading brands in the UK (our client list is missing some of the best accounts we have due to NDA’s) and get to work in one of the fastest growing natural search agencies in the UK.
We’re looking to move quite quickly once we find the right person so please send an email to patrick @ branded3.com and we can discuss the role further.
Not getting the rankings you want? Hire us for Search engine optimisation
Branded3 is hiring an experienced SEO consultant
Top 5 Inbound Marketing Stories of the Week: Easy as (Social Media) Pie
Mmm … a slice of pie. Too bad we’re not really talking about dessert here.
Our top inbound marketing article this week discusses how you can slice up your social media pie into various types of engagement in different size pieces to suit your taste. Oh yeah — and we’ll let you have one of the bigger pieces.
1. Slicing Your Social Media Pie
Author: Chris Brogan on OPEN Forum
Brogan offers a great basic frame for how you should devote your time on social media marketing, dividing your pie into three slices: listening, creating and communicating. His suggestion is to start by focusing 20% on listening, 40% on creating and the final 40% on communicating.
While Brogan thinks this is a good recipe for success, he also understands people have different tastes. Perhaps you have to devote some of your time to other parts of your marketing mix. It’s okay to cut more slices and find a formula that works. Now, I love Chris Brogan’s analogy here, but I’ve gotta admit: It’s making me hungry.
Lesson: Divide and conquer your social media efforts.
2. 4 Tech Trends You Must Understand to be an Effective Marketer
Author: Elyssa Pallai of ReadWriteWeb
Elyssa’s post discusses the most recent trends that should be top-of-mind for marketers trying to stay on top of marketing in a technology-driven world. While she doesn’t recommend forgetting about concepts like search engine optimization, she reminds us how important it is to embrace the power and opportunities afforded by the latest trends.
What latest trends is she talking about? The real-time Web, social networks, the mobile Web and location-based marketing top the list. If you don’t understand these technologies and what they mean for marketing, you better get with it soon, she says.
Lesson: Technology trends are constantly changing. Stay on top of the latest developments for maximum marketing potential.
3. 20 Metrics To Effectively Track Social Media Campaigns
Author: Chris Bennett of Search Engine Land
Social media is a powerful tool that can affect an entire business directly and indirectly, but at the end of the day, you still need to prove your engagement is working. Let’s face it — measuring the performance of your programs is important for every marketing undertaking.
For now, Chris focuses on measuring social media initiatives, highlighting a variety of metrics marketers can use to analyze their efforts. Some of these metrics include traffic, unique visitors, referral URLs, conversions and backlinks, to name a few.
Lesson: Use marketing and Web analytics to regularly measure your social media efforts so you know what is and isn’t working.
4. How to Become an A-List Blogger
Author: Glen Allsopp of Copyblogger
So you’re a fellow blogger. Chances are you don’t want to be just a blogger but a great blogger. Good thing Glen has some A-list tips for folks like you (hey — I’m one of you!) who are trying to build a popular business blog.
His top tips include:
- Make content your #1 focus
- Stick to your own guidelines
- Recognize your own influence
- Look at “who,” not “what”
Lesson: A successful blog starts with the blogger. Focus on A-list qualities to build an A-list blog.
5. 5 Ways to Share Content to Create Referrals
Author: John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing
As a business, creating content is one of the best tactics you can use to get found online. Of course, you can create all the content you want, but if you don’t get it into the hands of your prospects, you’re going to be wasting a lot of your time.
While John definitely advocates promotion via social media, he also recognizes another way to amplify the reach of your content: through referals. A few ways he recommends you generate them is by writing guest blog posts, hosting a group in social networks, encouraging people to bring a friend to events/webinars you’re hosting, co-branding your content or creating an event.
Lesson: Explore opportunities to generate referals as an alternative content marketing strategy.
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Poor Logic: Letting Your Competitors Hold You Back
by Miriam Ellis
Being satisfied with as little as possible may be an excellent strategy for enjoying a simple life, but it’s a recipe for disaster when it describes your approach to promoting your presence on the web. One of my favorite aspects of my job is conversing with new prospective clients about the nature of their businesses, their plans and hopes. I love hearing their stories! Sometimes, though, these conversations go nowhere because of poor logic on the part of the business owner, and no matter what I say, my own hopes dim for their chances of success on the web. Recently, I had just such a conversation.
A few weeks ago, I was called by a gentleman asking for help in improving the visibility of his local-focused business. He was an extremely pleasant man, but as our chat progressed, it became clear to me that he was very unlikely to become a client because of the following things:
1. Satisfied With A Poor Website
His relatively new website had been built in Front Page by a relative, and, it looked like it. Cross-browser alignment issues, poor structure, poor contrast, poor Usability and no real on-page SEO were the hallmarks of this homemade site, meaning that room for improvement was huge. I am so polite when I speak critically of a company’s site, but despite my mild words, he became somewhat defensive, saying he was very happy with the site and that it had been built by a professional.
2. Satisfied With Doing The Least Work Possible
The nature of the business called for the various services the company offered to be broken up into dedicated, unique pages – one for each service, optimized both for the service term + geographic region, in compliance with basic good SEO and Local SEO practices. His objection to this suggestion was that his competitors are ranking well with one page websites. This was true – lazy, one-page websites had a presence in Google’s top 10 for his keywords because no one was making any effort in the industry to do more.
When I asked how he would like to blow his competitors away, a motivated response simply wasn’t there. If his competitors were doing the bare minimum, why couldn’t he, too? The poor logic in this is obvious: what about the competitor who comes along 3 months from now and does hire me, and we oust the lazy folks from their positions with our well-built, properly optimized site? Waiting for a competitor to make the first move before you make any effort is a really strange business strategy.
3. Satisfied With Poor Copy
In trying to help this man see how his website could be improved to meet his stated goals of improving his visibility and conversions, I turned next to the minimal text copy on his few pages. Like the copy on so many business sites, it was speaking to itself instead of speaking to the site’s users – this man’s potential clients. The passive language of:
We have been in business for 10 years. We are a reliable and trustworthy company. We are proud of our customer service. We, we, we…
was as far as the copy got, never once making an offer to the user to benefit you, help you, serve you, solve your problems and meet your needs.
I explained that the copy needed to be expanded and swung in the direction of the user instead of speaking in this insular, uninviting manner, but again, I met with resistance and an explanation that he had worked very hard on the copy. I didn’t doubt this; some business owners genuinely do find it really hard to describe their business in the written word, but this is what I am here for. I explained that, as part of the redesign of his site, I could help him turn his copy into something that would showcase the benefits to the user and call him to the desired actions of making a phone call to set up a consultation. Somewhat dismissively, the gentleman expressed the opinion that this would seem like an advertisement. And, of course, none of his competitors were doing it this way.
“Well, yes,” I agreed. “Your website is an advertisement. In fact your website is a sales rep, working for your 24 hours a day. While you are working, eating and sleeping, your sales rep should be working for you, welcoming clients, answering questions, showing what you can do for them and inviting people to contact you. That’s the whole point.”
Our conversation ended with great amiability and he thanked me for my time, but it was very clear to me that I had failed to help this fellow get past the mindset of doing the least possible. I really liked this man and wanted to help him. He had come to me hoping to find a way to get more contacts and contracts and make more money. I tried to point the way, but because no one else in his town was making the slightest effort to effectively use the web to attain these kinds of goals, he remained completely unmotivated to invest time and money in the very things that would enable him to outrank his weak competitors and start hearing that phone ring more often.
There is nothing strange or new about this scenario. Fellow designers and SEOs will have sat through calls like this many times before, but it really made me think about how, in the business world, we take cues from one another, for good or ill.
If my colleagues and competitors blog twice a week, is this my permission to do no more than equal them, or should I blog twice as much in hopes of seeing twice the benefit? If my colleagues have never hosted a promotional contest, does this mean this just wouldn’t work in my industry, or does it mean I’ve got a secret weapon no one else has tested yet? If no one in my industry is on Twitter, does that mean there’s no point, or am I going to be a pioneer in using Social Media in an untapped business sector?
How you respond in your gut to questions like these likely says a lot about your drive to succeed on the web. One thing I can guarantee: every business owner reading this article would like to make more money. In the industry I took a glance at for this gentleman with whom I spoke, it would take just one person motivated to do the most, instead of the least, to wipe the competition off the map. Your industry may not be as neglected and wide open as this, but the same healthy resolve to be bold and do as much as you can is sure to serve you well.
A lax attitude troubles me, because it represents lost opportunities, but on a karmic level, I suppose it represents opportunities won for someone else. Where do you want to stand on the scale of things? Jog along with the pack or set the pace? Money’s waiting at the finish line.
Check out our small business news site.
Whiteboard Friday – Optimizing Topic Pages
Posted by great scott!
This week we’re pleased to welcome Marshall Simmonds, CEO of Define Search Strategies and Chief Strategist for the New York Times, to Whiteboard Studios. Whether or not to use topic pages–and how to use them effectively–is a topic of some debate in the SEO world. Well, who better to ask about it than the guy in charge of SEO strategy for the NYT and About.com, two of the topic page-iest sites on the web?
If you’re using a topic page strategy, or you’ve considered it, watch this week’s Whiteboard Friday. Marshall breaks down how and when they can be effective, pros and cons, as well as expenses and advantages to the strategy.
Interview with Six Figure Blogger Pat Flynn Available for ProBlogger Newsletter Subscribers
A couple of weeks ago I hooked up on Skype with a great blogger by the name of Pat Flynn who has a fantastic story to share.
Pat was working as an architect and was about to get married – life was good – but unexpectedly he was laid off from his job and was left wondering what to do.
It turns out that getting laid off was the best thing that ever happened to Pat – he took a small blog about an architectural exam (the LEED exam) that he’d been using to help himself study for the exam and turned it into a six figure income generation machine.
He launched an E-Book off the back of his blog and in its first month he made $8000. That was just the beginning though – in his first year of business the site generated over $200,000!
You can check out Pat’s blog at Green Exam Academy and his newer site at Smart Passive Income.
My chat with Pat was both inspiring and informative and today I’m sharing it with those who have subscribed to the ProBlogger Newsletter and will be adding it as a free bonus to anyone who subscribes in future.
Sign up below to get access to our weekly newsletter and this free Podcast with Pat Flynn.
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Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.
Interview with Six Figure Blogger Pat Flynn Available for ProBlogger Newsletter Subscribers
Catch Me @ LeadsCon – Leads Generation Conference
If you haven’t noticed yet we have been doing a special promotion for Leadscon. The promotion is for almost half off of the regular price conference pass. If you are thinking about going to Vegas for Leadscon and have not yet signed up then you better do so before this promotion ends! The conference is in Las Vegas February 24-25th. Team ShoeMoney will be there in full effect and we will be doing interviews with people and also I will be speaking at the event.
I have never attended Leadscon before so I am really looking forward to it and meeting new people! See you there!
Get a sneak peak at the all new ShoeMoney System
This Post Is From ShoeMoney’s Internet Marketing Blog
Catch Me @ LeadsCon – Leads Generation Conference
Facebook Advertising for Lead Acquisition Case Study
My name is dk, CEO of Purpose Inc. John has very graciously allowed me to share my Facebook Advertising Presentation from Affiliate Summit with his readers.
When I speak, people repeatedly ask for actual case studies. The week before Affiliate Summit, in four days, I did the following test. I spent about 4 hours on it, and one of my programmers put in probably about the same amount of time making landing pages.
I first started 10 years ago in local internet marketing for my La Jolla Chiropractic Office. I got into Facebook advertising, after reading Shoemoney’s first write up on local facebook advertising, which is now part of the Shoemoney System
6X Brazilian Jiu Jitsu World Champion Robert Drysdale
I have been helping my friend Robert Drysdale with his new site where you can learn to do Jiu Jitsu online. Here is some info about Robert on my first slide.
Facebook Advertising Campaign Goals
I spoke in detail with Sean Rigo, Robert’s business partner on the site. We discussed expectations on the site, and agreed that if we could get quality people to visit the site, who were interested in learning jiu jitsu online, for $10 each we could probably make it work. The site is not live yet, so this is only a guess.
Whenever I do a campaign for any product, the first thing I do is put myself in the position of the user. Why would they buy the product? Who would buy the product? What do I know about them? The key question was…
PPC Advertising Landing Pages
Initially just put up landing pages, whose templates had worked before, but with new text and images.
Facebook Ad Demographics
The initial goal here was to find an image, title and ad text that would lead to at least some clicks as a starting point. We then tried many different ads with different demographics to see what we could discover. This would lead to the starting ad and demographics.
Then I came up with more ads with different demographics that we tested.
Click Through Rate
The CTR is the percentage of people who saw the ad, that clicked on it. We used that as a first indication of an ad that made people interested. The final ad that says De-Knot your stomach got almost no clicks, and Facebook stopped showing it. One of my staff thought the guy looked hot, so I imediately killed that ad!
The winner of the first round of testing was, “Afraid to Go to School” At $0.29 per click, it was in the ball park for traffic we might be able to work with. This had a grammar error in it, Bully’s instead of Bullys. It worked with the grammar error, so we left it.
Testing Color Variations
Now it was time to test for better landing pages. Without the site live, I preferred to get the traffic as inexpensively as possible, and verify the users were actually interested enough to at least give up some of their personal data. So we kept going with the testing.
We had made the following landing page when we first made the Bullys ad. No special thought had been used to make the page, but instead was made based on successful templates we had used in the past. The ads were written from the mindset of a kid who is afraid of going to school. When I was a kid, I went to Sun Valley Junior High in Los Angeles where there were gangs, drugs and bullies. This meant that I have firsthand knowledge of being a bit scared of going to school! 
We started with the ad that was already working and decided to test color changes. We could have tested any variable on the ad.
We used the same landing page for each of the following ads. We then changed blotches of color, and the color of the shirt of the bully. At this point we switched over to measuring the tests by the cost per lead generated.
The costs per lead generated varied from $3 to $9. We used tests of 50 clicks or more.
Cost Per Lead
It is possible the $3 and $4 ads really had the same result, and it was just random chance. Going onward using the green shirt $3 lead was a safe bet.
ADL – Ad, Demographic, Landing page
The Ad (including title, image, and ad copy), the demographics, and landing page together make up what I call the ADL (Ad, Demographic, Landing page). Remember you read A.D.L. here first on John Chow’s blog!
Now that we had a decent ADL, (Ad, Demographic and Landing page) we wanted to see if we could lower the cost per lead by improving on the landing page. At this point I turned the landing pages on as I sat down to watch Avatar. This means the ads were going to run at night, which often yields a different result than during the day.
Testing Landing Page Variations
We started with the landing page we had used in the initial test. We then did variations of that.
I gave this part to Mihai my Romanian programmer. Vampires often choose red as the first color to test : )= (that is a vampire smiling which you also saw first here on John Chow’s blog!)
Here Mihai made the title totally red. The orange submit button comes from Shoemoney’s research that orange submit buttons often work best.
You never know what works, so you try whatever sounds interesting.
The downside of course of having a non native English speaker choose the text of the ads can have results like the one below.
The winning landing page gave us leads at $3.20 per lead. This was more expensive than earlier ads, which I think was because these ads were run at night, and had a lower fill in rate.
Ad Title Testing
Now we had a decent ADL, (Ad, Demographic and Landing page). We then tested new ad headlines to see what changes this would yield. There is no correct order to test in. You can go on and on like this, forever, or start completely over with a new concept. Remember this was all based on the thought that people learn to fight to prevent getting their butts kicked. We could have just as easily started with doing Jiu Jitsu to get stronger, improve balance, enhance self defense, get ready to get into the UFC, or a million other ideas. Another important thing we can test is what my co-speaker Mark Colacioppo CEO of Globalizer said, that you can test running the ads just during certain times of the day, and see when they perform the best.
We then tested 15 different titles on the ads, while keeping the rest of the ADL (Ad, Demographic and Landing page the same.) I honestly came up with these different titles in about 3 minutes, asking my staff who happened to be standing around me for any ideas they had.
The Winning Combination
The winner was, much to my surprise:
We now had an ADL, (Ad, Demographic, and Landing page) that got us leads at $1.43 per lead. So, no more fear for me! I had a success to present!
When the site goes live, we will be able to test these leads, and see if this is profitable. Whether it is or not, we will be back testing, testing and more testing to find the lowest possible cost per quality lead, and ultimately the greatest return on investment.
If you have facebook questions, just send an e-mail to me, dk or hit me up on twitter.
Those of us who get to read John’s blog are very lucky. If you read between the lines, you will see a story of a guy who comes from very humble beginnings, who worked very, very hard, studied hard, and pulled himself up to the top. John’s life is a fantastic and inspirational story that never says, why me?, but instead just pushes forward hard to success. It is a story that cuts across generations, cultures and languages. It is a story that is still being written!
John, thank you very much for letting me post this on your blog. I am very honored.
Much Love,
dk