 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
Why No Online Marketing is a Failure (Its Only a Test!)
Just yesterday a colleague of mine, whom I'll call "Sandy," asked my advice about marketing her new information product online. She saw some of my banner ads on a particular Web site, and wanted to know if she should put her own up there. I said they didn't work that well for me, but I suggested she try it, because it was a site often visited by her target market. "But how do I know it will work for me?" she said. "You don't," I answered. "What?" she said. "Test it!" I said. "Try anything for a bit and see how it works for you." Test, Test, and Test Again I then shared with her one of the most important concepts I've learned over the past eight months of going to live internet marketing seminars. Here were guys (yes, all guys, for now : )) who have each made millions -- millions! -- from selling information online. But they didn't just become millionaires out of the blue with their first idea and their first marketing strategies. They had failures. In fact, after talking with them, I learned they had MANY failures. I looked at these guys, whom many in the audience considered Internet marketing demi-gods, and tried to imagine them "failing." It was hard. After all, there they were, up on stage, teaching what works. But they'd failed many times. They tried something, it didn't work, and then they moved on to another strategy. They TESTED things, and they still always do test things. If I tried something online and it didn't work, I saw it as a failure. But they just see it as a test. It's Time to Reprogram Your Mind In school, if we didn't have the right answer, we "failed." But in marketing, that's bullsh*t. In marketing, if we don't get the right answer, we LEARN. We learn what does not work and where not to spend our marketing money anymore. That's damn valuable information! Now, I know this concept may seem like a "duh" to you, because it did to me too. I heard stories over and over about testing, but every time I did, my mind answered back, "Of course ... I know that." Isn't it funny how our minds assume we know things? But we don't really know something unless we're LIVING it. I thought I knew what was working and what wasn't working, but how could I when I wasn't tracking anything? And also, how could I take others' marketing advice without seeing if their advice was really working for ME? Tracking Is Your Key to Riches So I started tracking and testing. Twelve months ago, I couldn't even tell you how many visitors I was getting to my site every month. Now I can tell you not only how many unique visitors I get, but how many of them on an average buy my product, how many of them sign up for my e-zines, the maximum I should spend to get a visitor to my site, and more. Knowing this information has helped me DOUBLE my sales over the last several months. Tracking and testing is not as hard as you think. The beauty of any type of d1rect marketing, especially online marketing, is your ability to track results. Now, in Sandy's example above, she needs some type of ad tracker program that assigns a special link to her ad. Even better, this program should be linked to her shopping cart, so she can see how many clicks directly turned into sales. (For this purpose, I highly recommend KickStart Cart, my favorite brand of 1ShoppingCart. (http://tinyurl.com/orhg)) For her Web site, she should track how many visitors she has each month compared with how many sales she has each month. Her reporting program should tell her how many unique visitors she has on her site (not just "hits," which is useless). Sandy should extend this tracking mentality to every type of marketing she does -- even her free teleclasses. For every teleclass she teaches, she should track how many of those folks sign up for her e-zine and how many buy her product right away. See where I'm going with this? The numbers don't lie, and once you start seeing the light, marketing will become much more painless. Just stop doing what doesn't work, and put more energy into what does. THEN, you won't look back and see any failures. You'll only see "tests." : ) (c) 2003 Alexandria K. Brown ABOUT THE AUTHOR Alexandria K. Brown, "The E-zine Queen," is author of the award-winning manual, "Boost Business With Your Own E-zine." To learn more about her book and sign up for more FREE tips like these, visit her site at http://EzineQueenTutorial.com/
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
 |
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Starting an Internet Business is not for Everyone Creating and building your home internet business does not need to be a daunting task. Knowing how to start an internet business will pretty much be the most important thing you would want to know. Creating Your Internet Marketing Plan For large corporations, a marketing plan is a huge document detailing strategies for the fiscal year. It may include competitor analysis or a sales forecast. Become a Star: 10 Do-It-Yourself Publicity Techniques to Build Buzz for Your Online Business Public relations is popular because it is very cost-effective and it works. If you send out one press release, for example, and it gets into print, it could generate more interest in your product or service. Using This One Simple Word Helped Triple My Sites Profits This article is very important.In fact, the chances are it will give you more sales from your website. Online Sales: Sneaky Technique To Increase Your Online Sales Anytime There are some smart and sneaky techniques that can help you increase your sales when executed properly.Hold a discount sale on your web site. Five Top Tips For A Prosperous 2004 According to many market forecasts, 2004 is likely to be a buoyant year online. These are my top tips for making the most of it, and ensuring a happy, healthy and prosperous 2004. e-Marketing Strategy: 7 Dimensions to Consider (the e-Marketing Mix) What is e-Marketing?e-Marketing is still quite a controversial subject to talk about, since no one succeeded to unify the various theories around it; however there is one thing upon which there is no doubt - that e-Marketing first appeared under the form of various techniques deployed by pioneer companies selling their products via the internet in the early 90's.The frenzy around these new marketing techniques created by e-tailers and supported by the internet rapidly gave birth to a new dimension of what we knew as Marketing: the e-Marketing (electronic Marketing). Online Web Marketing Tips Here is a list of a few of my favorite marketing tips and ideas. They all proved to be effective in my business, use them them for yours as well!1. How to Leverage the Internet in MLM Most people who try to leverage the Internet to build their MLM business wake up to the rude awakening that Network Marketing in the Internet age requires a whole lot more than just having a web site.Your marketing system should fulfill four critical functions in order to peek the interest of your prospect to the point where they either come back to you for more information, or they remove themselves from the prospect pool. The Voice of Viral Marketing Generating buzz through word of mouth will help drive greater sales and from your most important customers.Viral marketing strategies can effectively generate traffic to your website by creating buzz-building campaigns that excite and energize your customer base. Why Offline Advertising is So Important for Websites It is important that anybody with a significant online presence understands why offline ads are so important and more so why they are usually much more effective than online advertisements. This is very useful knowledge that will no doubt impact dramatically on the success and profitability of any online enterprise. Marketing - All About Focus Marketing would appear to be the great buzz word of the decade. Every self-respecting business team talks about it, yet many of us aren't even sure what it is, and even more are uncertain of how they should be doing it. Experience the Benefits of an Internet Business The Internet industry is booming and offers opportunities galore for internet businesses. Internet businesses are not just for computer whizzes anymore, not just for people with multiple college degrees or a rich background in business. Visibility Equates to Higher Profits One of the greatest challenges businesses face is how to market cost effectively while gaining a good return on investment (ROI). Regardless of what industry you are in, the size of your organization and how long you have been in business, you must continually look for ways to gain and maintain your visibility to your market. Top Ten Ways to Attract Targeted Local Customers With Online Marketing Does your business have a Web site? Have you missed the idea that it can be your 24/7 virtual marketing machine? Do you wonder how it could bring you minions more customers and clients to your "brick and mortar" location?The biggest mistake local businesses make is not using the Internet to let potential customers and clients know who they are, who they can be by offering valuable content to attract them back again and again, and why they are the first choice over their competition.Did you know that many of your local potential customers will Google your Web name or your name to see what you offer and how you may be their choice over others? Today people are much more Internet savvy. 3 Services Your Online Business Cant Live Without It doesn't make any difference if you're promoting your own product, affiliate programs or MLM programs, there are 3 services your business can't live without.Service #1: Web HostingI'm not talking about one of those Free accounts where they throw their own ad in everytime someone visits your site. Why Online Business - The Harsh Reminder Why Online Business Is For You Many people want to achieve financial freedom and they know very well that running their own business has always and will always be the best road to financial freedom. Here are some reasons to remind these people why online business is the best way toward financial freedom. Local Search by Internet Search Engines is as Essential to Your Business Survival as Your Telephone Your Enterprise Won't Survive Unless People Find ItWhether you're a one-man shop or a mid-size operation, you need to make it easy for people find you. Most enterprises serve the people who live in the same town (80% of all dollars are spent in a buyer's home community). Internet Marketing And Public Speaking: Ten Tips For When The Twain Shall Meet Internet marketing and public speaking? Not quite ham and eggs, is it?Those two phrases are rarely found in the same sentence. After all, many people decide to do their marketing in cyberspace so they'll never be required to deliver a sales presentation or a speech. Is Internet Marketing Saturated? Is internet marketing and the potential for it saturated? I have wondered this many times but pure logic wins me over. It has at many times caused me to give up on an idea or marketing plan based on the belief that there were so many other people doing it my offer would never be considered.
|
|
|
 |
 |
