A lot of people looking to start off in the online marketing world usually end up creating what we call, a branding site. Now a branding site can have it’s advantages in that it gives people lots of stuff to look at and it promotes the image of you and your business. But it is not the best model for generating sales. The reason for this is because on a branding site a visitor is usually bombarded with so much different information and products that they become confused and end up not buying anything at all.

A good example of this came from a student of mine. He and his wife had an extensive background in the heath insurance industry and figured they would put up a site that would help individuals deal with health insurance companies at time of claim. However, even though they had been getting traffic and their site contained a lot of useful information that had helped a few people, they weren’t making any money.

So, I took a look at their site. It was beautiful, but the question I had to ask them was what outcome were they expecting to have? I told them that if they were trying to make money from their website, they were going to want to be very clear on what they wanted their visitors to do. Don’t give them so many options that they don’t know where to start. Secondly, don’t give away too much information that they don’t feel a need to buy anything. Just give them enough information to keep them interested. It’s amazing how people take good information for granted. Most people put more value on the cost of something rather than getting it for free.

If the outcome you want is having people fill in a form so you can contact them, then you’ve got to make sure that’s the core focus of your page. On this particular site, I really didn’t know what to do and therefore didn’t think that the customer was going to either. There were things you could download, forms you could fill out and links to other sites, but there was nothing  that was directing them to take a specific action. There was no main focus on the site. When I took a look at their site, I was like, “Oh, well, here’s some forms I can download” and that was it.

My recommendation to them was if they wanted to get people to take a specific action, then they had to make the core focus of their site around that one initiative. For example, if they wanted people to contact them for the Health Insurance Hotline and fill in all the information, then that’s exactly where the focus should be. Don’t make a whole bunch of other buttons and tabs for people to click on because that will only serve as a distraction.

Stay tuned for part 2 of this article series where I’ll offer you one of my websites as a good example of how you should create a proper call-to-action for your visitors.

Best Regards,

Matt Bacak

Need support? Go here ->
http://mattbacaksupport.com

A lot of people get all caught up with the concept of tracking and testing because they know it’s important, but they really don’t have a clue of how to do it. I don’t know if there’s really anything out there that specifically shows you anything on tracking and testing, but something I use to do my split testing is Hypertracker.com.

When I do testing, I usually do a simple A/B or A/B/C split test. It’s really easy. You’re going to have campaigns running where you’re testing certain things. For example, myself and my neighbor, Shawn Casey, put together a video and I have been tracking the click-though rates as well as the actual  sales we are getting. I’m also tracking what it costs me to get an action, how much it costs me for a sale, the cost per click, and then also the conversion rate. There is quite a bit of testing involved. But these are all the facets of proper testing and tracking to ensure you’re properly allocating your dollars in the right areas.

Through that testing we did, the video is actually converting at 3.3% with JV traffic and 2.25% for the CPA traffic, which actually isn’t that bad.

Next, I want to track how many people are going to the order form and how many people are abandoning the order form altogether before they get to the sale. So for example, of the 3,297 people that viewed the video, I got 274 people that actually clicked on the order form. And of those 274 people, 100 people bought the product. I have code on the order form and I have code on the thank you page after they buy. That’s how I’m getting all that information. Now, those 100 people brought in sales of $4,377 and my conversion rate is 3.03%. So I’m able to know what’s effectively working for me.

Hypertracker gives me coding that I can actually place on my pages to test. In order for this to work, when I set up my account I inputted my target URLs. I’ve got Video2.htm and Video12.htm, so basically I’ve done over 12 split tests on those two videos alone. Then I basically told the Hypertracker program the following; I said, “These are two links I want to switch back and forth with and I want you to track all this information.” Hypertracker is going to give me a URL for tracking. So I’ve done 10 different split tests with 12 different sites. A lot of times I put a link in email broadcasts. That link is usually a redirect back to one of those pages. So I’m tracking the clicks that are going through those links. This allows me to know what’s going on. I’ll then be able to make decisions as to whether or not I should be making any modifications.

To give you another example to ensure you understand exactly how testing and tracking works using Hypertracker… this is what I did…  Video 2 has 47 sales and Video 12 has 53 sales. Out of 3,000 clicks, that’s showing me that Video 12 is actually the winner. Although the funny thing is, this thing flips back and forth. Right now it’s showing me which site’s converting. And then I can say, “Okay, well, Video 12 is the winner. Let me just go ahead and try to beat that.”

Initially when I’m starting off my split test, I’m going to create radically different pages to get radically different results. What most people are going to tell you is to test the headline and the colors. That works a little bit, but since those are minor changes, you’re going to get minor results. If you create radically different pages and you test those pages, then you’re going to get radically different results. These results will better improve your overall results and sales numbers.

One of the guys who used to work for me, just emailed me and said, “I’ve got a clean squeeze page and a flash squeeze page and I just want to let you know, the flash one’s beating the ugly one, like you tell everybody to do.” Well, he just wrote me back and he said it’s totally opposite. He said, “Well, dude,” he goes, “It’s ended up pulling away, beating the flashy page (smile).” So you want to test radically different pages over a span of 1,000 clicks, 1,600 clicks, and 3,000 clicks, because the numbers may be too close to judge. Every time you look, it may produce totally different results. So, you need to know when it’s going to be pretty much consistent. I may consider running different tests for 6,000 clicks as well, it all depends.

But my advice to you is that once you find the page that pulls the best, go in and work on the minor things such as changing the headline or the background and split testing. One background versus the other. Only change one variable at a time so that you can see which one is giving you the best results.

Best Regards,

Matt Bacak

Need support? Go here ->
http://mattbacaksupport.com

If you have a domain but you find it difficult to load on the server don’t dispair. You’ll first need to purchase hosting so that you can host your website somewhere. Now once you’ve got your hosting account , you’ll be given a cPanel username and password. This basically allows you to have an HTML site. But in order to set up your site you’re going to need some software. What I would suggest is using a free software package called FileZilla. You can go to http://filezilla-project.org/download.php. What you’re going to do is you’re going to download it. It’s a free piece of software and you download it to your computer. FileZilla is an FTP piece of software which will allow you to upload your files so that your website can be viewed on the internet.

If all of this sounds complicated it really isn’t. If you simply follow these steps I’m about to give you and if you take a look at the tutorial videos I have on promotingtips.com member access area, you’ll be fine. Once you create your first website it gets easier. Also, you don’t have to do it yourself if you don’t have the desire to do so. Simply hire a college student in any graphic design program or go to any online freelance site like rentacoder.com, elance.com or guru.com to have your website set up for you for very little. But if you want to know how to do it yourself you’re going to need three things really. You’re going to need your cPanel login from your hosting account, your domain and FTP access.

Now, just because you have a domain does not mean that you’re going to be able to do anything to your website or load anything up. What you need to have available is a place where all of your data is going to be hosted and stored. This is going to be your hosting account. So what you want to do, when you open up FileZilla are a few things. In the upper left-hand corner, it’s going to say “host.” And you’re going to type in your domain name there. Now, I would not put http:// or www in front of it. Simply type in the exact name of your site with the .com extension. Don’t put anything before your website name. So, let’s just say it was PromotingTips – that’s one of my sites. I would put in PromotingTips.com. Then it will ask you to enter your host name as well. You’re going to put in the username and password for your cPanel hosting account. Don’t worry about the port. That’s not a concern. The system will know what it is immediately.

Once you’ve completed those steps you’ll then have to enter the Quick Connect. On the left-hand side of the screen you’re going to see all the files on your computer. You’re going to do a search to find the file that you want to load to your FTP site. Once you do that you’ll then see on the right-hand side all of the files for your website. When you log in, it’s going to give you a bunch of different files. You want to go into the “Public HTML” folder. There you’ll see, on the right-hand side, when you log into what’s called the remote site. This is your hosting account. Here it’ll say Public.html or Public_html. Click on that, and then you’re going to see where all of your files are going to be hosted.

What you’ll do next is you’re going to drag the file you want to upload to your website from your computer and drop it on to the actual area inside the Public_html. You’ll need to also note that typically, the main page is always your index page or your main homepage. So, the main page is always the index so you’ll be able to see it there. That’s typically how I do it.  But a word of advice, make sure that you enter your username and password in all lower case characters – with no spaces.  Once you do that, simply log in there and you’re going to look for how to FTP and edit your website. If you’re a member as I mentioned earlier you can view the complete video tutorials of how to set up your website on promotingtips.com members area. I offer a file in there that’s going to show you exactly how it’s all done. That’s going to be able to help you a lot.

Remember, if you’re not inclined to do it yourself hire someone. They are an expert and would most likely get it done quickly. If you want to focus more on the marketing and strategizing of your business let someone else specialize in the setup of your site. A little help can sometimes move you further along much quicker so that you can focus on profits rather than tasks that just consumer your time. It’s really up to you.

Best Regards,

Matt Bacak

Need support? Go here ->
http://mattbacaksupport.com

One of students did an affiliate broadcast on Twitter with myself and Shawn Casey. He was puzzled because up until that point, on Twitter, he only managed to get 33 clicks, no sales and no followers. I wish I could have told him he was doing something wrong, but the truth of the matter is Twitter is not the marketing tool that many believe it to be.

There’s a direct correlation between the amount of money you’re making and the amount of time you spend on Twitter and it’s not a positive correlation. What I mean by that is you can lose focus of the fundamentals that really put the moolah in your pocket.  The fundamentals work. The fundamentals are articles. The fundamentals are, pay per click. Twitter, to me, like all social media is about friendship and building relationships. It’s about online networking. It’s just like going to a networking meeting, sitting around a room with a bunch of people that are looking to pass leads back and forth. Most of the people in the room are dead broke. That’s why they’re there looking for people. So, what I always tell people is, don’t get caught up in it. If you’re not making a million dollars, then don’t waste your time on Twitter.

I was asked to speak at a social media conference and I was actually one of the first speakers. I couldn’t believe they had me present first because I told them I wasn’t too big on social media. However, they still wanted me to speak because I had 50,000 people at the time following me on Twitter. I said, “Fine, I’ll go talk about this.” When I got up on stage I said, “Yeah, look, I’ve got 50,000 people on Twitter. I’ve got 5,000 friends on Facebook. I’ve got all this stuff.” And I said, “But you know what? Let me just tell you something. You guys want to learn how to make money on social media? Everybody, raise your hand if you want to learn how to make money in social media?” Of course, everybody’s there to learn how to make money in social media. I said, “You want to know how to make real money in social media? You guys are all here to learn how to make money in social media. You’re not going to like my answer. The answer to that is, then create a product called How To Make Money on Social Media, because that’s the only way you’re going to make money on social media, all right?” I’m sure a lot of people were shocked by my answer but it’s the truth. Many people get caught up in the “buzz” and want to be a part of the newest and greatest thing. The fact of the matter is, it’s a lot of hype. You need to stay focused on the real things that can help grow your business.

I used to be an amateur boxer and one thing that is common in all sports is when you are not winning coaches will always tell you to get back to the fundamentals. Social media is not the fundamentals of internet marketing. So, until you’re just kicking butt and taking names and you’re making tons of money because you’re focused on the fundamentals, then you can take a stab at social media if you like. Until then, don’t even waste your time. Focus on articles and submitting those articles, p-p-c and other ways to get your business noticed as these fundamentals will essentially help you grow. Social media is simply an add-on to it all, that is if you’re already making money. Don’t get caught up in the hype. Stay true to your products and offerings as well as your audience. That’s what really matters.

Best Regards,

Matt Bacak

Need support? Go here ->
http://mattbacaksupport.com

Testimonials are one of the most important things. Sometimes people don’t even read anything that you write, but they’ll usually respond only to what other people are saying about your product. Whether they’re buying something, signing up for something, or whatever, testimonials work very well because they are a third party verification.

When testimonials are done correctly they tend to establish some credibility.  However, if they are done poorly they can do a lot of harm. The biggest thing to focus on is making sure that your testimonials are sincere and genuine sounding.  The best way to ensure this is to get them directly from your customers.

Many times people fake testimonials. Not only is this unethical, but if they are all from the same bad writer they will seem insincere and not believable. This will tarnish your credibility. If you are concerned about asking your customers for testimonials, don’t be. A lot of times your customer would be more than willing to give you some feedback and you can select which ones you would like to use. However, be sure you ask them for permission first.

So if you’re asking for a testimonial for your newsletter, then have people look over your newsletter. Say, “Hey, look, can you give me a testimonial and tell me what you feel about this? How do you like it?” People will email you. You could also bribe people and say, “Hey, listen, if you give me an honest testimonial and tell me how you really feel, I’ll give you this,” and you can give them a free report or something else.

One thing that’s important for you to include is the person’s full name, location and any other information you can come up with, such as a photo (not a stock photo) or a website. You definitely don’t want to use generic titles that come across as phony, but try to be as specific as possible.  For example, if they have a PHD or other certification, you may want to list these as they will add even more credibility to your offer.

Another thing you may want to consider is to only select the comments that are more specific. Choose those that focus and list the benefits they received from having used your product. Comments like, “It was great, I recommend them” are too general. The longer and more specific, the better the testimonial. But do try to keep them to five lines or less.

Overall, I can’t see any reason not to get testimonials. I say, the more the merrier because you can use them on your squeeze pages or anywhere it is going to help you. Not only will it help your conversion rate but overall they bring in greater results. I’ve listed pages of testimonials and it worked like a charm. Testimonials are very important. So, if you’re not using them consider using them as soon as possible. You’ll definitely see greater results.

Best Regards,

Matt Bacak

Need support? Go here ->
http://mattbacaksupport.com