Posted by:
Julie McManus
May 30, 2008
Issue #429
Dear Business Builder,
Every day I open the morning paper with anticipation. I think I’ve mentioned in the past I’m a voracious newspaper reader … one of a dying breed.
But, it seems I’ve also turned into a bit of a bad economic news junkie. Perhaps it has to do with my many years working for a perma-bear financial newsletter publisher.
In a sad twist of fate, when you work for someone advising people in a bear market … every bit of bad economic news is in fact good news for business.
I can’t get enough of this information … even though it depresses the crap out of me. It’s like a car wreck and I can’t look away. It’s not as if I’m actually happy about this news or how it’s affecting the lives of many Americans … including many people I know.
It’s just I find it fascinating … how much further can the dollar actually fall? How much further will housing values decline (mine included)? Will we ever return to a time of easy credit … and which banks will actually make it out of the crisis? And don’t get me started on the price of oil … does what goes up, ever really come back down … not bloody likely!
So, you can imagine my (sick) delight when an e-mail hit my inbox with the subject line: Online retail Growth is Slowing. Oh my gosh, more bad news to feed my crazy obsession.
So bracing myself for the worst, I opened the e-mail expecting a tragic harbinger for the future of Internet marketing.
It actually turned out to be good news for my beloved industry.
In fact, according to eMarketer™, although consumers are actually spending less, this will create more of a hardship for retail stores than for online retail outlets.
This is simply because the core of online buyers are more affluent and tend to ride out economic downturns better than lower- and middle-income consumers. eMarketer™ estimates that US retail e-commerce sales (excluding travel) will reach $146 billion in 2008, up a whopping 14.3% over 2007.
But they do warn that we should expect to see the overall growth of online sales decline over the next few years. It’s just an inevitable sign of the maturation of the online retail channel … but certainly not cause for panic.
In fact eMarketer™ cites several reasons to be optimistic about the future of Internet retailing. Let me tell you about one of them …
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Posted by:
Julie McManus
May 23, 2008
Issue #424
Dear Business Builder,
Happy Friday and good to see you back!
Bigger isn’t necessarily always better … so there I’ve said it! Yet, there’s a drive in the direct response web marketing community to generate massive opt-in lists with very little pre-qualification. No matter the market, there seems to be a push to capture every Tom, Dick and Harry that’s willing to give you an e-mail address … so long as you can count them in your list total.
Perhaps it’s the age old story of the man with the biggest list … picks up all the babes at the bar. Isn’t that how it goes?
I’m not suggesting that everyone give up their list building efforts, and pack it in. But I am suggesting you take a closer look at your list building strategies to determine how to capture the most qualified leads that will convert quickly and ultimately give you a healthy and ongoing return on your investment.
Generating leads like a game of hide and seek!
First let’s classify our leads into 3 different (and brilliant) categories … there’s no sense making this harder than it seems …
Cold – You can generate cold leads in many different ways. Cold leads come on file knowing absolutely nothing about you, your company or your offers. Typically they’ve come on file because they wanted to give their opinion, entered a sweepstakes or generally been enticed by some carrot that is loosely (or not at all) related to your company’s offers. It stands to reason that prospects that come on file with little or no interest in what your company has to offer will potentially do two things … convert poorly and eventually report you as spam.
Warm – Warm leads are typically generated by offering something of interest to the prospect that is in direct correlation to a search they’ve done or the topic of a site they’ve visited. Warm leads may not be familiar with your company as the provider of what they’re looking for, but they’ve demonstrated a specific interest. Warm leads often come on file by responding to free offers for reports, white papers, newsletters or to receive access to specialized information your company can provide. Warm leads can convert really well when there is a strong conversion marketing series in place that is closely related to the original lead gen. offer.
Hot – In the lead generation arena everyone wants leads that will ultimately convert to a sale. No sense spending lots of money and time promoting to people that don’t open your e-mails and could absolutely care less about your offers. And of all the categories, hot leads are the most likely to succeed. Hot leads have put their money were their mouth is. They’ve responded to low price, shipping and handling or trial offers in which the actual product is shipped. Oftentimes, all it takes for a hot lead to convert to a full paying customer is one or two strong conversion promotions and a sweet upsell offer. I’ve seen hot leads convert from a low price trial offer to a full paying offer to the tune of a 70% conversion rate. And then a good percentage of those customers go on to become lifetime customers.
So now that we’ve classified our leads, let’s take a look at …
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Posted by:
Julie McManus
May 16, 2008
Issue #419
Dear Business Builder,
TGIF my friends and welcome back to In the ‘Net Trenches! Another week bites the dust. I hope you’re headed into a weekend full of fun and relaxation.
In last week’s issue, we talked about my five-step process for researching web sites that …
- Attract your best customer demographic …
- Speak to your prospects’ psychographic interests …
- Command a large volume of traffic …
- Attract direct response buyers …
- Are committed to your success!
This week, we’re going to take a closer look at banner ad sizing and take the mystery out of what you see on web media rate cards.
As I mentioned in previous issues, banner ads can be challenging to make work. But, in my opinion, they are worth the effort to try simply because the traffic potential is huge. If you can make banner ads work for your offers, you’ll quickly be in the money!
So, let’s get to it!
Making the switch from inches to pixels …
In your research of web media, you’ll find that websites offer many different ad sizes … all in pixels. Pixels can be confusing at first, especially if you’re making the switch from buying print media.
But after reading today’s issue, you’ll have a handy dandy little cheat sheet to take along when you start your ad negotiations!
Because today, we’ll take a look at the five most common ad sizes you’ll see on almost every rate card. And, I’ll give you the lowdown on each.
Let’s just start right at the top of the page …
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Posted by:
Julie McManus
May 9, 2008
Issue #414
Dear Business Builder,
Happy Friday and welcome back to In the ‘Net Trenches. In last week’s issue, we discussed an often overlooked opportunity for driving website traffic beyond Google and SEO. It’s paid Web media. We also took a closer look at several different types of paid media available for advertising your wares on the Internet.
Well, from that information, one big question arose. It’s simply the question of “where.” Where are you buying media? What websites are working for you?
Oh, wouldn’t you just like to know …
The inherent problem with the question of “where” is that my “where” may be very different from your “where.” And that’s simply because the products I market and my customers are likely different from your products and customers.
So rather than me taking the easy way out and making this week’s issue one big list of websites, let’s take a little closer look at my research process and see how you might make it work for you.
Web media research can be a painstaking process. It can take a considerable amount of time and testing to find the sites that will work for you. But don’t let that stop you, because once you find a few that work for your offer … finding others like them is as easy as breeding bunny rabbits.
Five steps to finding the sites that can work for you!
Step 1: Let your customer be your guide …
Knowing your customer is hands down the most important piece of information you can have when marketing your products and services online … and offline for that matter.
If you don’t have a clear picture of who your customers are, I suggest you start doing some research immediately. One excellent way to do that is by surveying your existing customers. A great tool for doing e-mail and online surveys can be found at www.surveymonkey.com.
Core survey questions should have to do with customer demographics. Demographics are simply the statistics of a population – age, gender, income level, geographic location, marital status, etc.
Armed with this information, you can then start thinking like your customers and looking for websites they might be likely to visit. A tool I like for researching a website’s demographics is www.quantcast.com. It will also tell you if a site accepts advertising and recommend other sites that have a similar demo to the one you’re researching.
Here’s an example of my demographic – rich, old, white guys that live in the United States, Canada and Europe. So when researching Web media, I think of where my rich, old, white guys might like to hang out – news sites, financial sites, political sites … I’m sure you get the picture.
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Posted by:
Julie McManus
May 2, 2008
Issue #409
Dear Business Builder,
Welcome back to In the ‘Net Trenches. I’m really happy you’ve decided to join me again today.
Last week, I revealed a really “big” secret about how to get tons of traffic to your website. And no, it’s not some newfangled do-this-then-do-that, step-by-step system. It doesn’t involve social media sites and befriending thousands of people. And it’s not Google Pay-Per-Click or Search Engine Optimization.
The funny thing is … I never realized how big a secret it really was until recently. To me, it was just business as usual.
So, what the heck is the secret you say? What? You didn’t read last week’s issue!?
Okay then, I won’t beat around the bush …
The easiest way to get tons of traffic to your website is to (drum roll please) … PAY FOR IT!
And how exactly do you do that? Well, that’s what we’re going to explore today.
The Wacky World of Web Media
It amazes me how many online marketers completely ignore this opportunity. Web media seems to be the ugly stepsister of the web marketing world … definitely the marketing sloppy-second to Search Engine Optimization and paid search … and certainly not as flashy and Hollywood as Social Marketing.
Yet, unlike paid search, web media affords an opportunity to reach a nearly endless amount of prospects … at a cost that can be completely controlled … with results that can be measured without question.
So why is it that more online marketers don’t add it to their marketing mix?
Perhaps they lack knowledge … are afraid it won’t work for them or think it’s too expensive … or maybe because no “superstar web marketing guru” is talking or writing about it (keeping this one their inside secret) … well, let’s rectify that, shall we?
Web media is too expensive and won’t work for me …
If you ask me, this is a huge fallacy … pure rumors spread by people that have never given media a fair shot or have never taken the time to figure out how to make it work for them.
But not all web media is created equal. As a responsible web marketer, you can’t listen to what they say. You have to find out for yourself! And this means testing.
As a smart direct response marketer, you need to allocate time and money to testing not only ad copy, ad layout, offers and prices – you also have to traffic drivers. Consider the media placement for your prospect list … it’s your traffic driver. The thing that get’s people to your website. And any list can work at the right price; it’s simply a numbers game.
If your list brings in enough prospects that convert and generate enough revenue to cover the cost of the media placement — you win. If not, you lose and go back to the drawing board. It’s as simple as that.
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