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We’ve done the research on our keyword, and opened up the competition’s sites to compare their offers. These sites have a wealth of information that we can use to test and tweak our own offer.

When you find something on a competitor’s page that you don’t have, test it against your offer. If it increases response, keep it. If not, discard it. You are using the current market place offers to create a test battery of these elements:

• images
• offers
• price scenarios
• calls to action
• bonuses
• lay out
• emotional appeal
• headlines
• storylines
• deliverability options
• service options
• upsell
• downsells
• shipping options
• site searchability
• usability
• color schemes
• navigation
• e-mail capture mechanisms
• free report offerings
• form layout
• communication formats
• telephone display
• product layout
• descriptions of product
• buttons
• button size

 

If you can see an element on the page, it is something for you to evaluate and possibly test.

There is no reason to ever run out of things to test if you are in a market that has at least a fair amount of competition. By using this thinking and methodology, you will know more about your customer, the competiton and the market.

To learn more on conversion, testing and tracking, visit SEO Rainmaker.

Did you know that you are competing against McDonald’s every day? McDonald’s is a process-driven organization. Their goal is to give you the same experience each and every time you visit a McDonald’s, no matter where it is. The hamburger, fries and the experience will be exactly the same as it was the last time you were in the store.

That sets up an expectation in the customer’s mind that your business will be like a McDonald’s, meaning your service and delivery will be process-oriented and consistently meet expectations the first time. If they are a new customer, they have no experience with you; however, they do have experience with the rest of the world and the offers that they are providing. You need to know what offers they are exposed to and what their expectation for service and deliverability.

What can you do to make sure that you offer is not only competitive in the marketplace but superior to the current marketplace offerings? You just have to look.

You can see all of your competitors’ offers. There is no hiding. You can see and do all your competitive analysis within a few minutes of research online.

Here are the steps:

Create your PPC campaign and find the keywords that convert consistently.

Type a keyword into the search engine that you’re advertising on. The top ten websites are your informational and offer competitors, and your SEO competitors.

Next, open all of the pay-per-click ads that are related to that keyword and print out the associated landing pages. These are your lead capture and conversion-to-sale offers.

Now compare and find the common offers that the visitor will see as he or she moves in the marketplace looking for the products and services related to that keyword conversation.

To learn more on conversion, testing and tracking, visit SEO Rainmaker.

By David Bullock

Let’s look at the mystery of conversion, better known as online salemanship.

With direct mail or any other offline media, it is very difficult to track what is happening with the sales cycle. You don’t know if the letter was delivered or opened. You don’t know anything until the person picks up the phone and makes an order. On the other hand, if you are using the internet as a communication media you can know a great deal about the visitor as it relates to your sales cycle:

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By David Bullock

If you have a website that is supposed to make money, one of the most important activities that you can do is tracking.

Tracking is an electronic way of tagging the people who visit your website. Testing is an electronic way of showing the visitors on your website different versions of your website. Think of it this way. As someone comes into your online store, you greet them.

As you welcome them into the store you place a sticker on them that first counts them and lets you know that they are in the store. As the visitor walks around the store the sticker allows you to see where they are and what they are doing. That is all tracking is. Read the rest of this entry »

By David Bullock

Eye tracking has been around for many years and I really never considered the practical nature of this type of measurement. Until, I was able to read this post that put eyetracking into a series of actionable steps that you can use to evaluate and improve your website.

Normally, eyetracking just takes note of where the eyes of the visitor are going. This (to me) is not relevant if you are looking for the action of the “click”. When visitor is clicking, it is obvious that they are looking at what they are clicking. Thus, I dismissed most of the eyetracking studies that were being generated.

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By David Bullock

Tracking and analysis are the core of analytics. However, many times as I watch small-to-medium online businesses that are looking to make sales, there are little to no analytics processes in place. Basically, they are not paying attention to their businesses.

It starts with gathering the data to be monitored. Monitoring is equivilent to eyesight. If you can’t see anything, you have no chance of making any moves in a positive and profitable direction.

I am not speaking of the analytics program itself. I am talking about the thinking and the processes that should drive the need for analytics. It is easy enough to install a program like Google Analytics or Clicktracks and then do nothing with the data.

What I am speaking to is putting in an actionable process in place that will use the data to make decisions about the business.

Before the business owner can improve a selling process, he or she needs to define, design and document that process. Then, the tools (i.e., counters) that are required can be put to use. Here is how these steps break down: 

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By David Bullock

The terms “gross profit,” “net profit” and “cost” are some of the most commonly misunderstood business terms. Too many times we hear about great and wonderful achievements of revenue generation, usually in one of these forms:

* $1,000,000 in 24 hours

* $10,000 a Week

* $1,000 a Day

There is no indication if these are gross revenue numbers, net revenue numbers or profit reports.

Perhaps you are saying to yourself “Wait a minute…you mean there is a difference?” Read the rest of this entry »

By David Bullock

As a process engineer/scientist, turned sales person, turned online marketer, looking for ways to innovate business is the next logical step.

Thus, I am always looking for new ways to look at the obvious. This is a video that I found some years ago that stretched my thinking so much that I really started to see what was there in front of me and not what I wanted to see. We are all influenced by our own ideas.

The video is called “imaging the tenth dimension” and it will help you to reposition yourself against the background noise that is commonly called life.

For business, the ability to see what other (competition) does not is a huge competitive advantage that should be developed and honed.

Here that video called "imagining the tenth dimension. "

Enjoy your stretching.

For more information, visit SEO Rainmaker.

By David Bullock

Every now and again. I come across a website that really illustrates a best practice. You will always see commentary about the “online or web user experience” and how you should engage the visitor. Instead of talking about user experience – Let me show you.

Bear in mind that I have the idea that website are to be used and are a tool for communication to the market. Your website actually should have a purpose and should “do something”. Not just look nice.

How boring is paint? When was the last time that you got excited about paint?

Here’s great example of creating a perfect online user experience. This site is for people that are looking to paint a room in their home and want to see what it will look like before they buy the paint.

You can actually paint with the image. You can play with this here.

This site gives the user a low cost and easy way to experience the visual effect and the future that they are going to have by purchasing and buying this product and service. The execution is perfect.

I am thinking of how can I structure my sales process and offer so that I can offer a low cost demo of my product and service that allows the user to “consume it” without any time or effort on my part.

Of course setting up such a system will cost money, take time and require creativity. But, what a system that would be if the user could see the “future” that I am trying to provide to them at low cost or risk.

What comes to mind are:

* what if calculators

* simulators

* virtual environments

* models

* mock ups

* assessments

The question is: What can you do for your visitors, prospects and potential customers that will show them what you can do and provide for them that is low cost to you and high value to them.

You would think that paint is boring subject. On this site, the subject is fun and visually appealing. They have moved from the can to the room and the living space itself.

How can you move your product and service into a space where the user is fully engaged and working with your information, product or service?  If you can do this, I speculate that the transaction is almost complete.

To learn more, visit SEO Rainmaker.

By David Bullock

It doesn’t take a lot of words to tell a complete story in the headline.

Telling a complete story that grabs the reader is what your headline should do.

I was just listening to my daughter as she screamed at the top of her lungs for her sister to stop messing with her hair. All I heard was the one word – Stop. I knew immediately it was more than just a casual conversation. And, I knew that I might want to get more information.

But, let’s look at this more closely. There is a marketing lesson here.

The words were coming from someone that I knew. Someone I cared about. And, I’m familiar with the current situation. In essence, I cared about the speaker and my future with the speaker. Further, the situation could affect me if I did not take action.

This is a great example a relevance and how it plays into how your visitor responds to you and your website.

So how does this work online? You have to position yourself as the one to handle the visitors current problem and handle their concerns.

One of the things that is most important in a headline is relevance. Is what you’re saying important to the listener. Too many times we use language that the listener doesn’t care about.

We don’t address their concerns. We don’t address the current situation. We try pull them into our system, not follow theirs.

So, relevance usually goes out of the window at the very beginning.

If we were really in tune with the audience and we took the time to find out what they really care about we would have a better shot at making sales. Headlines are the very beginning of the ad.

In fact, it has been said that the headline is the ad for the ad. If you get the story wrong, you have no chance of moving forward in any conversation with the client.

How can you become more relevant to your visitor?

Make sure you say something that they care about at the very beginning.

What you need to say is testable. Your market will actually help you write headlines (and copy), if you test.

* Yes, there are formulas for headlines.

* Yes, there are headline templates.

* Yes, There are secret headline formulas.

But, in the end you have to connect with your audience. Human to human.

And the only way to connect is to speak to see if what you say and how you say it communicates and get the response that you want.

* Are you relevant to your audience and market?

* What can you do to become more relevant?

* What do you need to know?

* What you need to do?

* What can you change on your site to become more relevant to your audience?

To find out more, visit SEO Rainmaker.