Check the weather, but trust the birds.
May 11, 2010
I've got four dogs, and every morning I go outside to put the dogs into the yard, get them their water, etc. For the past few months (as is pretty typical this time of year in the Dallas area) it's often overcast and breezy. Sometimes the weather looks downright ominous.
For a while I would always check the weather at Weather.com to decide whether or not it was going to rain. If the probability was too high, I would keep the dogs inside. It was often the case, though, that it wouldn't rain even if Weather.com said it probably would.
At one point I made the correlation that when the birds were singing outside, chirping away and having a good ol' time in bird-like fashion, that it definitely would not rain — no matter how bad it looked outside. However, if the birds were silent and the clouds looked heavy, it almost always did rain.
I still check Weather.com when it looks ominous, but it's the birds' opinions that I really trust.
The point of my story is that just because somebody claims to be an authority on a thing doesn't mean you shouldn't trust the knowledge you've personally acquired over the years. The web is chock full of self-proclaimed "gurus" on every imaginable subject (especially Internet Marketing and Search Engine Optimization!), and some of those guys do know a thing or two, but many are only as accurate as Weather.com (sorry Weather guys). They've got a few of the variables right, and won't always lead you astray, but if you base all of your actions on their information alone, you're probably missing out on a lot of success.
I'm writing this now because there are lots of "courses" out there that promise to teach you a step-by-step method for making money online or ranking in the search engines. I got a barrage of emails this morning from some marketers I follow about yet another "magic button" system that does all of the work for you while you sip martinis and eat bon-bons. Sorry if that last sentence wasn't clear, my eyes were rolling around in a reflexive response as I typed it.
I'm not saying there's nothing to be learned from some of these courses. There usually are some kernels of truth in them. The point in this blog post is that you should not take such information as absolute, unchangeable fact. What works today sometimes won't work next year (if it lasts that long).
So if in your personal experience you've found something else to be true, even if it completely contradicts what I or anyone else says, if it's working stick with it. Don't question the birds you've come to trust just because Weather.com says it's going to rain.
Keep up with what successful marketers and SEOs are saying, because it can often give new insights or add an angle to your own knowledge that you hadn't thought of, but if they claim that what you're doing won't last and yet it's been working for many months or even years — who are you going to believe, them or your own eyes?
End the end, it boils down to this: check the weather, but trust the birds.
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How NOT to sell anything online — Ever. (Please, don't do this!)
February 26, 2010
So I was in the market for a new help desk system, and I decided to go with the one that my primary hosting provider uses because it's really great to interact with from the user perspective (in my opinion). I file support tickets with my host all the time to get all kinds of things done, and it's always very straight-forward and easy to do. As I look through the back-end demo on the support software vendor's web site, I see that it does lots of great things that will help my support staff.
Wonderful, I'm ready to buy.
Problem #1: Where's the buy link?
But, wait, how do I buy? I'm looking around on the page describing the various levels of the software I can purchase, but there's no "buy" link next to any of them.
After a few moments of hunting, I finally see it in the upper-right hand corner of the page — masked by its background color. Not easy to see at all.
I click Order Now.
Problem #2: I can't buy without an account.
After clicking Order Now, I'm taken to a screen informing me that I have to create an account or login. What? Why? Why do I need an account to purchase a piece of software?
I'm annoyed, but I start filling out the form. It asks for all kinds of irrelevent information: my address (it's a software download, why do they need my address?), my company name, fax number (does anybody fax anymore?) etc.
At least it doesn't make me verify my email address before logging me in.
Problem #3: I can't buy using the email address I gave them.
After logging into the system using the account I (for some reason) had to create, I have to step through four pages of selections before finally getting to the "make your payment" button (yes, four pages of unnecessary selections).
I click the "make your payment" button — but wait! — I'm informed that I can't purchase using a Gmail email address.
Seriously! They won't take my money because my email address is through Gmail! How ludicrous is that??? On top of that, they inform me of this AFTER I go through four pages of selections and NOT before I create the account!
So after hunting around the account screen, I finally find an 'Account Settings' link where (I assume) I can change my email address to an email address that I never use (since they won't take the one that I use all the time).
Are you sensing what's coming?
I can't change my email address!
Nope, I have to contact their support staff to have my email address changed. Their support staff which is currently offline.
Problem #4: Where's my software?
Rather than going through the process of contacting their support staff, I just logout and create a new account (under an email address that I never use) and walk through the four pages of selections again. I make it to the "make your payment" button again, and, holding my breath — I click it.
It works! I'm taken to WorldPay to checkout. They don't take PayPal (which I prefer to use), but that's okay — I just generate a one-time use credit card number via PayPal and use that instead.
On the checkout page, there's a big box asking for the billing address, and a box below that asking for the zip code. Hmm… do they want my FULL billing address in that box, or just the PO Box number? I don't know, and the help under the Billing Address link doesn't tell me.
I enter in my full billing address and other details and — holding my breath again — click submit.
Yay! It works.
After the payment is made, though, I'm immediately informed that my transaction has to be verified by the vendor before I'll get my software, and that the process will take 24 hours.
What??? Why on earth do you have to verify the transaction? You have my money, where's my download link?
NEVER sell ANYTHING online like this!
The support software these guys sell is stellar, but their sales process is the most painful I've ever had to get through. The ONLY reason I didn't cancel and walk away from it is that I know how good the software is. I actually did walk away for a while before deciding that I had to put up with it in order to get the best software to provide the best support for my customers. Had I even a little less conviction than I do, I would have left them behind (and they would have lost about $300).
I'm telling you about this because you need to know how NOT to sell online. People purchasing online are impatient and easily put off by long and difficult sales processes. The high rate of abandoned orders at major retailers is evidence of this.
When you want people to buy from you, make it work like this:
- Show them the product, complete with description and price and a BIG VISIBLE "BUY NOW" BUTTON (or link).
- When they click BUY NOW, take them immediately to the checkout process. Don't require them to create an account first, and PLEASE don't prevent them from buying just because they use Gmail.
- After the purchase is complete, if it's a digital product, deliver it instantly. Don't wait to "verify" the sale. If your payment processor doesn't support that, GET A DIFFERENT PROCESSOR. There's too many out there that support instant delivery to use one that doesn't.
- If you need the person to have some kind of account with you for support purposes, etc., have them create that account after the sale. Send them directly to the account creation process after purchase, and email them a link to create their account in case they fail to do so. Trust me, when they need support, they'll eventually create an account with you!
Whew. Okay, I had to get that out of my system.
Please let me know your thoughts by leaving a comment on this post.
[Edit]To respond to some of the comments: I'm not giving the name of the software because the purpose of this post is not to bash the vendor. Let me just say that it's a BIG NAME in the help desk market. Also, the software is GREAT, but their sales process is lousy — must be different teams responsible for the two![/Edit]
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$676.08 from 154 visitors.
September 8, 2009
If you've followed my blog for a while, it's likely you've heard me tout the benefits of focusing on razor-targeted keywords to increase the conversion rate of your web site.
To put it simply: keywords that make clear exactly what the searcher is looking for result in a much larger percentage of people buying something. For example, somebody looking for "dallas term life insurance quote" is probably much more likely to buy than somebody searching for "term life insurance." The first searcher is a buyer, the second is quite possibly just looking for information.
This has certainly been the case with a certain web site of mine that holds the number three spot in Google for the name of the product it ranks for. It doesn't get much traffic, but what it does with the traffic it does get is amazing! In fact, in August the site only received 154 unique visitors, but those 154 visitors resulted in 29 sales totaling $676.08 in affiliate income for me.
Twenty-nine sales from 154 visitors is an 18% conversion rate, which is truly excellent for a two-page affiliate web site. (Incidentally, this is the same site I blogged about a while back in this post, which gives more details about the web site.)
This site enjoys such a high conversion rate because it ranks well for a highly targeted set of keywords — the name of the product. It was super easy to rank for, and achieved it's ranking in only six weeks. How did I rank it so well so fast? Simply by putting the site into my 3WayLinks network.
So the next time you sit down to research what keywords you should try and rank your web site for, don't overlook keywords just because they don't get many searches each month. If the keywords are razor-targeted, you'll get a better ranking faster, and often with a bigger bottom line.
Please post your thoughts and questions in a comment below.
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Like what you see? Then subscribe to Marketing Insiders and reap big benefits! By subscribing to my free Marketing Insiders email list, you will regularly receive special member-only insider information, discounts and freebies. You will also be notified when new articles are posted here at the blog. It's absolutely free to subscribe, and you can leave the list at any time. For subscribing today, I will give you a valuable free gift as well! |
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Jonathan Leger has been earning his living online full-time since the fall of 2004. He regularly posts advice about search engine optimization (his current passion), AdSense and Internet Marketing. He is the creator of a suite of popular software tools, including: Jonathan L Leger 
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