How To Discover Who Is Visiting Your Web Site, How Long They Stay And How They Found You For FREE
You ought to be checking and analysing the stats of your web site. You can get a lot of useful information this way. And you can tweak your web site accordingly.
How do you discover all this?
And for minimal cost?
Well, there’s a great FREE tool you can use to check the stats of your website. You can discover…
What keywords visitors are using to find your site.
How long your visitors stay on your site.
Where your visitors are coming from.
Discover keywords for your Google Adwords campaign.
What keywords are the most popular.
And loads more.
The tool I’m talking about is www.statcounter.com I’ve used it for awhile and am delighted with it. It’s dead simple and uses diagrams and pie charts for you to analyse what’s going on.
There is a paid version (well, of course there is). But I’ve never updated to it. Had no need to I guess.
So if you want to know what’s going on with your site check out www.statcounter.com today. I think you’ll like it.
Until next time
Mark
Contact Mark for all your direct response marketing needs.
Money in Muck
Mark Attwood of Topskips.com is at it again!
I met met Mark at Ken McCarthy’s System Seminar last autumn. Mark runs a skip hire business using online marketing methods.
Anyway get this. Mark’s business does about £8 million mainly from his online efforts. So what is he up to now?
He’s starting another online business as well. A Portable Toilet hire.
Yes there’s money in muck.
all the best
Mark Pocock
Contact me for all your direct mail marketing needs.
Ex-Plumber, Now Google Adword Expert, Reveals His Secrets Which Have Generated £1.2 Million Extra Sales For a Single Campaign
If you want to know more about how to use Google Adwords, their Pay Per Click system, then I’ve got a real treat for you this week.
Let me introduce Google Adwords expert George Lane to you. George has helped companies generate extra sales of £1.2 million through his Adwords expertise.
George has very graciouslygiven up some of his time to answer some of the main Google Adword questions around. So you can make your own campaigns more profitable by generating more clicks at lower cost.
So away you go George…..
Can you give me a short intro about yourself?
Well, I used to be a plumber & heating engineer before getting into the marketing business. Actually that’s what got me into it – I learned about pay per click and direct marketing to build the plumbing business, then got into it from there.
Anyway, I’m a little less bad at marketing than I am at plumbing, so opted for least dirty and strenuous of the two.
What services do you offer clients?
Only two: getting traffic and converting it into sales. Of course there’s more going on under the hood – and an awful lot of detail, but when you boil it down, that’s all I really do.
It seems to work though, according to my clients. Kicking sales up by 6 or 7 figures isn’t unusual these days.
What are the most common mistakes you see in a person’s PPC campaign?
There are tons of niggly technical mistakes I see all the time, but the most common – and the most damaging – are to do with marketing in general and how people approach PPC.
The number one mistake (and the one that causes the greatest losses) is mis-matching your product to the market and making an irrelevant/lame/nonexistent offer.
I know, its basic marketing.
But common sense seems to vanish when people open an Adwords account.
The trick is to keep everything – that’s keywords, ads, landing pages, the whole lot – as relevant as you can possibly make it.
That means you adjust your ad and offer based on the keyword your prospect is searching for.
For example, if you’re a widget dealer and you’re bidding on the keyword “blue widgets”, make sure your ad, landing page and offer for that keyword contain plenty of references to blue widgets.
Same goes for every other keyword you’re bidding on.
What can a PPC person do to improve their Click Through Rates?
Three ways:
1. Go through the exact searches people used to find your Adwords ad. Then add any irrelevant words/phrases you come across as negative keywords. This’ll reduce wasted impressions and bump up CTR. (Running the Adwords Search Query Report is a good place to start)
2. Match your ads to your keywords. Start with one keyword per adgroup, and write an ad specifically for that keyword.
3. Split test your ads. Yes, it’s the oldest tip in the pay per click book, but it’s been flogged to death for a reason: it works. Just don’t get too obsessed with CTR. Use the Super Split Tester tool to decide a true winner based on revenue per impressions: http://www.supersplittester.com/
What’s the most important thing a newbie to PPC should bear in mind when they set up their Google account for the first time?
Choose your keywords carefully.
Start with a couple of the most relevant ones as exact match’s (that means putting the keyword in [square brackets]) and test. You can always add more later.
Also avoid any settings where it seems Google is offering to “help”. For example, bidding on your behalf, deciding winning ads for you, etc.
Believe me, these options only help Google get more money, not you.
Name 3 ways people can reduce their cost per click?
1. Increase your quality score. The higher the quality score, the lower your cost per click. You can do this by increasing CTR, Relevancy and Landing Page Quality.
2. Check your server logs/Adwords reports for modifiers of your main keywords – like locations, sizes, model numbers, colours etc. Then bid on these “long tail” keywords that have near zero competition and super low cost per click.
3. Split test your landing pages to increase conversion. If you’re converting higher than your nearest competitors, you can afford to pay more for a click, and still make money.
What’s the biggest difference you’ve seen in managing a new client’s Adword account?
There are so many, it’s hard to tell. But one that always sticks with me is a driver training company I worked with. They got a 428% lift in enquiries, without spending any more money on Adwords.
They tell me that means about £1.2M in extra sales this year.
How should someone choose a PPC management company?
That’s a tough one. You see, most people choose a PPC management agency before they’ve got the rest of their marketing in order, which is a huge mistake.
They expect the management company to wave a magic wand and somehow increase sales. But the problem is, if your website doesn’t convert already, or if your sales process sucks, no amount of PPC optimisation is going to save you.
There are two ways to fix this. The first is to hire a damn good direct marketer or direct marketing agency before you stat buying clicks. They’ll help you fix up the basics before you go to battle on Adwords.
Otherwise, you should speak to PPC companies’ with broader direct marketing experience as well as Adwords skills.
Remember - pay per click on its own is useless. You have to combine it with a kick-ass high converting website to make your investment pay, or you’ll slowly go bankrupt.
Your PPC agency should not only understand this, but actively help you increase sales after the click as well.
What’s the biggest difference you’ve seen in taking over a PPC campaign until you’ve got one running efficiently as you’d like it?
It depends what you metrics mean the most to you…
If it’s CTR, I’ve pulled consistent 40-60%’s in some cases.
If it’s cost per click, I’ve dropped them by around 70-75%, without losing traffic.
If it’s conversation rate, some clients have gone from around 5% up to 47%.
And if it’s cost per acquisition, one client was paying about £130 per lead, and after a bit of testing, that was reduced to just under £30 (in a market where cost per click was £8 - £12, which is quite remarkable).
Any tips on writing great PPC ads? Where do you get ideas for writing effective PPC ads?
It’s a fine balance between writing good compelling copy but at the same time, keeping the ad relevant to what the prospect is searching for.
For inspiration, you can check out what article or book headlines are working well on Digg or Amazon, then rewrite them for your market.
But often I just use some good old direct mail swipe files or I use one of these formulae:
Ad Headline: Keyword
Ad Line 1: Benefit
Ad Line 2: Feature or call to action
Ad Headline: Benefit/Promise
Ad Line 1: Proof
Ad Line 2: Call to action
(Hint: Try to get the keyword into the headline and at least once in the body copy.)
Of course, there’s no right or wrong way to write Adwords ads. Split test them and learn as you go.
What words have you found most effective in your PPC ads?
The words the person just searched for.
The more your ad mirrors the prospects search term, the higher your click through rate will be.
Is there any difference in registering your campaign in the US and the UK?
I’ve never noticed a difference, but some people swear there’s a difference in cost per click between a dollar and a sterling account. I think Google is a little too long in the tooth to be duped by such a simple cheat though…
My advice is to have your account match the currency you’re selling in. If you’re selling in dollars, register your account in US dollars. If you’re selling on pounds, register it in pounds. It makes calculating ROI so much easier – you don’t have to factor in currency conversions and currency fluctuations.
How can people avoid the Google Slap?
Build tight, relevant Adwords campaigns.
Make the prospects journey from keyword to ad, and ad to landing page totally consistent with the original keyword.
(It really is that simple. Much to the consternation of some ebook peddlers, there are in fact no quality score or Google slap “secrets”.)
Any final thoughts?
Remember two things:
1. Google loves relevancy. If your ad to landing page process is relevant to the keyword, you’ll trump 98% of your competitors on click costs, click through rate and quality score.
2. Get your money back fast. Make your sales process tight enough so that you at least break even on your Adwords spend. Consider relatively low cost sacrificial front end products to pay your Adwords bill. This’ll help you scale up rapidly while building a list for back end sales.
George’s web site is www.laneconsultancy.com
Attention Ford Car Owners! Would This Ford Ad Motivate You?
As you probably know, postcard marketing can be a great way to generate leads for your business. That is, when it’s done in the right way.
Postcard method is relatively low cost. And can help you drive traffic to a web site or get people to respond to your offer.
Anyway, I’ve just received a postcard mailing from Ford this morning. You can view both sides of the postcard by clicking here.
I’d love to say this was a great marketing piece. Especially with the way the car industry is in at the moment. They need every bit of help they can get.
However…
Take a look at the main side. The one with the smiling couple. And the headline:
“Expect More Value”.
WTF??
What is going on here?
The lady is smiling at the guy. Is she thinking “How can I get more value from the lazy good for nothing?”
What is the point of having the happy couple here? I think the graphic designer had too much input here.
Then there’s the big tick.
Hey, have Nike somehow got involved??
Then there’s Value Service….What’s that?
There’s a dangerous assumption going on here. That people like reading junk mail. Sorry. It ain’t true. This simply doesn’t happen in real life.
And if Mr Prospect should happen to read the second side then there are still some glaring mistakes.
How can they check the Master cylinder, Brakes and the other 29 points in just a few minutes?
How about bribing me with an irresistible offer?
What about say a free car wash… a free upholstery clean… 50% off my next service….anything to make me not want to miss out. To get me to respond. To say “YES!”
The there’s no call for action. No making me feel special. That I’m getting a bargain.
And as for Ford’s slogan “Feel The Difference”….well ,… no wonder the car industry is in a mess.
All in all not a great postcard.
I think the postcard is too Ford focused. And not customer focused.
What do you think?
Comments welcome.
Until next time.
Mark
Revealed The Shocking Gardening Ad For Lazy Gardeners
If you want to discover how NOT to write an ad then the gardening ad I’m about to show you will just about reveal all.
You can see this non-beauty by clicking here.
But first…NOT another damn gardening ad you say.
Yeah I know what you mean.
Blame the missus. She’s re-hooked into gardening big time. And buys a gardening magazine Grow Your Own nowadays.
She used to grow organic vegetables 20 years ago, supplying the fancy pants Plymouth restaurants. Where they charged silly amounts of money for a lettuce leaf. You know the type of restaurant where they charge you the earth and afterwards you want to dive into the nearest chippie to fill up on. Proper food eh.
By the way if you’re a non-UK reader of this Blog, a chippie is a fish and chip shop. Where they serve the staple diet of the UK man. Cod or plaice fried in batter. Hot chips. Covered with lashings of salt and vinegar. And then wrapped in newspaper. Jeez, this is making my stomach rumble.
Anyway let’s get back to the gardening ad.
Looking at it, what a terrible headline!
The Earthbox Gardening System
Whoopee!
I’ll quote Victor Schwab, author of How To Write a Good Advertisement.
“People don’t want to read advertising. The person has bought the publication for news, entertainment or instruction which is of a helpful personal value.”
And….Schwab goes on to say…
“People would rather read news, comics, stories, articles, editorial or even
Obituaries…than your ad!”
Phew!
Look at the competition you have to get your ad read. So there you have it.
Then the ad promises…
Great Results – No Matter How Green Your Fingers Are.
I dunno about the approach this crowd have used.
Well I do. Looking at this ad surely they should be stressing how simple, easy and quick it is to grow your own veg. Promise fast results.
Clayton Makepeace, a genius copywriter, always says write to the dominant emotion of your prospect. The trouble with this ad there isn’t any emotion.
As you read the ad there are no word pictures flashing through your mind. You’re not seeing those beans, peas, chillies, lettuce whatever growing effortlessly in your mind. You’re not marvelling on the taste of those freshly picked broad beans.
If people buy for emotional reasons not logical ones…well…I’m afraid this ad is sadly lacking. In sales. Not good news.
And if you’re going to talk about “years of research” GET SPECIFIC. Talk real figures. Quote experts. Facts. Don’t be vague – otherwise you’re not believable. And if your prospect doesn’t believe you…. well …. he’s gone.
I think their real headline is buried in their copy. Or part of a headline.
“Increases crop yields, eliminates guesswork and prevents the need to dig, hoe or weed your garden.”
There.
Who wouldn’t mind growing their own veg if they didn’t have to dig their garden. Weed it. Or hoe it. Quite a few I think.
This ad sorta lends its way to The Lazy Man’s Way of Gardening. Perhaps this would be worth testing as a headline. Be interesting to find out.
Is this ad producing a great ROI –Return On Investment?
I doubt it.
And here’s another thing. IF the reader should precious time out of their day to go to their web site then they’re not even building a list. Shocking.
Anyway what do you think?
Do you like the logo? Lay out? Agree or disagree?
Comments welcome.
Until next time
Mark
What A Gutter Cleaner Can Teach You About Borrowing Credibility
Had an email from a friend and Google Adwords expert, George Lane, www.george-lane.com in which he shared an interesting piece of marketing he received through his letterbox.
Incidentally in a few weeks I’m hoping to have an interview with George on this Blog all about Google Adwords and how you can improve your own Adword campaigns. So stay tuned.
Anyway back to the marketing.
The piece in question was from a gutter cleaner. Ben’s Gutters in fact. Actually I never knew there was such a profession. I just thought everyone cleaned their own gutters. Stupid me.
Anyway you can take a look at Ben’s advertising piece by clicking here.
There are some clever and hidden bits of marketing psychology going on these few sentences. I wonder if Ben has written this knowingly or unknowingly. Or perhaps he just thinks “I’m in the neighbourhood and I’ll put one of these through each letterbox. See what happens. Kill two birds with one stone.”
So what’s going on here. The answer is simple.
Firstly Ben is borrowing credibility.
How’s he doing this? Well, it’s almost as if George’s neighbour is endorsing Ben’s services – without giving him a testimonial.
If Ben is deemed good enough to be employed to clean the neighbour’s gutters, well, he must be good enough to clean everyone else’s gutters as well.
A bit of the ol’ herd instinct kicking in here. Follow the crowd. People feel safer if everybody else is doing the same thing. (Personally I hate doing what everybody else does. And my natural inclination is to do the opposite. But hey I’m in the small minority.)
Before I go let me ask you a question. What credibility can you use in your own business? Have you got testimonials from past customers, track record, statistics of performance, etc you can use?
If not, perhaps you can borrow credibility. Just like Ben has done. What do I mean by this?
Well look around for prominent people or statistics in your industry. People who are experts or have been quoted in the media. Numbers quoted in the Financial Times for instance. And quote them in your sales pieces.
See how quoting the Financial Times in your sales message implies FT approval. You do? Great. That’s borrowing credibility.
Secondly, consider this:
If George’s neighbour is having his gutters cleaned why the heck isn’t George having his gutters cleaned as well? Does George want to have a house with dirty gutters? Of course he doesn’t.
So there’s the keeping up with the neighbours scenario. People like to feel better than other people. After all, nobody wants to have their neighbours one up on them. It’s the competitive element. Remember life is very competitive.
Thirdly there’s the personal touch.
A hand written message. Ben’s message doesn’t come across as marketing and advertising. It comes across as a note from a friend. And that’s important.
Why?
Because it by-passes the reader’s BS antennae. It gets in under the reader’s filtering system to avoid reading marketing stuff whereby people are trying to sell you something. A hand written note is a Me to You communication.
Somebody has taken time out to write a personal note to you. Just like a good sales letter should read.
So back to Ben. In just four lines of copy he stirred up a host of emotions in the reader’s mind.
What could he do to improve his response rate?
Written a heap of testimonials with real names and addresses on the page. Also offered a super strong guarantee. AND an irresistible offer.
If he’d have included these he would see his response rates soar.
What do you think?
Comments welcome.
Until next time
Mark
For all your marketing needs visit my site:
www.markpocock.com
How to convert your features into benefits
Spring is in the air and here in Cornwall it’s another glorious day as I write this. And it’s that time of year when people get in their gardens and get gardening. Digging, weeding and planting.
In fact my wife has got the gardening bug so bad this year every time one visits the bathroom her latest gardening magazine in open. And by the way, Grow Your Own is pretty damn interesting.
And that’s where I came across this little ad for seedling plants. You can see it by clicking here.
The company is selling an ingenious way to open their seedling box. Straight away they lead with their USP – unique selling point.
“The only opening propagating cell trays”
See how they turn each feature of their product into a benefit. Remember people buy benefits not features.
Patented book opening is a feature.
The benefit is it allows easier transplanting.
Mind you their headline ad is not very strong. Some smartass has tried to be too cute. They’re tried to entertain. Rather than write a benefit orientated headline. And worse still, it’s a ‘Me’ message.
What else can you learn from this ad?
One more important thing.
I’d have offered a free gift to encourage more people to visit the web site. A report or free draw. Or some incentive.
And if you look at their web site www.rootrainers.co.uk they’re not even building a list. Criminal.
Take a look for yourself.
Comments welcome.
Until next time
Mark
How To Use a Garden Spade To Sell Insurance
March 25th, 2009 by Mark Pocock
How To Use a Garden Spade To Sell Insurance
Here’s an ad which I’ve cut out from the Sunday Papers.
It’s an ad selling garden implements. In this case, a spade….
… BUT Wait.
Take a closer look. Down at the bottom.
The ad is actually selling… wait for it…insurance.
What the heck’s going on here?
Garden spades and insurance? I didn’t realize they go together.
And they don’t do. Somebody is trying to be too cute and clever here. I suspect it’s this particular company’s ad agency.
I wonder what the idea behind this ad is.
The headline has no benefit to the market. Nobody is going to read an ad to try and figure out what it’s about. It’s an ad for gawd’s sake. Nobody reads newspapers to read ads. We read them for news.
Anyway this ad cost a great deal to run. I wonder what the return on it was.
Did you like this ad or not?
Comments welcome.
Cheers
Mark
Click hire if you require any Direct Response Copywriting
www.markpocock.com
How To Instantly Build Rapport With Your Reader
March 9th, 2009 by Mark Pocock
Let’s take a look at a marketing ad selling a Circulation Booster.
First up they’re using a testimonial from what I imagine would be a typical sufferer of circulation problems.
“…After 5 Years of Suffering ….I have no pain or swelling in my legs…
AND
…I have suffered from swollen ankles and they have got considerably worse over the past few months…”
So straight away the ideal prospect for this product can relate to the story.
The more you can get your prospect to nod their head in agreement and say YES to your ad the greater the chance you have of getting a sale.
There’s a good picture of a lady smiling and seeing her circulation improving.
However the ad falls back in one section. Benefits.
Check out the….
Sit Back and see if we can help you
• Improve Circulation
• Reduce swollen feet and ankles
• Alleviate tired and aching legs.
These aren’t really strong enough. How about:
• Improves your circulation so you’re healthier, and there’s less chance of you suffering serious medical conditions.
• You can enjoy long country walks without having your feet and ankles swell up like balloons.
• You can enjoy your gardening, playing with your grandchildren in the park without tiring yourself out.
I know with an ad you’re limited with space. And it can be a struggle to fit everything in. But don’t cut corners.
And check this.
Note the proof elements. And good use of credibility.
“…500,000 units sold…”
“…As seen on TV….” However they slipped up here. Come on name the TV station. Be specific.
Good testimonial from a Doctor.
And you can even get a discount if you have a disability or long term illness.
Not a bad ad. But it could have done with some freebies to help tip Me over the edge.
What do you reckon?
Agree or disagree with what I’ve said?
Until next time
How To Use Simple Coupons To Generate More Leads
November 26th, 2008 by Mark Pocock
Here’s an interesting ad. Now granted, the headline is poor. Click here for the ad
My first thought is this; the ad is selling chairs for you to sit in while reading.
However they’re selling lighting for readers.
Now this company could have written an ad to try and sell off the page.
But they haven’t. And a good job to.
Why?
Because they’re going to generate far more leads they can follow up with rather than going to for the home run - the outright sale straight away.
Instead they’re using a very simple coupon for the reader to fill in and return to them.
(And of course the company being will be able to track where their leads are coming from. To discover their most effective lead generation media.)
You see reading the ad, you’re far more likely to send away for free information, rather than giving your credit card details to a company you may never have heard of before. This is a softer sell.
Far better to gain the trust of your prospect first . Then sell him at a later date.
And of course the ad is helped by the 30 Day Risk FREE Trial in the top right hand corner.
What else could the company have done to increase response?
(And I do think they missed out big time here.)
Offered a free gift for responding by a specific date. “Your’s FREE just for asking for our brochure. Our way of saying Thank You for responding.”
What do you think?
Comments are always welcome.
Until next time
cheers Mark
For any direct response copy click here.