Dan Lok
People tell me all the time that their websites "don't convert."
(Not sure what "conversion" is? It's that "magical"
transformation that turns a site visitor into a product/service
buyer)
If you're a website owner who's unhappy with the business
your Internet presence is generating, I wouldn't be surprised
if you think your copy is the culprit, too. A lot of people
think that if there's a problem with conversion that the sales
copy must be at fault.
This is WRONG THINKING and potentially fatal to your website
success.
Don’t misunderstand me. My business is copywriting. It's my
bread and butter. (Also my caviar and champagne!) I come
from a traditional sales and marketing background where
the emphasis is on "words that sell."
The world's most brilliant sales letter for the world's most
incredible product won't necessarily generate the through-
the-roof results you might expect. The truth is that turning
a casual site visitor into a "here's my credit card take
whatever you want" buyer takes MUCH MORE than just effective
copywriting.
Converting prospects into clients and customers takes more
than a super headline. More than a list of "what's in it
for you". More than an ironclad guarantee and more than
a page of testimonials from celebrities and authorities.
This isn't a war that will be won with words. You need more
much more.
If you think of your website as a high-powered sports car,
your sales letter is the engine. But as any racer on the
NASCAR circuit will tell you, without the right fuel and
other essential components, an engine can't run smoothly and
a car will never be first to the checkered flag.
I don’t care if you have the most powerful "engine" in the
world the greatest sales letter ever written. If you're not
taking advantage of technology and leveraging human psychology
in your sales and marketing efforts, you're simply out
of the race.
I usually wear my copywriter's "hat" when I do the rant and
load you up with lots of ideas for creating great sales
messages. The how's and why's the do's and don'ts the nuts
and bolts.
But this time around, I don't want to focus on the engine.
Instead, we're going to make a "pit stop" to look under
the hood of "killer" websites and talk about everything
that's working to power their success.
Conversion Secret #1: Less Can Be More (Why the QUALITY
of Your Traffic is More Important than the Quantity)
The number of people that visit your website is meaningless
if they don't buy anything when they're there. You can have
ten thousand people hitting your site a month, but if they're
looking for camping equipment and you're selling baby strollers,
you're not going to convert a single visitor.
And if you're paying per click, this will kill you. Your
marketing dollars are going up in smoke.
On the other hand, you can have less traffic, but if they’re
targeted, you’ll have a very high conversion rate. If your
baby stroller site has a banner ad at a baby formula store,
chances are the people who click through will be more likely
to buy from you.
Here's something you MUST keep in mind: "more likely to buy"
doesn't mean that they will buy. That’s why tracking your
traffic is so important. You have to know exactly where your
traffic is coming from.
Are they from Per-Pay-Click? Are they from affiliates?
Are they from offline marketing? What percentage is from what
promotion? Unless you know the answers, you can't build
on your success.
You can't improve something you can't measure. W. Edwards
Deming, management expert.
A steady flow of QUALITY traffic and information about where
it comes from will affect your conversion rate just as much
as the quality of your sales message.
Conversion Secret #2: Don't Let A Good Answer Get Away
(Exit Poll)
No one expects a 100% conversion rate, of course. You may
dream about it, but, depending on what you’re selling, if
you're getting a 2-3% conversion, that's pretty damn good.
Okay, you're not converting 97% of the people that come
to your site. But does that mean that their visit has to go
into the "lost cause" column? No way!
If you paid to have those people visit, you can't just let
them get away! You need to get some kind of return on your
investment. Why not do an exit pop-up survey, asking them
why they’re not buying?
Want to really get a visitor's attention. Use an audio
pop-up. When people leave your site you can have a pop-up
with an audio portion like this:
Wait, before you go, could you please help me out? I'm not
trying to sell you anything, I just need some information.
Could you tell me the single biggest reason that you’re not
giving us a try today? What’s the ONE reason that’s stopping
you from purchasing (my product name)? Just fill out the box
below and click on the submit button. Your opinion matters
to me...
Boom! You've just created your own "consumer feedback forum"
and you haven't spent a penny on some high-priced focus groups.
Once you get a bunch of responses to your exit poll, you'll
be able to identify patterns in what people say. Use what you
learn to make the changes that you know for certain will
bump up your conversion rate.
Success and failure shouldn't be based on guesswork or
assumptions. It doesn't matter what you think is the reason
people aren't buying. It doesn't matter what I think is
the reason people aren't buying.
The only thing that matters is what your customers think
that's the "pulse" of the marketplace and the lifeblood of
your future business. And with an exit survey, your customers
will tell you what you need to do in order to convince them
to buy your product!
People consider me a marketing wizard because I'm so good
at market research. Well, I may be a "wizard," but I'm not
a genius, and I certainly didn't earn my Ph.D in marketing.
That's because you don't have to be marketing genius to get
your finger on the pulse of your industry.
Here's the secret: I am not the marketing wizard. You’re not
the marketing wizard. Your CUSTOMER is the marketing wizard.
All you have to do to learn the "mysteries" of more sales is
ASK your customers. And make sure you ask the people who
decided not to be your customers, too.
Just ask and they’ll tell you. Then take what you've
learned, incorporate it into your sales message, and
watch the "no sales" turn into "sales" so fast that
you'll get a speeding ticket for all that fast-moving,
fast-buying traffic!
Conversion Secret #3: Take a Tip from the Tortoise
(slow and steady wins the race)
Far too many Internet marketers try to close the sale
with one step. Are you one of them?
Do you run an ad in some ezines, post a couple of
Pay-Per-Click ads, then sit back, relax and wait to enjoy
"the show"? Do you assume that people will notice the ad,
read the ad, get excited by the ad, go to your site, read
your sales pitch, pull out their credit cards and buy from you?
Do you expect to accomplish all that with ONE STEP?
Give me a break. What are you thinking?
That's like you’re trying to have sex on the first date.
You might get away with it. (You might get some sales and be
profitable) But chances are, without a little coaxing from
you at every step in the process, you'll be going home alone.
Take it slow, will ya?
Show some class. Have some manners. Get to know each other.
Share some stories. Make a connection. Develop a relationship
before you try to close the deal. People buy from people
they trust. So you’ll make a lot more sales if you take
the time to develop a solid relationship.
How do you convince website visitors that you're one of the
"white hats"? Start building that relationship. One way
is by giving more than you get.
Give them a free report. Give them a free mini-course.
Give them a free ebook. Give them a free chapter.
(Are you getting the idea that "free" may be the most important
word in relationship-building on the Internet?)
Bribe them and get them to give you their name and email so
that you can follow up with them using an autoresponder.
And don't forget to make it simple.
One easy-to-use option is a hover ad that drops down on your
visitor’s screen when they visit your site, inviting them
to "opt-in" to your free offer. Why a hover ad? Testing
shows hover ad gets more attention than traditional pop-ups.
A more advanced way and to some a less "savory," but extremely
effective way to capture contact information is to make your
home page an opt-in request.
Basically, a visitor can't get to the rest of your site
without providing contact information. You qualify them
before you let them read your sales pitch! That’s pretty
brilliant if you ask me!
The opt-in doesn’t have to be fancy. And it definitely
shouldn't be very long. Just a killer headline and some
equally killer benefits. That’ll do it.
A good example of this kind of approach in action can be
found by clicking here!
Don't blow it! When you follow up with them, you don’t just
want to pitch them. You want to deliver value in your
autoresponder messages. Educate them. Teach them something.
Then just have a little plug at the end.
Remember I said that people buy from people they trust. If
you're constantly selling things, then you're a salesperson
and your motives are immediately suspect.
But if you're constantly giving things away, sharing ideas,
giving more than you're getting, you're a valuable resource
a good friend, a trusted advisor.
(There's the secret password -- trust!)
And the beauty is what you give away doesn't have to cost
you a penny.
Let’s say you’re selling an ebook, you can actually take
the first 3 chapters of your ebook and turn them into a series
of autoresonder messages. This is a great way to give them
a taste of what you’re selling and to prove that you're
the "real deal."
Conversion Secret #4: Hear Ye, Hear Ye (Audio on the Internet)
When I talk about copywriting, I often talk about how important
it is to engage the reader's senses. Make them see with word
pictures. Make them feel with hot-button language. The more
senses that are involved, the more likely it is that your
prospect will be sold.
Using audio on your site is a sense-sation.
With audio, you appeal to a completely different sense than
the average site. The web is full of visual appeal, but with
audio, you suddenly connect with a visitors ears with a whole
new component -- a verbal component.
Your spoken words will strike an emotional chord with visitors
and connects on a "human" level in an otherwise electronic world.
And here's something that every website needs: excitement.
Because it's rare, audio is unusual and attention-getting.
It's brand new, instead of the "same old, same old."
(This won't be true forever, of course, but for now, you can
take advantage of audio's scarcity.)
Your audio features don’t have to be limited to you. You can
also use audio testimonials. Instead of just having a written
testimonial, why not offer a "listen to what this satisfied
customer" opportunities and add audio testimonials to your
sales page.
Don't let your fear of the unknown or a fear of failure hold
you back. You don’t have to be a techie to utilize and
implement these technologies. If you've got the will, I'll
show you the way:
This is a list of website conversion tools that I use and
recommend to my clients so that they can add "bells and
whistles" quickly, easily, and inexpensively.
by clicking here!
Okay, now my secrets are your secrets. The same tricks and
techniques that I've used to achieve astronomical traffic
conversion levels are now at your disposal.
They've been tested and refined and re-tested. They've worked
for me and they've worked for my clients who, by the way,
paid me a fortune to implement them on their behalf.
I know they'll work for you. Let me know when they do. I'd
like to add your success story to an upcoming issue of the Rant.
Stay Lok-ed and loaded for success,
********************************
A former college dropout, Dan Lok transformed himself from
a grocery bagger in a local supermarket to a multi-millionaire.
Today, Dan is one of the most sought-after business mentors
on the Web, as well as a best-selling author. His reputation
includes his title as the World's #1 Website Conversion Expert.
To find out what Dan is up to now, visit him
by clicking here!
Today's Motivational Reading
Listen, Pause, Clarify and Validate
Michael Angier 
Our ability to communicate effectively is one of the most
precious skills we can develop. Most of the time when we think
of communicating well, we think of effectively expressing
ourselves. This is certainly important, but listening is
the single most important of all communication skills. It's
what Stephen Covey calls; Seek first to understand and then
to be understood.
Listen
First and foremost, we must actively listen to what someone
is saying. Perhaps we were given two ears and one mouth because
we were supposed to listen twice as much as we speak. Look
at the person who is speaking. Listen with your whole body
and your whole mind. Resist the temptation to think about
your response. People will appreciate your respectful listening.
Pause
This is a great habit to develop. When the speaker has
finished, pause for a few seconds before responding. This
guarantees that the other person has really finished talking
and there is no danger of cutting them off. By pausing, we
show the speaker that we listened to them and that we respect
what they had to say enough to consider it before we launch
into our response.
Clarify
You could call this; Backtrack and Clarify. This is where
you rephrase what was said and ask if you understood correctly.
You get agreement as to the communication and you make sure
that what you heard was really what was meant. It takes only
a moment and prevents assumptions that create misunderstandings
later.
Validate
This is the one I've had the most trouble with. After we have
clarified, we validate the opinion/feeling/expression of the
other. Validation does not necessarily mean agreement. It
simply means that we understand how they might feel or think
about something. And if you WERE them, and had the same
experience, you would feel or think like them.
This whole process might seem like it would be time consuming,
but it's really not. Even if it takes a little longer at first,
you will find that it makes for clearer, more effective
communication with less hurt feelings and more understanding.
Something the world needs a lot more of.
********************************
Michael Angier, founder of Success Net, recently released
the New Success Net Resource Book, the Top Must-Have Tools,
Products, Services and Resources for Running Your Business
Effectively. Discover the 10 Essential Success Keys You Need
to Know for You And Your Business to Grow. This $27 eBook
can be yours now at no-cost. And most of the over 100
resources are FREE to access and use. Get it free
by clicking here!
Today's Subscriber Article
3 New Methods For Article Marketing Success
Jim Sansi
It's amazing how much information is circulating around the
Internet on how to conduct an article marketing campaign.
Unfortunately most of these methods focus purely on dumping
large amounts of recycled, re-worded and junk content on
various article directories all over cyberspace, while this
method may garner a few links it certainly falls short of
delivering quality content to readers in your target
market... readers that will be warmed up to your offer and
ready to buy!
Unlike the popular methods of the day my approach is quite
the opposite but the results speak for themselves as I
consistently have traffic coming in from articles written
months prior. Here are a few tools from my article
marketing toolbox to incorporate when ramping up your
article marketing efforts.
First don't get overzealous when it comes to writing
articles. For each market you are working in start out slow
and submit one or two articles per week maximum! Legitimate
publishers aren't going to want more nor can they publish
more than one article per week or even per month based on
the frequency of their ezine or newsletter publication. The
good news is at this slower rate you shouldn't burned out
cranking one five hundred word article each week helping to
keep the creative juices flowing.
You need to mix it up every now and again so your articles
don't get stale! Stop relying completely on the major
article distribution services, especially the ones that
just post your articles to directories. You need to get
your articles out to new sites and by mixing up your
article distribution and building your own list of editors
and publications you will reach an even wider audience by
getting your articles in front of readers that would not
have otherwise seen them. So fire up your favorite search
engine and start searching for new publishers for
submission.
Ditch the garbage content that has been used more times
than Seattle's slough. Once an article has been rehashed
and told over and over again it gets old, dull and
lifeless. Worse yet people become hardened to the message
and the lack of passion for the topic fails to shine
through to the reader. This is exactly what happens when
using content like private label rights; it's cheap, poor
quality, sold to everyone and makes its way onto low grade
article directories all over the 'net. The simple truth is
that real editors can see right through the low quality
garbage content and are not going to publish it.
Focus on high quality content and continuing to grow your
list of publications, which is really all you need to kick
start an article marketing campaign into high gear. If you
follow these simple guidelines you are on your way to
building an article marketing empire resulting in great
quality traffic and more sales for years to come.
********************************
Increase sales by using the guaranteed techniques in the
article marketing course. Click here:
http://www.articlesintotraffic.com
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