We’re all creatures of habit. We work hard building our online marketing plans; spend hours fretting over webpage layout; headers, colors, pics….you know the drill.
Then we flip on the switch and hope for the best in sales and opt-ins.
Sometimes you win, and sometime you lose…Right?
Even the marketing gurus at those big retail companies will tell you that with all the best and most expensive research in the world most of your successes come from very small changes!
I have a mental calendar that sounds an alarm about every 90 days. Not something with a great deal of theory or research behind it…just a matter of habit that reminds me to pull up all my marketing plans and review them every three months.
One intentional thing that I have done is to organize these 90 day periods to come due close to the beginning of each climatic season of the year i.e. Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall.
Again, nothing too scientific. I just noticed that at the beginning of seasonal changes television and print advertising for retail products increased as well. If Target, GEICO, Cabelas, Amazon, Budweiser, and every automobile manufacturer was increasing their marketing just before the change of each season they must have done some really good and expensive research before spending millions of dollars on their ads. Maybe they have a plan. Right?
Good enough for them = good enough for me!
Let’s talk…
The key to every successful email marketing program is List growth. You want to be adding new people to your List from opt-ins on your websites all the time. No growth – no sales – no List.
If your advertising consists of the same webpage, newsletter, blog, etc. since you started your online business, then I’ll assure you that it needs to be ‘refreshed’. Secondly, in its current state it’s probably costing you money every day. Ouch!
For my students and those who read this blog each week you know my motto: test, test, test, rinse and repeat!
Now is the time…
Do it every 60, 90, 120 days…but do it. Have a plan.
I’ll share a great example from a student:
- She has a successful online business of hard products, and digital information sales that drive opt-ins for her List. Her webpage seems to require more and more effort to maintain sales and List growth.
- First of all we did a very basic audit of her client base, demographics, sales and opt-in patterns. In other words: who was buying her products, who was opting-in, how many, and when.
- Graphed each category by the month to insure her marketing was being directed to the right place at the right time.
- Her hard product sales are important so the ‘space above the fold’ on her site and blog concentrated on these promotions, and product support.
- Her email opt-in window from which she builds her List was located ‘below the fold’.
- She flip-flopped one of her product ads that was above the fold with her opt-in window that was below.
- Her opt-ins increased 23%!
- Next month she changed the color of her opt-in window – another 12%.
- A 35% increase in opt-ins simply by relocating the window and changing the color!
Simple, inexpensive. Great results, and best of all, no loss to her hard products sales.
So, start flip-flopping your ads and opt-ins?
NO!
What I’m saying is to honestly review your webpage(s), blogs, newsletters, etc.
Can you freshen up the copy, pics, header, opt-ins….?
But have a plan
It’s pretty simple to make changes to your header, colors, relocate ads, opt-ins, etc. but without an organized plan you won’t have any idea which change made the difference. Go slow, keep notes.
NOTE: We all know that above the fold, right side of the page is the best location for any ad. (If you’re still in denial, price a GOOGLE ad on the right side of the page!)
In the beginning of the internet (pre 1995) viewers were new to the internet and wouldn’t scroll down a page looking for information. As Amazon grew it decided to only post product pics above the fold. Then GOOGLE came along and changed the entire internet viewing public’s idea of page layout by listing only 10 items per page.
We don’t want viewers to have to scroll…but internet surfers are much more sophisticated today.
Everyone scrolls…it’s no big deal. So, YES it’s OK to be below the fold. Just choose your locations wisely.
Before you invest way too much money on new websites, headers, and promotional ads, simply look at what you have now. At some point you invested a lot of time and money on that site; and you were satisfied then that it was a good product…Right?
Probably still is.
Save your money; freshen it up a bit, mark your calendar to do it again, and build your List by simply tweaking what you have.
Remember…test, test, test, rinse and repeat!
Good luck, stay focused on the goal!
Talk soon,
-Jonathan
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