Trust Agents Review
I have just finished reading Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith for the second time. This the hardcover version although a paperback edition of Trust Agents has just been released.
Trust Agents are also Smart Marketers
Knowing both of the authors of Trust Agents , Julien Smith and Chris Brogan from listening to them on Media Hacks-part of the Six Pixels of Separation Podcast I enjoyed their storytelling. The message is universal throughout Trust Agents. Give more than you receive and you will benefit in untold ways.
Chris Brogan is a consummate blogger at Chris Brogan.com and is always providing valuable content that one thinks of him at top of mind when you think of a modern marketer. The written dialogue between the two authors and their observations of each other are unique and give you a good view into their personalities. They both are “what you see is what you get kinda guys” who entertain as well as educate.
Trust Agents Is Timeless
Even though I have a couple of decades on them I enjoyed their repetition of what works in the business world, from the perspective of timelessness. I am always interested in Trust and Social Media and its application by those that are trusted. Trust Agents is a good read for any one who enjoys relationship marketing and marketing in general.
I also have written a review on Amazon on this book.
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Testing to Improve Conversion- Yes
Testing is one of the most important concepts that an internet marketer can learn.
There is a very helpful site that I have found that is operated by Anne Holland, the founder of Marketing Sherpa. Anne and Natalie Myers provide a weekly test to test your skills on testing and judgement of various presentations of information.Which test Won is very engaging and draws you in for more. It is not a site for testing and analytic geeks but a site primarily for marketers who want to improve their craft and conversions.
The current week testing post compares headlines,subject lines in emails and copy in order to determine a winner, in terms of revenue.
You can also find very useful Testing-Free PDF’s, and Testing Videos to assist you in your testing practices. They will help you learn how, why and when to do your testing as well as yield valuable tips on what to test. You can learn a great deal from this site and from 66 past tests that will help you better optimize your site(s) for revenue creation.
You can always learn by testing.
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Direct mail is an established and effective marketing tool.
Marketers use a number of tools for marketing communications and the one most widely used over the last few decades is direct mail. By direct mail I mean writing a letter to your customer or prospect to let them know about your product or service and presenting them with an offer.
In order to do this you can use your own mailing list that you have compiled or buy or rent a list via a list broker or information supplier. You then have your lettershop or data service provider personalize the letter you are sending and print and stuff and mail to your prospects. You can use First Class postage or Standard mail in the US or First Class and Addressed Lettermail in Canada.
The preparation of your mail can bring you savings and it may be wise to use a service that is familiar with all the ins and outs of the postal service regulations. If you prepare your mail and have it delivered to the post office in bins that are sorted down to the route code you can achieve a lower cost. It is wise to contact your local postmaster or visit the website of the USPS or Canada Post for more definitive details.
One thing you may want to be sure of is to have your list sanitized first. What do I mean sanitized. Sanitizing makes sure all the data is accurate and in the right format for the postal system. It can also verify your postal coding against the post office files. There are a list of approved vendors in both countries that do sanitization or the industry term list hygiene, and the list is posted on the post office websites.
By running your list through an approved postal service licencee you can be assured that the person whose address you will put on the envelope is checked against the National Change of Address Database. This service will provide you with the new address and postal code via an automatic link with the post office that the file is checked against. You are not guaranteed of any address veracity only if there has been a move where the postal system has been notified.
By making sure your list has been pre-checked before your rent it you can avoid this process but if you are working from an internal list it is a very useful process to employ. By doing it you ensure your offer gets to the right person at the right address. With the move rate hovering about 12% this check can help you save on postage as well as actual letter production.
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Landing Page Optimization Matters
Its Canada Day here, the celebration of 143 years of Canada’s existence and we celebrated it in the national capital, Ottawa with a visit from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. She reminded us that she has been on the throne for a great deal of the time, saluted us a mature nation, and lauded us on our Gold Medal Hockey win at the Vancouver Olympics.
But what does that have to do with Landing Page Optimization. Well it goes like this. Vancouver is the home town of startup Unbounce, which specializes in Landing Page Creation. The Unbounce folks tell us “that Unbounce is a self-serve hosted service that provides marketers doing paid search, banner ads, email or social media marketing, the easiest way to create, publish & test promotion specific landing pages without the need for IT or developers.”
Imagine if we could do Landing Page Optimization without having to have developers or webmasters create websites for us before we were aware if the product or service that we wanted to create was going to have a steady customer base. We could bring new ideas to the marketplace much quicker and test various ideas without having to build out full websites. It could also be used to create landing pages for high converting CPA offers that you may have on another site.
Landing Page Optimization
allows you to use and adapt a landing page template which permits you to put up a landing page built on industry best practices. This allow you to initiate a new marketing campaign in minutes, optimized by experts for conversion with absolutely no knowledge of HTML or web design. Grab the logo from your website, insert a product photo, write some sales copy that matches your PPC ads ,if you are using them, and you can be up and running with a minimum of hassle and time. It is like creating a Powerpoint presentation.
Landing Page Optimization Templates
have been designed with conversion in mind using intelligent Call to Action (CTA) placement, bullet lists, video widgets and simple lead capture forms. They just announced an integration with Mail Chimp so you could have auotresponder and landing page done free or use one of their varied monthly plans. MailChimp also offers a free account.
The concept of using a landing page which is optimized for just one thing will improve results compared to using your index page, which has many other distractions on it.
I recommend you also visit Anne Holland‘s WhichTestWon site for a comment on optin box placement. Anne also has a number of results of tests that were done that you can find on Which Test Won. She is a recognized expert at marketing and shares videos,pdf files and pats test results to help you improve your results. A lot of her material is created for corporate and enterprise markets but it is very instructive.
Vancouver is also the home town of Wider Funnel a leader in Marketing Optimisation. Raquel Hirsch and Chris Goward author their blog which also has a lot of useful information on Landing Page Optimization.
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A lot of marketers leave money on the table and do not use their real estate to maximum advantage.
1. Are you presenting your offer and value proposition clearly. Do not have more than one offer at a time on your landing age. A confused mind does not buy.
2. Is your site navigation geared to the buyer in a way that tells them what’s in it for me? Make sure your copy is geared to the marketing persona(s) that is (are) reading it and that you understand the benefits and solutions that your product provides. It does not matter how pretty your site is, it matters only if it converts. Different types of buyers react differently. Some buyers are looking for reviews or social proof, others
3. Use the data your analytics provides to give you the insights on what works and receives the most interest by your readers and then optimize that area before all other things. Understand it is not what you think, but what your readers think and do and make sure your sales process is driven by data not hunches. Today it is so easy to get great insights for free.
4. Be open to testing your offers and their components on an ongoing basis. This will allow you to boost your revenue and improve your customers experience. Model proven winners and ideas from companies like Amazon who have it down to a science. Don’t reinvent the wheel but let the customers ideas drive the car. Here is a little tool assistance from conversion expert Bryan Eisenberg
5. Use your thank you page for two purposes. One thank them for their business and trust and two place complimentary ads for your other products or products that you are an affiliate for. This can boost revenue and you can switch out offers to test and optimize.
6. Do not forget to provide crystal clear instructions to your buyer if you are selling digital products and hold their hand, tell them what to do next, making it simple for them to buy, and receive your product. Always obtain their correct email address and make sure they confirm it as a means of the product delivery. Communicate directly with them highlighting the benefits they will get with your product. Do not let them go without giving them a special extra bonus that they were not expecting a day or two after they have bought. Continue the conversation with buyers with more content in your autoresponder. This will cut your refunds down and give the buyer more chance to get to know,like and trust you.
7. If you are selling a physical product such as a DVD or Book include a postcard in it where you make another offer and or tell them about an extra bonus such as a free forum membership in your forum or customer community. This can promote customer intimacy and provide you more market research for what your next product will be.
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