Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Split Testing Your Landing Pages

It doesn’t matter if you are promoting your own product, an affiliate offer or event a contest… the bottom line is, you need a killer landing page! You can send the best and most targeted traffic in the world to your site, but if it’s not designed properly, how much business are you losing? That is why you MUST split test your landing pages.

I’m currently using a service called Conversion Doubler for split testing tracking on my Six Figure Affiliate Blogging opt in pages. I’m going to start setting up a few ad campaigns on the major search engines and through social networking, so it’s important to have a good idea what’s working and what’s not. Here are the three landing pages I will be split testing with.


(Landing Page 1)                                     (Landing Page 2)                                    (Landing Page 3)

I haven’t done any split testing yet on these landing pages, so I’m anxious to see how they compare. I have a good idea which will convert best, but I will also let you decide. Leave a comment on which landing page you think will convert best and I will follow up with actual split test results.

How to Setup Your Own Split Testing

In this series of split testing, I’m going to be using Conversion Doubler, which is an amazing took for split testing A/B Multivariate solutions. Since my Six Figure Affiliate Blogging landing pages are more image based than text, I’m truly not putting the full power of Conversion Doubler to use, so I will show you want I mean.

Instead of dealing with the hassle of running an ad campaign, sending traffic to your landing page, then repeating the process after changing an area to see if it helps your conversions, Conversion Doubler let’s you start your campaigns while testing different text and changes in the beginning. In short, let’s pretend I want to split test ZacJohnson.com’s blog and how I can increase conversions to the newsletter subscribe on the right side of the page. When I log in to Conversion Double, I would setup a new experiment and after listing my site, it will show the actual landing page and you can hover and click on any area you would like to split test. You can see in the preview below how the ad copy in the newsletter section is highlighted with a blue dotted line, you can hover and select any area of your site to split test within the Conversion Doubler admin.

This probably sounds complicating to some of you, and that’s understandable… it’s much easier to learn from a visual standpoint. Fortunately Conversion Doubler took the time to create a short video on the step by step process for split testing your landing pages.

This is a really amazing split testing service Conversion Doubler has to offer, and definitely one of the best I’ve seen. They actually make it so easy to split test, that I will write up a few landing page split testing case studies over the next couple of weeks. I will also be following up next week with the results of the Six Figure Affiliate Blogging landing page split test. Be sure to leave your guess at which landing page will convert best.

Setup a free account at Conversion Doubler and see how you can double your conversions.

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Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Just Maybe… He Who Blogs Less Blogs Best

A guest post by Larry Brooks, of Storyfix.com

Or she. 

Regarding the title… it’s just a saying, no penis required.  It’s not your father’s media anymore.  Hard to cull the gender-based colloquialisms out of the language sometimes.

She who blogs less blogs best is every bit as gender-biased… but let’s move on.

When we begin our blogging journey, we are overwhelmed with advice. 

Most of it terrific, some of it downright confusing. 

Like ash from a nearby fire, it all settles on the emerging structure of our blogging dream, and what remains after the first stiff wind tends to infuse itself into the content-driven infrastructure upon which we are building.

A little purple, I’ll grant you.  Let’s just say we need to filter what we read and make our own way.  This is why blogging is always a lesson in life 

One of the best pieces of conventional wisdom for newbies is to saturate your site with quality content as quickly as you can. 

If you can begin your branding with a muscular archive in place, credibility ensues.  And because that can’t really happen, what does happen is that you find yourself putting up a new post each and every day.  Sometimes for months.

It works at first.  And then, after a few months a dark day arrives, usually completely unannounced, when you stare at a blank screen and realize you have nothing.

The well is dry.  You’ve said it all. 

It’ll be temporary, followed by a guilty flurry of contrived and slightly redundant takes (you’ll call it spin) on previous stuff.  Or someone else’s stuff.  Or completely irrelevant stuff.

Much of which will suck.  Thus deepening your emerging sense of depression.

But even then – especially then – the blank screen will return, inevitable as your forthcoming middle age double chin.

I’ve been there, suffered through that. 

And got the chin lipo to show for it.

Then suddenly – also in alliance with prevailing blogging wisdom – after 15 months online, I rounded an equally inevitable corner into Phase Two of the blogging journey.

I cut back.  Stopped posting daily.  Stopped demanding too much of myself. 

I no longer felt I had to sweat silver bullets to make the team.  My spot on the roster was secure, at least if I continued to show up and Play Big.

So I reduced my output to a twice-weekly pace, and obligated myself to doing so by announcing it in my News Post beneath my banner.

Nothing says commitment quite like something shown in bold red ink.

Great fear accompanies this transition from insecure, ambitious newbie to confidently cruising-forward niche guru.  But with great fear, mixed with the requisite desire, comes a sort of courage you never knew you had.

And courage, tempered by the right kind of confidence, almost always rewards you.

Here’s what happened.

My subscriptions had gone flat.  Same with my daily visits. 

Flat as the Neilson ratings for American Idol.  Flat as Heidi Montag’s forthcoming breast reduction.  Flat as Whitney Houston’s latest televised version of I Will Always Love You.

Soon after my Great Awakening, the numbers quickly, if not markedly, reversed.  Subscriptions and visits began to grow.  Pingbacks began to ping.  Guest post proposals began arriving from both directions.

All for one reason that had everything to do with the scaling back of my output.

Somebody once said that less is more.  In fact, many wives declare this the day they hit menopause.

Other than making money, this advice is golden in any context.  Ironic, because sometimes that’s precisely what it takes.

It was quality trumping quantity.

The transition had nothing to do with my enthusiasm, commitment or ability to deliver value.  It had everything to do with allowing what is perhaps the most potent essence of value to work its magic – I allowed time to enter the equation.

Fewer posts can mean better posts.

Such a strategy – functional only if your site does indeed offer a hefty backlog of archived content – rarely fails.  And you’ll know it’s time when your ability to conquer that blank screen makes you want to go do something else.  Like exercise.

After a day or two of power walking the mall, you’ll be itching to get back to it.

It’s like sex in middle age.  Less really can be more.  Nature steps in to jack up the stakes.  Anticipation is the sweet torture of impending passion. 

With or without a penis, you can take this advice to the blogging bank. 

Write less.  You just might find yourself writing better.

Larry Brooks writes about storytelling on Storyfix.com.  His book, “Story Engineering: Mastering the Six Core Competencies of Successful Writing” comes out from Writers Digest Books in February.  As you can see here, he’d really rather be writing about sex.

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Earn Cash on Auto-Pilot With WP-Answers

How many times have you asked a search engine like Yahoo or Google a question, then you find yourself at a site like Answers.Yahoo.com where someone is asking that same exact question? It happens quite often, and it’s actually been extremely profitable for companies like Yahoo to run these types of sites. Not only are they actual content generating sites from their users, but they also provide a huge value to anyone searching for a topic, then ends up on their site.

Wouldn’t it be cool to have a type of Yahoo Answers site of your own? Now you can with a new wordpress plugin called WP Answers. I first received an email from Oliver, the creator of WP Answers last month. Oliver wanted to show me his new wordpress plugin, how it worked and the amount of traffic and revenue this plugin can actually generate. I loved the idea of the plugin and how powerful it could be in tiny niche markets, or even used to build out a large questions and answers type of site.

You can see a live working version of the theme at the WP Answers Demo. While at first the theme may look very clean and basic, the plugin does allow for a lot of customization and features, includes 6 premium themes, which are loaded with widgets that allow you to play around with logo, header and ad spot customization.

The real meat and power of running a questions/answers site with WP Answers, is it’s ability to grow over time, increase user activity and index very well in the search engines. Build up your own database of users and site loyalty by having visitors register and ask questions. The person who created the question can then award points to the person with the best answer.

GROWING YOUR SITE ON AUTO-PILOT

If you don’t have the time to build up your own site and rely on site visitors for Q&A submissions, you can also pull questions straight from Yahoo Answers using their API. All questions and answers are posted on your site, so it can look like you have a full content and busy site. There is no limit to the amount of search terms you can target, and when posting through Yahoo Answers, your content can be updated hourly, daily or whenever you like.

MONETIZATION AND TRAFFIC

Whether you are going to focus on generating your own traffic and Q&A submissions, you are eventually going to want to make a profit with your site. Outside of selling your 125×125 ad spots on the site, you can also place Google Adsense strategically through out the site. Since your site content is all about detailed questions and topic, all of your ads should be relevant to your visiting traffic.

Building a site around questions and answers is also great for search engine traffic. Every day millions of people are flocking to search engines to answer their every day questions about pretty much anything. How many of these questions could be syncing up with your own Q&A site? The bottom line is, WP Answers will drastically help send traffic to your site. You can see a stats chart from one of Dale’s site’s which is doing extremely well using WP Answers, and his growth from search engine traffic.

Another method for generating revenue, is through the WP Answers affiliate program, where you earn 35% of all sales, which can be up to $87 per sale.

20% DISCOUNT COUPON CODE

WP Answers is a quality product and I look forward to playing around with it more on a few sites of mine. Oliver was also kind enough to offer ZacJohnson.com readers an exclusive coupon to save 20% off your purchase. The current price for WP Answers ranges from $80 to $249 depending on your license purchase, so a 20% discount will definitely help. Use coupon code “ZACJOHNSON567” at the time of check out.

WP Answers

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How Determined Are You to Reach Your Goals?

Do you give up easily? When you fail to get what you want in a short period of time, do you quickly throw up your hands and move on to something else?

The roadblocks you experience on the road to success either lead to ultimate failure or serve as a stepping-stone to your victory. And, the choice is yours. Refuse to give up, and you’ll experience victory.

Setbacks are a natural part of life. They can derail your train to success if you let them, but their purpose is to build you up. They test your resolve so you can see what you’re made of. They show you how bad you want the goal you’re after. They show you where a course correction is necessary. And, they help you to appreciate the sweet victory at the end.

When you learn from your mistakes, you see the value in them. The more mistakes you make, the quicker you’ll reach your goal. Mistakes are simply corrections to your course that keep you on the correct path to your destiny. So hold onto your dreams and keep the momentum building!

How to Keep Yourself Motivated

Motivation is the fuel that keeps your engine running toward your dreams.

Here are some great ways to keep motivated:

  • Keep a diary or journal of your accomplishments and how you overcame setbacks.
  • Remind yourself of where you started and how far you’ve come since then.
  • Spend time with happy, motivated people who encourage you and build you up.
  • Keep moving forward, even if you falter or become frightened.
  • Hang on to the dreams that you have, and know that you can achieve them.

Choose What Matters in Your Life

Staying motivated is mostly a matter of choice. If you’re focused on doing well and staying on course, you’ll have a much better chance of achieving what you desire. Reminding yourself of your goals and what you’ve managed to do so far is a great way of keeping yourself interested in where you’re going. That makes you want to continue instead of giving up or getting discouraged.

No matter what you want to do, you can achieve it. No matter what obstacles you face, you can power through them or find ways around them. Your attitude and determination matter more than your skill. When you set your mind to accomplish something important and pursue it with all of your heart, you can achieve anything your heart desires.

When your attitude is positive and focused, you’ll be destined for success. Success is the only option when you have the proper attitude. Setbacks are only failures if you give up. Keep putting one foot in front of the other and visualize the success you’re working to attain.

The success you crave is within your grasp. Obstacles along the way only serve to show you how strong your desire is to achieve victory. When you find a way around, over or through your obstacle, you’ll discover a renewed confidence and determination that will fuel your journey to the realization of your destiny.

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Monday, September 6, 2010

5 Clever Ways to Make A Sticky

A Guest post from Stanford from Pushing Social.

No doubt about it – Content is King. However, the formula for successful blogging doesn’t end there. In fact, content is just the beginning. If you want to make money, create a loyal readership, or attract new clients, you need to keep your readers ON your blog.

In a word, your blog needs to be sticky.

A sticky blog compels readers to read more than one post. A sticky blog immerses readers in an experience that results in comments and retweets. Sticky blogs are more profitable than regular run-of-the-mill ones because they put more offers in front of the same reader.

Got your attention?

Let’s talk about how to create a sticky blog by studying the 500 million-member juggernaut – Facebook.

The Facebook Trance

In 2005 Facebook was catching fire in the US. It had just passed the 5 million member mark after just being in existence for 18 months. Although Facebook’s growth was incredible, what made its college-dropout founders excited was something they called – The Facebook Trance.

If you watched a person interacting with Facebook, you would see them almost hypnotically clicking screen by screen. Every click sucked the visitor deeper into Facebook. Every “engagement” deepened the trance.

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder and CEO, soon insisted that every new feature should enhance the “Trance”.

It worked. Even today people religiously visit Facebook and get lost in a trance for hours at a time.

You want to create something similar for your blog

5 Ways to Stick Your Readers to Your Blog Like Glue

#1: Interlinked Posts

As you write, look for opportunities to link to other posts that add value to your current topic. Go ahead and note these posts in your editorial calendar along with the topic you are planning to write. Be frugal with these links, only pick one or two of your most relevant posts; too many links can become a distraction (and obnoxious).

#2: Tell the Story in Different Ways

People learn in different ways. Up to this point, blogging has favored visual learners who like reading and viewing charts. Now you can use video and audio to create a great experience for your auditory learners too.

It’s simple to read your post and offer as a podcast, or turn your post’s main points into a PowerPoint slide and offer it as video. You can take this one step further by adding a video commentary or introduction to your post.

The point is to appeal to your reader in the way that gets them to “lean forward” and gobble up your content. Video, audio, and visual slideshows are can’t fail tools that should be in your toolbox.

#3: Comment Responses

Have you noticed that a post’s comments can be more interesting than the post itself? This is actually a good thing. You’ve made your blog sticky when your readers actively respond to your posts.

You can encourage this interaction by quickly responding and following up with an “open-ended” question. Your commenters will get pulled deeper into the experience and “stick around”.

Try this: Take your most provocative comments and republish excerpts of them on Twitter. This will draw in a wider audience who can add reach and appeal of your post.

#4: Mini-Email Courses

Most blog posts are filled with “Why” and “What” information, but many fall short of offering excellent “how to” advice. This means that many readers are left feeling cheated out of the good stuff.

You can make your blog sticky and build a list by creating a “How To” email mini-course focusing on a specific post. Select a popular post and turn it into an email course or even an ebook. You’ll build a list that you can monetize with follow-up products. Bonus!

#5: Extend The Experience

Gary Vaynerchuk is a social media high-roller because he understands how to use multiple platforms to create an experience. He uses Viddler for video, Facebook for community shout-outs, DailyBooth for photos, and Twitter to tap into real-time conversation. Once you get pulled into the Gary V’s world it’s hard to leave.

You can replicate the same experience. Think of each post as a “show” that can be supported by other social media outposts. Ask yourself how you can use still-photos, video, Facebook updates, and tweets to surround your reader in an immersive trance.

How to Get Started

You might be wondering if all of this is a bit over-the-top. It isn’t. In fact, turning your blog into a “Sticky Blog” will soon be the price of entry. Anyone can write a post, but readers will flock to the author that takes it one step further.

With that being said, you can start slowly. Take a popular post and use the tips to make it sticky. Pay close attention to your stats and comments to see if your readers like what they see. I’m confident you’ll be impressed with the results.

Tell me, have are you making your blog sticky? How can your sticky blog be a competitive advantage and make you stand out?

Stanford obsesses about how to get passionate people’s blogs noticed and promoted at Pushing Social… except when he’s fishing for monster bass. Follow him to get the latest about his new ebook “Get Noticed.”

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Sunday, September 5, 2010

What To Twitter And Include For Google Searches

I came across an interesting article the other day about Twitter and seo in general and I know there’s a constant stream of information about what works and what doesn’t in seo and social media, but this information came about as a result of a seminar hosted by SEOmoz in Seattle recently.

In the ever changing world where people involved with search engine marketing are continually chasing Google’s tail to find out what the search engine is looking for, there have been several new twists including using more images and other techniques to promote localized searches. The news is Google’s new search results display a blend of images you can use to your advantage when you’re a local business.

Not All Images Though

You can’t go overboard and expect to get the best results, however. One suggestion that came out of the seminar was to take full advantage of “How to” and tutorial type content to compliment whatever images or videos you’re using.  That’s good news for content writers and bloggers. Like I’ve been saying for years now, try as they may, there’s no getting rid of good content.

Here’s a note of caution about using images. It seems that some less reputable websites can even analyze and steal some of your seo thunder by stealing some of your images. The remedy here is, as you might have guessed, more text and content on your site to give Google something concrete to latch on to.

One other great way to get good seo is to place your site in the directories that the search engines are building. It’s important to keep in mind and take a good look at Google Places in particular. The idea here is to be able to get your results in what’s called the Google 7 pack which is the preferred listing rank.

Phone Numbers For Good Rankings

If you’re going to look into this method, you need to be sure to fill out all the categories to get the maximum exposure. Some of the key information used here is the phone number and address of the business.

Tips For Tweets

Now on to what was said about Twitter at the seminar. One of the other speakers  reported that getting the most responses on Twitter is easier than you might think—all you really need to do is wait unit later in the day before you start. Another tip is to fill out the 160-character biography field. It seems people who do get six times more followers.

Don’t be shy in other areas either. Other areas of advice include adding a picture of yourself on the account and a link to your website. Finally, the conclusions drawn in the seminar noted that click-through rates were affected by the number of tweets and the lower the number of click-throughs, the higher the number of tweets. That’s good information for the marketers out there.

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Blogosphere Trends + Guest Posting

This column is written by Kimberly Turner from Regator (a great tool that gathers and organizes the world’s best blog posts). – Darren

While Darren and his family are on a well-deserved holiday, he has lined up enough pre-written content and guest posts to keep ProBlogger readers supplied with plenty of quality reading in his absence. So it makes sense that, this week, we’ll be focusing on the art of the guest post. The most important thing to remember is that guest posts are a win-win situation for the host blog and guest blogger. Keeping that in mind as you send pitches (or review incoming pitches) will take you far.

Regator has, as always, provided a list of the ten most blogged-about stories of the last seven days, and we’ll use posts about those hot trends to learn about what makes a great guest post:

1. Iraq
Example: A Traveler’s Library’s “Baghdad in War Time”
Example: Watts Up With That?’s “Stop the Hysteria”
Lesson: Stirring controversy in a guest post is risky business, particularly if the host blogger disagrees or the comments get out of hand. As Chris Garrett said in a ProBlogger guest post from 2008: “If you are going to be snarky, damage your own brand.” This example, however, is opinionated but clearly backs up the host blogger’s opinion. You’ll need a pretty good sense of his or her ideologies before you can do that though, so understand where you stand before you take the plunge. As always, be sure to take the blog’s tone into account. Darren has fostered a positive, helpful vibe here on ProBlogger so my posts are still very “me,” but tend to be a bit less snarky and opinionated than posts I might do elsewhere.

10. Oil Spill
Example: Naked Capitalism’s “Guest Post: Scientists Say Dispersants May Delay Recovery of the Gulf By Years … Or Decades”
Lesson: In addition to building your reputation and expanding your audience, getting backlinks is one of the main reasons many choose to guest post. This example shows subtle promotion. Don’t go overboard and make the entire guest post about you and your brand. It’s content, not an ad.

Do you accept guest posts? What advice would you give those who wanted to guest on your blog?

For further reading on ProBlogger, check out:

Kimberly Turner is a cofounder of Regator.com and Regator for iPhone as well as an award-winning print journalist. You can find her on Twitter @kimber_regator.

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