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Blitz
Ezine #255 November 1st, 2005
Paid search funnel and customer service.
The Blitz-Promotions News Letter
Issue no. 255, November 1st, 2005
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Blitz Comments
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This
is a day late - for some reason our newsletter provider
was down yesterday.
We
hope you and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
If
you are thinking about sending something to troops overseas
for the holidays - the deadline for sending that package
is Nov. 12th. If you don't know anyone you can still
help, each of the following sites has some ways you
can help.
http://www.anysoldier.com/
http://www.soldiersangels.org/heroes/index.php
We
offer daily promotion items in our blog, which you can
find at the following link -
http://smallbizpromo.blogspot.com
Our
next issue will be on Dec 6th.
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In this Issue
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-
Great Leads - the paid sales funnel
- I'm the Customer
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Food for thought
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John
Fitzgerald Kennedy: "As we express our gratitude,
we must never forget that the highest appreciation is
not to utter words, but to live by them."
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Great Leads --
The Paid Search Sales Funnel
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I wish there was one rule for paid search return on
investment
(ROI), but there are so many business types, strategies
and plans
out there that it is hard to justify a general benchmark.
One
thing I have found very eye opening though is to track
ROI
down to the keyword level. For every conversion, we
want to know
exactly which keyword, campaign, and ad group caused
it, and
whether it came from the Google site, search network,
or content
network.
All
you need to implement this is a good web stats software
and
special tracking urls.
I
have one free generator tool that covers some basic
stuff up at:
http://vortex.successvideo.net/quick/qt.php
that can get you
started and I also have an article that tells you how
to make them yourself
at:
http://marketingnewsblog.adwordstraining.org/node/15
You
will find some keywords bring about a lot more conversions
than others.
In
the beginning if you are having real ROI problems you
can just
put more emphasis on the keywords that are bringing
you the best
results, and once you have an ROI that is acceptable,
you can
bring other keywords in, and test different sales copy
on your
landing page, or split test different landing pages.
There's
lots of ways to tweak ROI but usually what I do is:
1)
Make sure you have tracking for everything and use it
2)
Plug the leaks- dump the keywords that bring no conversions
over a long period of time, like 90 days or so.
3)
Next, try some different landing page copy, and look
for changes
either up or down with your stats. Hire a real professional
copywriter here, don't be cheap.
4)
While monitoring your webstats on every change, tweak
the
design of your web site.
If you aren't sure what to do, leave the website alone
and just
change the copy.
5)
Often this is enough to double your ROI, but there is
one other
thing you can do depending on your business. This has
often been
described as a "sales funnel".
THE
SALES FUNNEL:
Any
business has to attract new customers somehow, get them
excited, and get them to buy, to be crude about it.
The bigger the
dollar amount you are asking people to spend, the more
work you
have to do to get them into the buying mood. For a lot
of
businesses, just getting them to be able to call a salesperson
is a
huge step. So whatever your business is, break your
sales process
down into the following actions as appropriate:
1)Newsletter
signup
2)Free download (You DO have something people can download
free right?)
3)Leads with presales questions
4)Qualified leads either by a qualifyer or salesperson
5)Phone calls completed
6)Proposals
7)Closed Deals
Again
this is hard to generalize like this, because if you
had a
simple site that sold CD's, you would not need to hire
salespeople
to close a 14 dollar sale, but the key here is to look
at each step of
the sales process and your website and look at the actual
cost and
efficiency of each part.
Now
here is where the sales funnel comes in: Your website
should
get people to respond enough to get you newsletter signups
and
freebie seekers, but the key thing you need to know
is what your
average percentages are for conversion of each part
to the next
level, and how much it costs you.
Sometimes
you want as many people responding as possible, so
you offer something free, a free download, a free white
paper, a
free shareware, whatever the case may be.
If
this gets you so many unqualified leads that it is wasting
the
time of your salespeople you fine tune your Adwords
campaign and
your website to get less quantity, but higher quality,
and even to
the point of putting the price in your Adwords ads themselves.
This
makes far less people click, but prequalifies that they
are more
serious buyers, and your conversion ratio and ROI will
be higher.
So the point here is you can have a big funnel at one
end, getting
smaller as you go, or you can start with a smaller funnel
and make
it efficient. And each step in the funnel can be tweaked
according
to your business, if you can figure out what each of
those numbers
are on average.
Its
another way to look at ROI than most people do, but
having
owned many businesses, I have found that if you can
take things
and break them down into parts you can fix the part
that actually
may have a problem, and leave the parts that actually
are working,
so you don't end up throwing out the baby with the bathwater
on
occasion.
Well,
there's my 2 cents.
Steve
Blom
Publisher
Adwordstraining.org
www.adwordstraining.org
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I'm the Customer
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Have
you ever gone into a store and wasn't able to find anyone
to help you? If you walk into some your major discount
chains, you might see something that is of interest,
but trying to get information about the product however,
is almost impossible sometimes.
While
you might save a few bucks by purchasing from these
chains, is it worth the risk to buy something that may
not meet your needs? If you are frustrated with their
approach to doing business, it can even be worse in
the online arena.
It
seems that some entrepreneurs either don't know how,
or don't care if they are responsive to their customers
needs. Well folks, I got news. I'm the customer, and
if you want me to buy from you, you had better give
me the courtesy and attention needed to get my business.
How
many times have you sent an email to someone requesting
more information and never gotten an answer? This is
simply being unresponsive. This would be like a salesperson
in a "brick and mortar" store walking away
and ignoring you if asked a question.
If
you are going to succeed in an online business, you
must be responsive to your customers and there needs.
A timely response to emails is critical. Many people
use auto-responders and send a reply immediately. This
is fine if the response that is sent answers the question.
But even if it doesn't, you have shown that you are
responsive with your immediate reply. You must however
get back to them in a reasonable time.
While
I like a waiting time of no more than 24 hours, realistically
it could be longer. If it will be longer, let them know
that with your auto-response. If you say it will be
two days, and get back with the answer sooner, all the
better.
But
many times you can either eliminate the need to respond,
or reduce it significantly by trying to answer questions
before they are even asked. Your web site is the perfect
place to do this. People trying to make a decision to
purchase from you want information on what you are selling.
This
is one case where brevity is not the best approach.
Your ads should be brief, or they won't be read. Your
web site however is another story (no pun intended)
- here is where you want to give as complete information
as possible.
If
you try to answer all the questions people might have
up front, two things happen. First, they are not going
to send you an email which takes up your time to answer.
Second, and more importantly, you are not giving them
a chance to "cool off". They are in the mood
to buy now, and if they have to wait for a few days
to get the information they want, they may rethink their
decision and not buy.
One
of the best ways is to have a FAQ (Frequently Asked
Questions) page on your web site. Here you can list
customer questions you received in the past, and your
answers. If someone has a question, the odds are others
will as well, but are just not asking them - did I mention
they are probably also not buying.
Do
you have a guest book? If you capture nothing else,
you should try to get their email address and first
name. If they fill it out, have an auto-responder, which
thanks them for their note. Then, add them to your mailing
list. This is one of the surest ways to keep in contact
with them. People will sometimes buy months or even
years later if you keep in touch.
Many
people, while they are interested in your product or
service, are simply not ready to buy. There are "tight"
times of the year when the finances of some are limited.
Buying new school outfits at the start of the school
year; recovering from an over generous holiday season;
can all add to a cash shortage. Above all, you should
be patient.
Like
you want to be treated properly because it is your money
you are spending, and you are the customer, have the
same concern for your potential clients. It boils down
to common courtesy, and if you want my business, remember
- I'm the Customer.
-----
Did
you know that subscribers to Bob Osgoodby's Free Ezine
the "Tip of the Day" get a Free Ad for their
Business at his Web Site? Great Business and Computer
Tips - Monday. Wednesday. And Friday. Instructions on
how to place an ad are in the Newsletter. Subscribe
at: http://adv-marketing.com/business/subscribe2.htm
_________________________________________________________
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Links you can use -
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If
you're into podcasting - here are 12 ways to promote
it.
Click
Here
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Fun and Games
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How
much do you like clicking - let's see how long you can
last without clicking....
http://dontclick.it/
Need
to learn how to dance - this site may help.
http://www.zefrank.com/invite/swfs/index.html
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Ads
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Useful links to our site
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Ezine
Archives links to all our past issues (well most
of them) in one place.
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Next Issues
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Our
next issue will be December 6th.
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Final Thoughts
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We
wish you and your family a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving.
Tim
and Lisa Hamblin
Tisa Enterprises
PO Box 221
Hazard KY 41702
http://www.blitzpromotions.com
http://www.crochetnmore.com
http://www.webpageplanner.com
http://www.ineedlinks.com
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