Autoresponder Open Rates, So What?
Published by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in Marketing, Strategies
If you’re using an autoresponder — and since you’re reading my blog you certainly are — you’re eventually concerned about the Open Rate of your list. If not, or if you’re still sending your newsletters in plain text format only (which I used to do until just recently), then you can dismiss this post for the time being. Bookmark and come back to it once you do.
The other day I received a “last newsletter issue” from a spiritual business person in which he expressed the concern of apparently low open rates. He grieved that only 25% would actually open the issues questioning why he should continue sending the advice if 75% would not even bother reading it (my own MyGermanCity.com’s stats exemplify the opposite, BTW).
This made me realize that even high profile Internet business people are still concerned about open rates? I was under the impression that dignitaries would be aware of the idiosyncrasies of open rates and that we have to take them with a grain of salt — especially those who use AWeber’s main package (like I do).
Are you aware that a portion of your audience has set their e-mail client to block the display of images in e-mails received? And are you aware that AWeber tracks the open rates by slyly including a reference to a tiny image from within e-mail campaigns? So those who block the display of images in e-mails would read your message but the autoresponder stats would imply that they have not opened it.
On the other hand, and this is another oddity, if your subscribers open an individual message more than once, they’re being counted as often as they accept the display of images each time they open that issue. In other words, let’s say Joe opens the message today and then next week again, it will be counted as if two subscribers opened your newsletter. Yup.
This may count especially heavily for e-zines with a ton of high quality content where subscribers will likely read it again and again.
Solution?
Well, I welcome further elaboration on this matter. Besides, I’m aware of extended subscriptions in which one can activate tools which resolve this issue.
Still, what about those who are not willing to pay double price and still, to some extend, trust the current stats? How can you improve its accuracy?
Let me list a couple of solutions on how to get more valid open rates in your e-mail campaigns…
- Include a distinctive header image without which the issue looks somewhat incomplete.
- Include a unique image for each individual newsletter issue that will make your audience want to display pictures so they can see what interesting graphic or pic you show them this time.
- Have your newsletter inundated with images so that it can’t be read without accepting the whole enchilada. This is a personal choice, and it’s not my favorite, but it may be highly effective for select audiences. The downside is that the open rate could ridiculously shoot to the roof since folks will likely open individual issues more than once and thus need to unblock images each and every time or else they cannot read a single word of it.
What do you do or use to refine the accuracy of your open rates? Or do you still send your issues in plain text and thus don’t really care about them?
—Marcus Hochstadt
Content Vs. Design
Published by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in HTML, CSS, Design, Marketing, SEO
I will offer some opinions here, and you can take them or leave them. However, due to my experience (and actual tests run), I hope you will take what I have to say to heart! :-)
What is it that gets visitors to your Web site to stay there, browsing, looking and buying? Is it the design? Is it the layout? No, it’s the CONTENT. The written content keeps your visitors on your site and viewing your pages.
What causes your visitors to purchase from you? The content. They read, they read some more, they find good points that creates enough interest for them to purchase.
Let’s imagine you go to a Web site and the design is wonderful. Fancy, creative graphics. It really wows you. But the content is boring, or hard to understand, or it simply doesn’t capture your interest. Will you be encouraged to buy from them?
Another important question: Will you come back? It’s extremely doubtful. Maybe you’ll go back to get that wow effect from the design again, but not because of the content. Right?
On the other hand, if you go to a site that provides excellent content (like articles or informational text) you will likely bookmark that page. You will probably share that site with others.
Maybe this page with fantastic content has just a basic design, or an ugly default WordPress template. But you still bookmark and share it. You are likely to return for a visit. And this is because there is content that is more than interesting to read and that holds your attention.
Finding a template for a Web page should be a fast and painless process. Google doesn’t care about your design, they only care about the written content and the human behavior based on that content.
My opinion is that folks spend too much time on the design of their site, modifying the template, etc… way too much time. They miss the boat in this regard. What they should concentrate on is having great content that captures interest and encourages people to return.
High quality content goes a long way to getting your visitors to come and stay. You will attract many more visitors through the search engines. You will SELL your product because of that.
Obviously, the above wouldn’t necessarily apply to those selling templates or promoting design services… ;-)
And I can’t say I am completely innocent when it’s come to getting carried away sometimes with the design. But I am ridding myself of that compulsion step by step!
—Marcus Hochstadt
25 CommentsPermalink Tags: design, SEO
Finding Your Profitable Market
Published by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in Business, Marketing, Product Creation, Strategies
When in search for a product or service to sell online (or off, for that matter), you must take some steps to get the perfect market (or some call it niche) that will have a high desirability in today’s marketplace. The public must want it! :-)
Normally, you’d research the supply and demand of a market first, then locate the product that market is demanding specifically. But let’s take a look at starting with the product first.
So how do you find that perfect thing to sell in your Internet business endeavors? There are many workshops that offer advice and recommendations, but it’s really you that has to come up with an answer. It’s crucial to find something that will give you a good chance at success.
First, get a list of products or services that are potential items you would like to market. Each thing on your list should be something you have some knowledge about… Don’t try and sell ski boots when you have never been skiing or have even looked at a ski boot. Of course, if you absolutely LOVE ski boots, you can always learn all about them! :-)
That brings up the other point… and one brought up by almost every seminar ever given on the subject—find something you love! When you are going to be spending hours and hours of your days (and sometimes nights) setting up your Internet business, working on building traffic and getting things moving, and this for the next 3-5 years, you better enjoy what you are doing.
So… the items you put on your list should be products or services that reflect specific skills or aptitude you have, hobbies you are interested in, or things you know a lot about. You can add items that you have a high interest in learning, too. Just don’t make the runway for takeoff too long by needing to devote a lot of study to the subject first.
The idea is to leverage and improve your strengths, not your weaknesses.
Break down your list into three sections. First, list all the things you enjoy doing, such as baking, drawing, traveling, etc. Then list all the things you are good at doing… which could also overlap the first list. Now list your unique skills, perhaps playing the piano, computer programming or the like. And finally, list all the things that you have a lot of knowledge about.
Work out for each thing on your list what could be a product or service entailing the action involved with each one. This will at least give you some ideas—maybe really interesting and unique ideas at that!
Let’s say you came up with a product to sell such as fishing equipment. Some folks feel more comfortable to narrow the product/market down to something less competitive and more specific than “fishing equipment.” Perhaps you could just sell reels, lines or rods. Now you will need to find out if there is a market for this product. You instinctively know that there is, but research it anyway.
Find out how many out there will be your competition (or possible future partners). How much demand is there for the product? And is that demand high enough to sustain a business? Is it just too low, go back up a step or two until the demand number gets exciting. And ask yourself how you could create something unique—something that could be a Unique Selling Proposition that would make you stand out from the competitive crowd?
Turning your product or content rich Web site into a profitable Internet business venture is really doable if you are doing something you love, you are selling a product that is in high demand, and you stand out from the crowd in what you offer. You’ll have fun running your business every day, and will know how to handle customers’ questions effectively.
What an adventure!
—Marcus Hochstadt
15 CommentsPermalink Tags: internet business, market research, Product Creation
Competition Vs. Joint Venture
Published by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in Marketing, Strategies
Here’s a new look at your future Internet business endeavors. Think in terms of “if you can’t beat them, join them.” Rather than compete with other similar Internet businesses, you can join them as partners, escalating your business more than you ever imagined. :-)
In other words, Internet business doesn’t have to be about being “better than the competition” but can be about doing some business together and therefore growing together.
As an Internet business owner, you are likely searching out ways to increase your reach within your market, breaking down barriers and rocketing your revenues. And of course, you want to do this in a short amount of time!
In recent years, so many Internet businesses have united to augment their survival odds. It becomes necessary, I suppose, with many small businesses failing (or quitting) within the first five years.
So you hear more and more through various means that work-at-home parents and entrepreneurs have been looking into the possibility of working together with those who were competitors, thus becoming more successful in their endeavors.
Yes, many marketplaces these days are highly competitive. Of that there is no doubt. But when you look long and hard, you can find ways of overcoming. That’s why I wanted to include this topic for you to read about Competition Versus Joint Venture. It’s something to consider in your Internet business.
Taking part in a joint venture is basically teaming up with others (one person, a group or a business entity) in order to expand your business influence and to create a powerful market presence. It’s important, if you are going to do this, to do it soon… because otherwise your competitors may beat you to it!
Formally speaking, in a joint venture, an entity is formed between two parties (or more) to take part in economic activity together. They both contribute equity and share in the expenses and in the control of the business. It can be for only one project or be a continuing relationship.
So much to the formal stuff… ;-)
In a joint venture, you won’t be transferring ownership in any way. It’s not a merger, just a sharing. So what do you share with a partner?
You can share markets, assets, or knowledge, and of course, you can share (higher) profits!
For example, a large company may decide to start a joint venture with a small company to get some intellectual property not available to them otherwise, or to obtain hard-to-come-by resources.
Or a small business person with a Web site and hundreds or thousands of visitors per day shares the traffic with another webmaster who is in the same market but with eventually a slightly different audience (not necessary though!). Both have excellent products or services and share their excitement by recommending each others products. As a result, each of their audiences get more of what they want and improve their lives, so it’s a true win-win-win situation.
The advantages are great! It’s possible to expand into foreign markets, lower production costs, increase sales, etc. Collaborating with others definitely has pluses.
Bottom line, rather than invest large amounts of resources to enter into new areas of the marketplace, you can join forces with others who have identical products or services. And you will possibly find yourself able to compete (together with your partner) against some of your larger competitors—or even joint venture with THEM later, too!
So, before talking about “that competitor” again, why not shift your mindset from Competition to Joint Venture?
—Marcus Hochstadt
Why I Do Not Use FeedBurner
Published by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in Marketing, Reviews, Strategies, Traffic Generation
Ever heard of FeedBurner? Stupid question, huh…
It seems as if the majority of bloggers use FeedBurner to distribute and track the use of their RSS feeds.
Every day I come across blogs showing off the neat little counter proudly displaying how many subscribers they have, just like so…
Here is the thing I have with Feedburner.
Feedburner feeds are, per default, in a format that looks like this…
http://feeds.feedburner.com/KeywordPhrase
And more strangely, when you view a blog post in a feed reader their URLs look like this…
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/KeywordPhrase/~3/279888022/
Isn’t this a bit strange? How do you know to which site or post you’re subscribed to or what that post is about?
Another thing is word-of-mouth. Imagine you send the FeedBurner URL of a particular blog post to a friend. You eventually provide a short description to entice him/her to click trough. Yet still, it is fairly hard to imagine what one will find when clicking on such a ghost link.
Whereas, when one sends an RSS feed link of one of my blog posts to someone it is clearer what you will find when you click on it since it serves as a “URL headline.”
Do not underestimate word-of-mouth! I get lots of visitors from mail services like Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, and Live Mail. Many of them enter my blog on individual pages. (My blog announcement list mentions the home page only.) It is likely some of them picked up the post’s URL from my RSS feed and sent it via e-mail to a friend.
How often did you hear that the headline is the most important part of a message? With a great headline you can pull a reader to your site to read all the rest. You can entice him, brag him and encourage him, but with a Feedburner feed… where is that “URL headline?”
Let’s compare the following two RSS feed links. Assuming both lead to the same location, which one would make you click?
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/InternetBusinessGuide/~3/279888022/
http://www.hochstadt.com/aweber-secret
See?
This is my main reason why I’m not a FeedBurner.
Another thing is that FeeBurner owns your feed when you use their services. Theoretically, they could do whatever they wish with it. They could even terminate your account. In such a case, you would instantly lose all of your subscribers. Think that won’t happen?
Recently, there was a guy using myspace.com as platform to social network with others and promote his upcoming first music CD. He built a large following in a fairly short time period. He had lots of friends and even established connections to popular names in the music industry. What happened?
Myspace.com terminated his account two days before his CD came out, without providing any reason.
BANG!
What was supposed to become a hit became a flop.
Bottom line, if, after reading the above, you still think it is advantageously to use FeedBurner, I at least strongly encourage you to remove the counter (unless it shows thousands of subscribers.)
—Marcus Hochstadt
55 CommentsPermalink Tags: feedburner, rss feed, subscription, word of mouth
MuVar Vs. Google Website Optimizer
Published by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in Marketing, Reviews
Since Google recently opened the gates for its Website Optimizer to a wider audience, and because we have a paid alternative called MuVar for quite a while, I figured it’s time to compare both programs and see which one brings greater returns in terms of profitability and actual results.
First though, what is multivariate testing anyway?
Before I answer that question, ever heard of split testing, or A/B testing? It is an approach where you show one piece of “something” to 50% of your visitors and another piece of that “something” to the other 50%. After a while, you’ll see which version brings the greater returns (in terms of profitability, conversion rate, etc.)
So split testing is indeed a powerful thing when optimizing sales letters, sign-up pages, and the like. You have a number, a conversion rate, and you want to increase that number. Sure, the first thought would be to increase traffic then you often automatically increase sales or sign-ups. But what if traffic stays the same and you still can optimize the process?
That’s where testing comes into place. And while split testing is a well-known option, multivariate testing is more often than not a much better one because you get results much faster. What it does is it compares multiple variations with each other and shows you which versions or combinations convert better.
So let’s say you want to compare 3 different headline versions with each other, then at the same time you also have 4 different testimonials, and 3 different pictures, different font sizes, and on and on. You get the idea. It actually doesn’t matter what, just that you compare whatever you have in mind, and various options with each other at the same time (not just two.)
Lots of ideas and possibilities, and multivariate testing helps you find out which combination sells better or converts more visitors into subscribers, etc. You have different variables, plug them into the testing system, and compare them with each other to find THE combination.
Now, let’s take a closer look at the two options at hand, MuVar and Google Website Optimizer (gonna call it GWO from now on.) I’m going to continue with bullet points to illustrate the main elements…
- GWO gives you the opportunity of setting up multivariate as well as split tests while MuVar focuses on multivariate tests only. Google says that split tests may be better when your site gets less than 1,000 page views per week. I’m not sure about that. You need a considerable amount of traffic anyway in order to get statistically significant results. When you have only 100 page views per week any testing result is not as meaningful as with 1,000 or 10,000.
- Both MuVar and GWO provide you with video tutorials to walk you through the set-up process. GWO further explains the differences between split and multivariate testing, which does MuVar on its sales page. Google may have an advantage here since it offers an extensive online help (in many different languages!) “behind” the two video tutorials (and its integrated powerful search feature which we’re using every day, aren’t we?)
- The video tutorial MuVar provides walks you through the whole installation and configuration process, so does the GWO, too. But I found the lady in the GWO tutorial is rushing through all the steps within 14 minutes, while the gentleman in the MuVar tutorial takes more than 30 minutes and makes sure each and every step is explained thoroughly. Besides, he shows you a real computer screen instead of a Powerpoint presentation. In other words, I find the GWO tutorial a bit superficial. Yes, I do see what I can do, but I miss the real live examples and “walk-through” shown in the MuVar tutorials. Further, the Google lady speaks into the microphone instead of aside from it, which is the reason why you hear those annoying pop sounds when she’s virtually spiting into the mic. (I’m allergic against this; it’s something many video tutorialists do wrong, often unknowingly.)
- GWO is placed on your Google Account’s home page and is accessible from within your Google Analytics account. I like it when many of my daily tools are available from one place and I don’t have to go to multiple locations in order to get what I want. With MuVar, you need to log in to your site’s MuVar account. When you installed MuVar on, say, 5 sites you need to log in at 5 different locations.
- GWO provides you with reports that show you which combination gives the best results. MuVar gives you these kind of reports as well, but it does a very important task… it optimizes your page by itself without me having to lift a finger! This is a huge advantage and a great time saver. One can say GWO tests while MuVar tests and improves. It’s like having a human resource do that for you every single day, for free. (OK, there is a sort of “batch processing” thing in MuVar that you have to perform occasionally, going to a particular URL once a week or so. I did it myself already; it’s pretty straight forward and can be done within a couple minutes.)
- MuVar can only be used on HTML or HTM pages, whereas (as far as I can see) GWO can be used on PHP pages as well, is that right? They only show HTML extensions in their examples, but they do not explicitly state that you cannot use it in PHP, ASPX, or something like that. I don’t see a need for PHP when having a sales letter or a sign-up page, but more technically inclined Webmasters may have some arguments towards PHP and ASPX.
- Setting up a multivariate test with GWO is a bit more challenging (and perhaps complicated?) than with MuVar. It may be because the lady in the tutorial rushed through the process and even after watching it the third time I haven’t completely understood it quite yet. They do show you where to put which JavaScript code. Though, with MuVar you simply upload a couple files, go to the MuVar administration area on that site, and then enter all the variables you want to use. It’s pretty straight forward. You can even add variables without logging in! And you can use existing HTML code, copy & paste it into MuVar, and then modify it or create multiple variations right there. Pretty simple, pretty neat.
Bottom line, GWO is available for free while MuVar cost $300. I see the quality in what Google does since I use a couple of their tools myself every day. So the word “free” may not apply here when talking about quality. How often did it happen you had to pay for a certain service, then Google bought that company and made that service available free of charge from that point on. (Now, you may wish Google goes ahead and purchases MuVar, but let’s not go that direction for now…)
The biggest advantage MuVar has is its automation and “built-in human resource.” It optimizes whatever you wish to optimize by itself, without me having to do anything (except the occasional “batch processing” and perhaps adding more variables.)
I don’t know about you, but when there is a tool available that saves me a bunch of time I become VERY interested and excited, and I’m more than happy to pay for that excitement. There are lots of things I have to do during the day. And when there is a tool that helps to empty my desk, I’m very grateful for that.
And although all your GWO tests are available from one location, it does not take so much time to go to a few Web sites in order to manage your MuVar installations.
With all that being said, my vote goes to MuVar. I’m going to use it from now on and am really looking forward to substantially improve my business and conversion rates.
—Marcus Hochstadt
Alexa Top 100,000 In 66 Days
Published by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in Business, Marketing
Just noticed my blog now belongs to the Top 100,000 sites worldwide according to Alexa. In the toolbar, it may still display the old 3-month average I posted yesterday, though on their Web site it shows the new 3-month average of 99,455!
This is the result of my efforts of only 66 days—my first 66 days blogging, and I’m NOT a full-time blogger! (Can you believe it?)
As a side effect, now I’m entitled to teach others how to increase their site’s Alexa Ranking, catapulting it to Alexa’s VIP arena. :-)
The good thing about being in the Top 100,000 is that the Alexa data are now more accurate. Their data more or less match my Google Analytics stats.
The main “cause” for this success is certainly Entrecard and the fact that my Internet business blog is considered as the most popular among its entire community of 5,000+ high quality blogs.
With that being said, I’m going to throw a little party by giving away 100ec (ec = Entrecard Credits) to EVERYONE posting a comment to this blog post (and perhaps digg and/or stumble? :-)
If you are not a member yet, I or my assistant will get in touch with you soon and send you the credits to the e-mail address you provide when posting your comment. With these 100 credits handy, you’ll have a smoother start with Entrecard, the E-Business Card 2.0. Meaning, you can already start driving more traffic to your site by advertising on a couple other high quality blogs.
If you are a member, you’ll simply receive the credits to your Entrecard account.
Let’s celebrate!
—Marcus Hochstadt
P.S. Don’t hesitate to ask me any questions you have when posting your comment. Be it how to improve your ranking in the Entrecard network, how to receive more targeted visitors from Entrecard, how to improve your Internet business, or any other question you may have. Just ask! I’m here for you and may end up answering it…
P.P.S. Anybody knows how to get on Alexa’s Movers & Shakers page? It shows a whopping 89,900% improvement in Reach! That should bring my blog on that page, shouldn’t it? Any tips on how to get there are much appreciated. :-)
Note: The party time is officially over since the Hochstadt.com Party Contest; see my own comment for details. In other words, feel free to continue to celebrate, but Entrecard Credits won’t be distributed anymore. Thank you very much for your comprehension. ;-) ~Marcus
182 CommentsPermalink Tags: alexa ranking, entrecard, movers shakers
January Has Been FANTASTIC!
Published by Marcus Hochstadt | Posted in Marketing
January has been fantastic in many ways. It’s the first month of this year and also my first month as a blogger. I’m going to disclose a few stats details tomorrow.
Meanwhile, let’s take a look at one measurement we use in Internet business: Alexa Ranking.
Compared to a post I made three weeks ago on how to increase Alexa Ranking, my blog’s Ranking climbed even more up within the last two weeks…
In only one month, the Alexa Ranking of this blog went from a mere 3,000,000- up to a more serious 337,618. This is a huge jump, isn’t it?
Again, I’m going to uncover the main source responsible for this tomorrow.
In any case, stay tuned as a lot of exiting things will happen in February (and in March, wow!). Since I dislike announcing things that aren’t done yet, you’ll need to wait until I actually deliver. ;-)
—Marcus Hochstadt
Fortunately powered by
RECENT THOUGHTS