SeCretS oF internet entrepreneurS eXpoSed!

Transcription

moSt SuCCeSSFul internet entrepreneurS in tHe Country. ColleCtively
tHey Have developed tHouSandS oF weBSiteS and Generated millionS in
online SaleS every year. now, in one plaCe, you Can diSCover all oF
tHeir SeCretS and learn How to Create your own internet empire.”
in
t H iS
B ook
y o u
w i ll
di SCo ver...
4 Dozens of different strategies to make serious money online
4 The fastest and easiest way to build a low-cost website that sells
4 Insider tips to reach the top of any search engine and generate serious web traffic
4 How to master pay per click advertising and tap into large overseas markets
4 The latest advancements in technology to fully automate email campaigns
4 How to generate free exposure through the magic of viral marketing
4 The future of the internet and how to ride the next big wave
Fea tu ri n G
wri tt e n
m a t e r i a l
By. . .
S a ndy F orS t e r (WildlyWealthy.com) ´ J aS o n Ham (Uniforms.com.au)
ma tt F r e e dma n (Redback Solutions) ´ a manda Clark S o n (eBay Expert)
d a ni el tu r n e r an d m ar C l i n dSay (SEO Experts) ´ mitCHell Harper and
e d d i e m aCH a al a n i (Interspire.com) ´ a ndrew and d aryl G rant (E-book Experts)
w i l l Swa y n e (Marketing Consultant) ´ SaSCHa G riFFin (Pinklily.com.au)
a nd r e w Cl aCy (Affiliate Marketer) ´ m ike rHo deS (WebSavvy.com.au)
a d a m d avi S (Pay Per Click Specialist) ´ J oHn B erto ne (Conversion Strategist)
ar i Ga l p e r (ChatWise.com)
The ‘Secrets Exposed’ Series is proudly published by
Dream Express Publishing. A division of
Dream Express International Pty Ltd www.SecretsExposed.com.au
ISBN: 978-0-9803087-0-9
Bh1399C1-PressProofs.indd 1
dream
express
“tHiS Book takeS you up-CloSe and perSonal witH Seventeen oF tHe
dream
express
SeCretS oF
internet
entrepreneurS
eXpoSed!
$881
OF FREE
BONUS*
GIFTS
Featuring Amanda Clarkson Ari Galper Matt Freedman
Andrew & Daryl Grant Sascha Griffin Will Swayne & more
dale Beaumont
witH SHaun StenninG & Foreword By Brett mCFall
11/9/07 11:45:19 AM
Praise from readers of the ‘Secrets Exposed!’ series
“We’ve all heard the saying, ‘Surround yourself with successful people’. A
big thank you to Dale and the ‘Secrets Exposed!’ team for doing all the
legwork and interviewing these successful entrepreneurs. The ‘Secrets
Exposed!’ series has given me the opportunity to surround myself with
these winners at my own pace, in my own time.”
TC Lam – Strategic Investment Consultant
“I have always been sceptical of any self help, motivational type of book,
but when I came across your book Secrets of Female Entrepreneurs Exposed!
I was so intrigued that I had to buy it. I devoured the book in an afternoon
and re-read several of the inspirational stories four or five times. The
book is beyond exceptional! If this doesn’t awaken the inner entrepreneur
nothing else will!”
Deanne Kemp
“These ‘Secrets Exposed’ books have truly had an impact on my business
and personal life since reading them. I found the format so easy to follow,
and I learnt something new from every contributor. I have recommended
these books to many of my friends and I am looking forward to future
titles as I believe they will all hold secrets that will benefit me.”
Sophie Kelsey – Budding businesswoman
“The ‘Secrets Exposed’ series has become my bible. A secret Rolodex to all
the most successful business minds. To be connected instantly to people
who are doing and have done what you dream and strive to become is
uplifting, inspiring and insightful.”
Tania Menzies – Jelli Beanz International Nannies
“Huge congratulations on an absolutely fabulous read. I couldn’t stop
at one book, I had to go out and get the entire ‘Secrets Exposed’ series.
These books are such an inspirational and practical read that I am telling
everyone I know to get them. If you want to create anything you would
love in your life, go out and get one. They won’t just sit on your shelf,
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you’ll turn to them regularly for ideas, insights, and inspiration to create
your own life dreams too. A small investment to make to have a wealth of
information at your fingertips.”
Alison Nancye – The Mermaid Project
“This series were the first self-help books I ever read – before that I didn’t
even know there was a ‘self-help’ section in the book store! They inspired
me and opened my eyes to all the things I can be. I now achieve many
goals – from not biting my fingernails to getting my Black Belt.”
Kerstin Oberprieler – Student and 2nd Dan Taekwondo Black Belt
“I have read all four of the current ‘Secrets Exposed’ series, and can’t wait
for the next editions. I find these books inspiring and insightful. Dale
has created something unique with all the wonderful ‘added value’ gifts
throughout the books, which I have enjoyed receiving and benefiting
from.”
Lee Clark – Customer Love
“The ‘Secrets Exposed’ series has been instrumental in allowing me to
make a major mental shift about my business and sales. Each chapter is
a separate inspiration and a clear reminder of the simple, daily action and
persistence required to achieve success.”
Nicole Seagren – VISION Finance Australia
“These ‘Secrets Exposed ‘books have taught me a lot more than I learnt
during my studies. The practical information and tips have opened my
eyes to new ways of doing things. In addition to the books, receiving the
free downloads was like continuing that education. I am amazed at how
much I have learnt!”
Brook York – Professional Athlete
Bh1399M-PressProofs.indb ii
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$881
OF FREE
BONUS*
GIFTS
SECRETS OF
INTERNET
ENTREPRENEURS
EXPOSED!
DALE BEAUMONT
WITH SHAUN STENNING & FOREWORD BY BRETT MCFALL
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Disclaimer
All the information, techniques, skills and concepts contained within this
publication are of the nature of general comment only, and are not in any way
recommended as individual advice. The intent is to offer a variety of information
to provide a wider range of choices now and in the future, recognising that we
all have widely diverse circumstances and viewpoints. Should any reader choose
to make use of the information contained herein, this is their decision, and
the contributors (and their companies), authors and publishers do not assume
any responsibilities whatsoever under any conditions or circumstances. It is
recommended that the reader obtain their own independent advice.
FIRST EDITION 2007
Copyright © 2007 Dream Express International Pty Ltd
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written
permission from the publisher.
National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication entry:
Beaumont, Dale.
Secrets of internet entrepreneurs exposed.
1st ed.
ISBN 9780980308709 (pbk.).
1. Entrepreneurship - Anecdotes. 2. Electronic industries Planning. I. Title. (Series : Secrets exposed).
658.421
Published by Dream Express Publishing
A division of Dream Express International Pty Ltd
PO Box 567, Crows Nest, NSW 1585 Australia
Email: info@SecretsExposed.com.au
Website: www.SecretsExposed.com.au
Distributed in Australia by Gary Allen
For further information about orders:
Phone: +61 2 9725 2933
Email: customerservice@garyallen.com.au
Editing by Simone Tregeagle [simone@inkcommunications.com.au]
Layout and typesetting by Bookhouse [www.bookhouse.com.au]
Cover design by Jay Beaumont [www.thecreativehouse.com]
Illustrations by Grant Tulloch [www.tullytoons.com.au]
Printed and bound by McPhersons Printing [www.mcphersonsprinting.com.au]
Bh1399M-PressProofs.indb vi
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CONTENTS
PREFACE
1
FOREWORD
7
INTRODUCTION
9
SANDY FORSTER
AT TRACTING ABUNDANCE
13
JASON HAM
ONLINE TO RETAIL
33
SASCHA GRIFFIN
MARKETING VISION
51
WILL SWAYNE
TEST AND OPTIMISE
71
AMANDA CLARKSON
eBAY RULES
89
MITCHELL HARPER &
EDDIE MACHAALANI
SOFT WARE SOLUTIONS
111
MATT FREEDMAN
STICKY GROW TH
131
ANDREW AND DARYL GRANT
OUTSOURCE AND AUTOMATE
153
ARI GALPER
SELLING WITH TRUST
173
DANIEL TURNER AND
MARC LINDSAY
GROW YOUR CONTENT
189
JOHN BERTONE
SIMPLE CHANGES
207
ADAM DAVIS
POWER OF ADWORDS
223
MIKE RHODES
FOCUS MAT TERS
247
ANDREW CLACY
AFFILIATE MARKETING
271
FINAL THOUGHTS
Bh1399M-PressProofs.indb ix
287
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P R E FA C E
If I were in your position right now I’d be wondering if I really needed to
read this section. However, if this is the first ‘Secrets Exposed!’ book that
you’ve read, could I ask you to please resist the temptation to skip ahead,
as I’d like to briefly share with you why this book has been created and
how you can best use it to impact your life.
When I was growing up I heard somewhere that there are two ways to live
your life: the first is through ‘trial and error’ and the second is through
‘other people’s experience’. At the time I dismissed it as just another one of
those sayings that sounds good, but doesn’t make much sense. Then, like
most teenagers I finished school with stars in my eyes thinking, ‘This is
great! My education is over – no more books, no more lectures, no more
people telling me what to do’. How wrong I was. After a few months of
bouncing around, not quite sure of what to do next, I stumbled across the
idea of personal development and started to hear concepts such as:
•
•
•
•
•
Formal education will earn you a living, but self-education will make
you a fortune.
Work harder on yourself than you do on your job.
You will be the same person five years from now, except for the people
you meet and the books you read.
Don’t wish that your job were easier, wish that you were better.
You are your own greatest asset, so you must invest in yourself.
Since November 2000, I have been totally committed to becoming my own
most valuable asset. After attending hundreds of seminars, listening to
thousands of hours of CDs and reading shelves of books, I have discovered
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2
P R E FA C E
that the people who truly succeed aren’t any smarter, better looking or
harder working than anyone else – they just think differently and have
learnt to incorporate different values into their lives.
I am now in the very fortunate position of being able to travel internationally to present personal development seminars to teenagers and I am
often asked, ‘What is the one thing you need to know to be successful?’ My
answer is always the same: ‘The one thing that you need to know is that
there is not one thing that you need to know to be successful’. I’ve learnt
that success is multifaceted and that mastering one principle of success or
area of your life isn’t going to take you to the top – the more you master,
the more successful you will become. But if I did have to identify one of the
most important success strategies, it would be this: ‘Find out what successful
people do and do the same thing until you get the same results’.
That’s what this book is all about. The only difference is, instead of you
going out and finding successful people, we’ve brought them to you.
You see, whatever you want in life, whatever you are shooting for, chances
are that someone else is already living it. They have already invested years
of their life and probably hundreds of thousands of dollars, they’ve made
lots of mistakes, learnt from them and eventually succeeded. So why would
you want to waste your own time, money and effort through ‘trial and
error’ when you can fast-track your success by learning from ‘someone
else’s experience’? As Sir Isaac Newton said, ‘If I have seen further it is
because I have been standing on the shoulders of giants’.
Every time you pick up a book, attend a seminar or interview a successful
person, you are compressing years of life experience into a few hours.
With any of the ‘Secrets Exposed’ books, you can multiply that by between
twelve and seventeen people and you’re looking at around 250+ years of
experience and wisdom ready and waiting for you. It won’t prevent you
from making mistakes of your own, far from it, but it will help you to
make more calculated and purposeful decisions, rather than big, misguided
and ignorant ones.
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3
P R E FA C E
There is no shortage of information about how to achieve proficiency
or even greatness in any area of life these days. Go to any bookstore or
library and you’ll find the shelves sagging with titles from experts, all with
their own theories and ways of doing things. But what I have discovered
is lacking in almost all of these books is INSPIRATION. What’s missing
is role models and mentors – the stories of people we can all look up to.
People who started out exactly like you – with a dream in their hearts and
with all the same fears and insecurities. Given the choice between reading
a textbook or a dozen success stories about people who have actually
done something, I’d take the success stories any day of the week. I’m not
saying that theoretical information isn’t important, of course it is, but
having presented hundreds of talks to all different types of audiences, I
can confidently say that it’s always the stories that move people. It’s the
whole, “If he or she did it, then so can I” that gets inside people’s hearts.
When we’re inspired we get motivated and then we take positive action
which leads to results.
The ‘Secrets Exposed’ books are not intended to be a one-stop-shop. They
are an introduction to the wealth of knowledge available to you and to
some of the real success stories of people who have reached the top in their
chosen field of endeavour. That’s why at the back of each book you will find
most of the contributors’ contact details and some of their other products
and services that are available to help you continue your journey.
So, how did the whole idea for the ‘Secrets Exposed’ books come about?
Well, in 1998, when I was around seventeen, my nan gave me a copy of a
book titled Collective Wisdom, by Brett Kelly. In it were transcripts of faceto-face interviews with a whole lot of prominent Australian personalities.
And it was a fantastic read. Since then I have seen a handful of random
‘success story’ books, but the challenge I find with most of them is that they
are either transcripts of interviews, that never really make complete sense in
the printed form, or they are written by writers who paraphrase someone
else’s story. The result tends to be a diluted message that doesn’t really allow
you to get a sense of the individual’s personality or character.
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4
P R E FA C E
In around 2001 I read my first Chicken Soup for the Soul book and realised that there were dozens and dozens of related titles designed to
meet the needs of different people’s areas of interest. I thought that was
pretty neat.
It wasn’t until January 2004 that the ‘Secrets Exposed’ idea boiled over.
I was in my hotel room in Singapore relaxing after six straight days of
presenting to hundreds of teenagers. I was reflecting on the ideas that had
been shared with them. One of the most important was to seek out those
who have already achieved what you want and ask them lots of questions.
I was plagued by the thought that only a small percentage would act on
that very valuable advice and that most would never take the step due to
a lack of confidence, fear of rejection or an inability to contact the people
they needed.
That’s when it hit me…‘What if I could find the people and put together
a number of books covering a range of different areas?’ I knew it would
take a lot of effort, so for the next three days, I sat in my hotel room and
developed the basis of an entire system to make it happen.
Based on my experience with other books, I decided that these books
had to be non-time specific and be written (not spoken) by the people
themselves. This way the answers would be planned and well thought-out,
providing richer content and more interesting reading. I also wanted to
make sure that there was an even balance between practical ‘how to’ information and inspirational stories that gave an insight into the highs and
lows of people’s real journeys. I also wanted to ensure that a percentage
of every book sold was donated to a charity relating to the nature of that
particular book.
When I arrived home I got into action. However, between working out
of a tiny one-bedroom flat and trying to manage two other demanding
businesses, my plans were a little slow in the beginning and I had to be
resourceful. So I bought a plastic tub and turned the boot of my car into a
mobile office! Anytime I could find a spare hour or two, I’d park myself at
the gym or a nearby coffee shop and make calls from my mobile phone.
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P R E FA C E
5
Putting these books together has been both time-consuming and demanding,
but it has also been a real privilege for me to have the opportunity to work
with each of the people involved in the various books. Thank you, to each
of you, for making it possible!
Well, I think you’ve heard enough from me. Now it’s time for you to
discover for yourself the wonderful wisdom contained in these pages. I
hope that you enjoy the read as much as we’ve enjoyed putting it together.
And who knows, maybe one day we will be reading your story?
Dream Big!
Dale Beaumont
Creator of the ‘Secrets Exposed’ Series
Sydney, Australia
D OWN LOAD YOUR FR E E AU DI O G I FT
Exclusive to readers of the
'Secrets Exposed' series…
In this 1 hour 43 minute recorded interview, author
Dale Beaumont intimately shares the inner workings
of the 'Secrets Exposed' series. Discover in greater
details how he came up with the idea, how he
managed to secure personal interviews with over
200 of the countries most successful people and what
he believes are some of the most important business and
life principles from each of the books in the series.
Simply visit the web page below and follow the directions to listen to or
download the entire interview direct to your Notebook or PC.
www.SecretsExposed.com.au
31/8/07 8:27:56 PM
FOREWORD
Question: What’s this book really all about?
Answer: Hope.
Like it or not, the internet is coming. And fast. You can either choose to
use the momentum of the internet like a surfer rides a wave, or let the
wave wash over you. I suggest you learn to surf.
Here’s why…
All around you people who previously didn’t know how to, couldn’t afford
to or just didn’t have the opportunity to are starting businesses because
the internet makes it all possible.
This is the new world. And what you are about to read is a fascinating
collection of the best and most cutting-edge advice about how to start,
run and market a business online.
The internet allowed me to leave my boring 9-to-5 job and replace it with
a $500,000 a year autopilot income working from home with no employees
(and I holiday every eight weeks somewhere new in the world).
This then allowed me to take the message to others. In fact, after teaching
over 10,000 people in 13 countries how to do the same thing that I have,
I know you need to know this stuff.
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8
FOREWORD
Ordinary people who were last year stuck in a dead-end job are today
earning over $100,000 a year from home, and letting the internet do most
of the work for them.
I want you to read about Amanda Clarkson and how she created a $50,000
a month business on eBay without any prior experience.
Write down copious notes from Andrew and Daryl Grant as you learn
how they created a business from scratch and earned $US250,000 in their
first year.
Discover how to send masses of people to your site using the secrets of
Adam Davis.
This is the edge you need. And this is just scratching the surface. Every
chapter has a new way for you to look at the future.
So if you want to create similar results in your life, you are holding the
right book in your hands. Prepare to be amazed, intrigued and inspired.
Hope is back for the budding entrepreneur. And it’s riding a wave.
You can do this too.
Brett McFall
Creator of over 11 internet businesses and co-creator of World Internet
Summit (the world’s biggest internet business event).
www.brettmcfall.com
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INTRODUCTION
The internet…
What comes to mind when you hear these words? Is it sending emails
to loved ones on the other side of the globe, searching Google for footy
scores and movie times, or a convenient way to pay another one of those
dismal parking fines?
For the people in this book, it’s a business vehicle more powerful than any
other. Trillions of dollars flow through this medium every day and as one
of our contributors said to us, ‘All you need to do is stick up a pipe and
suck down as much money as you like’.
Of course there are some who would say nothing is that easy. But then there
are others who invested the time to learn the skills and have successfully
put them into action. For these people it really is that easy.
If you don’t agree with this sentiment now, you will by the time you have
finished this book. You’ll discover that there are literally millions of people
around the world that make a full-time living using the internet. Plus,
you’ll learn about a new breed of entrepreneurs who are going after big
ideas and experiencing exponential growth.
Apart from the lure of fame and fortune, what else about an internet
business is so appealing?
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10
INTRODUCTION
There is no need for a degree – you could be a school dropout or a 70year-old pensioner and still be up and running in your internet business
within a matter of weeks.
There is no start-up capital required – as long as you have an internet connection you can get started and grow your internet business organically.
There is no need for staff – you can choose to do it all yourself if you wish or,
as you will soon learn, expand by outsourcing jobs to virtual assistants.
Access to a global market – latest statistics say that there are now 1.55 billion
people online and that number is constantly growing. This is a hungry
market for literally anything you can think of selling.
Freedom and flexibility – you can choose your time and place of work, and
your business is completely mobile.
Now that you are feeling a sense of excitement, you might also be
wondering, ‘Have I missed the boat?’ or ‘Is there still a chance for me?’
Are you kidding? Of course there is! But don’t take our word for it, turn
to page 205 and start reading paragraph three.
Seriously, there is more opportunity now than ever before! And for every
benefit and opportunity the internet presents, there are just as many
potential strategies or paths one can follow. Which brings us to the people
in this book.
In Secrets of Internet Entrepreneurs Exposed! we’ve assembled an amazing
group of 17 achievers, who are eager to share their experiences and pass
on what they’ve learnt. Each provides invaluable insights into their own
business journey and loads of ‘how-to’ advice.
As for the content, this book covers market research, product creation,
business planning, website development, search engine optimisation, pay
per click advertising, affiliate marketing, traffic generation, how to increase
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INTRODUCTION
11
conversion rates, e-commerce, split testing, software development, business
automation, extension products and much, much more.
It is also worth mentioning that the material in this book will greatly assist
both the beginner looking to make their start through the internet, and
the seasoned entrepreneur looking to dramatically increase their online
profitability.
To further assist you in your own endeavours, a number of contributors
have also very generously offered valuable gifts to all of our readers. To
receive them, all you need to do is visit the specified website provided and
then follow the steps to download the bonus gifts – absolutely free.
At the back of the book we have included the contact websites of every
contributor. You’ll discover that a number of them have their own books
and educational materials, which we strongly endorse and encourage you
to investigate further.
Finally, as we say at the end of every ‘Secrets Exposed!’ introduction …
remember it’s what you do after you read this book that is going to determine its real value to you. So, go out there, apply what you’ve learnt and
when you reach a goal – no matter how big or small – let us know so we
can share your success story.
ENJOY!
Dale Beaumont and Shaun Stenning
Email: info@SecretsExposed.com.au
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TEST AND OPTIMISE
Test And Optimise
W I L L S WAY N E
I f yo u r we b s i te i s n o t p e r fo r m i n g, t h e re a re
t wo p o s s i b i l i t i e s : s o m e t h i n g’s n o t r i g h t a t t h e
strategic level (your offering, positioning,
t arget in g o r b usin e s s m o del) o r yo u are no t
executing traffic generation and conversion
optimally at the tac tical level.
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PROFILE
W I L L S WAY N E
Will Swayne was born in Sydney in 1976, and attended high school
and university in Auckland, New Zealand. By the time he left school he
had good grades, but no idea what he wanted to do with his life.
At university he experimented with different courses before emerging
with the rather unusual combination of a Bachelor of Arts with a
double major in statistics and English literature.
At age 22 he travelled to Japan and landed a job with a fast-growing
mail order company, Jimos Corporation. For the next four years he
mastered online and offline marketing strategies as the company’s
annual revenues grew exponentially to more than $100 million. In
addition to successfully launching several new products in Japan, Will
got a taste for the internet while working on web-based promotions.
During this time he developed a skill for transforming customer data
into improved sales results.
Soon after returning to Australia in early 2003, he founded Marketing
Results. His vision was to leverage the successful concepts of direct
marketing, along with emerging internet technologies, to create more
efficient marketing processes for traditional offline businesses.
He now specialises in establishing sophisticated web-based lead
generation programs for corporate clients that want to expand their
reach and achieve greater marketing impact. Some of his clients are
market-leading corporations that have increased their sales and lead
generation pipelines by over 1,100 per cent in less than 12 months
– without employing a single additional member of staff.
In addition to consulting, Will operates several internet-based
businesses. He is also directs several internet business mentoring
programs, helping members optimise their online businesses.
When he’s not working, Will enjoys reading, hiking, rock climbing
and martial arts.
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TEST AND OPTIMISE
73
Can you describe your early career?
My academic background is in statistics and English literature. During,
and immediately after university I worked on a number of projects related
to statistics and Total Quality Management (TQM) before securing a
marketing job in Japan, where I had previously lived for a year.
The company I joined, Jimos Corporation, was full of smart people
who weren’t afraid of hard work. It took the company less than seven
years to grow its sales from zero to around $100 million. I had various
responsibilities during my time at Jimos, including international sales
and marketing, campaign planning, internet marketing and database
analysis.
What were some of the key principles or lessons you learnt during
your time at Jimos Corporation?
In the area of direct marketing I learnt a lot about product creation,
positioning, offer design, testing and back-end marketing. With the
company performing well and maintaining a strong cash flow, I was
also able to test and learn from many different business approaches. It
was basically a chance to generate a lot of useful experience over a short
period of time.
What attracted you to the internet and how did you adapt your
direct marketing experience to internet marketing?
In early 2000, I was working on online commerce promotions via the
popular Rakuten online shopping mall. Although the reporting and testing
tools back then were fairly primitive by today’s standards, I was able to
get a feel for what worked and what didn’t.
At the same time, I started reading the marketing newsletters and websites
of marketing and internet experts like Jay Abraham, Mark Joyner and
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74
W I L L S WAY N E
… my f i rst do l l a r
c a m e f ro m s e l l i n g my
copy writing ser vices
ove r t h e web.
Jim Daniels. These influences stimulated
my thinking and pushed me toward my
current direction.
Making the transition from direct
marketing to internet marketing was easy.
I really believe that internet marketing is
simply a subset of direct marketing, just
delivered via a different medium.
Early in your career, who were some of the people that you
modelled?
Apart from ‘virtual mentors’ such as Jay Abraham, I was also mentored
by some very successful people at Jimos. In particular the CEO, Mr Fujio
Komura, taught me a lot about the importance of thinking well ahead
of current market conditions, and building and nurturing business and
personal relationships proactively. He was a master at building strong
teams and leading them toward a vision.
Can you share with us the story of how you made your first dollar
online?
I have made money using a number of methods on the internet, including
AdSense (Google’s program for advertisement publishers), selling
advertising, affiliate marketing and information products. However, my
first dollar came from selling my copywriting services over the web.
Today, the bulk of my income comes from setting up lead generation and
conversion programs for companies and optimising the performance of
online sales channels using an analytics-based approach.
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75
TEST AND OPTIMISE
There are a seemingly unlimited number of ways to make money
on the internet. What are some of the major ones?
The internet is just a medium – how you use it to create value is up to
you. Some of the more popular ways for making money on the internet
are:
•
Selling advertising – publishing advertisements on your website either
through an established platform (for example, Google AdSense) or
by selling links or banners. This can be very lucrative for high-traffic
websites.
•
Affiliate marketing – earning a commission on sales or sales leads that
you generate for others. An example of this is the Amazon Associate
program.
•
Selling information – the internet is a superb medium for delivering
information. Common delivery models include newsletter subscriptions,
downloadable audio and video programs, e-books and membership
websites.
•
Selling physical products – offering physical products that you can
ship to the consumer or have shipped for you through a fulfilment
service.
•
Lead generation – generating enquiries for products and services for
conversion into appointments and/or sales offline. This is the area in
which I specialise.
What made you decide to start your current internet business?
My professional background is in mail order direct marketing. I’ve always
enjoyed the data-driven feedback process that allows you to see what’s
working in the real world and what’s not. The internet takes that to
another level, providing you with the ability to see exactly how users are
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W I L L S WAY N E
interacting with a website and insights into how to optimise the process.
So I feel that internet business is a good match for my skills and abilities.
It’s also exciting to be a part of a rapidly evolving field that is influencing
the way we live our lives every day.
For people who have a website that is not performing, what are
your top tips for dramatically increasing its performance?
Although this question is very broad, there are a few core strategies I
recommend for increasing the results of any online sales process.
If your website is not performing, there are two possibilities: something’s
not right at the strategic level (your offering, positioning, targeting or
business model) or you are not executing traffic generation and conversion
optimally at the tactical level.
The following three ideas relate more to improving your sales process at
the tactical level:
•
Track your marketing spend properly – if you use Google AdWords
to generate traffic, ensure that conversion tracking is installed and
functioning correctly. Then look at how your individual advertisements,
keywords and landing pages are performing in terms of cost per
conversion. Cull your lowest performing advertisements and optimise
what’s working. If you advertise with other services such as the online
Yellow Pages, True Local, banner advertisements or e-zines, use the
‘cross channel tracking’ tool within the Google Adwords interface to
monitor your progress.
•
Monitor Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) – I recommend that you
keep track of a range of KPIs including:
• site traffic from different sources (search engines, paid searches,
referrals, traffic from other websites, and direct ‘type in’ traffic)
• conversion rates for key conversion goals (newsletter signups, white
paper downloads, enquiry forms or shopping cart sales)
• usage patterns (one page visits).
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TEST AND OPTIMISE
Just keeping track of the numbers on a regular basis gets you thinking
about how to improve each area. The free Google Analytics system can
be used to do all of the above.
•
Identify sticking points and focus your efforts – different websites under
perform for different reasons. Many people assume that getting more
traffic via search engine optimisation (SEO) is the most effective way
to improve the performance of their site. In fact, the problem may be
that many users are leaving your site immediately because they aren’t
seeing what they came for. In this case, the ‘low hanging fruit’ may be
to optimise your site content to engage more visitors.
You now do a lot of work with website analytics. Can you explain
what this is?
Website analytics are systems that allow you to track and analyse how
users are engaging with your website. We work extensively with a number
of web analytics tools, including Google Analytics and Google Website
Optimizer, which perform testing, tracking, segmenting and reporting
functions.
Tracking what’s happening is only the first step. You also have to make
sense of what the data is telling you and convert it into more profitable
outcomes. For example, if you can see how different traffic sources,
referring websites or advertisements contribute to your desired outcomes,
you can multiply what’s working and de-emphasise what’s not.
Another common application of website
analytics is pinpointing problem areas,
such as pages with high abandonment
rates. If 90 per cent of users are
abandoning your checkout process, then
taking steps to decrease that number can
produce rapid sales improvements.
You also have to
mak e sense of what
the data is telling
you…
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W I L L S WAY N E
By implementing this ‘Track – Analyse – Test – Repeat’ cycle in a structured
way, we aim to increase the return on investment of any online marketing
process by 50 to 100 per cent within three months or less.
Why are you a strong believer in split testing and what key areas
do you regularly split test?
Split testing is a core technique of direct marketing in which different
approaches are scientifically tested against each other in a ‘live’ situation.
Even the most experienced marketers are notoriously bad at picking
what approaches will sell more effectively, which is why we put it to the
market to decide.
Online split testing is done by serving multiple content versions to
different users and then tracking the sales or lead generation results back
to the content version viewed by each user. Most split testing systems set
a cookie on users’ systems in order to temporarily ‘set’ the version they
see, even if they leave the page and come back later.
We use split testing heavily because it’s an extremely reliable way to boost
the sales results of a website. It’s common to see one headline outperform
another by 30 to 50 per cent. I have seen one headline beat the control
by more than 400 per cent – that’s leverage.
You can also test other factors besides headlines. The six most important
areas of a website after the headline are: the offer, opening paragraph,
guarantee, photos or graphics, price and ‘PS’ statements.
You also like to use a tool called Crazy Egg. Can you explain what it
is and how it works?
Crazy Egg (www.crazyegg.com) is a data visualisation tool that converts
user activity on your website into a heat map that shows exactly where
users are clicking. Knowing this information allows you to tweak your
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TEST AND OPTIMISE
79
content to suit users better and encourage a higher proportion of visitors
to click deeper into your website.
The visual output provided by Crazy Egg is also easier to digest for many
people than screeds of reports and tables. This can be particularly useful
for resolving turf battles that sometimes arise when different departments
of an organisation want to justify their presence on the homepage of a
corporate website. Everyone can see what’s happening and decisions can
be made based on facts rather than politics or guesswork.
A visual of one of the functions of Crazy Egg.
What are some high-impact ways to increase search engine
rankings?
Improving search engine rankings tends to be a relatively slow, incremental
process, which is why we recommend focusing on other areas (such as
conversion optimisation) at the same time as SEO. However, there is no
doubt that high natural search engine rankings can produce a significant
return on investment.
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W I L L S WAY N E
Here are some quick tips for some of the important concepts in SEO:
1. Keyword research – know what keywords to aim for. You want to rank
well for keywords that have sufficient traffic volume, a high conversion
rate and the potential to rank well within six to 12 months. You can use
Google AdWords to identify keyword-specific volume and conversion
data to assist in choosing the right keywords.
2. On-page SEO – this refers to the appropriate use of keywords within
your webpages. The most important places to include your target
keywords are in the title, description, metatags, headlines, link text
and text content.
3. Off-page SEO – this involves generating or attracting incoming links
to your website. Article writing, press releases and features in news
websites are three ways to generate incoming links. Another more
sophisticated strategy is called link-baiting – offering a resource such
as an article, tool or calculator with the specific purpose of attracting
links from other websites.
The brevity of the above tips is like condensing an encyclopaedia into
a few paragraphs, but it’s important to keep in mind that all successful
SEO efforts incorporate each of these three areas.
Why do emails still play an integral role in internet marketing and
how can people use them effectively?
While email marketing is becoming more challenging because of the
volume of worthless spam you have to compete with, regular contact to an
opt-in email list of prospects or clients is still a core promotional technique
of online marketing, especially in lead generation for complex sales, in
which you may be nurturing leads through a multi-step ‘information
and education’ process with the aim of producing highly-qualified leads
for a sales team.
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TEST AND OPTIMISE
81
My top five tips for effective email marketing are:
1. Deliverability – make sure your emails get delivered by asking users
to ‘whitelist’ your email address, format emails correctly and avoid
‘spam’ language, such as ‘FREE’.
2. Automation – use auto-responders to send a sequence of emails to
subscribers, according to a pre-determined schedule that you set. This
is much more effective than an occasional email broadcast because it
leads subscribers through a step-by-step process instead of throwing
them in mid-way through.
3. Test – split-test different subject lines and/or email content. Different
subject lines can produce dramatically different open rates and sales
results.
4. Track – monitor your open, click-through and unsubscribe rates so
you know what’s working.
5. Add value – regular value-added email communications are the best
way to keep subscribers interested and nurture sales leads. Too many
corporate emails are sterile, boring and self-serving.
What does your research tell you about plain text versus HTML
emails?
The jury is still out on this one. Personally, I use plain text emails because
they are quicker to write, easier to format, treated more leniently by spam
filters and more conversational in look and feel.
In the HTML versus plain text email split tests I have conducted, the
results have either been marginal or plain text has come out in front.
However, HTML email also offers some advantages – precise tracking
of open rates and click-through rates, additional formatting options and
greater scope for branding.
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W I L L S WAY N E
It’s interesting to note that none of the top internet marketers use HTML
email regularly, but many corporate marketers swear by it. My advice is
to test both approaches with your audience and make a decision based
on the results.
What advice can you offer people to ensure that a greater number
of their emails are opened?
Deliverability is one of the most important factors in the success or failure
of your email marketing campaigns. If 30 per cent of your emails are
getting blocked, you can assume that your response is being depressed
by a similar margin.
While deliverability is a challenge, the good news is that there are many
things you can do to ensure your deliverability remains high.
•
Use a reputable email system – I recommend that you use an email
service that can demonstrate a high deliverability rate. Some commercial
email services enforce ‘best practices’ by their users, which ensure that
your emails are treated preferentially by most of the large internet
service providers (ISPs).
•
Avoid ‘spam’ language – vigorous sales copy and formatting in emails
will tend to trip spam filters. Many useful guidelines can be found by
doing an internet search for ‘Spam Assassin FAQ’.
•
Use clean formatting – ensure that your email has a valid sender, not
just info@yourdomain.com. If you send HTML emails, make sure
that the code is correctly formatted. Don’t use any invisible text or
deceptive formatting.
•
Ask users to ‘whitelist’ your email address – if you have an email
newsletter or something similar, ask users to flag your sending email
address as friendly by whitelisting it in their email program.
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TEST AND OPTIMISE
83
One of the concepts you talk about is ‘sales funnel optimisation’
– can you explain more about what that is?
Sales funnel optimisation is improving the efficiency of your website’s ability
to convert a new visitor into a client. The metaphor of the sales funnel is
no doubt familiar to most readers, and online it’s no different.
At the top of your online marketing funnel you have your traffic. Below
that you might have a newsletter or white paper opt-in, then you might
invite subscribers to attend a teleconference or webinar, or invite them
to register for a workshop.
So online sales funnel optimisation is simply deciding what your conversion
steps should be before working to improve each step in the process in
order to advance prospects on to the next stage.
Can websites be used to sell complex products or services?
Yes, websites and online marketing can be used to sell anything, provided
that you follow an appropriate strategy. You wouldn’t sell luxury cars
or complex financial products using a shopping cart and credit card
processing facility. For complex products or services, the most effective
strategy would probably be to use your website as a lead generation
tool. In this situation, the key is ‘lead
nurturing’. Most online lead generation
The met ap hor of
processes are sub-optimal because they
tend to clog up your sales team’s inboxes
t he sales funnel is no
with unqualified or premature enquiries
rather than properly qualified, ready-tod oub t familiar to
buy leads which is the stage at which your
m ost read er s, and
sales team can add the most value.
Lead nurturing is a process for having
multiple conversations with prospects at
different stages in the buying cycle. At
online it ’s no
different.
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W I L L S WAY N E
each stage, your primary objective should be to advance leads on to the
next stage rather than generating an enquiry prematurely. Some of the
‘tools’ you can use to have these conversations are PDF reports, white
papers, emails, spreadsheets, templates, calculators, audio-visual content,
surveys, audits, webinars, information sessions and workshops.
Ideally, the process should be as automated as possible, using IT systems
to do much of the heavy lifting, freeing up your people to add value
at the critical moments. Systems like these have the advantage of being
massively scaleable without losing the personal touch.
How do you help businesses get better results from their online
marketing efforts?
Most of the work we do is aimed at multiplying the results of an existing
online lead generation process or establishing additional lead generation
channels. The key areas that we address as part of our process are:
•
Strategic planning – gaining clarity on the client’s desired outcome
and devising a strategy to make it a reality in the shortest possible
timeframe.
•
Conversion process – designing the specific process for converting a new
visitor into a client. This often involves breaking up the conversion
process into bite-sized steps and/or delivering more value up front
in order to attract, engage and nurture more prospects through the
marketing funnel.
•
Tracking – setting up appropriate tracking and KPIs to monitor results.
As a minimum, this usually includes set up and customisation of
Google Analytics plus tracking of any paid search activities.
•
Traffic generation – optimising existing traffic generation activities
and identifying additional traffic sources to test. The core traffic
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85
generation methods we used are natural SEO, paid search and strategic
partnerships with other websites or list owners.
•
Conversion – identifying key pages in the conversion process and
setting up appropriate testing and tracking to plug leaks and clear
bottlenecks.
•
Refinement – testing and validating new approaches on an ongoing
basis – as one bottleneck is cleared, a new one is created.
Can you share some success stories of how you have helped other
businesses improve their results on the internet?
Here are three examples from different industries that use slightly different
methodologies.
We worked with Fuji Xerox Australia (www.fujixerox.com.au) to optimise
its paid search and online lead generation activities. We started setting
up several campaigns and testing multiple advertisements, landing pages
and keywords. The client was able to double online lead volume with 60
per cent lower paid search cost within 90 days.
With boutique mortgage broker, Loans Approved (www.loansapproved.
com.au), we designed a lead generation process that uses offline marketing
promotions to drive traffic to the website, capture email addresses, educate
prospects and convert them into highly-qualified sales leads. This has
created a scaleable lead generation process, which has helped it become
the pre-eminent investor-focused mortgage broker in Australia in fewer
than four years.
We have also been working with Jay Abraham Asia Pacific (www.
jayabrahamasiapacific.com.au) deploying its web-based lead-generation
strategy. This includes landing page and autoresponder systems that
drive event attendance during the year, in anticipation of the ‘main event’
– the Jay Abraham Business Building Bootcamp. This process has enabled
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W I L L S WAY N E
…a reliable way to
achieve greate r
s u cce s s o n l i n e i s to
te s t an d tra ck u si n g
re l i a b l e m e t r i c s.
the client to scale massively and boost
event attendance by 50 per cent within 12
months without adding a single member
of staff.
What is the most important thing
you have learnt about succeeding on
the internet?
Two things come to mind.
1. The importance of correct strategy – a sound strategy (positioning,
targeting, conversion process and so on) can be executed imperfectly,
yet still sell much more than a site that executes a poor strategy
brilliantly. The technical skills required to put up a website and
manipulate code are widely available, but strategic insight is much
more rare. I aim to add value at the strategic level.
2. Knowing your metrics is vital – a reliable way to achieve greater success
online is to test and track using reliable metrics. In other words,
management by fact rather than management based on gut feel or
hunches.
If you had to start again with nothing, what would you do?
I would buy, renovate and sell websites. Initially, I would work out deals
with investors who have money but not time, and then parlay any profits
into my own projects moving forward.
Websites can be looked at in exactly the same way as traditional real estate.
The investment goals of cash flow and growth are very similar and the
price-earnings multiples are very attractive for buyers at the moment.
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87
Over the next ten to 20 years what do you see as the major
opportunities on the internet?
Ten to 20 years is a very long time on the internet, especially when you
consider that the World Wide Web has been around for less than 20 years.
Some key opportunities that come to mind are:
•
A very hot market for virtual real estate. Currently, you can buy many
websites for around 12 times your monthly earnings. In five years
time, I believe earnings multiples will be much higher and we will
very likely see a speculative bubble.
•
Wholesale migration of many offline business processes (for example,
call centres, support, account management and so on) to the web.
This will spawn whole industries of professionals and service staff to
handle the demand, with many of them operating remotely.
•
Ubiquitous computing – an exponential increase in connected devices
and ways to plug them into our lives. For example, a mobile phone
equipped with a barcode or RFID tag reader will generate an instant
price comparison on any item in any shop within seconds.
31/8/07 8:28:10 PM
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Transcription

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