“How to Increase Conversions With Google Website Optimizer” plus 2 more |  |
- How to Increase Conversions With Google Website Optimizer
- What Aspiring Actors Can Teach You About Blogging
- 7 Powerful Reasons Why Companies Will Pay for You to Blog
| How to Increase Conversions With Google Website Optimizer Posted: 26 Sep 2011 01:04 PM PDT This guest post is by Joe Burnett of Who’s Your Blogger?
You can capture emails with only one ethical plan: the visitor will have to give you his or her email by typing it in. How do you get your readers to type in their email addresses? Will you use a pop-up lightbox, a sidebar subscribe form, or a subscribe form below your posts? Maybe you'll give your readers a small, ethical What do I use? All of them! Each and every one of my past and present blogs went through a quick elimination process to find which tactic captured the most emails. Never ask someone which email capturing tactic works best for them. The answer depends on the style of your readers, and the niche your blog is in. Is the readers’ attention span short, do they get annoyed, and do they take time to look at their surroundings? But on your own blog, there is a reliable way to find out which tactic works best. Testing your email capturing tacticsGoogle Website Optimizer is a great tool you can use to increase email opt in conversions. It's surprisingly easy to use and produces great feedback, graphs, charts, and results. How do you get started? First, you obviously need to login, or create a Google account. Click the Get Started button, agree to their terms and get ready to capture so many emails other bloggers think you're stealing them. Getting startedCurrently you should be at your dashboard looking something like this…  Google Website Optimizer dashboard Once you're at the dashboard, click Create a new experiment. You have two option here, and one is a lot easier to use than the other. The first option is called the A/B Experiment. You shouldn't choose that, because it will involve completely changing the page you test, and for this exercise, we only want to change the opt-in form on our page. The Multivariate Experiment gives you the ability to change specific section(s) on the page in isolation. In this case, we want to change our subscribe form.  Google Website Optimizer multivariate experiment Next, you need to enter in the URL of page that you're trying to test. This could be your blog's home page or a specific post or page you've created. If you're really daring go straight into your themes files to edit them, allowing the testing to be done on your entire WordPress blog! The Conversion page is the location where new subscribers land after the subscribe to your blog. Both Mail Chimp and Aweber give you the option to redirect visitors back to your website after subscribing.  Setting up the experiment Now Google Website Optimizer knows the pages that are used in the conversion process. We need to give the service access to those pages by using a little bit of JavaScript. Google will give you some code snippets, and all you need to do is paste it inside the pages you specified above.  Google Website Optimizer provides the code Once, you've added all of your JavaScript tags, click, Continue to verify the tags. A small lightbox should pop up to let you know that Google found the tags on your blog.  Click Continue to verify the tags Making changes to testNow it’s time to make changes to the areas of the page that you specified. You can change your opt-in form to produce a higher conversion in many ways.
Once you’ve made the changes you want to test, you can sit back and wait to see which opt-in form converts the most visitors into subscribers. The resultsBelow are the results for testing the opt-in form on my website. When I ran the test, I decided that whichever combination of visuals achieved the best results would be the combination I’d use on my blog.  Google Website Optimizer test results As you can see, I created five different versions of my opt-in form. During this test, the original actually performed better than all of my other combinations, with an almost unreal 41.7% conversion rate. That's almost one out of every two visitors signing up. The combinations were different because of the headlines and descriptions I used. I used three different headlines along with two different descriptions:
The results were:
As the results show, my original message outperformed all of my other combinations, so it would make no sense to change the headline and description. What can I do now? Of course there are many different tests I can run on my site. I might want to do the same test over again, but spend some more time coming up with headlines and descriptions that really rock! Have you used Google Website Optimizer before? How do you like it? Leave your opinion below… Joe Burnett is an amazing guest blogger. He created Who’s Your Blogger? to help increase your chances of landing guest posts on popular blogs by over 534%, and to find free unique content to publish on your blog. He teaches you exactly how to guest post and build a popular blog at the Who’s Your Blogger? Guest Blogging Blog! Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger How to Increase Conversions With Google Website Optimizer |
| What Aspiring Actors Can Teach You About Blogging Posted: 26 Sep 2011 01:03 PM PDT This guest post is by Tom Ewer of Leaving Work Behind. If you were an aspiring actor, and you spotted a famous movie star on the street, would you run up to them and ask them for help? You might, but I'm willing to bet that 99 times out of 100, you would get nowhere. In fact, those odds are probably very generous. I am willing to bet that those odds would improve if you were to approach them, briefly introduce yourself, compliment them on their work, and ask if it would be okay to write to their agent with a few questions that they might consider answering if they get time. When you're dealing with people above your station, the hard sell is almost always a failure. If you were to deal with your fellow bloggers in the spirit of the more polite and unobtrusive aspiring actor, you would establish some highly valuable relationships. Embrace your “competition”As Darren explained, it’s wise to embrace the competition. It doesn't matter what niche you are in—there are almost always going to be more authoritative blogs already in existence. And that is a good thing, for two key reasons:
Who wouldn't want to take advantage of a resource of already warm, highly targeted leads? Nothing is freeSo how can you tap into the audiences of your contemporaries? Not in the way that many people try to, that's for sure. Do not emulate the method of the rude and desperate aspiring actor. There is few things more irritating to a blogger than being contacted by another who simply asks for a link to, or mention of, their site. Assuming that you are the proverbial minnow, you only need to concern yourself with one thing when reaching out to your peers—providing value. Whilst simply asking for help may occasionally reap short term rewards, it is far more valuable to establish long term relationships based upon giving. Provide valueThe desire to reciprocate is human instinct. For the most part, if you offer value to your peers, they will eventually be inclined to return the favor. So what should you do? Here are a few things you can do to get started:
Please don't let your imagination be stifled by my suggestions—more inventive ways of reaching out to your peers can offer higher rewards! For instance, you might choose to post a video on your blog entitled "Five Reasons You Should Be Following (insert name here)". That might grab their attention! Always make sure that your complimentary nature does not turn into overt fawning, and don't go out of your way to tell the person in question that you are doing all of these lovely things—it will look disingenuous. Be genuineThe key is to do all of the above (and more) with absolutely no expectation of a reward. I would like to think that I have already established some really positive relationships with bloggers in a short period of time, and for the most part, my generosity has not been reciprocated. How does this make me feel? I'm totally okay with it. Reciprocity is not an obligation, and what you consider due reward for your generosity may not be realistic. When I get in touch with a fellow blogger, it is not in the vain hope that I can get something out of it. It is because I think they offer quality content, and I want to get to know them better. If something comes out of a burgeoning relationship that positively affects my blog, that is a wonderful bonus. Okay … Now what?Once you have started befriending bloggers, you'll have to play it by ear. Your new friendships will probably bring about unexpected benefits without you having to do anything. But if you think that there is some way in which your friend can help you, and it is not asking too much, then once you are on good terms, you may consider asking for a favor. If you do decide to, then make sure that you are not asking too much. Put yourself in the shoes of your compatriot—would what you are asking for make them uncomfortable? Always err on the side of conservatism if you feel compelled to ask for something. I personally am far more inclined to never suggest anything that does not offer some kind of benefit in return. Simply saying "can you please link to my site?" is not something I would recommend, because if you already have a great rapport with someone, they would have done so already if they wanted to. What are you waiting for?You probably know of many bloggers in your niche. You have probably contacted some of them before. You may not have gone about it in what I consider the right way. Now is the time to make amends. Start engaging with people—start helping them. You are entering into a long term process, but one which is bound to offer fantastic rewards, given enough time and the right attitude. Tom Ewer is the owner of Leaving Work Behind, a growing community of likeminded people with a unifying goal—to create scalable and sustainable online incomes. He aims to leave his career in property development just as soon as his online pursuits can support him. If you enjoyed this article then be sure to sign up to Tom's newsletter, which has exclusive content not available on the blog. Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger What Aspiring Actors Can Teach You About Blogging |
| 7 Powerful Reasons Why Companies Will Pay for You to Blog Posted: 26 Sep 2011 07:04 AM PDT This guest post is by Lina Nguyen of Words That Influence. Influential bloggers are being paid top dollar to write sponsored posts (thousands of dollars per post is not unheard of). They're gifted with luxury items, cars and overseas trips, and invited to events previously exclusive to A-List celebrities and long-established journalists. Bloggers worldwide are proving to be fierce competition for mainstream media, as companies decide how to get the best return on investment for their marketing buck. If you have the following seven things, then your blog and social media networks will be highly valuable digital assets, sought after by major companies. Even if you don't quite have the same reach and clout as some of these bloggers, you can still apply these principles to negotiate your own deals with smaller businesses in your niche. ProBlogger Training Day event speakers Craig Makepeace and Caz Makepeace are travel bloggers who landed a corporate sponsorship deal with a major airline, to cover a high profile international sporting event. At the end of this post, we’ll see these seven points in action, as we take a look at their success in attracting sponsorship from a major brand. 1. Your audience is a profitable niche marketThe people in a profitable niche for major companies tend to be decision makers, consumers or influencers in the buying process, for either highly priced items (like cars, technology, travel or finance), or highly consumed items (like food, health products, household goods). How do you know if your niche is profitable? Just take a look around in mainstream media. If companies are already paying big bucks to advertise to your audience on TV, radio, magazines and newspapers, then you're in a profitable niche. 2. You've built a communityIf you've created a group of people who gather on your blog and social media networks, then what you've created has the potential to be extremely financially valuable. Companies always want to know where their target market is hanging out and get in front of them. Trouble is, as outsiders, whose primary motivation is to sell, they're not exactly welcomed. That's why they're willing to pay to get access to your tightly formed online community, which has its very own culture, rules and etiquette. Your intimate knowledge of how your community thinks and behaves has a valuable price tag on it. 3. You have reachBeing in a commercially attractive niche and having impressive reach in numbers (in terms of blog traffic, subscribers and social media followers) makes your community really valuable. A big corporate client will be after the exposure you can give them. What kind of numbers are valuable? That all depends. Essentially, it comes down to the demand to reach your niche, how targeted your audience is and what other advertising avenues are available to the company to reach that specific audience. The more profitable the niche, and the harder those communities are to access, the more money a company will be willing to pay you to get in front of them. 4. Your community is highly engagedThis is what makes a blogger much more appealing to companies for advertising potential than say, television, print media, billboards and flyers. Bloggers engage with their audience, who eagerly share their thoughts and feelings. In addition, they actively give bloggers permission to communicate with them, by following or subscribing. Engaged communities also show clear signs of activity, through comments, posts and tweets. This is valuable in the eyes of a potential marketer, because an active community gives the company a way to evaluate and measure a campaign's success. An indicator of a successful marketing campaign is one where the target market responds to it, hopefully positively (although a highly engaged negative response can also be seen as successful, depending on the company's objectives). 5. You have influenceA blogger with a highly engaged and active community is more likely to have influence, which is what's really going to make a company take notice. A company will pay for your ability to help get the word out, your referral or your endorsement. If you can do all three, to an audience who will listen to you and believe you, then you are in a very strong negotiating position to command a price. A bigger company with a large marketing budget is most likely interested in building brand awareness, exposure and chipping away at a longer-term objective to improve market perception. The good news for a blogger is that they're unlikely to expect a huge spike in sales from working on a one-off campaign with you. This eases the pressure off you, relieving expectation that you'll influence your readers to rush out and buy the product. Having said that, if you do have the clout to change attitudes, beliefs and market perception about a particular product or service—or you can get people to buy in noticeable numbers—then that will clearly make you extremely valuable in the corporate marketplace. 6. Your brand is strong and clearIf you have all of the above advantages, then what a company wants is to align with your brand. You're obviously credible and your brand says something that they want to be perceived as being. They want your audience to think they're worthy of attention, too. 7. Your prices are competitiveIs your going rate less than the cost of advertising with traditional media power houses, or a celebrity endorsement? Most bloggers are. You're instantly more appealing, price-wise—especially if you're willing to accept non-cash payments which the company can offer you at low cost to them. More importantly, if a major company is willing to do business with you, then they see you as a profitable return on investment. To demonstrate these seven points, let's take a look at a blog that’s had success in attracting big-brand sponsorship. Case study: the yTravel blog’s and Qantas sponsorship deal yTravel Blog's Caz and Craig Makepeace If you would like to hear more about the specific steps they took to secure this sponsorship, you can listen to my exclusive interview with Caz on my blog, Mother's Love Letters. Blog: y Travel Blog
Level of engagement: Average 15-20 comments per blog post. Daily social media interaction. Reply to almost every blog comment. 12,000+ Tweets to date. Facebook fan page is the most interactive and engaged in this niche. Brand: Fun-loving, friendly travellers who are about making your life a story to tell. They believe life is all about the memories, so they make sure they live their life in a way that creates many memories through travel. Their goal is to help people get inspired, get informed and get going. The deal: All expenses paid 12 day tour of New Zealand, doing activities and attending Rugby World Cup matches. Qantas will also be promoting the bloggers. In return, all Craig and Caz have to do, is have fun, blog, Facebook, and Tweet! What impressed Qantas most: The bloggers' level of engagement with their active community. A key secret to their success: Guest posting. This was key to growing traffic. Their top tips: Be clear about your brand and make it authentic. Network and build relationships in order to build your community. Social media is crucial, but look at offline networking opportunities, too. Value yourself. Consider how short-term income opportunities for advertising and sponsored posts that compromise content quality may affect your blog perception and brand in the long term. Learn how to write a sponsorship proposal. Don't be limited by the fact that you're a new blogger. Every big blogger starts off by being a new blogger. Is corporate sponsorship for bloggers something that's common in your niche? Are you looking at aligning yourself with a company, as a monetization strategy? Lina Nguyen is a blogger in the Australian Mummy Bloggers niche. She is also a copywriter, digital media consultant and online communications expert at Words That Influence. Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger 7 Powerful Reasons Why Companies Will Pay for You to Blog |
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