Shoemoney - Skills To Pay The Bills

---

@ereleases doesn’t suck Posted: 31 Jan 2013 07:00 AM PST Over the last 8 years I have used about every Press Release Distribution company there is.  A branding agency we have been working with for my book suggested we try ereleases. I wish I had more time to write about my experience with them but this morning I crashed my BMW X5 into a rock (4 foot wide 3 foot tall)  and I am trying to get kids car seats moved and logistics figured out for tomorrow but anyway…  So we used ereleases and right away I got a call from their staff.  At first I thought it was annoying like they were trying to upsell me so like any good MFCEO I had the phone to my assistant and have her handle it. She said they just asked if we had any more questions. Then I got this in the email:   OMG really guys?  Ok its cute but cmon you know you just have some monkey photoshop in new clients names….  Right? But then in my snail mail we got 2 hand written notes.  From 2 different people. They were what they call “brain storming sessions” and they gave me a ton of notes about suggestions on my next steps.  Now this was impressive. Then a few days after that I get this book,  in paperback,  that is “How to write an effective press release”  or something like that.  I will post a picture and update this post hopefully before anyone sees it. I am actually so blown away by the quality of their customer service I haven’t even mentioned how effective the actual service is.  Its honestly awesome.  I have never… ever used a press release service where I got ACTUAL PRESS INQUIRIES. Yes – Not sure if you saw that I was on the cover of the Omaha World Herald (money section)  a few weeks back.  That was because they picked up the release. All in all over 40 news websites picked it up and syndicated the press release.  I even got interviewed by my local hometown radio and news stations. AND We had 3 different book publishers talk to us about doing a deal with them. Sometimes,  as a internet marketer,  I always am so cynical about stuff.  I always think there is an angle to everything.  But sometimes people still deliver an amazing service with amazing customer service also. Full Disclosure:  I have not received any compensation what so ever for writing this post.  Yes I know it was awesome and they should have paid me.  Its all good though. Looking for an SEO service that won’t get you banned?

Real reasons people sue Posted: 31 Jan 2013 05:00 AM PST Andy Beal recently wrote his thoughts on how to not get sued for defamation online… this coming after a 750k lawsuit was filed for someone something said on yelp. First I want to say that I have a lot of respect for Andy. He is a really good guy and he has built a very underrated service in Trackur. Andy’s post is mostly how to keep yourself from getting sued. Now I am not sure Andy’s experience as a plaintiff or defendant but I have found myself on both sides of that isle since I was first sued in federal court way back 8 years ago (that is the intial letter that started it all. The rest was sealed in the settlement). Probably going on 2 dozen. I have been sued for defamation, libel, slander, hacking someones Facebook (really), and other things. I have sued people for mostly trademark infringement and copyright infringement with a few breach of contracts mixed in. I absolutely love the legal system. Probably too much. In all of the cases we have been in we have never lost a motion let a lone a judgment. The best part? I have ALWAYS come out cash-flow positive from every lawsuit we have been in. I know that sounds crazy but counter suits are a bitch =P. A.D.D. reminiscent moment – the only college level classes I truly loved were my pre-law classes. Especially legal debate. I really believe I would have been a hell of a litigator… but anyway… Oh speaking of lawyers mine always remind me to say that I am not a lawyer and you should consult one before acting on anything I say. Got it? As always I am going to talk from my own experience. I am not going to tell you what to do. This post is more about how to use the legal system… not really to protect yourself. Honestly at the end of the day there is no such thing as protecting yourself. There is only mitigating your risk, intent, and a few other things I will try to point out. So I will take Andy’s points completely out of context to make me look smart. Ok here is Andy’s first tip on how to not get sued: Always make sure you have a contract. This benefits both the buyer and seller, even if they know each other and have the best of intentions. I semi agree with this but not so you don’t get sued but so each party is aware of each others expectations. It’s one thing to come to an agreement over drinks but its quite another to get it down on paper. Its VERY important to have a contract so EVERYONE is clear of what assets and liabilities each party is contributing in this contract. Now from my experience a contract means dick all as far as keeping you out of a lawsuit. Now your going to hear a ton of people disagree with me when I say that but ask them how much experience they have in the actual matter… From my experience lawsuits have always been filed because of intent & pride. No matter what the contract said one party felt the intent of the other was to do them harm. Now it becomes a matter of pride. Unfortuantely almost all of my business deals that came to a legal ending ended with a non disclosure agreement so I regretfully can’t give you much of a specific example but lets just say that you came to me and wanted to start a business together.  Terms are simple.  My obligation is to provide technical services and financial backing.  In the operating agreement it says you are going to provide people for customer service, sales team, whatever. Then one day I find out my money is actually going to paying for you to outsource the customer service.  Now in the fine print you could actually do this.  But I know your intent is clearly against what we both agreed on in that you would provide the people who were already on your staff free of charge.  But yes technically because of this contract you could do that. So if you didn’t come to Jesus I would file suit claiming breach of contract and a lot of other thing that would cost you a lot of money.  Again mostly because I know you intended to do me harm and also my pride was damaged. Ok lets look at some real world outside the box cases.  We have had several cases with people who have used my AdSense Photo to peddle their shitty products. This might not seem like a breach of contract but it is. That photo can be used in certain ways. When people intentionally use my likeness to confuse consumers into thinking their shitty product is some how related to mine that fucks with my pride.  I pride myself on building quality products and services. I could honestly go on forever about cases we have been through…  but I need to go out to the beach (I am still in Maui).   Trying to increase your Google rank that is like no other?

You are subscribed to email updates from ShoeMoney Internet Marketing Blog To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610

“X-Ray Vision for Guest Bloggers: Author Stats” plus 1 more

---

X-Ray Vision for Guest Bloggers: Author Stats Posted: 30 Jan 2013 11:00 AM PST This guest post is by Andy Crestodina of Orbit Media. Analytics are great for seeing your site's performance, but we can't usually peek into other people's web stats. However, there is a tool that gives you a view you may not have seen before. It's called Google Author Stats. Embrace your new blogging super power I think of guest blogging as modern-day PR. It has social media and search marketing benefits, and it's a lot of fun. It's a key part of blogger collaboration. The X-ray vision we're talking about is useful for guest bloggers, but it works for any blogger. To make it work, you need to do two things: Use Google Authorship to add a "digital signature" to your posts. Apply some SEO basics to your writing: a bit of keyphrase research and usage. If you've been doing this all along, get ready to see through walls! Here's how: log into Google Webmaster Tools using your Google+ login info. This might seem strange because this account isn't necessarily tied to a website. But keep going. Now, click "Labs > Author Stats". Here's what you'll see… You're looking at the SEO performance of every post you've written and tagged for Authorship. Let’s step through the information that’s included here. Page: the address Impressions: the number of times it has appeared in search results Clicks: the number of visits to the page CTR/Clickthrough Rate: the percentage of searchers who clicked on it Avg. Position: how high the page ranks on average for all its keyphrases It's a thrill the first time you put on your Author Stats X-ray specs. You're seeing the SEO performance (an important part of Analytics) for your site, but also other people's websites. It's enough to make a man blush! Use your powers for good, not evil Now that you can see through walls, what are you going to do with your new powers? Here's a tip: use them for good. Use them as a reason to reach out and collaborate. Here are a few ways a guest author can continue to work with a host blog based on Authors Stats. Your guest post has… Avg. Position of 11-15: You're ranking on page two, but not far from page one. The host blog should look for a few opportunities to link to the post from older posts, improving the link popularity. Or you can write another post on a similar topic with new link to the original post. Avg. Position of 1-5, but CTR below 5%: You're on page one, but not many people are clicking. There may be a mismatch between the title and meta description and the meaning of the keyphrase. Tweak the title to make sure the keyphrase and the topic are aligned semantically. Clicks of 500 or more per month: You're driving some traffic! The combination of your content and the host’s domain authority are powering significant visits from search. You should work together more often! Now take of the X-ray glasses, email the blog editor, and continue to collaborate. Help the blog, help yourself, and help future readers find your content. Peek at a few final tips There are loads of competitive analysis tools that can give you a peek into the stats of other sites, but there's still a lot we can't see. Ever used X-ray vision? Need help troubleshooting it? Got a favorite super power of your own? Leave a comment or question below… Andy Crestodina is the Strategic Director of Orbit Media, a web design company in Chicago. He's also the author of Content Chemistry, An Illustrated Guide to Content Marketing You can find Andy on Google+ and Twitter. Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger X-Ray Vision for Guest Bloggers: Author Stats

Is Your Content ROI Really Untrackable? Posted: 30 Jan 2013 05:07 AM PST This guest post is by Johnny. We have all heard about the traditional advertising campaign that cost thousands and makes almost no impact on sales or turnover. But when was the last time you heard that about a content marketing strategy? I'll give you a clue: you haven't. An effective content strategy can cost as little as the time it takes to create. However, as more and more blue chip companies are beginning to catch on, questions are being asked about whether this strategy is the right one. Convincing people that it is will almost always require you to show the returns on your investment. Here we take a look at some tips for content measurement and examine if tracking ROI is actually possible. Always start from the end Imagine I am a lost man trying to find my way to the first page of Google. I have no idea where I am and I don't have any directions to get to the search engine, but I know I want to be there. What should I do first? Knowing where you want to be should be the first step in your journey with content marketing. Make the goal achievable and set some bench marks. Do you currently have 100 likes on Facebook, but would prefer 1000? What kind of content could achieve this? Once you have your achievable goal in mind, set a time scale. Even if the goal is ongoing, having a monthly strategy and aiming to hit benchmarks along the way is essential. One of the biggest indicators of return on investment relies on monitoring whether you’re hitting your monthly objectives or not. Analyse and track The majority of businesses undertaking content marketing will be focussing on one thing: sales. This is where a lot of people become confused and assume that you cannot measure sales from content marketing or social media. This is completely untrue. It is simple to monitor key performance indicators in Google Analytics. If you are providing content in order to boost brand awareness, monitor organic brand searches on Google. If this is increasing month on month, the work you are doing is obviously having an effect. If you are trying to generate leads, monitor new visitors to your website. Use Google visitor path to see where your new visitors are coming from, and how long they are spending on the site. Systems like ResponseTap offer a call tracking solution which allows you to monitor how many people are picking up the phone after visiting your website. Adding a monetary value to each of your goals is imperative to monitoring return on investment. For example, in your first month, you may be focussed on building a community. Monitor how many more visitors visit your website after the content is published. If on average $100 is spent for every 500 visitors, and your content attracts an extra 100 visitors, then you can put a value on the content ($20). This is a basic arbitrary measure, but I think it’s important in showing how much top-level, real value you are adding, even ignoring the secondary benefits. Nurture your leads People who visit your website may be in different places in the buying cycle. Someone may find your content accidentally and become interested in the products you sell, but don't know how they could use them. Do you have another piece of content or landing page equipped to show them how to get value from using your products? You should! Another visitor may be looking to buy a product like yours at that very moment, so it’s essential to make your pricelist easily accessible. To attract more interested buyers, ensure you have white papers or videos showing why your products are the best on the market, and explaining your competitive edge. Lead nurturing is the new lead generation. Your customers aren’t stupid. They want to come to their own logical buying decisions, so the more you offer them, the more value they will attach to your brand. The real value in content marketing is in building community, so attaching a value to your community is important. So … is content marketing ROI trackable? In a word, yes. Monitoring leads and sales value is possible using the various analytical programmes on the market. ResponseTap and similar companies are starting to bridge the gap between offline conversions and online activity, and I see this as the next step in linking content marketing with return on investment. However at the minute, the secondary benefits of social marketing are not clear to monitor. Comparing new and repeat visitors to your website is a great metric for seeing how well your content is doing at bringing fresh customers to your site, but how advantageous is this in the long run? It is yet to be seen. Do you have any of your own insights on content marketing and measuring returns? I would love to hear them in the comments below. Written by Jonny who is interested in how social media and content marketing are helping small and medium sized businesses increase brand awareness online. Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger Is Your Content ROI Really Untrackable?

You are subscribed to email updates from @ProBlogger To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610

Shoemoney - Skills To Pay The Bills

---

Hot Dog Marketing Online Posted: 30 Jan 2013 08:55 AM PST A lot of people call me “The Hotdogman.” I got my nickname from working in the food business, just like Shoemoney. Last week, all the buzz at Affiliate Summit West was about Shoemoney’s book, Nothing’s Changed But My Change, The Shoemoney Story. I picked one up at the Summit and read it on my flight home, it was a pretty good read and a great American Dream kind of tale. I met up with Jeremy on the exhibit hall floor and we had a chat. As it invariably does, the conversation swung around to hot dogs. Since I am The Hotdogman, I guess that’s a good thing; I have branded myself well in the internet marketing world. As we were talking, Jeremy remarked that being a hot dog vendor and an internet marketer have a lot of similarities. We tossed that idea around for a minute or two, and the more I thought about it, the more I thought he was right. I was a hot dog truck owner and operator for 6 years and I started fiddling around with blogs, the internet, and affiliate marketing back in 2007 when a particularly harsh winter kept the truck closed for a few months. That’s when I started The Hot Dog Truck, a blog about “the life and times of a Hotdogman.” I started monetizing my site with Adsense (thanks in part to a certain blogger’s famous photo), did a lot of paid posting, and began experimenting with affiliate marketing. My wife thought I was wasting my time, but she changed her tune when I used my first few months blog earnings to take the family to Las Vegas to visit her folks! She’s been on board with my “online thing” since. Six years later, the hot dog truck is gone, but the website remains. I also have a stable of 20 or so niche sites and I do freelance writing. Hot Dogs and Marketing My transition from hot dog man to The Hotdogman online was fairly easy, I have always been a decent writer and I was in sales since I was ten years old. Marketing online was understandable and doable for me. I decided to give the internet marketing thing a serious whirl when a series of bad luck left me essentially disabled for nearly a year; I got Lyme Disease, bad blood clots, and I broke my knee! The immobility this caused lent itself to spending my days at the computer. I sold my hot dog truck and dove right in to creating websites and marketing various products online. My first ventures were geared toward what I know, most notably hot dogs. I sold hot dog related courses and products across a series of websites with success. When I was doing this, I’d think back to what made me successful in the hot dog business and applied what I could. The most notable similarity between online marketing and selling hot dogs is the autonomy for the entrepreneur. Both businesses can be one man (or one woman) ventures. As many people who read this know, there is nothing quite like working for yourself. You don’t have to answer to a boss, you do things your own way, and you reap all the financial rewards from your ventures. Going into the hot dog business is a low investment proposition. Even a shiny new hot dog cart can be bought for less than three grand; if you buy used, that number goes lower. Compared to opening a brick and mortar restaurant, starting up a hot dog cart is short money. The same is true for starting out in internet marketing. I got started with eight bucks and a free host. As time went on, I invested in premium WordPress themes, an email program, more domains, private servers, and other tools, but other than that first eight bucks, I never paid for any of that stuff “out-of-pocket.” Investments into my growing online “empire” always came from profits. I don’t know any other legitimate business you can start for eight bucks! The Hot Dog Cart Principle in Online Marketing Starting in the hot dog business is a bit more complicated than buying a cart, setting up shop, and hanging out a sign. There are some regulations involved and you need the appropriate permits. You also need to sell. If nobody knows you’re there, you won’t sell any hot dogs; you need to market your business. That involves getting out to the businesses nearby and giving them an incentive to stop by and try your chow. Theoretically, once someone takes a bite of your delicious hot dogs, they’ll tell their friends and co-workers and you’ll be off and running. The same goes for online marketing. Like any business, there are rules and regulations to follow, so you need to know them before you get started. You could have the best offer or product in the world, but nobody will buy it unless they know about it. Just setting up a website and hoping won’t get you any sales. You need to use proven methods for generating traffic, the online equivalent of letting people know about your offer. Just like offering a free hot dog to get people to try you out, you can offer incentives to take a look at your offer. Think about it, how many free e-books have you downloaded? (I like mine with mustard and relish). Whether you’re selling hot dogs or an online product, you still need to provide value to your customer. A good hot dog man will have premium hot dogs, fresh rolls and condiments, and he’ll serve them up HOT for a fair price. A good online marketer will have a quality offer or product that gives the customer what they’re looking for, whether it’s a product to solve a problem, an entertaining book, or a deal on the latest gadget, there has to be value for the customer at the right price or else you’re spinning your wheels. Both businesses are scalable, too. I know many successful hot dog vendors who have moved on to managing multiple carts and trucks and even opened full-on restaurants. The concept is fairly simple and easily duplicated, you just need to find the right people. Online marketing is the same. Once you have a system and a set of processes in place, you can expand and duplicate your business. Hiring the right people is key here too. Make sure you hire and work with people who have complimentary skill sets. I started with one website, now I have more than 20 and I have people I call on for certain tasks that I just am not good at. Notice in that previous paragraph “the right people” came up a number of times. Whether you’re selling hot dogs or pitching the latest hot info product, having good people to work for/with you is key. A crappy employee can bring down any small business pretty quick if left unchecked. Whether that employee is serving food that’s under cooked or servicing online customers with an inconsistent attitude, the bad apple can be a killer. Conversely, good people can boost your business. An enthusiastic, friendly vendor brings people back to your cart. A savvy employee who “gets out there” and helps boost business, whether it’s with good follow through or promotion through their social media networks, can be a great asset to any business. Not ready to leave the security of a paycheck to start a business? Start part-time! Hot Dog vending can be started as a part time venture. Just work weekend events or find opportunities to set up shop within your existing schedule. The same goes for an online business. You can start on your living room couch! Spend a few hours a day building your business; you’ll know when you can transition to full-time in either venture. Fun is Good too Online marketing and hot dog vending are fun businesses. I was always cutting it up with my customers at my hot dog truck and I made many new friends in the six years I was in the business. Hardly a week goes by that I don’t run into an old customer. I’ve even made some good business connections from my old hot dog contacts! Online marketing is fun too. While many relationships are forged online, the same principles apply. Treat people well, be nice, offer good products and service and you’ll make new friends. The one thing online marketing has going for it in the fun department over the hot dog business is industry events. Parties at online marketing conferences ROCK! Hot dog events I’ve attended have been small; while they were fun and informative, there were never open bars in fancy nightclubs with go-go girls! It all boils down to one thing: good old American entrepreneurship. Despite the woes afflicting our nation right now, entrepreneurship is alive and well in the US of A. Many of the hot dog vendors I encounter on a regular basis are in the business due to corporate downsizing. They chose the hot dog biz for many of the same reasons I listed here. The same goes for online marketing. Many people are content to moan about the economy and wring their hands in despair. The folks who decide to do something about it, whether they start slinging hot dogs or selling stuff online REFUSE to let macro circumstances dictate their future. No matter what the economy looks like, people still need a good, cheap lunch and they’ll continue to by all sorts of products online. Entrepreneurs who decide to capitalize on opportunities will always find success if they go about it the right way. The most important thing any entrepreneur can do is get started NOW! No business gets started by thinking about it. If you want to sell hot dogs, start scouting locations, research carts, and learn about your business. If you want to get going in the online marketing game, start learning the basics (I hear Shoemoney has a course or two about that). You can have a website up in an hour or two. I know many online entrepreneurs who built a website in one night and were doing business the very next day. Don’t fall into the “paralysis by analysis” trap, if you want to start a business, START NOW! Looking for an SEO service that won’t get you banned?

You are subscribed to email updates from ShoeMoney Internet Marketing Blog To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610

3 Games That Will Improve Your Business Skills - DailyBlogTips

---

3 Games That Will Improve Your Business Skills Posted: 29 Jan 2013 06:03 PM PST As I mentioned on this post, one must work hard but also play hard. In other words, you need to have fun regularly if you want to stay sane and be able to work hard when it comes to it. But what if you could have fun and improve your business skills at the same time? Even better, right? Below you’ll find three games which I think achieve this purpose. 1. Chess The king of strategy games, and also the game of kings. Chess dates back to the 6th century, and today it’s played by millions of people around the world. When playing the game you need to protect your resources (pieces), to find the right balance between offense and defense, to lead your opponent to make mistakes, to know when to sacrifice things and so on. As you can see, these are valuable skills to the business world as well. In my opinion the best place to play online is Chess.com. Their technology is top notch and there are thousands of expert players around, including many national and international grand masters. You’ll also find tutorials and tips there. And here’s a challenge to DBT readers: if you beat me on the 1-minute bullet game I’ll mention your name on a future post! If you are up to it drop me an email and we’ll play one of these days. 2. Poker As you probably heard by now, poker is not gambling. Sure, there’s some amount of luck involved, but the results of the game, especially if you consider the long term, are based on your skills as a player. A good poker player must base his game on two building blocks: mathematics and psychology. You’ll need the maths part to figure out the odds of winning with each particular hand, the odds of your opponents having a hand that beats yours, the optimal bet size, the long term return you’ll get by playing in a specific way and so on. The psychology, on the other hand, will be used to analyze the behavior of your opponents. You need to read when they are strong, when they are weak, when they are bluffing and so on. You also need to know when to bluff yourself, when to represent something you don’t have, and so on. Again, all skills that you can use on business situations. In fact many successful people are also poker players, including Bill Gates and Barack Obama. I never played online poker, because I find it boring. At least once a month we gather some friends and play at my house, though. One day I also want to play at the World Series of Poker, in Las Vegas. 3. Starcraft I no longer play computer games, mostly due to lack of time, but back in the day I used to play a mean Terran in Starcraft. I played some Starcraft 2 when it came out as well, and I still watch some pros playing once in a while on YouTube. Out of all the computer strategy games Starcraft is by far the most sophisticated one. The breadth of strategical choices you have is amazing. You pick one out of three races, each with pros and cons. Then you must manage your resources, workers, structures, army units and so on, with the objective of destroying the enemy troops. The similarities between war and business have been studied for centuries, and that’s why by playing this game you might end up improving your business skills. Over to the readers: What other games do you think can improve one’s business skills? Original Post: 3 Games That Will Improve Your Business Skills

You are subscribed to email updates from Daily Blog Tips To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610

“7 Old Post Revival Techniques You Won’t Believe You’re Overlooking” plus 1 more

---

7 Old Post Revival Techniques You Won’t Believe You’re Overlooking Posted: 29 Jan 2013 11:07 AM PST This guest post is by Ahmed Safwan of To Start Blogging. Do you have hundreds of posts in your archive? Most of them receiving a big zero in traffic? You aren’t the only one who has this problem. Most of the bloggers, even pro ones, have this problem. That’s why this post was created. Your old posts can generate additional visitors for you. Let’s see how. 1. Create internal links You’ve heard me talk about internal linking before. This is because it’s very important. When you link to your old posts, you are giving more value to your readers and also to Google itself. You will be able to get traffic to your old posts, decrease bounce rates, increase average time on site per visitor, and increase your rankings. All this from just linking to your old posts! So, whenever you write a new post, remember that your old posts can also give value, and link to them in your new post. 2. Update your old post and republish it Do you notice how CopyBlogger republishes some of its old articles from time to time? Doing this will let you catch a break, and also get a raft of traffic to your old content while making sure that content remains current over time. 3. Spread it on social media Social media can also send more traffic to your old posts. Tweet more than one post each day, to get the best results. As well as scheduling tweets for the upcoming week, see if you can’t theme your old post tweets around events that are happening in your niche, or the world in general. Depending on your topic, a post you wrote six month or a year ago may provide an interesting coutnerpoint or reminder for readers. 4. Create a follow-up post Maybe you have an old post, but something has changed around that topic. Great: create a follow-up post that shows what’s changed since you wrote that old post, link back to it, and you will get traffic to it as well. This can be especially effective if there are valuable comments on the old post, and you can pick up on those in the new one. Tactics like this, which weave the posts together, give readers a solid reason to look back at the past post. 5. Use a “related posts” widget When your readers reach the end of a post, they want to know what to do next. Show them related posts from your archives. This revives your old posts and provides more context and information to your readers. Remember, they can be your loyal readers forever, so always try to provide them with the content they need. Your archives should be chock-a-block with it! 6. Use cornerstone content Do you have a number of posts on a similar topic? Create a single post that contains all of these posts, as a one-stop resource for your readers. This way, you’ll get more traffic from search engines, and show your authority on this topic—which can only help build loyalty among the visitors you help. 7. Link to your old posts in an email series Last week, I received an email from Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income. It’s an email that’s sent to all new subscribers after a given time, and in the email, he was promoting an old post. What a great idea. Create autoresponders to send weekly to your new subscribers. In these emails, you can include links to your old posts and relevant tips. This is a great way to create a richer relationship with your new subscribers. Do you have any other ideas? These are the common ways to promote your old posts. If you have another idea, share it in the comments! In addition to being a successful blogger and a talented freelance writer, Ahmed Safwan is on a mission to help bloggers who want to succeed build the blog that can help them to do so. If youíre one of them, check out his blog for more Blogging Tips that Help you make money. Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger 7 Old Post Revival Techniques You Won’t Believe You’re Overlooking

How to Use Multivariate Testing to Build the Ultimate Opt-in Form Posted: 29 Jan 2013 05:06 AM PST This guest post is by Adam Connell of Bloggingwizard.com. There’s a testing technique out there that’s not being used to its full potential—or even used at all by most website owners. Today I want to show you how you can use it to create the ultimate high-converting opt-in form. So what is multivariate testing? It's essentially very similar to split testing. The difference is that it takes into account a lot more variables. Many site owners avoid multivariate testing as it seems overly complex, and most of the services on the market that provide multivariate testing are paid services, which leaves bloggers unsure of the potential ROI. In this post you will learn how you can use Google Analytics content experiments to conduct multivariate testing on your own opt-in forms in an easy and controlled way that will allow you to maximise your conversions. Why multivariate testing? In early 2012 Econsultancy.com and Redeye conducted a survey http://econsultancy.com/uk/reports/conversion-rate-optimization-report that yielded some interesting results. Multivariate testing came out as the most valuable testing method for improving conversions, despite only 17% of companies stating that they used it. According to the same report, taking the leap from A/B split testing to multivariate testing can help you improve conversions by an extra 15%. This shows a huge opportunity for those site owners and businesses that come on board and start using this testing method. So let’s see how it’s done. Step 1. Break down your opt-in form In order to conduct any worthwhile experiment you need a plan and identify all of the different variables; but in order to come up with a complete list of variables you need to break your opt-in form into its various elements. Here is a combination of the typical elements you may find in an opt-in form: headline subheadline additional text image/video name capture field email capture field buttons background. Step 2. Define your variables Now that we have all of the elements of your opt-in form mapped out, we need to break each element down further and plan out how we might want to vary each one. Please note, the list below is not exhaustive, nor do you have to vary all of these when you come to experiment. The point is to show you all of the possibilities. You may think some of these are minor changes, and they are. But the impact of some of these changes can be enormous. For example, some marketers have tested opt-ins with name capture and email fields against forms with just an email capture field, and have managed to increase conversions by 20%. So it all makes a difference! Headline: font, text size, text colour, capitalisation, alignment Sub-headline: font, text size, text colour, capitalisation, alignment Additional text: yes/no, font, text size, text colour, capitalisation, alignment, bullet points Image/video: yes/no, image size, image content, video size, video content, video audio, video type Name capture: yes/no, text in field, icon to the left Email capture: icon to the left, text in field Button: size, shape, text colour, text font, text size, background colour, rounded edges Background: border, image, drop shadow, border. Step 3. Plan the test This is where it starts to get a little bit more complex: you need to come up with the original control version of the form for your test, and as large a number of variations as possible. The downside to Google Analytics content experiments is that you're limited to nine variations plus the original (or control) version. You also need to be able to keep track of the variations and changes that you're making; you can't just throw something in and hope for the best. To make this easy for you, we’ve put together a Google docs spreadsheet that will allow you to keep track of all your elements and variations. Click here to access the spreadsheet Please note: you must make a copy of this spreadsheet before altering it, otherwise everyone who visits will be able to see your testing plan! Due to the number of variations that may be needed in the future we’ve broken the document down into controlled groups. Now just add the variations, which may look something like this: At this stage it's important that you only fill in the variations for group A as you need to use the results of each group’s test to inform the variations you select for the next group. Step 4. Gear up to test group A Now that you have planned out your variations for group A, you're ready to get the test underway. The setup process here is fairly straightforward: Set up a new page for each variation. Add the pages to Google analytics content experiments. Log in to your account, then navigate to standard reporting > content > experiments. Set your goals. Note: the easiest way to do this is to ensure your opt-in form directs users to a thank you page, then find the URL and add this as the goal URL. Add the content experiments code to your pages. Let the experiment run. It's important to let your experiments run for as long as possible, so you can get data from the largest possible amount of traffic. The more traffic you run this experiment on, the better, but if your blog doesn't have as much traffic, then you will need to run it for even longer. You are just looking for conversion rate here so, strictly speaking, you can run each test on different numbers of traffic. You need a statistically significant result for each test; you don’t need every test to involve the same amount of traffic. Step 5. Review results and prepare to test group B By now you will have had the results from group A, which means you can start thinking about the group B tests. The first thing to do is to take the best performing variation from group A and add it as the original for group B (don't forget to update your main page on your website at this point). Now it's just a case of rinsing and repeating the process above, tweaking and coming up with new variations to test each time. A potential 15% conversion boost Using this guide you will be able to create additional experiments for other parts of your sites, not just opt-in forms. You can easily tweak this method to use on sales pages, product reviews, squeeze pages, ad layouts or anything else you can think of. The important thing is laying out your variations and keeping track of them. Then, just rinse and repeat. Are you using any form of testing at the moment? We would love to hear about which methods you're using and how much you've managed to increase your conversions in the comments. Adam Connell is an internet marketing and SEO nut from the UK. He can be found blogging over at Bloggingwizard.com. Follow him on Twitter @adamjayc. Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger How to Use Multivariate Testing to Build the Ultimate Opt-in Form

You are subscribed to email updates from @ProBlogger To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610