Testing and Tracking - Your Way to Success

By Al Mendoza

I'll say this once, and once only. It is imperative that you continually track and test all aspects of your online business, including your ad or sales copy. Failure to do this results in loss of potential profits!

In order to create the most effective ad copy for your business you need to experiment with whatever it is you are testing.

For example, if you are testing and tracking your sales copy you should start by changing and testing different versions of the headline, or tweaking the design or altering the layout of the page. And most importantly, you need to be tracking your advertising.

The only way you can measure the results of your testing is to track all your changes, so naturally you should be implementing ways you can do this, such as using tracking software or something similar.

Ok. Now that you know the importance of testing and tracking, let's look at how you can do this.

Changing the Copy...

As already mentioned above, the most important part of any ad or sales copy is the heading. So the first thing you should test is the heading.

Try using different key words in your heading. Just changing a single word can have a significant effect on the response rate. Use different emotional trigger words to see which combination is most effective.

It really is as simple as test different versions to find the most effective wording. You may be surprised at how a small change can sometimes have a major impact on your results.

You could even add a video or audio to your site to see if this increased results. With video and audio becoming so popular this is a no-brainer and you definitely be testing this to see if it works on your site.

Tweaking the Design...

Studies have proven that simple things such as the type of font you use on your pages can influence the decisions of readers. So knowing this you need to test even the smallest of details such as using different font styles, font sizes and font colors.

Emphasize important words and phrases by placing them in italics, or making them bold, or sparingly using underlining or highlighting important phrases. Add a border, a different border color and/or a different border style.

Here's a big tip that most people are unaware of... header images can reduce your profits!

That's right. Tests have been carried with and without header images using the exact same sales copy, the exact same design, the exact same product. Nothing else was changed, yet on most occasions the page without the header image outperformed the page with the header image.

Know your own results may prove different, and maybe the product you're promoting is better suited to having a header image. But until you test you will never know. It just may be that you are leaving profits on the table without even knowing it.

Try different combinations of all these things to find out which combination works best.

Altering the Layout...

Rearrange the components of your page to see if it affects the response rate. Add a short testimonial or two to see if that has any effect. Try adding more than one order link. You could even test different navigation links to see if this makes a difference.

Here's one that you may never have thought of...

If you have a capture page, which you should have, try adding more than one subscription box on the page. My tests have proven that by strategically adding a box above the fold of the page, as well as at the bottom of the page, significantly increased opt-in rates.

Test this on your own pages and you may just be surprised with your results.

Tracking Your Advertising...

It is of utmost importance that you track the response rate for any advertising without exception. As a successful online marketer you need to know where you get the best bang-for-your-buck.

Once you find a source that gives you good results, it's just a matter of repeating and improving the whole process. But unless you know what results you are achieving, this is not possible.

In order to maximize your profits you need to know what works and what doesn't. You need to know what components of your ad copy works and which don't. You need to know where your traffic is coming from.

You may get traffic from an ezine ad, from a forum post and from a banner ad. One of these sources may bring you a significant amount of traffic, but if you're not tracking them how will you know which of these you need to focus on so that you can repeat the process?

The bottom line is that you can only find this out by testing and tracking. And as only about 1% of your competitors are testing and tracking their online business you will have the edge over the other 99% of marketers.

Article Source: http://www.articlehighlight.com

AL MENDOZA has been doing Internet Marketing since 1998 and earns his living 100% online. Mr. Mendoza has authored several publications and ecourses. He is the CEO of MarketingThinkbox.com

How to Price Your E-book

By Al Mendoza

You've written and compiled an ebook. Now you have to decide how much to charge for it. Finding the right price is essential to the success of your product.

If you charge too little, people will think it's of little value, and they won't purchase it, or even if they do buy your book, you will have to sell thousands of copies to get to the point where you can begin to see a profit.

If you price it too high when compared with your competition, you will find yourself steadily lowering the price, which will cause you all kinds of new problems in the future. For example, if you sell your ebook at first for $39.99, and later reduce it to $24.95, don't you think the people who bought it for $39.99 are going to be PISSED?

Choosing the right price for your ebook is one of the most critical parts of the marketing process. The first rule of pricing ebooks is to never underprice. Determine the highest price your audience can afford, and then if you find your book isn’t selling, you can always reduce the price.

Before you take that step, make sure you are promoting your book like crazy on the Internet and on websites. The price should be aimed at bringing in profits, but you should never forget that price is one of the factors that people use in judging the value of your ebook before they buy it. So always start with the highest price, and then launch a mega-marketing campaign.

Pricing an ebook is particularly difficult because ebooks are a fairly new commodity. Since they are digital, the value of an ebook is as confusing as the understanding of what digital actually is to the average layperson. This means that we must look at ebooks in a different light in order to determine their actual worth in this brave new cyber world.

Let's look at the difference between a book in print and an ebook. A printed book is an object you can hold in your hand, store on your bookshelf, even hand down to the next generation. It is priced on factors such as paper stock, design and production costs, and marketing.

But the fact that unites ebooks and print books is that they are composed of ideas. It is the ideas in these books that have the ability to change, or possibly transform, people's lives.

What do you think an idea is worth when evaluated against the cost of paper and ink?

It is the IDEAS that are valuable! That is how you determine the cost of your ebook.

What should I charge for my ideas?

There are all different formulas and methods for determining the correct price for your ebook. Let's begin with honing in on your ultimate goals.

Decide if your goal is to get wide distribution and maximum exposure. This goal is aimed at drawing customers to your business or service, or to establishing the credibility of your reputation. If this is your main goal, you should aim to keep your price on the low side. Some authors have even priced their ebooks at a profit loss to draw a high number of new customers. The key is to find a price that maximizes your profits and the number of books you sell.

This is an excellent pricing strategy if you are looking to acquire long-term customers. Long-term customers are extremely likely to buy from you again and again as long as the first ebook they buy is of exceptional quality and beneficial to the customer.

However, if your book contains valuable and more importantly NEW information, references, or techniques then you should aim to price it on the high end.

After you figure out your goal, you must figure out what your audience's need is for your ebook.

For example, does your book solve a particular problem? If it does, and solves it in a way that hasn't been written about in one hundred other ebooks, you will be able to achieve high sales at a high price. If your book solves a problem or answers questions in a new and unique way, you should price your book as high as you can go. You will achieve larger profits this way, but bring in fewer customers.

Just make sure the question or problem that your book solves is one that is important and relevant to the majority of your market audience. If your ideas are not common knowledge, or you are presenting a brand new technique, you will be able to sell books at a high price. Just be prepared for your competition to undercut you on price as soon as they hear about your book.

Keep in mind that the above pricing strategy is temporary. Eventually, you will cease to sell books at this high price. So figure out in advance how long you plan to offer your ebook at this high price, and when that time is up, change your pricing strategy.

If you want to see large profits over customer draw, aim for an audience that is looking for easy solutions to their problems at a low price. If your book is aimed at solving one particular problem rather than general advice, then you can charge more. Start at the highest price the market will bear to bring in the largest profits, and plan to discount the book a number of times throughout the year.

Article Source: http://www.articlehighlight.com

AL MENDOZA has been doing Internet Marketing since 1998 and earns his living 100% online. Mr. Mendoza has authored several publications and ecourses. He is the CEO of MarketingThinkbox.com