One Simple Business Strategy Leads To Success

Author: Michael Warren Campbell – Reading Time: 2 min 21 sec.

Ever wondered how some companies become so successful that they evolve into cultural icons? Here’s a quick story about a hedgehog and fox that reveals the secret.

The hedgehog and the fox is actually an ancient aphorism by the Greek poet known as Archilochus. It states, “The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.”

It became popular through an essay by Isaiah Berlin. He divided the world into two types of thinkers – hedgehogs and foxes – based on an ancient parable.

The fox is sneaky and always trying to scheme up new ways. Their world is complex, and they’re always busy. They never tend to focus on a single unifying theory.

The hedgehog is simple. Hedgehogs organize the world into a single unifying concept. The fox, for all his cunning, gets defeated by the hedgehog’s one defense. It curls into a spiky ball, and the fox cannot harm it.

Here’s what Isaiah Berlin said in his essay;

“There exists a great chasm between those who relate everything to a single central vision and those who pursue many ends, often unrelated and even contradictory. The first kind of intellectual and artistic personality belongs to the hedgehogs, the second to the foxes.”

In short, hedgehogs set goals, and they have systems by which they accomplish things. Foxes tend to go off in all directions, without a method, goals, or systems to success.

When applied to a business, it means “know yourself” and your core competencies. Have a well-defined culture and vision. Know who you are, why you are in business, and what you’re about. Have a clear idea about what you are trying to achieve.

The hedgehog and fox were more recently popularized by Jim Collins’ #1 bestseller, “Good to Great.” Why some companies make the leap and others don’t.

According to Jim, “Those who built the good-to-great companies were, to one degree or another, hedgehogs. They used their hedgehog nature to drive toward what we came to call a Hedgehog Concept for their companies.”

“Those who led the comparison companies tended to be foxes, never gaining the clarifying advantage, of a Hedgehog Concept, being instead, scattered, diffused, and inconsistent.”

It’s fascinating stuff. Fox companies compare themselves to other companies and try to compete with them. Hedgehog companies focus on doing one thing and do it so well that they become cultural icons.

So do not try to “outfox” the competition. Aspire to be a hedgehog instead.

Get the Good to Great audiobook and let your ears feast on this wisdom while you drive, work out, or walk in the park. Check out few classics like Earl Nightingale’s “Lead the Field” and Jim Rohn’s “Art of Exceptional Living.”

Successful people never get tired of learning. And being in audio, you can listen as many times as you like. Slide this wisdom into your brain, and it won’t be long before your little hedgehog is leading the field with a remarkable life.

Michael Warren Campbell

P. S.

Now it’s your turn. What about you? Are you a hedgehog or a fox? What’s the one thing that your company does really well. Do you have any tips that made you successful? I’d love to hear your advice.

Please let me know in the comments, or message me @dmcorp on Twitter or dynamic888 on Skype. Please share this post with your network of friends, colleagues, and anyone else you think might enjoy it. Thank you!

Link to this article here: https://internetmarketingsecrets.com/simple-success/

* This article was originally published here

How Blue Light Increases Productivity

Author: Michael Warren Campbell – Reading Time: 2 min 32 sec.

If you’re working on the internet, you spend a lot of time in front of the computer. Your environment, including your lighting, has a significant impact on your happiness and productivity.

In the morning and afternoon, it’s essential to have a cool white light that’s heavy in the blue spectrum entering your eyes. This is true for everyone. And especially important in the winter months, or if you live somewhere that doesn’t get a lot of natural sunlight, like the UK, Northern Europe, and the Pacific northwest.

According to Dr. Steven Lockley, “Light in the blue spectrum, especially between roughly 450 and 480 nm, is uniquely effective at suppressing the secretion of melatonin – the hormone which makes us feel sleepy and regulates several biological rhythms and functions essential to our health.”

Blue light emitted from special LED bulbs will keep you wide awake and productive all day long. Look for light temperatures – they should be stamped on the package – in the 6500K (D65) temperature range with a full-color spectrum.

In my office, I use four LED lamps. They have five different light temperatures, ranging from 6500K mid-day sun to warm yellow 2700K for nighttime. They also have 5 different levels of brightness.

I set the lights to 6500K and full brightness the moment I walk into my office. They make me feel energized and happy in my work environment all day long.

It also helps to have a blue background color on your computer monitor. Choose a blue in the 450 and 480-nanometer range. The intensity doesn’t matter as much as the hue.

Although blue light is what you need during the day, in the evening it’s unhealthy. It interrupts the sleep cycle, or natural circadian rhythm, by preventing the production of melatonin, which makes us sleepy.

So in the evening, shut off the blue light, and switch to yellow, so it doesn’t interfere with your normal sleep cycle. You can also try dimming your monitor, switching the background color, or installing software that changes the color of your screen depending on the time of day.

So what does all this have to do with internet marketing? Quite a lot when you think about it.

Productivity depends on how happy you are in your work environment. Give your body and mind the proper lighting it needs. If you do, you’ll notice an immediate improvement in your mood and attitude towards work. You’ll work longer without getting tired and feel more energized throughout the day.

There’s also a little trick hidden away in all this. A website with a blue background, especially one with lots of text, will keep your readers wide awake because of the amount of blue light entering their eyes. Sneaky huh?

60% of people name blue as their favorite color. It’s also the color that wakes us up by blocking sleep hormone production. Put it as the background color on your site, and your readers won’t get tired while reading your content.

To be instantly productive and happy, forget new software or another cup of coffee. Get adjustable temperature LED lights or something similar for your mental health. It’s the best thing you can do to improve your attitude, stay happy and be more productive at work.

P. S.

What about you? What kind of lighting do you have in your work environment? Do you adjust the lighting temperature as I do? Do you have any productivity hacks that you can share?

Please let me know in the comments, or message me @dmcorp on Twitter or dynamic888 on Skype. Please share this post with your network of friends, colleagues, and anyone else you think might enjoy it. Thank you!

Link to this article here: https://internetmarketingsecrets.com/blue-light/

* This article was originally published here

13 Internet marketing tricks and tools for new marketing managers - AZ Big Media

13 Internet marketing tricks and tools for new marketing managers  AZ Big Media

* This article was originally published here

How to Succeed in Google Ads Without Modified Broad Match

Despite Google's claims that broad match is more effective than ever before, many advertisers are still reeling from the loss of their beloved modified broad match type. How can you continue getting relevant traffic from your ads? 

Enter: Broad match keywords + audience targeting.

To be fair, this was always something you could do, but was not ideal due to its restrictive nature. However, now that modified broad is gone, we have to get craftier with the few match types we have left—broad match included.

So in this post, I’m going to share:

• The benefits of using broad match + audience targeting (with expert input).
• How to execute this funky strategy in Google Ads.
• My three secrets for combining broad match with audiences effectively.

Follow my tips and tricks, and before you know it, broad match may become your best friend!

Why use the broad match + audiences strategy?

If we remember back a few months ago, Google announced it was sunsetting the modified broad match type. In that announcement, it claimed that “broad match is now more effective than ever,” as the algorithm has improved to allow broad match keywords to use context clues for triggering ads to the right searches.

Typos in last search example intended! Image adapted from Google.

Google continues its statement regarding broad match with the following:

“To help deliver relevant matches, this match type may also take into account the following:

• The user’s recent search activities.
• The content of the landing page.
• Other keywords in an ad group to better understand keyword intent.”

This means broad match keywords will purposely overlook any grammatical errors or misspellings within a search if it’s still contextually relevant.

Despite Google’s claims of broad match efficiency, I know plenty of folks who are still wary of this match type, either due to negative experiences in the past with spending on irrelevant queries, or to the hesitation with risking more traffic while wasting an already-tight budget.

But, whether you feel like the updated phrase match type has been sluggish so far—or just have a stagnant campaign you’re looking to scale—then you may just have to resort to broad match type keywords. Don’t worry! Once you layer on audience targeting, you’ll have the secret sauce you need to avoid the consequences above.

Speaking of wasted budget, our free Google Ads Performance Grader will identify leaks in your spending and tell you how to plug them. Try it now!

 

How Google Ads broad match with audience targeting works

With this strategy, you can layer audiences to target on top of your broad match keywords to keep them in control. Now, we’re not talking a small remarketing audience, but the larger affinity, in-market, and custom audiences Google curates for us that have plenty of impressions to spare. 

Think of these audiences as a safety measure to keep your broad match keywords in check, so even if you’re not showing to the exact right search query, you at least know you’re showing to the right person. This is especially helpful bearing in mind that we can no longer see every single search term we’ve showed for in the search terms report anyway.

With the combination of broad match keywords (which will boost your reach) along with audience targeting (which will refine your reach quality) you’ll be able to scale your campaigns without the risk of irrelevant traffic or increased wasted spend.

The benefits of combining broad match keywords and audience targeting

Aside from being able to freshen strategy along with safely scaling your campaigns, this unique tactic also has a plethora of other benefits to fit any account needs. Maybe you’re not ready to scale out your campaign, but still feel like you’re stuck in a rut with duplicate searches and, inherently, leads. Or, you feel like you don’t necessarily have the brand awareness to capture searches.

This strategy solves both those problems by reaching folks who are in your target audience, but may not necessarily know they want to look specifically for you yet. Not only that, but this does that outside-the-box thinking for you to capture searches from those ideal audiences that you otherwise wouldn’t have thought of to add as a keyword.

Image source

Another expert’s take on this modified broad match workaround

Don’t just take my word for it! I talked to PPC thought leader, Francine Rodriguez, who was voted a 2019 Top 5 PPC Rising Star and a 2020 Top 50 Most Influential PPC Expert by PPCHero, to get her take on this wacky strategy as well.

“This is a very good strategy. It’s like breaking normal PPC rules,” Rodriguez says. “You’re using shorter-term, broad keywords to capture any and all traffic of the desired audience. You can then use the search terms report later to come up with new terms for your other campaigns.” Notably, Rodriguez also mentions that “This is great for a hyper-local strategy as well—if you have a small area to target you want to make sure you get the biggest percentage possible of those impressions.”

So, even if you’re not looking to spend on a ton of new traffic, but you’re a small business looking to boost your local search marketing strategy, then this tactic could work for you.

How to set up this strategy in Google Ads

First, you’ll need a good, old-fashioned search campaign ready to go. This means taking an already created campaign or a new one with your settings, ad groups, responsive or text ads, and core terms for your broad match keywords ready to go. Then, follow these six easy steps:

1. Set all of your keywords to broad match.
2. Select either the entire campaign (audiences will apply all ad groups) or an individual ad group (audiences can change ad group by ad group depending on specific needs).
3. Click into audiences, then click the blue pencil to edit your audience targeting.
4. Be sure you have toggled the option of Targeting for the audiences you select.
5. Search through and select Google’s audience options or select a ready-made custom audience (you can try multiple for a wider reach then compare later, or pick just one to test the waters).
6. Hit save.

Now, your campaign will have your broad match keywords running alongside the audiences you selected to target. They will work hand in hand going forward by essentially saying “I’ll show for any search that contextually matches up to this broad match keyword, but only if it’s coming from someone in my selected targeted audience.”

Tips to make broad match + audience targeting  work

While the setup steps seem fairly easy, there are still a few hacks you’ll want to keep in mind to ensure you find success with this new strategy. Here are three tips to make this strategy work for you:

1. Review your bids

Since you’ll still have the flexibility to match up to more, you’re going to have the opportunity to serve for higher cost queries and may inherently spend more overall. That’s why, if on manual, it’s a good idea to slightly lower your Max CPC bids to play it safe while you’re collecting data during the beginning stages of this strategy.

Again, you may be matching up to more queries that, while maintaining quality through the audience acting as a filter, could result in queries that cost slightly higher in click than what you previously had been used to when doing the same old same old.

If you’re on automatic, then you luckily won’t have to worry. Google recommends using this with broad match keywords anyways, since the automatic bidding knows to bid lower or higher depending on the query relevancy.

However, it’s still a good idea to double-check your automatic bidding strategy to ensure it aligns with your goals. Meaning, if you have to set a bid limit on Max Clicks (or set a target on Max Conversions, Target CPA, or Target ROAS) you may still want to slightly lower that target as well, to encourage slightly lower bidding to keep costs in control to start.

2. Review your negative keywords

Or, add in more negative keywords if need be. While you’re giving Google just slightly more control to make the judgment calls on what queries you show for, you’re still the one in the driver’s seat of the campaign.

So, looking for other areas that you can maintain more power is key. Think of any possible words that could slip through that you definitely don’t want, and add those in as negative keywords before you start with this strategy as another safety measure.

Rodriguez also agrees this is a good idea .“You would need to have a solid negative list,” she mentioned. However, you don’t need to go too crazy. If we spent time adding negatives for everything irrelevant to our business we’d be doing it endlessly.

So, only bother for terms you think could be slightly similar to the broad match keywords you’re already using that you wouldn’t want to match to. For example, if you have the broad keyword of nurse courses or nurse classes, but you don’t offer any job placements after, then job related terms would be a good idea to add as negatives.

3. Review your campaign setup

If you haven’t caught on to the theme yet of checking your bidding and negatives, then I want to emphasize that it’s generally just a good rule of thumb to review your campaign before setting this strategy live.

Are there any other restrictions you had placed previously, like demographic exclusions or ad schedules that you think may make this strategy ineffective? Or, on the opposite end, are your location targeting and network preferences a bit loose, making this strategy a little too effective beyond your means?

Whenever changing to a new strategy, anything previously set could slip through the cracks. So, take a few extra minutes to double check the campaign is set how you prefer when executing this wider reach strategy.

Get more qualified leads using Google Ads broad match with audience targeting!

If you keep your PPC stagnant and never risk switching things up, you’ll find your account’s growth to be slim to none. When you feel you’ve tried everything and the campaign is still not performing how you’d like, then it’s time to think out of the box with something that may feel a bit risky or taboo, but can be immensely rewarding.

This is a great strategy to get to your ideal customers through those audiences without limiting your campaign via the two more restrictive match types. The great thing is it doesn’t take a ton of time to set up either, and you can always switch it back without any data hiccups if need be. Who needs modified broad, anyway? Broad match will work just fine for us—with the right audience that is!

Google Ads modified broad workaround (summary)

• Despite Google's claims that broad match is more effective than ever before, many advertisers are still reeling from the loss of their beloved modified broad match type.
• The broad match keyword + audience layering strategy provides a solid workaround, allowing you to get the expanded reach of broad targeting but the quality leads of audience refining.
• With it, you can resolve duplicate keywords, reach folks who may not yet know to look specifically for you, and capture new searches to target.
• To set it up, select a campaign. Set all keywords to broad match. Select the entire campaign or individual ad group. Click into audiences and apply the audience of your choice. 
• Check your bid strategy, campaign setup, negative keyword list to make sure this strategy will be effective, but not beyond your means.

* This article was originally published here

5 Steps to Keep Your Facebook Ads Working in iOS 14

Back when we found out about iOS 14, there were a lot of question marks as to when it would be enforced, what it would mean for your Facebook campaigns, and how you could prepare. Now that iOS 14 is in full swing, many questions have been answered—but still more arise.

Like how to run Facebook ads with the conversion objective in iOS 14 as successfully as you did before.

And that’s what I aim to answer in this post. I’m going to go over the impact of iOS on Facebook conversion campaigns and then walk you through how to adjust to changes like:

• Facebook domain verification (why it’s now necessary).
• Facebook Aggregated Event Measurement (what the heck is it?)
• Eight conversion events per domain (what happened to unlimited?)
• The seven-day attribution window (so long, 28).

Read on to make sure your success with Facebook conversion campaigns in iOS 14 is as closely matched as possible to your pre-iOS 14 glory days.

The impact of iOS 14 on Facebook conversion campaigns

The functionality of the Facebook pixel itself has been impacted in many ways with iOS 14. If you are like most Facebook advertisers, you most likely run or have run conversion campaigns within the platform.

That is, you send traffic from your ads to your website or landing page in an attempt to have those visitors complete an action. Once they complete that action, it is recorded in the Facebook interface via custom conversions or events.

This allows advertisers to derive a cost-per-action or cost-per-acquisition from the platform, giving them the ability to attribute Facebook internally and thus prove that their marketing dollars are working.

The issue with the iOS 14 update is that it poses limitations for apps (like Facebook) and their passing of data through external domains. This in return affects how advertisers are able to run ads and pass conversion or web data back to Facebook for reporting and optimization.

So you are running Facebook ads with the conversion objective, here's what you need to do to maintain success despite iOS 14's limitations:

1. Verify your domain(s)
2. Select eight conversion events for your domain.
3. Choose your ad set attribution window.
4. Rely more on internal data (Google Analytics, CRM, etc.).
5. Monitor audience size.

Let's dive into each one.

1. Complete your Facebook domain verification

Facebook recommends that advertisers verify their website domain. Although they consider it a best practice, Facebook claims “it’s important to prioritize verifying your domains if your domains integrate pixels that are owned by multiple businesses or personal ad accounts.”

What this verification does is demonstrates that you are connected to your business. Domain verification requires the webmaster for your domain to place a special code on your website.

The primary reason this is important in regard to the iOS update is that it gives authority over which conversion events are eligible on your domain. In order to comply with the update, Facebook is required to request permission to users on their platform through Apple’s “AppTracking Transparency Framework” which is essentially the push notification that I had discussed in my previous post.

Due to Facebook having to comply with this, advertisers are now limited to eight web conversion events per domain. So if you own multiple domains that you advertise with, it is important to have them verified so you can have more manual control over which events are selected.

2. Select 8 conversion events (Aggregated Event Measurement)

In response to Apple's Private Click Measurement, Facebook’s Aggregated Event Measurement is a protocol that allows for measurement of web events from iOS users.

The implications?

1. Domains are limited to eight conversion events that can be used for campaign optimization;
2. Ad sets that are optimizing for events that are no longer available have been paused.

Facebook automatically chooses eight events based on recent campaign spend from all of the ad accounts advertising to that domain. However, you have the ability to manually select them yourselves in Business Manager. It’s recommended that you choose the events that are most important to your business.

Take a look at the events in your account and begin prioritizing them. Make an assessment of your marketing strategy and your funnel and select the eight conversion events you want to be stuck with per domain. This is sad news for marketers who prefer the agility to create custom conversions on the fly.

For detailed instructions on how to set up your eight preferred web conversions, follow these directions provided by Facebook.

Keep in mind that you will need to verify your business’s domain in order to select these events.

3. Choose your ad set attribution window

Another change you need to be aware of is that of attribution window settings. The attribution window for all new or active ad campaigns is now set at the ad set level instead of the account level. The default for all new or active campaigns is the 7-day click attribution window. You have the option for one-day click, seven-day click, one-day click + one-day view, or seven-day click + one-day view.

These changes impact advertisers who were previously viewing their reporting through a longer attribution window. There isn't really a fix for this: Regardless of the window that you are currently using, you will ultimately have less flexibility in how much data you are seeing and reporting on.

4. Lean on your internal data

Although Facebook allows you to optimize for eight events, you will still have the visibility on the back end to discern where visitors are coming from and what they’re doing on your site once they land. This means you may need to invest more time in becoming Google Analytics-savvy or rely more on your CRM to get the proper information to make decisions on Facebook.

Similarly, the shortened attribution window makes it harder to tie internal reporting back to your Facebook ad efforts, making it even more important that your internal data is accurate.

5. Monitor remarketing campaigns and ad sets 

As more people opt-out of tracking on iOS14 devices, the smaller many of your custom audiences may become. If the decrease in these custom audiences is sizable (something you probably won’t be able to gauge from the audience projections), you will have to adjust your remarketing or custom list strategy a bit.

What I mean by this is that you will want to monitor remarketing campaigns or ad sets more closely and pay attention to the spend as well as the frequency. This may be something that you already do, but with the potential for shrinking audience sizes, you might want to spend less on these ad sets in order to reduce ad fatigue and frequency.

Audience sizes are generally expected to drop although it is unclear by how much. It is rumored that Facebook ran tests internally to gauge what the damage would be, but only time can tell. Regardless, it would be wise to devote your marketing resources more heavily on remarketing or custom lists now so that you can have alternative ways to reach out to those who are opting-out.

Set yourself up for continued success with Facebook conversion campaigns in iOS 14 

Although many of the conversion-related changes may be irritating at first, they'll get easier over time. What might not get easier over time is the drop-off in audiences. Facebook has built its advertising empire using a variety of complex targeting tools. If those audiences shrink substantially or become less effective in the coming months, advertisers may ultimately target broader as a response. In turn, costs would increase and with reduced reporting capabilities, many businesses may decide not to advertise on Facebook. Let's hope this doesn't happen!

To end on a more positive note, here's a recap on what you can do to ensure success with the conversion objective despite iOS 14's limitations:

1. Verify your domains so you can have more manual control over your conversion events.
2. Manually select your eight conversion events for each of your domains in Business Manager.
3. Choose your ad set attribution window.
4. Lean on Google Analytics or your CRM for accurate data.
5. Monitor shrinking audiences and allocate your budget accordingly to prevent ad fatigue and misleading data.

* This article was originally published here

Instagram Marketing: How to Launch a Product on Instagram [Video]

Social Media Examiner has published a new video ‘Instagram Marketing: How to Launch a Product on Instagram’. The SME team says, “Want to launch a product or business on Instagram? Looking for a proven plan to follow? Learn how to launch your next product with this in-depth advice from Instagram marketing expert Natasha Samuel. You’ll […]

* This article was originally published here

If You Do SEO, Fire Your Clients!

Author: Michael Warren Campbell – Reading Time: 1 min 55 sec.

My friend Jerry is an SEO (search engine optimization) expert. He’s very good at getting web pages to rank high in the search engines. He had many customers and was making a decent living.

He was frustrated with the usual freelance and client relationship stuff. Things like late payments, endless emails and calls, admin duties, and prospecting for new clients. He was noticeably stressed and overworked.

I told him to fire all his clients and do SEO for himself. I told him to use his SEO skills to drive traffic through affiliate programs instead of working for clients.

He looked at me like I was nuts. A creature from outer space. No… more like I was a complete idiot. He resisted my advice for five years.

Here’s what I told him about affiliate marketing…

1. You can work only when you want.
2. You can go at your own pace.
3. There are no bosses except you.
4. There are no admin or billing hassles.
5. It eliminates all the emails and calls.
6. You can focus uninterrupted for hours.
7. You get paid on time every time.
8. Your stress level will go way down.
9. You can easily triple the money you get now.

So what was the end result?

Why not let my friend Jerry the SEO expert, tell you in his own words?

Many people ask me for advice on doing SEO for clients. I tell them straight out, fire all of your clients. Do SEO on your own sites and focus on affiliate programs.

They often look at me like I am crazy.

SEOs have a firm grip on their client security blanket and don’t realize that holding onto it keeps them where they are. They will never reach their full potential.

Funny, I shake my head at them, thinking they’re crazy. But then I remember I was in the exact place they were a couple of years ago.

It took me five years to realize that the same advice was given to me. I thought it the worst advice I had ever heard. But it was the best advice I have ever been given professionally.

Who gave me that advice? It was Michael Warren Campbell.

So don’t wait five years to try this. Do yourself a favor and fire all your SEO clients. Start affiliate marketing and do the SEO for yourself.

In the first month of being completely client-less, I made more money than I ever had. I was happier. My family noticed the reduced stress in me, and I did too. I haven’t looked back since.

If you do SEO, fire the clients! Jerry did. Why not you?

Michael Warren Campbell

P. S.

Now it’s your turn. What about you? Do you currently do SEO for clients or work for an SEO agency? Have you ever considered doing SEO for affiliate revenue on your own websites? If not, what’s holding you back from trying? If yes, are there any tips that you can share? I’d love to hear your ideas.

Please let me know in the comments, or message me @dmcorp on Twitter or dynamic888 on Skype. Please share this post with your network of friends, colleagues, and anyone else you think might enjoy it. Thank you!

Link to this article here: https://internetmarketingsecrets.com/fire-the-clients/

* This article was originally published here

Digital Marketing Matters Now More Than Ever - Forbes

Digital Marketing Matters Now More Than Ever  Forbes

* This article was originally published here

How to Integrate Your Product Into Your Performance Marketing, June 30 [Webinar]

SaaS marketing is highly competitive. To drive demand and generate adoption, you first need to make sure you get in front of your ideal audience. Search Engine Watch is hosting a webinar ‘How to Integrate Your Product Into Your Performance Marketing’ on Wednesday, June 30, 2021, at 2.00 pm ET. The SEJ team says, “Register […]

* This article was originally published here

3 Simple Triggers to Boost Sales

Many clients come to me with the goal of increasing the sales from their current website.

Sometimes we dive deep into researching their audience and repositioning their product.

Other times we adjust the offer to appeal to the burning desires of their ideal customers.

But many times, all it takes is one little adjustment to their website to boost their sales quickly.

For example, maybe they hid one of their strongest forms of proof on a separate testimonial page that only a small portion of the visitors ever see. Moving that testimonial to front-and-center, right under the main headline could double the sales.

Boom…simple and easy.

Here are 3 simple triggers that could boost sales quickly…

1) Add more proof and move it earlier.

When you make a strong promise, immediately back it up with a form of proof (testimonials are the default, but they’re only one of many forms of proof).

As you’re reading through your website, look for anywhere you make a promise that could bring up skepticism in a reader. What can you add to prove your claims?

For example, a client had a long-copy sales video that was performing well. He had already tested the intro and the offer, and he was looking for what to test next.

My advice was to move his before/after testimonials earlier in the video. He could hook his viewers, make a strong promise, and create an open loop. Then transition into the video testimonials….coming back to the close the loop afterwards.

This created an immediate boost in sales.

And that’s only one example. There are many additional ways to apply this trigger…

2) Improve order form credibility.

Add proof, such as short testimonials, to the order form as well. This is especially good in the sidebar of the order form.

Add trust badges to verify your security.

Test your order form on desktop, iPhone, and Android looking for any weird coding that might show up.

Match your sales page design, such as including your logo in the top left of the order form.

Restate your benefit rich guarantee.

Make it easy to order. Confusion is the death of the sale.

3) Test new headlines

You probably expected this one.

But how do you come up with new headlines to test quickly?

One method is my 5-minure headline trick. Scan your testimonials…and look for one that you can turn into a headline.

Or you could create headlines based on the 5 stages of market sophistication.

That’s a little more detailed of a solution, but I give a great example of it on one of the recent video trainings inside the Monthly Mentor Club.

It’s called “Money Multipliers: 21 Tested and Proven Tweaks to Maximize Your Website Profits.”

It expands out these 3 triggers into 21 ways to boost your sales quickly.

You’ll find it under the “Video Library” tab inside the Monthly Mentor Club.

I usually talk about the detailed print newsletter that goes out every month, but there is also a monthly members-only webinar.

A few of the recent video trainings include:

• Warp Speed Products: How to Create Red Host InfoProducts FASTER
• Point of Difference: How to Attract Your Ideal Clients with a Point of Difference Benefit
• Internet Lifestyle Code: 10 Rules to Guide You to Your Lifestyle Business.
• Golden Glove Persuasion Map: Simple Persuasion Formula Clarifies Your Message, Attracts More New Clients, and Makes it Easy to Refer You to Others.

All can be found under the “Video Library” section of the Monthly Mentor Club.

* This article was originally published here

Adding Timestamps to Your YouTube Videos

A YouTube timestamp is a way to link to a specific moment in your video. By adding a timestamp, you can improve retention by directing users to the most relevant portion of your video from the outset. Yoast contributor Phil Nottingham has published an article on how you can create key moments on YouTube by […]

* This article was originally published here

Strategies to Achieve Content Marketing Success Using a Content Plan

Your content marketing journey should start with a plan. A good content plan outlines who’s responsible for making the content, what the content’s purpose is, and how the content will impact your overall content strategy. SEMrush contributor Connor Lahey has published an article highlighting some useful strategies for content planning. He says, “To create a […]

* This article was originally published here