Staying on track from my affiliate bitch posts, it's time to talk about real strategies to help guarantee success in this game.
The key differences that makes successful internet marketers stand out from the crowd are their ability to:
1. Think Creatively
2. Think Outside of the box
3. Have a Sustainable Business Plan
Enough bullshit, let's jump into it. In no particular order...
Landing Pages
The single best thing you can do when designing a landing page is to connect with your prospective customer on an emotional level. Human beings are emotional people, and emotions drive decisions. what I mean by this is: do not simply describe the product and give a price; Connect your customers with your product on an emotional level and let them know why they NEED your product.
Real World Example: If you are promoting a weight loss product... let's say it's say it's nurisystem via search. People already know what nutrisystem is, and now they're at your landing page, so tap into why they were looking into this product in the first place. Chances are that they're fat and looking for an easy way to lose weight - Remind them a few times that they're overweight, don't be insulting, but get the message across that they're fat, they need to lose weight, and your product will do that for them. They NEED your product.
The key here is that you're not over-describing the product. They already know what it is. They saw the commercial on tv, whatever the case is. Don't describe what they're getting - describe why they NEED what they're getting.
Ad Copy
The biggest mistake is probably the repetition of keywords in an effort to get more 'bold' and stand out against the competition. This is the wrong way to do it, and not an effective way to write an ad. I do recommend the keyword in the title of the ad (for both the 'bolding' effects as well as Quality Score concerns) but after that, you have 70 little characters to connect with your customer. Continuing to repeat keywords is ineffective because it will not stand out - those keywords are already ALL OVER the page, both in other ads and in the SERPS. You need to use those 70 characters to really connect with your customer.
What's the best way to connect with your customer? Tap into their emotion (see above) or offer something amazing or more than what they were looking for.
Real World Example: Let's say a customer was searching for New York Car Insurance. Here's an example of ad copy that fails:
New York Car Insurance
Get New York Car Insurance.
Free Car Insurance Quote!
NewYork.CarInsuranceSite.com
Sure - Technically there is nothing wrong with the ad, but it's uncreative and looks like the rest of the competition. Let's have a look at some more creative ad copy:
New York Insurance Quote
Don't waste another minute of
your time shopping for insurance.
InsuranceSecrets.com/NewYork
This ad will perform better because it's a lot more intriguing and will stick out amongst the rest of the stale ads on the page.
Let's do another one:
Nutrisys Weight Loss System
2 Weeks Of Free Meals and
Free Shipping, Order Today!
DietSite.com/BoringNutrisystemAd
Boring. Let's get creative.
Nutrisys Weight Loss System
You're Fat. Lose Weight.
Stop being a loser.
StopBeingFat.com/Nutrisystem
Some other great tips are available here: 31 Killer Writing AdWords Ads Tips - It's a great read and there is really some valuable information there, check it out or bookmark it for future reading. It talks about a really comprehensive study that looked at CTR for competing ads.
Traffic Generation (Alternatives to PPC)
One (free) way to generate a lot of traffic to your site is to participate in communities with topics and subject matter similar to what you are promoting. Become and active member of that community through active (not spam) forum participation and blogging. DO NOT put shitty affiliate links in your signature. Put a link to your blog in your signature posts. Stay active in the community, keep your blog updated, and you will build a following both from your promotion on forums as well as organic search engine traffic you'll receive. You can then use your blog to creatively promote your offer.
Real World Example: Let's say you're promoting credit report offers. Join a popular forum such as CreditBoards.com and begin participating/posting. Become one of the community - you are either a.) an expert in credit repair or b.) going to document your own personal credit-repair efforts. Document your process on your blog, 'Joe Sixpack's Road To Credit Repair Success' or something like that. People will naturally fall in line and become regulars, subscribe to your RSS feeds, your newsletter, etc. How you market to them at this point is up to you - you could do simple banner or text ads, write about a 'service' that helped you and put your affiliate link there, etc.
Next Steps
It is NOT easy to make money online. It is NOT as simple as bidding on keywords and setting up a generic landing page. My advice to step away from the computer, go for a walk, think about the offers you're promoting or you want to promote, and really think outside of the box. My best ideas come to me while I'm in 'offline' mode - driving, playing with my kid, etc.
The strategies above are just the tip of the iceberg. There are always ways to outsmart and get one-up on the competition. The next big post will focus on building a sustainable business. Until then stay tuned...
The key differences that makes successful internet marketers stand out from the crowd are their ability to:
1. Think Creatively
2. Think Outside of the box
3. Have a Sustainable Business Plan
Enough bullshit, let's jump into it. In no particular order...
Landing Pages
The single best thing you can do when designing a landing page is to connect with your prospective customer on an emotional level. Human beings are emotional people, and emotions drive decisions. what I mean by this is: do not simply describe the product and give a price; Connect your customers with your product on an emotional level and let them know why they NEED your product.
Real World Example: If you are promoting a weight loss product... let's say it's say it's nurisystem via search. People already know what nutrisystem is, and now they're at your landing page, so tap into why they were looking into this product in the first place. Chances are that they're fat and looking for an easy way to lose weight - Remind them a few times that they're overweight, don't be insulting, but get the message across that they're fat, they need to lose weight, and your product will do that for them. They NEED your product.
The key here is that you're not over-describing the product. They already know what it is. They saw the commercial on tv, whatever the case is. Don't describe what they're getting - describe why they NEED what they're getting.
Ad Copy
The biggest mistake is probably the repetition of keywords in an effort to get more 'bold' and stand out against the competition. This is the wrong way to do it, and not an effective way to write an ad. I do recommend the keyword in the title of the ad (for both the 'bolding' effects as well as Quality Score concerns) but after that, you have 70 little characters to connect with your customer. Continuing to repeat keywords is ineffective because it will not stand out - those keywords are already ALL OVER the page, both in other ads and in the SERPS. You need to use those 70 characters to really connect with your customer.
What's the best way to connect with your customer? Tap into their emotion (see above) or offer something amazing or more than what they were looking for.
Real World Example: Let's say a customer was searching for New York Car Insurance. Here's an example of ad copy that fails:
New York Car Insurance
Get New York Car Insurance.
Free Car Insurance Quote!
NewYork.CarInsuranceSite.com
Sure - Technically there is nothing wrong with the ad, but it's uncreative and looks like the rest of the competition. Let's have a look at some more creative ad copy:
New York Insurance Quote
Don't waste another minute of
your time shopping for insurance.
InsuranceSecrets.com/NewYork
This ad will perform better because it's a lot more intriguing and will stick out amongst the rest of the stale ads on the page.
Let's do another one:
Nutrisys Weight Loss System
2 Weeks Of Free Meals and
Free Shipping, Order Today!
DietSite.com/BoringNutrisystemAd
Boring. Let's get creative.
Nutrisys Weight Loss System
You're Fat. Lose Weight.
Stop being a loser.
StopBeingFat.com/Nutrisystem
Some other great tips are available here: 31 Killer Writing AdWords Ads Tips - It's a great read and there is really some valuable information there, check it out or bookmark it for future reading. It talks about a really comprehensive study that looked at CTR for competing ads.
Traffic Generation (Alternatives to PPC)
One (free) way to generate a lot of traffic to your site is to participate in communities with topics and subject matter similar to what you are promoting. Become and active member of that community through active (not spam) forum participation and blogging. DO NOT put shitty affiliate links in your signature. Put a link to your blog in your signature posts. Stay active in the community, keep your blog updated, and you will build a following both from your promotion on forums as well as organic search engine traffic you'll receive. You can then use your blog to creatively promote your offer.
Real World Example: Let's say you're promoting credit report offers. Join a popular forum such as CreditBoards.com and begin participating/posting. Become one of the community - you are either a.) an expert in credit repair or b.) going to document your own personal credit-repair efforts. Document your process on your blog, 'Joe Sixpack's Road To Credit Repair Success' or something like that. People will naturally fall in line and become regulars, subscribe to your RSS feeds, your newsletter, etc. How you market to them at this point is up to you - you could do simple banner or text ads, write about a 'service' that helped you and put your affiliate link there, etc.
Next Steps
It is NOT easy to make money online. It is NOT as simple as bidding on keywords and setting up a generic landing page. My advice to step away from the computer, go for a walk, think about the offers you're promoting or you want to promote, and really think outside of the box. My best ideas come to me while I'm in 'offline' mode - driving, playing with my kid, etc.
The strategies above are just the tip of the iceberg. There are always ways to outsmart and get one-up on the competition. The next big post will focus on building a sustainable business. Until then stay tuned...
