Category: Knowledge

Get More Targeted Leads to Your Website FAST

 

Get Results: Get traffic to your website
Get Results: Get traffic to your website

Think of an advertising system where you can target specific prospective customers based on how they are searching for your services. You can appear to them at the very moment they are looking to buy from suppliers just like you.

You only pay when someone clicks on your advert unlike traditional print media where you pay a fixed fee whether you get leads or not.

Depending on the type of business you have, you can scale up your marketing or narrow it down. You can re-market to visitors that have visited your site without buying so that you increase brand awareness. Research shows that a prospect will interact with your brand at least 7 times before buying.

The advertising platform that does all this is called Google Adwords, otherwise known as pay per click (PPC) advertising.

The importance of being on page one of Google search results

If you’re not on the first page of Google, prospective customers aren’t going to find you. Think about it, do you look beyond the first page of Google search results when you’re looking to buy something on-line? Research shows that most people don’t.

Click through rates vary massively even if you do appear on the first page of the search results, depending on what position you’re listing appears, for instance the first 3 positions on Google get over 60% of all the traffic with the bottom 3 positions getting less than 10%.

In a recent study on the effectiveness of social media as a sales generator compared to PPC and SEO it concluded, “As far as driving on-line sales goes, social media is an astoundingly ineffective channel. If you want to grow your on-line sales, the evidence is clear: SEO and PPC are where you need to invest”

SEO is a long term strategy, simply because it can take months to get a decent listing position, providing you follow the SEO guidelines for onsite and offsite SEO, all of which takes time to put in place. Whereas PPC is immediate, there’s no waiting months to see results. As soon as your adverts get Google approval, they go live. I have had adverts go live within minutes of setting them up.

Quick Tip – Success in Pay Per Click isn’t just about getting your advert displayed as much as possible for the least cost. It’s about getting it in front of good prospects that are interested in buying your product or service. You don’t want to be paying for people who are just looking for information, particularly if your budget is tight or you’re bootstrapping. You don’t want them clicking through your advert and bouncing off your landing page either, ideally you want them to buy if they click through your adverts, or not click at all, if they’re not interested in your product or service. How you achieve this balance is where the magic happens. Focused targeting is the name of the game.

DIY or pay someone else to do it for you?

Now you can learn to do Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising yourself, there’s lots of  free information available out there that takes you through the process. However much of it may be out-of-date, with Google constantly making changes to its system. There is also a lot of mis-information circulating that you should be aware of.

Alternatively you can pay an expert to do it for you, many of which will want a large up-front commitment of £300-£800 to set the system up for you, followed by a minimum contract period. I used a very reputable SEO company to do PPC for me some years ago, and after spending £1000+ I didn’t get a single sale out of it. I still get calls from PPC businesses now that promise the world but don’t ask anything about my business, and without knowing about it and my prospective customer profiles, how can they know who to target?

I decided to learned the system myself from the ground up, and I still use it successfully today because I’ve tested it, tweaked it, and improved it as I’ve gone along. I use it for my own business (not related to this site), and it works for me. I have learned to build on each campaign by split testing, peeling and sticking, dropping poor performing adverts and replacing with new improved versions, in an ever improving spiral. It takes time, I’ve spent lots of money as I’ve gone along but I’ve learned, DOING is the only way to learn in this game.

I highly recommend you try PPC for yourself, it’s made a huge difference to my business. I compete with some of the big UK based experience companies and have consistently ranked higher than them, so it can be done with the right targeting. And with a ROI of well over 300%, it can also be profitable.

Local business campaigns can be effective for as little as a couple of pounds per day, of course if you want a bigger reach you’ll have to employ a bigger budget. Return On Investment is what it’s all about. If you can make £2 for every £1 you spend, than spending £10k a month means you’re making £20k, spending £100k means you’re making £200k, and that’s how you should look at it.

For more about marketing, please check out our Marketing guide.

 

Below is a blog post I did back in 2013, but which was on another website, I thought I would include it here as it has some relevance today.

Get Results: Google Adwords
Get Results: Google Adwords

I have been using Google Adwords for my photography business for 7 years now. Initially I used a third party to execute a campaign for me, but after spending about £1000 without getting a single sale, I decided to cut my losses and end the whole sorry saga.

However in the back of my mind I thought the basic premise of Adwords was a sound one. Your ads appear to anyone searching for your product / service, at the very time they want it. Surely this is one of the best ways to target your customers? So why was my previous experience of Adwords such an expensive disaster? Had I not given it enough time? The company that ran my Adwords campaign thought I should have given it more time, I ran it for approx 4 months. Only when I questioned why I wasn’t getting any conversions did they talked about changing certain aspects of my site to improve performance.

I decided to run my own campaigns and set the whole thing up from scratch. I read a lot of stuff online, and invested in what turned out to be a great book a “Ultimate Guide to Google Ad Words: How To Access 100 Million People in 10 Minutes” by Perry Marshall. which was great at giving me a clearer understanding of the psychology of how Adwords works and then how to develop the campaigns to get better and better results. I read much more after that book but would have to credit it for getting me off to a solid start, so thanks Perry.

Once I had a clearer understanding of the techniques that make the difference between a successful campaign and one that empties your pockets faster than an hole in the bottom of them, I understood why I hadn’t got anything out of my previous attempt. I now get more in voucher sales from my site than I spend on Adwords and with a good chance of up-selling those vouchers once they are redeemed, I find Adwords to be an invaluable sales channel.

The moral being that if your product is suitable for online selling (and not all products are) and if you know your customers have a tendency to look for your service online, which I did, then Adword can be very profitable if you know what you are doing.

So what did I do to change my results, from having no sales to actually making a profit from Adwords? Well first of all I took a close look at my customers. Who was buying what from me? Initially I had Ads selling portraits, with lots of different keywords that included Babies photoshoots, Family photoshoots, Pet photoshoots,  and Mother and Daughter Makeover photoshoots. Once someone clicked on the Ads they were taken to a page that sold vouchers for all of of these photo experiences. The first thing I learned to do was split my business into all the separate experiences  and who the likely buyer of those experiences would be.

Makeover photo shoots – Usually purchased as a gift for friends or relatives, sometimes bought for self, enjoyed by 12 year olds up to middle aged women. Having said that the purchaser is often an husband or boyfriend.

Newborn Baby photo shoots – usually purchased as a gift for friends or relatives, sometimes bought by mother of newborn babies.

I then split these separate experiences into their own campaigns, chose keywords that were relevant to each such as baby photos, newborn photo shoots for the baby campaign, makeover photo shoot for ….guess what …the makeover photo experiences…and so on.

I kept the number of keywords down to about 1-2 per ad group, making sure that each keyword was included in the Advert and again on the landing page, which contained information about just that particular kind of photo experience. What was I doing? I was focusing my Ads towards specific customers who were looking for specific photo experiences. So someone looking for a baby shoot would type in say “baby photo packages” into the search engine, which would trigger my ad to appear on their search results. They would see my headline “Baby Photos just £30” and hopefully would click on it to find out more, they would then go through to see my landing page which would give more information about my baby photo packages. They then have the option to buy a voucher for the package there and then, or give me a call to order one.

This way of structuring my Adwords campaign has helped turn my fortunes around. It sounds like common sense but wasn’t how the so called experts that managed my first campaign had gone about it.

Adwords can work for you but you need to know what you’re doing. I guess that applies to any kind of advertising. I am sure there are many great PPC agents that can execute very good PPC campaigns for you, but only when they understand your business, your products and your customers. If they don’t ask many questions about your business at the start, how can they know enough to give you the best return on your investment. I will be going into my Adwords experience in more detail in future posts.

Summary

Google Adwords can work for local businesses, but you really need to know what your doing, otherwise it can be an expensive waste of time. The key to setting up a successful Adwords campaign is to know your business and focus on each of your product offerings (either individual products or by category depending on the nature of your business) and the type of customer who buys that particular product offering. Focus is the key here. If you are using an agent to do your Adwords campaign for you, make sure they understand your business as well as you know it. Even if you do use an agent to manage your Adwords campaign for you, I would suggest having a basic understanding of how Adwords works, so that you know if your agent is giving you the best service. I would suggest reading “The Ultimate Guide to Google Adwords” by Perry Marshall, it contains everything you need to know at this time. Adwords is ever evolving so you will need to stay ontop of the changes to get the most from the platform.

Hope you found something useful in this one….thanks for stopping by.

Tips To Help You Find a Winning USP

Get Results: USP
Get Results: USP

When I first started my business many years ago, I found finding my USP, one of the hardest things to get to grips with. A unique selling proposition (USP) is something that differentiates you from all of your competitors. It’s what makes you so different or unique in a particular way that customers and prospects will opt to do business with you over any of your rivals.

One of the biggest mistakes you, as a business owner, can make is not finding something that makes you unique, especially in a very competitive market, where customers have an abundance of choice and where differentiation becomes increasingly difficult other than through pricing.

To survive, you have to stand out and differentiate in the eyes of your prospects. Your USP is what explains to the world why you are different.

The more clearly you can communicate you USP, the more you will stand out from you competitors

Get Results: Branding
Get Results: Branding

So how do you go about finding or choosing your USP?

Think carefully about opportunities within your market that are not currently being catered for. If you base your USP on these opportunities you are much more likely to be successful. Another way to look at this is, identify a demand that is not being supplied, and centre your USP around this. Examples can include:

  • Genuine convenience – such as instant availability, handy location and so on.
  • Large selection of stock items,
  • Fast service,
  • Longer than usual opening hours, or more convenient opening hours,
  • Professional advice,
  • Longer than normal warranty or guarantee,
  • Reputation for honesty and integrity,
  • Personal service and assistance,
  • Privacy and security,

Another way to identify your USP is to have a good answer to the following customer question:

Why should I do business with you, instead of any and every other option available to me, including the option of doing absolutely nothing at all?

Another way of asking the same question from your point of view is:

What do you uniquely guarantee?

When you have a really powerful answer to these two questions, your adverts practically write themselves. When you have a really powerful answer to these questions, people will line up to buy from you.

A third method to identify your USP is to answer the following questions,  again these questions are taken from your customers point of view:

  • Why should I read or listen to you?
  • Why should I believe what you have to say?
  • Why should I do anything about what you’re offering?
  • Why should I act now?

A fourth method of identifying your USP is comparing yourself to your competitors over a range of criteria, and focusing your USP around the areas where you score higher. The following table is an example of how you might set out your analysis. Score you and your competitors 1-5 on each of the criteria listed below, or add your own.

self Comp 1 Comp 2
Price
quality
range
Catalogue quality
website
Ease of ordering
Speed of delivery
reliability
Personal liking

First understand the Characteristics that Customers’ Value – Evaluate your strengths and significant competencies. Take a good look at the features and benefits of your product or service and then decide what differentiates you and your business from the pack.

  • What services and/or products do you provide?
  • To whom do you provide these services/products; who are your customers?
  • What needs do you fill for your customers?
  • How big a problem you solve?
  • What benefits do they appreciate most and which do they actively look for?
  • What makes you better than other companies?
  • Is it the value you provide, your experience, know how, customer service, delivery speed and so on?

Rank yourself and your competitors by these criteria – Check on competition by reviewing leading trade publications, analyse newsletters and search the internet for news and trends about your niche, particularly social media pages.

Here’s another great tip: survey your customers to gather data.

Identify where you rank well – Take your top match(es) and use it to position yourself and your product in the market. Summarise the results into one compact, compelling, motivating phrase that will persuade your clients to trade their cash for the benefits presented by your products/services. Your significant product benefits and the way in which you structure your offering is your ‘Unique Selling Proposition’ or ‘USP.’

Once you have identified your USP, you need to think about the ways in which you can use it. These could include:

  • Sound-bites or elevator speeches
  • Marketing messages online and offline
  • Brochures or flyers
  • Press Releases
  • Business Proposals

Keep your USP as the central theme throughout all your marketing, and through repetition you will become known as the business to use for that particular USP. Be careful not to try and be all things to all people. Selling to everyone is selling to no one.

To find more information about marketing, check out our marketing guide.

The One Thing You Need to Stand Out and Sell More

get results: stand out
get results: stand out

Using Contrast to Stand Out

When you stand side by side with your competitors in a publication, a directory or in a pay per click (PPC) advert, you have to have something that makes you stand out, to get noticed. There needs to be something that jumps off the page and smacks your prospective customers right between the eyes. One of the best ways to do this is to use “contrast“.

If you have the luxury of being able to use images in your advert you can make use of contrast in a number of ways using size, tone, colour, value, direction, shape, type, position and texture within your advert. The key to making an impact is being as different visually, to your competitors as you can be. If they are using bright colours, use black and white, if they are displaying a particular style do something that looks very different.

If, as in the case of PPC ads, you don’t currently have the benefit of using images to stand out, you have to make sure your wording provides the contrast. If your competitors are offering discounts, then you should reframe from doing so and approach it from a different angle say something like:

“No Sale Here, just great prices all year round.”

“We Don’t Need a Sale to…”

“Giving You the Best Prices – Order Now.”

If they’re not displaying prices, then you show prices, if they are showing prices then you reframe from doing so. If they are using lots of words, then you use less and make use of white space to stand out, and so on.

Using Contrast to sell

You can make use of CONTRAST on your landing pages or in your sales copy by using the rule of contrast – this is based on perceptual contrast and happens when you introduce 2 vastly different alternatives in succession. It distorts and amplifies the perception, making them seem to be more different from one another than they actually are. It works due to the fact that people need to establish a benchmark for comparison to make judgements especially in unfamiliar situations.

The passage of time reduces the effect of contrast. So timing is critical when using this method. The second offer should be presented immediately after the first to get the full effect.

The Door in the face close is a great example of the rule of contrast where a larger initial request is followed by a smaller request – the prospect feels they are getting a better deal than they were originally and are more likely to make the purchase.

A slight variation of this rule is the Comparison effect which presents an undesirable version first and follows it up with the sellers “intended offer” at the same price. This is often used by realtor’s when selling houses, they present a run down property first followed by the one they really want to sell, and at the same price. The prospect feels the second property is vastly superior in comparison to the first, and so is a bargain.

Summary

Using CONTRAST helps you stand out from the crowd and allows you to differentiate yourself from your competitors. It also allows you to anchor your prospects perception of value, helping them feel they are making a more informed decision.

Hope you found this article useful. For more marketing information, check out our marketing guide.

Marketing – Don’t Try to Sell to Everyone

Get Results: for sale
Get Results: for sale

One of the most important things I’ve learned about Marketing is, you can’t and shouldn’t try to sell to everyone. Doing so means you’re not actually selling to anyone. The point is perfectly illustrated through the following tale:

The boy, old man and a donkey tale – don’t try to please everyone.

An old man, a boy and a donkey were going to town. The boy rode on the donkey and the old man walked. As they went along they passed some people who remarked it was a shame the old man was walking and the boy was riding. The man and boy thought maybe the critics were right, so they changed positions.

Later, they passed some people that remarked: “What a shame, he makes that little boy walk.” They then decided they both would walk!

Soon they passed some more people who thought they were stupid to walk when they had a decent donkey to ride. So, they both rode the donkey.

Now they passed some people that shamed them by saying how awful to put such a load on a poor donkey. The boy and man said they were probably right, so they decided to carry the donkey. As they crossed the bridge, they lost their grip on the animal and he fell into the river and drowned.

The moral of the story? In Marketing, if you try to please everyone, you might as well… Kiss your ass good-bye.

Stay Focused

Instead of marketing to everyone, look to focus your marketing to a particular customer profile, who buys a particular product from you, maybe for a particular purpose. For example, mobile phones are a “must have” these days but who would be a typical customer for a mobile phone, and why might they look to make a purchase?

If I think about myself, a middle aged man, I want a phone to be functional by allowing me to make calls when I need to (network coverage), and offer a good payment plan (cost and value). I rarely purchase anything from the internet on my phone, so that is not one of my considerations when making a purchase. So in summary my buying criteria for a phone purchase would be:-

  • Connectivity (phone and internet works when I want it to, which I guess would be a universal requirement)
  • Payment plan deal – value for money
  • Cost and affordability

My buying decision doesn’t consider:-

  • How the phone looks
  • How well it plays games
  • How many text messages I get with it (I hate texting)
  • Internet access and social media connectivity (although I am finding myself spending more and more time doing these)
  • All the technology info ( I don’t care how it works, just that it does)

So if marketing to someone like me, Companies would have to make sure their marketing ticks my buying criteria. If instead they talk about how the phone looks and feels, and how well games play on it etc, then they are not appealing to me in any way.

If on the other hand they were marketing to my 12 year old daughter they would have to aim for a whole different buying criteria, where style and brand would be very important factors, as would texting and social media functionality

To further complicate the point, what if I am buying for my daughter as a gift. The phone company would have to consider my buying criteria as well as my daughters in this instance. They would have to appeal to my money consciousness, security issues, and my concerns about her ability to make calls in an emergency, while still providing the style my daughter would demand.

Summary

So it’s important to know who you’re trying to sell to and focus on them.

Is it a parent searching for a phone for their child? (security, able to make calls in emergency),  is it the child searching for themselves? (functionality, popularity of model, visual appeal), is it a geek buying a phone? (technical specifications). Each would need to be targeted differently. Speak to each in their language.

Hope you get something from this article, check out our marketing guide for more information.

For more information about USP’s

 

Wealth is Not Just About Economics

Get Results: total life wealth
Get Results: total life wealth

When discussing WEALTH, most people focus on the economic aspects of wealth. But ECONOMICS is only a small part of overall LIFE WEALTH. Life wealth covers all aspects of life, including, economic, physical/health, psychological and social areas.

Social wealth

This is about the RELATIONSHIP CONNECTIONS that you form, and can include good and bad.  Relationships with family, friends, colleagues, bosses, subordinates, even strangers. Think about the positive relationships you establish and the negative ones. Increasing well-being, means deepening the positive relationships and ditching the negative ones. Align your energy with those that feel good, and positive. Having a good social SUPPORT NETWORK, and personal BONDING is a fundamental need for the human species.

How do you know if a relationship is positive? Ask yourself honestly, if you feel a greater sense of your BEING, an expanded version of yourself. You are MORE, in the company of a particular other person. You can be true to yourself, and the relationship JUST WORKS. There are no downsides. You accept the other people for  who they are, and they accept you. If it’s a case of they are great when not [blank], then consider how often they are [blank], is this a price worth paying. The blank could be drunk, angry, on drugs or a myriad of other things.

You have to take the person as a whole, their good aspects and bad aspects. Don’t try to mould people to fit what you want, let them be who they are. If it works on that basis, great. If not, move on, life is really too short.

Physical Health wealth

It doesn’t matter how economically wealthy you are, without good physical health, you just can’t enjoy the fruits of wealth to the same degree. Health is so much more of a blessing than money could ever be.

We tend to neglect physical health, taking it for granted until it is taken away from us. On the flip side, enjoying good health, makes everything else more enjoyable.

Now I’m not saying you can’t have a good life without good health, because you can. You have to make the best of the hand life deals you. Some of the most extraordinary people in the world today, suffer from bad health and illness, but through the frailty of their form, shines through the light of their spirit. They can be an inspiration for others.

The point I’m trying to make is, don’t take your health for granting, look after it, and appreciate it.

Psychological wealth

Psychological wealth, includes intellectual and emotional aspects of personality. Emotions are triggered by our thoughts, which also have a bearing on most everything we do, including our social connections and how we treat our health.

Our thoughts are what shape our beliefs and values, which in turn affect our perceptions and interpretations about life and everything in it. What you focus your thoughts on, beccomes your reality. Therefore the quality of your thoughts, determines the quality of your life. Check out our wellbeing guide for more information.

Mental health is getting more attention today, than it has ever has before. It is a really big issue. Life today seems to be too much for some people to cope, overwhelmed by their perception of the complexities of modern life, the rapid rate of change, seeming lack of security, consistency, and stability economically and politically. People locked in EGOIC STRIVING for more and need for growth, are put under tremendous social pressure to achieve success, or be labelled a failure. Interpreting a breakdown in the sense of community, lack of emotional support and parental bonding can also impact negatively on psychological wealth.

On the positive side, having a positive mental attitude, the freedom to be yourself, to be true to who you are, the courage to follow your dreams, a positive self image, acceptance of the good and bad of what makes you, you, can have a major positive impact on your psychological wealth.

Economic wealth

So let’s give it some attention, economic wealth, is what most, or at least, a lot of people are fixated with. Wanting more is a structural part of the Ego, where WANTING is often more important than HAVING.

Having the burden of debt or liabilities has a negative impact on you, while having savings and assets, a positive one.

Pulling it all together

Like a balance sheet, positive aspects are weighed against the negative aspects of each of the wealth categories PHYSICIAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL, SOCIAL, and ECONOMIC. The aim is to have a positive perspective for each to increase your overall LIFE WEALTH.

I’ve weighted the categories in order of importance (from my perspective).

  • PSYCHOLOGICAL and PHYSICAL HEALTH WEALTH = each is 5/16
  • SOCIAL WEALTH = 4/16
  • ECONOMIC WEALTH = 2/16

You might have a different order than mine, it doesn’t really matter, as long as you consider them all when coming to a judgement of your wealth status.

The initial inspiration for this article was taken from actualwealth.com. Check it out by following the link. We have built on the model presented there, making a number of adjustments, taken from our own experiences and understanding.

For more information about economic wealth.

For more informaiton about psychological wealth

Using Keyword Research For Online Marketing of Your Businesss

Get Results: Marketing is about being found
Get Results: Marketing is about being found

This article is about using KEYWORD RESEARCH to understand how customers are finding you, or your competitors on the net. It is a look into the psychology of the people looking for your products or services. Use keyword research to GET RESULTS online.

What is keyword research?

There are a number of tools available online, that allow you to see what people are typing into search engines like Google, when looking to buy from businesses like yours. You can use these keywords to better understand your prospective customers, and apply the same search terms to rank your website, so that it appears at the very moment, prospective customers are looking for a product that you sell. It’s the ultimate in matching supply and demand.

The information is provided to businesses looking to advertise through platforms like Google Adwords, and details things like monthly  search volumes, and estimated cost per click (if you advertise on Adwords). This information can also be used for Search Engine Optimisation purposes, aligning your website with searchers intent, and the good part is it’s FREE traffic.

Remember your website is useless if it doesn’t appear when searchers type in a search query. If your site isn’t optimised for these same search terms, you won’t appear in the search results, which means you won’t get any relevant visitors and customers.

Google Adwords for instant traffic

If you have a new website it can take months for your site to appear in organic search results, depending how competitive your niche is, even if your site is well-optimised.

Using advertising tools like Google Adwords, allows you to rank your site much quicker. In fact, if you know what you’re doing it can be ranking on the first page of the search results, within minutes, but you will have to pay for this rapid success. The cost for which varies, depending on your niche. Let’s look at how keyword research works and what you can learn from it to benefit your business online.  Prices per click can be as low as 30p or be multiple pounds depending on how much money can be made by advertisers. Insurance companies tend to have a CPC of as much as £5-£10. Florists can pay £2-£3 per click.

At that cost, you really don’t want people just looking for information or searching for pretty pictures, clicking on your ad and costing your £2. You only want serious buyers to do so, so you need to focus on keywords that include buying intent.

Let’s look at keyword research for a typical local business, floristry.

Keyword research for florists

“Flowers” is the top searched-for-term, relating to florists, however it is too general, it could include searches for photos of flowers, or for information to identify flowers. There is no buying intent connected to this search term.

“Flower delivery” on the other hand is much more “buying intent” driven. People wouldn’t likely be using this search term unless they were looking to buy flowers or at least, find out information about flower delivery.

You would expect “flower delivery” to have a relatively high cost per click if it were purchase driven, which it does, at £2.81.

Other top search terms include:

  • Rose
  • Orchid
  • Plants
  • Florists
  • Lily
  • Funeral flowers
  • Flowers by post
  • Artificial flowers
  • Flower delivery UK
  • Red rose
  • Mothers day flowers
  • Send flowers

These are the top searched-for keywords. As you can see by this list there are a number of very general searches, which you would expect, with longer tailed searches being used less often. A long tail keyword would use more words, for example “cheap flowers online same day delivery” which had just 10 monthly searches compared to 201000 searches for “flowers”.

Get results; keyword research
Get results; keyword research

If I were a florist, I would use from the list above, only maybe “flower delivery UK”,  and maybe “Mothers day flowers”(if it were coming up to mothers day of course), “Send flowers” seems to be an information gathering search term on the face of it.  All the other terms would be fine to use for Search Engine Optimisation purposes, but not for Pay Per Click advertising, where each click is going to cost you.

If you’re a small business owner, and would like a full list of keywords for your business, please provide your email in the box below and we will get one to you, free of charge. If you’re an entrepreneur, you should try to figure it out yourself, you’ll need it going forward, if you’re intending to keep building businesses.

Please check out our marketing guide.

Below is an article I did back in 2013 regarding Keyword Research which was, at the time on another website, so I thought I’d include it here, as I think it contains some interesting material.

Get Results: Google Adwords
Get Results: Google Adwords

What is Keyword Research

Keyword research can be used in a couple of different contexts, the first would be by a business owner or niche website owner, looking to improve visibility on the internet, so that they appear higher up in search results of popular search engines such as Google and Bing. If you are such as business owner, this would involve finding out what your target market is typing into the major search engines to find the products, services or information that you provide. Once you have these keywords you can use them to optimise your website so that you show up in those very same search results. When I say “optimise your website” I’m talking about writing articles that are centred around those keywords, as well as adding the keywords to your page title, and description.

The second context in which you can use keyword research is when you’re looking to start a website from scratch and want to set it up solely around monetising it around adverts such as Google Adwords (where you are paid if someone clicks on an advert on your website). To do this you look for money keywords, which can be compared to ‘panning for gold’ where you sieve out all the dirt and soil (poor quality keywords) until you are left with little gold nuggets (money keywords).

The golden rules for gold nugget keywords are:

#1 Relevance – keywords relating to niche to attract ‘targeted traffic’

#2 Traffic – high traffic volume is best to ensure there is sufficient potential custom.

#3 Competition – low competition is best but not too low as this might be evidence of there not being much of a market.

#4 Commerciality – is the measure of high value keywords.

Keyword research can be done in Google Adwords for free, by simply signing up for an account, alternatively there are a number of software solutions available that will do more in-depth analysis of potential keywords such as Market Samurai which I have used myself in the past.

#1 Relevance

Relevance is important if you’re a business owner and have particular products to sell or already have a website in a particular niche. It is about finding keywords that will attract ‘targeted traffic’ This is traffic that is going to be interested in your offering, and who are likely to buy from you or click on the ads on your site.

If you’re using PPC such as Google Adwords, where you’re paying to drive traffic to your site then Keyword research is vital to make sure you’re not spending money on unnecessary clicks. For example If your selling ‘dog collars’ then you will want to remove keywords such as ‘training’ for instance, because these searchers are not looking to buy dog collars at this time. You can set such keywords as negative keywords in Google Adwords so that when someone types in this negative keyword your advert will not show, and you won’t be charged for an inappropriate click.

You will definitely want to include the word ‘dog’ as a keyword rather than something like pet, otherwise you might find cat searches are included in the results. Using long tail keywords can help qualify searches. for instance ‘buy dog collars’ is likely to qualify potential purchasers rather more than ‘dog collars’ would.

tip – Go to amazon.com and type in keyword, look at books section (relating to your niche), and look at the table of contents, and check some of key terms and add the interesting ones, and do further searches of these ‘semantic’ keywords. This tactic can be used for writing articles and also to find what subjects would be popular to include on your website.

If you fall under the second context of keyword researcher (described above) than relevance doesn’t matter as much because you don’t have a particular product offering. Whatever you make the website about, Google Adwords will match the advert content to your content. In this circumstance you want to make sure you are targeting niches and keywords that have a higher value, see #4 commerciality below for more information about this.

#2 Traffic

It is important to know the difference between “total searches” which are cited in most of the keyword research platforms and the volume of traffic you are likely to actually get on your website should you rank on the first page of the Google SERP results. Below is a table showing the typical breakdown for traffic that is likely in each of the 10 listings on the first page of Google

  • 95-98% of traffic come from 1st page of Google
  • Even if you are #1 you won’t get all the traffic
Google position clicks Traffic per 1000 Incremental Improvement in clicks
1 42% 420 254%
2  12%  120 40%
3 8% 80 39%
4 6% 60 24%
5 5% 50 20%
6 4% 40
7 3% 30

#3 Competition

There are two important measures when looking at the competition for a particular keyword phrase the first is the amount of competition. Ideally look for a lower amount of Google searches ideally less than 30,000 search results for any particular keyword phrase, you can check this by going to www.Google.com and typing in your keyword to see the amount of searches found.

Secondly consider the strength of competition. It’s best to avoid competing with professional websites, that have been around a long time, and that are highly optimised for the particular keyword phrase you are targeting. Also avoid competitor websites that have lots of webpages and a lot of backlinks pointing to them. If the first page on Google or Bing is mainly made up of these kinds of sites you are unlikely to be able to outrank them, so it is better to avoid these competitive keywords phrases altogether. Of course you have little option if you have a particular product offering and these keywords are the ones used by your target market, in this circumstance, where you are unlikely to get a first page listing you may consider PPC (pay per click) advertising to get a first page presence.

#4 Commerciality

The commerciality of a keyword is how much a particular keyword is worth. Google Adwords is a bidding system for keywords and is based on supply and demand. The more demand for a particular keyword the higher the cost per click (CPC) for that keyword. This is a good indicator of how much money is being made on a particular keyword. If an advertiser is paying $10 per click for a keyword it is likely that they are making more than that from their website sales, otherwise they wouldn’t be willing to pay that to Google to drive traffic to their site.

So when your conducting any keyword research keep in mind these golden rules and your more likely to find those golden nuggets.

Check out market Samurai’s explanations below of each of the golden rules. Useful information even if you aren’t considering using their software.

Relevance

Traffic

Competition

Commericality

Promotion

Track your Ranking

Market Samurai is a great tool which saves you valuable time and helps give you a greater insight into your keyword selection. Alternative you can use a free service provided by Google called Google Keyword Planner. You need to sign up for an account to access this online tool, but it’s a great resource. However it’s not as good as Market Samarai in terms of depth and insight. In fact MS uses your Google Keyword planner account to access much of the data needed but is much better at organising it for analysis.

…. hope you found this article useful.

While you’re here, check out my marketing guide.

Why Do We Often Misread How Others Perceived Us? 

Get Results: We judge ourselves by our INTENTIONS and others by their ACTIONS
Get Results: We judge ourselves by our INTENTIONS and others by their ACTIONS

Many people provide a true projection of who they are. They are true to themselves, and are easy to read.  What you see is what you get.

However some people can initially appear to have certain characteristics or attributes, but when we get to know them better, you find they are not really “like that”.

I consider myself a good judge of character, but occasionally I have had an instant dislike for someone, only to grow fond of them over time. Why have I misjudged them?

I have also had a view of myself, that has differed from the view others have had of me. How can this be?

How do we misread how others think of us? How can we think we are coming across one way, when indeed we are coming across completely differently from the perspective of others?

One example that jumps to mind from recent experience, is the boy racers that rev their engines, screech off from lights, wheel spinning as they go, only to be sat waiting at the next set of lights, when you catch them up. They deeply believe they are projecting coolness, male prowess and demonstrating what a catch they are for the opposite sex. When indeed they look immature, and quite ridiculous.

It can be a real problem, if we see ourselves one way and everyone else see us another, particularly if the two views greatly contrast. If we think of ourselves as warm , friendly , approachable, and likeable and others see us cold, abrupt, unapproachable and not very likeable there is a real disconnect that can be very problematic for our business and personal lives.

Now there is an element of showing your best side, when you first meet strangers, and showing your true colours later, when you get to know people better. But we’re not talking about this, we’re talking about the discrepancy of what you think you are projecting, compared to how others perceive you.

So why can there be such a disconnect for some people? Stephen R. Covey explained “We judge ourselves by our intentions and others by their actions.”

This is where the discrepancy lies, we judge ourselves differently to how we judge others, and  how we judge others is closer to how others actually judge us.

When perceiving yourself you have lots of background information. You understand your intention, what you’re trying to achieve by your actions. You are more likely to blame situational factors if things don’t work out as planned. You are also privy to your mental and emotional state at the time, and their influence on your behaviour.

When you perceive others, particularly in relation to people you don’t know very well, you’re likely to consider their behaviour as much more representative of the persons underlying character, and a truer reflection of WHO THEY ARE, without much consideration for situational influences.

Likewise, this is inevitably how they will perceive you. They are likely to interpret your actions as an indication of your personality.  This difference in how we perceive ourselves versus how others perceive us, is referred to as the Fundamental Attribution Error or attribution effect.

It describes the tendency to overestimate the effect of personality and underestimate the effect of the situation in explaining other people’s actions.  For example, if you are in a rush, and cut someone off in traffic because you have to get to the hospital to care for a loved one, you will interpret cutting the person off as totally justifiable. You are not a jerk, in fact, you are trying to help someone. The person you cut off, however, will have no idea you are going to the hospital, and will likely think you are a jerk.

How we see ourselves is intrinsically connected to our self-image, which is developed through our life experiences.  A poor self-image can deeply affect our relationships and interactions in the world, which in turn, are perceived, by others, as being who we are, without the deeper understanding of why we may act this way.

A theory coined by Charles Horton Cooley provides us with insight as to how we see ourselves. The concept is called, “The Looking-Glass Self.”  As each individual interacts with others in society, a relationship develops. It may last only a few seconds, yet our perception of how others view us, shapes our image of ourselves. It is like looking to a reflective glass for a glimpse of what it is like to be “us.”  Cooley’s theory suggests our perceptions of how others see us, inevitably shapes our image of ourselves.

So if you find there is a disconnect between your view of yourself, and that of everyone else around you, there is a need to improve your self-awareness.  Be wary that your attempts to be appear confident, aren’t being misinterpreted as arrogance. That trying to appear witty isn’t being seen as sarcastic, cutting or uncaring.  Put yourself in the other person’s shoes, and try to be empathetic to their viewpoint.

Better still, don’t try to put on an act, and instead let your behaviour be a true representation of who you are, without the insecurities, and fears that might cause your behaviour to be undesirable. Embrace your inner being, and let your light shine through.

Check out my article about spirituality and wellbeing, that might give you some insight into letting your true self shine.

What Drives All Human Behaviour?

Get Results: question mark
Get Results: question mark

What are the driving forces that make use take action or prevent us moving forward?

Why do we do what we do and not do what we don’t do?

What makes us do good things, and what makes us do bad?

What makes mankind perform incredible feats and what makes mankind act like monsters?

Why does mankind strive to achieve greatness, why does mankind seem hell bent on destruction?

If we know what drives human behaviour, maybe we can hack it to serve us better.

Get Results: The desire for pleasure and need to avoid pain
Get Results: The desire for pleasure and need to avoid pain

The Law of Attraction

Get Results: the law of attraction
Get Results: the law of attraction

Below is an inspirational video with quotes and affirmations from the “Law of Attraction” teachings.
https://youtu.be/HoKfz-zCdE8

Check out the “Law of Attraction” which is the idea behind the popular movie “The Secret”. However I would suggest checking out some of the videos done by Abraham Hicks on youtube for some really interesting in-depth videos about the subject. I recommend keeping an open mind when approaching the subject.

The 3 laws that are detailed by Abraham Hicks are:

  1. The Law of Attraction – says “That which is likened to itself is drawn” and refers to the magnetic power of thought
  2. The Law of deliberate creation – says “That which you give thought to or that you believe, allow or expect, is” we are all creators, most thoughts are by accident or default but holding deliberate thought will allow it to grow stronger and manifest itself into our life, good or bad.
  3. The Law of allowing – says “I am that which I am, and I am willing to allow all others to be what they are”

You must understand the first before you can understand the second, and you must understand the first and second before you can understand the third.

Author Napoleon Hill also advocates the use of the Law of Attraction in this book  Think and Grow Rich. He outlines the stages that need to be taken to live a fulfilled life:

Develop a burning desire, have faith, learn how to feed constructive ideas to your subconscious mind, acquire specialized knowledge, put your conscious mind to work, have a written plan, be decisive, be persistent, join forces with like-minded individuals, understanding the function of sex as related to success, understanding the power of the subconscious mind, trust your inner voice or six sense.

Although the book was written 1937 many of its teachings are still relevant today and is certainly worth a read. If you search there are a number or free PDF downloads available and the book is also available from Audible.com in audio form.

In a nutshell the premise of the Law of Attraction is:

Whatever you focus on, good or bad, you get more of. So be careful what you lock your thoughts on. Try to positively frame things in your thoughts such as wanting to be rich, instead of not wanting to be poor. If you think of poor, even in the negative you will get more of it in your life. The law of attraction does not understand the difference between not wanting or wanting. If you think poor, even in not wanting to be poor, that is the overriding focus of your thoughts and as a result you will get more of it in your life. So just to clarify, if you don’t want to be poor, think about being rich.

Just thinking of something is not enough, it needs to be mixed with a strong emotion to really work. so desiring something with all your heart will be more effective. So will fearing something. If you fear something greatly and keep that fear in your mind, you will, like a magnet attract that very thing into your life…so be warned!

Don’t just wish for something, believe it is waiting for you in the future, just waiting for you to meet up with it. Believe it is already yours, it’s just waiting for you to claim it.

For more about spirituality and wellbeing check my spirituality guide.

The Art of Persuasion

Get Results: persuasion
Get Results: persuasion

Let’s start by having a look at the definition of persuasion:

noun
The action or process of persuading someone or of being persuaded to do or believe something.

Synonyms: coaxing, persuading, coercion, inducement, convincing, blandishment,encouragement, urging, prompting, inveiglement, temptation, cajolery, enticement, wheedling, pressure, moral pressure;
Informal: sweet-talking, smooth-talking, soft-soaping, arm-twisting;

There needs to be at least two parties involved in the persuasion process, these being the…

  • Sender of message
  • Receiver of message

For the purpose of this article, we are going to look at how persuasion is used within MARKETING although it is used in many other real world situations, with good or bad intentions. One of the best ways to protect yourself from its influence, is AWARENESS. If you know how it works, you can defend yourself against it.

As Marketers we are, in our role as “sender of message” ultimately hoping to persuade the “receiver” to buy our product, there are a number of ways we can do this. The bare bone approaches being:

  • Control
  • Convince
  • Convert

Control

If we have power over the receiver we can use this to pressure them to buy. Power can come from..

  • Using your authority, if you have it,
  • The lack of options open to the receiver (no substitutes or alternatives available),
  • If receiver is desperate,
  • The scarcity of time to make the decision.

The receiver may feel their hand being forced, which might well lead to a feeling of resentment and resistance and is not likely lead to any kind of ongoing relationship, loyalty and bonding between the receiver and sender. I personally, don’t like to be pushed, manipulated or forced into buying, and I’m sure most people feel the same.

Hard sales tactics are often used by the sender, when trying to invoke some level of control over the receiver, and are common in the following circumstances:

  • When PRODUCT is temporary, limited use, or one-time use: fads, fashions, entertainments, seasonal clothing, equipment, perishable foods, collectables
  • When SELLER is temporary: door-to-door selling, telephone solicitations (“boiler room”), fly-by-night operations (“one shot”), con games (“pigeon drop”)
  • When BUYER is temporary, that is, in an unfamiliar area or condition: tourist, travelers, newcomers, inexperienced, immature
  • When a sense of CRISIS exits (a real or imaged emergency, time limit, or deadline): pain, genuine close-outs, elections, TV “shopping clubs”
  • When GUARANTEE (refund, or return of goods) is missing: unknown companies, “fronts”
  • When DEMAND exceeds SUPPLY: SURPLUS situations

Let’s look at a couple of real life examples: Some caravan parks limit the maximum age of caravans on their site, to say, 10 years old and then force caravan owners to buy a replacement new caravan from them, rather than from 3rd party suppliers.

Cinemas often discourage or even stop customers bringing their own refreshments into their venue, so they have to buy them from the foyer, at inflated prices. This control is enforced by the venue as a condition of using its facilities.

Convince

“Convincing” the receiver of your message to take a particular course of action, takes more effort than the “control” method, but is more ethical and rewarding. Getting attention is the first objective, followed by, creating a convincing argument that promotes your case and negates the alternatives. This is illustrated in Professor Hugh Ranks “Intensify and Downplay schema (see below).

If we present a clear cause and effect appeal to the receiver we will find our message more readily accepted from a rational perspective. So we must communicate the benefits and features of our offering and answer any objections that the receiver will inevitably have.

However emotional appeals have proven to yield better results because receivers engage the right-side of their brain more when emotionally aroused, as a result, they think less rationally, and are prone to act without thinking it through fully.

Intensify and Downplay Schema

Professor Hugh Rank’s model of persuasion, describes how promisers (marketers) intensify their own good and downplay their own bad. This model shows how marketers only tell receivers of product benefits using composition, association and repetition, But downplay any negative aspects by omitting this information, diverting attention away from it or trying to confuse. If you want to learn more about Hugh Rank’s model check it out here.

Pros, cons and objection handling

When I’m putting together a marketing message I look at the pros and cons of the product and note each down. I view the “cons” as possible objections and try to answer these objections, turning them into positives where possible. I also look at the benefits of using the product compared to not using it. Here is an example I have done recently for Thrive Landing page WordPress plugin to illustrate the process I use myself.

Positive/pros/for – ask why would they want to buy the product and keep asking why to dig deeper

  • No coding needed – drag and drop
  • No design skills needed – pre-defined templates
  • One off fee – No monthly recurring cost
  • One interface for website and thrive themes – within WordPress site
  • Professional looking landing pages
  • Better than many of competition because no subscription needed
  • Great support – fast replies via online forum
  • Lots of tutorial videos provided by Thrive themes

Negative/cons/against/objections (Turn these into positives where possible using law of opposites)

  • It isn’t free and costs $49 – better than having to pay monthly subscriptions like some of the popular alternatives such as Leadpages.

Negatives if not using product

  • Need to get a designer to do for you or learn HTML and have good design skills
  • Other options seem to include monthly subscription charges which mean when you stop paying you can no longer use the landing pages, with Thrive there are no monthly costs anyway, but the landing pages are built into your WordPress site so can be used forever.
  • With some suppliers you have to login to a remote interface to access your landing page editor
  • If you’re doing the HTML yourself and if you don’t have any coding skills these can be time consuming, look amateurish, and have limited template options

From this information I can now sell the benefits of the products

Selling Benefits

If you’ve done any marketing in the past, you’ll know about selling the benefits of your product. Getting these benefits over to receivers as early as possible is crucial to marketing effectiveness. Benefit seeking is the main driver of customer motivation. If receivers (customers) are looking for investment opportunities, their main motivation is “making money” or “preserving the value of their money”. So if you’re selling an investment product of any kind you need to communicate the making money aspect of your offer to appeal to the receiver of that message.

It is important to get the product benefits over to the receiver as early as possible, so it grabs their attention. The first thing a receiver sees on most marketing material, is usually the initial headline. Some examples of good headlines include:

You’ll never have Y (without X)
• You’ll never make money from your website (without having professional landing pages)

Buy X to achieve Y
• Buy Thrive Landing pages and make money from your website

How to achieve Y with less effort/cost/time
• How to make money from your website with less effort, cost and time

The Only Way to [Do Something Desirable] Without [Doing Something Undesirable]
• The Only Way to build landing pages Without learning to code HTML

[Do Something Hard] in [Period of Time] or [Promise]
• Make stunning landing pages in minutes or get your money back

[Do Something Desirable] Like [an Expert] Without [Something Expected & Undesirable]
• Make stunning landing page like a marketing expert – without any design or coding skills

Other examples
How to….
• How to Win Friends and Influence People
• How to Save Time and Get Things Done

Lists
• 7 Reasons Why List Posts Will Always Work
• 10 Ways to Beat the High Cost of Living
• Do You Recognize the 7 Early Warning Signs of High Blood Pressure?

Who Else Wants [blank]?
• Who Else Wants a Great WordPress Theme?
• Who Else Wants a Higher Paying Job?

The Secret of [blank]
• The Secret of Successful Podcasting
• The Secret of Protecting Your Assets in Litigation

Little Known Ways to [blank]
• Little Known Ways to Save on Your Heating Bill
• Little Known Ways to Hack Google’s Gmail

Get Rid of [problem] Once and For All
• Get Rid of Your Unproductive Work Habits Once and For All
• Get Rid of That Carpet Stain Once and For All

Here’s a Quick Way to [solve a problem]
• Here’s a Quick Way to Get Over a Cold

[Do something] like [world-class example]
• Speak Spanish Like a Diplomat
• Party Like Paris Hilton

See How Easily You Can [desirable result].
• See How Easily You Can Learn to Dance This New Way.
• See How Easily You Can Own a Lamborghini Miura.

Convert

This is the hardest of the three ways to persuade. Attempting to convert someone’s beliefs and values is really difficult because people hold them tightly and often associate their very being with deeply ingrained value and belief systems. If you’re message contradicts such values and beliefs you will need to provide hard factual evidence to back-up your message to have any chance of converting the receiver. However not all values and beliefs are made equal, and we may convert some, using emotional appeals that do not need complex reasoning to back them up.

The role of Emotions

Emotion makes people act in irrational ways and prevents them thinking clearly, and marketers know this and attempt to use it to their advantage. Many big organisations with vast marketing budgets look to get some incite into their customers inner workings, finding out what they like and dislike and what presses their buttons. They track shopping habits and develop marketing messages designed to get them to take action. Even small businesses need to have an understanding of who their customers are and what they want. The easiest way to do this is carry out surveys, hang out where prospects hang out, ask existing customers for feedback and run test campaigns online offering searchers a choice between options and measuring what choices they take.

Many large companies try to associate their products with popular celebrities, hoping some of that popularity will rub off on their brand. They know that if our idol tells us it’s good, we are more likely to act on their endorsement. On the flip side, if a celebrity encounters controversy, brands are quick to cut ties, and end sponsorship deals so that they are not cast in the same negative light.

If people are made to feel fearful that their family might be in danger, they are more likely to buy a security system, if they are scared their family will be left to struggle if they were to die, they are more likely to buy life insurance. If someone describes how we can live life on a sunny beach, having an amazing time with our families and have no money worries ever again, working a job that takes just thirty minutes  a day, simply by reading a $99 Ebook, or joining the latest magic money making system, yes you got it, we will buy the Ebook, if we believe what we are being told.

The emotions of greed and fear are the most often targeted ones, but other emotions like curiosity are often used to pull the reader into marketing messages.

  • “Check out the one plugin that will turn your website into a money making machine”,
  • “If you’re not enjoying success online, this is the one thing you NEED to become a success”,
  • “What Everybody Ought to Know About making money online”.

People are very curious creatures, it is hard-wired into the human psyche and it’s very difficult to ignore curiosity laden statements or headlines. However the subject needs to be relevant to the interests of the reader. or it won’t work.

Summary

Persuasion is a fascinating subject, and the more that is understood about human psychology the more sophisticated the marketing messages will undoubtedly become. The key points to remember are:

  • Have a clear understand of who your customer’s are or are likely to be
  • Craft marketing messages from your customer’s point of view (what’s in it for me)
  • Sell the Benefits of your product, this is the core reason for them to buy
  • Pre-suppose their objections and tackle these head on
  • Find an answer to this prospects question “Why should I do business  with you, instead of any and every other option available to me, including the option of doing absolutely nothing at all?”
  • Try to evoke emotion from your prospects to take action NOW
  • Add value, don’t try to manipulate your audience, try to persuade them that doing business with you is a win win situation, and make sure you mean it.
  • Manage expectations – Disappointment is based on expectations. Under promise and over deliver.

If you would like to learn more about marketing, check out our marketing guide.