| Many online businesses are totally wasting their ad budgets, says David Cross. What's the deal? No matter how good the ad or its placement, he explains, it'll bring in only a fraction of its potential orders (if any) if you don't take the next step... -----------------------------------------------------Advertisement----------------------------------------------------- $2.3 Trillion Floats by You Every Year... Billions of dollars every month... millions every week... go right by you through your phone, TV, computer, and mailbox... The problem is those dollars are invisible. There is a $2.3 trillion industry all around us. You've seen its products and ads, but you probably couldn't put a name to it. The profit opportunities for people just like you are enormous and easy to tap into... if you know how to get your "foot in the door."
"Never let your ads write checks that your website can't cash." Avinash Kaushik I've a Feeling We've "Bean" Here Before
By David Cross When you click on an online ad that interests you, you expect to be presented with a way to buy that item almost immediately. Right? But far too many businesses advertising online do not give you this logical next step. For example, while perusing the BBC News website, I stumbled upon a heavyweight sweatshirt advertised by L.L. Bean that appealed to me. But the process I endured to buy it seemed designed to convince me not to buy it. 
Looks good. When I clicked through to the landing page there were about a dozen different shirts, sweatshirts, and sweaters... but the sweatshirt from the ad was nowhere to be found. Click, click, click... I tried looking in Outerwear and Men's Clothes. I searched for "Sweatshirt." Finally, I searched for the exact product name, "Katahdin Iron Works Sweatshirt," and found it. (I believe I was more pertinacious than the average Internet user.) Here's the search results page: 
But even this doesn't look like the sweatshirt that was advertised. To see the one that was advertised, you would have to click through and select the correct color. And it still looks different than the picture in the ad. It took me eight clicks, including three searches, to find something roughly approximating the sweatshirt in the ad. No, I didn't buy it. I gave up -- as would most Internet users -- after the initial failed landing page. But, being an Internet marketing consultant, I kept pushing through to see what would happen. Everybody who clicked on that ad no doubt had the same negative experience. So will L.L. Bean determine that advertising on the BBC News website is a failed proposition? Perhaps. But is that the correct interpretation? The ad is good. It got my attention. But nobody will persist to the extent that I did and spend so much time just trying to find the product. It asks too much of the customer. L.L. Bean should have a landing page that matches the ad I clicked on. Instead, it directed me to a page that made me think I was at the wrong place rather than the right place where I could take the next step. I see this a lot. When I click on an ad, I am instantly wading through a confusing morass of irrelevant information. Sometimes I end up at a company's homepage even after clicking on a very specific offer. Think of a funnel -- big at the top, narrower as it gets closer to the exit. Online marketers use a funnel as a metaphor for the "conversion process" -- the process of moving the prospect closer and closer to making a purchase (or taking another desired action). The online ad is the first step in the process. And every step should move the prospect to the next step. Unless the action L.L. Bean wanted me to take was to write an article about poor conversion processes, I'd say their ad campaign was a dud. When developing your online ads, sketch out (on a piece of paper, wallpaper, napkin, etc.) your conversion process -- the path or timeline you want your prospect to follow in order to make a purchase, sign up to receive your e-mails, etc. Then make sure that each step in that conversion process moves the prospect closer to taking that action. Every online ad should connect to a landing page that logically moves the prospect to the next step. Always. Do yours? [Ed Note: Having a logical "funnel" from your online ad to a way for prospects to order your product may seem obvious. But it's something many Internet marketers fail to do. And it's just one of the countless strategies, techniques, and "secrets" that can make or break an online business.] At ETR's 5 Days in July conference, you learn how to overcome these obstacles and quickly build a profitable online venture. Come to this conference with nothing -- no website and no products -- and you'll leave with a fully operational Internet business. To be one of the first to be notified -- and get first crack at the lowest price -- go here.] -----------------------------------------------------Highly Recommended----------------------------------------------------- What Separates Billionaires From Everybody Else? - It's time management. They jealously guard their time. They know every minute they spend in a long-winded meeting... is a minute they're not making money. Find out what else makes up the Billionaire Mindset here.
"The 10 tips reminders from MaryEllen were really good fundamental stuff, especially the one about 'just saying no' if the response should be 'no.' Also, the reminder to be sincere; so important." William Dale Hoag -----------------------------------------------------Highly Recommended ----------------------------------------------------- The Greatest Dirty Little Secret of the Internet To make money as an entrepreneur, you've got to constantly scour the earth for high-quality, in-demand products. You could create new ones. But that can be expensive. Time-consuming. And after all the work... you might wind up with nothing. But a few of the Internet's top marketers have found a way around this problem. They don't spend time (or money) on products that may or may not sell. Instead, they pluck moneymakers from a reserve of pre-made products and sales promotions. A martial arts expert from Florida has turned this strategy into a small fortune. He estimates that one "pre-made product" made over $20,000 in one month... Another has gone on to pull in over $332,250. Discover how he found these moneymakers... And learn how you could use this secret to make anywhere from a few hundred bucks a month to a few hundred thousand bucks a year right here.
Today's Words That Work: Pertinacious Pertinacious (pur-tn-AY-shus) -- from the Latin for "to hold" -- means stubbornly or perversely persistent. Example (as used by David Cross today): "I believe I was more pertinacious than the average Internet user."
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