This is a guest post from my friend and NAMS founder David Perdew, as part of the NAMS 30 Day Listbuilding Challenge.

I loved being a photojournalist when I was in the newspaper business.

The camera acted as shield and sometimes I’d put myself in situations that any rational human being would think a little less than prudent.

Like many photographers, I thought the camera was really a bullet-proof vest. People couldn’t see me if I was looking through the lens. It was a little like legalized voyeurism.

Today, I’m an online business owner. I still feel like I’m behind the lens a little, watching the world through my computer. Unfortunately, we have to work pretty hard to remove the lens cover so our view can be pretty obscure.

There are ways to actually see what’s going on in my world just beyond the URL. And if you incorporate a few tools, you can watch people easily browsing through your site and learn their ways.

Having this capability is especially important at MyNAMS.com right now because in the beginning of the MyNAMS 30-Day List Building Challenge. I’ve set a goal for all the participants to increase their list by 1000 new subscribers in 30 days, whether they have a website or not.

But my goal is to increase my list by 1000 percent – kind of a wild and audacious goal. So, I’m very focused on discovering who’s coming to the site and how to capture them immediately with the right lead generator using as many traffic methods as we can muster.

And since I’m pulling out all the stops, leverage has become my driving principle.

There are four tools that we’ve implemented to give us more insight into the traffic behind our site. I thought I’d tell you about those today.

Zopim Chat Software: Talk to me  

When you walk into a car dealership, the salesman doesn’t head to the break room. Nope, they come straight toward you with their hand extended and a warm friendly greeting.

With Zopim chat software, we can reach out and touch our visitors virtually with a little nudge that says, “We’re here and if you need any help, please feel free to ask.”

And if we can’t sit at the computer watching the visitors come and go, we can set a trigger to engage them at certain points and notify us of the interaction request.

We’ve only been using Zopim for a couple of weeks, but I’m completely sold on it now.

I tried other chat software, but they offered too much or too little functionality for my taste.

One of my favorite features is that you can integrate it with your Skype so chats come directly to you via a virtual agent and because I have Skype on my iPhone, I can actually chat with customers while I’m away from the office.

So, what has Zopim done for us? Just look at the graph below. Zopim also tracks Page Views, Total Visits, Unique Visitors, and Conversations.

 

 

 

In the short time we’ve been using the chat software, we’ve seen page views go through the roof because users are a lot more engaged with us. We can see who’s on the site and what pages they are viewing. If they are on a sales page for more than one minute, we’ve set a trigger to ask them if they have any questions.

 

 

 

 

And finally, because it integrates with Zendesk, our support desk, visitors can send submit a chat (when we’re not there) and it goes straight to our support desk with a completed ticket.

Overall, Zopim is a hit with us. I don’t think we can do without it now.

Google Analytics: So much data and so little time

http://www.google.com/analytics

Neither I nor anyone on my team is a Google Analytics expert.

But we will be by the end of our 30-Day List Building Challenge (your link is: http://mynams.com/amember/aff/go?r=291&i=53 ) . There’s a gold mine in there.

Of course, I like to go to the traffic section and see where our traffic is coming from. I can even tell which affiliates are actively sending traffic and what kind in the tool.

The real meat though is in the optimization opportunities that Google ferrets out.

In the “All Traffic” report, we get a lot of fast information:

A: Facebook is my number 2 traffic referral in this time period. But only 13% of those are new visitors, but they are highly engaged. We need to use it Facebook to attract more new people.

B: Nicole Dean  is one of my top affiliates and shows up as that 5^th source of traffic (consistently in the top 4 or 5). She’s delivering traffic that stays awhile and she’s delivering about 43% of new visitors. I need to send her a case of wine…

C: Sparkplugging.com, Kelly McCausey’s new blog, is driving some traffic. The bounce rate is high and the time on site low, but the percent of new visitors is through the roof with 80%. A good source of new leads.

D: Twitter (t.co) continues to be a good source of new visitors with good time on site, but a high bounce rate.

There’s much more that we can discover through Google Analytics. In fact, a person can go in there and never be seen again. There’s so much data being collected.

Visual Website Optimizer: Test everything with one interface

Visual Website Optimizer is awesome.

I hate testing.

My friend, Nicole Dean, says testing is sexy. I think she really means the results you get from testing are sexy, but I won’t argue with Nicole.

A/B split testing is a really simple concept:

Create two web pages

Make one thing different on the second

Send equal traffic to the two pages

Determine which one gets better conversions.

Simple idea, huh? And the concept is kind of brilliant. But the work is a real pain the rear. Hardly anyone does testing. It’s just too much trouble. The only people I really know that test quite a bit are the really successful people.

And there’s the clue.

REALLY SUCCESSFUL marketers test rigorously.

I’ve been searching for the right software and I think I’ve found it in VWO. Frankly, we’ve just installed it for the MyNAMS 30-Day List Building Challenge and plan to test our conversion pages thoroughly.

You’ll have to join us there to find out the results.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The concept is fairly simple, but I’m still trying to wrap my head around the technical aspects of this.

After installing the VWO plugin, written by Andy Bailey of CommentLuv fame, I’m able to create control and variations of elements on the same page. Instead of creating a second version of the page (a new URL), VWO makes the changes directly on the page and serves different scenarios to a split traffic source.

You can make as many variations – or multi-variants – as you wish.

Come over to the MyNAMS.com site to see how this software helps us increase conversions.

Kissmetrics: But what’s that guy doing over there?

http://kissmetrics.com

This is another tool that we’re just installing. My friend and NAMS Workshop instructor Jack Born of  Box Shot King fame told me about this service. Kissmetrics collects everything.

Basically, they just grab all the data they can and then slice it and dice from a person’s perspective as they were going through the system.

Kissmetrics focuses on a unique unit of measure surprisingly called “People” – as in:

• What the person does before and after they become customers
• Usage patterns and customer segmentation
• How people interact with your business
• Reports about user behaviors on the fly

 

Removing the blinders

So, there are four tools that give us customer insight and help us know and serve them better, while building more and more opportunities to convert more lurkers into actual customers.

To help you build your list, I invite you to join us in the MyNAMS 30-Day List Building Challenge is an ongoing challenge. Come in and succeed today. As part of the challenge, David is touring the blogosphere and posting marketing and list building insights on different blogs. You can find the complete schedule of all the blog posts – past and future – here.

David Perdew is the founder and CEO of the Novice to Advanced Marketing System and MyNAMS.com and produces two intense workshops each year, including NAMS10 coming up Aug. 9-11.

In this eighth episode of Online Marketing Tips Podcast With Connie Ragen Green, my newest podcast series, I discuss how to get started online earning residual income. This is income you earn by doing something once and then being paid over and over again. We discussed the importance of having an optin box on your blog, using only a hosted WordPress site for your business, creating free giveaways that will be irresistible to your visitors, and monetization strategies that work well for online entrepreneurs.

I also answer questions on a variety of topics related to entrepreneurship, passive and residual income, affiliate marketing and online business success, including how to connect with your target market, how to become my affiliate to promote my products and courses for lifetime commission, getting started with Amazon as an affiliate for books and other products, using sites such as Squidoo to create sites to recommend products and services you are an affiliate for, and much more.

Also, you can now pick up my training on winning affiliate contests for only seven dollars at Affiliate Contest Secrets.

Be sure to download your Study Guide to follow along with the podcast. I always create these to give you a frame of reference as to what I am discussing during that episode, as well as to share valuable resources and online marketing tips with you.

Be sure to subscribe to this new podcast series over at iTunes

Are You Using Google Hangouts For Business?

Google Hangouts are relatively new to the Internet world and an excellent way to market and grow your business. They are completely free, and all you need to get started is an account on Google Plus, a webcam, and a YouTube account. Sign up at http://plus.google.com and at http://YouTube.com.

A Hangout is simply a video chat where multiple participants (including one admin – the person that runs the hangout) are interacting with one another. Other participants will appear in small screen thumbnails, underneath any participant who is currently speaking. You can have an informal chat with a closed group of people or a more open and public hangout. It’s entirely up to you. I’ve done both public and private Hangouts and each has great value.

Imagine hosting a Hangout with two or three of your employees to explain exactly what your business does to prospective customers. Each person could explain what part they play in the process and how you would benefit by giving them a try. I’m thinking of a restaurant or a retail store here, but almost any type of business would work well. Once your Hangout is over it is then added to your YouTube channel for your prospects to view and comment on at a later point in time.

Using Google Hangouts as a part of your marketing strategy will show your prospects and customers how much you know and care about the business you are in. There are so many reasons that Hangouts are superior to any type of written communication. These include the opportunity to meet with many people at once in a face-to-face setting, the sense of immediacy, showcasing the competence and skill of you and your team, and increasing your credibility in the marketplace. This is the next best thing to meeting with people in person, where they can see your face and hear the tone of your voice while you are speaking about your business.

Your business may be one in which you have lots of customer service issues on a regular basis. Hosting a Google Hangout once a month to address the most common questions that come up could be extremely valuable to your reputation and set you apart from the competition. You could also do this to share your requirements for job applicants and to roll out a new product or service to get feedback on a wider scale. How about letting people know about a seasonal or weekend sale by announcing it first on a Hangout?

Another possibility is to hold online classes for your clients on how to do something that is part of your business. In this regard you could turn Hangouts and your YouTube channel into a college extension program just for your business.

There are so many creative and innovative ways to use Google Hangouts for business. I recommend embracing this new technology and seeing just how far it will take you as you add it to your marketing strategies.

Don Wilson, Facebook marketing expert, product creator, and all around brilliant guy is my guest for this week’s podcast. Don and I first met in 2012 at Dennis Becker’s Earn 1K a Day seminar in Las Vegas. He was very quiet and reserved, at least during the sessions, and he and I did not spend time talking that weekend. It was only after the event was over, and throughout the following year that I realized just how talented Don is when it comes to marketing on Facebook.

You may be new to the idea of marketing your products, courses, and other information on Facebook, and I understand that completely. But Don explains it in a way that you will see has huge benefits for your business. He truly has some unique insights into how people think and why they make the choices they do.

I asked Don about how and when he got started online, what his thinking and strategies are for his marketing techniques, and how someone new to this can get started right away. He shares some of the niches that are working well for him, along with his thoughts on how you can get started right away. You can also learn from Don directly with his Facebook Architect course. I know you will enjoy this podcast interview.

 

Subscribe to this Podcast Series

 

Dennis Becker, Earn 1K A Day forum founder and creator, has become someone whom I consider to be a close friend and confidant. We met online just three short years ago, and then briefly in person soon after when we were both attending an event in Austin, Texas. As I began to see how knowledgeable Dennis was when it came to getting started online, I signed up for his products and finally became a member of his Earn 1K A Day forum.

I also became a good affiliate for him during that first year, and that’s how we first made a connection. It wasn’t until I began to spend more time in the forum that I appreciated what he had put together.

Dennis has gathered some of the biggest names working online today, including Jason Fladlien, Wil Mattos, Jenn Dize, Justin Popvic, James Schramko, and others, along with people brand new to the world of online marketing and everything in between. It’s become a safe haven for both novice and seasoned entrepreneurs to do what I call ‘think out loud’. We can share our thoughts, ideas, concerns, and dreams along with our product ideas, copywriting questions, and basic questions about how to make money on the Internet.

This week marks the sixth anniversary of the Earn 1K A Day forum. Very few sites make it this long and stay active, useful, and vibrant. It’s the people that make the difference, and Dennis attracts people who are in this for the long haul, not those looking to make a few fast bucks and then move on.

Even if you are not familiar with Dennis Becker, I’d like for you to take a leap of faith and join me in this amazing online group. In honor of the sixth anniversary celebration, Dennis is offering some amazing bonuses, including access to a thirteen week audio coaching program, almost a thousand products in what he calls the ‘Product Vault’, and more.

I’ve also put together a Bonus Package for the first twenty-five people who join through my affiliate link and still have some openings for that. This includes:

• 5 of my most popular information training products
• A six week ‘Summer Mentor Program’ to be held during July and August
• 2 one-on-one sessions with me starting in June
• An opportunity to guest post on my two main blogs (this is one of them)

By now you can see that I think the world of Dennis Becker and his Earn 1K A Day forum. That’s why I’d like for you to be a part of it as well and enjoy the benefits that I continue to receive from Dennis, the hundreds of other members, and the products, content, and materials that are shared with and available to us as members.

When you join the Earn 1K A Day forum through this link, leave a  comment here or email me directly to let me know you are ready to get serious about building your online business and I’ll add your name to my list.

Email Marketing Tips

Growing your list is only the beginning of building your online business; you need people who will continue to eagerly open your emails, are ready for your next tip or story, and are interested in your offers. These are a few email marketing tips that will change your business drastically.

Here’s what it means to…

1.      Focus on your subscriber.

Before writing a word, ask yourself:  “What would brighten her day?  Inspire her today?  Help her out?  Entertain her? Amuse her?”

Pick one of these options and it’s as simple as that.

2.     Use Irresistible Subject Lines

Two components, and two components only, will make your subscriber decide to open your email – even if they are the sort of person that “doesn’t have time” to read.

• Number One:  Being able to see clearly who the email is from – and having a mental picture of how you “fit in”.

Putting your full name in the “From” designation is good, but if they’ve signed up in a fever to get some freebie they need (i.e. your freebie), they may not actually remember your name.  So make sure you give them another great big clue.

Seeing a “From” Line that reads “Ann Maddox” might or might not bring up a mental picture of who you are and what you do:  Seeing a “From” line that reads “Ann Maddox, the Free Template Lady” will certainly jog their memory.

• Number Two:  Your Subject Lines

Number One is easy enough to set up; and once you’ve done so, you don’t need to do this again. It consists of not only making sure your name displays in the “From” field, but also a clue about what you do (or your business name, if that’s descriptive.)  Example:  “Joe Smith, Finance Tips for Seniors”.

Number Two, creating irresistible Subject Lines, is a little more work.  However, the good part is that you don’t have to create the wittiest or cleverest Subject Lines on the planet: Nor do you have to win a Pulitzer Prize for writing.

Your Subject Lines just have to inspire the reader to open them.

And here’s a secret that everyone should know but too many people ignore:  Every email after your first couple you send will be opened based not just on the actual promise in the Subject Line – but on whether or not you kept that promise.

In other words, if your first “Quote of the Day” was pedestrian, your subscriber is less likely to open the next one.

If “News you can’t live without!” turned out to be not that spectacular and something your subscriber has already heard from five previous correspondents, your subscriber is most likely to skip the next email.

And if your first free Template turned out to be dependent on purchasing a Toolkit, it’s virtually guaranteed your next Freebie offer won’t be opened.

Here are a few tips to make sure your Subject Lines do the trick:

• Be clear in what the email is about (for example, “Here’s a review template for you” is much clearer than “Wanna freebie?”)
• Make your Subject Line sound conversational rather than like a book chapter Title.  “What God told me about honesty today” is more likely to intrigue than: “God and You – What Honesty is Really All About!”
• Learn about Spam filters – and the words in your Subject lines that trigger them.

Words sure to bounce your emails straight to your intended recipient’s spam filter limbo are:

• Free
• Sale
• Work at Home
• Make Money
• Click install
• Income
• Profit

And there are many more – but these will give you the drift:  Anything that even vaguely hints at sales or sex may be tossed into spam limbo – no matter how pure your intentions

• Finally, be careful with punctuation.  Avoid exclamation marks and dollar signs like the plague.
• Don’t use initial caps:  Write your subject line the way you would if you were sending a message to your sister or best friend.

3. Use a Conversational Tone

Not just in your Subject Lines, but in your emails, too.  Write as if you’re speaking only to the subscriber who is reading it.

4.  Make your Emails Shareable

Not just information – but your information in particular.

And if you want your reader to share your  email – tell them – and give them a link to send people to, so they can sign up for your list voluntarily.

5.     Track Your Emails

Your email campaigns will never achieve wild success until you use the tools your Autoresponder should provide to track the following data:

• Click-through rates
• Unsubscribe rates
• Delivery rates
• Opens
• Sales

Use this data to help you refine and hone each new email you write.  For example, your Delivery Rate should provide valuable clues as to which Subject Lines are not getting through Spam filters.

Make a note of possible trigger words in the Subject Lines of emails that weren’t delivered and either avoid using them; or use them in a split-test group, to confirm whether or not that certain word is the problem.

These are the keys to a successful email marketing campaign. I recommend Aweber as an email and autoresponder service if you are just getting started. Get started for only one dollar.

 

 

Learn about Virtual Book Tours with D’vorah Lansky

Recently my good friend and colleague D’vorah Lansky and I got together for a Google Hangout to talk about her incredible new book, 21 Ways to Launch a Successful Virtual Book Tour. D’vorah has been a trendsetter with blogging and book tours for several years now, and explains how this works when you want to build your credibility and visibility online.

D’vorah offers virtual book tour workshops and courses for authors, entrepreneurs, and virtual professionals. She has taught hundreds of people, across the globe, how to conduct successful virtual book tours. You can purchase her newest book on Amazon at this link, and learn more about what else she has to offer online entrepreneurs and authors by visiting her site.

Your Guest Blogging Strategy

When it comes to guest blogging, it takes time to learn the ins and outs of it and develop a strategy that works for you. Learn from those that have gone before you and made some mistakes doing it. Below you will find some common mistakes and blunders that guest bloggers make or have made. Now that you’re being made aware of them, you should avoid them entirely.

1. Go into the process blind – The worst thing you can do is go into this blind without doing any research!  You need to do your due diligence and spend some time researching blogs so that you can find ones that will be a good fit for you.Find out what the site owner expects of their guest bloggers. Find out their guidelines – can you include links to your site, do they have certain formatting rules you need to follow, basically find out everything you can BEFORE you submit your pitch to them.You should also find out about their traffic and you can do that via Alexa.com. And don’t forget to go to social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter to see if the site is being talked about and to check out how many friends/followers they have.
2. Shameless Self-Promotion – Guest blogging is NOT a platform to blatantly promote yourself, your products or your website!  This is a sure way to get a bad rep as a guest blogger and more than likely the site owner won’t even publish your content (or will delete it once they catch wind of the self-promotion).When writing your content focus on what you can add to the site that will help build them up. By taking the focus off of yourself and instead focusing on providing quality content that the audience will be interested in, it helps build your credibility and leave people wanting to know/learn more about you.
3. Not solving the issue – People are looking for answers to their problems. Look for ways you can provide answers to a specific issue the readers may have. Even if you come up with something that is on the unusual side share it because it might peak their interest.
4. Unresponsive to comments – Guest blogging isn’t just about writing a great piece to share. It’s about getting the audience to take action and interact with you (and others) in the comment section.  Most readers will want to know more about you and interacting with them in the comments can be a great way to give them more insight to who you are. Provide relevant comments and try to keep that interaction going – don’t just reply with a ‘thank you for your comment’, take it further and mention something they said in their comment, ask them a question if appropriate. Make the comment section as interactive as you possibly can.
5. Not continuing the journey – Don’t guest blog once or twice and stop. Keep it going. When you’re guest blogging on one site, think about the next opportunity.  You can even set up a guest blogging tour.   Obviously the more you guest blog, the more you’ll get your name and business out and establish yourself as an expert and the go to person for your niche.

The Santa Barbara Zoo giraffes are amazing. This past weekend I went to see the two newborn giraffes at this zoo twice. As this adventure unfolded I came to think of what the zoo has done as the ‘marketing of the giraffes’ and will share this brilliant strategy with you.

The Santa Barbara Zoo is gorgeous. It is also very small. The children in the area get to visit with their class once a year, just as we did at the Los Angeles Zoo during the years that I worked as a classroom teacher. Most cities this size (about 100,000 people) do not have a zoo, so just the fact that they have one took great effort. This zoo, located on thirty acres adjacent to the beach, was first opened in 1963 on a private estate and known at that time as the Child’s Estate Zoo.

First, I’ll share a little history about the giraffes here in Santa Barbara. This zoo originally exhibited Baringo giraffes, but in order to maximize genetic diversity within this sub-species they now exhibit Masai giraffes. This is part of an agreement with many zoos on the West coast of the United States, as a way to perpetuate the species without having to transport the animals at great distances. However, the father of these newborns, Michael, was transported from his home in Toronto, Canada to Santa Barbara about a year and a half ago. I heard that they constructed a special vehicle so that he could stand up for the forty-eight hour drive.

Now the group includes Michael; Betty Lou and Audrey, the five year old females; Dane, Audrey’s son; and Sunshine, Betty Lou’s daughter. Dane was born on April 18, 2013, and Sunshine arrived on April 28, 2013. This makes Michael the most genetically viable male Masai giraffe in North America at this time.

The Santa Barbara Zoo does an excellent job of getting the word out to the community about what is going on with the animals there. There isn’t a child in town who doesn’t know about the two newborn giraffes, and most adults in the greater Santa Barbara area are also aware of what is going on surrounding this. Talk of these two blessed events is in the newspaper, on the radio, and in the local magazines. The Zoo’s website is updated regularly with information on the new arrivals, with pictures, names, dates, and height and weight information. Their goal is to get the news out to the people in a way that will make them want to stop by and see for themselves what all the fuss is about.

When you arrive at the zoo there are lots of people and numerous signs to direct you to the giraffe’s exhibit area. For an additional fee (six dollars) you may feed Michael, the male giraffe, with the help of one of the staff. The gift shop has giraffe stuffed animals, figurines, hats, shirt, tails (very cute!), post cards, and more. I refer to this as the ‘marketing of the giraffes’ and it is an excellent strategy.

In addition, the staff is trained and updated regularly as to what is going on. I was there for a private event with Rotary on the first evening, and that’s when I observed a group of zoo employees being briefed on which information to share with visitors, how to anticipate their questions, safety concerns, and more. This makes the experience so much more enjoyable for everyone, especially for the animals, whose health and welfare must be of the utmost concern.

This reminds me of what we do as online entrepreneurs to build our businesses. We go to where the people are, on social media sites and searching on Google and Bing, and invite them to come back to our blogs, our websites, and our events. We may not have anything as exciting as a newborn giraffe, but we can be just as enthusiastic about what we do have to offer the world. If even one person benefits from one of your products, services, trainings, or coaching then you will have a great impact on their life. We can all take a lesson from the Santa Barbara Zoo giraffes marketing success for our own online businesses.