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Casual Articles - 8 Ezine Advertising Mistakes To Avoid
Want to build a successful incentive program for your company? Have you dreamt about finding ways to have more fun at work and still see BIG results? At the heart of every employee incentive program is the ability to motivate and reward your team for excellent performance. In this article, I will show you four easy steps to build an incentive program that allows everyone to win!Setting objectives: For any type of employee incentive program, your team must feel the goals are attainable and realistic. An incentive program should also fit into your company’s overall business strategy and be easy to measure. Using targets such as revenue growth, client retention, service satisfaction and profits, are some of the ways to establish incentive objectives. Lastly, the ideal incentive program will allow each person in your company to feel they have an opportunity to win.Tip From The Coach: To build a powerful incentive program, plan a brainstorming session with your team so they can share unique insight about ways
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Mistake No. 7 -- Blowing your budget
One of the most difficult things to decide for any business person is how much money to spend on promotion. There really is one simple way to determine the answer. How much is a customer worth to you? That tells you a great deal about how much you can afford to spend on advertising.
The simple formula to calculate the net worth of a visitor is: Net Profit divided by Conversion Rate.
First, what is your net profit on an average sale? Let's say $10 to make it easy. (Hey, I'm an English professor, I need to keep it simple!)
Then consider what your conversion rate is for visitors to become customers. Let's say one visitor out of 50 becomes a customer. (This makes your conversion rate 50 as you need 50 customers to make a sale)
With this example, a visitor is worth $0.50 to you. ($10 divided by 50)
So if you spend $100 on an advertising campaign that draws in 1000 visitors then you made $400 on that campaign.
Mistake No. 8 -- Setting unrealistic goals
This issue is really about control. Yes, if you could contr
Someone said that feedback is the breakfast of a champion. However, in today’s turbulent marketplace, surviving on breakfast alone is insufficient. You need three meals a day to keep the doctor away.In the corporate dietary system, you need vision for breakfast, feedback for lunch and action for dinner. Vision is a clear and precise mental portrait of a preferred future. Feedback is the return of a portion of the output to the input. Action is to the take a decision and execute. Vision and feedback without action is dreaming. Action without vision and feedback is wasting time. But vision, feedback and action – feeding on the three meals a day will serve to keep the corporate doctor away.Some people believe that information is power. However, information without action is useless. It is similar to the treatment of a sick patient. The doctor can have all the right information on how to cure the patient. However, if he does not take the appropriate and timely action to treat the patient, the out
Mistake No. 1 -- Not focusing
A common mistake many advertisers make is to attempt to do too much, or rather sell too much, in one ad. Sure you have lots of great products but you can't sell them all in a few lines-at least not individually. Instead focus on the benefit your customer can achieve from all your products and promote that! People are much more likely to click on a link that BENEFITS them than a link that promises to sell them something.
More importantly, tell the customer "what your product or service is going to do for him."
It is important that you identify your Unique Selling Proposition before you begin your advertising program. This will determine which Ezines (or markets) you target as well as what you should include in your ad copy. Who will be interested in your product and why? What benefits does your product offer them?
Mistake No. 2 -- Going for the hard sale
Don't go for the sale in your ad! You are at a disadvantage because you can't list all your products' wonderful benefits in the space allowed. Also, there is only a small percentage of any Ezine audience that is ready to buy your product at the exact moment they view your ad. Yes, maybe they should be, but most people today live in the moment and if this isn't the time they want to buy then they aren't going to buy, end of story.
But it doesn't have to be the end of the story. If you go for the soft sell approach your target consumer is much more likely to click on your link and then you've got the chance to go for the hard sell-again and again!
Here's an example. I'm selling a product called the Preschool Prep Power Pack. It's an educational CD for preschoolers. Now I could go for the hard sell in my promotion and I would make some sales but a lot of people who really might be interested won't even look at my site and product. However, I've chose to go the soft sell approach. Instead of selling my product in my ads, my ads offer two FREE items. I offer a free newsletter (Preschoolers Learn More) offering tips about preparing preschoolers for kindergarten. This is my target market for my product. The folks who subscribe also receive a free ABC-123 coloring book. Why wouldn't the parent of a preschooler subscribe, right?
But what's in it for me as a business person? A lot! Think about it. I now have the freely offered contact information for my target market. Now I can regularly email them information about my product. I'm confident they will buy eventually because my product provides a solution to something that concerns them-or they wouldn't have subscribed in the first place!
Mistake No. 3 -- Letting the clock run out
Another common mistake is not giving your ad campaign enough time to work.
Studies show it takes prospects an average of seven exposures to your promotion before they take the bait. Even after they have clicked through to your site visitors may need to visit your site as many as three times before they buy from you. So make sure you keep that offer in front of them. That means it may well pay to take the long-term package versus a one-shot ad.
People run through their emails rapidly and delete things they wish they hadn't. Make their wish come true! Give them a second, third, fourth chance. The formula is--when you're sick and tired of it, the public is just beginning to hear it.
Mistake No. 4 -- Cramming the ad space
Just because you've bought ad space doesn't mean you have to utilize every pixel or character-space. Short, punchy lines that do not use up every available space are more effective. Think about the reader scanning down the page or screen. What will catch their eye and make them stop scanning and actually read? White space is your friend so don't squander it. Use it to set off your important message.
Make sure you apply the same principal to your urls and e-mail addresses as well. Nothing can make an ad look more cluttered than giant web addresses with a complicated string of numbers and letters. If you have to use an address like that (perhaps for your affiliate code, for example) then it might be wise to use a redirect.
Mistake No. 5 -- Not using your head
Your headline is the most important part of your ad. This is usually the line that determines whether the skimming reader will stop or skip ahead.
Some of the proven headline formulas include:
1. Ask the reader a question: "Are you worried about filing your tax return this year?"
2. Tell the reader how to do something: "How to buy a car without getting a lemon."
3. Provide a testimonial: "Big Al saved me $200 last month. Thanks, Cindy Lou from Paducah, Kentucky."
4. Make a command. Turn your most important benefit into a commanding headline. "Stop rushing through life." "Make more money this month." "Feel better about yourself."
5. Important news makes a good headline. "Max Electronics just went international!"
6. Start the clock: "Buyers who act before midnight Tuesday will save an extra $50!"
7. Give the reader something free: "Free whatsit for the first 100 visitors!"
Mistake No. 6 -- Not telling them what to do
It sounds almost ridiculous, but simply giving clear, specific directions about what you want the reader to do can increase the response to your ads.
Click here to find out more: http://whatsit.com
Subscribe by emailing subscribe@whatsit.com
Visit http://whatsit.com today to save!
Mistake No. 7 -- Blowing your budget
One of the most difficult things to decide for any business person is how much money to spend on promotion. There really is one simple way to determine the answer. How much is a customer worth to you? That tells you a great deal about how much you can afford to spend on advertising.
The simple formula to calculate the net worth of a visitor is: Net Profit divided by Conversion Rate.
First, what is your net profit on an average sale? Let's say $10 to make it easy. (Hey, I'm an English professor, I need to keep it simple!)
Then consider what your conversion rate is for visitors to become customers. Let's say one visitor out of 50 becomes a customer. (This makes your conversion rate 50 as you need 50 customers to make a sale)
With this example, a visitor is worth $0.50 to you. ($10 divided by 50)
So if you spend $100 on an advertising campaign that draws in 1000 visitors then you made $400 on that campaign.
Mistake No. 8 -- Setting unrealistic goals
This issue is really about control. Yes, if you could contro
Doesn't it just irritate you when you finally decide to start your own business and you spend hour after hour doing research and getting prepared just to have someone close to you chuckle at you for stepping out on that limb?No matter who you are or what you decide to do, you will have one of these somewhere close around you. So, what are you to do about it? You respect this person and you really value their opinion of you. All you wanted was for them to praise you for having the initiative to step forward and take charge of your future. What you can do is use this negativity to add fuel to your fire! Let them chuckle! Instead of showing anger, remain calm, politely let them know that you believe in yourself and the path you have chosen. Then use the bottled up anger as your fuel to be productive!I don't mean keep it inside until you get home and then throw the t.v. through the window! I mean use it wisely to push yourself toward your goals knowing that when you achieve those goals, you will be the one that is c
But it doesn't have to be the end of the story. If you go for the soft sell approach your target consumer is much more likely to click on your link and then you've got the chance to go for the hard sell-again and again!
Here's an example. I'm selling a product called the Preschool Prep Power Pack. It's an educational CD for preschoolers. Now I could go for the hard sell in my promotion and I would make some sales but a lot of people who really might be interested won't even look at my site and product. However, I've chose to go the soft sell approach. Instead of selling my product in my ads, my ads offer two FREE items. I offer a free newsletter (Preschoolers Learn More) offering tips about preparing preschoolers for kindergarten. This is my target market for my product. The folks who subscribe also receive a free ABC-123 coloring book. Why wouldn't the parent of a preschooler subscribe, right?
But what's in it for me as a business person? A lot! Think about it. I now have the freely offered contact information for my target market. Now I can regularly email them information about my product. I'm confident they will buy eventually because my product provides a solution to something that concerns them-or they wouldn't have subscribed in the first place!
Mistake No. 3 -- Letting the clock run out
Another common mistake is not giving your ad campaign enough time to work.
Studies show it takes prospects an average of seven exposures to your promotion before they take the bait. Even after they have clicked through to your site visitors may need to visit your site as many as three times before they buy from you. So make sure you keep that offer in front of them. That means it may well pay to take the long-term package versus a one-shot ad.
People run through their emails rapidly and delete things they wish they hadn't. Make their wish come true! Give them a second, third, fourth chance. The formula is--when you're sick and tired of it, the public is just beginning to hear it.
Mistake No. 4 -- Cramming the ad space
Just because you've bought ad space doesn't mean you have to utilize every pixel or character-space. Short, punchy lines that do not use up every available space are more effective. Think about the reader scanning down the page or screen. What will catch their eye and make them stop scanning and actually read? White space is your friend so don't squander it. Use it to set off your important message.
Make sure you apply the same principal to your urls and e-mail addresses as well. Nothing can make an ad look more cluttered than giant web addresses with a complicated string of numbers and letters. If you have to use an address like that (perhaps for your affiliate code, for example) then it might be wise to use a redirect.
Mistake No. 5 -- Not using your head
Your headline is the most important part of your ad. This is usually the line that determines whether the skimming reader will stop or skip ahead.
Some of the proven headline formulas include:
1. Ask the reader a question: "Are you worried about filing your tax return this year?"
2. Tell the reader how to do something: "How to buy a car without getting a lemon."
3. Provide a testimonial: "Big Al saved me $200 last month. Thanks, Cindy Lou from Paducah, Kentucky."
4. Make a command. Turn your most important benefit into a commanding headline. "Stop rushing through life." "Make more money this month." "Feel better about yourself."
5. Important news makes a good headline. "Max Electronics just went international!"
6. Start the clock: "Buyers who act before midnight Tuesday will save an extra $50!"
7. Give the reader something free: "Free whatsit for the first 100 visitors!"
Mistake No. 6 -- Not telling them what to do
It sounds almost ridiculous, but simply giving clear, specific directions about what you want the reader to do can increase the response to your ads.
Click here to find out more: http://whatsit.com
Subscribe by emailing subscribe@whatsit.com
Visit http://whatsit.com today to save!
Mistake No. 7 -- Blowing your budget
One of the most difficult things to decide for any business person is how much money to spend on promotion. There really is one simple way to determine the answer. How much is a customer worth to you? That tells you a great deal about how much you can afford to spend on advertising.
The simple formula to calculate the net worth of a visitor is: Net Profit divided by Conversion Rate.
First, what is your net profit on an average sale? Let's say $10 to make it easy. (Hey, I'm an English professor, I need to keep it simple!)
Then consider what your conversion rate is for visitors to become customers. Let's say one visitor out of 50 becomes a customer. (This makes your conversion rate 50 as you need 50 customers to make a sale)
With this example, a visitor is worth $0.50 to you. ($10 divided by 50)
So if you spend $100 on an advertising campaign that draws in 1000 visitors then you made $400 on that campaign.
Mistake No. 8 -- Setting unrealistic goals
This issue is really about control. Yes, if you could contr
... we just have meetings.Seriously?I've come across that comment a few times in the last year or so and I've never challenged it at the time: there are too many people around who recognise that they need help to spend time worrying about those who think they don't. And yet at the back of my mind I'm aware of a slightly guilty feeling.After all, just because these people don't think they - or their staff - are making presentations doesn't mean they don't need help at it. In fact there's an argument to suggest that precisely because of this belief they're more likely than most to need help!Because I'm that sad kind of person, I lay awake at night mulling this idea over. Perhaps they were right and there really are no presentations of any kind in their place of work. Perhaps no-one ever had to provide information to anyone else face-to-face in an even semi-structured way. Perhaps they never met each other on the corridor and asked each other how things were going and
Mistake No. 3 -- Letting the clock run out
Another common mistake is not giving your ad campaign enough time to work.
Studies show it takes prospects an average of seven exposures to your promotion before they take the bait. Even after they have clicked through to your site visitors may need to visit your site as many as three times before they buy from you. So make sure you keep that offer in front of them. That means it may well pay to take the long-term package versus a one-shot ad.
People run through their emails rapidly and delete things they wish they hadn't. Make their wish come true! Give them a second, third, fourth chance. The formula is--when you're sick and tired of it, the public is just beginning to hear it.
Mistake No. 4 -- Cramming the ad space
Just because you've bought ad space doesn't mean you have to utilize every pixel or character-space. Short, punchy lines that do not use up every available space are more effective. Think about the reader scanning down the page or screen. What will catch their eye and make them stop scanning and actually read? White space is your friend so don't squander it. Use it to set off your important message.
Make sure you apply the same principal to your urls and e-mail addresses as well. Nothing can make an ad look more cluttered than giant web addresses with a complicated string of numbers and letters. If you have to use an address like that (perhaps for your affiliate code, for example) then it might be wise to use a redirect.
Mistake No. 5 -- Not using your head
Your headline is the most important part of your ad. This is usually the line that determines whether the skimming reader will stop or skip ahead.
Some of the proven headline formulas include:
1. Ask the reader a question: "Are you worried about filing your tax return this year?"
2. Tell the reader how to do something: "How to buy a car without getting a lemon."
3. Provide a testimonial: "Big Al saved me $200 last month. Thanks, Cindy Lou from Paducah, Kentucky."
4. Make a command. Turn your most important benefit into a commanding headline. "Stop rushing through life." "Make more money this month." "Feel better about yourself."
5. Important news makes a good headline. "Max Electronics just went international!"
6. Start the clock: "Buyers who act before midnight Tuesday will save an extra $50!"
7. Give the reader something free: "Free whatsit for the first 100 visitors!"
Mistake No. 6 -- Not telling them what to do
It sounds almost ridiculous, but simply giving clear, specific directions about what you want the reader to do can increase the response to your ads.
Click here to find out more: http://whatsit.com
Subscribe by emailing subscribe@whatsit.com
Visit http://whatsit.com today to save!
Mistake No. 7 -- Blowing your budget
One of the most difficult things to decide for any business person is how much money to spend on promotion. There really is one simple way to determine the answer. How much is a customer worth to you? That tells you a great deal about how much you can afford to spend on advertising.
The simple formula to calculate the net worth of a visitor is: Net Profit divided by Conversion Rate.
First, what is your net profit on an average sale? Let's say $10 to make it easy. (Hey, I'm an English professor, I need to keep it simple!)
Then consider what your conversion rate is for visitors to become customers. Let's say one visitor out of 50 becomes a customer. (This makes your conversion rate 50 as you need 50 customers to make a sale)
With this example, a visitor is worth $0.50 to you. ($10 divided by 50)
So if you spend $100 on an advertising campaign that draws in 1000 visitors then you made $400 on that campaign.
Mistake No. 8 -- Setting unrealistic goals
This issue is really about control. Yes, if you could contr
Are you able to get the most out of your conversations? Especially when you only have a few minutes of the other person's attention?Well, to do this, you must be focused.Here's what I mean:Several years ago, I attended a networking event at which there was a speaker who quite impressed me.I went up to speak with him afterwards. There were many others who also wanted to speak with him, so my time with him was limited.I did manage to have a brief conversation with him, but I walked away feeling disappointed.As I drove back home, I wondered why I felt this way.I realized that it was because I didn't get the information I wanted from him."What did we talk about?" I wondered.That's when I realized that I had wasted my precious minutes with him.Although I had a specific question I wanted to ask him, I didn't actually ask it!Instead I meandered around, hoping he would understand what I wanted to ask him. Well, he didn't.So our conversation e
Mistake No. 5 -- Not using your head
Your headline is the most important part of your ad. This is usually the line that determines whether the skimming reader will stop or skip ahead.
Some of the proven headline formulas include:
1. Ask the reader a question: "Are you worried about filing your tax return this year?"
2. Tell the reader how to do something: "How to buy a car without getting a lemon."
3. Provide a testimonial: "Big Al saved me $200 last month. Thanks, Cindy Lou from Paducah, Kentucky."
4. Make a command. Turn your most important benefit into a commanding headline. "Stop rushing through life." "Make more money this month." "Feel better about yourself."
5. Important news makes a good headline. "Max Electronics just went international!"
6. Start the clock: "Buyers who act before midnight Tuesday will save an extra $50!"
7. Give the reader something free: "Free whatsit for the first 100 visitors!"
Mistake No. 6 -- Not telling them what to do
It sounds almost ridiculous, but simply giving clear, specific directions about what you want the reader to do can increase the response to your ads.
Click here to find out more: http://whatsit.com
Subscribe by emailing subscribe@whatsit.com
Visit http://whatsit.com today to save!
Mistake No. 7 -- Blowing your budget
One of the most difficult things to decide for any business person is how much money to spend on promotion. There really is one simple way to determine the answer. How much is a customer worth to you? That tells you a great deal about how much you can afford to spend on advertising.
The simple formula to calculate the net worth of a visitor is: Net Profit divided by Conversion Rate.
First, what is your net profit on an average sale? Let's say $10 to make it easy. (Hey, I'm an English professor, I need to keep it simple!)
Then consider what your conversion rate is for visitors to become customers. Let's say one visitor out of 50 becomes a customer. (This makes your conversion rate 50 as you need 50 customers to make a sale)
With this example, a visitor is worth $0.50 to you. ($10 divided by 50)
So if you spend $100 on an advertising campaign that draws in 1000 visitors then you made $400 on that campaign.
Mistake No. 8 -- Setting unrealistic goals
This issue is really about control. Yes, if you could contr
The most effective prospecting techniques were revealed in the August 1st, 2002, issue of TIP (URL at end of article) that resulted from a survey of financial advisors earning over $200,000 annually.Here's how they rated the following techniques: 100.0% for Referrals from clients, and non-clients 69.6% for Contacting clients by phone, or in person 60.9% for Seminars, teaching classes 60.9% for Speeches, talks to civic, trade, and select audiences 56.5% for Participation in organizations composed of clients 47.8% for Printed newsletter, mailed or hand-delivered 43.5% for Electronic newsletter, faxed, e-mailed, or on website 43.5% for Writing articles for newspapers, magazines, or books 34.8% for Professional public relations 26.1% for Cold e-mailing, faxing, or mailing brochures, etc. 21.7% for Working with the media 17.4% for Cold calling, by phone, or in person 17.4% for Website focusing on you, and your business 8.7% for Directory list
Click here to find out more: http://whatsit.com
Subscribe by emailing subscribe@whatsit.com
Visit http://whatsit.com today to save!
Mistake No. 7 -- Blowing your budget
One of the most difficult things to decide for any business person is how much money to spend on promotion. There really is one simple way to determine the answer. How much is a customer worth to you? That tells you a great deal about how much you can afford to spend on advertising.
The simple formula to calculate the net worth of a visitor is: Net Profit divided by Conversion Rate.
First, what is your net profit on an average sale? Let's say $10 to make it easy. (Hey, I'm an English professor, I need to keep it simple!)
Then consider what your conversion rate is for visitors to become customers. Let's say one visitor out of 50 becomes a customer. (This makes your conversion rate 50 as you need 50 customers to make a sale)
With this example, a visitor is worth $0.50 to you. ($10 divided by 50)
So if you spend $100 on an advertising campaign that draws in 1000 visitors then you made $400 on that campaign.
Mistake No. 8 -- Setting unrealistic goals
This issue is really about control. Yes, if you could control things that you would have a high sell through but that isn't always going to happen. In fact, for most advertisers that isn't going to happen. However, if your goal is to capture customers then you are much more likely to match your goal or even exceed it. And in the end a customer is worth a lot more to you than a sale because a customer can represent many sales over years to come-sales that were fairly easy to achieve.
As frustrating as it may be, advertising is usually about long-term versus short-term benefits. Your ad simply serves as a lure to draw people into your site or long-term promotion. Once you've pulled them in then you need to sell them. So it is not really fair to judge an ad campaign on simple sales.
The success of an ad campaign should be measured by one or two elements only-first, how many people followed up on your offer (click-through rate) and second, how many of those visitors were you able to convert into customers (conversion rate).
Over time you will be able to judge where the weak link in your chain of customer creation exists and work to fix it.
Low click-through rate? Then it is probably your offer. You are not giving readers enough incentive to follow through. What is in it for them to click on your offer? Remember you are selling benefits!
Low conversion rate? Then perhaps you are not attracting the right sort of visitor. Target your incentive (the free offer, for example) to match your target audience. See my example in Mistake No. 2.
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