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| eMarketing Tips and Tricks - Dec 16, 2003 |  |
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Check out our eMarketing Tools
Informative eBooks
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Today's Article: How to Test Your Ads and Improve Your Profitability Today's Ask Dr. Ebiz: Credit Card Charging for Free Trial
How
to Avoid Email Filters How
to Test Your Ads and Improve Your Profitability By AngelaWu It's so easy to blow through money when marketing a website. If you're like many new entrepreneurs, you may have already wasted several hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars on marketing campaigns that didn't give you the results you were hoping for. So how does one figure out which campaigns are worth the time, trouble, and money? You track them. Ad trackers are commonly used to monitor the results of a marketing campaign. A specialized 'coded' URL records the number of times people click on the link. You'll be able to see how many 'hits' and unique visitors you get from each of your advertising campaigns, and by analyzing this information, you can instantly see which of your campaigns are successful -- and which are not. A hit-and-miss 'strategy' is simply too frustrating, and often times too expensive! Here are just a couple of examples of what an ad tracker can tell you: EXAMPLE 1: Let's say you run the same ad in two newsletters or ezines. Ezine A has 10000 subscribers, Ezine B has 50000. Most beginners naturally assume that a larger number of subscribers means a better response rate. This isn't necessarily true. What actually matters is how many people READ the ezine and how responsive they are! Your tracker will show you cold, hard numbers of how many subscribers from each ezine respond to your ad. EXAMPLE 2: You create 2 different sales pages, each with a unique tracking link. You can send an equal number of visitors to each sales page, and let your tracker tell you which one is converting more visitors into paying customers. A good tracker doesn't have to be expensive, either. Consider how much you pay for a single ad whose results you'll have to guess at... when instead, you could invest in a tracker that will SHOW you which of your campaigns are giving results. There are a wide variety of trackers available Tracking your campaigns is also important when you're marketing offline. For example, let's say you create a couple of brochures. You can track orders by providing a 'code' on the enclosed order forms, or if you're directing people to your site, provide a different URL on each brochure to see which one is getting the most response. Knowledge is a powerful thing! By testing everything you do, you'll have solid proof of what doesn't work, what works well, and what can be improved. You know which ad campaigns to continue ... and which ones to dump for something more profitable. So invest in some a
good tracker -- you'll gain valuable insight into where your
sales are coming from, and be able to refine your marketing
efforts and ultimately improve your bottom line. About
The Author Editors note: A couple of good ad tracking options are: Adtrackz
- a do-it-yourself software to load on your server
"Dr Ebiz" "I want to offer a free trial as a strategy to entice new subscribers to my e-mail cleaning service. Should I get their credit card information first and delay processing until the end of the trial period? Or should I defer any attempt to get their credit card information until after the trial period ends?" -- Matt Biskup Sleazy operators sometimes get credit card information prior to a free trial for the purpose of taking advantage of people's forgetfulness -- making a quick dollar when they forget to cancel. But I think this approach is flawed in two ways:
The only reason I see to ask for credit card information up front is to qualify your prospects by charging a very nominal set-up fee. This drastically reduces the number of free trial customers, but may be necessary to avoid incurring expenses on account of those who aren't serious anyway. You could start by offering to waive your "normal" $5 set-up fee for the next 30 or 60 days. That way you can always re-institute it if you find that your completely free trials approach isn't working. "Copyright 2003, Ralph F. Wilson. All rights reserved. Used by permission." Do You Buy or Sell Advertising in Ezines?
Then
you need Ezine Ad Auction - Register FREE and receive more than
$300 in BONUS items. Now
you can buy and sell ezine ads in an auction setting- pick
up great deals daily! Go to:
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