| July 2006 -- Issue 68 Valeriu S. Popescu, Editor and Publisher The Internet Marketing Profits Center, Inc. Past issues available on newsletter archive ISSN: 1583-4180 phone: +40-332-107122 fax: 1-925-686-2853 email to the editor anytime at: Marketing Online Since 2000 |
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This issue includes: 1) "How to Survive the Google AdWords Update of July 2006."2) "Discover the Profit Models That Can Dramatically Increase Your Income and Position Your Business for Massive Growth!"3) "Classified Ads."4) "Tell Us What You Think!"
It's been a tough week for a lot of AdWords advertisers. With the recent update of Google's landing page algorithm, many marketers that had been paying five or ten cents a click (or less) are now required to bid at least 50 cents to a dollar or more. There are also reports of some advertisers who have kept their bid prices, but those bids are now buying only 3rd or 4th page ad positions, where they used to buy first page positions. Before we get into the details of what's changed and how to deal with it, note that not all AdWords accounts have been affected - ads going to large sites with lots of content have seen no changes to their bid prices. Four kinds of sites are hardest hit:
Google's New Landing Page Algorithm Actually, the change we've seen in the last week has been coming for a long time. Google warned all of us about this back in December of last year when they began implementing the new landing page quality score. The recent upheaval in the last few weeks is just an update of the algorithm that Google implemented late last year. So what's changed? In addition to evaluating your keywords and your ads, Google now scrutinizes your landing pages, calculating a "quality score" for every landing page. Some new advertisers are confused by the idea of the "quality" (or lack of quality) that an ad can have. Though it may sound elusive, Google defines a quality score as� "The basis for measuring the quality of your keyword and determining your minimum bid. Quality Score is determined by your keyword's clickthrough rate (CTR) on Google, relevance of your ad text, historical keyword performance on Google, the quality of your ad's landing page, and other relevancy factors." (The emphasis is ours.) This idea of a "quality score" is not new at Google. Just last year there were howls from many advertisers when Google first applied its "quality score" to keywords. Before then, the lowest possible bid was five cents; after the quality score was applied, some advertisers got burned when ads that previously cost 5 cents suddenly cost 50 cents to a dollar. But smart advertisers appreciated the new possibility of 2 cent keywords, and so the problem (and the complaints) quieted down in a few weeks. As of this writing, we are definitely still in the "early complaint phase" of the latest AdWords update. On every discussion board there is at least one advertiser whose online business has been effectively shut down. The major complaint from advertisers is that Google won't reveal exactly how the new landing page algorithm works - yet it can and will penalize advertisers for not meeting those standards. This understandably leaves many marketers desperately trying to aim at a target they can't see. The forums are filled with posts about class action suits, and general resentment towards what is seen as the blatant unfairness of the new update But Google is not apologizing for any damage to its advertisers' businesses. A post on the AdWords blog earlier this month states:
Though Google won't spell out exactly what a landing page needs in order to earn a high quality score, they have laid out some guidelines for webmasters. A close read of these guidelines goes a long way in explaining why certain kinds of sites tend to be penalized more than others. What Does Google Want? According to Google, only some advertisers are delivering "a poor user experience." Ads pointing to landing pages with a low quality score (and thus, by Google's calculations, a poor user experience) are the ones now required to pay much more for their clicks. Squeeze pages, sales letter sites, and web sites with duplicate content or too many ads are the prime offenders. So what does Google want to see in a web site? Click here to continue reading and find the right answers!
How would you like to seriously ramp up your profits and launch your site to new levels of wealth online? You can... joining the ranks of other successful Internet marketers who are making in excess of $100,000... $500,000... even MILLIONS of dollars per year! To start creating this kind of mind-boggling wealth online, you just need to ask yourself one simple question: "How?" Too many Internet marketers make the mistake of focusing on what they're going to sell, instead of how they're going to make money online. And the answer to how to generate massive wealth on the Internet lies in choosing the right profit models. That's why I want to look at some of the most straightforward ways to make money on your site... and then dive into the more advanced (and lesser-known) strategies that can catapult your business to new revenue levels -- and create real wealth instead of just "income."
Let's start at the beginning, with the basic ways you can get online and start making money:
You can definitely make money with any of these three models -- and they're an excellent starting point -- but if you want to get fantastically wealthy, you need to have more than one way to make money from your site. Most web site owners focus on "transactional" income -- the income from a one-time sale of a product or service. But the problem with this type of model is that the relationship ends with the sale of your product or service. To really explode your profits -- and turn income into long-term equity -- try adding more TYPES of income to your business... ADVANCED PROFIT MODEL #1: Rapidly multiply your profits with a "recurring" income sourceAn extremely powerful way to make serious money online is to sell a product that will generate a steady stream of income -- from every customer who purchases from you! There are a number of powerful methods for incorporating recurring revenue into your existing model...
Can you see how, right off the bat, incorporating these strategies provides a revenue stream that far exceeds the profits of a one-time sale? When you only sell one product or service, you always need to be focusing on getting first-time sales if you want a steady income. But if you can add a replenishable income source to your business, those first-time sales become an ongoing source of increasing wealth! ADVANCED PROFIT MODEL #2: Increase the purchase value of first-time customers... BEFORE they leave your siteNow let's look at a quick and easy way to immediately increase your revenue from first-time customers by 20% to 30%... It's called "upselling," and it's a highly effective strategy of offering one or more products at the point of sale that will enhance your customers' main purchases. You've already convinced your customers to purchase from you -- so it requires very little extra effort on your part! And generally, once people have made the decision to buy, they are much more receptive to other offers... if you catch them while they're in a buying mood! In fact, our testing shows that a whopping 30% to 55% of people will purchase a second product! However, in order for this strategy to be effective, you must make sure that what you're offering is related to your main item. By all means, offer some specialty tea if you're selling a tea pot -- but don't try to sell tea to someone who's purchasing Mustang motor parts! As long as you offer something that's directly related to your main item, you can easily -- and instantly -- increase your revenue from that sale. ADVANCED PROFIT MODEL #3: Maximize the value of your existing customer base to skyrocket your revenueRemember: Your first-time customers always cost you the most. Instead of spending all of your time, money, and energy drawing more first-time visitors to your web site, devote more time to the relationships you have already established with your current customer base! Your current client base is a gold mine� In fact, "backend" sales to your existing customers can increase your revenue by 30% to 50%. That's why it's so important that you follow up with everyone who purchases from you! So how do you reach your existing client base? One excellent follow-up strategy is to use automated sequential offers to draw buyers back to your site. E-mail your customers after the initial sale, thanking them for their order, asking them if they have any questions... and offering a related product. Another strategy is to use e-mail to to send new offers and special promotions. You can target your e-mail communications to customers based on their history with you. For example, you can send a special promotion to all your first-time customers. Or, you can send a "thank you" promotion to your long-term repeat customers. In each e-mail, include an offer for a product or service related to their initial purchase. Not sure what you can offer as a backend item? Here are just a few ideas:
Make sure you time your offers for maximum success. Send out your follow-up offers 3, 7, and 10 days after the initial purchase. These are the times when new clients are most likely to make a SECOND purchase. If you're not following up with your customers, you are literally leaving 30% to 50% of your revenue on the table! ADVANCED PROFIT MODEL #4: Expand your reach on the 'Net, rocket up the search engines, and generate massive revenue by starting an affiliate programHow would you like to improve your search engine rankings and exponentially increase your reach on the 'Net -- and your revenue? Well, if you start an affiliate program, you can do just that. Developing an affiliate program is an incredibly powerful way to market your product or service online. If you aren�t familiar with how an affiliate program works, it involves allowing other people to promote your products or services for you. And the best part is that you don't have to pay them a penny unless they send you a sale! It�s not difficult to set up an affiliate program, and the benefits of doing so are enormous:
The key to getting the most out of your affiliate program is to attract the attention of highly motivated affiliates by offering lots of incentive: generous commissions, and tools and resources that will help them to succeed. ADVANCED PROFIT MODEL #5: Form strategic alliances with other businesses to ramp up your profits, expand your skill set, and offer your customers high-quality products and servicesForming partnerships and joint ventures with other businesses for a share of profits is a great way to ramp up your income in a major way. For one thing, when you combine your skills, products, services, and resources with another business, you create new streams of revenue and profit... and expand into new markets. You also bring added value to your existing customers. The key to getting the most out of a strategic alliance is to seek out products or services that complement yours and will benefit your visitors, and then approach the companies that provide those products or services. Ask them if you can recommend their products or services on your web site for a portion of the profits. Most companies will gladly agree to this arrangement. After all, it�s no risk for them if they have to pay you only when you refer a paying customer. One of our clients, Bert Ingley of VGSportsInc.com has experienced huge success with this model. Bert sells video game strategy eBooks, and he recently entered into a lucrative joint-venture relationship with the company that makes the video games many of his strategy eBooks are based on. The video game company is going to advertise his strategy guides on its site in exchange for a small cut of his profits. It's a win-win situation that's going to generate a LOT of extra revenue for Bert! ADVANCED PROFIT MODEL #6: The most profitable thing you can sell online...All of these strategies are surefire ways of creating wealth online... and now I'm going to tell you how you can increase your profit margins even MORE in ALL of these revenue streams. The most profitable thing you can sell online is INFORMATION! An "information product" could take the form of a "how-to" eBook, members-only resources, or even sofware. Why are information products such a hot commodity?
Just think. It doesn't even cost you anything to ship or store... In fact, once you have your information product, you can fully automate the entire sales and delivery process using software like eBook Pro and Mailloop. Then, just sit back as the orders roll in, without you lifting a finger! Final thoughts Your business model is your lifeline to bigger profits on the Internet. So by all means start out by selling a product or a service, or by driving traffic to your offline store. But don't stop there... Take advantage of recurring income and think of ways you can incorporate a refillable or renewable product into your business to create a steady stream of profits. Offer related "upsell" products at the time of an initial purchase to increase the base price of your main product or service. And whatever you do, don't miss the opportunity to generate up to a 50% increase in your revenue by following up with your customers and getting those backend sales! Focus on building strong relationships with them that will encourage MULTIPLE purchases in the years to come. Lastly, harness the power of selling information online! Info products are a perfect fit for all of these business models -- whether as your main product, an upsell product such as an eBook, a follow-up product, or a renewable product. It's not only the most profitable thing you can sell, you can also automate the entire reproduction and delivery process... and literally walk away! Don't be afraid to mix it up. Create a diverse blend of income streams that will add up to one MASSIVE revenue stream... the kind that will keep growing and building wealth.
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Dear friend, I would love to hear what you think of this issue of The Internet Marketing Profits™ newsletter. And of course, if you have any suggestions for upcoming issues that you'd like to share with me, please send those, too -- just email me right away! And don't forget to check out the previous issues at the Internet Marketing Profits Newsletter Archive. "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." Valeriu S. Popescu, Editor and Publisher ^ back to the top of the Internet Marketing Profits Newsletter, issue 68 DID YOU LIKE THIS ISSUE? Please forward it to your friends, co-workers, colleagues and anyone else that you think would like it. Thank you for your continued support! DISCLAIMER: I urge you to exercise due diligence in responding to any advertisement or article posted here or in any other future issue. I do not give business or professional advice in this newsletter and therefore cannot be held responsible for results you get from responding to ads or articles in this newsletter. I urge you to exercise due diligence in all of your online dealings. |