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Reader Poll: Help Make Online Marketing Blog Even Better!

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Thanks to readers like you, TopRank’s Online Marketing Blog has experienced a long and rich blogging life over the past 6+ years with 2,300+ posts, hundreds of thousands of unsolicited links from powerful industry web sites and content that has helped thousands of readers become smarter online marketers. We watch what our readers say in comments on and off the site as well as looking at referring keywords in web analytics and site search keywords to get an idea of what our valued community is interested in. With over 30,000 RSS subscribers and well over 100,000 unique visitors, we appreciate your attention a great deal and want to do our best to be a helpful resource. To help us further refine the content we offer you, please complete the following poll on what types of posts you like best.  If you have more to say, such as what topics you would like to see more of, or any other insights, please make suggestions in the comments. Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll. Thank you for participating in this poll and if you ‘ve made a comment, thank you even more for sharing your insight!   If it wasn’t for you, TopRank Online Marketing Blog wouldn’t have become one of the most popular marketing blogs on the web. © Online Marketing Blog , 2010. | Reader Poll: Help Make Online Marketing Blog Even Better! | No comment | http://www.toprankblog.com

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Reader Poll: Help Make Online Marketing Blog Even Better!

Landing Page Optimization Deep Dive: Interview with Tim Ash

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Tim Ash is a marketing machine. He writes a blog, contributes to Search Engine Watch, hosts a weekly show on WebmasterRadio.fm, is author of the book “Landing Page Optimization”, speaks at numerous conferences and is the chair of the upcoming Conversion Conference in May. Oh, and he also runs SiteTuners , a successful landing page optimization consulting business and has launched a new tool called AttentionWizard that offers eye tracking “without the eyes”. Tim has worked with American Express, Sony Music, American Honda, Coach, COMP USA and many other major brands. “Landing page testing is the best accelerator of your business that you have available.” Tim is a very smart and very nice guy who took a few rare moments of time to answer a few questions about measuring social media ROI, budgets for testing, common mistakes, tips, tools and how he stays current in such a fast paced and changing field. Please tell us about your background, your business, and the book? I am a recovering technologist. I almost got my PhD in computer science, but dropped out to start my first Internet consulting business. Over the years we have focused on driving traffic. But after a while it became clear that the bigger problem (and business opportunity for us) was to improve the efficiency of that traffic once it landed on the website or landing page. That’s how SiteTuners was born. We offer a range of consulting services to improve conversion, full-service landing page tests in which we guarantee performance improvement, and software such as out cutting-edge TuningEngine testing software, and the AttentionWizard visual attention prediction tool. We work with some of the biggest companies in the Internet universe, as well as scrappy smaller companies. I wrote the Landing Page Optimization book a couple of years ago and it has been very well received. Wiley Press has asked me to write a second edition that I am co-authoring with Rich Page and Maura Ginty. It will be out early next year and will have over 150 pages of completely new content. There’s a lot of speculation about social media and measuring ROI . Do you have examples where conversions were improved from content on a social network or other social media site as a result of a/b or multivariate testing? What is significantly different about measuring social media marketing efforts versus search marketing where the goals are conversions? The fundamental principles are the same – you should be trying to increase the efficiency of conversion actions that have a measurable impact on your business. The only difference is that the conversion actions might not be sales, but rather “micro conversions” such as re-tweets, fan page sign-ups, or visits to blog or content pages that you are trying to promote. So if you can lower your cost-per-acquisition for any of those actions, that is good. What makes testing a bit more tricky to conduct in a social media setting is that you need steady traffic sources over an extended period of time. Unfortunately much of social media happens very quickly and results in one-time traffic spikes that go away. The type of social media marketing executed by many SEOs does seem to behave according to the “go hot” principle where content gets voted on and attracts spikes in traffic. However, many companies are building networks on social channels and community participation often drives more steady streams of traffic according to the content publishing schedule of the brand. When it comes to measuring social ROI, are you seeing more social media marketing efforts fall in the first situation versus the second? Many social media programs are based on “go hot” kinds of activities. The content is often “perishable” and time-sensitive. But there is also long-term “content farming” activities which continue to add to a pool of general company awareness through creation of new content pages on the website, whitepapers, blog posts, and media placements. This takes a more disciplined approach and a long-term commitment of resources, so in our experience is more rare. This is one of those “it depends” questions but let’s give it a shot. Is it your experience that most marketers allocate budget for testing as part of overall web analytics? What percentage of that budget should go towards ongoing testing for say, an ecommerce site? What advice do you have for getting more approved? Landing page or conversion rate optimization is not a part of Web analytics. It is a top-line revenue-growing activity. How much would you pay for a 5% increase in volume? 10%? 50%? Landing page testing is the best accelerator of your business that you have available. It should not have a fixed budget. The economically rational thing to do with any marketing activity is to keep spending money on it as long as it produces a positive ROI. Setting fixed budgets is the same kind of silly logic that some companies use when driving traffic. If you have a fixed pay-per-click budget and you could buy more profitable traffic above that threshold, you are just throwing profits away. It’s interesting that you say that when it comes to budget allocation, since both concern measuring and improving web site performance. Of course there are many things that make sense to a consultant or service provider that don’t necessarily fit with the reality of how companies forecast their marketing budgets. Have you been successful at winning more budget with the “keep spending money on it as long as it produces a positive ROI” argument or do you only work with companies that have more flexibility with where they spend? Technically landing page testing is part of measurement and Web analytics should always be actionable. Unfortunately often it is just looking in the rear-view mirror at things that have happened in the past. My friend Jim Sterne insists that all Web analytics should be forward looking and actionable, otherwise it is useless. But in practice most analysts spend more time on data mining and not on landing page testing. If you have a testing mindset, then the question you continually ask is “Where can I make the biggest impact on our business by tweaking a mission-critical step in our value creation chain?” If you do that, the resulting improvements should make the business a big pile of money and will create psychological momentum inside of your company for further testing and experimentation. Once an organization gets excited and buys into this continual-improvement mentality, the testing budget question often goes away. What are some of the most common mistakes experienced search marketers make when it comes to landing pages? Top 5? That’s easy – I can give you more than 5. If you have heard my “ Seven Deadly Sins of Landing Page Design ” presentation, you know that there are seven common types of mistakes on all landing pages: unclear calls-to-action, too many choices, asking for too much information early in the process, too much text, not maintaining continuity with the expectations that were set upstream of the actual landing page, visual clutter and distraction, and lack of trust and credibility. What tools do you recommend (in addition to Google Website Optimizer and those at SiteTuners like AttentionWizard) for corporate marketers that are still fairly new to conversion rate improvement? Advanced tools? There are a number of tools that have come out in just the last couple of years that make it much easier to diagnose and correct conversion issues. These include ClickTale.com , CrazyEgg.com , UserTesting.com , and CrossBrowserTesting.com . How do you stay current with practices? Do you have favorite conferences, books, blogs, newsletters or other resources that you rely on? Wow – that’s tough. There is an explosion of resources around landing page optimization. I pay attention to Bryan Eisenberg , Avinash Kaushik , Anne Holland , and try to look for interesting resources through Twitter tags like #lpo, #cro, and #measure. Conferences like Search Engine Strategies, eMetrics, and PubCon always feature solid content on the topic. Conversion Conference is coming up soon (May 4-5 in San Jose) with some big names in the conversion and testing space including Bryan Eisenberg, Jakob Nielsen, and yourself. Who is the conference for and why should they come? What prompted you to start it? I created the new ConversionConference.com series to give conversion improvement it’s own home. Until now, conversion has been a side topic at conferences that focused on driving traffic. The first event will be in San Jose next month, and then in Washington DC in the fall. There is also a German show in Hamburg, and other international shows on the drawing boards. The San Jose show will feature three dynamic keynotes that you mentioned. There will also be twenty six fast-paced sessions over two days covering all aspects of conversion. The presenters are all top notch. The show is held in parallel with eMetrics and will share the expo hall, lunches, networking events and the Conversion Bash party put on by WebmasterRadio.fm. The top conversion tools and services companies will also be there. If you want to turbocharge your online marketing you should be there. By the way, your readers can use an exclusive promo-code “ CCW562 ” for an additional $100 off of the early bird rate if they register by April 15th. Thanks Tim. You can connect with Tim Ash on the social web at: Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Blog © Online Marketing Blog , 2010. | Landing Page Optimization Deep Dive: Interview with Tim Ash | No comment | http://www.toprankblog.com

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Landing Page Optimization Deep Dive: Interview with Tim Ash

BIGLIST Social SEO Blogs Update 031110

Posted by under Internet Marketing, Pay-Per-Click

Welcome to the post-Winter/pre-Spring version of the BIGLIST review of  SEO blogs .  Snow is starting to melt and you can actually walk around outside (in Minnesota) without your eyelashes freezing together. We have a nice group for you to review so fire up your RSS reader and subscribe. LyndiT blog gets our attention for great design and user experience in this BIGLIST update. Lyndi Thompson is a Social Media and Online Marketing Specialist and like me, is addicted to peanut M&Ms.  Besides writing about a mix of social media, SEO, web design and online marketing topics, you might be interested to know Lyndi lives on a mini farm, owns several animals including a donkey and supports some great causes in the Northwest. Frank Thinking About Internet Marketing – Frank Reed blogs on several sites including Marketing Pilgrim and Biznology. Here, he shares is talented writing skills to tell stories about SMB internet marketing topics. This isn’t a how to blog, it’s a broader topic and things to think about blog as the name implies about Search, Mobile, Social and Local. State of Search – What’s going on in the search and social media marketing space?  This new blog from Dutch internet marketer, Bas van den Beld of Search Cowboys fame, and friends promises to be a source for what’s happening in the world of search and social.  It also compliments a weekly radio show on WebmasterRadio.fm of the same name. ezlocal blog – If you’re in search of great advice on local search marketing, this might be your lucky day. You can expect detailed how to posts including those about Google Maps and Local Business Center and local marketing topics. ezlocal itself is a local business search resource and directory. Digital Marketing Zen – David Wells is a digital marketing strategist for an agency in Charlotte, SC and publishes a blog that documents his observations via posts, podcasts and a curated collection of videos on topics that include everything from Augmented Reality to SEO and Social Media to Web Analytics. Single Grain Blog – This agency blog is written by Sujan Patel and Ross Hudgens on SEO, PPC, Design, Link Building and some social media. Website Workshop – Buzzhound Learning Lab is a St. Louis, MO based agency with a newer blog that has started writing posts again about SEO and topics that support the SEO training courses offered.  Hopefully they continue. Aussie Internet Marketing Blog – Sean Rasmussen writes “down under” about practical tips on a variety of online marketing topics including SEO, blogging, social media and general web 2.0. Did your SEO or SEM blog make the cut? Share the good news with your readers using the badge and link below or choose one from the  badges page .

Custom Business Signs

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One color is enough to make people notice your business signs before they see those of someone else. You want your custom signs to tickle the interest of people, and they should also be very visible. The human eye looks for contrasts, whether the viewer is aware of it or not. So a well-made sign with light on dark or dark on light will stand out to viewers more than signs that use all dark colors or all light colors. Those may go unnoticed by the very customers the businesses are trying to attract. What colors work for your business? You probably have certain colors in your logo, and in other advertising your business does. So start out with contrasting colors that include those of your logo, so people will associate your company with these colors when they see them. The purpose of custom business signs is to attract potential customers to read your message. Make your lettering stand out effectively to draw the attention of people passing by. Regardless of what your sign says, you have to grab attention before it will be read. When you select the color scheme for a custom sign, remember that contrasting colors work the best for people to notice, whether they even realize it or not. You can use a light background with dark words and symbols, or a dark background with light symbols and words. Either of these two ways will get the maximum attention of people going by. The colors will help to increase the effectiveness of your signs. Dark colors recede and light colors advance, which makes them more easily visible to the human eye. Backgrounds that are white or off-white are very popular in custom signs. Not only do they give you the contrast you need, but they are usually cheaper to have made. They will also not draw any attention away from your logo or wording. You can use any color you like on your sign background, of course, just keep in mind what will draw the most attention, since that is the purpose of having signs made in the first place. As long as you don’t use light lettering with a light background, your words and logo will stand out. Color and artistic design will make your signs more appealing to read, and people will read it more easily if you use contrasting colors. A bright color message with dark around the borders will also grab people’s attention. Different colors evoke various emotions in the people who read your sign. Depending on what type of business you are in, you’ll want to utilize colors that best convey your message to readers. Pink and light blue will attract the feminine eye, whereas purple may suggest authority or wealth. Artistic businesses also use purple a lot to express that flair. Red is an eye-grabbing color, and speaks of strength and passion. White is an excellent color for any background, and yellow will grab attention with dark printing. Use your color choices to tell people what type of business you have. Bannerstoyou.com is a leading provider of Bannerstoyou.com in the USA and beyond. They can provide all your needs for vinyl banners for business or personal use. Bannerstoyou.com is a leading provider of vinyl banners in the USA and beyond. They can provide all your needs for vinyl banners for business or personal use. Tom Jacobsen is a writer for http://www.bannerstoyou.com who has worked in the industry for some years. Article Source

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Custom Business Signs

Easy Tips To Turn Squeeze Pages Into A Prospect Converting Machine – Be Your Squeeze Page Manager

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If you use squeeze page templates, chances are that you are already approaching its limit to convert. Or you must have already noticed a significant dip in the number of converts. This situation calls for some change in the way you look at these web pages. First a squeeze page is supposed to get the visitor to sign up or lead him to another page. Your list building takes a hit if it is unable to do this. Before we examine why it is not able to convert, you should get the idea of an ideal squeeze page. - It has a title that is catchy and questions the user about a problem that he is facing. This kind of a title works to build trust in the visitor. A visitor is always looking for something that demonstrates an understanding of his plight. - If you show that you can understand his plight, then you have his attention. Also the time spent on a page is very less hence your title is the only thing that has the chance of captivating the visitor. - After the visitor has decided to stay on the page, the role of the body comes into play. A visitor is always thinking- what’s in it for me? If you answer that question then you have made a sale. To answer this question, highlight a few benefits of the product. But this is not the goal of your page. - Next is the offer. This is what you are giving the visitor in return for his mail id. This could be anything. The offer has to be very attractive because even if you don’t make a sale, you have an addition to your opt in list i.e. your future. The above are the basic features of a converter squeeze page. Most of the squeeze pages that fail are template based. They fail because they fall short of the above mentioned benchmarks. Also they are graphically not of a good quality and are not unique as a large number of people are using them. If there are two similar looking pages, one eats into the other’s share. Hence to give your page a unique look, get it designed by a professional by stating your ideas. This will give true value for your money and the desired result. Don’t settle on a replicated or overused squeeze page template. For the most professional and affordable custom video squeeze page design services that will brand you as an authority in the already over crowded marketplace online. Venkata Ramana runs a professional internet marketing outsourcing company for 5 years. His company has delivered over 600 custom tailored video squeeze pages to over 300 top internet marketing clients! Article Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Sagi_Venkata_Ramana Article Source

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Easy Tips To Turn Squeeze Pages Into A Prospect Converting Machine – Be Your Squeeze Page Manager