SEO, Marketing and Traffic Coach

So, you’re aware of how important lead generation is to your business. You also know it’s important to keep your leads afloat. But what do you do with leads AFTER they are generated? In other words, what’s your next step? Let’s take a look at the answers to these questions.

Following up with a new lead is about as important as fertilizer is to a farmer’s crops. It helps the growth process. That person on the other end of the computer needs to know that you are real and trustworthy. So you don’t want to be aloof and remain totally anonymous. In other words, you need to follow up with that contact immediately.

Using an autoresponder is the most effective way to follow up with leads. An autoresponder is a piece of software that helps the user keep up with new leads, manage older contacts and follow up with both on a regular basis. This process is particularly important at the beginning of the relationship. And yes, relationship is the right word. You are developing faith and trust in each other.

An autoresponder will immediately send a message to every person that joins your mailing list with a thank you or a welcome message. You can set the software to send as many messages as are needed at intervals that you set. That first one should go out immediately and any others can be at one day, two day or even weekly intervals. Whatever you need is what you set it for.

Follow-up messages can walk your leads through your system and offer them items along the way. You probably gave your leads something for free at the beginning, so you’ve already helped them start to believe you’re trustworthy and will do what you say. While you’re bringing your leads along, you can sell them low cost items and build their trust at the same time. When the process reaches its conclusion, it’s time to offer your main moneymaking product and hopefully your prospects will buy it.

An autoresponder provides a great deal of help in this process, but it can also do other things. If you are receiving many inquiries, an autoresponder is able to organize your contact list and keep you informed about exactly where each contact is in the process. It will also let you send messages that are called “announcements” whenever you want. For example, you might find an especially good product at an amazingly low price. You’ll be able to use an announcement to offer it to your leads.

One thing with email marketing of this sort is the danger of SPAM reports. Autoresponder software guards against that with an “unsubscribe” option embedded in every message. If the customer has the option to leave at any time and they don’t, then the emails you send are not SPAM; they are expected and you are safe from that, so it’s like insurance, in manner of speaking.

The important thing to remember is that you must follow up with your prospects and maintain constant contact. You can do this easily and automatically by using an autoresponder. Leads actually expect you to contact them periodically. If they don’t hear from you they’ll think you’re not worth bothering with and they’ll opt out of your list.

You can prevent this by using an autoresponder to follow up on your leads. When you do, your contacts will continue to be satisfied.

Home Based Business

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Split testing works. Use it well, and you will improve your conversion rates, and, thus, your profits. And, if you are advertising, or have significant product costs, raising your conversion rate just a little can raise your profits a lot. But there are many different kinds of split testing software out there.

I can’t discuss every feature of every testing tool out there, but I can give you a major overview of the different kinds of split testing software.

One big distinction is between single variable and multiple variable (multivariate) testing.

Single variable split testing is very simple. You just try stuff and measure the results. And all you need is a tool that rotates and keeps score.

There are a few simple split testing tools available. Some are free and some cost money. Google offers a free tool, though you do have to have an Adwords, and an Analytics account to use it.

Single variable testing can be slow. How would you like to test 10 times as much with the same amount of traffic? Well, you can. You use a method called multi-variable, or multivariate testing. This allows you to test several elemens on your page simultaneously.

Among multiple variable software solutions, there are hosted plans and self-install plans. If you want to install software on your server (which can be faster and cheaper) you will have more control over your data. And you can usually find someone to install it for you (often the vendor provides this service for a nominal fee). If you want to go with a hosted plan expect to pay more.

Hosted solutions include Google’s Website Optimizer, and Vertster. Installed solutions include the Split Test Accelerator and Kaizen Track.

Another 3-way distinction among multivariate split testing tools is between Taguchi-based systems, Full factorial systems, and Random independent rotation of factors. With a Taguchi system, you run traffic to only a small, carefully-selected subset of the possible combinations of your factor levels. This allows you to cycle through every combination every 12, 18, or 36 pages, whichever the case may be for the test design you’re using. This allows you to find the best combination very quickly. Some care does have to be taken to avoid interaction effects among the factors. Taguchi-based tools include the Split Test Accelerator and Vertster.

When you run full factorial tests, as you would with Google’s Website Optimizer, you create a few factors, and a few options for each factor, and the software cycles through each combination. So, if you have 5 factors with 2 options each, you would cycle through 32 different pages. FFT can be used like a Taguchi test for small test designs. Or, if you run a lot more traffic to it, you can deal even more effectively with interaction effects by just letting all the interactions (good and bad) play out. Note that you can’t run as many combinations with full factorial tools as you can with a Taguchi too.

Some multivariate tools randomly serve the options for each factor independently from what is served for the other factors. This can lead to more flexible test design, but also to more interaction effects and other statistical noise, leading to longer tests.

Now that’s just the overview. There are many other features to compare and questions to ask. Does a tester allow you to exclude bots and spiders? Does it allow real time access to data? What kind of reports does it show? What kind of information does it track for each visitor, and is the visitor-level data available for viewing. Etc.

Internet Marketing

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