Four easy copywriting strategies that you can pop into any ad copy. Quick note: Inside this article you will discover:
* 3 powerful involvement tools to increase your sales by bringing your readers into your ad copy.
* What you must put in your call for action, besides “click here”, [...]
Written on July 7th, 2009
Read more articles on Copywriting.
Four easy copywriting strategies that you can pop into any ad copy.
Quick note: Inside this article you will discover:
* 3 powerful involvement tools to increase your sales by bringing your readers into your ad copy.
* What you must put in your call for action, besides “click here”, that will increase your ad’s success.
* How you can FULLY use the power of the Post Script to make surprise profits.
* Plus much more!
————–Article Starts Here————–
Four copywriting strategies that you can easily pop into your ad copy to shoot your sales through the roof!
By Hans Klein
Whether you like it or not, copywriting skills are a vital part of every aspect of your online business.
It determines your success in your email correspondence to potential business partners, in an offer to your list of customers, and in selling your product on your website.
If you want to succeed in these efforts, you dont have to be a professional copywriter, but you do have to know your audience well enough to be persuasive.
So, below are four small, yet very powerful, copywriting tips you can immediately use to improve your response rate in all of your marketing efforts.
1. Involvement Effective Copywriting has the power to bring the reader deep inside the copy and making the reader feel like that he/she cant afford to stop reading. Its much like writing an action-packed TV show where if you blink youre going to miss the next spectacular special effect.
You want the readers to become so involved they forget everything else and read your irresistible salesletter.
Before the power of the internet was realized, direct-marketing pros like Joseph Sugerman used involvement strategies, like offering readers a discount to find all the grammmer mistakes in his sales copy and it resulted in dramatic interest.
The internet offers three other widely-used innovative techniques many savvy online marketers use very successfully.
The yes, no technique – where you ask the reader a question and have them select the answer to the question by clicking with their mouse. This technique gets the reader involved so they wont be hesitant to click on the order now button when they reach the end of your letter.
The cut and paste technique – where you show the reader how easy your software product is to use by having them cut and paste text into a new box.
The interactive testimonial technique where curiosity is aroused because the reader must click a button to see an entire testimonial.
2. Using personalization everywhere And not just in your email – On the internet, you are dealing with potentially thousands of people, and if they dont feel like youre talking to them, they are just going click off because they feel as if youre a faceless website.
That is why it is important to talk directly to your audience. A powerful way to do this is to call them by their name or what you know. So, if your audience likes playing sports, you might start your letter off with, Dear Sportsman.
The more specific you are, the better because if your reader feels like you are talking to him/her, they are going to stay and listen to what you have to offer.
3. Use the full power of the postscript – The P.S. in any email and salesletter can be an extremely profitable tool. It can be used to offer an e-course, let your readers know about another product that might benefit him/her, or to sum up your offer for your visitors who like to skim around until they find out what the offer is about.
By putting a P.S. in every email, you will continually make sales without having to send intrusive sales offers all the time. Its always nice to receive surprising order notices in your inbox without having to do any extra work!
A small tip for the P.S. is to always put your most important P.S. in the middle, if you have three. The middle one has been tested to be the most read.
4. A More specific call for action – Your audience needs to be told exactly what to do. So, in your ezine ads dont just say click here, but tell them what you want them to do. If you want them to learn more about your product, say so. If you want them to subscribe to your ezine, say so.
If your visitor clearly understands what he/she is supposed to do at your website, chances are, they will quickly comply. On the other hand, if they have to figure out what to do, they will have time to come up with excuses for not complying.
And thats the bottom line as to what all your copywriting should be. In the end, all youre trying to do is get the reader to comply with a single action. Once you do, your sales will increase and your profits will go up!
All rights reserved – Hans Klein
———————————————–
Discover more powerful copywriting and marketing strategies that you wont hear everyday at http://www.WealthStarters.com or subscribe to WealthStarters: Top Tips Ezine by sending a blank email to mailto:kljos6661@autocontactor.com and get 3 sales exploding ebooks for FREE!
———————————————–
————–Article ends here————–
Note: If you enjoyed this article and found it useful feel fr^ee to use it in your ezine, pass it on to colleague or post it on your website. Just remember to post the short resource box at the end of the article and not to change any of the content.
Thanks, Hans Klein
About the Author
Please use the resource box provided below the article. Thanks!
“What SEOs Expect From Their Clients”Kalena Jordan
Eight expectations that SEOs have of their search engine optimization clients.
I’ve seen a lot of articles around lately about how to pick and choose a search engine optimization company. That’s fine and dandy, but it often works the other way around in this industry. The most successful SEOs pick and choose their own clients. Good SEOs can spot a tire kicker from a mile off and I know of a few SEOs that quickly “fire” clients that give them too much grief.
Why? Because they can. Their reputation is widely known and they are constantly in demand. Many of them are too busy to spend time haggling over price or technique and why should they? Their reputation is rock solid, their results outstanding, the ROI for their work impressive. Companies are lining up to pay for their expertise and to benefit from the amazing income generation potential that a well-executed search engine optimization campaign can bring. To quote one of the best:
“I choose clients who choose me” – Jill Whalen, HighRankings.com
So how do you recognize top performing SEOs? Most will be regular contributers to popular webmaster or search engine forums and many will have their own newsletter or web log keeping people up to date with the latest developments in the search industry. Some write regular articles about the search engines and have them published in popular search engine portals and resource sites such as Search Engine Guide, Search Engine Watch, Pandia and SEO Today. Or perhaps you’ve seen their articles syndicated on news channels like Moreover, ClickZ or ZDNet.
Of course some of them are so busy, they don’t have time to write articles. But if they have a good reputation, chances are people are talking about them. Of course the opposite is also true. Want to know more about their reputation in the industry? Conduct a search for their name in the search engine of your choice. I don’t mean the name of their company either – I mean the name of the actual person who would be responsible for the optimization of your site. If you find lots of positive references, they’re a keeper. Finding negative discussions or comments? Better think twice. Can’t find them at all? Then they probably aren’t worth talking about.
Once you’ve located a top performing SEO, don’t expect to call the shots. Search engine optimizers have certain expectations of their clients. Let me run through a few of them. To keep your SEO happy:
1. Don’t automatically expect a guarantee – Not all SEOs offer them. Not because they aren’t good at what they do, but because offering a guarantee can give the false impression that SEOs have full control over search engine rankings when in fact only the engine has this. Also, while many top SEOs will offer a satisfaction guarantee, many others don’t believe a guarantee is necessary because of their public track record of results and because they feel a client should trust them fully before signing on rather than relying on some piece of paper to protect them.
2. Don’t choose by price – The most expensive SEOs aren’t necessarily the best. By the same token, don’t make the mistake of thinking SEO is not worth much. Search engine marketing is not an “add on” or a short term ad campaign – it is a continuously evolving marketing channel that can bring upwards of 50 percent of your total site traffic if done correctly. Therefore you should allocate a good portion of your marketing budget towards it each year.
3. Don’t assume an SEO isn’t good because their own site isn’t ranking highly – Remember the old adage that plumbers taps always leak? Some SEOs are so busy helping clients that they don’t have time to optimize their own sites. Also, as you would imagine, competition for rankings in the SEO industry is fierce. Just because an SEO isn’t ranking highly for all SEO related terms does not mean they aren’t good at what they do – maybe they don’t have the time or inclination to compete with their peers. For proof of results, look to their client site rankings and references.
4. Don’t question the SEO process after it has begun – It should all be outlined in the initial proposal, but a SEO worth his/her salt will make actual changes to your site. They will change the visible text and/or design. They will probably get rid of that pretty Flash image or graphic from your home page. They might change your graphic navigation menu into a bland looking text menu. But remember they are doing this for a very good reason – to ensure your site is as search engine compatible as possible. Listen, learn and trust them – they’re experts at this stuff.
5. Don’t expect high rankings overnight – It really yanks my chain when clients call me up a week after their site has been submitted wanting to know why they’re not ranking highly yet! All good things take time and it can take up to 3 or 4 months for the search engines and directories to index your optimized content and re-rank your site accordingly. That said, you should notice an improvement on some of the faster engines within 2 or 3 weeks.
6. Don’t assume traffic is the goal – While your new SEO campaign might generate high traffic levels, your site needs to encourage all these visitors to stay, browse, join and/or buy from you. This means you need to ensure your site is looking its very best, your navigation structure is intuitive, the copy is enticing and convincing and the interactive features of your site (such as catalogs and shopping cart facilities) are working and easy to use. Not all of these items are the responsibility of the SEO.
7. Don’t assume the campaign ends with submission – Web sites are not static, they are not like a brochure that is printed and distributed. They should be thought of as organic – always growing and changing upon visitor demand. Are your site visitors finding your site via search queries for information on a particular product? Why not expand your web site to accommodate this demand? You should always be analyzing your log files or visitor statistics to see how people found your site, what pages they like best, what keywords they used to find you, how long they stayed and what they did while visiting. Use this information to grow your site and work with your SEO to expand your search engine focus.
8. Don’t undo all their good work – Speaking from experience, there is NOTHING more frustrating than a client who makes significant changes to their optimized pages without telling you. I’ve heard horror stories from other SEOs about clients that agree to everything, let their site be optimized and re-launched and then completely remove the carefully optimized body text or META tags a week later – aarrggh! I won’t mention the client of mine who decided to shut down their site for Christmas, removing all pages and optimized content without realizing the impact this would have on their rankings. Search engines are constantly refreshing and indexing your site content. Just because your site is ranking well this month, doesn’t mean it will rank that way forever. If you change your site significantly, your SEO’s hard work and all your high rankings could be down the drain.
About the Author
Kalena Jordan is the owner and Chief Executive Officer of online marketing firm Web Rank Ltd, with offices in Australia and New Zealand. Kalena was one of the first search engine optimization experts in Australasia and is well known and respected in her field. She is a member of the World Association of Internet Marketers (www.waim.org), a member of SEOpros.org and a moderator in various online search engine forums. Kalena’s previous roles have included SEO Manager for a web development firm, Public Relations consultant, Freelance web site designer, Marketing Manager for a computer systems firm and five years as Public Relations Advisor to the Royal Thai Government. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from the University of Newcastle, Australia. For more of Kalena’s advice on search engine ranking and online marketing, please visit http://www.high-search-engine-ranking.com
A New Pricing Structure for SEO Companies . . . Paid Performance, Part 1Robin Nobles
Pricing structures have always been the source of much discussion among professional SEO’s. Read this article for a new pricing idea! “Pricing structures” have always been the source of much discussion among professional SEO’s. Knowing how much to charge for SEO services is difficult, and it depends on so many factors. So in the beginning, most SEO’s tend to charge less for their services, then spend hour upon hour getting results for their clients.
From there, those satisfied customers (hopefully) recommend the SEO to other potential customers, and slowly but surely, the SEO can raise the price of his or her work to a more equitable amount.
Besides the wide differences in charges, there is also a wide assortment of pricing plans, from flat charges to individual charges for individual services, and even to charges based on traffic or sales. SEO’s are constantly testing out new pricing structures to try to arrive at one that suits both the clients and the SEO, one that is fair for both sides.
One professional SEO, Barry Lloyd, has experimented with pricing structures for several years, and he’s arrived at a plan that works extremely well for him. With his rather unique plan, the advantages to the client are simple: no relevant traffic = no cost. The advantages to a good SEO are also simple: usually a higher income, less hassle, and a client who is no longer hung up on rankings but who is more interested in relevant traffic and ROI.
Barry is one of the top SEO’s in the UK and is the CEO of Microchannel Technologies Ltd., which provides SEO/SEM services through their MakeMeTop brand (http://www.makemetop.co.uk). Barry is also a regular speaker at Internet marketing conferences and a senior contributor at many of the online forums.
When asked for background information about MakeMeTop and his pricing structures, here’s what Barry had to say.
“When MakeMeTop first started providing professional SEO services as a company in 1999, we found it hard to create a model which was attractive to customers. Few had any real understanding of the benefits of search engine marketing, and we didn’t really understand what our work was worth. So we undervalued ourselves, rather than charging what our work was really worth.
“After about a year and having nudged our prices higher and higher with no real downturn in business, we went the whole-hog and decided not to accept any work unless the client signed up for a year, and the annual contract produced a minimum of $5,000 in revenue.
“At the end of 2000 when paid inclusion, paid reviews, and PPC really started becoming a part of the SEM mix, we doubled our prices again and waited for the fallout. It didn’t really happen. Sure, we lost smaller enquirers, but we gained business from larger organizations. However, by the end of 2001, we recognized that unless we were giving clients an excellent return on investment, they were unlikely to stick with us.
“So, we began to work closer with clients to ensure that they were getting good relevant traffic and (within the limits of our ability) that it converted to sales. Within a few months, it became apparent that the marketing departments of our clients were working out their cost per visitor and their ROI and comparing it to the costs of both banner ads, other forms of on and offline marketing, and PPC costs from Overture. The differences were frightening. On some sites, we were driving focused traffic for fractions of a cent per visitor, yet their competitors were willing to pay (in some cases) several dollars per click and could still make money.
“It became obvious to us that we were still undervaluing our services, but how could we get this message across? The answer was blindingly simple!
“Paid performance.
“If you identify the market a potential client is in, you can identify the ‘perceived worth’ of traffic in that market. For example, take ‘data recovery services,’ which is currently over $10 per click on Overture to be in the top 3. How much would it be worth to someone in that industry to have top 10 listings on the major SE’s for that and similar terms relating to that industry? The answer is around $1.
“The sales pitch is simple: instead of paying a $3,000 set-up fee which covers the first 3 months of services, why not use our paid-performance plan? You give us a deposit of $1,000, which is fully applied against click-throughs, and we charge you $1 per unique relevant visitor. Traffic you get going directly to your Web site is not charged for — only traffic we generate on a separate Web site. You, the client, can get the results in real-time, and you get charged nothing further until your click allowance is used up. If it is not used up within 3 months, you are entitled to your unused element of the deposit to be returned.
“Our clients have done well with this plan and so have we, earning four times what we would have charged on our most expensive plan. Since then, this has been a standard part of our sales pitch (although the number of $1 per click deals is low). The average per click price is 22 cents, and over 60 percent of our sales come from this method, yet revenues have tripled and profitability has soared.
“Due to the growth in recognition of the PPC engines (who still have a part to play in our SEM strategy), this method removes the sense of distrust that there can be when selling SEO services and can provide a method of marketing which can be beneficial to both the client and the SEO company.”
Barry continued by answering the following questions relative to his pricing plan.
Question:
If I’m understanding this correctly, all visitors are logged through a special domain specifically set up where you have full access to the referral logs in real time to make sure that the traffic generated is applicable to your site, and the phrases used are relevant to your market and services. How is this set up? As a separate subdomain of the main site?
Barry:
We are, in essence, selling traffic. A completely separate and visible domain is created. We don’t use subdomains.
Question:
So, you set up another site, related to the clients’ domain or industry, and all the traffic you generate goes through this domain, and the client can then track it effectively and accurately?
Barry:
Absolutely. In order to do a decent job, you need to have an on-theme site with the client’s contact details. Everything is tracked through this site. The site has to be suitable for DMOZ, Yahoo!, etc. We ask for a deposit to cover the initial costs of paid reviews, spidering, etc.
Comment:
You mentioned the mistrust of clients when pitching SEO to them. This is a very real problem for many professional SEO’s and one that many of them wrestle with every day. This pricing structure appears to be an ideal solution.
Question:
How do you determine the cost per visitor? Which tools do you use to determine value? Overture?
Barry:
Overture is very helpful. We look at the most important key phrase price, then look at the secondary phrases to give an overall average value of the traffic. Obviously this is significantly less than the top Overture price. Espotting in the UK can give a great indication, and so does AdWords. We also have to gauge traffic. It isn’t worth doing this plan for an area where there is no real volume.
Question:
As an example, let’s say it’s $3 for the VIP phrase and $2 for the secondary phrase. Is the value then 3+2=5/2=2.5 per visitor?
Barry:
In that case, I would probably pitch at $1.50 to make it a no brainer for the client!
Question?
That’s a big difference though than $1.50, but you know you would win with the traffic anyway, is that right?
Barry:
Yes, knowing the potential volume for particular searches allows you to have more flexibility in setting an attractive figure for the click-rate. If you know you are going to get high volumes, then you can reduce the price significantly from the going rate. Of course, if volumes are not high – your margin for reduction is not going to be so large.
Question:
Do you have a set number of key phrases you agree on, like 10, 20, etc.? How do you work this out with a client? I can see some clients having many competitive phrases for their sites.
Barry:
We do it on the basis of ‘key themes’ rather than particular phrases. We select a number of competitive phrases that we base the figure we charge on. We only have 2 clients who have put on a ceiling. Most want the traffic. Obviously, it has to be good traffic or the deal fails at the first hurdle.
Knock on wood, apart from a bit of fine tuning in the first month, we really have never had any queries or complaints. Clients love it. No ranking reports either.
Question:
Any “best practices” advice for an SEO starting out with this strategy for clients? How to avoid the possible pitfalls?
Barry:
Like all things, don’t bite off more than you can chew! Judge the type of client you are dealing with and their ability to pay. The deposit we ask for often doesn’t cover the actual costs incurred in building a good site which we know will convert well for the client, let alone cover the costs of the SE’s.
Question:
For a given domain or client, how many pages are you setting up for them (i.e. how much time are you investing)?
Barry:
It really depends on the area you are in. A low PPC rate often means you need a broader spread of terms. A high one means often a more focused site. An average site is probably 10-15 pages. However I’m just starting on a car hire site which will be targeting major airports which will be around 150 pages!
Question:
Where does the content come from?
Barry:
Usually it is based on information on the client’s site but re-written to prevent duplicate filters from kicking in. Often the client has dynamic content which has not been indexed. In any case, this is quite simple to do. Sometimes we just start from scratch.
(Continued in Part 2)
Robin Nobles, Partner and Trainer, Search Engine Workshops, (http://www.searchengineworkshops.com) teaches 2-day, 3-day, and 5-day hands-on search engine marketing workshops in locations across the globe. She also teaches online search engine marketing courses (http://www.onlinewebtraining.com) and has two books currently on the market at Amazon.
About the Author
Robin Nobles teaches “hands on” search engine marketing workshops in locations across the globe with Search Engine Workshops (http://www.searchengineworkshops.com), and she teaches online search engine marketing courses through http://www.onlinewebtraining.com. She has written three books that can be ordered through Amazon and other bookstores.
A New Pricing Structure for SEO Companies . . . Paid Performance, Part 2Robin Nobles
Pricing structures have always been the source of much discussion among professional SEO’s. Read this article for a new pricing idea! (Part 2) Question:
Do you give the clients access to your Web stats?
Barry:
Absolutely — they have full access to real time figures with the ability to check referrals.
Question:
If I’m understanding correctly, you own the domain and the site that you set up for the client. So if the client terminates the contract, he loses all the traffic coming from you.
Barry:
Correct. A contract period is entered into whereby we agree that this is for the sole use of the client for the defined period. We also undertake that if the contract is terminated, all references to the client will be removed, and they have the option to purchase the domain, though not the content. We are selling traffic. In essence, we are setting up an affiliate deal with the client.
Question:
Do you link to the client’s original site at all, or this is really a totally separate issue? How do you get around with DMOZ?
Barry:
It depends on the type of site. Take travel, for example, we would probably call the agent’s booking engine within the site. On other sites, it is a pure site but will have the client’s phone details and e-mail will forward to the client. DMOZ has proved not to be a problem in most instances. Eight out of ten of our sites get into DMOZ, and 100% get into Yahoo!.
Question:
Will redirection to the client’s original site occur only when there is a need, such as a “call to action” like ordering, subscription, etc.? Do you redesign the client’s main sites for more effective click stream and conversions?
Barry:
Yes, a call to action is the only real interface with the client’s site, and we do work with the client to increase their revenue stream through usability issues if we can. We need this to work for them for obvious reasons!
Question:
Getting back to the Web stats, do you do it in-house or use a service like http://www.hitslink.com/ for the client to access?
Barry:
Generally we use an SSI script which we have in-house which gives very accurate data. Some clients prefer to run with 3rd part software like hitslink, and we don’t have a problem with that either. We prefer our script in that it is easier to strip out repeat visits whereas we find hitslink is not quite as good at identifying unique visitors.
Question:
Two clients approached one of my students recently. They are just starting out, and their budget for any kind of promotion is very low. Could an SEO just start charging them a certain amount per visitor without setting up a budget with them?
Barry:
Yes, we have managed to bring on clients who are very nervous about SEO spending on a PPC basis who have increased their spending and spread as their confidence grew. I think we have been lucky, so far. You really have to assess each client. Some just aren’t going to get a lot of traffic in their market niche. Some can’t sell, so either way you lose.
Question:
What do you do with domain names? All the good ones seem to be taken already.
Barry:
We’re in the UK. Lots of .co.uk domains around! Seriously, you have to be a little inventive without doing the spammy-spam-keywords-more-here.com. I’m still surprised at what is available. I managed to get hospitality-management-college.com for a hospitality management college (their main keyword) last week!
Question:
Let’s say you have a client who desires to spend $5,000 per month, and you deliver more than enough to match that dollar value. How do you stop the traffic flow, if it’s let’s say paid inclusions, but not through PPC? Any pull the plug examples?
Barry:
It is easy enough on pay for inclusion — you can suspend traffic. Google is the real problem! In reality, you can get a good indication of what is about to transpire, and I’ve not had anyone fail to increase his or her ceiling.
Question:
How do you suspend traffic for the pay for inclusion engines?
Barry:
Certainly on Position Technologies and Ineedhits (for Teoma), you have a suspend button for a URL.
Question:
Any complaints that the traffic doesn’t convert to sales the way the client wants?
Barry:
We try and judge if that is likely to happen before we take on the contract. Sometimes we have to be brutal and tell them: we can get you the traffic, but you won’t sell anything. We make it very clear that this is a partnership and we will do everything we can to advise the client, but we can’t close the sale. That is their job. Generally, the message gets through and they look towards their own site/business to see where they are falling down – not us. You have to make this all clear at the outset though.
Question:
Are your services priced to compete with the trusted feed programs from the major engines that will index problem pages?
Barry:
Not really, though we do use trusted feed in certain areas. People tend to come to us for terms which are likely to be buried under directory listings or are pretty competitive.
Question:
So you really don’t ever need to modify the client’s site, do you?
Barry:
No, we rarely touch the client site. If we do, it is subject to a separate contract. Nor do we charge for any traffic the client gets to his or her own site through their own SEO activities.
Question:
What is the average cost per click that you can charge clients?
Barry:
It averages around 25 cents. The lowest is 15 cents, and highest is over $2.00.
In Conclusion
If you’re a professional SEO and are considering various pricing structures, follow Barry’s (http://www.makemetop.co.uk) example by starting out slowly and gradually working your way into a niche that works for both you and your clients. Search engine optimization is extremely time consuming and requires a considerable amount of knowledge to be successful. You deserve to be paid for your work. If you can show your clients that you’ll only get paid after you bring them results, you may find that both you and the clients benefit from this type of pricing plan.
Robin Nobles, Partner and Trainer, Search Engine Workshops, (http://www.searchengineworkshops.com) teaches 2-day, 3-day, and 5-day hands-on search engine marketing workshops in locations across the globe. She also teaches online search engine marketing courses (http://www.onlinewebtraining.com) and has two books currently on the market at Amazon.
About the Author
Robin Nobles teaches “hands on” search engine marketing workshops in locations across the globe with Search Engine Workshops (http://www.searchengineworkshops.com), and she teaches online search engine marketing courses through http://www.onlinewebtraining.com. She has written three books that can be ordered through Amazon and other bookstores.
Are YOU getting your Money’s Worth When Buying Traffic? . . .Robin Nobles
The beginner’s guide to tracking click-throughs and ROI from pay-per-click engines.
If you’re just beginning to try your hand with the pay-per-click engines, one thing you need to know is the importance of setting up tracking URLs so you’re better able to track click-throughs and sales.
Why go to the trouble? Because if you don’t set up some sort of tracking system, you’ll never know if your keyword purchases are really working for you. And if you don’t know if they’re working for you, you won’t be able to make an educated decision on whether or not to discard a keyword campaign, expand it, choose different keywords, etc.
There are some excellent software programs and services on the market that will track individual keyword purchases and determine your ROI (return on investment), and we’ll name some of them at the end of this article. For those who purchase large numbers of keywords, such programs are crucial.
But this article is for those who are just getting started and who don’t want to invest in a software program yet they just want to purchase a few keywords and get their feet wet with the pay-per-click engines.
Using a Tracking URL to Track Traffic
Overture claims that 95 percent of all Overture traffic comes from their partner sites, such as Yahoo and MSN. So, its important to track your Overture traffic so you can be sure how much traffic you’re getting for each of your keyword purchases.
Lets say that your URL is http://www.english-bulldogs.com. To add tracking capability to such a URL, you’d tack on:
?source=Overture
…so your URL would look this:
http://www.english-bulldogs.com/?source=Overture
If the keyword phrase you’re tracking is english bulldog puppies, heres the tracking URL you would use:
http://www.english-bulldogs.com/?source=Overture&kw=english+bulldog+puppies
Change the URL you have listed with Overture for that keyword phrase to the tracking URL by going to Overtures Managed Listing Section of the DirecTraffic Center.
If the URL already has a question mark in it, you will have to add &source=Overture to the end. For example:
From: http://www.english-bulldogs.com/search.cgi?q=dogs To: http://www.english-bulldogs.com/search.cgi?q=dogs&source=Overture&kw=english +bulldog+puppies
If the URL has a # character, the ?source=Overture will need to be inserted prior to the # sign. For example:
From: http://www.english-bulldogs.com/#oscar To: http://www.english-bulldogs.com/?source=Overture&kw=english+bulldog+puppies#oscar
Be sure to test the new tracking URL to verify that the modified URL works as well as the original, and don’t use the tracking URL for anything other than tracking your pay engine traffic.
After setting up the tracking URLs, you should be able to look for source=Overture in your server log files to see how much traffic you’re getting from Overture for each of your keyword phrases. Your log analysis software, depending on which one you use, will be able to compile that information for you.
But How Do You Know Which Traffic Converts to Sales?
Determining your conversion rate is easier if your site supports some type of user session tracking, such as cookies, server-side scripting, etc. If you create a user session (or set a cookie) when someone visits your site, then you can count how many user sessions contained a successful page view that will let you know that a desired action has been completed, such as a receipt of goods sold or signing up for your newsletter. You can then analyze the referral source for each of your user sessions to count how many conversions came from Overture based on each keyword phrase.
How Can You Set up User Session Tracking?
Editors note: These instructions will apply to those of you already running your web sites on Microsoft’s IIS.
Dave Barry of SmartCertify explains:
Session Tracking is made possible by using .asp (active server pages) on your Web site. There are several ways in which to accomplish this. One is by assigning a query string value to your link or using the referrer information to assign a proper code to track. In the asp environment, there is a large collection of information that you have access to, including the exact page the visitor came from, and if a search engine, the keywords used to find your site.
Let us look at these two options.
Assigning a query string value to your link.
This method can work in pay-per-click engines, but when working with other engines and links, it can become cumbersome and not always work. By assigning a query string, you are adding a value to your URL that will appear in your server log files allowing you to search for it to see how effective it is working.
Example line from log file:
2002-12-23 19:25:10 192.168.20.14 443 /Default.asp TrackingQueryString=TrackingCode 32 Mozilla/4.0+(compatible;+MSIE+6.0;+Windows+NT+5.0; +Hotbar+4.1.5.0;+.NET+CLR+1.0.3705)
Please note that right after the page name, Default.asp is the query string that was attached to the URL. Also note the browser type, time, and date are included as well. You can set your logfiles to log the information you want. This is done at the server level. If your ISP is in charge of your server, consult with them to make the changes.
Using the referrer information to code your visitors.
When a user clicks a link that leads to your site whether coming from a search engine or not they arrive carrying luggage with them that you may not know about. This luggage is called the Server Variables Collection. With this information, you can track exactly where each visitor came from and what search words they used to get there.
To find the Server Variables Collection enabling you to track where each visitor comes from along with the search words they used, add the following code to an asp page and view it in your browser:
Dave has set up a video file that will help explain tracking in more detail. To view it, go to: http://www.smartcertify.com/seo/jan/tracking.asp
Remember: The number of sales from Overture for a particular keyword phrase divided by the number of visits from Overture (or its partners) for that keyword phrase is what constitutes (equals) your conversion rate.
And, the profit generated from your Overture campaigns per keyword phrase divided by the amount spent at Overture per keyword phrase is your return-on-investment (ROI).
Using Your Affiliate Program to Track Sales
If you have an affiliate program, you can also track sales by using your affiliate software. After all, most affiliate programs, such as MyAffiliateProgram.com, will track your traffic as well as sales, which will give you your conversion rate.
How does it work? Simply set up a new “affiliate” for each keyword you purchase through the pay engines.
For example, you would create a short URL that you would list with Overture. That URL would be nothing more than a redirect page that redirects to the affiliate link you’ve assigned for the keyword.
For example:
http://www.english-bulldogs.com/puppies.html
…would only be a redirect page that takes your visitors to
http://www.myaffiliateprogram.com/u/dogs/t.asp?id=1925,
…which is the real page of content. Affiliate ID #1925 would be set up specifically to track traffic for the keyword phrase, english bulldog puppies, that you’ve purchased through Overture. You wouldn’t send any other traffic through that page, and you would list the puppies.html page at Overtures Managed Listing Section of the DirecTraffic Center.
Other Benefits of Tracking Click Data
Though each of the pay engines do everything they can to prevent click fraud, it does happen. By setting up a tracking system to track click data and monitoring the click patterns carefully, you’ll be able to spot any possible click fraud and can report it immediately to the pay engine.
Helpful Software Programs and Services
Keyword Tool: KeywordTool’s tracking service tracks the conversion or sales performance of keywords on search and pay-per-click engines, showing which keyword phrases are actually converting into customers and from which search engines. It is not a visitor tracker; instead, it determines keyword performance. http://www.keywordtool.net/
GO TOAST: One of GO TOASTs components, ProfitBuilder, is a ROI service for any advertising campaign. GO TOAST is an Overture approved bid management service. http://www.gotoast.com/
WebTrends Reporting Centers Enterprise Edition: Besides basic log analysis, the Enterprise Edition will track users through your web site in order to pinpoint visitor behavior through critical processes, such as checkout and registration. It will also analyze marketing campaigns by determining how much revenue each campaign is generating. http://www.netiq.com/products/wrc/enterprise.asp
Overture has an ROI Calculator and a CPM Calculator that will help measure your return on investment: http://www.overture.com/d/USm/adcenter/tools/index.jhtml
Final thoughts…
You’d be amazed at the number of people who set up keyword campaigns but have no idea whether or not the campaigns are making them money because they don’t have tracking systems in place. So, regardless of whether you are just beginning or even if you’ve been purchasing keywords for a while, be sure to set up tracking for keywords and user sessions. Doing so will enable you to know for certain which keywords are working. And, that’s the best way to maximize the return on your keyword investments.
Robin Nobles, along with partner John Alexander, teaches 2-, 3-, and 5-day search engine marketing workshops through Search Engine Workshops (http://www.searchengineworkshops.com). Robin also teaches online search engine marketing courses (http://www.onlinewebtraining.com), and her latest books, Web Site Analysis and Reporting and Streetwise Maximize Web Site Traffic, can be ordered through Amazon.
Dave Barry is a professional Webmaster, Web designer, programmer, security expert, and search engine optimizer, all rolled up into one amazingly talented man who works for SmartCertify Direct. (http://www.smartcertify.com) He has also begun working with Search Engine Workshops to put on hands on search engine marketing workshops at locations across the globe. Dave recently set up Computer Concierge International, which is a full-service networking and Internet solutions company. (http://www.seo-concierge.net)
About the Author
Robin Nobles teaches “hands on” search engine marketing workshops in locations across the globe with Search Engine Workshops (http://www.searchengineworkshops.com), and she teaches online search engine marketing courses through http://www.onlinewebtraining.com. She has written three books that can be ordered through Amazon and other bookstores.
Written on July 7th, 2009
Read more articles on Copywriting.