Issue #2244
- WEALTHY: When it comes to your ads, less can be more (Alexis Siemon)
- HEALTHY: How much vitamin D do you need? (Jon Herring)
- WISE: George Washington Carver on getting attention
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- A major factor in one company’s $30 million growth (Michael Masterson)
- Omit this "lazy" expression and make your writing more powerful (Don Hauptman)
- It’s Fun to Know… about leap year
- Add "fatidic" to your vocabulary
Imagine Knowing of a Casino Where the Dealer Tipped His Hand Before You Made Your Move and Didn’t Care How Many Times You Beat Him.
When Would You Stop Going There?
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It’s often said, “The Stock Market is just a big casino”. And it’s true. But the important omission in that statement (to keep the masses out!) is the dealer in this casino tips his hand to the select few… the insiders.
Such powerful knowledge could make YOU very rich indeed… Click to
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"When you can do the common things of life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world."
George Washington Carver
Kicking Off 2008 With ETR: Rev Up Your Sales With a Google AdWords Campaign
You’d been hearing all about how great Google AdWords is for driving traffic to a business’s website, and you were finally ready to get in on the action. So you set up your first online marketing campaign. But while you’re starting to see results, they just aren’t what you expected… and you’re not sure what to do next.
You did everything right. You created your campaign complete with your first Ad Group, the all-important element that holds your keywords and your text ads. You applied your budget. And you were ready to kick back and let the traffic roll in.
I mean, this is AdWords, right? The king of all pay-per-click (PPC) search programs! So… where’s all the traffic? Where’re all the sales? Is anyone out there? Is this thing on?
Don’t panic. The traffic is out there, and so are the sales. Google isn’t the king for nothing. Appease the king and he’ll share his gold. And I’m here to show you how to appease him. Apply the following techniques, and you’ll see a big boost in your AdWords results.
Let’s start by tweaking the most important element of your AdWords campaign.
Your Keywords
When you think of keywords, you probably think "More, more, more!" But have you ever considered less?
Many marketers just starting out in PPC advertising make the mistake of cramming all the keywords they can think of into one Ad Group. Many times, this results in an Ad Group that isn’t as targeted as it could be.
Let’s say you run a website that’s all about dogs. You may have a keyword list that includes terms like:
- Dog training
- Dog breeds
- Healthy dog food
- Best dog toys
By including all these keywords in one Ad Group, you dilute the focus of that Ad Group.
Sure, the words are all related to dogs. But a person searching for information on dog training is not necessarily the same person who is looking for places to buy healthy dog food.
But what if you created an Ad Group for each of these different keywords? Instead of one diluted Ad Group, you now have four extremely targeted Ad Groups. And now you can expand upon each of these topics and really drill down to the various terms people would use to search for "dog training" (how to train my dog, dog training tips, best dog training information) or "healthy dog food" (healthy dog food recipes, healthy dry dog food, healthy dog food brands).
The next step is to write targeted ad text for each of your new Ad Groups.
Your Ad Text
Now that you’re targeting potential customers interested in your valuable dog training tips, how do you encourage them to click through to your website? Why, with targeted and compelling ad text of course!
Easier said than done, I know. But there are several things you can do to stand out amongst your competitors and boost your click-through rate (CTR).
- Use your keywords in your ad text – especially your headline. Keywords in your ad text that match what was searched show up as bold in your ad and boost your relevancy.
- Offer something free or promote a sale. Everyone likes free stuff and bargains.
- Use symbols or vary your punctuation where applicable. Odd punctuation can catch a searcher’s eye and make them click your ad over your competitors’.
Play with these techniques to find what works best. Test like crazy. And since you can write several versions of your text ads for each Ad Group, let Google rotate them and optimize the best ads for the best results.
Remember, relevancy is the most important factor in search engine marketing. Whatever you do, make sure your ad text speaks to the keywords you’re bidding on.
Once your new ads are pulling the clicks of your dreams, now you’d better convert them with…
Your Landing Pages
So your "dog training" keywords trigger your targeted "dog training" text ads, which drive visitors to your … home page? But your home page talks about dog training and different dog breeds and dog food and dog toys and… your visitors are overwhelmed and they leave.
If you make your visitors work too hard to find what they’re looking for, you’ll lose them.
Create unique landing pages specific to each Ad Group. The more relevant your landing pages are to your ad text, the better your conversions will be – whether they be sign-ups, leads, or sales.
Once visitors click on your "dog training" ad, they should arrive at a page that tells them all about your amazing dog training products and/or services. Want them to sign up for a monthly newsletter about dog training advice? Tell them what they’ll learn by subscribing.
Do the same for dog food. Do you sell an e-book about healthy dog food… or about the products that were involved in the wheat gluten scare? Focus your landing page solely on selling that e-book, and make it as relevant as possible to the keywords you’re bidding on and the ad text you’ve written.
Using these techniques to tweak your AdWords campaign will not only rev up your results, it will also boost your AdWords Quality Score, resulting in a lower cost per click (CPC). Lower CPC means more clicks for your money… which ultimately means more sales.
You can’t lose. So start testing now to make 2008 a great year for your online business!
[Ed Note: Alexis Siemon is ETR's resident Search Engine Marketing Specialist. Now you can pick up the Mastering Google Adwords Success Manual free with your purchase of the China Wholesale Secrets System.]
Turn Every Weekend into a $1,500-Plus-a-Week Money Machine
If you can click a camera and you can spare a couple of hours on a Saturday or Sunday now and then, you can easily snag a tidy $1,000… $1,500… $2,000… or even more for taking simple pictures.
It’s simple. It pays well. And best of all… it’s A TON OF FUN!
In just three fun-filled days, you’ll learn how to quickly and easily sell your snapshots to magazines, newspapers, stock agencies and more for super-fast cash. You don’t have to be a professional photographer to get paid top dollar for your photographs. You don’t need a fancy camera either. And you don’t have to give up your day job to get started. You can sell pictures of your own backyard.
Join our experts in Austin, TX (Jan. 31 – Feb 2, 2008) – for the Ultimate Money-Making Photo Workshop.
Mentoring and Being Mentored
The big problem everyone has when beginning a new business is ignorance.
New entrepreneurs don’t know how the business should work – where to go for customers, how much to charge for the product, how many customers are needed for the business to become profitable, and so on.
The solution to ignorance is learning. And there are basically two ways to learn about a business: (1) by attending seminars, taking programs, and reading books – all of which provide generalized, secondhand knowledge about the industry – and (2) by speaking personally with people who are in business and getting firsthand advice from them.
When a young man I had the pleasure of mentoring several years ago started a new division in a publishing company he worked for, he was "full of energy," as he told me, but "knew almost nothing about how to start the business." His solution was simple: He would ask everybody he could how to do it.
"Talking with people, at least once a week, about what to do next kept me from wasting energy on ideas that wouldn’t work," he said recently. "I absorbed 20 years’ worth of publishing experience in one year by constantly reaching out to my peers and my mentors about every important marketing and product decision. Their ideas didn’t drown my vision, but helped enormously to refine my efforts and make them much more successful."
He was very clever in the way he took advantage of being mentored, and I’m sure that was a big factor in his success. In less than seven years, he grew his division from nothing to more than $20 million in annual revenue. Today, it is a $50 million, highly profitable business.
[Ed. Note: The above is an excerpt from Michael Masterson's brand-new book, Ready, Fire, Aim: Zero to $100 Million in No Time Flat,published with permission of John Wiley & Sons. In the book, Michael shows how veteran and rookie entrepreneurs alike can take their businesses to the next level. You'll learn how to identify and solve the problems that crop up during each stage of a company's growth... and how to take advantage of profit opportunities along the way. Go to Amazon to order your copy now.]
A Lot More Vitamin D Than the Government Says
By Jon Herring
Vitamin D is one of the most potent health-promoting substances in your body, performing countless vital functions. This amazing vitamin provides powerful protection against cancer, heart disease, and diabetes, not to mention dozens of other conditions. It also improves energy metabolism, builds immunity, increases muscle strength and coordination, and boosts brain function.
But if you follow the government’s advice about how much you need, you will almost certainly be deficient, substantially increasing your risk of disease. The government tells us that adults need just 400 international units (IU) of vitamin D per day, an amount that is woefully inadequate.
So how much do you need? We don’t know exactly, but we do know how much the body uses on a daily basis. In a study performed at Creighton University in Omaha, researchers found that adults will use 3,000 to 5,000 units of vitamin D per day, if it is available. We also know that a young adult with fair skin makes 20,000 units of vitamin D in less than half an hour of strong sun exposure.
But when the sun is low in the sky during winter, it can be difficult to get enough sun exposure, even if you spend time outdoors. That’s why I strongly suggest taking a vitamin D supplement during the colder months. Most adults should take 2,000 to 5,000 IU per day in the late fall, winter, and early spring. Children should take 1,000 to 2,000 IU per day.
You should also consider supplementing year round if you have darkly pigmented skin, if you are over 65, if you’re overweight, or if you just can’t bring yourself to be in the sun without sunscreen.
Most multivitamins contain very little vitamin D. That’s why I recommend a supplement like this one made by Carlson’s, which has 2,000 IU per soft gel.
And please remember that you should never take more than 5,000 IU of vitamin D on a regular basis without consulting a physician and having your blood levels tested. You want to measure your vitamin D levels periodically to make sure you’re succeeding in bringing your levels into a healthy range… and to make sure you’re not overdoing it.
[Ed. Note: Jon Herring, a copywriter for Early to Rise, is co-author, with Dr. Al Sears, of the book Your Best Health Under the Sun. Discover how the healing power of sunlight can improve your mood, increase your fitness, and protect you against dozens of diseases, including cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. Click here to learn more about Your Best Health Under the Sun.]
The Language Perfectionist: Expletive Deleted
By Don Hauptman
Consider these sentences, which I found in published articles:
- There is a war on for your mind.
- Obviously, there are pressing issues evoked by "family values."
A word that serves no grammatical function, but simply fills space or supplies emphasis, is called an expletive. (The more familiar meaning of the word – a profane or obscene exclamation – also fits this definition.) Linguists tell us that there is, among other expletives, serves as a "dummy subject" or "anticipatory subject" that precedes the appearance of the real subject.
Of course, there are – oops, strike that! I meant to say: In some situations, the construction is unavoidable or sounds more natural. One commentator suggests that the urgency of "There’s no time to lose!" would be lost if the sentence were reframed.
But that’s an exception. In most cases, the use of there is and there are is anemic and a sign of lazy writing. Fortunately, it’s easily circumvented. "There’s a salesman at the front desk" is better rephrased as "A salesman is at the front desk."
According to the late Bergen Evans, "The there construction detaches the statement from the speaker and makes it impersonal. If such a sentence is recast it does not lose emphasis but becomes more immediate, more concrete and more vivid."
[Ed Note: Don Hauptman, a direct-response copywriter for more than 30 years, may be best known for the space ads he wrote with the classic headline "Speak Spanish Like a Diplomat!" He also writes books and articles on language and wordplay.]
It’s Fun to Know: About Leap Year
A leap year contains an extra day – February 29 – to make sure the calendar year is in sync with the seasonal year. A leap year usually occurs when the year is divisible by 4 – 2008, for example. But centennial years are exceptions. They must be divisible not only by 4 but also by 400. So though 2000 was a leap year, 2100 will not be.
(Source: Contrary to Popular Belief by Joey Green)
A Top Business Breakthrough Known Only by a Handful of Insiders Turns Out to Be One of the Best New Ways to Make a Bundle…
Plenty of people make tons of money every day in Real Estate and on Wall Street. But if you’re looking for something different… and if you don’t have $100,000 to invest or even $10,000…
Well, we’ve found it…
Till now, only a handful of insiders even knew about this almost secret powerful business.
What is it? All I can tell you is that more than half of the world’s billionaires have made their money this way. You’ll have to read on to learn more about it.
Finally the cat’s out of the bag… Click here to read more…
Word to the Wise: Fatidic
"Fatidic" (fuh-TID-ik) means prophetic. The word is derived from the Latin for "fate."
Example (as used by Kathleen Cambor in In Sunlight, in a Beautiful Garden): "With a fatidic clarity that comes only occasionally and only to the young, she understood that… this too was a sign, an omen."
[Ed. Note: Become a more persuasive writer and speaker ... build your self-confidence and intellect ... increase your attractiveness to others ... just by spending 10 VERY enjoyable minutes a day with ETR's new Words to the Wise CD Library.]
Michael Masterson
Copyright ETR, LLC, 2008
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