The ONLY Way to Keep Track of What You’re Doing Right Online

Issue #2393

• WEALTHY: Make better investing choices with this simple tool (Rick Pendergraft)
• HEALTHY: The cancer-fighting power of resveratrol (Dr. Ray Sahelian)
• WISE: Michael Masterson on testing

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:

• Make sure you’re making the right improvements to your site (Derek Gehl)
• A "wienie" makes everything better
• It’s Good to Know… about buying real estate in Canada (Julie Broad)  
• Add "palliate" to your vocabulary

== Highly Recommended ==

What’s Wrong With this Picture? 

By now, you could be forgiven for thinking making money online is akin to some kind of black magic! You’ve probably heard the talk about SEO, XML, PPC and ended up more confused than when you started.

But you know, it’s really very simple. Make no mistake, what I’m about to share with you (for FREE) is THE secret. It only fills a couple of lines but this is the truth you’ve been denied by so many of the so-called “gurus.”

Ready? Here it is (drum roll please)…

How to Calculate the Risk/Reward Relationship of a Trade

By Rick Pendergraft

One of the basics investors need to know when making an investment decision is the risk/reward relationship of the trade. But just because it’s basic and necessary doesn’t mean you know how to calculate one. Today, I’ll show you.

I always look at the risk/reward relationship before entering a trade. It doesn’t matter whether it is a stock trade, an options trade, or a futures trade. The first thing I look at is the risk. And I always have a stop-loss point in mind to protect my investment.

Here is an example - a recent short-term stock trade I analyzed with my colleague Andrew Gordon…

The stock was trading at $86 at the time. A good stop-loss point would be a move below the 50-day moving average, which was at $84. If that happened, our loss would be in the vicinity of 2.5 percent. The chart showed clear resistance at the $96 level, so our target gain was $10 or 11.6 percent.

If we take the target gain of 11.6 percent and divide it by the target loss of 2.5 percent, it gives us a risk/reward ratio of 4.6. This is a very good risk/reward ratio.

I make trades only with a risk/reward ratio over 3.0, the higher the better. And when I combine this basic tool with the leverage provided by options (the type of trade I do most frequently), I can create extremely nice returns.

[Ed. Note: Using basic tools like the risk/reward ratio can help you maximize your gains and minimize your losses. Despite what you may think, investing doesn't have to be super-complicated. In fact, once you learn a simple trading secret from professional trader Rick Pendergraft, you may find that making money is easier than you ever imagined.]

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"Test different offers. Test different ad copy. Test different media. Keep testing until you discover something that works." 

-Michael Masterson

The 5 Principles of Testing

By Derek Gehl

Testing everything you do with your online business - and tracking the results - is the only way to keep on top of what you’re doing right and what you need to improve.

Let’s say you want to make some changes to the layout of your website. Obviously, you don’t want to make changes just for the heck of it. Any changes you make should be for one main purpose: to do a better job of converting visitors into customers.

But if you don’t test the new version vs. the old version, how will you know if the changes you make actually do improve the site’s performance? And if you don’t track the results of your testing, how will you know exactly which changes had the greatest effect?

Simply put, if you don’t test and track every single change you make to your site… every promotion you run… and every traffic-generation strategy you try… you’re going to be shooting in the dark every time. And there’s absolutely no way of knowing what you’re going to hit.

So here’s my list of the top five things you absolutely must know about testing to keep your online business on target.

1. Test only one thing at a time.

The most important thing to remember is this: Keep it simple. Test one thing at a time. It’s the only way you’ll know exactly which change is causing which effect.

Let’s say you want to increase the number of opt-ins from your site. There are lots of things you could test to make this happen. You could try putting your opt-in form in a different location. You could change the wording of your opt-in offer. You could try offering a free gift instead of just a free newsletter.

But if you made all these changes at once and your opt-in numbers began to skyrocket, how would you know which change was responsible? Besides, one of those changes could actually be having a negative impact - and you’d never even realize it!

2. Calculate the important numbers.

You need to know two main numbers to keep on top of your website’s performance: the number of visitors you get and the number of sales you make in any given period. That way, you can figure out exactly how many visitors you need to attract to your site in order to make a sale.

Here’s how you do it:

Let’s say you get 300 visitors to your site in one day and you make 12 sales. Simply divide the number of visitors by the number of sales: 300/12 = 25. So, for every 25 visitors you got that day, you made one sale. (Expressed as a percentage, this means your conversion rate was 4 percent, as 1/25 = 0.04.)

If that conversion rate remains steady, you can expect to make one sale for every 25 visitors. If you get 100 visitors, you’ll make four sales. If you get 1,000 visitors, you should make 40 sales.

It’s a simple conversion that tells you exactly how well your website is doing its job.

If that conversion rate drops, it could mean there’s a problem with your website - and you should do a thorough examination right away. On the other hand, if it spikes, you should try to figure out why more visitors are suddenly buying your products - so you can repeat this success.

3. Track the most important things first.

Focus on tracking your money makers first, as they’ll have the greatest impact on your business.

If your site sells more than one product, you should be tracking the conversion rate for each product separately. Maybe your site is doing a great job of selling one product but a lousy job of selling another. This is something you need to know, so you can figure out what’s going right in the first case and what’s going wrong in the second.

4. Think in terms of ratios as opposed to absolutes.

Think in terms of percentages, not whole numbers. Instead of thinking, "Hey, I made 25 sales last week!" - think, "Hey, I made 25 sales per 1,000 visitors last week!"

Knowing you made 25 sales last week doesn’t tell you anything by itself. If you know you made 25 sales per 1,000 visitors, however, you know your conversion rate is 2.5 percent. In other words, you know that 2.5 percent of all your visitors last week bought something from you. If it was a normal week, then, going forward, you can expect that 2.5 percent of all your customers will probably buy something.

This kind of information is essential if you want to forecast how much revenue you’re going to make in any given time period. It also gives you a baseline number that you can refer back to when testing different elements of your website.

For example: Imagine that you changed the headline of your sales page yesterday morning - and you ended up making 25 sales, just like you did the day before. Does that mean the change to your headline had no effect on your sales numbers?

Not necessarily.

Maybe you only got 100 visitors to your site yesterday, instead of 1,000. That means your conversion rate yesterday was actually 25 percent - which is HUGE! That means one in every four people took action on your site. Wow! That must have been some headline you wrote.

Of course, you should find out why you only got 100 visitors to your site yesterday. Once you bring that number back up to 1,000, then, if your conversion rate stays the same, you’ll be making 250 sales a day!

5. Track your conversions by source.

It’s not enough to know what your conversion rate is. You’ve got to know where your best-converting visitors are coming from.

For example, are your most qualified visitors coming from pay-per-click ads you’re running through Yahoo Search Marketing? Are they coming from your organic listing on Google? Or maybe from your affiliate network?

Knowing this helps you understand where your most lucrative stream of traffic is coming from - so you can focus your efforts there and work on growing those high-converting traffic numbers even bigger.

[Ed. Note: If you're looking for freedom and income, you can't do much better than starting your own business. Internet marketing expert Derek Gehl has helped thousands of people grow online businesses that generate $100,000 a year - and often much more! Learn how you can start a "hands-free" Internet business right here.

You CAN start an Internet business - or accomplish any goal you set for yourself. And with expert advice and goal-setting strategies, achieving your dreams can take as little as 15 minutes a day.]

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== Highly Recommended ==

About Ready to Give Up on EVER Getting Ahead?

I don’t blame YOU. More likely to blame are the METHODS you’ve been using.

So let me show you something different. Something that is virtually foolproof and WORKS very nearly 100% of the time… if you follow the plan.

And let me be more specific. I’m talking about the possibility of enough money to set you up for life here. I’m talking about something which, if applied according to this simple step-by-step instruction, can alter the course of your life FOREVER.

That’s a bold promise, and I’m very serious… because this is a VERY serious proposition from a VERY serious entrepreneur direct to you.

At this moment, YOU have a one-time window of opportunity like none other…

To take advantage of this opportunity, please read on.

Worth Quoting: Mark Ramsey, President of Hear2.0, on the Finishing Touch

"Old man Disney was no fool.

"After he and his Imagineers had completed the GE ‘Carousel of Progress’ for the 1964 World’s Fair, Walt invited a gaggle of GE executives to the studio for a peek at the show.

"They loved it.

"But Walt wasn’t so sure.

"’It doesn’t have a wienie!’ he said. ‘Come back in a couple weeks and I’ll show you.’

"The puzzled executives did as Walt asked. A week later they returned to see the show again. It was virtually identical to the first version - with one exception: Walt had added a comical audio-animatronic dog with a wagging tail to each scene.

"It was the ‘wienie.’ The ‘finishing touch.’ The delightful, magnetic bonus.

"Wienies are extra.

"Wienies are what you give the audience after they think they’re already satisfied.

"Wienies are what you add when what you have is good - but not good enough.

"No boss will demand that you add a wienie. In fact, your boss would prefer that you don’t waste your time with wienies.

"The wienie is the seamless way the glass fits into the metal on an iPod. It’s the solid slam of a Mercedes door closing. It’s the ‘Easter Egg’ on that DVD you just bought. It’s the glow of the logo on the back of my MacBook Pro.

"The wienie isn’t what you must do It’s what you want to do. Its delightful impact arises from the sheer joy of its creation and the desire of its creator to share that joy with others."

(Source: Hear2.0.com)

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An Antioxidant That Can Help Prevent Prostate Cancer

By Dr. Ray Sahelian, MD

Wine lovers are probably already aware that red wine contains a powerful antioxidant: resveratrol. And Dr. Sears has written about the anti-aging effects of resveratrol in ETR. For instance, animal studies hint that it can help prevent weight gain and developing the symptoms of diabetes and obesity. But the health benefits of this antioxidant don’t end there.

Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology gave male mice, on a daily basis, the equivalent of resveratrol found in a bottle of red wine. They discovered that the mice were significantly less likely to develop prostate cancer. And those mice that consumed resveratrol but still got cancer developed less serious tumors.

Red wine has about two to three milligrams of resveratrol per liter. (A liter is almost 34 ounces.) But even if you drink wine fairly regularly, taking resveratrol in supplement form is a good idea. Most resveratrol supplements on the market have about 10 mg per capsule. Taking one or two resveratrol supplements a week is fine if you are also consuming many other antioxidants every day. However, if you hardly take any antioxidant supplements, you can take the resveratrol more frequently. You can find resveratrol supplements in most health food stores.

[Ed. Note: Sometimes the difference between poor and good health is simply knowing the right supplements to take. Learn how you can start to feel better and get healthier right here.

For more about the supplements you should and shouldn't be taking, visit www.RaySahelian.com, the website of Ray Sahelian, MD, internationally recognized as a moderate voice in the evaluation of natural supplements and the author of Mind Boosters.]

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It’s Good to Know: Buying Real Estate in Canada

By Julie Broad

The Canadian real estate market isn’t just for Canadians. Americans may wish to find shelter from the faltering housing market in the U.S. by making some Canadian investments. But first, there are some things you need to know.

• Banking: Canada has a banking oligopoly, with five banks dominating the lending scene. It’s also strictly regulated by the government. There are programs for American residents buying property in Canada, so contact a Canadian mortgage broker or one of Canada’s major lending institutions (CIBC, Scotiabank, Royal Bank of Canada, TD Canada Trust, or Bank of Montreal) to learn more.

• Taxes: Interest on your home is not tax deductible in Canada. Income from investments and 50 percent of capital gains are taxed fully at your applicable income tax rate (which is higher in Canada than in the U.S.). Canada Revenue Agency (www.cra.gc.ca) has a website full of information that you ought to review before you make a purchase.

• The Economy: The Canadian economy is still strong. But everyone is concerned about the future because of troubles in the U.S., our high dollar (which is hurting our manufacturing and export industry), and the high price of oil. Real estate prices have stabilized, Canadian businesses continue to create new jobs, and houses continue to sell at a strong pace, so real estate purchases still make sense. But do your research first. You can get up-to-the-minute news feeds of what’s happening in the Canadian real estate market at www.renx.ca.

[Ed. Note: Julie Broad is a real estate investor and a member of ETR's Internet Money Club. In eight years, Julie and her husband have built a multimillion-dollar real estate portfolio in their spare time with minimal cash resources. They publish a free monthly newsletter to help other rookie real estate investors achieve their investment goals. Check it out here.]

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== Highly Recommended ==

The Greatest Medical Discovery of the Century

Scientists have discovered a remarkable substance that has the power to prevent diabetes, stop heart disease before it starts, and kill cancer cells on contact. In fact, this substance has been shown to prevent and treat more than 20 major diseases in all!

However, more than 85% of the population is deficient in this disease-killer at least part of the year. And believe it or not, medical professionals and health authorities actually advise people to avoid the single greatest source of this vital substance.

Click here to learn why you probably haven’t heard about this revolutionary discovery.

Word to the Wise: Palliate

To "palliate" (PAL-ee-ate) - from the Latin for "to conceal" - is to lessen in severity or make less intense.

Example (as used by Steven Polansky in Harper’s Magazine): "I had held a hope that she would take my class, that I would have the chance not only to cope with but to help palliate her pain."

[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.]

Copyright ETR, LLC, 2008

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