The Conversion Scientist™

Content Marketing with Joe Pulizzi and Joel Granoff

2008-08-21T06:46:00.001-07:00

While I'm listed as one of the ever-knowledgeable experts on this upcoming Webinar on Content Marketing, I'm really coming to learn something. I hope you will, too.

Joe Pulizzi is the co-author of the book Get Content. Get Customers. He's also the founder and CCO (Chief Content Officer) for Junta42, a site that is all about content and content marketing. Let's just say, he knows content and he's got the community to prove it.

Joel Granoff is the founder of Be Greeted a company that uses one of the most intimate kinds of content you can use to generate leads: chat. This is the online equivalent of having sales people walking your Web site, ready when someone's really close to making a decision. Now, that's content.

Now, put these guys together with yours truly, tell them that they can't use bulleted slides, and what do you get?

A really interesting conversation about the state of the art on content marketing. We call it "Right Content. Right Response." and it's coming to a computer near you on August 26.

We're unscripted and we're going to dig into the nitty-gritty with examples and case studies; you know, stuff you can use.

Get out your hard questions and join the conversation.

August 26, 2008
11:00am Central
Register to attend

What do you do when the Traffic starts coming?

2008-08-19T08:30:00.001-07:00

Like some bad Verizon commercial dream, you get a big PR success or your search marketing efforts kick in.

People start coming to your site.

Of course, you've been preparing for this day, but are you ready? How do you know?

Start by voting for the SXSW Panel "What do you do when the traffic starts coming?" I'll bring together luminaries from the world of content marketing, persona development and social media strategy to help you decide which content will engage your visitors and how to present it to your particular audience.

With the advent of search marketing, we've developed a "If they come they will buy" philosophy for Web sites. However, most of the traffic we’re buying is bouncing like a bad email address. This panel of experienced professionals will discuss strategies for creating content that engages and converts our visitors.

Can I get your support?

More Panels

I've also create the SXSW Panel Pimper group on Facebook. Other SXSW panel sponsors are highlighting their panel ideas and I encourage you to vote.

In particular, consider my other panel, The Patterns of Web Marketing.

Every Web site fits into a pattern, and each Web site pattern has a known set of strategies that must be implemented to make a site succeed. In this session we will help you will categorize your Web site and identify the strategies that you must employee to succeed.

See you at the show.

Conversion Science Enters the Common Language

2008-08-04T11:02:00.001-07:00

It seems that Conversion Sciences is succeeding in changing the word "conversion" from a metric, e.g. "conversion rate" to a practice and a science.

CreditCards.com has a great domain, but they seem to need a "Web Optimization Specialist."

We're looking for someone who loves the web and loves its measurability to become a Web Optimization Specialist. You'll get to work with web analytics, multivariate testing and conversion science. This is a unique combination of technical, analytical, and marketing expertise.

This comes on the heels of my post about the unfair advantage the Director of Conversion position gave one company.

I'm also pleased that they don't see conversion science as including web analytics and multivariate testing. Conversion science is about understanding your visitors, knowing their stories, and creating content and experience to deliver what they are in need of. Analytics and testing are some of the tools we use.

If you want to join the next wave of demand in your marketing career, apply to CreditCards.com via VentureLoop.

If you're with a company that wants to know what the next key skill set in online marketing will be, call me at Conversion Sciences for a chat.

Ian Clarke Gets It

2008-08-02T08:22:00.001-07:00

Ian Clarke, cofounder of Revver and recently defunct Thoof has launched a new project called SenseArray. I can't speak on SenseArray's merits just yet, but they seem to be building on a solid core principle:

The basic idea behind SenseArray is simple: the success of almost any website or service depends on your ability to figure out what your users want, and then give it to them as expeditiously as possible.

You don't need SenseArray to do this on your Web site. That's the role of Personas and Conversion Profiling.

And you can do much with your own CommonSenseArray application that is hosted in your brain.

Five Rules for Writing Copy and Headlines for Conversion

2008-07-31T13:28:00.001-07:00

Roy H. Williams can often say in a sentence what I would require an entire page to equal. I this weeks Monday Morning Memo, he summarizes the value of personas like this:

"Your business has only 3 or 4 customers living at thousands of different addresses. Your marketing should be crafted to reflect the preferences of each of them."

I required a short white paper on conversion to essentially say the same thing.

As if in cahoots with Roy, our local newspaper, the Austin American Statesman ran a feature in the auto section in which "Area dealers match efficient cars with distinct drivers."

It's a great little lesson in writing copy and headlines that convert your visitors to leads and sales.

Car Dealers Address Four Personas

The feature offers up four kinds of drivers that are looking for a fuel efficient car that meets their needs:

Family of five that needs plenty of space
Construction contractor who relies on a sturdy vehicle for hauling
Commuting couple that wants to save on gasoline
College student who occasionally travels home on the weekends

Five dealers take their best shot at providing a model that fits each persona's needs.

When writing headlines, we have limited space to make our point. Likewise, the dealers have space for about 20 words in which to make their pitch.

Here are five rules that are illustrated well by the copywriting gusto of our intrepid dealerships.

Avoid Those Irresistible Adjectives

As is so often the case on the Web, our dealers' copywriters can't resist dropping in random adjectives. For the family of five, the local Dodge dealer makes a good, if ineloquent stab at addressing a family's need for space. But, the writer insists on calling their crossover "new."

"Dodge Journey: It has a third seat option in it and it's a new crossover with mileage in the high 20s and low 30s."

Nothing in our persona description says they want a new model. Don't new models always have problems?

Likewise, our Ford dealer offers a

"New seven-passenger vehicle with a V6 and rated at 24 mpg."

This dealer actually misses the opportunity to use an adjective productively. In stating that the car has a V6, he's clearly trying to say it's powerful. So why not say "with a powerful V6?" Here the adjective "powerful" closes the loop between the feature and the benefit.

The Volkswagen dealer also uses "new." The Mazda dealer drops "unique" into the mix. Is the Mazda5 "unique" because that model only holds six passengers while the others hold seven?

The worst case of random adjectivitis is displayed by the Ford dealer, who actually brags to the Construction Contractor that their Ford Ranger is a "smaller" pickup.

Yikes.

Use Specific Language

The power of having personas is that you can very specifically target language to your readers. Just as keywords influence search engines, they also influence readers.

For the Construction Contractor persona, our Mazda dealer offers the best use of specific language:

"B2300 Pickup: Available with contractor package. Gets 26 mpg on the highway."

Now, I don't know if Mazda actually offers a "contractor package." I suspect that the writer of this ditty is talking about a combination of options, such as the towing package, the bed liner option and the heavy-duty upholstery option.

None-the-less, calling it the "contractor package" is using language that will specifically draw the attention of this persona, a contractor. Mazda wins in this category.

Volkswagen tells a family of five that there is "ample room for multiple passengers." Did they mean "multiple personalities?" Why didn't they say "five" or "six" or "seven" passengers? With a little thought about the day-to-day challenges this persona faces, they could have offered "ample room for a family of five and the neighbor's kids, too."

Tell the Story

It is my experience that Web copywriters are afraid to tell stories. Drawing pictures with your words is powerful, but often difficult, especially when writing headlines.

Our Mazda dealer wins in this category again. For the Commuting Couple, they offer this:

"Miata: Convertible makes commuting fun. Available with power retractable top. Gets 28 mpg highway."

With four words -- "convertible makes commuting fun" -- the writer has me in a sporty car, top-down, on a sunny day, rocking to some AC/DC and smugly grinning at those drivers trapped in their metal cages.

You too can afford to use limited space for storytelling. This is because, like me, readers will fill in the details that you leave out.

When a reader fills in the details they are actually customizing your copy for you.

How could our Dodge dealer have turned "leather interior and alloy wheels" into a story?

Stop Making Excuses

How do you interest your reader when your product doesn't actually meet the known needs of a persona? You don't try.

In several places, our dealers try to distract the reader from the limitations of their offerings. This is why Mazda tells a family of five that it's limited capacity Mazda5 is "unique."

Volkswagen tells contractors that the hopelessly irrelevant Tiguan compact SUV "offers versatility." What burley contractor is going to admit that he bought a "Tiguan" anyway?

Ignore personas for whom you don't have an option. If you've got to fill the space, appeal to your best reader.

For example, Volkswagen's branding targets young folks. They could tell a contractor: "No trucks, but your college student will get 29 mpg in one of our New Beetles."

When you try to make words cover for your shortcomings, you can spin off into some strange places. Our Ford dealer, apparently self-conscious about the mileage rating of its Focus, offers this to the Commuting Couple:

"Ford Focus: The window sticker shows 33 mpg, but we've got reports of customers getting 38 or 39 mpg."

That's all they wrote.

Inevitably, making excuses leads to foggy copywriting, and this is where throw-away words make their entrance.

Throw Away the Throw-away Phrases

Avoid phrases that are so commonly used they have lost all meaning. It's just plain lazy writing. On the Web, we are regaled with "industry leading" solutions, "cost-effective" plans and "easy-to-use" products. Our dealers are no different.

The Chevrolet dealer offers the Commuting Couple an Aveo, which comes "well equipped." Mazda and Volkswagen claim "versatility." GMC offers "Excellent towing capability." The Volkswagen writer heralds the Beetle as being popular for "styling and efficiency."

Readers ignore these phrases.

To get an idea how this problem is impacting your message, go through your copy and mark out all of these common phrases, euphemisms and metaphors. That will show you what your readers are truly "hearing."

Instead of "well-equipped," Chevrolet could say "with power windows and doors."

Instead of "Excellent towing capability," our GM dealer could say "Effortlessly tows your construction trailer and boat." ("boat" = lake, sun, freedom. See "Tell the Story.")

Instead of saying "styling and efficiency," our Volkswagen dealer could take a lesson from Dodge, who tells their College Student:

"There's plenty of room for stuff and it looks cool."

To a baby boomer, this may sound like a poor writing. However, we're not writing for a baby boomer. For an 18 to 20 year old college student, this may sound to them like Dodge speaks their language. In both cases, this style is unexpected -- the opposite of a throw-away phrase -- and will "wake up" the reader to the message.

The Matrix is Not a Bad Idea

It wouldn't be a bad idea to make your own matrix. Like our car dealership example, you would list your personas down the side. Across the top you would list products or specific features. Then compose your primary messages or headlines that are use specific language, tell stories and let the reader fill in the details. Then go back and check for avoidable adverbs and throw-away words.

If your product of feature doesn't offer anything for a particular persona, leave it blank.

Here is the persona-based feature in all of its glory.

The MondayMorningMemo© of Roy H. Williams, the Wizard of Ads®

The Austin American Statesman

Demystifying the "Demystified" Engagement Calculation

2008-07-30T01:34:00.001-07:00

I don't know Eric T. Peterson, who writes the blog and book entitled "Web Analytics Demystified", but the summary of his "visitor engagement calculation" in this MarketingSherpa article has me, well, mystified. Here's the equation:

Engagement Calculation (Ci + Ri + Di + Li + Bi + Fi + Ii) / 7
Describing Peterson’s engagement model as a combined metric is an understatement. It takes seven metrics, each one an index that represents an engagement factor. Most of them will be familiar to you. They all depend on the variable “n.”

As if that wasn't enough, here's an explanation of just the first variable of the equation:

Indices: Engagement Factors
->Ci: Click Depth Index
Definition: the number of sessions having more than “n” page views divided by the total number of sessions by the user.
This index calculates the percentage of sessions a visitor clicks deeply into your website. How deeply? That depends on where you set “n.” For every session that a visitor’s page views exceed “n,” their engagement score will increase.

The level of sophistication required to measure this is significant. Only the most sophisticated online marketers will ever achieve this level of anal retentiveness.

So what of small and medium-sized businesses?

I recommend using the "Duh-mystified" Conversion Sciences Engagement Calculation: Bounce Rate.

Bouncy Bouncy

The inverse of visitor engagement is visitor leaving. Quickly. Bounce Rate measures the ratio of those visitors who visit a page and then click nothing. If a visitor isn't engaged by anything they see on the page, they bounced. Maybe to a competitor.

The bounce rate on your home page is a pretty good indicator of how many of your visitors are bouncing off your message, layout, message, copy and design.

For a home page, a bounce rate of 30% is considered good. That means that 70% of the visitors were engaged enough to go deeper into the site.

There are two ways to increase your bounce rate (decrease the percentage):

1. Get better qualified traffic from your advertising and organic search efforts.

2. Offer things on your home page that your visitors care about.

Profiling your visitors is one way to understand what they are coming for and, thus, what you should feature on your site.

So, before you get into the calculus of engagement, take a look at how engaging your home page and landing pages really are.

MarketingSherpa: How to Measure Website Engagement: Calculate Scores for Every Visitor

Search Marketing Philosophy: "If they come, they will buy"

2008-07-10T15:26:00.001-07:00

Over the past two years we've managed to move away from the "Field of Dreams" Web site philosophy of "If you build it, they will come." Most businesses are now investing in search marketing to get more people to their Web properties.

Unfortunately, we are stuck in the "if they come they will buy" philosophy of online marketing. It's every bit as valid as "if you build it they will come," which means it's not valid at all.

Search Insider's Tameka Kee summarized a MarketingSherpa study that tells us that 40% of you marketers aren't paying attention to conversion rate and ROI in your Search Campaigns.

While such statistics makes a Conversion Scientist bow his head and shake it slowly, this is where the opportunity lies. When those 40% see declining traffic and leads, they will have little choice but to start offering their visitors what they are looking for to engage them and convert them. Which means they need to know what their visitors are looking for.

Let me introduce you to your visitors.

Two Search Metrics You Should Pay Attention To
MarketingSherpa

"With prices rising steadily, marketers who evaluate search against tangible KPIs will be the ones who will optimize and balance their spending," the report said. - Read the whole story...

Don't forget to come to the SEM for SMB conference. I'll be the one talking about conversion. Apparently, 40% of the chairs will be empty. Use the code science08 to save a ton on the show.

Search Marketing for Small and Medium-sized Businesses (Discount Code Included)

2008-06-26T19:47:00.001-07:00

I'm pleased to have been invited to speak at the SEM for SMB conference. I'm pleased because I love small business.

I love small business because they are so very aware of what's important to their business, and usually act accordingly. When a small or medium-sized business understands how things work, they put them to work in their business.

Unfortunately, search engine marketing (SEM) is an allusive set of practices for many businesses. This is doubly unfortunate because search can be such an equalizer against larger competition.

Now, there's the SEM for SMB conference. Competition beware.

A Workshop

I've chosen to present a workshop at SEMforSMB rather than do a presentation. In my workshop, I'll focusing on the strategies a business must implement to turn Web traffic into leads and sales. We'll help a room full of business owners and marketing managers put their business in a category and then discuss the strategies that Web sites in that category should implement well.

I hope you'll be able to attend. To sweeten the deal, I've got a discount code -- good until July 1 -- that will save you $50.

$50 Discount Code (until July 1) science08

Workshop Date: Thursday, July 17, 1:30 to 3:30

We're in Good Company

I've had the happy honor of working with many of the speakers at the event including Volacci, Spoonbend, Social Web Strategies, and Apogee Search. I think you'll find them enlightening and very helpful.

Please come!

An "Unfair" Advantage on the Web: Director of Conversion

2008-06-22T20:50:00.001-07:00

There are still huge opportunities to get a competitive advantage on the Web. Naturally, I believe that being a leader in conversion strategy is one of those opportunities. While "progressive" marketing departments are creating positions such as "Director of Search Marketing" to build traffic to their sites, a company that markets online courses is taking the lead where it counts: at the point of action.

For most marketing departments, conversion is a metric. For this company it is a discipline worthy of a director level position. In creating the Director of Conversion position they are saying:

We want to fully leverage the qualified traffic we are getting to our Web properties
We want to get the most from our advertising spends
We want to provide our visitors with the information and experience they are looking for
We want to kick our competitors' asses

Does your business need a Director of Conversion? The company was kind enough to provide us with the text of the job description that they used to find their Director of Conversion. I will say that it was a long search, but the conversion team is dealing in terms of orders of magnitude improvements in conversion and new clients.

Imagine what this team will know about their market in a year.

Following is the full job description, and I think they nailed it.

Job Description

Position: Director of Website Conversion
Reports to: Chief Marketing Officer

Supervisory Responsibility: Site Conversion team
Job Description:

As the owner of the presentation layer of our websites, you and your team are responsible for optimizing our conversion from site traffic to lead inquiry and student production across all web sites, micro sites, and landing pages in the company. Project management, web site usability, testing methodologies (A/B and multi-variant), and managerial skills are required as you will be expected to generate, execute and analyze the results of a testing plan for each website in our rapidly growing portfolio of university partnerships. In this highly visible role, you’ll partner with business unit leaders and other core process owners to positively impact the lives of thousands of people each year and improve ROI for our partner schools and fellow employees.
Ideal candidates will have a combination of extensive HTML experience, solid project management ability and past responsibility for managing a team. This person should have an understanding of the general concepts related to content management systems, search engine optimization, web analytics and user experience design. A strong set of communication skills is also essential, as the Director of Website Conversion will work closely with many departments company wide.
A. Daily Duties:

Responsible for hands-on development of the front-end presentation for all company student facing program web sites
Stay informed of continuing developments in the industry and apply best practices.
Recruit, select, train, performance manage, and develop staff
Continually improve ROI for dollars invested through this phase of the value chain company wide.
Lead and manage a team engaged in implementing tests, building new and maintaining existing web sites at the sales and marketing level (presentation layer).
Develop systems to ensure quality and optimize for high volume throughput
Collaborate with business unit, infrastructure groups and other core process leaders to plan tests for marketing message, new sales tools and lead generation features, promotional offers, impact of graphical elements like, colors, logo’s, layout, etc.
Ensure exceptional quality and usability of all web sites, while optimizing performance and scalability

B. Weekly Duties:

Design multi-variant tests to achieve maximum insight in the shortest time possible
Develop measure and publish key metrics for site conversion per web site and roll up company-wide
Serve as functional process owner on Operations team
Publish key learning’s for the benefit of other stakeholders and roll global enhancements across all sites
Work in partnership with the IT team to define optimal technology solutions and processes for constructing web applications
Work in partnership with various business owners from sales, marketing and product management to ensure the successful launch of short and long term initiatives

C. Monthly Duties:

Formally record test variations and results for later reference
Manage departmental costs to meet or spend less than budget
Apply knowledge gained in accumulating test results into new web sites created
Develop and maintain testing plans for each web site and landing page
Determine length of test to reach statistical significance for data set
Formally present summarized test results to operating team.

D. Annual Duties:

Review and refresh team training materials
Develop and maintain job descriptions and conduct annual performance reviews
Participate as department head in the budgeting process
Provide strategic input toward the future evolution of the department and function as the company grows.
Develop standards and document best practices as it relates to the web sites development
Conduct research into current and emerging Web technologies and issues in support of on-line initiatives; identify influencing industry developments and trends; present recommendations to management in clear and concise manner

Qualifications:

Bachelor’s degree in related field or an equivalent combination of skills, training and hands-on experience
At least 2-5 years experience designing high-impact web sites using emerging technologies, including management responsibility in an on-line technology environment
Familiarity with web site analytics/web site statistics software, such as Google Analytics, Web Trends, etc.
At least 2 years experience selecting, managing, and growing teams of at least 3-6 staff members
Ability to manage, motivate and teach a team of front end web designers to successfully deliver multiple, concurrent projects with quality
Strong organizational skills and attention to detail required
Proficient with Microsoft Office
Strong analytical and problem solving skills. Ability to work at management level, but willingness and acumen to provide hands-on support when necessary.
Experience with testing methodologies as used in marketing practice
Project management experience with formal training preferred
Expert knowledge of web-based presentation layer technologies, including HTML, CSS, XHTML; solid understanding of content management systems; experience with AJAX and Javascript a plus
Knowledge of search engine optimization techniques and experience leveraging web analytics tools to gain insight into user behavior
Knowledge of the principles of user-centered design; experience facilitating usability testing

I don't think I would have changed a thing about this job description. Thanks to Jeff Hoogendam for his contribution.

Why Isn't Your Web Site Generating More Business?

2008-05-22T14:47:00.001-07:00

When it comes to the Web, things can seem very complicated to marketing teams and business owners.

I believe that a site that gets a few things right will outperform the business that tries everything. That is, if you know what's most important to your particular site, you can generate more leads and business.

I've teamed up with Jon Lebkowsky of Social Web Strategies to develop a workshop that will help marketers and business owners figure out what kind of Web site they need for their business and then which three strategies they need to get right.

If I'm creating a social site, I've got to nail the "invite your friends" functionality.

If I'm creating a consumer e-commerce site, my product pages have to be right.

If I'm selling to businesses and have a long sales cycle, then my email nurturing campaigns are critical.

I think we can isolate three strategies for any site that will make or break the Web marketing effort.

Join us on May 28 in Austin, Texas for the Web Strategies Workshop.

Photo courtesy epidemya

My Facebook Application Week 1: When nobody comes

2008-05-11T12:06:00.001-07:00

It's been a week since we launched the BookLobby application in Facebook. We've already got two completed booklobbies; one by me and one by my developer.

This situation was expected. I'm really just getting up to speed on social marketing. Most of the time I've budgeted toward BookLobby has been spent wrangling friends and acquaintances into doing something as a favor. We'll see where that goes.

I have excuses too for why nobody has come. Here's my current list:

It takes commitment to do a Booklobby. Be patient.
We aren't in the Application search list yet. I'm not yet sure why this is.
We haven't given visitors a way to share the application. We didn't want to trick people into sharing like so many spam applications, but we should have provided SOME way to share.
We don't explain enough about what you should do on the pages we present
Our marketing guy is weak (gulp)

I find myself trapped in a little Catch 22: I don't want to invite some A players until we have content, but it looks like we won't have content until I invite some A players.

Right now, I'm favoring patience and wrangling up some content from my personal network.

What would you do?

Buy some installs from Slide or Rock You?
Start courting political bloggers?
Send out press releases?

I Launched a Facebook Application

2008-05-06T10:10:00.001-07:00

I can already hear you yawning. But, as an online marketing guy, I need to know more about the moving parts of this social strategy.

Plus, I had an idea that needed to be implemented. I'm actually very proud of it.

I want to start by talk about what I'm learning, not what the application does. Bear with me (or scroll down) to learn what the application is about.

My Un-Facebook Application

Those who have implemented successful Facebook applications will tell me that I've already committed a couple of enormous errors that will doom the application to failure.

First, I'm not interested in understanding an advertising business model, so we aren't looking for advertisers nor are we displaying any advertising. We expect the application to be self-funded based on affiliate fees.

Second, I want the content to be the reason people tell others, not that they forgot to click "Skip" when asked to invite all of their friends. So, we aren't going to ask you to share with your friends. We want you to share it with all of your friends, so we better have some damn good content.

Yes, we may be doomed.

But comments by Zuckerberg at the SXSW conference and sources like Allfacebook are hinting that this strategy may actually work in our favor. We keep the SPAM down.

Other than that, we're a mashup application that relies on the contributions of users to create the content and spread the word.

Selling My Facebook Application

I have to admit that, despite all of my supposed marketing genius, I find it difficult to know how to coordinate my marketing approach. There are many ways to spread the word.

What would you do?

The Application

OK, so here's the skinny on the application.

It's called BookLobby. Please install it now and give it a whirl.

BookLobby makes it easy for you to send a book of your choosing to an elected official or politician of your choosing complete with your commentary. Will the politician read it? Well, his staff might. They're more likely to read it than any form email you send.

What's more important is what Facebook brings to the picture. Your commentary becomes part of the public conversation fueled by the social machinery of a major social network. It's power politics from the ground up, and I'm very excited.

You can read more about the booklobbies over at the BookLobby Blog. I'll try to limit my commentary on Customer Chaos to what I'm learning about marketing a Facebook application.

Why Web Designers and Conversion Scientists Butt Heads

2008-04-15T05:52:00.001-07:00

This is a hilarious riff on the bad decisions business managers make when they do their own Web design (or let their Web developer do it). It starts off funny enough.

The first product advertised is "Make My Logo Bigger Cream." Spray it on any Web site or ad and your Logo becomes the major visible feature -- instantly!

On the Web, business managers apply this same concept to copy. The result is Web sites that talk about the company and its solutions with no recognition for the PROBLEMS that their visitors are trying to solve.

This satires a battle that both designers and Conversion Scientists fight often. But, then the video goes to far.

In space, no one can hear you persuade.

The next product "advertised" is "Whitespace Eliminator". Here's where action-oriented Conversion Scientists diverge from emotion-oriented designers. To the Conversion Scientist, whitespace is only helpful if it helps to guide the eye along a page to relevant information. To the designer it might be used to communicate openness, freedom, simplicity or any other host of emotions. On the Web, it's the expansive page headers that push the messages down "below the fold" that will jack your bounce rate through the roof. Often, people just want to see what you have to say and have no interest in openness, freedom, or simplicity.

Give them what they want.

The video even gives us a great example of what Agency Fusion (the video's copyright holder) might recommend, complete with what the Eisenbergs call "Wee-Wee" copy:

Take a Load Off.
"Dotbiznet develops and licenses Internet based products which help make personal computers easier to use and maintain by large and small business users and individual consumers."

Using so much space to say so little is anathema to our work as Conversion Scientists. All that space basically says "Dotbiznet does something with PCs and we do it in a field." Huh? I'm sure the folks at Agency Fusion are actually poking fun at themselves with this... aren't they?

So, I think the Whitespace Eliminator is actually a helpful product here.

Emphasize the relevant information.

The video then moves on to the next product featured in this video series: "Starburst Dust"

Don't look up. Tell me the cost of these offers from the ad at the top of this post. You probably new because of the Starburst with $29.99 in it, right? (Please comment below to confirm). Drawing your readers' eyes to relevant information, like price is what good conversion design does. Now, I've never recommended a Starburst, but I do recommend colored boxes that stand out AND placement near the top of the page.

So, here again, I think I have to disagree with the designers' sarcasm.

Use color to serve your visitors, not your ego.

Next up is the Fluoresce Sizer spray. Just spray it on and your Web site becomes a rainbow of fluorescent colors. This is extreme, but designers can get a little inflexible with their color palette. Conversion Scientists want certain things to stand out. Good designers are our best resource for using color to our advantage.

But, bad designers also do things like make link text almost the same color as the rest of the text (until you mouse over it). Not helpful to the reader or the business manager. Blue underlined links may not match the palette, but everyone knows what they mean. So change the palette.

Finally -- and all for just $29.99 -- there's Emotionator. By rubbing Emotionator creme on your marketing or inserting the "patented" Emotionator USB device into your computer, you can add heart-rending images to your marketing, such as American flags, puppies and baby seals. There are plenty of designers who will laugh at this bit of satire, and then turn around and put stock images of starched business people on a business Web site.

Images are powerful. Choose them well based on your conversion profiles. Remember this: a picture is NOT worth a thousand words. Words create more powerful images than pixels.

Treat your designers well.

So, I've spent far to much time taking a satirical video seriously. I've been tough on designers before, so I better fess up: I'm not in any way equipped, trained or talented enough to do what decent designers do. I've tried. Just look at my blog. If a designer does their homework, they should nail it. If they don't do their homework, they should copy their Conversion Scientist's homework.

The REAL gem of the video is THE LOOK. As a Conversion Scientist, you will see this look from your designers. You can even "see" this look over the phone. I don't need to explain it, but be prepared.

Make My Logo Bigger Cream

#12. Do You Charge for Your Free Service?

2008-04-11T18:43:00.001-07:00

Am I a marketing sheep? 261 Questions

Xobni is free. They're offering a private beta that is free, if you can get in.

Those of us who want to get an early taste of the service are paying for admittance. We're paying with our connections, with our links, and with our opinion.

I hope Xobni the application is as smart.

At this point, I'm not a Xobni fan. I've never used it. But I did request to get into their private beta. That was almost two months ago. I've done this with dozens of services.

When I got an email from them recently, I'd already forgotten what they do. But, they said I could get in early and with a click they would tell me how.

The Life's Blood of Web 2.0

What does any Web 2.0 company need to survive and thrive?

Not money. At least not much.

Not a high-powered sales team.

They need more people to try the site, people who will help them make it better. So, Xobni offered three ways to get into their early beta.

You should copy these down.

Invite friends (at least 4)
Qualify yourself as a desirable beta tester
Put their badge on your blog and generate two signups.

So, they've turned what could be a dark period with no press into a social free-for-all. This is more powerful than any $9.95 monthly subscription fee -- at least at this point in their life.

Smart.

What are you charging for your free services?

P.S.: Here's the badge. Now go join so I can get in early.

MarketingSherpa Weighs in on Using Personas to Lift Revenue

2008-03-19T14:59:00.001-07:00

If you don't get to this content before March 26, signup for a MarketingSherpa trial to get this case study on Personas.

In this case study from H20+, Sherpa give us seven steps for creating and using Personas. I wanted to weigh in.

1. Start with what you know

The beauty of personas is that, by developing them, you are really just organizing what you already know about your customers and Web visitors.

2. Talk to people who interact with your customers

The case study calls out customer service reps, sales people and technical support reps as sources for knowledge that can be shaped into personas. Smaller companies will want to include founders, product managers and marketing managers.

3. Dig into your data

This is pretty intuitive, but don't let a lack of data keep you from developing a set of personas. It is better to market to a specific "wrong" visitor than it is to market to nobody.

4. Identify the holes

Often times, we don't know some of the key reasons that people take action. What information are you not considering?

5. Fill in the blanks

Surveys, focus groups and such are really only effective when you're trying to answer specific questions. You already know what you know. Use these tools to find out what you don't know.

6. Name your personas

I'd go a step further and say give them names that will invoke their personality and role. Some of the persona names I've developed include Naive Nick, Penny Planner, Larry Leftbrain, and Victor Visionary. I also attach a picture of them to each profile.

7. Refine Personas

When developing personas for Web marketing, I recommend updating personas with each analytics review -- typically once per month. The changes may not be significant, but if you realize you're missing a segment of your visitors, you can add new personas immediately. This is better than waiting a year.

I'll also add the following suggestion provided by Lynn Pausic from Expero, Inc. in her presentation to the Bootstrap Network in January:

8. Put your personas up on a Wiki

All too often the personas are shoved into a drawer or buried on someone's hard drive. Put them on a wiki where they can be easily accessed and updated by the entire staff.

Needless to say, you should be subscribe to MarketingSherpa's free best-of newsletter.

MarketingSherpa: How to Use Personas to Lift Revenue 500% in 7 Easy-to-Follow Steps

Presentations on Conversion in Austin

2008-03-18T12:22:00.001-07:00

If you're in the Austin area in March, you have two opportunities to catch my presentation Conversion: The most important word for online businesses.

Tonight, March 18, I'll be presenting at a meeting of the Bootstrap Network at 6:30pm. The meeting will be held at Cafe Caffeine (click for map).

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I'll be presenting at the Successful Networking Association on Wednesday, March 26 over lunch. This meeting will be held at Peony Asian Cuisine starting at 11:30.

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I hope you can make it.

Watch my blog for slides.

#11 Do You Understand Signaling Theory

2008-02-16T08:58:00.001-08:00

261 Questions

"Yes. Absolutely," he said with some aplomb, yet his head shook back and forth tightly as he spoke the words. Immediately, I felt a twinge of concern that I hadn't been heard or understood. I wanted him to get my point. I felt strongly about it. His mouth spoke the words I wanted to hear. His head signaled something different.

Either he wasn't listening or he was thinking something more than his words communicated. Maybe he was tired of listening to me. In the parlance of Tom Wanek, this was counter-signaling. I recently saw Tom's presentation at the Wizard Academy on Signaling Theory. He gave me permission to summarize it here.

Signaling: Aligning actions with words to gain credibility and trust in your marketing.

UPDATE: Tom Wanek is teaching the workshop Fight the Big Boys and Win at the Wizard Academy near Austin, Texas May 13-14. Free meals and lodging for first 12 students.

The Costs of Signaling

There is a cost to making action and communication match. In the case of my friend, he could have paid with better attention, or with honesty about his doubts. Tom would have called the first a "Time and Energy" cost; the latter an "Opportunity Cost" in that he may have insulted me and lost all opportunity with me.

The key to credibility is the cost of aligning word and action. If you pay the cost, you can gain the credibility.

Tom identified six Signaling Costs in his presentation.

Material Wealth (or your businesses' resources)

To build credibility, don't make claims that the business hasn't made real.

If you're going to offer a warranty as proof of your quality, you're going to have to give some money back. That's a material cost

If you're going to taut your great customer service, you're going to have to hire excellent people to service your customers. That's a real investment of salary dollars.

If you're going to claim industry-leading technology (please never use this terminology) you've got to invest in technology that offers more than your competitors. That's a real capital expenditure.

Time and Energy

Where does the business you're marketing for focus its energy? At Conversion Sciences, I would get more leads if I led with my SEO or SEM resources. It's what people are looking for today. But I spend 75% of my time on Conversion Analysis. Hence, I focus my brand and messaging on conversion. For example, my title is "Conversion Specialist." Better than "Online Marketing Specialist," this signals where I invest my time.

By this time next year, everyone will know what "conversion" means.

Opportunity

What opportunities are you willing to pass by so that you can signal clearly?

This is the cost that marketing to personas illuminates. In the process of focusing your marketing message on a few visitor personas, you must stop messaging to some segment of your visitorship. That's the opportunity cost.

Tom uses the example of Toyota's Scion brand, which is targeted and signals to buyers 18 to 24 with non-conformist tendencies. It was a success and they could have significantly expanded the market to older, more conformist buyers. But they felt they would have lost their core buyers. So the capped production and maintained their targeted message.

That's a real opportunity cost.

Power and Control

The social marketing movement has caused us to begin considering this cost. Anytime you let visitors and customer post on your site, you lose power and control. Facebook recently counter-signaled it's community by trying to take back some control with their Beacon advertising platform. This unilateral action was not in alignment with their signaling that said the users owned and controlled their Facebook experience.

Reputation and Prestige

Standing for what you believe can cost you in reputation and prestige. Tom uses the example of Patagonia, a clothing manufacturer that, in the midst of thriving turned "green." They now only offer environmentally-friendly products. Naturally, a portion of their loyal customer base found this to be "preachy" or alarmist. It was inevitable that their reputation would suffer, but the owner decided to signal his beliefs and, by proxy Patagonia's values.

Safety and Well-being

The most extreme example of paying the price of safety and well-being is "betting the company" on an idea or marketing message. Putting your entire marketing budget into Superbowl ad is one example.

Lifelock CEO Todd Davis published his Social Security Number in the company's marketing and advertising. This was bold, and seems to have worked well for them. Of course, if he'd been hacked, the company would have been humiliated and all credibility lost.

The Benefits Must Exceed the Cost

My friend Jeffrey Peltier is an incredibly knowledgeable search marketer. Yet, he doesn't have a Web site. Not even a blog. He has great referral business and the cost of maintaining a site that would pass muster for a search "expert" is too high. While his competition is spending time on their Web site, he's spending time making customers LOVE -- and talk about -- his results.

More From Tom

It is always a treat to spend time at the Wizard Academy, and this past Tuesday's Open House was no exception. The Academy is about understanding communication. The ideas you'll find are generally new ways of looking at how we deliver and absorb messages.

Tom Wanek will be presenting a workshop at the Wizard Academy in the coming months. Enter your email below, and I'll remind you with a post when the date has been finalized.

The Importance of Story Telling

2008-02-01T14:38:00.001-08:00

Just a program note that Austin Business District Magazine's BD Tech Daily has picked up a post I did on the Bootstrap Network blog. In it I discuss how David Ansel, the Soup Peddler built an amazingly loyal customer base by telling (and living) stories.

This is a great lessons for marketers.

If You're Selling to Humans, You've Got to Tell Stories

How did David Ansel build a business peddling soup around Austin? He sold something more valuable than good soup. He sold a story.

Conversion Science, Friends and Customers

2008-01-25T17:44:00.001-08:00

At the risk of sounding like I'm bashing SEO people, a friend of mine forwarded me this old blog post from Seth Godin's blog. It's the last line that is intriguing to a Conversion Scientist like myself.

"You will win once you figure out the simple mechanics of turning strangers into friends and friends into customers."

This a poetic way to describe what we're trying to do with conversion, and why I believe "conversion" will be the hot marketing term by the end of 2008.

Seth's Blog: The problem with search engine optimization

Business Owners: Here's the Truth About Building Your Web Site

2008-01-19T14:03:00.001-08:00

It's Time for a Rant

Throughout my career, I've been involved in tens of Web projects -- many of which started before my involvement, but not all. The vast majority of them have fallen far short of their initial vision. Many were all-out train wrecks.

Business Owners, read this before you decide to create a Web presence, "update" your Web site or start taking orders online.

What I am writing here about the professionals you will work with isn't true. But, it is exactly what you will experience if you decide to manage the Web development process yourself.

The Low Barrier to Entry Trap

Software seems very malleable. It looks at first glance (and second and third) like something that’s cheap to produce and easy to change. That’s the trap.

If you buy into the thought that there is a low barrier to entry in software – and Web sites especially – you’ll also buy this little gem:

It’s more cost-effective to build an application and release it to the public than it is to research your audience to tell you what to build.

The people who write software have seen high-profile stories of this strategy at work. It general will NOT work for your business, and you shouldn’t have to depend on such a strategy, because, over time, it's very expensive.

This is the first major disconnect between Web developer and business owner.

The Disconnect Between Business Owner and Web Developer

The business owner sees a Web site as a brochure that takes orders. To them, a Web site is a convincing collection of words and pictures with the added bonus that people can actually buy stuff. Right there. In the brochure.

The Web developer sees it as a puzzle in which the pieces don’t have to fit perfectly. To them a Web site is an imperfect, growing and self-evolving organism. Developers are patient people. It’s just software.

Meanwhile the business owners fortunes are dependent on the site. As development stretches on and on, he sees his fortunes going down the toilet. The business owner really doesn’t understand why a brochure that sells stuff is so hard to get finished.

Working with Developers Sucks

You will never find a person less able to communicate, worse at time management, more limited in planning ability and more truly autistic in his professional relationships than you will in a Web developer.

If they're busy, you’re really hosed.

My mind boggles at how few exceptions I’ve seen in the innumerable Web development projects I’ve been involved in. And, as a developer, I was not an exception.

Web developers are sometimes brilliant, but they're rarely effective.

A talented project manager may know how to accommodate such an animal. A business owner, with other matters to consider is going to crash and burn.

And it doesn't stop with the Web developers.

Designers Design for Themselves

Great designers don’t compromise. Unfortunately, bush league designers don’t either.

Designers are doing art. No matter what they tell you, they can rarely prevent themselves from injecting some part of their soul into your logo design. Once that happens, asking them to change something is like asking them to remove one of the legs from their newborn baby. They will do it if you insist, but you know things will never be the same between you.

Three Comps and Your Out

Rather than doing the hard work of understanding your customer, they revert to the "three comps" method of design research. Once they've created a spectrum of creative design comps, guess who picks the winner. The business owner. The one person least qualified to make design decisions.

Inevitably, he or she will prefer one of the two “throw away” comps instead of the one that has the designer has embedded his soul into.

Needless to say the relationship starts off on a bad footing.

The poor business owner is in a quandary. He is completely unqualified to select a design, yet it is his duty to choose well. He must live with the decision for a long time.

If he’s lucky, he’ll be brow-beaten into agreeing with the designer. If not, nothing the designers do will be quite right. Designers inevitably will prove that you should have listened to them.

SEO? SEM? Google?

The Shaman comes in, dressed in animal furs, waving his chicken foot, chanting to the Search Spirits, asking that they may grant the business the blessings of high search rankings, more traffic and much bounty.

Search is a very cost-effective way to advertise. There really are just a few things you need to do to effectively tell a search engine what you’re Web site is about.

The search engines want to know what you’re about.

So, how does something as straight forward as telling a search engine who you are produce such a mind-numbing assortment of schemes and tactics? How is it that there are 1000 small SEO consulting shops none of which use the same strategy? It’s because everyone is guessing.

SEO experts know for certain that their belly button moves up and down when they breathe. They just don’t know why. However, it's obvious they need to breathe in more and avoid breathing out if they want higher a belly button position.

SEO is important, and the business owner doesn’t have any frame of reference for where to put his money. He’s guessing too.

What if the Shaman brings his medicine, but the patient still dies? Well, the SEO expert can’t be responsible for a Web site that doesn’t convert. That’s a marketing or creative issue.

Copywriters and PTSD

Like designers, copywriters believe what they do is art. They are really writers who have added "copy" to their title because it pays better.

However, designers use complex tools with names like "Photoshop" to maintain gatekeeper status over their work.

Copywriters have no such protection.

The Blood of Their Children

The red ink that a business owner pours over their work looks to them like blood. There's little they can do, and then PTSD sets in -- Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Most are beaten into submission, delivering mind-numbing copy with the flavor of Styrofoam.

You see it every day. Incoherent chains of adverbs and multi-syllabic words designed only to make the business look smarter or bigger than it really is.

Good copywriters are story tellers. Business owners want manifestos to what they've built.

Unfortunately, business owners don't often meet their copywriters. The design firm often hides these poor vulnerable creatures away to minimize their pain.

Business Owners On Their Own

The business owner has his years of experience working with his customers. He has this vision for his business that he can’t get out of his head. He has a product that he’s thought about non-stop for years. The developers and designers and consultants and writers all tell him that it’s important to understand his market.

Then they make the mistake of asking him “so who are you selling to.”

Inevitably, the business owner will tell them about everyone he’s ever sold to all mashed into one über-human.

The über-human is an entity that doesn’t exist in the real world.

Marketers may even try to demographically segment the über-human into über-children, none of whom exist in the real world, either.

Then, they all go off and develop for, design for, optimize for and write for their own individual image of the client’s customer.

It's a mess.

My Advice for the Business Owner

Pay for the Process

My advice to the business owner is to hire professionals that have a discovery process, a process that intimately involves you. Processes feel expensive because you buy a great deal of a professional's time before anything actually appears on the Web.

You'll get every penny of it back and more.

Pick a Good Process

If you don't say "Ah HA" many times during this discovery process, you have bought into a poor process. If you are not learning new things about your business through the eyes of these other professionals, then they are not learning much either.

Have Someone in Your Camp

Make sure you have a project manager or marketer that works for you to manage the project. They must understand your business and advocate for you.

When what is being produced by these vendors no longer reflects your business's interests, all will be lost.

Watch the Results

Make sure that everything results in a measurable payoff that can be examined at least once a month -- sales, leads or traffic. When these measures aren't growing, stop whatever it is your consultants are doing and start asking questions.

Trust the Process

Once you feel that your Web development team has been informed by a strong discovery process, and they know that you'll know if things go awry, you can let these broken but talented professionals spread their wings.

Let the designers be artful.

Let the writers tell their stories.

Let the developers go off to their caves until the next deadline.

You don't have to know what they do as long as they really know what you do.

Brian Massey has at some point in his career been a Web developer, designer, writer and SEO consultant.

Photo courtesy mikekorn.