AmyBiddle.me - Traffic Handler Blog | AmyBiddle.me

5 Methods to Get New Customers

2022-03-21T08:26:32-04:00

So many people come to me saying that their primary issue is getting new customers, I wanted to share five ideas you can use right now to attract new buyers to your business.

Get New Customers for Free

OK first of all, nothing is actually free. But these methods don’t cost ad spend to push out to the world. They cost in time and effort, and in whatever tools you use to create them…

ONE

Use Social Media to Get New Customers

Social media posting is also a science in another itself so you do need to know what you’re doing you do need to get it right.

One example of this is that the posts on your Facebook page work in concert with your paid ad account. So you really do need to know what you’re doing when it comes to running paid ads as well as social posts on your Facebook page. But the basic formula is to publish three to five non-commercial posts to every commercial post. Using this ratio I’ve found lower ad costs (and frankly better overall efficiency) in the paid account.

I did a deep dive a while back on two accounts — one with terrible business page activities and one with excellent posts and timing.

You can do some really good business with just social media posting. Some people refer to this as organic posting. Always make sure that you’re not just drumming sales on your Facebook page. It’s really important to be human.

You can rotate your topics so that you’re sometimes talking about fun things sometimes talking about your dog sometimes talking about items in the store sometimes talking about vendors sometimes being relatable to your customers, sometimes promoting items for sale…

Don’t just post a picture of a different item every day and talk about how it’s for sale. Yawn.

TWO

Get New Customers with Referrals

Always ask customers and friends of your store for referrals.

Make it a practice always to get your customers’ email addresses at checkout. And then of practice is always too send emails asking for referrals after that sale. Don’t be silly about this. Make it fun. Ask them to bring their friends to the next sale event. Or any event for that matter.

The closer to the sale you ask for what you want, the higher the chance you’ll get it. How can you script your cashiers to ask for referrals when they are checking out customers?

THREE

Use Joint Ventures to Get New Customers

Joint ventures are doing business with people who already have your list. Think of someone who does business with your people that sells them something else (non-competing sales). How can you work together to sell more of what you sell to this joint non-competitor in your space?

For example, clothing sellers can do joint ventures with restaurants. Restaurants can do joint ventures with movie theaters.

These arrangements can be as simple as each business sharing offer cards in each other’s stores.

But you don’t have to have a brick and mortar location. Nor do both businesses have to exist online or offline.

An online pet supply store can offer to put coupons in veterinarians’ offices. The veterinarians in return, can be listed in a regional or national directory on the pet supplier’s site.

The next two items on the list may cost money up front (not always), but when done efficiently, you can get all of the new customers you can handle.

FOUR

Use Paid Traffic to Get New Customers (online)

Using social media ads that reach your targeted audiences.

Facebook has some of the best targeting available. Facebook owns Instagram, so the targeting is good for both channels.

I could write an entire book about how to run paid ads. But what will focus on for the purposes of this article will be just the fact that running paid ads gives you access to markets and audiences that you would not normally access in your local area.

Another Kind of Paid Traffic

One of my first successful marketing projects was a hybrid offline / online project. I bought a mailing list. I mailed letters… with stamps. Didn’t have a kitchen table for a week. After a few months I’d doubled my annual salary it worked so well. Basically the numbers were COGS (cost of goods sold): $50. AOV for that project was $2500. I learned a ton in that project and it was an off-the-charts success. So I felt I’d made up for some past failures, which was nice.

FIVE

Use Outbound Sales to Get New Customers

Back when I was in real estate I used to make cold calls to drum up business. I was on the phone for three hours a day, cold calling home owners. I was top listing agent in the board from year one of my time in real estate using this method.

This kind of outbound sales I used in real estate is different from most retail models of selling, but you can use outbound sales too.

My aim as a real estate agent was to build a huge listing inventory so other agents could sell the listings. I counted a “conversion” as a new listing. Listings were my inventory. Other agents were my sales team.

Depending on your business, you can do the same.

Outbound sales work for business to business (B2B) or business to consumer (B2C, also called DTC, direct to consumer).

Brick and mortar retailer (let’s say it’s a bicycle shop, for our example). Outbound sales for this business model could

Online retailer. No matter how you source your products (overseas or domestic), no matter the business model you’re using (distributor, drop shipper, private label or other)… you can use outbound sales to get new customers.

Let’s say you’re selling a health supplement. Sure, you’re relying on your website to make sales. But what if you built relationships with fitness clubs, spas, or health care providers to be a sales team for you? Make your outbound their inbound.

Use these five ideas in your business. Frankly if you use one properly you can make a ton of money. Use all five? Millions. I’ve seen it and done it.

Retail store owners! Want more methods? Want more success? Join the free Facebook Group built just for you: Traffic Handlers has your answers.

The Dance of Selling.

2021-08-13T11:21:20-04:00

I was so embarrassed I wanted to leave the room. And yet I couldn't look away.

When I was in a training program for selling face to face in the insurance industry... (renowned for some of the best training and toughest selling environments), I was on a sales call with one of the regional trainers.

We sat at the kitchen table of the prospect, a woman who had just lost her husband of 40 years. She wished she'd had this insurance policy just two months before.

She'd already purchased one of the company's products. This sales call was the one-two punch in the customer ascension model. Person buys one product, then the next salesperson comes in for the upsell.

Online, the upsell process takes a few minutes and some code. Easy, right?

In face to face selling, this process is a dance.

Of course, there are different kinds of dances. My trainer was no fox trot enthusiast. No. He preferred the tango... the most sultry and evocative dance of all.

He wooed the prospect like the master of the dance... I wanted to become invisible against the stained and tattered, floral wallpaper in that tiny kitchen.

He leaned forward in his chair... she was on the edge of hers. He'd barely lean back in his chair a millimeter... she'd lean in that much more... Her body, revealing the burdens of decades of family and a lifetime of hard farm work, would slouch in her chair... He'd respond by nearly shapeshifting and covering her tiredness with his clean, pressed and suited body.

They never once touched... not even when he handed her his pen to sign the insurance contract.

Has there been anyone in history who was so persuasive... so incredibly convincing that there was simply no one on earth who could defend against their suggestions?

That's the goal of the ads you create for your wares, my friend.

The aim of every ad, in every campaign, on every platform and channel, is to create a message so enticing that your finely selected audience has no choice but to buy...

That every time your lovely prospect sees your ad she either buys or has to freeze her credit card in an 18-inch block of ice to prevent her handing it over to you.

This is our daily challenge as marketers... to daily (or even hourly where we have the opportunity) convince the public (our very carefully chosen segment of the public) that she cannot live another moment without purchasing your item, proffered at that specific time.

Our mission is to be so relentless in the wooing of our subject, that after seeing our messages once, thrice, or (where we must) more frequently that she's worn down... becomes satisfied... convinced and defenseless.

She must buy.

The September edition (on this exact topic, in magnificent detail) of the eCommerce Traffic Handler Monthly print publication goes to press in just over two weeks. In order to be on the receiving end... in order to be one of the chosen few in this vast world who receive this epistle by mail... you must subscribe here:

https://luova.thrivecart.com/ecommerce-traffic-monthly/

Where Does Your Buying Experience Happen?

2021-08-11T15:02:48-04:00

I know with certainty that I will never run out of topics to write about. All I have to do is open my email each day and the world provides me with more horror than I could ever think up.

This is the link to Apple's CSAM FAQ. CSAM is "child sexual abuse material".

https://www.apple.com/child-safety/pdf/Expanded_Protections_for_Children_Frequently_Asked_Questions.pdf

For my full take on privacy infractions this and other big tech companies are imposing on us, please check the July 2021 issue of the eCommerce Traffic Handler Monthly, and blog post dated [link here].

Apple is making a distinction between how they access and block images... whether the data appears in Messages, in iCloud, or on the device itself.

They explain that they can't actually see the images, but they can block and send messages and even stop sharing when certain types of images appear.

They continue, stating that they are committed never to share with government agencies, or to give law enforcement access to any specific device. They have denied these requests in the past and continue to do so.

At any rate, I covered privacy in detail in last month's publication. I don't intend to spend all of August on the privacy issue as well. July was certainly more than enough.

Nor do I want anyone to get the idea that I condone any type of child abuse. Let me be clear. Child abuses of all kinds are a heinous crime that should be punished beyond the limits of the law.

But since Apple feels they can justify their techno-privacy infraction with their FAQ, I wanted to beat the proverbial dead equine communication device and share the document with you, here.

Shall we move on to greener pastures? Pastures, perhaps, with little pink hippos and frolicking unicorns?

I say yes.

Because these green pastures are where I like to spend my time.

In these lands we find grand harvests of ecommerce conversions.

If you've been with me for a while (and thank you, if you have) you know that my definition of "ecommerce" is very broad. The definition of ecommerce is selling anything online.

Most clients I work with have Shopify stores, with multiple products.

But please don't limit your selling (nor thinking about) ecommerce to multi-SKU online retail.

The value in ecommerce is much, much broader.

When we tackle the thinking problems, indeed, the philosophy of selling online is most simply mastered one item at a time.

Honestly, what customer buys your entire inventory?

I had a client a number of years ago with over 12k SKUs. They were in women's apparel.

Auto parts stores have the same issues.

There isn't a customer on the planet who will come in and buy every size bolt, cam, and filter. It's a rare customer who comes in to purchase every skirt, blouse, and chamise.

A customer comes to your store most of the time because she saw one thing she wanted. Done right she saw one magical thing that she could no longer imagine living without. She'd rather give you her money so she could have your thing. She sees your product (singular, please note) as more valuable to her than her cash or credit.

After the product experience that happens entirely inside her heart and mind, there may be a continued product discovery involving other items.

As a retailer (ecomm or brick and mortar, because these principles are all the same) your mission is to create that environment... that situation in which your customer will buy from you at least once... and then buy from you again and again and again.

The best marketers in history know that the most important elements of your business are your list of customers, and the offers you make to them.

Claude Hopkins, Robert Collier... the masters of the marketing game... these guys and the other leaders who created this great game of marketing and advertising... these guys boiled the fundamentals down to lists and offers.

(So yeah, sorry gals, most of the people who formed the early days of the direct marketing ad world were men. Some absolute genius women came along later. I'll share these women with you as we go along).

As we go through this month, the focus will be on lists and offers. And of course, the topic of the August edition of the eCommerce Traffic Handler Monthly dispatch will be a deep dive into the topic.

So... watch this space.

And no... no link today. Soon, Grasshopper. Soon.

Apple and Privacy: It Just (Doesn't) Work

2021-08-08T10:41:30-04:00

As if on cue, Apple played right into my hand.

The July dispatch issue was Topic: Privacy. And wouldn't you know, Apple went and committed a heinous gaff.

Mere days after the July issue was delivered to subscribers, Apple announced they are planning to scan all iPhones for images of child porn.

Think that's great?

I don't.

What about privacy?

Who gets to decide what's scanned and what's not?

Am I in favor of protection for pediphiles? Certainly not. It's a rotten sickness of the worst kind and these monsters are deserving of separation from society to keep children safe. Or worse.

But where anyone in the US is supposed to be "innocent until proven guilty", Apple wants to reach right in and scan for nefarious activity.

The police and FBI can't do this sort of search in our homes unless they have a warrant and reasonable cause.

To Apple, we're all criminals.

Scans looking for wrong-doing only works in movies.

Batman on a lonely rooftop, searching for villains... that's fine. We like to think that the Dark Knight is really out there somewhere, protecting us.

Apple, scanning phones, searching for monsters... that's not fine.

Vigilantes belong in movies.

Throughout history there have been those who have tried to predict behavior based on DNA.

"Behavioral genomics" is dangerous ground and a slippery slope.

Who gets to say which future crimes go under the microscope?

Murderers? No doubt. Uncover future murderers as pre-pubescents and shuffle them off to a place where they can be rehabilitated before they do any harm. What could go wrong with that?

Rapists? Absolutely. Scoop them all up and let them practice their terror on each other somewhere away from us all.

How about drug addicts and alcoholics? Surely there is a way to identify people who will be prone to addiction. Couldn't we round them up before their behavior hurts anyone?

See where this is going?

Who chooses which atrocities to select for, and which to predict and to regulate? And how on earth do we know if the system is working? Did a selection 21 years ago actually prevent a crime?

Who gets to decide?

You cool with Hitler being in charge and deciding who gets rounded up?

Witch hunts fail. Full stop.

Ironically, Apple is the same company that blocked the injunctions from the FBI to unlock phones for solving cases across a half-decade with multiple instances.

They're self-proclaimed as the champion of privacy.

So announce their billboards in San Francisco, currently.

Apple is the same company we're trusting collecting our health information.

Did you work out today?

What was your heart rate before you started?

What was your heart rate during your work out?

Are you in danger of developing heart disease?

Your iPhone and various apps and wearables can help support you.

So far so good?

How about reporting that data?

Would you want your employer to know you're developing a heart condition?

How about an insurance company?

If you're trying to keep your job, buy health or life insurance, you don't want a brewing diagnosis.

Where might Apple sell your health information?

This early warning information isn't anyone's business but your own. And you should be allowed to manage your health anyway you see fit.

Seems Apple is making their own rules.

I guess when you're the biggest company in the world you do what you want.

It's not a huge leap from scanning for child porn to reporting on other private data, letting my bank know that I'm planning a vacation that's a bit outside of my credit rating.

Hey, Siri. Get out of my phone.

And one more thing...

Marketers are kerfuffled over iOS 14. Blocking tracking... forcing app developers to make massive privacy adjustments to their products... mandating that apps' default to all users opted out of marketing (where the default, historically, was to opt-in).

But there's a twist.

Apple mobile devices manage their own marketing in a separate setting within devices. And guess what the default is for Apple advertising?

You guessed it... Default setting for Apple advertising is that we're opted in to Apple ads.

We have seen the enemy. And it has a bite taken out of it.

Let's Opt Out of the iOS Drama, Right Now

2021-02-03T08:53:51-05:00

Let's talk for a moment about organic traffic -- one of the other ways to navigate some of these iOS (all versions) blues...

eCommerce Traffic Handler - Facebook Group

So this may be a bit "in the weeds" but there is a Google Core Web Vitals update coming in May. And Google doesn't even pass their own tests (across three measures) at this time.

The most recent major update was in December.

Megan and I were covering some of this last week in the live call on Tuesday, but at a high level. We didn't go into deep details about how to get good with organic.

(We did end up talking back channel after the call, and I wanted to share the non-private stuff here to help everyone with these concepts).

So, a little bit of WHY first:

iOS is a hot topic right now. We're all jumping through hoops to make FB talk with Apple devices and soon Google will be in the mix.

CAPI and domain verification are a start to bridging paid traffic and visitors. You're in the upper echelon right now, with these technologies in place. Many store/site owners don't even know about these yet.

But what if there were more ways to get traffic that avoided the issue all together?

That's what this post is about. It's longish -- and it could have been much longer. So please dig in and ask questions if you have any.

To start with the basics, here are three non-negotiables on sites that want to attract organic traffic:

1: continual new content

2: detailed site wide structured data

3: alt tags for all images

Now, these are just the very basics. But let's cover what they're about and some ideas about how to benefit, and why to use them in the first place.

Continual New Content

All platforms (Google, Facebook, Amazon, and everyone else) have at the top of their missions "great user experience". Google uses certain KPIs to measure what sites give good experiences, and promote these in organic search results.

Sites that only feature stale content rarely make top SERP (search engine results pages) listings. When you see these old, frequently ugly, sites appear in the results, it's because people voted that the content was important.

Votes happen by people linking to the site and other measures of virality.

Shopify includes a built-in blog feature to help with this. By continually publishing content on this blog you're automatically updating your sitemap so that Google can index the new pages (posts). Each blog post is a new spoke in the wheel so that people can find your site through organic methods.

Wordpress has blogging built-in as well. Same details apply.

This is a very long process in many cases. In the past I've taken a year or two to develop sites that have 130 pages, 250 pages or more, to get the things indexed and thereby attract organic traffic by organic methods.

Why is this important now?

Organic is a good way to skip the iOS drama.

Someone searches for your thing, or for information about your thing (see "content concept" below). Google, Yahoo, Bing... the search engines offer your site and others as possible answers to questions people asked. Someone sees your site as the answer to their query. Clicks through. Ideally reads, and really ideally, buys. (Of course other actions can be taken, too, but this is a crayon-drawing and not a detailed schematic explanation).

iOS and other tools that block traffic aren't even in play. Google can offer your site as an option. There is no trick. There is no mega-technology to use. There's no permission to ask for.

Even more importantly, organic traffic a phenomenal relationship builder with your audiences. With good content your site helps to establish your authority in your space.

How can you be relevant in organic search?

Everyone here has a content concept that your store serves. That's the topic for your blog, and the blog plus internal links, are a major contributor to helping you with the organic traffic machine.

Now let's talk about...

Structured Data

Everyone here knows how excited I get about schema. This is because I grew up with meta tags, which are a page by page dictionary for the search engines to discover what your site is about.

Structured data, rich results, markup, schema (all of these words refer to the same thing) tell the websites in detail what your site is about. This is item by item on a page -- not just one set of data per page. Brilliant.

I think I've already placed this suggestion in the Business tools PDF in the group files (I'll check...) but you can always keep an eye on how your site stacks up here:

https://search.google.com/test/rich-results

This, too, is an ongoing activity. It's not a "set and forget" task. Think of schema as a dictionary that continually defines for the search engines what your site and its pages and the granular content on your pages is about.

Exhausted? Don't worry. Just make a monthly project of checking your structured data, updating a few details here and there. Two or three hours a month is a good time investment. Use Schema App to set up the basics. Most Shopify themes include at the very least product page markup. Use Pixel Helper to determine where your markup shows up and where it's missing.

Third point, let's talk about...

Alt Tags on All Images

For every image (hero image and every image for every product) in your store is an opportunity to talk with the search engines about the product, price, item details, availability and more.

You know that SEO stuff in the right side of the images when you're creating a new product page?

Leave it blank at your peril.

Make a habit to fill in the entire form every time.

And it's SO worth it to go back and fill these in now, for any products with blank fields.

One of these fields is for "alt tags". Think of these as code-based captions for images.

Alt tags serve two purposes, and depending on your point of view, either one of these could be your #1 reason to use it.

1. SEO. Search Engine Optimization of your site. Search engines read the data you put in this and other SEO fields, and can use it to serve up your site when someone is searching for you.

2. Accessibility. A bunch of years ago I was on a team of contractors working on a SaaS (software as a subscription) project. We sold a website builder that made building websites possible without developers (Russell Brunson was still in high school, or maybe starting college, and Clickfunnels and others like it were only a pipe dream).

One of the other contractors on the team was visually impaired. He wasn't totally blind... he could see some light. But functionally the guy could barely see his computer. So he used a tool for the visually impaired called a screen reader.

He also built a website with the product we were working on. So he had two incomes -- the contractor fee, and his business. His whole world was built around this product.

Suddenly the whole thing came crashing down.

We didn't know that an update was coming that eliminated his ability to use a screen reader. The developers had made changes to the software and had eliminated the possibility of reading the web pages to use the suite of tools. The capability was not going to be restored.

He could no longer keep his job or run his business web site. Gone. Overnight.

Since then accessibility has become important to site developers and to attorneys as well.

I've seen a number of articles in the news about law suits brought against big brands who don't use accessible features on their sites.

Screen reader software use alt tags and other code details to read details of each page, and enable users to navigate sites by voice prompt.

Without alt tags, screen readers are extremely limited in what they can tell a visitor is on the page.

Now, does this mean that if your alt tags aren't filled out you'll be sued?

Probably not at this level of business.

But there is growing support for accessibility being legally required. Corporations hire lawyers to cover their assets on this stuff.

Even if it's not legally mandated, wouldn't you like to expand your site to be able to serve anyone who uses a screen reader?

Imagine the loyalty. If my former colleague shopped on two sites -- one with images and details he could listen to, and one without, don't you think he'd come back again to shop another time at the site he could actually use?

Do you think he's on forums and Facebook groups with other visually impaired people who exchange notes about sites that support (or don't support) their screen readers?

The added benefit to you is that search engines read alt tags, so if you're not doing it for my friend, do it because you'll be improving your SEO. (No judgment. But seriously, be a mensch).

Is this everything?

Not by a long shot.

Google's next major core web vitals update is in May.

If you're interested in digging in, or if you have a developer who helps you with this stuff, here is THE resource so you're not relying on second-hand updates and interpretations of John Mueller's announcements... (Mueller is the search advocate at Google -- the official words come from him).

https://support.google.com/webmasters/community?hl=en&gpf=d/forum/webmasters

I also follow @JohnMu on Twitter -- again, straight from the horse's mouth.

Do You Make These Mistakes With Your Ads?

2020-12-14T18:30:00-05:00

I have to confess. I don't sleep well.

Come to find out lots of people don't sleep well.

In fact, there's an entire vertical around sleep, and people not sleeping well.

Mattresses, pillows and bedding, machines that make noise, machines that remove noise, products that make the room perfectly dark, products that give off soothing light...

It's crazy how many products there are about sleep.

You know what I love about all of this?

All of these sleep-related products come from marketers telling us we're supposed to sleep all night.

Turns out, it's not completely natural for all humans to sleep for eight hours a night. And two academics (in the 90s by Thomas Wehr, and in 2001, Roger Ekirch) show that it may actually be quite natural to be awake for a couple of hours in the middle of the night, sandwiched by two chunks of restful sleep.

And humans vary in this pattern by age and other life circumstances as well.

So here's the deal -- it's the mattress companies that want us to feel a deep need to sleep all night. We must buy their mattresses to fix what is essentially broken in us if we are to survive.

Horse hockey.

I know a lot of people (which is not great for an introvert like me, but whatever). And I've asked many of them. It turns out that most people don't sleep all night.

Not actually caring that my own study isn't scientific (I just talked with about 50 people about sleep over the past few years) I've come to a radical conclusion:

It's the mattress companies that perpetuate the myth of the sound and refreshing eight-hour night time nap.

And bully for them.

The mattress companies own President's Day, too. Who hasn't heard of the President's Day Mattress Sale?

Why is this great (and why am I devoting a whole email to this rant)?

Because the mattress industry is a $30 billion industry. And they hit us right where we live.

They've taken what's normal (not sleeping) and turned some big bucks from it.

They can get us to spend between $500 to $5000 (or much more) on a mattress. And they work really hard to get us to replace it every six to eight years.

I'll stop here with the dissecting. But we can dig deep into the very culture that the mattress industry has built to make us believe that we need to sleep on a cloud that must be replaced shortly after we bought it.

The good news in this charade is the diamonds (another marvel of marketing mayhem, by the way) available to study.

Now, before you go all wild about not having the advertising budget of a $30 billion industry, know this...

You don't need their budget to know exactly how to do what they've done (and avoid the mistakes they've made).

Even the small one- and two-person ecommerce stores can do the small town version of the mattress companies' takeover of the sleep space.

And you can do it for any product. As long as you tell good stories that lead people where they want to go.

And you won't have to make up fake science to make your point.

The mattress companies should be afraid of YOU when you learn how to do what they've done (but you'll do it properly).

Ready to get into the big time in your retail marketing? Join the free Facebook group for retailers in ecommerce here.

Triple Your Business, or Kill it Dead.

2020-12-13T14:07:34-05:00

Here's a life or death quiz for you:
What makes your retail business different in the marketplace?
   (If you don't know, it's time for some research. Because someone else can steal your business away from you.)

Do you know why people buy from you?
   (If you don't know, then your sales come by accident. You're running blind without the ability to plan and you can't duplicate successes. You're weeks away from being out of business.)

Do you believe you should get more buyers from your promotional efforts than you do?
   (If you should be getting more buyers, how can you get them regularly and predictably? What numbers back this up?)

Do you know if your ad spend is working efficiently enough?
   (What metrics help you to determine your efficiency? If you're not efficient, what can you do to fix this immediately?)

How much more can you spend on ads, and will your business grow or die if you spend it?
   (While there is no wrong answer to the % you want your business to grow, there must be growth. Standing still is actually going backwards -- especially with all of this talk about inflation going on. Can you manage a large influx of traffic? What happens to your inventory and fulfillment if you do spend more on ads?)

   + Client G is wrapping up his third year in a row at just under $2 million, but this year he spent about 17% less on his advertising as compared to the last two years.

   + Client C is closing out 2020 with revenues for the year at nearly $250k (a roughly 10x increase in business), which he achieved $26 at a time in just over a year.

   + Client T went from a very unstable <$20k each month to a very predictable monthly revenue of at least $90k.

What I love about each of these clients' businesses is that there is way more capacity for growth for each of them (as well as many other clients that I didn't mention).

All three of these business owners, and the rest, have worked hard this year on answers to these questions, and more.

Whether on Facebook or off, there are some very definite approaches in business that will set you up for massive success.

And having a very solid grounding in who you talk to and how you talk to them is a set up for success.

Being able to use the tools that measure the "whos" and "hows" makes the whole thing go smoother.

I'm going to say it again... because that's what this month is about. The January issue of the eCommerce Traffic Handler Monthly newsletter is all about audiences and offers... lists and messages...

This is the stuff that successful businesses are built on.

It's one thing to buy traffic. And maybe you are buying traffic already. Let's say you are buying traffic and it's converting well enough. If the store is converting at over 1% for ecommerce it's a good start. If we're talking lead generation, I want to see about 20%.

Next we determine if you're getting the best bang for your buck.

Cue the music. That’s my prompt to segue into talking about the free mastermind Traffic Handler group.

It’s not for everyone.

For example, if you don’t like me, if you don’t like how I write, and if you don’t like to make money and create solid online retail business decisions, you won’t like the group.

If you want to learn more, and learn about the very cool bonus training that comes with it, join here.

It used to be a very pricey program. But I made a bunch of changes. Now part of the program, the Facebook group that went with the program, is open to all.

I like to joke that Facebook ads are the gateway drug to a real marketing addiction.

Want to get hooked on some really good marketing? Come find out what the buzz is about. We’re growing millionaires.

The Best Kind of Problem in Business You Can Have

2020-12-12T19:50:28-05:00

Yesterday I got a great question from a client who has had massive gains in her business this year.

She went from a few sales a month to clearing $40k in the month of November.

At her old pace it would have taken her more than 5 years to hit $40k.

But she's smart -- so now she's looking for the next problem she'll have in her business, so she can plan for next year's growth.

That's smart.

Business is about problems: having them and solving them. So the best kind of problem is the next one coming down the pike.

The happiest business owners I know and work with thrive on whatever the problems are. The problems are invigorating. They're life affirming.

Because of course we don't want to stay in the problems. We want to get to the solution as fast as possible. Then we can get onto the next problem.

One of the problems that is oh so common in business is learning how to talk with suspects, prospects, and customers.

It's not always obvious what to say and how to say it.

Whole businesses are built around messages and offers that light people up and get them to buy.

And you can't use the same message or the same offer for every member of your audience, or even for every customer.

Picture your audience all lined up outside of your store. Some are standing under the awning out front. And some are standing in the sleet and rain outside at the end of the line, a ways down the sidewalk.

I guarantee you, you're not going to say the same words to the folks under the awning that you will say to the people in the elements down the street.

So don't treat them all the same online either.

If "what to say and how to say it" are issues for you in your business -- whether in your own store or in your clients' stores -- the January issue of the eCommerce Traffic Handler Monthly newsletter will be very interesting for you.

Robert Collier, one of the Grand Masters of Marketing, had all of marketing boiled down to audiences and messages.

Improve just this area and watch your sales increase, your ad costs drop, and your revenues go up up up.

So the deep dive in this month's newsletter issue helps you to uncover this problem in your business and get into the solution.

Learn more here:
https://luova-sekurekart.thrivecart.com/ecommerce-traffic-handler-newsletter/

Talking to your narrow minded list

2020-12-11T14:42:48-05:00

One thing I love about business... it is equal opportunity.

If you can build a business, you can be successful.

You don't have to be a certain color, or sex, or gender, or age, or political bent.

Business is open for everyone.

One of the members of the eCommerce Traffic Handler Program was getting threatening emails this past year.

Some nimrod decided it was all right to harass her through her business contact info because of her skin color, and sent emails threatening physical harm. (An offense for which she is protected by the federal government, so we talked about how to report it if she chose to).

The group includes a wide range of ages (spanning five decades), includes men and women, various skin colors and backgrounds... I'm happy to say I have to think hard to write about their demographics. Because I don't think of people's race.

My theme this month is about messaging and all of the ways we can address the people in our audiences, and in all of the places we meet them.

Knowing how to talk to people is as important as knowing who to talk to.

When you're writing ads, for example, only the broadest of the minds in your target audience will click through to your site. Everyone in that list is not the same.

Audiences live in a sort of a spectrum. You've got the ones who will click through from an ad, almost no matter what you say. And the other end of the stick are the ones you have to just about beg for a click through.

Too basic?

I think not.

Check your cost per click. If it's too high, you've missed the point in your ads. You can have a good list or target audience, and if you're not speaking their language, only the most open minded will click through.

The ad greats of all time, people like Robert Collier and Eugene Schwartz, knew that the value of the list was only truly measured by the value of the right message and offer.

And those guys didn't have the interwebz to get feedback on their work. They had to use postal mail and then they had to wait, and wait... and WAIT for results. Or they used print ads in magazines and newspapers, which also meant they had to wait, and WAIT for results.

The topic of the January eCommerce Traffic Handler Monthly newsletter is a deep, deep dive into the hows and wherefores of messages and offers.

It's these sorts of items, and more, that have caused some of my consulting clients and private clients to achieve radical explosions in their businesses -- 250% to 540% is common in a year. And we're not just talking 2 sales to 20 sales... I wouldn't insult you like that.

You can learn how to subscribe to the newsletter here...

https://luova-sekurekart.thrivecart.com/ecommerce-traffic-handler-newsletter/

Talk soon,
Amy

PS That page will also explain the bonus book you'll get as a new subscriber. It's the only way to get the whole framework right now since the door is currently closed to new members. It's probably worth $500 all by itself -- and I may charge that price for it when it's no longer a bonus.

Subscribe here:
https://luova-sekurekart.thrivecart.com/ecommerce-traffic-handler-newsletter/

How to Explode Your Revenue Now

2020-12-08T16:21:20-05:00

Updated content.

Principles are always true.

There aren’t many places in life that something is always right, but inside a system you can have truth.

The definition of “principle” is...

“a fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of belief or behavior or for a chain of reasoning.”

(Thank you Google, and Oxford Languages)

So, if principles are the foundation of a system, the system will always work within itself.

Principles of marketing, for example, always work within the system of marketing.

Much of what the work I do as a consultant and managing marketing for clients is based on principles.

Tactics are the nuts and bolts of campaigns… like “more budget here will get this result there”.

Strategy strings tactics together -- they’re a step closer to principles. A strategy might work in a particular situation.

But principles are the overarching formulae that make the whole thing work.

Things like audiences, and how to define them, and how to talk with them, and how to get them to buy from you. The “how” to do this balances principles and tactics.

Principles are about the actions we take that aren't necessarily adjusted in a Facebook account, but can advance your business further than a simple adjustment in an ad campaign.

I’ve been thinking quite a bit about principles and strategies lately, and how to use them to make marketing-things work.

I’ve recently mentioned my new book about ecommerce marketing. It’s called, “Acquire. Convert. Repeat. The Framework that Builds eCommerce Millionaires.”

I’ve used the experience of writing the book to pull out of me 18 years of marketing work and three decades of coaching work to try to consolidate it all into a framework.

The book includes some tactical stuff.

But it is the principles that it’s really about. The high level stuff that applies to Facebook, Instagram, emails, Pinterest, bots, and more.

Frequently in a tactic we can find a principle. For example, if we take “x” action and “y” always happens, somewhere in there is a principle in play.

Talk to 6 people and make 1 sale. Talk to 600 people and make 100 sales.

Somewhere in there is a principle. (Bunches, really -- scaling that neatly means you’ve got your audience dialed in, for one).

I want to make it easy to get a copy of the book, so it will ship with every new subscription to the eCommerce Traffic Handler Monthly newsletter.

The topic of the January newsletter issue is messaging and offers from a few different angles.

https://luova-sekurekart.thrivecart.com/ecommerce-traffic-handler-newsletter/

It’s a print newsletter. There are a few business principles in that alone that I’ll have to dive into here in this email series at some point.

So, before you burn the Yorkshire pudding, and before you finish making those cookies, order your newsletter in time for the January issue to help you explode your business (in a good way) in the coming year.

How to Use Jedi-Level Marketing in Your Ads

2020-12-07T09:14:49-05:00

We’re not even half way through December 2020, and I’m already mentally into Q1 2021 and beyond.

Why the rush?

I'm deep in planning and deciding where to lead suspects, prospects, and customers in coming weeks and months, and indeed, years.

The foundation of every strong business is the lifetime value of a customer -- what they will buy from you down the road... months (think: apparel or grocery), years (think: cars), decades (think financial products), or generations (think Disney or university legacy enrollments).

Too often, building ads comes from the last-minute, “Quick! Do something to make sales!” thinking.

But slowing down and thinking about what customers want… how to turn suspects into prospects and prospects into customers, and how to make additional sales with existing customers… this is where some long-term, big business can happen.

This is why I keep squawking about not pushing the “Buy Now” langage. I say it over and over and over. The same emailers show up in my inbox day after day with the same messages (clearly, these people aren’t listening to me, hahahaha).

These are the same emailers who completely ignore their “preview” content. Then they just show a long, scrolling, personality-void email of product-and-buy-button after product-and-buy-button, until you reach a personality-free footer.

I get served their ads, too, on Facebook and around the interwebz.

Can’t tell what’s for sale in the image. More personality-free ad copy.

And in some cases the small bit of real estate allotted to every ad says, “Shop Now” in the text, description, AND call to action button.

Now, I realize, you (maybe?) aren’t doing these things.

But the temptation to go to the Dark Side in the name of speed, efficiency, and just get that darned ad out there, is strong.

Resist the Evil Empire.

Use every ad, email, product description, post, SMS, message, push notification… everything you put out into the world that’s supposed to show up in front of your suspects, prospects, and customers COUNT.

You’re building your relationship with them.

At the end, if you nailed it, you wouldn’t even have to ask them to buy.

That’s not entirely possible. But that’s the aim.

What if there were no “buy” button?

What if you couldn’t use the phrase, “shop now” in any part of the ad or email?

When you use your Marketing Jedi mind training with your ad content, whoever sees the ad is so in love with it, clicks and buys, without you even asking for the sale.

You’ve successfully conveyed so much value with your marketing that the next logical action is the purchase. That’s the goal.

Is it realistic or achievable?

No.

Most of the time you have to ask for the sale somewhere.

But when the focus of all of your content is to develop a relationship with your audience long-term (always think "lifetime value" and repeat sales), the need to apply pressure is greatly reduced.

Make sure you're getting the free daily emails built to help you with your ecommerce marketing. https://amybiddle.me.

Do you make this mistake in your online marketing?

2020-11-23T10:41:53-05:00

You’re going along through your day when suddenly someone reaches through your phone and says “Buy Now!”

Seth Godin called it “interruption marketing”.

This happens a few hundred or a few thousand times a day, depending on your level of exposure to the markets.

Don’t do that.

The bigger the internet gets, the smaller the world gets.

Every brand can give value and participate in the national or regional conversations that are always going on, rather than doing the old fashioned and flashy “Buy Buy Buy” a la Crazy Eddie.

There is a never ending stream of opportunity for messaging your business can take advantage of.

Take whatever tack is appropriate for your business, but every retailer can participate in a conversation and benefit from the branding juice of adding value to it.

National election: pick sides, or you can simply encourage people to vote. (Depending on how exciting you want things to get with your visitors. You could decide not to back a horse if it doesn't fit your brand).

Weather emergency: help people make good decisions.

Natural disaster: participate in the national uplifting that’s needed to rebuild and recover.

Every offline business has a place online as well. Use the voice of your business to add value, rather than noise.

Retailers Facing Cashflow Problems

2020-11-23T10:00:00-05:00

This article is a reprint of a training I did, responding to a friend in crisis in her business (and therefore in her personal life).

It's evergreen... it works no matter the season, the product, and it works for most types of businesses.

=============

I got a message today from a friend.

Apparently she's has had some really bad financial problems and is barely hanging on. She has a small amount of cash on hand from a business loan that she can’t use for personal expenses.

I had no idea… I’d have reached out sooner. I did reach out today.

She has a business. She has a small amount of working capital. Her business is somewhat expensive to run, but I think I understand that she’s got a good markup on her products.

Of course I wanted to share here the pointers I had for her because there are others here who may be going through similar circumstances. Quite frankly, this could be anyone (and I can think of a few more people I could share this with directly… so I’ve got more outreach to do today).

I can't think of anyone that this business exercise doesn't apply to -- there are a bunch of solutions in here for most businesses.

So here are the facts of the business -- adjust for your own circumstances :

+ Cash on hand: $2k

+ Recent shout-out from an influencer in her space: free (that’s about relationships!) and resulted in a large number of orders (so her immediate problem was solved... if only temporarily)

+ Trouble: the traffic and sales generated by the influencer will fade over time, unless the mention goes viral (not likely in this case)

+ Product: low average order value (estimated at $15 per order) but loved by all who purchase

+ Reviews: these are an asset -- we need to find out if there are reviews and / or user generated content we can tap into for marketing purposes

+ Email list: I assume that if there is an email list it is small or under-utilized

+ Facebook page: same as email list

+ Facebook group: I don’t think there is one

+ List of micro-influencers in the niche: need to make this list

First we need answers to some questions:

Audience: who are the avatars to target in marketing?

Exercise: make a list of the typical people who buy the product.

+ Why do they buy? (list at least 20 reasons why)

+ What do they like about the product?

+ Why buy from you and not “x” (name brand, competitor, something else instead of your product)

+ What are the benefits of doing business with you? (list at least 20)

There are probably 365 reasons to talk about your product… there might even be 730 reasons.

Make a list of as many different reasons for people to buy from you.

Here are some examples…

+ There is at least one holiday per month

+ Every living person you know has a birthday

+ Pets are people, too. When are their birthdays?

+ There are four season changes each year

You get the idea. Build that list, and talk with your audiences each day (or twice a day for 730 touches per year about why they need your stuff).

BUT (and as Pee Wee Herman said, everyone has a big BUT)...

Don’t make it about you.

How many times have I posted here, there, and everywhere about how weak the “Shop Now” or “Buy Now” words.

Everyone’s favorite word is “me”.

When you shift your thinking to using your audiences members’ favorite topic (them), you will never want for anything, ever again.

There are numerous ways this business problem can be solved once and for all by increasing the business’s average order value, plus a few more tweaks.

A single purchase in this case is about $15.

Business is located in a large city (at least 1 million people).

Here are seven ideas just fired off the top on increasing average order value. And these will work assuming the business numbers are correct -- in profit. Remember “we’ll make it up in volume” doesn’t work if you’re only making a 50¢ profit per item. There’s no room to breathe when margins are too slim.

1. Delivery (within a certain number of miles): free when you order 5 or more

2. Shipping: free when you order 6 or more (in this case the item is a food item that can be frozen -- make sure to include the cost of dry ice packs and insulated packing into the costs of this type of order)

3. Upsell on the order page or by phone: ALWAYS ask “would you like “x” with that order?” (another of the same, or another similar item that goes with it). Side note: when shampoo bottles started including the instructions “rinse and repeat”, sales nearly doubled with no extra advertising expenses. Google that -- true story).

4. Marketing must be a daily activity. The simplest way to do this is to talk about your products in niche-relevant ways, daily, many places

5. Reach out to people who have the capacity to purchase multiples of the item, regularly.

6. Offer a subscription option -- auto-order, monthly

7. Business, at its very core, is about relationships. Who else do you know, or could meet, who sells something that inherently goes with what you sell? How can you work together (not a legal partnership -- just a marketing project) to both sell more of your stuff to each others’ markets -- either a one-time thing, or on a regular basis?

I'll be posting this (or something like it) other places this week. Notice how I didn't even go into paid ads. Most of what I list here is just time, thought-effort, and a little elbow grease.

Do this stuff, AND do paid ads and you can set the foundation and then turn up the volume.

There are probably more items I could flesh out -- mostly about using social media and email to build a complete marketing strategy across the next quarter to five years.

Business owners: do not suffer alone.

Marketing is a pathway out of nearly any hole you're in (at least, any hole that money fixes). Money doesn't fix everything -- far from it. But it sure makes a ton of stuff easier to work on if the money is handled.

Does Facebook Hate You?

2020-10-06T12:28:41-04:00

Here’s a question I get from members frequently… often enough, in fact, that I want to tackle this topic today to set the matter straight.

“I’m certain that Facebook hates me. Costs are going up on the platform, and I’m not getting the conversions I’ve gotten in the past (3 months to a year ago). Now with the pandemic it’s harder than ever to manage inventory and fulfillment. How am I supposed to stay in business?”

The question reminds me of the old missive, “When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”

Facebook has long had its place in business promotion. They keep changing the rules, and it’s getting pricey, but it’s got its place in the mix. (For the record, there are multiple reasons for rising costs across the platform and also within an individual account — which we’ll talk about another time).

For those who started out feeding their retail businesses with paid traffic via Facebook, there was a time in history when we thought more about keywords (think “Google”) than interests (a la Facebook).

But in general, many ecommerce stores don’t worry so much about keywords and seo. At least not those who focus on growth using paid traffic from Facebook.

This is a mistake though.

Keyword research offers insight into our readers and visitors.

It happens as search intent at the search engines (yes — off of Facebook).

Search is about what we look for.

More powerfully, however, search intent is the outcome we want as the result of the doing the search in the first place.

A bunch of years ago some search fields started adding autosuggest to help with search. It’s a fantastic tool. To a user, autosuggest says to me, “Hey, here are a few other possible word phrases that might complete what you’re typing now, based on what other people have searched.”

Statistically they’re right — at scale, there is a good chance that when I start typing in “David” at Google, I’m looking for David Attenborough. And there he is, showing up in autosuggest.

That’s good UX… but it’s also good for business.

Google, and Amazon, and everyone else using autosuggest are giving us the back end of what’s going on in your potential visitors’ minds, based on what large numbers of other people have already searched for.

When you reverse engineer autosuggest you now have a powerful research tool that gives you keywords for your business.

It’s low-tech. There are no metrics to go along with it.

But my search for air filter gives me these autosuggest results:

… and now I have website content ideas, I have product growth ideas, I have insight into my market, and if I am paying attention to SEO factors on my store, I could win some traffic using these additional words or phrases properly.

If my store sells air filters, I see that I can specify air filters for ac… I can clarify that we deliver... I can offer air filters for cars… and whoever Merv is, he gets some love, too.

Actually, this “merv rating" is an enlightening item because this shows me that there is a market segment that is sophisticated enough to use technical jargon — and I can attract these folks with jargon in product descriptions, copy-on-page, special reports, ad copy, and in whatever else.

All of these wonderful words are how search engines know what’s on your site. Sure, Facebook can identify some features within video. But at the end of the day, when you want to be found with paid or free traffic, it’s going to be the words in various ways (more than I’ve talked about here) that get people to you.

Cue the music. That’s my prompt to segue into talking about the free mastermind Traffic Handler group.

It’s not for everyone.

For example, if you don’t like me, if you don’t like how I write, and if you don’t like to make money and create solid online retail business decisions, you won’t like the group.

If you want to learn more, and learn about the very cool bonus training that comes with it, join here.

It used to be a very pricey program. But I made a bunch of changes. Now part of the program, the Facebook group that went with the program, is open to all.

I like to joke that Facebook ads are the gateway drug to a real marketing addiction.

Want to get hooked on some really good marketing? Come find out what the buzz is about. We’re growing millionaires.

He Paid Me $8k and Ignored What I Told Him

2020-08-08T15:50:00-04:00

You know how I know that price is the least important part of a sale? It was confirmed for me (again) when a client, who paid me over $8k in fees, changed what I built and just about put the account owner out of business.

Here’s the back story:

I worked with a client who hired me to work on a specific account. He was having trouble and his FB rep wasn’t entirely helpful. So he reached out and we started making money on the store.

For example, previous return on ad spend was 1.6. After a couple of weeks I got the return up to somewhere north of a 5 (some as high as 9 or more), depending on the campaign.

After a time he decided enough was enough, and we parted ways. Account was seasonal and we ended well. Always completely fine.

Until… he came back.

In a panic.

Store owner had demands, numbers were bad in the account, and he’s in a panic.

OK, so I went back in to take a look, and the thing is a mess.

I did advise that we were probably not going to hit deadlines, but after a bit I felt confident that I could turn it around.

So I built what I know works.

And when I went in the next day, there’s all of this new stuff, and changes to the campaigns.

The shenanigans went on a couple more days (after I requested he not make changes). Finally I had to decline working on the account.

You see, when you’re in a boat, and you’re in the middle of the rapids on the river, you don’t up and change boats. When you’re in the rapids you strap down the gear, sit low, and you do what you know works.

When I decided to restrict membership in my eCommerce Traffic Handler membership group, suddenly I had people asking for access. Some of these folks weren't ready. Others just plain weren't qualified.

Now I have a mastermind group that is free to join. It used to be a very pricey program. But I made a bunch of changes. Now part of the program, the Facebook group that went with the program, is open to all.

It’s not for everyone.

For example, if you don’t like me, if you don’t like how I write, and if you don’t like to make money and create solid online business decisions, you won’t like the group.

If you want to learn more, and learn about the very cool bonus training that comes with it, join here.

You're welcome.

Meanwhile, keep your hands in the boat, at least until we get through the rocks.

Facebook Policy: Vague or Evasive?

2020-08-08T15:26:00-04:00

I spent a chunk of my Sunday digging into FB policy for a client question.

FB seems to be getting more intentionally vague with time.

I knew the product in question was going to be difficult to promote on FB and I wanted to get clarity on policy in advance, so we’d know how to plan strategy.

The rep and I had more of a duel than a conversation.

Me: “Ok, so it’s all right to talk about the products, but we may be out of compliance with the Policy department. Could we talk with the Policy department about the business and products?”

Rep: “Sorry, no. You have to wait for ads to be disapproved before Policy will step in.”

Um... helpful?

First cross the line and get slapped, then we’ll tell you that you crossed the line.

At least in high school the rules were clear, so a trip to the principal’s office wasn’t a complete surprise.

And to make matters worse not too long ago they added a vague policy page about “obfuscation”.

In the eCommerce Traffic Handler group we do regular checks on account health and we use a checklist process for removing (not just deleting) disapproved ads from your Facebook account.

The best way to get help with me right now is to subscribe to the eCommerce Traffic Handler Monthly print newsletter. It's a monthly publication that comes to your house. Each issue covers a topic in detail -- topics straight from the trenches, where group members and I work on their businesses.

As of the date of this post the group is closed to new members, and may or may not reopen.

The newsletter is the way to get in. So you can check it (and the cool bonus book that comes with the subscription) here:

https://ecommercetraffichandler.com/

It's fun makin' money.

The Control Myth

2020-08-08T14:43:00-04:00

A lot of us got into business to be in control.

We wanted control of our days, our lives, our destinies.

You started your business...

to serve a group,
to be available to your family better than you could at a job,
to make some extra cash...
to travel,
or you just liked your products and you thought others would, too.

But let's back up here...

Let's define control. Because I imagine, if you're honest, you're not feeling in control about your business.

Oxford Dictionary says:

con·trol

/kənˈtrōl/

noun

"The power to influence or direct people's behavior or the course of events."

I have a better idea -- a reframe, if you will.

Compare the concept of control, however, to an offer (also from Oxford Dictionary):

of·fer

/ˈôfər,ˈäfər/

verb

"Present or proffer (something) for (someone) to accept or reject as so desired."

Want to feel control in your business?

Make offers.

See, having control is about getting what I want. It's not about my customer. It's not about giving. It's not about her interest. It's about "what's in it for me".

That "what's in it for me" is the exact same song your customer is singing the moment you appear in their view.

Looking again at our definitions above, if you want to influence or direct your prospects' behavior, present something she can accept... or wants... or craves.

Have I got an offer for you!

It used to cost thousands or tens of thousands of dollars to work with me. So I devised a way to share the info that I've used to make tens of millions of dollars for businesses over the past decade. At the moment it's the only way to work with me.

It's a print, monthly newsletter, and you can learn about it here:

https://ecommercetraffichandler.com/

The subscription includes a pretty sweet bonus book that you can only get with the subscription. It's called Acquire Convert. Repeat. The book outlines the entire framework that my high-paying clients have used to bank the big bucks and transform their businesses.

So head over to https://ecommercetraffichandler.com/ and check it out.

What Business Are You In?

2020-08-08T14:41:00-04:00

You opened a store. Congratulations! You're a business owner!

Now you need to think like a store owner, right? Buying products, and arranging them on shelves, and making a website and setting up a shopping cart, and...

Not so fast, there, Slim. Maybe that's not the business you're in after all.

And no, I'm not talking about a shady use for that back room.

Are you contributing to the conversation happening in your niche?

I'm constantly beating this drum... the business isn't about the products.

Products are what you sell.

The business is about the people you get to serve.

In addition to endlessly dealing with the products you want to sell, there is a never ending public conversation going on for you to participate in.

This is where you start in business.

Get into this conversation that your customers are having right now, and you can sell them all sorts of things.

For example, when you send an email to your list of prospects and customers, don't just say, "Here's this cute, thing -- you should buy this cute thing!" and send a picture of your cute thing.

Don't do that.

In fact, most of the businesses I've consulted or worked on that start with a product end up struggling big time.

But when you start with a message... a good message... in a market you have some connection with... then you've got something.

It's this sort of thing that I cover in detail in the monthly print newsletter, eCommerce Traffic Handler Monthly. It's a growth guide for retailers.

You can see more here:

https://ecommercetraffichandler.com

I hear your cash register dinging!

Avoiding the Facebook Ban

2020-08-08T14:17:00-04:00

Weird story… 72 hours ago I woke up to a message from our friends at FB that I had some ads rejected.

OK, no problem. I’ll go check it out.

So I grab my coffee, open the laptop, and learn that the ads don’t reside in an active client account.

They’re mine.

They’re in my account.

The weird thing about this is that I wasn’t running any ads at the time.

So I checked the ads to find out what happened. It’s not the first time I’ve seen ads that are not current flagged and either Rejected or Disapproved.

But here’s what’s crazy:

These were ads that ran THREE years ago for only a few weeks, and have been off ever since then.

The FB bots must be bored, and they’re looking for trouble to dig up.

So I drilled into the data a little more.

I have a number of arrows in the quiver to deal with this problem. Right now I’m batting 1000 on getting client accounts turned back on after a shutdown, but I was hoping mine wouldn’t get the FB boot that so many are suffering these days.

Here’s why this problem is so serious:

In the online world, everything touches and everything counts.

I have 3 Facebook groups, 15 or so client accounts spanning nearly a half million dollars in ad spend in the past year, plus two accounts of my own, along with a bazillion assets that have to be squeaky clean. I previously had straight 0s (that's better than Ivory soap pure) for my Account Quality.

Rejected ads, current or in history, isn’t the sort of thing you can just let go.

Facebook is at least increasing costs and at worst banning accounts these days for smaller infractions (or for no infractions at all in some cases).

That 0 Account Quality score is essential operating equipment in your Facebook account.

If my account had been banned, the ripple effect could be devastating to my groups, my client accounts, and beyond.

The urgency is to handle it NOW.

So, when I discovered the notification that my ads had been rejected I immediately put in for reviews on each one. Turns out there were nine. That’s reviews for all nine ads.

(I have a couple of other methods that can work as well. When I tried them they didn’t work, which is why the review was the next step).

With all nine review requests in, then I had to wait.

The good news is that six of the rejections were reversed within a few hours.

Phew!

But, not so fast, Bucko…

I still had 3 ads hanging on there with big red Rejection marks in Ads Manager.

Now their status in Account Quality showed that I had no more reviews allowed.

End of the line.

As I told a client the other day (we’re working to get his accounts turned back on after a similar issue) “The game isn’t over until Mark Zuckerberg comes to your house and unplugs your router.”

For my next trick, I broke out the big guns.

The time was after about 8pm on a Saturday night.

I went to the Support page.

My business is a Facebook Marketing Partner, so I went to my specific help section on the page. Chat (my preferred contact method with FB Support) was closed. So I filled out the email form, and included the ad IDs and links to the still-rejected ads.

I completed the form, and hit “Send”.

More waiting…

I can’t stress enough the importance of getting this stuff cleared up.

Account Quality MUST be a top priority. Don’t assume the bots will notice that the ads aren’t running or that they made a mistake. FB has bots checking bots, and you can get flagged for mysterious infractions that only make sense to the algorithm.

Now we’re up to Day 3 of the Rejection Saga (sounds like high school drama, doesn’t it?!)

Only a few hours after my Saturday night Support request, a lovely rep named Kristian emailed me back to inform me that my request had been approved, and that the Rejection decision on these remaining three had been reversed.

Another sigh of relief.

But we’re not out of the woods, yet.

I still have a negative mark in my history of infractions (see the red circle on the right in the screen shot below, “Unacceptable Business Practices). So at the time of this writing I have a reply email to the previous message received when the 3 remaining ads were cleared.

I need to know how to clear the “Unacceptable Business Practices” from my history.

Generally, deleting infractions isn’t the solution. That’s sweeping the problem under the rug. The deletion still shows as a rejection, even if you can't see it.

So I emailed Support back, to ask about removing the “Unacceptable Business Practice” notification in the top right corner of the page.

Remember, these so-called infractions are based on my holding ads in history in my account. (History isn’t the cause, but it’s the source of the infraction-triggering data).

When the ads were built they were in compliance according to Facebook’s terms at the time. If I were to run them now, they’d be out of compliance.

When I asked Support about removing the top-right notices, they answered that the banners couldn’t be removed.

But I (politely) asked for further clarification.

More waiting…

But then when I checked my account today, the banners have been removed.

We’ll see how long the “Reversed” tab stays at 9, before it returns to 0.

Account Quality needs to be straight 0s across all 4 tabs.

When clients have asked me to help them restore their accounts, or Account Quality, or disapproved products so far, 100% of the time I’ve been able to help them. Small number — about a half dozen — but it’s significant to those half dozen people.

Then we can get back to the business of building million-dollar ecommerce businesses.

How about you? Trouble with FB bots? Ready to do real business online? Check out the print newsletter I publish each month, right here:

https://ecommercetraffichandler.com

See you at the top.

Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. Lessons for Internet Marketers

2020-08-08T13:59:00-04:00

Bikers everywhere, rejoice — it’s August again, and the little town of Sturgis, SD has opened the floodgates to the annual infusion of cash.

Whether you have an opinion about Harley Davidsons, face masks, or South Dakota, the story of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally gets me excited every year. And even this year, there are estimated to be 250k in attendance in this little town in the middle of nowhere.

The rally has gone on nearly every year since 1938, and started so competing bike clubs could fight (so the story goes). They missed some during World War II. I think during that time the club members went somewhere else to fight.

But they’re not skipping out for the pandemic. Nope. In fact the SD governor has welcomed the visitors and the event.

The gathering has been a cash cow for South Dakota every year. After all, what else besides Mount Rushmore and the Badlands is even in South Dakota? On top of that, most Americans couldn’t even find South Dakota on a map, I’m embarrassed to say.

But Sturgis found a way to get on the map. Every year hundreds of thousands of Harley riders go to this little town, drop $800 million (peak revenue in 2015, the year they had 700k+ in attendance), camp, and take part in the rally events and races.

I’m willing to bet that it’s the highest income producing town in the entire state per capita. I’m not taking a minute to look that up. They make that income in about a 10-day period, in a town with a population of about 6,700 souls.

Seems to me that Sturgis, South Dakota set the model for the internet. See how that works?

Have a tiny town (like a website) with just a few people in it (there are two humans and a cat who live in my house). Attract something like a half-million people there (give or take) in a short period of time, and invite them to empty their wallets and jack up their credit cards at an event they can’t help but want to go to. That’s your irresistible offer right there.

Sounds like a successful online business to me.

If you’re not having this experience in your online business, check this: I have a mastermind group that is free to join. It used to be a very pricey program. But I made a bunch of changes. Now the Facebook group that went with the program is open to all.

It’s not for everyone.

For example, if you don’t like me, if you don’t like how I write, and if you don’t like to make money and create solid online business decisions, you won’t like the group.

If you want to learn more, and learn about the very cool bonus training that comes with it, join here.

And remember: loud pipes save lives.

Ride safe.

Celebrating Two Members-Tracking-Millions

2020-08-08T13:59:00-04:00

I was sitting down to write about celebrating our first eCommerce Traffic Handler millionaire-on-track when I got a message from another member…

========

I just crunched the numbers. For this month to date, I'm at $89K this month. And counting!! I think maybe I should celebrate that!

========

Yes, indeed, we're celebrating, big time! Now we have TWO new ETH members-tracking-millions.

Each of these two members has now broken through the $84,000 monthly revenue needed to make $1 million in a year in revenues.

And I’m proud to say they’re both eyebrow-deep in the profits too. Meaning, they didn’t spend $99,999 to earn $100k. (I’m sure you’ve seen those wannabe boast posts in various groups).

They’ve done it and will do it again and again. At the time of this writing, it’s not even Q4 yet, and they’re both rolling in the dough.

We're using the momentum from both of them to stir up a frenzy in the group.

When runner Roger Bannister broke the 4-minute mile in 1954, suddenly scores of other people were breaking the record.

Before he broke the record, everyone said it couldn’t be done. It just took the one to bring through the many.

Now we have two. I expect two more millionaires-on-track in the next two to three months.

The eCommerce Traffic Handler is a group of ecommerce business owners who are doing really smart business, primarily online. Some have brick and mortar stores as well. Some use different business models. All are doing smart marketing using our specific, detailed framework. Members each get custom marketing plans.

For the past 18 months we’ve been steadily growing, improving, building systems and making really smart business decisions. The group is intentionally small, extremely supportive, and the price of entry isn't cheap. We're not there to entertain. We're there to do good, solid business.

Right now the only way to get access to the information is to subscribe to the "eCommerce Traffic Handler Monthly" -- a paid, print-only, monthly newsletter designed to pack some intensive tactical, strategic, and principle-based marketing rules and systems into a consumable document, shipped to your old-fashioned postal mailbox each month.

You can get the deets here:

https://ecommercetraffichandler.com

The Secret of Numbers

2020-05-26T09:47:00-04:00

If you’re in even one FB group talking about ecomm ads you see, just about daily, brag posts on massive ROAS (return on ad spend) accomplishments.

This one got 12x ROAS.

That one got 20x.

Best I ever got was over 70x… and that is a ridiculous number and isn’t sustainable.

Want in on the secret?

It isn’t always true (there are a lot of moving parts, so there is almost never just one reason for an outcome in marketing) -- but that 70x ROAS happened because I got one early sale on a new campaign. I hadn’t spent a bunch yet, and the sale came and poof -- awesome ROAS.

After we waited for the next sale, same day, the ROAS started to normalize. At the time it dropped like a stone, which is what you'd expect.

Yes, there are campaigns that do get longer term, high ROAS.

In fact, a 15x ROAS is sustainable in some cases. But it's not advisable, because it means that you're not running a super efficient campaign.

A 15x ROAS means that for every $1 you put in you're getting $15 back.

But what if you put in more $1s and got $6 back for each one. If you stay at $15 there's no guarantee that the environment will stay the same. Spend more while you're winning and win more.

There are a bunch of ways to scale a winning campaign and account, and we get into this topic of scaling and bunches of other ways to win with ecommerce marketing in my book, Acquire. Convert. Repeat. which is currently only available with a subscription to my monthly newsletter, eCommerce Traffic Handler Monthly.

Learn more about these here:

https://ecommercetraffichandler.com/

Here's to more scales than a fish.