{!date dayname+0}, {!date long+0} Dear {!firstname_fix} The other day was World Book Day which was celebrated at my son's primary school with lots of extra reading. But tonight is World Book Night where one millions books will be handed out across the UK at a plethora of events. Like World Book Day, the World Book Night is designed to help encourage more reading to take place. The books being handed out have been especially selected by a panel of publishing experts, but they are all current titles. Sadly they won't be handing out some of the classics. So, because I cannot be with you tonight I am handing out to you with this newsletter a free copy of what I think is one of the greatest books of all time, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. It is a tale of affection and loyalty being more important than wealth or class and if you haven't read it perhaps now is the time to do so when the economic woes of the world show us that money isn't actually everything. The file is a big PDF so you'll need to download it directly from the link below. But I hope you enjoy this book as much as I have always done. Happy World Book Night. DOWNLOAD HERE: http://uklik.me/greatexpectationsbook
YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED: What is the best kind of "call to action"? On many websites the only "call to action" is "Buy Now". And while that might be the action you really want people to take, it is hardly the best invitation your website readers have ever received...! Few people actually want to "buy now" unless they have stumbled across the one thing they have been desperately seeking for weeks on end. Then they will pounce upon the "buy now" button with pleasure. But most people trundling around the internet are not actually in "buying mode" most of the time. So, if your only "calls to action" are "buy now" you are missing out on increasing your connection with your audience. If you can get your visitors to take some kind of action you can find out what their interests are, see what they like and gather information so you can relate to them better. Then as you build those relationships you can find the triggers that will mean the "buy now" button looks more inviting to them. In other words, use calls to action as means of increasing your understanding of your audience. This means you should have a variety of calls to action, but they can also help you determine various factors about your visitors. For instance, if you provide a free report for download provide two different calls to action - such as a "download now" button or an email subscription box so that people can receive it via email. You will then be able to see whether your customers prefer instant downloads or being on a mailing list. Similarly, you can use other calls to action such as a "phone now" button or an online chat button. What you really need is a wide range of actions you want people to take. Online, people love downloading things, commenting, contributing, asking questions, "liking" for Facebook, recommending via Twitter or being able to "do" something. If all you provide is material that can be looked at without any action taking place then your readers do not feel so involved. The more you can make them feel involved, the better. So you need several calls to action that allow your website visitors to "take part" in your website. When they have done that several times, the "buy now" button will inevitably look more enticing.
WHAT I LEARNED THIS WEEK: We should seek out customer stories more Yesterday I spent most of the day in a cemetery. My 81-year-old father-in-law decided that he wanted to visit the graves of his parents and his brother. He now lives many miles from the cemetery and finds it difficult to travel there, being elderly himself. He hasn't been to the graves for over a decade and - perhaps realising his own mortality - wanted to visit again before it became too difficult for him. In the same cemetery is my father-in-law's own father-in-law as well as some other relatives. So we hunted around the gravestones looking for all the people he knew and wanted to pay respects to. It was a clear, bright and sunny day and in spite of two funerals taking place while we were there, it was a joyous occasion to see this old man so pleased to be able to visit these important graves. But it was his comment as we left which made me think. As we walked out of the cemetery back to the car he said: "Look at all these headstones - behind every one of them there is a story." True enough - I suspect there are some fascinating stories about the people buried in that cemetery. Indeed, you only have to watch the BBC TV series "Who Do You Think You Are" to see that family history unearths some gripping and dramatic tales. Yet, my father-in-law's comment also made me think about what we do in business. We tend to bury our customer success stories too. We work for a client, often helping them achieve great things. Yet what do we do with that story? We leave it in our head, or perhaps ask for a testimonial. But these are merely the business gravestones of our work. What we need are the in-depth stories that lay beneath them. Perhaps if he were in business my father-in-law might say: "Look at all those testimonials - behind every one of theme there is a fascinating story". In business we need to collect those stories, publish them and be proud of them much more often than many of us are doing at the moment.
THIS WEEK'S "MUST BUY": Instant Cashflow Do you want some more cash in the bank pretty quickly? Daft question really...! With the economy as it is at the moment, cashflow is difficult for many businesses. This book, by entrepreneur and business coach Brad Sugars, is crammed full of ideas to get money into your pocket as quickly as possible. Indeed, if you implement just a few of these ideas you are bound to have a higher income. For instance, the book points out that you would boost your income immediately if only you could raise your conversion rate - so there are 58 ways to do that listed in the book! Another way of increasing your cash flow highlighted in this book is to actually reduce your costs - so there are several suggestions for squeezing your costs lower and lower. It is easy-to-read in short sections with bite-sized chunks of information. Just a few of those and you'll improve your bank account. To find out more about this book visit: http://uklik.me/instantcashflowbook
AND FINALLY: More blogging from The Jones Family After a year away from the world of WordPress, my 11-year-old son Elliot has decided to make a return to blogging. Tennis, Rugby, Golf and the XBox 360 all seemed much more attractive than the keyboard...! But in the past few days he has decided that blogging is really good to do - and he would love you to have a quick read of his latest exploits:
Kind Regards
Graham Jones Web: grahamjones.co.uk Tel: +44 118 336 9710 If you no longer wish to receive this newsletter than you can delete your name from the mailing list by clicking this link: {!remove_web} Affiliate Links: Some of the links in this newsletter are affiliate links providing me with a small commission when you purchase the item. However, I only use affiliate links for products which I personally value. |
