{!date dayname+0}, {!date long+0} Dear {!firstname_fix} Hope all is well in your world. I've had a busy week but the next week is different. I shall be at home almost the entire week - marking psychology exams...! I'm an examiner for the Open University degree in child psychology and already on my desk are more than 300 essays waiting to be marked. Today I'm at an examiners' meeting all day in Milton Keynes. Always in my mind, though, are the students - sitting in their homes, waiting for my verdict on their work. They deserve my full attention and my accurate marking - after all, their future careers depend on me getting it right. If they think writing the exam was tough, try marking it - it's a significant responsibility. I don't think students often realise this. And it is sometimes the same with clients - how often do we convey the seriousness with which we take the projects they give us? If we are matter-of-fact and merely treat it as "a job", the chances are they think we are a commodity kind of supplier. But if we convey the seriousness with which we take on the responsibility of their tasks, we are much more likely to be able to charge higher fees and gain more work. It's a thought.
YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED: Is the Number One slot on Google worth it? This week's question comes from Andy in Bristol who reckons he heard that being third or fourth on Google is better than being "Number One". I think what he is referring to is research on the click-through rate for Google AdWords - the sponsored listings which appear on the right hand side of a Google search results page (and occasionally at the top of the left hand column). The studies show that being third or fourth in this area of a Google page has advantages over being first. That's because of the relationship between clicks and pricing in the advertising auction which Google runs. It ends up being most cost-effective to be in third or fourth because you get many clicks at reasonable prices. And, those clicks tend to be from "quality" people - those who have considered the adverts and not just clicked on the first one automatically without thinking. However, only 25% of people who use Google search ever click on an advert. Most people only ever use the "organic" results - the main column on the left of the page. However, studies show that only the top three results really matter in terms of clicks. Almost all the clicks go to Number One. By the time you get to the tenth result, you are only getting around 1% of all the people who have searched. So, in theory being Number One on Google is worth it for "organic" results, but not for advertising. If you are Number One you get the majority of the clicks. Brilliant. Bring on the Search Engine Optimizers and get those clicks. Except for one thing. The theory is flawed. The whole SEO theory is based on numbers. It assumes that getting the most clicks is the most important thing. It isn't. Also trying to be "Number One" consumes a great deal of time and budget, taking your mind off your real task - conversions. Imagine you have a fantastic looking shop in the local High Street. The window display is so attractive everyone, I mean everyone, calls in. You get more footfall than all the other High Street shops added together. That's wonderful and no-doubt great for your ego. But what about your bank balance? If all those people come in, look round and then walk out, what then? Online, the chase for Number One is producing exactly this. The owner of the website spends so much time and effort on chasing that traffic, they tend to forget or do not have time to concentrate on conversion. Let's say you want £1,000 a week from your website and that your average sale price is £10. So you need 100 sales a week. You can get those 100 sales from 100 people if you convert 100%. Or you can get those sales from 10,000 people if your conversion is a mere 1%. Obviously the higher your conversion rate, the fewer people you need. Guess what? There are people lower down the Google results ranking earning MORE money from LESS traffic than the people at Number One. Why? Because they concentrate on conversion rates. Being Number One on Google may do your ego good, but does it really impact on your bank balance? That's the crucial question. Focus on conversions and forget the chase for Google positioning. Remember, you can always ask your question and get it answered in this newsletter by going to: http://www.grahamjones.co.uk/questions
WHAT I LEARNED THIS WEEK: Mystery shopping is essential The other day I received a message from my telephone answering service asking me to call one of my contacts who wanted me to do some consultancy work for them. However, before I was able to call them I received a worrying email with a complaint about the way the call had been answered. My contact said the person who answered the phone did not reflect my usual warm and friendly style. This obviously worried me. Normally I get excellent feedback about my telephone answering service, AllDayPA. In fact, when people do comment, they usually say positive things. So I decided to check this complaint out. I contacted AllDayPA and let them know of the problem. They investigated and came back to me with a full explanation. They told me that the call was answered in something of a hurry and so the operator had to explain herself again and did so in a rather matter of fact and tired way. AllDayPA agreed this was not acceptable and have brought my - and their own - displeasure to the attention of the operator. And they have given me a fulsome apology. When I did speak with my contact I asked what had happened on the call and why he felt it wasn't answered well. His explanation turned out to be identical to that of AllDayPA's. In other words, their internal review process was excellent - not some kind of fob-off, but obviously got to the heart of the problem. It reminded me that every now and then I call my own office...! I do that to check how the phone is answered and how I am represented in my absence. This incident underlined the importance of mystery shopping our own businesses so that we can be sure of the ways in which our customers see us. If we don't do that and we don't have contacts who are prepared to tell us the truth, there is a chance our businesses can be seen in ways we would not like. If you want to check out what else I've been doing for the past week, you can always look at: http://www.grahamjones.co.uk/week
THIS WEEK'S "MUST BUY": The Amazon Kindle  OK - I succumbed to all the advertising for The Amazon Kindle. And I am so glad I did. I cannot begin to describe how marvellous this little machine is. Well, OK, I'll give it a try..! When you unpack it, you think they have stuck a piece of paper over the screen with your welcome note on it. They haven't. It IS the screen. The quality is so fantastic it looks like paper. With Wi-Fi and 3G built-in you can download books in seconds. I have also subscribed to a daily newspaper, some blogs and a magazine. Reading the newspaper and the blogs on this device is so, so much better than on a computer screen. And faster. Why? No distractions. There is just the text and the relevant images - nothing else. Reading books is a breeze. It is also lighter than a paperback, yet you can carry over 8,000 of them with you...! Plus, compared with an iPad it's about a fifth of the price. And considering it appears that most people who use an iPad only use it for reading blogs and magazines, why pay all that extra? Amazon have pulled the rabbit out of the hat with this device. My only regret? I didn't get one a month ago when it was launched...! if you read books, newspapers, magazines and blogs, get The Amazon Kindle - I'm convinced you will not regret it. Oh - and by the way - it appears as a USB drive on your computer so you can copy PDFs and other documents to it and read them on it as well. To find out more about The Amazon Kindle visit: http://GJurl.com/kindle
There's still time.... The Social Media Guys are me, Nigel Morgan, who runs Morgan PR and Ant Hodges from ToInfinity, the online marketing agency. Tickets for our seminar tour are now on sale for just £47. AND you get bonus extras of personal consultancy for your company and entry into our "members only" Social Media Lounge. So, sign up now for the Social Media Guys LIVE! You can buy your ticket at http://GJurl.com/smgtour So, that's it for this week - see you in seven days...! 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. |
