{!date dayname+0}, {!date long+0} Dear {!firstname_fix} Are you ready for the spooky goings-on tomorrow, for Halloween? My 10-year-old son has bought me a "Dracula Suit" and apparently I'm joining him as he goes "trick or treating" around our neighbours...! I hope I get lots of treats, though knowing my neighbours when they see me they'll probably want to trick me...! Interestingly, none of the children really know or care what Halloween is really about - they just enjoy having fun dressing up and getting free sweets..! But I wonder how much money Tesco or Sainsbury's have taken just on Halloween costumes and associated stuff? Even our local pub is cashing in, with a children's Halloween Party tomorrow afternoon. It just makes me think - what calendar events can we link with our businesses and make money from them? For instance, accountants run workshops on the day of the Budget. What other well-known events and diary dates can you make money from? It's probably worth mulling over.
YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED: What is the value of Pay Per Click? Pay Per Click advertising works. It brings in millions and millions of dollars and pounds....to Google, Yahoo and Microsoft. They are all really grateful that so many people want to advertise on their services. According to Google 88% of all search marketing spend goes on pay per click. In other words, all of the cash that companies pour into getting their websites listed on search engines and all that SEO work - it only accounts for 12% of all the money spent. It seems that most businesses simply opt for paying to appear on a list. Here's the problem, only 15% of people who use search engines ever click on an advert. In other words, 88% of the spend on search marketing is going on just 15% of the audience. That does not compute...! So why do businesses spend so much on advertising? The reason is a psychological one - instant gratification. With Pay Per Click you can get instantly noticed on the front page of Google and start getting clicks within moments of publishing your advert. Using the "organic" route of trying to get to the top of a search engine results page takes time and effort. Consequently it does not suit executives who want "action" and "results". What happens next is they focus on the data associated with their advertising, looking at how they can increase the number of clicks they get, thereby reducing the cost of each click. They start to focus on the wrong thing. And no amount of explaining to them that their focus is futile works. Why? Because they have a pile of data which "proves" that they get a return on their advertising. It is true, Pay Per Click can bring you paying customers - assuming your advert is good and the page they get to when they click through has powerful messages and high potential for conversion. But as the Pay Per Click experts will tell you, most advertisers fail to get anywhere near the level of conversions they want or need. Indeed, stories of people spending thousands for almost no return are commonplace. But that has always been the case with advertising. For decades, probably centuries, people have been advertising in newspapers and magazines and seen little or nothing back. How many times have people you know said they advertised in the local paper last year, but aren't doing that again this year because they didn't get much custom from it? People are drawn to advertising for two reasons. Firstly it is something they can control - you don't depend on an editor deciding what to say about your company or when to say it. Secondly, when advertising works, it works quickly - you publish an advert and people respond. Consequently advertising has two big psychological pulls - control and instant gratification. But don't let yourself be drawn by them too much. Yes, Pay Per Click advertising can help your business. But remember that 85% of people NEVER look at it. If you concentrate your efforts on Pay Per Click you are ignoring the bulk of your audience. Pay Per Click can help your company, but as an add-on, not as the focus of your business promotion. So, the value of Pay Per Click is that it can bring you additional customers as "icing on the cake" of the ones you get form organic search. Concentrate on that and you might not even want that icing anyway. 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: Relying on technology leads to failure This week I wanted to convert my home phone line from a paper billing account to one that uses online bills. According to Tesco I would get a 5% discount when I changed. So I called the helpline where I got no help...! Yes, they could log into my account but the button that is "always there" to convert accounts just was not appearing on my account page it seemed. The person I spoke to had no idea what the problem was, he'd never seen this before and it "always" works. Well, not quite true...! So I decided to change my supplier. Upon checking I discovered that BT would save me about £50 a year. So, I clicked on their "order this product" button which led me to a form asking for my phone number. I entered my phone number pressed "submit" and was told that my phone number did not exist. Oops, I thought, I've mistyped it. So I tried again, double checked my entry and pressed submit. This time I was told that the product was only available for BT customers. Strange, because I used the button for NON BT customers...! So, third time lucky I thought. This time the error message was that "broadband is not available in your area". Well, apart from the fact I have an 8Mbps broadband line from BT which I was using to access their website, I hadn't even clicked on a broadband product; I was merely looking for a new home phone supplier. I sent a complaint to BT - and to be fair they did phone me back the next day. They apologised and then said I could have their "secret" phone number especially for customers who had trouble ordering with their website. Sorry? Hang on a minute? They have a special call centre dedicated to dealing with customers who cannot order via the website because the website doesn't work...? Doesn't that sound rather illogical to you? In fact BT and Tesco had made the same error. They had put all their trust in technology - and technology which they assumed would work and which clearly has not been thoroughly tested. Your business, like mine, probably uses a great deal of technology - from basic word processing through to complex web applications on your website. But do you rely on these technologies? Have you tested them so thoroughly in every possible situation you know they cannot break or cause problems? Can people use your website without any errors? It's an area we all need to consider. How much testing of the technology we rely on do we test enough? Failing to do so could lead to loss of business, just like BT and Tesco have lost mine. 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": Play videos the Easy way Adding videos to your website is easy - you just use YouTube. But therein lies the problem. Firstly you can only have 15 minutes for each video. Secondly, your videos may have advertising overlaying them. Thirdly your YouTube Channel is restricted in terms of the options you have. Wouldn't it be great if you had more control? Enter Easy Video Player. This allows you to upload video recordings of any length either to your own server, or to Amazon S3 services (much better than your own server). You get complete control over how your video appears - plus it doesn't have any overlaid advertising. Even better you can add "Buy Now" buttons, or opt in forms, as overlays on the video itself - enabling you to get sign ups from your videos. This is an excellent program and well worth investigating. Here is one video I have just uploaded using this software - it took moments. http://gjserver.co.uk/video/internetparty/ To find out more about Easy Video Player visit: http://GJurl.com/easyvideo
Just heard this.... Staples in the UK are providing free delivery on orders over £30 and free gifts for orders over £39. Maybe worth a look if you need to top up your stationery...! Staples FREE gift on orders over £39 (ex VAT) You can find our more at http://gjurl.com/staplesoffer 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. |
