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[iframe style=”border:none” src=”http://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/2902707/height/100/width/480/thumbnail/yes/theme/legacy” height=”100″ width=”380″ scrolling=”no” allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen] All the tech, social media and blog headlines that Bloggers love, need and use everyday. Today we talk about fashion bloggers, Facebook paper, Barnes & Nobles, WordPress, Tavi Gevinson and more. |
Month: June 2014
Analyzing your bounce rate? Mistakes are common
What do I mean by bounce rate mistakes? The bounce rate is typically what analysts note as the percent of people that come to your website and then almost immediately hit the back button. When they “bounce” off they’re considered part of the bounce rate.
But most people look at the term incorrectly and start talking about bounce rate mistakes if your bounce rate is too high. Some even think Google cares about the bounce rate. Continue reading “Analyzing your bounce rate? Mistakes are common”
Yo, I ain’t Snooki
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[iframe style=”border:none” src=”http://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/2899026/height/100/width/480/thumbnail/yes/theme/legacy” height=”100″ width=”380″ scrolling=”no” allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen] All the tech, social media and blog headlines that Bloggers love, need and use everyday. Today we talk about Amazon Fire Phone, the Yo App, IOS8, the Bathrobe Crusader, Dropbox and more social media headlines. |
Consumer Buying Process: Messaging Makes all the Difference
I always enjoy “analyzing” the consumer buying process in different industries. For instance it doesn’t take much effort to sell a candy bar at the grocery store checkout. But it takes a heck of a lot of work to get a country to buy a Boeing 747.
This past week I met with both an insurance guy and a financial services guy (sales calls basically). I don’t need either, and imagine a great number of their appointments are with people who don’t want to change insurance or need a new money manager. But they make sales – so how does that work? And can we translate that to the web?
According to the financial services guy, there’s no way to makes sales in the financial services sector without first establishing a personal relationship with the clients, basically over coffee to start. In his mind even when people are shopping for what you have, unless you have a relationship with them they’re not doing business with you. The insurance guy felt the same way. Continue reading “Consumer Buying Process: Messaging Makes all the Difference”
Christian Bale foils the Smart Watch
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[iframe style=”border:none” src=”http://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/2896733/height/100/width/480/thumbnail/yes/theme/legacy” height=”100″ width=”380″ scrolling=”no” allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen]
All the tech, social media and blog headlines that Bloggers love, need and use everyday. Today we’re talking about Twitter, Batman, email, Radio Shack, the fax machine and more |
I got you, Foodbabe
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[iframe style=”border:none” src=”http://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/2895135/height/100/width/480/thumbnail/yes/theme/legacy” height=”100″ width=”380″ scrolling=”no” allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen]On today’s episode we talk about Twitter, Fark.com, Facebook, Niche.co, Jethro Ames, Vani Hari Huffington Post, Ostendo and LinkedIn |
Your Website Conversion Rate is Meaningless. Period.
People often ask me what my website conversion rate is, which I think is an absolutely ridiculous question. But before we continue, let’s assume you don’t know what a conversion rate is OR let’s define it so the rest of this post is based on a mutual understanding of conversion rate.
Here it is: Number of Visitors ÷ Number of people who perform the task you want them to perform = Conversion rate (as a percentage).
Example: 100 people visit the site, 10 people buy. Conversion rate is 10%
Easy enough, right?
Let’s start with a real life example, let’s use www.antioxidantexample.com, which is the masked url of an antioxidant nutritional supplement that advertises heavily on TV and Radio – but no advertising on the internet.
95% of their web traffic is derived from folks who heard the 30 minute radio infomercial or saw the 30 minute TV infomercial then went to the website to buy the product. What do you think their conversion rate is? Well, it just so happens that the conversion rate is 30%. That means 3 out of every 10 visitors buys the product.
For a while the company advertised using Google’s AdWords, which means they bid on ad space on the Google Search Results pages. When they did that they drove thousands of people to the site who were searching for “antioxidants” and “antioxidant nutritional supplements”. But the conversion rate of these ads were only .7%, which totally didn’t match the conversion rate of the customers who came to the site from the TV show.
Same website. No changes.
The only thing that did change was the quality of the person that arrived at the site. From infomercials the prospect had 30 minutes of explanation and product examples, before they searched to buy the product, But with Google Adwords they only saw a banner ad. That means most of the people were just curious. The conversion rate of the website dropped substantially.
So the website conversion rate is bunk. In fact, if anyone asks how well your site converts, just tell them that question makes no sense.
Rephrase the question for them. Let them know that they really asked the wrong question. What is important to know is the conversion rate of the traffic that comes from the TV show. It’s good to know the conversion rate of the traffic that comes from banner ads. 95% of the time that conversion rate will differ among sources.
Your website conversion rate is meaningless. The conversion rate of your source’s web traffic, on the other hand, is like spun gold. Knowing what converts well and what doesn’t is the first step in testing, revising and optimization. And hopefully it isn’t the last.
Can you start a new site outside your niche?
Prior to going to BlogWorldExpo I’ve maintained the position that trying to build an audience in a new, unrelated niche wasn’t the best idea. The whole point of list building and empire creation is culling together an audience of similar interests to which you can create a community.
Starting a second site in a related niche means you have the power of your community behind you. Emailing your loyal fishing enthusiasts about your new rainbow trout site makes a ton of sense. You get instant engagement and typically great testimonials from the old people. And doesn’t it make more sense than inviting all your fishing enthusiasts to your new quilting website? Continue reading “Can you start a new site outside your niche?”