CPC, ROI, PPC..? If you’re confused by some of the jargon you see, here’s a quick guide to help you understand the industry a little better:

Above the fold

The top part of a page, which can be viewed without scrolling down. The term comes from newspaper advertising where it literally meant the top half of the page, above where it was folded.

Affiliate

A marketer who promotes a merchant’s (product owner’s) product in exchange for a commision.

Autoresponder

A program or service which automatically sends email in response to a trigger such as receiving email or an opt-in subscription. Autoresponder services such as AWeber take this a stage further and are full marketing systems for managing multiple lists and scheduling many email sequences.

COA

Cost Of Aquisition - The marketing cost of aquiring a new customer. For example, if you spend $100 on a campaign that generates 20 new sales your COA is $5.

Conversion rate

Percentage of visitors who perform a valuable action (sale or opt-in).

CPA

Cost Per Action - a model of advertising based on user’s specific actions, such as sales or subscriptions.

CPC

Cost Per Click - The cost of getting an individual visitor to your site. In CPM, if the CPM is $5 and an average of 5% of impressions result in a click then the CPC is $0.25 for that campaign.

CPM

Cost Per Thousand - Advertising model based on the cost of 1000 impressions of an advert (banner, ezine advert etc.)

CTR

Click Through Ratio - The number of users who click on an advert, compared to the number of impressions. For example if 5 users click an advert out of every 100 who see it your CTR would be 5%

Hit

A poor method of measuring traffic to a site or page. A hit constitutes a browser request to a page but generally gives a much higher an inaccurate fugure than the number of visitors to a page.

Impression

A single showing of an advert. If an advert on a web page is viewed 100 times than there have been 100 impressions of the advert.

JV

Joint Venture - 2 or more marketers working together for mutual benefit. Could be one marketer promoting the other’s product to their list, or a more involved relationship.

Link popularity

The number of inbound links to a site. A higher number of links tends to lead to more traffic, and is a major factor in SEO.

Opt-in

A specific request from a visitor to receive emails from a list (newsletter/ezine) by giving their name and email. Double opt-in means that the subscriber has to verify their email by confirming their subscription request.

Organic traffic

Traffic from search engine results which have not been paid for. High levels of organic traffic tend to be the result of good quality content and SEO.

PPC

Pay Per Click - a model of Internet advertising where an advertiser is charged a small fee very time a user clicks on their link. Google’s Adwords system is the most popular PPC engine.

PPL

Pay Per Lead - a model of advertising where a company pays for each lead that has been generated.

ROI

Return On Investment - The margin gained from a marketing effort. A PPC campaign for example that costs $0.10 per click, earns $15 per sale and generates on average 1 sale every 100 clicks has an ROI of $5 for every $10 spent, or 50%.

SEM

Search Engine Marketing - a range of techniques to promote a site via search engines. includes SEO and PPC.

SEO

Search Engine Optimisation - The process of refining a page or site with the purpose of boosting rankings in search engines.

Squeeze page

A web page with the sole objective of obtaining a user’s name and email, normally in exchange for some information of value (ebook, newsletter, access to restricted site etc.)

Unique Visitor

As the name suggests, the number of individuals who visit a site within a set period of time. The most useful metric of traffic.

Viral Marketing

Any marketing where the user becomes part of the marketing system by promoting a site or product. Normally involves a system where usage actively promotes itself, a good example would be a free email service where each email sent includes a self serving advert.

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If you’re new to blogging, or Internet Marketing, you may have heard the term RSS bandied about but not really understood what is means or why you ought to be using it. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and is a way of syndicating your content via an XML feed, or subscribing to feeds from other blogs and sites. By subscribing to a feed you can consume the content without actually visiting the site, either through an online service like Google Reader, or in an offline RSS client or aggregator. That means you can collect the feeds from all your favorite sites, and read them from one place without having to visit each site in turn. As you can imagine, this really speeds up your research and time spent reading blog posts which means you can be much more efficient and read more blogs.

The reason having an RSS feed for your own blog is so important is that in this day and age, many people are consuming information on the Internet in just this way. They don’t want to, or have time to, visit every blog they are interested in and so they simply subscribe to the feeds. If your site doesn’t offer a feed you may be missing out on a lot of regular readers.

RSS - Really iS Simple

The great news is that you don’t need to know any technical stuff, or even understand XML, in order to have a feed on your site, or to subscribe to other feeds. As with most things, we humans learn best by doing, so let me show you how to best use RSS.

Subscribing to feeds

First of all you need a reader. As already mentioned you can use an offline reader, or a web service. I like to use the free Google Reader so head over there and get yourself an account. Once you’ve done that subscribing couldn’t be easier. Just head to your favorite blog (this one would be a great start!) and click on the orange RSS feed logo (you may see more than one, look to the top right of this blog and you’ll see one feed for entries and another for comments, so click the entries button). You will then see the feed page which will look something like this:

If you’re subscribing via Google Reader, or one of the other services listed in the dropdown menu on some feeds just select it and click the button. Otherwise, copy and paste the URL into your reader and you’re done! Now every time you visit a site that you want to keep track of, simply subscribe to their RSS feed.

RSS on your own sites

The great news is that your blog probably already has an RSS feed as standard. If you’re using one of the mainstream blogging platforms such as Wordpress or Movable Type, or if your site is built using a CMS like Drupal then you’re in luck. If not then you can still create a feed without too much trouble by using a feed editor such as FeedForAll.

If you want to check your feed for errors there is a free validation tool at Feed Validator, and once you have done that, you can promote your site by submitting your feed to blog and feed directories. There is a long list of sites allowing RSS submissions at RSS Specifications.

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Following on from yesterday’s post about following up with potential customers, I wanted to give a full review of the Autoresponder I have been using on all my sites for some time - AWeber. I have tried others, and I found GetResponse to be the next best, but AWeber for me comes up trumps.

An autoresponder is, essentially, a program which automatically sends an email when some action is taken. That action could be when someone sends an email, or fills out a web form. This most basic model of an autoresponder works just like a fax-on-demand service, but a service like AWeber goes way beyond this and would be better called an online marketing response system.

With a powerful autoresponder like AWeber, you can build and manage multiple email lists. Those lists can be set up with sequences where set emails are sent to people on the list at set intervals. For example, after joining your list a new contact might receive a welcome email immediately, followed by a follow up email the next day, then a third email after 2 days etc. As well as automated sequences, you are able to send single emails to your list whenever you want. These are known as broadcasts and can be sent immediately, or scheduled for sending at a set time in the future.

So, now you know roughly what an autoresponder is, why would you want one and what would you use it for? Well first off, if you read my post yesterday you’ll know that most people need multiple exposures of a product or service before they buy. Well, an autoresponder makes that very easy to do. Simply add an opt-in form to a webpage so your visitors can request information (could be direct info about the product, or a ‘bribe’ where you offer some valuable incentive like an ebook or a video in a related subject). If you have your autoresponder sequenced well, that visitor now becomes a prospect and starts receiving multiple emails promoting your product (or an affiliate product) without any further input from yourself - your marketing system takes over and earns you money while you sleep!

The next use is to create and deliver content itself. Have you ever seen a ‘7 day crash course’ or ‘28 email lessons’ on a subject offered? Well that type of content would normally be delivered by an autoresponder. Simply write your multi-part course as a series of sequenced emails, and offer it for free - all your visitors have to do in order to receive them is opt-in to your autoresponder! See how powerful that is? You can actually get people to opt-in to your list by offering your autoresponder sequence, and of course after they receive their ‘7 part crash course’ you still have them in your marketing system ready to receive further emails and promotions.

AWeber - The Autoresponder of choice

OK, you’re convinced, you need an autoresponder service, but why choose AWeber? Well, that’s a good question so let’s look at AWeber’s major features one at a time:

Email deliverability. Put simply, deliverability is how many of your emails will actually get through and be read. In these days of spam and users receiving many, many emails every day there are strong blocks and filters placed on mail servers to try and stop non-legitimate email getting through. Since AWeber is so well known and respected in the industry, they manage to get an incredible percentage of their emails through the blocks. They manage this by being very strict about their spam policies and ensuring that only geniune opt-in subscribers are ever sent emails through their system. AWeber was designed and built with Internet Marketers in mind so it is ideally suited to our needs. AWeber really do have an awesome reputation with the ISPs and as such get more emails through than just about anyone else.

Unlimited Autoresponders. That’s right, from your one AWeber account you can create as many lists and sublists as you like. Build up relationships with your subscribers, keep them informed, educate them and more without having to manually resend the emails to each list.

Great customer support. I’ve only had to contact customer support twice and both times I’ve had timely and accurate responses.

Built in analytics. You can test your entire marketing funnel from within the AWeber control panel. Find out which opt-in form works the best, which headlines are working and the best time of day to send your newsletter. All these questions and more can be answered using the built in tools.

Send blog newsletters. You can set your blog RSS feed to send an automated email to your subscribers at set time intervals or whenever you post new content.

Backup. A very simple ‘one click’ backup function is available which means you can rest assured your list will be safe no matter what.

1 month’s free trial. Still not convinced? Well, not to worry. You can try AWeber for a month and if you’re not satisfied you can ask for a full refund. All I can say to that is that I’ve yet to meet a marketer who has tried AWeber and not found it massively useful for their business.

Is AWeber Hard To Use?

I won’t lie to you, there will be a learning curve when you start using AWeber just like there is with any powerful software. At first glance the user interface is not as pretty as GetResponse, but you’ll very quickly get past that and once you’ve learned the basics you’ll find it very intuitive and powerful. It will probably take you a couple of hours to find your way around, go through the basic tutorials and set up your first list and opt-in form. Once you have done that however, you’ll be able to login and perform a task like send a broadcast or create a new form in just a few minutes. You don’t even need to know HTML as you simply fill out the forms and ‘cut and paste’ the code into your pages.

Price

The basic package is $19 per month. As your list grows you’ll have to increase your licence to allow more subscribers, but by then it will be more than paying for itself. The price fairs up very well against the competition and shouldn’t break the bank.

Conclusion

As previously stated, I have tried a number of autoresponders over the past 18 months and for me AWeber is the pick of the bunch. In terms of email deliverability, industry reputation and functionality I really don’t feel there is any competition at this price point. Check out the AWeber site, do some searches on Google and the forums and see what else is out there, but whatever you do get yourself an auto responder and start building your list!

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Tomorrow, Wednesday 29th July, Matt Bacak will break his code of silence and share his powerful system that made him over $4,000,000 last year!

The cost of the call is being promoted at $77 but there are free spaces left. The call is being hosted by Joe Lavery, so it should be good.

If you’ve not heard of Matt Bacak before, he’s the guy behind products such as Secrets of the Internet Millionaire Mind and Ultimate Lifestyle Workshop so he knows his stuff!

To register for the live webinar click here. It’s not an affiliate link since this will get you free access to the call. It should be good and I can’t wait so I’ll see you there!

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How many times does a prospect need to see your offer before making a purchasing decision? Once? Twice? Three times? In fact, the figure for most industries is 7 times. That means if you are simply throwing up a post, an article or an advert and expecting conversions you’re leaving serious money on the table.

People buy after repeated brand exposure. That’s why companies like Coca Cola and MacDonalds still spend millions of dollars on their advertising (Coke’s annual advertising budget is reported to be $1.6 billion!) even though these brands are already well known by most of the population. It’s through repeat exposure that people associate the brand and make a decision to buy.

So what does this mean to you and your online business? Well, if you’re selling products (either your own or as an affiliate) you need to be able to expose your prospects to that product multiple times. In real terms what that means is building a list - an email mailing list of subscribers who you can send promotional emails and content to using an autoresponder.

Autoresponders

An autoresponder is a tool that allows you to build and manage a list of subscribers, and send them emails. Those emails can be sequenced (so they are sent at set intervals after the prospect subscribes - say every other day for 2 weeks) or as broadcasts where you send an email to your entire list at a specific time. What this does is allow you to expose your prospects to the same offer multiple times.

Let’s say you have a new ebook that you want to promote. You could simply write a blog post about it with a link to the sales letter - but how many people will read that and decide not to buy? With an autoresponder sequence however it’s simple to send multiple promotions. Each email you send can focus on a different benefit or feature. The first email might give an overview of the product, a few days later you might mention one or two of the key features in more details. Yet another email might mention your money back guarantee, your affiliate program or the exclusive bonuses you’re offering with the product…

What happens is that different people will have different ‘hot buttons’. Some will buy right away, some will buy once they read about feature X and others only after you describe the bonus in detail. With each exposure you’ll get a few more conversions and increase your sales.

A good autoresponder service, and the abilty to use it properly are absolute essentials in building a successful online business. I’ve tried several systems and the one I like best, and which I use now for my entire business, is Aweber. Tomorrow I’ll give an in depth review of the system and a tutorial on setting up your first autoresponder sequence.

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If you’re in the UK, Ireland, Germany or the Netherlands then this post is relevant to you - if not you might want to skip this one!

The UK’s premier Network Marketing company, Kleeneze, are running an amazing promotion right now. The promotion essentially allows you to join the business for free from now until 5th September.

Kleeneze will actually give a full refund of your investment if you meet 2 simple criteria - generate in excess of £400 worth of personal sales within the first 4 weeks, and introduce one other person to the business who does the same.

OK, Who are Kleeneze and does it work?

Good question! Kleeneze are one of the UK’s most successful and well respected home shopping companies. Founded in 1923, the business is part of a £600+ million company and they really know their stuff. I hadn’t heard of Network Marketing when I got involved a little over 3 years ago, but in that time I’ve earned over £30,000 extra income from running the business part time, and been sent on a free all expenses trip to Budapest! It’s a simple business, but it does take some real effort - if you’re looking for a free ride or a ‘get rich quick scheme’ then don’t bother… but if you’re interested in significantly increasing your income in your spare time, or building a serious real world business (not just an online income stream) then do check it out.

The question I keep getting asked about this is, “how easy is it to generate £400 in sales?”. Well, I started the business very part time around my web design business and in my first month I generated over £1200 in sales so in my opinion, anyone who puts a little effort in can easily achieve £400 or more without difficulty.

The promotion is in addition to several others that the company are currently running including foriegn travel and car incentives - Visit the Kleeneze site to find out more.

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