The first of an ongoing series in which we will pick out one especially good how-to piece from around The Internets. This week a post that is terrific in its simplicity: how to publish a niche Wordpress site that Does Not Suck. It is such a seemingly easy process yet suckitude reigns. Noobs (and really, anybody who wants to be reminded of just what one should trying to do with … [Read more...]
Your Web Design is Killing Your Conversion Rate
Let me tell you an inconvenient truth – your baby is ugly. No, I’m not offending your family genes. The “baby” I’m referring to is your website. The design elements that you’ve invested tons of time and money into have created severe problems that are contributing to your low conversion rates. To make matters worse, this predicament was completely avoidable: you have been a … [Read more...]
Tried and True Performance Strategies
There are a lot of ways to approach affiliate marketing. Here are a few of my favorite tips.Feature Co-branded Messaging –Among the fastest-growing areas of affiliate marketing, loyalty and cash-back sites have come to play an increasingly important role in affiliate programs. Given that these types of sites are responsible for delivering a huge number of sales and often … [Read more...]
Capitalizing on Fame
Some say there’s no such thing as an overnight success. Others believe everyone gets their 15 minutes of fame. I don’t know about those old clichés. But I do know someone who proved that worldwide fame can come quickly.For Mia Michaels, who was already well known in the dance industry, being a part of the TV show So You Think You Can Dance exposed her magnetic … [Read more...]
The Importance of Follow-through
I am not a golfer- but I rented some clubs and hit at a driving range for the first time a few months ago. I had no clue what I was doing, but I happened to be standing next to someone who was in the middle of a lesson. I watched closely and tried to apply what the trainer was telling his student to make my swing better. After a few tries, I was consistently driving that sucker … [Read more...]
Late for a Date
This column was supposed to be the last in our series on redesigning SostreAssoc.com, the website for my design firm Sostre & Associates. I even said in my last article that, “By the time you read this article, the new design will be live on our site and we’ll have started crunching the analytics data.” Unfortunately, things didn’t quite work out that way. Due to various … [Read more...]
Late for a Date
This column was supposed to be the last in our series on redesigning SostreAssoc.com, the website for my design firm Sostre & Associates. I even said in my last article that, "By the time you read this article, the new design will be live on our site and we'll have started crunching the analytics data." Unfortunately, things didn't quite work out that way.Due to various … [Read more...]
Passing the Test
In the May/June Affiliate's Corner column, I wrote about the ways super-affiliates prefer to be approached by affiliate program managers and merchants for the purpose of program recruitment.Wooing a super-affiliate over drinks and dinner with offers of exclusive landing pages, significantly higher-than-advertised commission rates, or showering them with free product samples … [Read more...]
Making Over My Own Site
Being "Dr. Makeover" comes with plenty of pressure. There's an expectation that everything I touch will be inherently beautiful and optimized for peak performance. I have a dirty little secret, though: I rarely spend much time working on the design aspect of my own sites. What's that old saying about the cobbler's children? So I've decided to put some shoes on my own kids' feet … [Read more...]
Bringing Your Website Into Focus
What can you do when you've invested in Web initiatives and it looks like the investment isn't paying off? For some industries, embracing the Web as a way to increase business has been a long, slow road. The good news is that every day, companies are pushing the envelope to create online tools and features that move their industry forward in search of the revenue-altering … [Read more...]
Improving Conversions
Kimberly Griffiths knows all too well what it feels like to be drowning in a sea of debt. Like many Americans, she's faced credit card charges totaling tens of thousands of dollars. The difference between Griffiths and the average credit-card-toting American is that she conquered the interest-accruing beasts.Now Griffiths is passionate about helping others conquer it too. She … [Read more...]
Redemption
It all started with Asa Candler, a "prescriptionist" in Atlanta 112 years ago. A modest pharmacist who dealt in tonics and medicines, he bought an unassuming recipe for a patent medicine called Coca-Cola. When he gave out handwritten slips of paper for customers to try the new drink for free, the coupon was born.The simple yet brilliant marketing idea Candler conceived has, of … [Read more...]
Insurance for Conversion Rates
Designing for conversions isn't rocket science. It's just the ability to design a website with particular ideas in mind. For this column we're going to focus on some of the most powerful ways to make a site convert - emotion, unique value proposition and credibility. Master these three basic concepts and you'll be rewarded with soaring conversion rates.The life insurance lead … [Read more...]
Introducing Dr. Makeover
Not every website needs a complete redesign. Contrary to what most Web designers tell you, designing a website for results, or what I like to call Conversion Design, doesn't require a pretty website. I'm not interested in redesigning websites just for design's sake. So we're shaking things up a bit for this issue of Revenue. Instead of a complete visual overhaul of one site, … [Read more...]
Over-the-Counter Advice for a Healthier Home Page
A double dose of design is not nearly as potent as performance for a site that needs a checkup.What does design mean to you? Since the goal of this column is to teach website owners, Internet marketers and developers how to design home pages and landing pages that meet business objectives, it's important that we are on the same page, the same line - the same word - as we … [Read more...]