“You know how all those other truck companies claim to have the most of this, or be the fastest at that? Well, the only thing that really matters is that for the 25th year in a row, more people bought Ford trucks than any other truck.”

I thought about the commercial, and wondered, “If I were in the market for a truck, would this convince me to buy a Ford?”

At first, I thought “absolutely, no,” but soon changed my mind…

Ford is using the social science principle of “Social Proof.”

Robert Cialdini says that Social Proof “states that one means we use to determine what is correct is to find out what other people think is correct.”

In other words, “Monkey see, monkey do.”

Social Proof (or social evidence) has become a widespread tactic that’s gone way beyond the old McDonald’s “1 Trillion Sold” signs. Now, everyone and his truck-loving brother wants to employ social proof as a means to an end; that is, more sales.

Ford believes that by offering “evidence” that people who want a truck will more often buy a Ford truck, they will convince truck-seekers of their natural superiority.

When I first saw the ad, my initial response was, “So what? All that means is that truck drivers can’t think for themselves.”

The critical thinking part of me immediately saw their marketing angle and rejected it as irrelevant. I knew how the trick was done, so it spoiled the trick entirely!

But, after I saw the ad (several times), I came to realize that it’s actually quite clever. Ford removed “features” from the sales equation entirely.

See, Ford didn’t refute the claims of their competitors about being the best at this or fastest at that. They simply said that “more people buy our trucks, so you should do the same thing.”

In a way, the ad is brilliant.

If I’m in the market for a truck, and I see that one truck is rated tops in quality, another has the most pulling power, and a third has a “hemi” (whatever that is), how can I possibly decide which is better for me?

All the wild claims by competitors merely confuses the issue, and doesn’t provide me with an emotional hook for my decision.

Ford does provide an emotional hook. By showing evidence or proof that more people buy Ford trucks than any other truck, the emotional side of me is inclined to relax a bit. I’m more apt to trust other people than I am the truck manufacturers.

So, even though I might understand the psychology behind the ad, I’m still going to lean toward following the crowd, if only because it simplifies the decision process.

I don’t have to know what a “hemi” is in order to buy a truck. I’m not inclined to believe anyone today who claims to have the best quality, given what’s been happening with all the recent recalls.

Ah, but social proof? That’s a winner.

Why Social Proof Works For Ford

Let’s dive into the psychology of this a bit more to understand why this ad might work for Ford.

Ford is in an industry where features are king. Ford is right … their competitors have been pitching the features of their trucks, assuming that having the biggest this or widest that really makes any difference.

Whenever we’re bombarded with lists of features, most of which we don’t truly understand, we feel confused and overwhelmed.

Is LCD better than Plasma? What’s a pixel? Who’s on first?

Even if you know the technology or meaning of the features, there’s often no way to tell which product’s features are better than another product’s features.

Say you’re looking for a new truck. You’re not so sure about Toyota these days, and GM isn’t much better. Yet, those two companies push the size, strength, and power of their trucks. Perhaps you discover that Chevy trucks have a “hemi,” but that Toyota has more “pulling power.”

In the midst of the confusion, our minds look for an emotional hook – something to relieve the confusion and help us to feel at ease.

Pitching a faster this or bigger that will only add to the confusion, so Ford leapt from the features conversation and stated something no other truck manufacturer can now claim – the most sales in the U.S.

The beauty of what Ford did was that they now “own” the “most people bought” strategy. Any other manufacturer who attempts to claim the same thing will come out as a liar or sore loser.

The ad works because social proof works in the midst of confusion.

When Social Proof Doesn’t Work

We’ll see just how well Ford’s ad really works. In theory, it was a brilliant move. But, social proof can also backfire on you.

Toyota, for example, is trying to use social proof to bring buyers back to their dealerships. They have normal people like you and me talking about the new Toyota’s they just bought. See? If others believe in Toyota, then you should believe in them as well.

My opinion is that Toyota is using social proof in a way that will backfire on them. Their advertisements remind us that Toyota has had a lot of problems lately, and that thousands of Toyota owners have had their cars recalled.

That image of thousands of cars being recalled comes to mind, overshadowing the few people they show buying new Toyotas.

In Toyota’s case, they are “proving” to us that they have had some serious problems. Merely saying “we’re over it now” isn’t believable.

The underlying message of Toyota’s ads is that “most people are afraid to buy a Toyota now.” This message is the exact opposite of the message they’d like to convey. They screwed up, tried to minimize the problem, got caught, and are no longer “trustworthy” in the eyes of the consumer.

You can’t overcome a credibility crisis with social proof.

The Bottom Line

Social Proof works … if you use it correctly. Use it to differentiate yourself from your competitors in a positive way, and avoid using it as a defensive mechanism to avoid or diminish the “proof” that’s already in the psyche of the market.

The first had a subject line of “Bulltwinkie“, the second “Sarah’s Secret Plan” and the third was “Palin Antidote.”

Fe-Fi-Fo-Fum … I smell marketing copy.

It was next to impossible to read these emails with a straight face. They had nothing to do with politics, and everything to do with marketing. These guys are selling a product.

I’ve voted as a Democrat for as far back as I can remember, and that’s a long time. But when I read these emails, I didn’t read them as a voter. I read them with the senses of a copywriter.

Take this for example:

“DCCC are launching an advertising campaign while Republicans are home in their districts for President’s Day to help expose the Republicans” not-so-secret plan to gut social security.”

Man, I could have written that myself.

And this:

“There is no way you and I are going to let them drag us back into the ditch they drove us into – no way, no how.”

I could name a dozen copywriters who may have written that line, and more importantly, they could have written it about either party!

We’re not being asked to engage in a political debate about the merits or potential overhaul of our health care system. The sole purpose of these emails is to raise funds by creating a feeding frenzy against Sarah Palin and the Tea Party.

This Stuff Isn’t New …

The DCCC’s copywriting approach is straight out of Breakthrough Advertising, the classic book on writing marketing copy by Eugene Schwartz.

Schwartz demonstrates that the best way to make a sale is to amplify the already existing feelings or thoughts of your reader. If you know that your readers think Sarah Palin is an idiot who is Hell-bent on destroying all this is right and good, then all you need to do is hand them a little fuel to flame their passions.

Just look at the words they use:

• Not-so-secret plans…
• Gut social security…
• Drag us back into the ditch …
• No way, no how…
• Dangerous plans…
• Special interests…

The emails are filled to the brim with inflammatory words and phrases. That’s certainly not an accident, and it’s not political. It’s just good copywriting.

It really doesn’t matter that I think Ms. Palin has all the presidential qualities of a cockroach. We’re not being asked to engage in a useful political or social conversation about health care. We’re being poked and prodded – lit under the butt even – to play a dangerous game of “Beat the Opposing Copywriter.”

It’s scary to think that as copywriters, we actually have that much power!

Who was it that said, “Behind every great man is a great copywriter“?

The Problem With This Approach

Let’s step out of the political realm for a second and talk about the dangers of the kind of approach the DCCC is taking by using a sports analogy (I can’t help it… I’m a jock).

If your half-court oriented basketball team is getting ready to play a team with a fast-paced, face-break, high-scoring style, you’ve got two options: you can try to match their tempo; or, you can focus on defense and try to slow them down to your level of play.

Anyone with a lick of basketball sense knows that you want to get the other team to play your style because that gives you the best chance of winning. That is, you play to your strengths, not the other team’s strengths.

As a marketer, I have to understand the strengths of my client and play to those strengths. The strength of the Democratic party has never (in my opinion) been muckraking. In fact, they pretty much suck at it. You can infer from this what I believe to be the strengths of the Republican party.

This negative, attack the opponent where it hurts approach by the DCCC will backfire. It will turn away moderate Democrats (like me) who would rather talk about solving the country’s problems than raising pitchforks against the “evil” Sarah Palin.

Apply This To Your Marketing Plan

Think about what’s happening today in Congress in terms of your own marketing.

Are you playing to your competitor’s strengths, or to yours? Are you so busy bashing the heads of your competitors to find out what your customers really want?

The DCCC letters are good copy. They’ll get the “fund raising” job done because they are so in-your-face inflammatory. But will they serve the greater purpose of keeping Democrats in office?

Think in terms of the big picture — creating life-time, loyal customers. Apple has done this by giving their loyal fan base exactly what they want. Their light-hearted jibes at Microsoft reinforce the perceived strengths of Apple while poking fun at Microsoft’s weaknesses.

These ads work because they continue to promote the bottom line strength of Apple, what I call the “Cool Factor.”

Get it? It’s about always working from your core strengths in your copy – the things that make your loyal customers so loyal. Then, if you throw in a few right crosses at your opponent, your loyal fans are still connected to you through your primary strengths.

It could make all the difference between a winning campaign, a so-so campaign, and a losing campaign.

Getting a little lost in the battle for supremacy of your products and services? Let me know … Let’s use a little of that copywriting magic to put you on the podium instead of the dog house.

Look at Apple, Google, and other technology companies who encourage their employees to take ownership of projects and ideas.

Scan the latest Fortune Magazine 100 best companies to work for, and you’ll see near the top of the “reasons” people love their companies is a sense of ownership.

They know that it’s not the money, and it’s not the benefits that encourage hard work and dedication. It’s that feeling that, “This is my company … my project … my product.”

And it’s this same sense of ownership that either enables a company blog to thrive, producing the desired results, or wilt and die in the absence of ownership.

Let me explain by example …

A close friend of mine is a nurse who has worked the past 17 years as part of a close-knit team. They’ve always made decisions as a team, discussed their options thoroughly, and came up with solutions that helped their patients and the hospital.

As a result, she and other team members would routinely put in unpaid overtime to make sure their patients were well cared for.

With new management came new policies. In spite of frequent complaints from team members, the management team made decisions that effected everyone, without any discussion.

To make things worse, one person on the team was “promoted” to a quasi-leadership role, given an iPhone, and told that she was now in charge of all the decisions the team had been making.

Do you think my friend has any loyalty to the hospital, or contributes her spare time freely? Not on your life.

How this might work with your blog …

Say you’ve gone to the trouble of creating a blog for your company, and you’ve put your marketing department in charge of maintenance of the blog.

The single biggest concern facing any blog is getting a steady stream of useful content. Typically, one or two people are charged with the task of maintaining the blog … on top of their regular jobs.

The blog isn’t theirs. It’s the company blog. Plus, nobody else in the company has any say in what happens with the blog.

In other words, there’s no real “ownership.” There’s just responsibility, and there is a huge difference between ownership and responsibility.

I own my car, and I’m going to take very good care of it. I am responsible for putting the garbage out, so I do it out of a sense of responsibility.

What if you could induce more of a sense of ownership for the blog? What if, instead of merely assigning people to maintain the blog, you gave them the blog (with some guidelines, of course).

You might want to have legal review blog posts before they go up, for example. But, otherwise, the blog owners could cut loose.

In fact, they could enlist some of the company engineers to “own” a part of the blog, or invite customer service to participate. How about the front line people? Think they might have something to contribute?

Ownership is a Powerful Motivator

Don’t underestimate the power of ownership to motivate people. The more stake they have in the success or failure of the blog, the more they’ll put into making it successful.

And simply paying them for a job assignment or telling them they’re lucky to have a job won’t motivate them nearly as much as telling them that, “it’s your baby … make it or break it.”

If you do decide to take me up on this idea and “give” your blog to some of your employees, then remember this:

It’s a lot like giving the keys to your car to your teenager. The moment she pulls out of the driveway, it’s her car, not yours. You care about her safety and about “your” car, but from the moment she pulls away until the moment she returns, she owns the car in her mind.

And, if you’re a parent, you know by experience that the more ownership of that vehicle you instill upon your teenager, the better she’ll care for “her” car.

So, try handing the keys for your blog completely over to some of your employees. I think you’ll get a lot more mileage out of the blog and your employees.

Sid Smith

P.S. If you’ve got an underperforming blog, give me a call. I’ll give you some ideas on how you can make it work for you instead of you working for it.

“Would you like fries with that?”

The upsell offer isn’t new. McDonalds didn’t invent the concept, but they’ve sure popularized the usage of upsell offers.

Before I explain why they work so well and how to use them, let’s make sure that we’re on the same page…

What is an Upsell Offer?

Dictionary.com describes an “upsell” as a verb, meaning “to try to persuade a customer to buy a more expensive item or to buy a related additional product at a discount.”

The Miriam-Webster dictionary says, “no such word or phrase exists.”

And, the ever-popular Wikipedia says that “Upselling (sometimes ‘up-selling’) is a sales technique whereby a saleperson induces the customer to purchase more expensive items, upgrades, or other add-ons in an attempt to make a more profitable sale.”

It sounds absolutely horrid, doesn’t it?

Why on earth would we reasonable or rationally agree to such a thing, even when we know it’s coming? … “want fries with that?”

Simply put, an upsell (or up-sell) is an offer that is made by a sales person (or website) to add to an order for which we’ve already paid or agreed to pay.

As horrible and manipulative as this sounds, it works … and for some very good psychological reasons.

Why Upsell Offers Work

It has to do with what social scientists call the “pain of paying.”

We experience a certain degree of pain when giving up our hard-earned cash, whether it’s for something we desperately need, or something we’d merely like to have.

Let’s say, for example, that paying for a fancy-dancy, hands-free online product that will make you a millionaire in one year costs you $100.

Let’s give this a score of 30 on the “pain of paying” scale.

Now, this same reputable online company offers an upgrade to the system that they say is worth two million dollars, but it will only cost you an additional $300.

You’re being asked to pay three times more for the upgrade than you did for the initial product.

However, the “pain of paying” for this upgrade is only 20 … less than the original pain score!

They refer to this as the “diminishing sensitivity” of the payment. Said another way, if you were already going to pay for your meal (at a cost of $50), then on a psychological level, paying for your guest (another $50) isn’t as painful for you as the first $50.

So, if you’re already buying one book, what’s wrong with a second or third book?

If you’re already shelling out $23,500 for the new car, the extra $1500 for seat warmers isn’t any big deal. Smart retailers (online and offline) use this tactic to get you to buy way more than you would if it were all bundled together.

Case in point: I remember refusing to buy a car because it came with features I didn’t think I wanted or needed. Yet, when I did buy a car, I ended up adding many of those features to my order because the “cost” wasn’t as painful. The “pain of paying” diminished with each add-on.

How it Works Online …

You’ll see three main variations of the upsell offer online:

1. You agree to buy the product, but before you check out, they offer you additional features or options that will simply be added to your total.

Example: “Yes, our super widget will clean your home in five minutes… but imagine an attachment that will also do your laundry for you! Simply click the button below to add this to your order… (or click here to say NO to this one-time offer).”

2. You agree to buy the product, go to the shopping cart to check out, and they have mysteriously added an option that’s already checked and will cost you almost double what you thought you’d pay for the original product.

Example: You order the “Download Version” of a software product. When you go to the shopping cart, you’ll see a second line item automatically added (and checked) to “Ship the CD version” to your home.

3. You agree to buy the product, pay for it through the online shopping cart, and then arrive at a warm and friendly “Thank You” page that offers you an upgrade or option. Plus, all you have to do is click “OK” because they already have all your credit card information. They’ll just add it to your order for you.

Example: “Your new super widget is on its way! Soon, you’ll have more free time to play, as the super widget does your housework for you. We’d like to give you this one-time chance to have even more time on the beach. Just say “yes” and we’ll also send you our super widget laundry attachment for only $999.”

Which of these scenarios do you think will work the best?

If you guessed number three, then you’re right!

All three scenarios work. All three will result in increased revenue for the online retailer because some percentage of their customers will always buy the upsell.

But, because the pain of buying diminishes with each add-on, and diminishes by an even greater amount when the first chunk of change has already passed hands, the third scenario (often called “One Click Upsell”) will almost always result in the most upsell sales.

[Note: I say "almost" because, of course, each sale depends on the perceived value of the product being sold, and the quality of the sales person or copy.]

The point: the next time you’re getting ready to sell anything online, consider which products or services go along nicely with the main product or service you’re selling.

Hey, if it works for Amazon, don’t you think it should work for you?

Would you like to implement an effective upsell process for your products or services? Let me know. I’d be happy to help you make it happen.

Sid Smith

What has changed in the past, and will continue to change this year and next, are Google’s algorithms for determining where you rank for any given keyword.

The best SEO experts continuously test Google’s algorithms by trying different tactics to see what happens. In a perfect world, Lord Google would bestow upon its worthy subjects the exact formulas used for ranking.

Since that’s not going to happen, the best we can do is squeeze what we can out of Google folks like Matt Cutts, while testing the heck out of Google’s algorithms.

I’ll leave the actual testing to people with more time on their hands. In the mean time, I’ll read their studies and simultaneously try to read between the lines.

Here’s what I think…

A Brief History

Way back in the dark ages of the search engines and HTML web pages, they created HTML “Header Tags” that told the search engines what the page was about, and which keyword terms to use for ranking the page.

Internet marketers discovered this “secret formula” and promptly stuffed pages with their keywords. It worked for a time, but because it was highly abused and overused, the keyword tag is pretty much ignored today.

Then, internet marketers discovered another search engine secret: you could get a higher ranking if you had a lot of links to your site. Thus was born the “Link Exchange” era, during which “Link Farms” and entire link exchange services were created. A few folks became rich.

Most people, however, found themselves back at ground zero when Google changed their algorithms yet again.

Today, we’re in the “Quality Links” era of Search Engine Optimization.

And, once again, we find internet marketers basically scamming the system by creating intricate linking networks. The idea is that I’ll write an article, “spin” it into a dozen or more unique variations (using special tools developed by internet marketers), and send these “unique” articles out to a vast network of “related” blogs.

By embedding links back to my website in these “spun” articles, I instantly create hundreds of keyword-rich links back to my site from “related” blogs, thus raising the eyebrows of Google and the other search engines (there still are other search engines, aren’t there?).

Lo and behold, this link-building strategy works – and it works extremely well.

But it gets better. The clever internet entrepreneurs create even more elaborate linking systems by using public blogging and social media sites. For example, I might create a Squidoo page that links to MY website, while I have my hundred or so “spun” articles pointing to the Squidoo page. Thus, I create nifty “three-way” links.

This technique increases the importance of my Squidoo page, which in turn increases the value of the links back to my website. This gets around the problem of having a bunch of links from so-so blogs that aren’t important in Google’s bright eyes, all just going to my website.

Clever, eh?

Oh, and it gets even more involved and elaborate. But the bottom line is that this entire strategy depends on Google placing a high importance on links, giving more weight to links from “high-value” sites.

Regardless of the SEO strategy you employ, you should mostly pay attention to …

What Google Really Cares About

Anyone who has followed SEO for any length of time knows that what Google is really after is value to the searcher.

When I do a Google search (or Bing – yeah, they’re still around), will I get results that answer my question, solve my problem, or give me that special search engine rush that comes from finding exactly what I’m searching for?

That’s what Google really wants – the perfect search result. They know (and have proven by their dominance) that search users don’t care about bells, whistles, or floaty things in the sidebar.

Search users simply want the perfect search results for their query.

But Google also understands how fickle we are. We want it, and we want it NOW.

If some other search engine comes along and is able to deliver more accurate (in the eyes of the searcher) results, even the most diehard Google user will quickly jump ship …

And with a loss of searchers comes a huge loss in revenue. Am I right, Yahoo?

All of this leads me to ponder …

Will Linking Strategies Become the Dinosaurs of SEO

It’s got to happen. Google engineers know that their algorithms are being scammed by internet marketers. They’re privy to the half dozen membership sites that were created exclusively to create massive amounts of two and three way links to their member’s “money sites.”

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not against using these tools. I use them myself, and they are very handy.

But what happens when (not if) linking becomes less important? What will all these sites do when their massive linking strategies no longer work?

I question these linking strategies because, in my experience, the majority of the articles posted through these networks contain very little substance, are poorly written, and offer little if any value to the reader.

They are created solely for the purpose of increasing the search engine ranking of the marketer’s primary website or websites – the sites on which or through which they sell their products or affiliate products.

So … What’s Next?

I can only guess at how the Google engineers will approach this challenge. I don’t expect linking strategies to go away entirely. There’s definitely some value that should be attributed to one site linking to another.

But something has to be done to determine the actual “value” of a site to the end users – something that isn’t so dependent on links. Otherwise, all we’ll see at the top of the search engines will be these affiliate marketer websites that offer highly-biased reviews …

My best estimate is that Social Networks and Social Media will play a greater role in ranking, along with more intelligent spiders that can decipher the relative value of a web page and website.

The first step will likely be to more tightly integrate Social Networking and Social Media into the equation. Then, (some day), we’ll see search spiders with artificial intelligence – spiders capable of determining the true value of the website to the searcher.

In the Social Networking and Social Media realm, look for the following:

• Greater emphasis placed on social networking “votes”, “Diggs”, comments and other mentions …
• More emphasis placed on the number and quality of comments placed on blog pages, video pages, and other sites that allow commenting …
• A higher level of importance assigned to mentions and references on social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn …
• And eventually a tighter integration with mobile devices, where the search engines track what the mobile devices are reading, viewing, watching, or listening to online.

SEO is a crazy, mixed up world that will only get crazier.

My suggestion is to do what’s working now, but simultaneously start to build for the future.

Don’t put all your eggs in the link building basket. Instead, keep building those links while simultaneously increasing your exposure to social networking, social media sites, and mobile devices.

That way, you’re set for now and the future.

Interested in some assistance with your SEO strategy and optimizing your website? Let me know … I’d be happy to give you a free analysis.

The Tool of The Future?

I’ve been experimenting with a tool called Synnd to boost my search engine ranking, and more importantly, get some real, honest, targeted traffic to my websites. This thing REALLY works! Check it out. It’s quite possibly THE SEO Tool of the new age…

Here’s the problem:

• The home page tries to do too much …
• The copy is all about the company and disregards the visitor …
• The copy is also boring or filled with flowery, meaningless jargon …
• The site has zero interactivity, other than a “Contact Us” page …
• There’s no way to capture leads (other than “Contact Us”) …
• The site lacks the kind of detail that leads to customer engagement …
• There’s no reason for the visitor to return to the site …
• The site is not optimized for 21st Century Search Engines …
• And the list goes on and on …

I can’t blame business owners for these ills. Either the company is too small and has too few marketing dollars to revamp the site, or the company is too big and has turned the site over to an IT department who knows little to nothing about marketing.

It’s sad, really, because with just a little extra effort they can inch their way toward a more dynamic, interactive site with minimal effort.

Here’s how to Sprice Up Your Website

Step One: Add Sociability

It wouldn’t be hard to create a Facebook Fan Page and several Twitter accounts, then post the links to these accounts on every web page. Make them prominent, and then turn the social networking tasks over to real people who can interact with your customers.

Your Facebook page should be managed by marketing and/or customer service, not IT. I’d set up several Twitter accounts, letting your IT department if you have one get involved in monitoring the accounts (looking for any references to your company or products).

Then, set up Twitter accounts that are managed by someone in customer service, someone in sales, and even an IT person for technical stuff.

All of these give your customers ways to interact directly with real people in your company, freeing your customers from the hassles of automated answering systems.

Step Two: Add a Blog

Create a Blog that’s separate from, but attached to your main site. Don’t merely add a link on the navigation bar because people won’t see it.

Take the time to add some code to your home page that displays the 3-5 latest blog posts and 3-5 latest comments on those posts. You can find many variations of the code that does this online, or go to Guru.com and rent a coder for not a lot of money.

Then, keep the blog updated. Assign one person or hire a freelance writer to be in charge of the blog. Have your sales team participate, as well as your engineers, and even customers. Definitely have ask your production and customer service staff to put in their two cents on a regular basis.

Step Three: Revise Your Copy (Please)

It’s a lot easier than you think. Hire me to re-write your copy, or find one of the MANY web copywriters who can do it for less than you think.

You can probably figure on $3,000-$5,000 to re-write the copy, depending on the size and complexity of your site. But, if you get even a few new customer from the revised copy, you’ll get a very good return on your investment.

When the copy is re-written, one of the first things I’ll do is to apply a “Focusing Agent.” You’ll tell me the number one response or action you want from a visitor, and I’ll re-write the copy so that it elicits that exact response from the visitor.

We have to be careful, though. Of course, you want the customer to buy from you. But in many cases, that may not be the optimum goal at first. For high-end products or services, you it is often better to first give them a “taste” by offering a solution to a problem they’re currently facing or answering a question they have.

Most visitors will want to kick the tires and need you to sell them before they’ll buy.

You want every page to be highly focused to produce a single result – get a lead, download a report, respond to a video, buy a product.

Remove the clutter and make your site more focused, even if you’ve got to create more pages. Set up the copy (and navigation) so that you LEAD the visitor to a desired action. Don’t make them think about it or figure out what to do. Lead them down the path, clearly and with enough force that they take action.

All the copy should emphasize the benefits to the visitor, even when you’re talking about yourself…

• What will they get from buying your product?
• How will they benefit from reading a web page?
• What’s in it for them?

Other things you can do fairly easily and quickly that will spruce up you site include:

• Convert testimonials into case studies from which the reader will learn something new or valuable …
• Show, don’t tell about your products or services. Use stories, videos, webinars, or articles to show what happens when people use your products or services …
• Give them something they can take away today: a tips sheet, how-to report, or one of your best kept secrets …
• Make it easy for them to converse with a specific person in a specific department who can help them solve a critical problem or answer an important question on the spot! [Dozens of programs exist that will enable you to interact LIVE with website visitors]

Your primary goal should be to engage with your visitor such that he or she gets emotionally involved with your company – either through an interactive conversation, downloading a report, Twitter, Facebook, etc.

That is, you want to begin an interactive relationship that allows you to continue the conversation until the sale is made, or either of you determines the product isn’t right for them.

Start with Step One if you’re just starting the process of upgrading your website. It’s the easiest to implement, won’t cost a dime, and could give you that extra bit of social oomph that creates more sales.

Would you like help bringing your website to the 21st Century? Let me know. I’ll give you a comprehensive analysis with specific recommendations. Then, I’ll either do the work myself or send you to the best people I know who can do the job.

So begins the story of Michael Oher and Leigh Anne Touhy, popularized by the recent hit movie.

We are born of story and even in this day of 140 character communication, we are driven by the power of story.

Take another recent movie, for example. Avatar is a story of an alien indigenous people who are fighting for their survival against the money-hungry mining company. When you take away the special effects, what you have is a compelling story.

How compelling? A group from Quito, Ecuador recently took an indigenous tribe from the Amazon rain forest to see the movie. Some had never seen a movie before. None had seen a 3D movie.

And yet … their reaction was to the story, and not the special effects. “That’s us!” they said. Their home is rapidly being destroyed by multinational mining interests, and it’s the story that won them over.

The story inside this special effects extravaganza prompted the president of Ecuador to hold firm on his stance to protect wilderness areas, in spite of serious financial pressure from outside interest groups.

We Love The Underdog

Movies like Avatar and The Blind Side allow us to root for the underdog. The success of these movies should tell you why the archetypal underdog is so successful in marketing …

“They Laughed When I Sat Down at the Piano … But When I Started to Play!”

A good story can be told in a few words, a paragraph, or an entire book. Stories are effective because they make learning easy and enjoyable. Stories are entertaining, emotionally palpable, and intellectually stimulating.

Stories make us think, cry, laugh, and ponder life’s mysteries. They provide us with a clear visual image of what could be or what might have been. Stories like this …

On a beautiful late spring afternoon, twenty-five years ago, two young men graduated from the same college. They were very much alike, these two young men. Both had been better than average students, both were personable and both – as young college graduates are – were filled with ambitious dreams for the future.

Recently, these men returned to their college for their 25th reunion …

That simple story is credited with selling over $1 billion in Wall Street Journal subscriptions.

Telling a Story Online

In the direct marketing world, it’s easy to tell stories about overcoming tremendous odds to achieve a life-long dream, ending world hunger, or saving a life with only $25 per month.

What do you do on a website, Email promotion, landing page or squeeze page?

You tell a story …

Put yourself in the mind and heart of your reader or visitor. Let’s say they came to your website because they’re looking to buy some WiMAX technology. It’s not sexy, I know, but you could have this on your site (from a real site):

WiMAX is the next-generation of wireless technology designed to enable pervasive, high-speed mobile Internet access to the widest array of devices including notebook PCs, handsets, smartphones, and consumer electronics such as gaming devices, cameras, camcorders, music players, and more.

That’s one way to tell a story.

The above website could have engaged the reader with a story instead…

“Watch this,” you say. With a smile and a wave of your hand, you click the icon on the screen. Two minutes later as your prospect valiently hides a deep yawn, you find yourself staring wild-eyed at the Wi-Fi icon and pray that the signal soon returns.

That was then. This is now. WiMAX eliminates wait times, and keeps you online with faster, more reliable internet service, enabling you to never worrying again about those Wi-Fi coffee shop blues.

Yeah, it’s not “professional,” but isn’t that exactly what the best advertisers do on TV? They tell a story and paint a vivid picture in your mind. They EVOKE your emotional responses.

Why should it be any different online?

I say… let’s liven and shake things up a bit in the business world. How about we, starting today, refuse to write boring tech-speak online and truly engage with our readers?

Won’t that be fun?

How would you like to spruce up the copy on your website? Call me. I’ll make your site sing and your visitors sing along.

I was fine, though … happy, even … until we had to traverse a fifteen foot stretch of vertical rock. I didn’t look down, but in my imagination the drop was several thousand feet. Even if it was only 50 feet, one slip could have been disastrous.

I slowly inched my way across, muttering “Crap” with each breath.

Obviously I made it, and looking back it wasn’t nearly as hard as it seemed at the time.

I admit that bushwhacking up Kings Mountain in a heavy, cold rain was an exhilarating and memorable experience … in spite of, and maybe because of the fear.

I couldn’t walk for days after running my first marathon, but I talked about it for months. My first 100 mile bike ride was sheer joy the whole way, especially near the end when I pushed myself to pass people up the last hill.

You simply can’t know the emotional pleasure you feel from pushing yourself to the limits of your abilities unless you do it. Nike is right, you know …

SEO Is A Lot Like Mountain Climbing

To build a web site and hope for search engine traffic is the same as buying a new mountaineering outfit and expecting the top of the mountain to come to you.

That’s why I say that SEO – Search Engine Optimization – is so danged hard that it’s easier than you think to get to the top.

It’s one of life’s many paradoxes. What’s hardest is easiest once you’ve done the work.

I propose that the number one reason most businesses don’t rank high in the search engines is that they’re too lazy or cheap.

They build the site, “optimize” it by inserting a few keyword phrases here and there on “all” 15-20 pages, and then do absolutely nothing else. They sit and complain that the Internet isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Search Engine Optimization is HARD WORK.

The people at the top will have hundreds, if not thousands of highly optimized web pages, each focused on a variation of their primary keywords. And, whether they have an abundance of pages or not, they’ll work at creating quality links back to their sites. Plus, they’re usually active in social media and content distribution.

In short, they work to get to the top.

“But You Said It Was Easy as Pie…”

I’ve looked at a lot of web sites, and in my estimation no more than 5% of all businesses do the work that’s necessary to move to the top of the search engines.

That’s 9 out of 10 businesses who do next to nothing.

So, if you want to move closer to the top, all you have to do is a little. Don your fancy gear, walk a few hundred yards, and before you know it you’ll be looking down upon a vast sea of competitors.

Work a bit harder and you’ll come within view of the top.

Work even harder and you’ll reach the top.

What It Takes to Get to The Top

Although the search engine landscape is rapidly changing, here are the top five things you can do to move closer to, or even reach, the top of the search engines:

1. Expand Your Search Horizons

Google finally admitted that they have highly complex algorithms to organize semantically-related keyword phrases (“dog food” is related to “dog treats”).

When you research your keyword phrases, compile a long list of related keyword phrases. This includes keywords that might use the same base word (“consulting”), and phrases that are industry related.

2. Create Lots and Lots of Pages

See if you can get three to five pages PER keyword. If you want to rank well for 20 primary keywords, then you should shoot for 200 or more pages. That’s why blogs are so wonderful … it’s easy to add content to a blog, and visitors expect there to be a significant amount of content.

3. Optimize Each Page

Obvious, yes. And, it’s worth mentioning. Here’s a little trick you can use to get more bang for your content buck:

Use a primary keyword for which you want to rank high in the URL of the page, and a secondary keyword (related keyword phrase) in the Title Tag of the page. Don’t worry, Google will find both, and you’ll get ranked for both keywords instead of just one.

Then, be sure to use ten or more of your semantically-related phrases within the body of the page (each page should have 400 or more words).

4. Spread The Word

“Back links” have been the butter that completes the bread of internet marketers. They have lived and died on having as many links back to their websites as possible.

This has led to various methods, such as link farms, that are now obsolete. You can rest assured that Google is working hard on neutralizing the latest link-building methods.

What do you do? You write quality content (articles) and distribute them to quality blogs and websites for distribution. Instead of focusing on quantity, you focus on quality. This approach not only improves your search engine rankings, it gets you quality clicks back to your website from authentically interested parties.

5. Get Social

The “New SEO” is social media. Google is paying attention to the noise levels on social media. They see this as a good gauge of interest in a website.

What you want are people “Bookmarking” your site with tools like Delicious. You want comments on your blog … people to Digg you, and comments on the Digg. You want your articles to be Tweeted and Re-Tweeted, and your YouTube videos to be viewed, voted on, and viewed again.

The ONLY way that I’d bother to use Social Media as a search engine optimization technique is by using an effective tool. To do it manually would take a team hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars.

And, the ONLY tool of which I’m aware that fully automates SEO through Social Media is called Synnd.

The View From The Top

If you truly want to rank well in the search engines, you’re going to have to work at it. That’s the bad news.

The good news is that you’ll be part of an elite minority who does their homework, and that will quickly put you at the top.

Would you like help with your search engine strategy? Call or email me and let’s get started today. I’ll help you draw out a realistic strategy, and if you like, help you to achieve your goals as quickly as possible.

P.S. And do check out Synnd.

I’m going to sell an information product without asking for payment in cash money.

No PayPal. No credit cards. No money will exchange hands until the final moment after they’ve been thoroughly hooked.

I’m betting that I’ll make more sales, and here’s why …

In “Predictably Irrational“, Dan Ariely ran a little experiment to test his own theory about cash. In the experiment (run at Harvard – smart people), he gives the same simple math test to three groups of students.

Everyone is told that they’ll get 50 cents per correct answer. It’s not a lot of money to you or me, but to a student, a few extra bucks can go a long way towards a more fulfilling weekend.

Group A is told to hand their test results directly to the cashier. They get an average of 3.5 answers correct.

Group B is told to tear up their test, then TELL the cashier how many they got right. Clearly the smarter group, they got 6.2 correct.

Group C, like group B is told to tear up their test, but instead of getting cash right away, they are told they’ll receive “tokens” for correct answers. They’re to walk 50 feet to the cashier on the other side of the room and exchange tokens for cash. They got 9.4 correct answers.

Was group C smarter? No. They cheated more.

Once cash was removed one step from the transaction, they felt more inclined to cheat the system.

It Makes People Cheat More … But Will They Spend More?

Robert Ladouceur and Serge Sévigny (Journal of Gambling Issues: Issue 23, June 2009) conducted a study on gambling machines. They found that people spent LESS money on gambling when the machine displayed their actual cash winnings or losses.

Again, by removing “cash” one step from the transaction, we discover that the rational part of people’s brains shut down. They’ll cheat more AND spend more when the money part of the deal is removed just one step away.

Is it no wonder that casinos today have moved away from cash entry to tokens, and from cash spilling out of the slot machine to a “ticket” you redeem for the cash?

I remember when my little sister and I spent a couple hours at a casino in South Lake Tahoe after a day of skiing. She won the jackpot on a nickel slot (it was a looonnng time ago).

After placing the piles of nickels into a cup, we happily quit gambling. Although it only amounted to twenty dollars or so, we felt completely satisfied (plus, we got free drinks).

Would we have quit if the machine simply displayed a “credit” of $20? Heck no. We would have kept playing, rapidly losing our huge winnings in a matter of minutes.

How I Think This Applies to Internet Marketing

This is the experiment I’ll run. Feel free to try it on your own and let me know how it works.

Step One: Create a group of products with different values.

First, create several information products that have different values. Instead of assigning a cash value to each ($47, $97, $3,000), assign a “Credit Value” to each.

One credit equals one dollar. So, the $47 product is listed as 47 credits and the $97 product is listed at 97 credits.

[Note: Sound familiar? It's the same "point" system used by credit card companies to buy products with points.]

Step Two: Write killer copy and give credit away.

Then, after I do a few copywriting magic tricks to get them emotionally involved in one or more of my products, I tell them that I’ll give them 10 credits toward ANY product just for reading my web page.

Step Three: Make the sale.

Only after they go to the shopping cart will the credits be converted to dollars. That is, they’ll get to the shopping cart without ever seeing a dollar figure (only credits, with a very visible note that explains the dollar value of a credit).

To keep them from bailing out at the shopping cart, I’ll need to reiterate and amplify the benefits of having the product. By this time, they should be emotionally involved in the purchase and will justify the expenditure because they got a “deal.”

Step Four: Make them feel smart

This part is unfortunately overlooked by a lot of businesses. It’s your “Thank You” page.

You want to make them feel smart for making the right decision …

Then, if you’re really daring, give them 10 or 20 more credits toward the purchase of a companion product. Explain the benefits of the companion product clearly and you should get a conversion rate of 20 percent or more.

Will It Work?

I’m betting (with tokens, of course) that my experiment will work exceptionally well. By removing the money one step from the buying process, I believe that as marketers we stand a much better chance of swaying the reader to purchase one or more products.

In fact, I think we’ll actually remove “money” as an objection to the sale.

What do you think? Add your comments and thoughts below.

If you’d like some help figuring out how to drive more traffic to your website, and more importantly how to make more sales from the traffic you get, then give me a call. I can help you with both sides of the internet marketing game.

There are three primary ways to get visitors to your web site:

1.  Top Search Engine Ranking

Numerous studies have proved that not only can you drive more traffic to your web site with a top search engine ranking, these are also your most valuable visitors.

Because they find your site through a focused search, and because it’s not through a paid advertisement, they are more likely to trust you out of the gate.

This equates to a higher conversion rate of web site visitors.

2.  Social Networking and Social Media

Next on the list is what we call “word of mouth” marketing. Others call it Social Buzz.

These are the visitors to your web site who find you through social networking systems and social media sites.

They might find you through a Twitter post, a Facebook mention, or a discussion on LinkedIn.

They might also find you from an article you posted to an article directory, a re-purposed blog post on another blogger’s site, or a video you posted on YouTube or one of the many video syndication sites.

Finally, they may have been referred to you from one of the Social Bookmarking sites, such as Digg or Delicious.

3.  Search Engine Marketing (SEM) (PPC, PPM, Yahoo, Google)

Perhaps the least effective, most expensive, and at the same time most widely used method for getting traffic to a website is paid advertising.

The most common form of paid advertising online today is PPC (Pay-Per-Click). Google is the beheamoth, in large part because of the revenue they get from PPC.

While it can be an effective way to get traffic to a very targeted landing page, for many companies it’s not much better than a trip to Vegas.

An Intelligent Approach to Traffic Generation

Here’s an efficient and cost-effective way to optimize your online lead or traffic generation:

1. Start with a strategy.  While this should be a no-brainer, you’d be surprised by how many companies fail to develop a comprehensive strategy. And, I’m not talking about a “keyword” strategy. I’m talking about a real, honest-to-goodness online business strategy that begins with your “Customer Value Proposition.”
2. Work backwards. Understand what your customers want and need, and work backwards from there. This is where PPC can play an important part in your strategy.  PPC is quite useful for understanding what your visitors want and for developing your keyword strategy.
3. Share your expertise. The internet today is all about sharing. It’s a social world out there, and the more you share, the more people love and trust you. Love + Trust = Sales. Share on the social networks. Share with smart articles. Share your knowledge with videos.

The key is to forget about generating more traffic because that does little more than get you all befuddled by keyword research.

By focusing on adding value to your customer’s experience, you will get buzz through the social networks and more people will link back to your web site.

Want more traffic to your web site?

Call for a free consultation:  503-287-0246