Conclusions:

I know that conclusions are supposed to go at the end of an article, but I wanted to get a few out of the way first:

1. Testing DOES most definitely work

In many occasions I have managed to double or even triple sales and optins. In a one step sales process this means that I have brought in double or triple the amount of sales. In a two step process, this means that I have been able to quadruple or multiply ‘sales’ by 9. Therefore if you are not already, then you must start testing.

2. It is important WHAT you test

I have tested certain things such as font size or text color. Although this may have increased conversions in certain cases, I have found that there are variables that when changed give a far greater increase. Examples of this are price, headlines, order-buttons, time-delaying an order button and a totally different salesletter or video concept. Therefore, if you are going to test, then it is definitely important WHAT you test.

Some Unmentioned Results

There are certain things that I have found now that I am doing serious testing that I haven’t really heard spoken about before but are incredibly important:

1. Generally, when testing you need a large amount of data to make sense of it. If you are testing 4 variations of a salesletter and receive 50 sales, then depending on the data, in many cases the data will be almost meaningless. For many people, receiving just 50 sales is a lot of sales and therefore it will be very difficult to make any conclusions. For example, if I release a new product to my list then making even 100 sales will not give me an conclusive scientific data. It then comes down to acting on hunches until you get accurate data, which does kind of go against the whole point of testing.

One of the problems of testing is that although you are aiming to increase your sales conversion, while you are doing that, you are also losing sales as you are showing variants to prospects which are not resulting in the optimum level of ‘sales’. Therefore, it is important that you lose the losers and keep the winners as quickly as possible. One way of doing this is skewing the ‘pages’ that you show according to what is winning at that point. Google Optimizer does take care of this automatically for you if you wish.

2. Prospects View Your ‘Page’ Multiple Times

(I have never seen anyone else write about this before, so please do drop me a comment below if you have)

In a typical internet marketing launch, this may not matter so much. However, on salesvideos from other niches, I have found something very interesting happening.

I had one ‘page’ which was performing for a few months at (let’s say) 1% conversion – therefore 1 in every 100 customers was buying. I thought that I may be able to increase that, so created a second video and split-tested the two videos. I found that the 2nd video outperformed the first video so started showing that one twice for every time the first one was shown. After a few months, I found that the conversion on the two videos was almost equal. So, I added a third video and found that that was now doubling the current conversion rates of the first two. The first three videos steadily converted equally, so I added a 4th and the same thing happened.

So, what I was finding was, that each new variant that I added performed really well and then suddenly reduced in conversions to approximately the same as the previous videos. My personal conclusion was that visitors were visiting the site many times and would only watch the video if it didn’t seem familiar to them. Therefore, each time I put a new video on the site, it performed really well and made ‘sales’ but over time, once visitors had seen it and not bought they would not watch it again.

The solution of course would be to add a new video every month or so or to rotate the videos. However, I did wonder if you had noticed this phenomenon and if you had any other solutions.

I found two solutions to this ‘problem’:

1. Create a new variant of the video every month or so which means that it will always appear fresh to visitors.

2. Rotate a number of videos, cookieing each visitor to make sure that they will never see the same (fairly different) video in a row

Would love to hear your comments on this or anything else in the article, particularly if you are testing yourself and any interesting results that you have had. Please DO leave a comment below.
Keeping it real in an unreal world,

Ben Shaffer

However, the more that I thought about
it, the more that it resonated.

First, a quick explanation of how Adsense works
with keyword pricing. Advertisers pay
different amounts for different keyword
phrases. It depends on a number of factors,
but the main was is how much competition
there is amongst advertisers to rank for
that keyword phrase.

Therefore, what you want to do is to build
websites which target certain keyword phrases
which are higher paying.

Please note, that this is a general explanation,
and no-one really knows (apart from google)
exactly how Google itself works. However,
in my experience, there is an extremely
strong correlation in how much advertisers
are bidding for keywords and how much you
are ultimately paid as an Adsense publisher.

Anyhow, through no fault of your own, it is
often the case that the visitors you receive
to your website have arrived there using
search engine keywords that are lower in
value and therefore you are not paid as
much per click as if they had arrived looking
for content with higher valued keywords.

Stick with me here….

Generally, if your site is ranked for
a particular keyword, it is because the
content on your site is optimised for
that keyword.

Let me give you an example of two keyword
phrases which comes directly from the Google
Keyword Tool:

For the keyword “glow mineral makeup”,
advertisers are paying around 5 cents
per click. Whereas, for “glo mineral makeup”,
advertisers are paying $2.38 per click.

Although nothing is for sure when it comes
to Google and their algorithms, it is likely
that you would earn much more per click as
an AdSense publisher if your page was optimised
for the second keyword phrase rather than the
first.

However, it could be the case that there is
lower competition for the cheaper keyword
phrase and therefore you are able to get much
more traffic to a page optimised for that
keyword phrase.

What is clear from the above example, is that
1 click from the higher paying keyword phrase
would pay you more than 40 clicks from the lower
keyword phrase.

You can try messing about with the on page
optimisation for your page, however in my
experience you will probably end up reducing
the traffic and even then, not getting the
‘right’ traffic to your new page as it will
be harder to rank for that keyword phrase.

What Peter suggests therefore, is to remove
your Adsense from your page, but instead, the
call for action on that page to be to go to
a second page which is optimised for the more
expensive keyword phrase and therefore showing
the more expensive Adsense ads.

Your click through rate on the first page
showing the cheaper page will go down to zero as
there is no longer an ad there.

However, the likelihood is that many of your
visitors will go to the second page and therefore
click on your more expensive ad and ultimately
making you more money than before.

It is a bit like arbitrage, but done in a totally
whitehat way which I assume will NOT get your
account banned as you are offering the visitor
the experience which they are after.

Adsense has openly said that they don’t like
arbitrage (using low paying keywords to attract
visitors to a page which is then optimised for
higher paying keywords) and it is fairly easy
to understand why. Google relies on offering
their users a positive experience and arbitrage
can reduce that.

However, when you offer the initial page to a
user, they are receiving the information which
they are after, so it would seem that this is
not a problem.

Not only that, but you are encouraging the visitor
to stick on your page for longer than they normally
would which Google sees as a good thing.

What I have described above, is just one way
which you can restructure your website pages
in order to increase the revenue which you
will receive.

Credit goes to Peter for the initial idea, but
I hope that you also enjoyed my extension of his
idea.

If you are interested in reading more from
Peter, then please go to:

http://www.shmoozewithben.com/recommends/nano

While this technique was developed as a direct
result of his product, in short it is the method
which Peter describes at the following URL which
is the brilliance. You can download your free report
from:

http://www.shmoozewithben.com/recommends/nano

Keeping it real in an unreal world,

Ben Shaffer
Helpdesk: http://www.replytoben.com

PS. Please do leave a comment below to
let me know your reactions and if you would
like to receive further posts like this.

I am presently at a Tony Robbins conference and
last night we all (about 3,500 people) walked
on fire.

Was actually an incredible experience. It was
white hot burning coals rather than fire, but
that shouldn’t take away from the experience.

Weirdly, I thought afterwards that I had slightly
burned myself, but waking up this morning, I
found that there were no burns there.

So, after from the entertainment value and the
fact that I have now done something which I
can brag about to my friends, what was the
point?

(If you too happen to be here, be sure to say
hi or drop me a note at my helpdesk and we
can chat…)

It was about overcoming fears.

Just before we were about to do it, I was about
to chicken out, but realized that as the point
was to overcome fears, then if I didn’t do this
then it would be unlikely that I would be able
to overcome other fears in my life in the future.

Not sure if that makes total sense, but putting
it the other way, as I did do this, I now feel
that I am 100% able to overcome other fears in
my life and feel like a stronger person for it.

I will speak more about the conference tomorrow,
but for now, let me know a fear that you have
and how you are going to take action today to
overcome it. Or alternatively, let me know about
how you were able to overcome a fear in your
life. Or…if you have done the firewalk
yourself, let me know what you did or didn’t get
out of it.

Keeping it real in an unreal world,

Ben Shaffer

The one that I give in the video below, not only is it realistic, but it is also simple and will work for almost anyone.

Once you have watched the video, click on the link below to purchase The Best Spinner ( by Jonathan Leger ):
http://www.thegreatestarticlespinner.com

Once you have made your purchase, go to:

http://www.thegreatestarticlespinner.com/bonus.asp

in order to claim your bonus. On that page, you will have access to:
1. 48 Separate Ebook PLR products which you can do anything that you like with
2. 113,679 which you can also do anything you like with and will get you well on your way to creating a $100 a day income.

Please leave any comments below saying:
1. That you have articles to sell
2. That you want to buy some articles

Once you have also carried out this plan, please also let me know how it went.

As a reminder, you get a 7 day $7 trial with 30 day money back guarantee at:

http://www.thegreatestarticlespinner.com

Keeping it real in an unreal world,

Ben Shaffer
Helpdesk: http://www.replytoben.com

UPDATE: Due to a few requests, I have added a PDF version of the video above at:
http://shmoozewithben.com/downloads/100dollars.pdf
Enjoy!

Ben Shaffer

Takeaway Number 1:
If you have problems with insomnia, have kids

A lot is troubling me in this industry at the moment and I am pretty sure that in the next few weeks or months I will be writing a report about it, but for now let me tell you what is currently on my mind.

Every single day, there are multiple launches and when I take a look at these products, a lot of them are just pure crap. Sorry for the strong word, but there really isn’t any easy way to describe them.

I can’t see why someone would put out a product which would in no way help anybody. Well, there is the potential profits ofcourse from selling them (!), but that is a very short-termed view to take and if they were to put in a little bit more effort, then they would be able to create a GREAT product which would benefit a lot of people.

I read an interview recently with an internet marketer where he estimated that only 5% of people who buy his products actually use them.

If that were me, I would quit and do something else.

Even if I am slightly naive, I like to think that 100% of people who purchase my products go on to use them and benefit from them.

From an altruistic and karma point of view it really makes sense. But even if you look at it from a business point of view, that is really want you want to happen.

But let’s take a look from a business point of view:

Scenario A:

1. You create and launch a product
2. You make a sale
3. The customer looks at it for a few minutes and never
comes back for a second look

Scenario B:

1. You create and launch a product
2. You make a sale
3. The customer looks at it, is impressed with what he
sees and uses it
4. The customer is impressed with it and trusts you and
wants to learn from you
5. You create and launch another product
6. You make another sale to the same customer
etc.

There was a phase last year where virtually every other week a new product was coming out with ‘Google’ in the name. I don’t want to mention any specifically, but most of them had a second word which meant killer…I think you have probably seen some of them.

So, I bought a few of them and found that not only were most of them similar, but also that they were totally useless and would not help anyone.

Before this turns into a full scale rant, let me try and summarise and give a few more takeaways!

a. If you create a product, then create it the best that you can and in a way where it will be genuinely useful to people

b. Don’t buy a product unless you think that it will be useful to you.

c. If you do buy a product, put it into use so that it was not a complete waste of time

Would love to hear your views on what I have said.

Please leave a comment below.

Keeping it real in an unreal world,

Ben Shaffer

As I sat down to write this email, I remembered the above quotation from Steve Martin. Not only does it apply to me when trying to write a salesletter or an email, but also in many aspects of my life.

Writer’s block is called procrastination which is also another form in my opinion of writer’s block.

Can I be so bold as to make the assumption that it also applies to you?

In my subject, I made a promise to you that I would solve your writer’s block or procrastination, so here we go.

It may sound too simple for you to work, but every time where I find it hard to do something, it solves it for me.

That is to find another solution. Let me give you some examples:

Problem: It takes me about 5 months to do my book-keeping

Solution: I send off all of my receipts to the Phillipines and get a year’s accounts done for a couple of hundred dollars

Problem: I am simply unable to sit down and write an ebook

Solution: I outsource it to one of my writers and have it back in days.

But outsourcing is not the only solution. In fact, a lot of the time it doesn’t enter at all.

Problem: I spend too much time on customer service

Solution: Change of mindset. Realize that customers or potential customers are the most important thing for me and my business

Problem: I take days to write a salesletter and am not that great at it and I dislike paying copywriters thousands of dollars.

Solution: I create video salesletters which generally convert better for me and I can do from start to finish in a few hours.

So, my point is, to try and always find an alternative solution or think outside of the box so that the task which is holding up your project (or your life) does get done

So my question for you:

What is the one thing that is currently stopping you from achieving your goal that I can help find a solution?

Please leave a comment below:

Step 1: Click on the links below for a 7 day trial:
Niche Health Articles
Natural Health PLR
IM PLR Club

Step 2: Download Chris Frevilles revealing niche report:
http://www.clarifywithben.com/recommends/dominate

Step 3: Go watch Keith Wellman’s free videos:

https://fxmarketing.infusionsoft.com/go/esf/a790/

Just to clarify, if you do purchase Keith Wellman’s product through me, I will help you on a one on-one basis to create your video salesletter. If you don’t have a product but want to do one for an affiliate product or a squeeze page, then that is fine also. I am doing this, cos I genuinely want you to be successful.

Would be interested to hear from you if you do intend to purchase Keith’s product tomorrow and why. If not, then why not also.

Keeping it real in an unreal world,

Ben Shaffer

Especially on the internet, they can be used extremely effectively and you can even change from one to the other fairly quickly.

If you really want to know the meat about them then you should read almost anything by Robert Cialdini. However, my definitions in this context are:

Scarcity – encouraging people to buy because if they don’t then they will miss out as there are only a limited number.

Social Proof - other people are doing something so you should be also.

If you are selling (almost) anything online either as an affiliate or as a product owner then you should think how you can inject these two elements into your marketing.

Here are some examples:

Scarcity:

- only 47 left
- going up at midnight tonight
- special bonus for the next 30 customers

Social Proof:

- we have already sold 2,000 copies
- here is what our previous customers say
- successful marketers buy our product

The way that I like to think of social proof is:

“This is what the cool kids are doing…”

——————————
A word of warning though…
——————————

Both Social Proof and Scarcity are easy ways to increse your sales as they strongly encourage people to take action. I have no doubt that if you used effectively you will see revenue going up by 2 or 3 times (I do).

However, always be honest otherwise you WILL be found out. And apart from that, not being honest is bad for your karma and ultimately your bottom line.

With digital products, it is sometimes harder to manufacture scarcity for example. You need to have a pretty good ‘reason why’ that you are only going to sell 300 of a product. Unlike physical goods, stock is usually unlimited.

Here are a few ways that I have used effectively in the past to get over this:

1. On a PLR or a resell rights product you can have a very good reason for limiting sales. That is to lower the competition for the people that do buy. One thing to be aware of here though, is that you don’t want to set yourself a limit of less than you are likely to sell in the first week.

2. Rather than use the scarcity ploy on the product itself, use it on the bonus for the product. Eg. I want to reward fast-movers and therefore they will also get as a bonus x,y and z.

3. Increase the value of your product by explaining that the techniques within it are so powerful that you don’t want too many people to use them otherwise it will decrease the effectiveness.

If you are confident enough of your market then you can just use the ‘because’ option.

eg. I am limiting the number of copies because I want to…

This is pretty much what Frank Kern and some of the other big boys do and it works for them even on high-ticket items.

I have been thinking a lot about these two factors because of the latest PLR package that I released. I limited the number of sales to just 75 for exactly the reason given above and the customers who have purchased so far really appreciate the lesser competition.

Although I will probably sell less copies than I usually do (generally between 100 and 150), they are selling far faster and take much less marketing efforts on my side.

So, I win because I have to do less work.

My customers win because they are purchasing a quality resell package and have 50% of the competition that they usuall would.

To see my latest package and how I am using scarcity effectively, go to:

http://www.killerlinknetwork.com/indexspecial.asp

(There’s also a discount there for you.)

Keeping it real in an unreal world,

Ben Shaffer