MannMade Software - AdWords Software and eBooks

In the past year or so, my Affiliate Marketing efforts have broadened from using just AdWords to more strategies including the one I’m writing about today. Maybe I should rename the blog “Affiliate Marketing Tips & Tricks” or something like that to include my other activities.

The one I want to discuss today is using eBay to sell eBooks. But it’s actually about using eBay to add people to my different opt-in lists.

I have just completed my first attempt at writing an eBook of my own - it’s called “Affiliate Marketing Boot Camp”. It’s basically a manual for newbies that I’m giving away. It has a bunch of good information that newbies really need along with a number of product recommendations which include my affiliate links.

OK, nothing really earth shattering here. Except I’m going to start testing a new way to market this little viral marketing product. I’m going to offer it for sale on eBay for $0.99 (including Resale Rights!) to see if this medium will result in it getting passed around the internet a bit.

Stay tuned ……. I’ll let you know how my experiment works.

There are a couple of place that I can suggest for AdWords help.

If you’re new to Google AdWords the first place to go is their official AdWords Help Center where you will find answers to many beginner’s questions.

However, for more advanced AdWords users, there is a Google Group where users from beginners to advanced users can share information on many different AdWords topics. This group is a very good resource for sharing AdWords questions and answers with other users. Good place to pickup some new tips and tricks as well.

If you’re marketing anything online using Google AdWords and don’t know what split-testing is then you need to read on. Any professional online marketer knows the importance of split-testing in general and split-testing their ads in AdWords in particular.

The essence of it is you create two very similar ads; ads which vary in just their headline, for example. To start using the two ads in a split-test, you must first go into your campaign settings and clear the checkbox labelled “Automatically optimize ad serving for my ads”. This will permit your two ads to show 50% of the time each.

Next you wait until you have a significant amount of clicks, let’s say 100 clicks just for expediency. Visit www.splittester.com and enter the statistics from your two ads into the split-tester boxes (number of clicks, and CTR which means click through ratio). SplitTester.com then gives you the statistical probability for whether or not you can quit testing these two particular ads.

Let’s say ad 1 had 10 clicks and a CTR of 1.5% ad 2 has 5 clicks with a CTR of 3.0%.

SplitTester will tell you that “You are approximately 85% confident that the ads will have different long term response rates” which means keep testing. You want to test until the result says that you have 95% certainty or better.

Once you reach the 95% certainty level, you now can eliminate the under performing ad, create a new one which will be a slightly different version of our “successful” ad (which is now called our “control ad”). You then repeat the process keeping each successful ad as the control ad to beat.

With this technique, you end up maximizing your ads pulling power; its ability to generate clicks. Now it’s your task to write compelling copy on your landing page (you do know what a landing page or name squeeze page is, don’t you) that will convert the visitors pulled in by your sensational ads into customers.

I’ve just uploaded a Camtasia video clip about how to increase your effectiveness when doing keyword research. Your KeyWord Assistant, the keyword management software program that I wrote and have for sale at http://www.YourKeyWordAssistant.com has many benefits to offer an end user that are frequently overlooked.

This software will save you time, guaranteed! The main reason I wrote the software is to save people time in creating, editing and managing their keyword lists.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words and so I wonder how much a complete 5 minute video is worth? Check out the clip by clicking the video link located on the home page:

http://www.yourkeywordassistant.com/

by John W. Mann

Blog

A blog needs to be created for the website. Currently, the search engines love blogs and so we incorporate that concept into our SEO strategy. You will need to post to the blog every day for 30 days and then 4 times a week for the next 30 days. After 2 months, 2-3 posts a week will be needed on a regular basis.

Overture/Other PPC

If Google AdWords has proved to be profitable with certain ads and keyword phrases initiate another PPC (Pay-Per-Click) marketing campaign on Overture first and then on secondary level PPC search engines (Miva, etc). Use the specific ads and keyword phrases that have proven successful on AdWords.

Track the results from any of these types of campaigns to ensure their profitability.

Market To Your eMail Lists

Stay in touch with your list on a regular basis. Every other email should give free information that they will appreciate (tips, tricks, free reports, etc.) with no solicitation other than the sig file at the end of the email.

Then send every other email as a sales solicitation for a product/service upsell. This particular step needs to be modified to suit each of our client’s market. Not all markets are created equal by any means.

Affiliates

If your product/service lends itself to using commission-only sales personnel, next you setup what’s known in the OSM community as an affiliate marketing campaign. Affiliates are simply commission-only sales personnel who are not paid until a sale is actually generated.

Your affiliates will market your product/service in ways that you alone would probably not penetrate (to an email list of their own for the same or a similar market, for example). In exchange for their efforts that results in a successful sale, it is preferable to find a way to pay them well; a 50/50 split is customary, depending on the price of the product/service.

Some type of affiliate tracking system will be necessary to do this. The particular one is determined by the product/service being sold and the level(s) of commission it pays.

Offline Marketing Strategies (Not covered in this report) include:

Press Release, Direct Mail, Print Advertising, Radio / TV
Probably best considered in that order.

Well there you have it. The steps we use at MannMade Software to bring a product/service to market using online sales & marketing. This is the order that we believe you need to take to successfully jumpstart your online presense. We’ll discuss specifics in upcoming posts on the blog.

PS: For another more in depth look at the syntax of marketing, I suggest you have a listen to epipod #8 of The Marketers Podcast (titled “Are you taking advantage of the best syntax of marketing?”) available here: http://themarketerspodcast.com/?p=17

by John W. Mann 

At this stage of the project, Google AdWords is a very efficient and cost-effective means of doing just that. You’ll be determining your market’s wants, desires and responsiveness as well as collecting prospect’s contact information for follow-up marketing at some later time.

Before AdWords can be implemented, however, you need to create a professional looking website and give the website the elements it needs to convert visitors into customers/clients.

Now we’re setup to use AdWords to find out:

1) Is your market going to respond at all?
2) Which keywords are they going to respond to?
3) Is their response an action (like a click or a subscription to a free eCourse) or a sale?
4) Grab the “low hanging fruit” in terms of sales (the “easy” sales).
5) Track your results; which keyword phrases are making you money in Google AdWords? This is done with a monthly subscription 3rd party software program.

Start Building eMail Lists

1) You purchase install/setup an autoresponder, either a monthly fee or a one-time purchase. You’ll need to write a 7 part mini eCourse to use as an ethical bribe to get contact information in following step. Ecourse is titled “How To Avoid The 7 Biggest Mistakes People Make When Trying To …..” tailored to your product/service and market.

2) You implement a landing page to capture contact information from individuals in your market. Free ethical bribe is given away as an incentive for prospect giving their contact information.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

AdWords has given you the feedback you wanted. Combine that with supplemental keyword research to produce your main keyword phrase and a list of secondary keywords to be used, one per page (either main or secondary) in the website Search Engine Optimization.

The basic website should be designed. Next, you optimize website for the list of keywords we’ve created. This includes one individual page optimized for each particular keyword.

Blog

A blog needs to be created for the website. Currently, the search engines love blogs and so we incorporate that concept into our SEO strategy.

(to be continued)

by John W. Mann

What Is Syntax?

When we discuss syntax in relation to online sales & marketing (hereafter referred to as OSM), we are not referring to the governmental surcharge one pays for buying a pack of cigarettes or a bottle of liquor. Rather, we are referring to things being done in the correct order; an order of steps that has been assembled, tested and proven to work.

Picture yourself putting on your shoes before you put on your socks. Sure, you can do it but is it done in the “correct” way? Of course not.

In any given situation, there is almost always a “Best Order In Which To Do Things”. That holds true for OSM as well.

Our History

At MannMade Software, we believe that our “Best Order In Which To Do Things” in relation to OSM is one that has stood the test of time, producing results in a number of diverse markets. As the president of the company and the principle OSM force in the company, I joined forces in a small joint venture a year ago with an Australian OSM expert, Alan Stewart.

We were each experts in our own right and when we compared notes we found many similarities in our approaches to OSM. However, there were some areas where one of us had a system that the other lacked. We eventually blended our two individual systems into the system that we both use to this day in many different arenas..

You’re encouraged to visit Alan’s site, “The Markers Podcast” particularly this URL: http://themarketerspodcast.com/?p=19 where you can hear Alan interview me as we talk about the Joint Venture he and I put together to test “The System”.

That particular JV project can be seen here: http://www.YourKeyWordAssistant.com/keywordlessons.html This is the syntax of how we bring an OSM project to market. It is our “Best Order In Which To Do Things” for OSM system that we refer to, coincidentally,  as “The System”. Here is “The System”.

Google AdWords

AdWords is the place you start in most if not all online sales & marketing efforts; not primarily as a money maker at this point but as a marketing research tool. When you want to know something about your market, find a way to ask them.

At this stage of the (to be continued)

If you’ve been doing any AdWords marketing at all, no doubt you’ve heard of Perry Marshall, author of “The Definitive Guide to Google AdWords“ who is considered by many to be the AdWords Guru.

In a recent newsletter, Perry was discussing tracking the results of your AdWords campaigns and he mentioned HyperTracker as one of his recommended tracking software programs.

Well one of Perry’s associates, Bryan Todd, has put together a simple, free HyperTracker tutorial which can be found here: http://www.perrymarshall.com/adwords/tutor/minitutorial.htm. I urge you to check it out if you’re serious about maximizing your AdWords income.

And here’s a tip about getting a copy of “The Definitive Guide”. This excellent eBook normally sells for around $50 (US) but you can get a copy by trying Perry’s new membership program called The Renaissance Club which goes for $29 (US) per month. By simply trying  The Renaissance Club, you’ll get a number of FREE bonuses including a copy of “The Definitive Guide” (and if you’re not satisfied with The Renaissance Club, you cancel at any time).  More about it here: http://www.mannmadesoftware.com/perry_marshall.asp

Try any of Perry’s products and you’ll be maximizing your AdWords marketing efforts.

I have read and believed that multi-word keyword phrases attract buyers rather than the “tire kickers”, you know, folks that are just surfing the internet in search of information.

Well today I came across an article in Information Week published on Feburary 22, 2005, that supports this contention. The article, titled “In Web Search, The Sweet Spot Is Four Words” states that (quote) “Internet users who employ four-word keywords in search engines are more likely to purchase goods or services or receive items of value–such as white papers–than those using one, two, or three words, according to a new report.”

What that means to anyone using Google AdWords campaigns to promote a product or service is pretty obvious. The folks that you want to attract to your website, the buyers or visitors who are more likely to take action, are those who find your website by typing a keyword phrase of 4 words.

For example, which visitor would be more likely to purchase? The one who finds your site by typing the keyword “kickbikes” or the one who types “buying kickbikes Brisbane Australia”? My guess is the latter. Their keyword phrase is a four word phrase (containing the word buying, no less) which indicates that they know exactly what they’re looking for and that they are more likely to take action.

So remember, when coming up with your keyword list for AdWords, the multi-word keyword phrases are the ones that you probably want to target.

John

There has been a lot of confusion regarding AdWords keyword matching options on different forums that I frequent. The following should clarify and summarize how these different matching options work.

[car] (exact match) - will match exactly and only ‘car’

“car” (phrase match) - will match ‘car part’ ‘dead car’ ‘me and my car’ and *not* match
‘the cars that ate paris’

car (broad match, the default) - will match ‘auto parts’, ‘cars cars
cars’, ‘used cars’, ‘honda’, ’subcompact’, ’suv’. This is due to the AdWords Expanded Matching feature which is more completely discussed here:

https://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=6136&ctx=sibling

You can checkout the keyword software that I wrote that will automatically add these different keyword matching options to a list of keywords (and get a free mini eCourse called “How to Avoid the 7 Biggest Mistakes People Make When Doing Keyword Research“) by visiting

http://www.yourkeywordassistant.com/keywordlessons.html

I hope that helps clarify AdWords keyword matching options.

John