Getting good numbers
Early in my marketing career, I looked for the cold hard facts of sales. I wanted numbers. I wanted statistics. I wanted tried and true, TESTED methods of promotion. I wasn’t going to waste my time on crap. Every time I heard someone say something like, “Using quotation marks on headlines improves conversion rates,” I would jump right in and ask “Really? Says who? By how much? Tell me, tell me, tell me!” I would never get an answer. It was very frustrating.
Years of experience has taught me that no one can give you industry-wide statistics. There are no hard, fast numbers. Any information that is available is anecdotal. How did I come to that conclusion? Elementary, my dear reader. There are too many variables involved.
- your ad copy
- your audience (how well targeted it is)
- your price point
- your promotion effort
- your venue (traffic exchange, safelist, personal list, etc)
- your product or service (how good is it? what need does it fill?)
So what is an internet marketer to do? TEST!
Throw all of your traffic exchange credits at one splash page for a week and see how many sales or signups you get. Track your signups from specific exchanges to see which ones work best for you. Blitz your safelists with one promotional email, sending out as often as your membership level allows, and see what happens. If it turns out to be a dud, try a different email. Test different subject lines to see if they make a difference in the open rates of your emails to your list. Don’t stop testing until you are satisfied with your results.
Yes, it will take time to test things one at a time, but in the long run, you figure out where to advertise to get the most bang for your buck. You’ll also figure out if you like writing emails or making splash pages. You’ll find what fits your personality, what works into your schedule, what you do best. It is worth the time and effort to figure that stuff out so that your promotions will become the streamlined, well-oiled machine that we all strive to make our business.



