Friday, January 24, 2020

Elicit The Right Feelings To Build Traffic

If you think buying is not an emotional experience, you are mistaken! Every word in sales copy is amplified when it triggers an emotional response and can be the difference between copy that excites the imagination of the potential buyer and that which deadens it. 

When you engage the buyer's imagination they can even begin to imagine what it's like to own the product you are selling and it stirs up the flames of desire for possessing it. 

It is true that if you want to sell, you want to sell by impacting the emotions of your potential buyer. Even though you know that the final decision may be justified through logic, the initial way to get by the mind that will think up all sorts of objections to the sale is to appeal to the emotions.

The Strategy

When you are advertising your products or services you will want to pay close attention to the words you choose. Words are powerful tools on the Internet that you can use to frame the way a person perceives not only the value of your product, but also the experience of possible ownership. 

Words tell stories that inform your readers about how this product or service solved a problem for some other buyer. Stories can pull a buyer into identifying with the other buyers and help them to visualize their own problems being solved, their lives getting easier or better for having made the purchase.

You will want to pick words that not only tell a vivid story, however, you will also want to use words that influence the buyer's feelings and gives them favorable impressions. It's really not that hard to do. People have a variety of automatic emotional responses to different words. All you have to do is find out which words create the best results and implement them in your sales copy.

You want to create a sales environment that puts people into an emotional mindset. Why? The simple reason is to bypass the logical mind long enough to make the sale. Sure, the final decision to buy will need to be justified with solid benefits, but that's not typically the reason a person ends up making the decision to buy. 

They may not even be aware that many of their buying decisions are based on how they feel about a product rather than what they think about it. 

People actually feel thrills when they buy and that thrill acts as a beacon to get them to buy again. Yet, when they are asked why they buy a particular product, they don't talk about how they feel - that's rather personal! Instead, they list the benefits. That's because when people are asked to justify a purchase, the mind automatically kicks in, even if they made the decision based solely on how they felt at the time of purchase.

Your online advertising has to tell a story that will elicit a feeling of excitement about what your prospect will see themselves feeling about your offering.


Jose Amoros

Do You Really Need To List Your Site In Website Directories?

You’ve probably asked yourself, every time you submit a new site, “Do I really need to spend two weeks submitting it to every website directory?

The easy answer to that is simply: “No.”

But there are 1 vital directory it really is important to submit your website to. (And one of them isn’t Google!)

The reason?  If you’ve properly optimized your site with keywords and sound SEO practices, Google will most likely index your site faster than it takes one of their editors (and they do have live editors) to get around to it.

And you don’t need to submit your site to every minor directory under the sun. Oh, you might see a few extra visitors… but the truth is, the hours of time you spend investing manual submission would be better spent on another, more urgent aspect of your business.

This directory is The Open Directory Project – better known as DMOZ.org. It’s a truly massive project, involving hundreds (or more) of dedicated volunteer editors, with expertise in every single niche you could imagine. It does take a while to get listed in DMOZ, so submit your site as soon as it’s complete (and not before! You won’t rank well with them, if their dedicated volunteer editor encounters any of those “under construction” notices, or incomplete pages.)

Yes – DMOZ will probably catch up with your site eventually – but if you can advance that process by even a few weeks, it may mean a vital difference to your traffic and sales.

Here’s why.

1. DMOZ Alexa traffic ranking is 760, meaning it sits practically on the pinnacle of Mount Olympus. 
2. Its editors rate your content accurately and thoroughly – which is a huge advantage, if you’ve done a good and diligent job creating it
3. You can optimize the title you enter in DMOZ to provide yourself with a fabulous piece of anchor text
4. You’ll never find the attribute: rel=”nofollow” in your DMOZ directory listing. This instantly gives you a strong and powerful back link, which will advance your site towards “authority site” status.

Besides, all it takes is about 15 minutes (if you’re thorough.) Check out their guidelines and add your site today – while your competitors are still chasing fancy SEO schemes.


Jose Amoros

Does More Website Traffic Continue To Elude You?

You wonder why more website traffic continues to elude you. So you beef up your efforts like never before, in a desperate attempt to bring in more visitors. But perhaps the real problem is not the lack of new faces to your site. Maybe it has more to do with why you’re not taking more care of the potential customers you’ve already got.

How do you nurture those who sign up for your list – and why should you do it?

Well, apart from being a nice guy who really cares about them, let me remind you what happens, when you start to discuss a TV show you enjoy with your friends…

Say you all love fishing; and you discover you all love watching “Fishing the Flats,” with Henry Waschuk.  You don’t need any encouragement to agree how great the show is, or how much you enjoy his fishing tips, the recipe the chef provides – and the incredible variety of amazing fish found off the Florida Keys, or further down South.

Do you love the show for his obvious skill and the things you learn there? Partly – because he really is skillful, and the show has a great, well-designed format, packed with value.

But it’s more than just the tips, or Henry Waschuk’s skill, that makes you feel like you’ve had a mini fishing vacation, when you take that half hour to watch it on Sunday mornings… 

It’s More Than Just The Tips, Or The Expertise

… It’s Henry’s enthusiasm. His passion, his joy – and how he so obviously lives for the sport! He’s like a little kid always caught in  Christmas Day (in the warm, sunny Florida coastal waters) – and what’s more, he’s the sort of outgoing, friendly kid who lives to share his best presents with you.

(Even his chef – who so quickly shows you that fabulous, mouth-watering fresh-catch recipe – mirrors that enthusiasm and keeps the mood – and the party - flowing right along.)

How long has it been, since you brought that sense of joy and adventure to your website? How long since you shared your toys with absolute wonder and gleeful delight? Or do you calculate, plot, weigh consequences – and dole out content to your reader, inch by reluctant inch?

You need to give them a reason to really want to come back to your website. You want them running up your driveway, every Sunday morning, eager to see what you’ve got to share, like Henry, today.

Rediscover What Made It Fun

That’s the missing lure you may need to put back into your marketing strategy, to get more traffic. Make the most of the readers you’ve got – and they’ll do the work for you!

That example I used about “Fishing the Flats” was a real one. As we sat there and discussed it, we quickly found out four people in our midst hadn’t yet discovered the show – but after listening to us, they quickly became avid fans! 

Just think  - if that happened with 400 groups, each gaining 4 more subscribers in 4 weeks – that TV show would have 1,600 new viewers per week.

And if those 1,600 new viewers go out and 400 of them get into conversations with other fishing buddies… well, you can already see where I’m going with this, I’m sure.

So look for those two qualities – genuine enthusiasm and generosity in sharing a passion – in your marketing journey. If they’re not there in yours, step back. Take a “vacation” for yourself until you rediscover what lights you up like Henry Waschuk, before you take another step.

After all, why kill yourself, working night and day to drag in new visitors – when your enjoyment could be the missing key element helping your current subscribers haul in an even greater catch!


Jose Amoros

Do Splash Pages Increase Website Traffic?

We’ve all seen them – beautiful introductory pages, containing almost no text, but making up for it with a spectacular graphic or animated Flash movie – but do these Splash pages actually increase your website traffic?

Your web designer, who relates to the world visually, would no doubt tell you “yes, of course!” And so would any other artist, or right-brain oriented person. If you’re selling a course on graphic design, or promoting graphics packages, perhaps there’s some merit to having one of these gorgeous displays.

But let’s look at the down side…

A member of your niche market actually finds your site. He comes to see what you have to offer. Instantly, he finds himself faced by what feels like a brick wall; one that’s stopping him on his focused dash towards finding what hoped to find. 

Now, if your animated Flash movie is stunningly clever, relevant or beautiful, you might think he’d stay and be dazzled. And a small percentage of your visitors (those with graphic inclinations) actually may do so.

But for the rest, finding the equivalent of a bus-stop and being forced to wait for the bus is an annoying and frustrating check. (Especially if they’re still on dial-up, and your Flash movie takes forever to load.)

People Don’t Like To Be Held Hostage…

You know the unwritten (but no less real) rule:  You have a few seconds, at most, to capture your visitor’s interest and convince him it would be his loss if he were to abort his visit before allowing himself the privilege of reading your scintillating message.

“But I paid a lot of money for that Splash page,” you argue. “It was designed by the best!”

That may be, but the proof is there, right in your website stats.  Go check for yourself, and see how long the average visit to your splash page lasts. (I guarantee you’ll find it’s less than 11 seconds.)

The truth is, as far as your visitor is concerned, your splash page is holding him hostage, stopping him from finding the information he came here to claim. He looks for navigation buttons, or a “Skip This Page” one.  If he finds the latter, you might actually be lucky, and get a click-through.  If not, he’s out of there, before a quarter of your page has barely had time to load in.  It’s as simple as that. 

Nor Do Search Engine Bots…

But there’s another reason Splash pages won’t be your best visitor-enticing strategy. These graphic giants are coded with JavaScript, which cannot be indexed. When it’s at the mouth of your site, Search Bots come up hard against it, and find themselves checkmated as firmly as did your potential customer.

Search Bots don’t even wait a second, but bounce out of your site instantly, continuing on their busy way – your site un-indexed and unranked.  

They found no keywords, no unique, relevant text. No content at all, as far as their algorithms are concerned.  (And if your Splash page is hosted on a remote site, at a Graphic service, and the Search Bot is diverted to it via a Redirect, it’s a coin flip to decide which sin is worse – redirect or no index-able content.) 

So yes, those Splash pages are catchy and gorgeous, but if you’re tempted into adding one to increase website traffic, apply the left side of your brain, and stop and do the math instead.

After all, the proof is in the stats.


Jose Amoros

Email Marketing Organized

If you have recently decided to try implementing an email marketing campaign, you can congratulate yourself on becoming involved in one of the most effective types of online marketing for your business. 

While many business owners tend to shy away from email marketing campaigns because they believe these campaigns are always viewed as spam, others realize the importance of this type of advertising and are willing to spend a great deal of time and effort into organizing their email marketing campaign. 

These business owners will likely find they are able to enjoy an advantage over their competitors who do not take the time to implement an email marketing campaign. This article will describe the steps necessary to organize an effective email marketing campaign. 

One of the first elements you should consider when you make the decision to start an email marketing campaign is the type of information you wish to include in your emails to potential clients. 

This is very important because the information you provide will help your email recipients to determine whether or not they think your products or services are worthwhile. You can include a variety of information in marketing emails. This may include, but is not limited to, full length informative articles, short articles enticing readers to visit your website for more information, links to other websites which may be of interest to your readers, links to your own website and even advertisements for your products or services as well as other products or services your customers may appreciate.

Once you determine the type of content you wish to incorporate into your email marketing, it is time to consider how you want to structure your email marketing efforts. Two of the most common structures include an informative email with subtle advertising or an in depth e-newsletter with a wealth of information as well as some subtle advertising and even some graphics. Deciding on the format of the emails you will be sending out are important because they will dictate the staff you will need to assist you in your email marketing effort. You will require the assistance of a professional writer to assist you with the content in either emails or e-newsletters but if you opt for an e-newsletter you should also consider hiring a graphic artist to assist you in designing an attractive layout and creating graphics as needed to create an appealing layout for your e-newsletter. 

Next you should consider how you plan to create an email distribution list. This is important because simply purchasing an email list is not likely to be effective. 

You may reach hundreds, thousands or even millions of Internet users by sending emails to all of the members of this email list but there is no guarantee any of them will have an interest in your products or services. However, if you build your own email list of previous customers who have specifically requested additional information as well as potential customer who have also requested additional information you will have a well formulated list which includes mostly members of your target audience. This is ideal because you are much more likely to sell products or services to members of your target audience than you are to sell products or services to members of an email group which is not filled with those who might be interested in the products or services you offer.

Once all of these preliminary decisions have been made, you can begin to create the actual emails themselves and can begin to distribute these emails. Once you have sent out your first batch of emails, you can take some time to evaluate the effectiveness of the first email before you send out the second batch. This will be useful because if you determine the first batch was not very successful you can solicit feedback and make changes to the second email before sending it out. If the second email is more successful than the first, you can conclude the changes you made were beneficial. 


Jose Amoros

Email Marketing Master Plan

Email marketing is quickly becoming one of the most popular forms of Internet advertising. This is because there are many distinct advantages to the concept of email marketing. 

However, email marketing does have some disadvantages as well. 

In this article we will examine the advantages and disadvantages of email marketing and will also provide some insight into how to plan and execute an effective email marketing campaign.

Email marketing certainly has a set of unique advantages over other types of marketing both online and offline. Perhaps one of the most significant advantages to email marketing is the ability to reach a worldwide audience with minimal effort. It is certainly possible to reach a worldwide audience with other types of advertising but traditional types of advertising such as television, radio and the print media are not nearly as effective for reaching potential customers around the world all at once. 

Another major advantage to email marketing is it is extremely affordable. This is significant because there are many other types of marketing, including Internet marketing, which are significantly more expensive than email marketing. The costs associated with email marketing are minimal. Ideally you will already have a list of email recipients who are interested in your products and services so there is no cost associated with obtaining a list of email addresses. 

Additionally the cost to send out emails is minimal and can be considered part of your regular operating costs. All of these factors already make email marketing extremely cost effective. 

However, there is some cost involved in email marketing. Primarily this is the costs associated with writing the advertisements and creating any graphics which will accompany the email advertisements. This will require hiring a writer to write the copy for the advertisement and a designer to create and implements the graphics. The cost of these services will vary pretty widely but in general you will pay more for writers and designers with more experience. 

This is because these writers and designers are expected to be able to produce a higher quality of work than those with less experience could produce. 

The most obvious disadvantage to email marketing is the possibility of having your email marketing viewed as spam. This is a very important problem because it could prove to be quite costly in terms of the profit margin for your business. Each day Internet users are bombarded with unsolicited emails serving as advertisements. This problem has reached epic proportions and the abundance of spam infiltrating the email boxes of innocent Internet users has to be cautious and suspicious about any email they receive which is unsolicited and appears to be promoting a particular product or service. 

Emails which contain subject lines or content which appear to be similar to spam may be automatically transferred to a spam email folder by the email system. Emails which are not automatically deleted may be deleted without being opened simply because the recipient does not recognize the sender of the email. Both of these problems can result in essentially wasted time for the business owner because the recipients are not even viewing the emails advertising the products and services offered by the business. 

Additionally, they may result in complaints being lodged against the company for being a purveyor of spam. 

Now that you understand the advantages and disadvantages of email marketing, you might wonder how you can maximize the advantages to use email marketing to your advantage. The most important factor to consider is your email distribution list. This should consist of former customers who have expressed a desire to receive emails with information and advertisements as well as potential customers who have also expressed interest in more information. 

The content of the emails should also be carefully considered. They should certainly highlight the products and services you offer but should do so without appearing to be a hard sales pitch. A writer with experience in writing this type of copy should be able to assist you in providing insightful and accurate copy which also entices the reader to find out more about your products and services. 

Finally your emails should provide the readers with a call to action. 

This should be a statement urging the reader to take a specific action such as making a purchase or researching a product. 


Jose Amoros

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