Internet Marketing & Search Engine Marketing Blog

When you’re running an online business, unbiased third party recommendations — aka “testimonials” — are one of your most potent sales tools.

Here’s what you need to know…

1. If you are going to sell online you must have testimonials.

2. If you’re trying to sell online without much success and you’re not using testimonials… get some now and put them up! I guarantee you’ll be surprised by the results.

3. If you’re selling successfully — but not using any testimonials — if you put some on your site, you will sell MORE.

4. Increase the power of your testimonials by having them verified by an independent 3rd party (www.TrustedTestimonials.com)

Seriously, it’s that simple. More testimonials = more sales!

However, there is a catch. I’m going to be candid: at least 85% of the websites I visit (and I’m being generous here) completely screw up the way they present their testimonials.

So if you want to start using testimonials effectively, here are the top 4 testimonial “best practices” you need to start using yesterday:

1. Use testimonials that offer real MEASURABLE results

Avoid using “feel good” testimonials. They’re the ones from customers who gush about how great you are and how much they love you — but fail to mention what kinds of results they got from using your product!

Good testimonials describe how your product helped someone…
Make or save more money. (If so, how much — and how long did it take?)

Become more successful at something. (If so, how much more successful — and how long did it take to achieve that success?)

Improve their health. (If so, exactly how did their health — and life — improve after they used your product?)

Maybe your product doesn’t offer tangible results like these. Maybe you sell collectibles, like coins or model trains — or entertainment items, like CDs or DVDs. In that case, use testimonials that build your credibility as a seller.

They should answer questions like:
Was the quality of your product accurately represented on your website?

Were you responsive to your customer’s needs?

Was shipping and packaging good?

How did their shopping experience at your site compare to the competitors?

…. You can see what I am getting at here. Your customers don’t want to hear how nice you are. (I mean, I know lots of nice people I’d never buy from — because I don’t think their products offer any real value.)

Your customers want to know if your company keeps its promises and offers products that deliver results. Use testimonials that clearly show those results — in as specific a way as possible — and your customers will show YOU sales.

2. Keep your testimonials SHORT and POWERFUL

If your testimonials are longer than 4-5 lines, most potential customers will just skim them or skip right over them. Keep them short and get to what matters… Results!

3. Include as much PERSONAL information as possible

The majority of online testimonials I’ve seen include just the first initial and last name of the happy customer. That’s not enough information — it doesn’t fully establish the testimonial giver’s credibility. You want to present as much information as possible, including:

First name
Last name
City, State/Province
URL if they have a web site
Brief demographic or professional description:
Stay-at-home mom
Retired
Teacher
Doctor
Student
Etc.

… As well as any other relevant information your customers will allow you to publish on your site.

4. Use the most EFFECTIVE formats

Here are the different formats you can use on your web site to present your testimonials (from most effective to least effective):

1. Video testimonials
2. Audio testimonial with photo of customer.
3. Written testimonial with photo of customer.
4. Written testimonial

With technology today, anyone can sit down with a basic digital camera and give you a powerful video testimonial to use on your web site. If you limit yourself to written testimonials, then you’re limiting your results.

And remember… don’t be shy! Ask your customers for testimonials. You’ll be surprised how easy it is to convince a happy customer to record an audio or video testimonial for you.

In fact, many will volunteer on their own — but chances are you’ll get more quality testimonials sooner if you simply ask for them.

The most important thing you can do for your testimonials credibility is get them verified by an independent 3rd party.  A fantastic service to add credibility to your testimonials is offered by www.TrustedTestimonials.com.

Warren Houston
http://www.NetConneXion.com

High search engine rankings are important if you want to get more customers and more sales. Is it important to be listed on the first result page or is it enough to be listed in the top 30 results?

If you want to get visitors, you must be listed in the top 30 results

A study about this topic was released last year:

“Key among the findings relating to the current search engine user community is that 62% of search engine users click on a search result within the first page of results, and a full 90% of search engine users click on a result within the first three pages of search results. […]

Fewer search engine users are willing to click on results past the third page now (10%).”

It’s time to act now

The study confirms the importance of being listed on the first result page. If your web site is not listed on the first result page, changes are that web surfers won’t see your site.

Many webmasters still believe that they can get top 10 rankings just by submitting their websites to search engines.

This might have been true several years ago but now you have to do a little bit more to get high rankings.

How to get listed on the first three result pages on Google

1. Start by choosing the right keywords. This is very important.

It makes no sense to target general keywords such as “business” because you have no chance of getting the number 1 listing for such a keyword. In addition, general keywords usually don’t convert to sales.

The best keywords have little competition and a high conversion rate. Use this keyword analysis research tool to find these keywords.

2. Create a content rich web site that can be optimized for many different keyword combinations.

The more different web pages you have the more likely it is that search engines will list your web site on the first position for a keyword and that web surfers will find your web site relevant to their needs.

3. Get inbound links to your web site. High search engine rankings are the result of optimized web page content and good inbound links. If you want to have rankings, your web site must have both.

Top 30 search engine rankings will bring your website more visitors and more sales if you target the right keywords. Find detailed information on how to get top 10 rankings on major search engines.

Warren Houston
http://www.netconnexion.com
Search Engine Marketing Toronto

Selling online may not be as simple as you think.  You may have a fantastic product or service but if you don’t understand and monitor the basic metrics to online success, you may be at more risk then you think! 

Five Steps to Selling Online

• Step 1 – Pick a good market and research it very well
• Step 2 – Determine your site’s basic strategy. What will you offer?
• Step 3 – Be sure your site is collecting emails from large % of visitors (10%+)
• Step 4 – Be sure your site is profitably converting visitors to sales (visitor value $1.00+)
• Step 5 – Once steps 3 & 4 accomplished then and only then pour on as much qualified traffic as you can get at affordable prices

Possible goals of your web site:

• 1. Collect emails
• 2. Make sales
• 3. Make you look good to the media, potential clients & others
• 4. Attract lots of search engine traffic

To maximize individual results, in long run consider having separate sites.

Math you need to understand:
Opt-in Rate — % of unique visitors who give you their email address
        Example: 100 people visit and 15 give email = 15% opt-in rate
Conversion Rate — % of people who buy your initial offering
        Example: 100 people visit and 1 buys = 1% conversion rate
Value Per Visitor – What’s it worth to get a qualified visitor to your site?
        Example: 100 people visit and 1 buys product on which you make $50.00
That means $50 x .01 = 50 cents value per visitor

Lifetime value of a customer – When somebody becomes a customer how much are they ultimately worth to you over the length of the relationship?

100 people buy your $50 profit product. Of those, on average 10 will pay you at least $1,000 for consulting each year for an average of three years each.

Thus if we multiply $1,000 x .10 x 3 years = $300 average consulting revenue
Then add the $50 initial profit and we have a lifetime value of $350

An example of a successful money making web site:

• You can get 5,000 visitors a month at 50 cents each
• 20% of the web visitors opt-in to your email list
• On average each visitor is worth $2 within 30 days
• That means you spend $2,500/month on advertising, but generate gross profits of $10,000/month, net $7,500/month and your email list is growing at 1,000 names/month.

NetConneXion offers Internet Marketing & Business Coaching Programs.  Perfect for people looking to start or boost their business.

Warren Houston
http://www.NetConneXion.com