We all make excuses for not testing our online advertising… especially, if the results are not what we hoped for. But the truth is: there’s no good excuse for not testing since it’s the only way to discover which ad will get the best results… before you’ve committed your marketing budget!

Here are 7 things to keep in mind to make testing your ads easy and effective:

1. Decide in advance what you’re trying to achieve. How will you judge the success of your ad campaign? Click-through rate? Conversions? And what results are you looking for? Decide before you start testing.

2. Be clear about what you’re testing. Is it the offer, the copy, or the graphics? Remember, ambiguity is the enemy of testing! Keep it simple by testing one “element” at a time, and make sure the only difference between the test ads is that one element.

3. Get the biggest bang for your buck. Unless you’ve done lots of testing with a particular ad, don’t just look for incremental improvement… focus on getting big results! For example, why test the impact of tweaking a word when a different offer could double your results?  

4. Make sure you’re testing “apples to apples”. Test different versions of your online ad against the same audience over the same time periods. For example, test ads against the same search engine or ad network so that everything is “apples to apples”.

5. Let your ads run long enough to get meaningful results. A month is a good place to start… anything less and you may have a hard time figuring out whether the results were “significant”. Or worse, you could jump to the wrong conclusion! And when in doubt, run the test longer.

6. Review the test results with your goals in mind. See if the results show a meaningful difference between the ads you’re testing. But remember… the “winning” ad still needs to meet your goals; otherwise, you should consider testing another idea.

7. Make testing a way of (marketing) life. Even when your test is done and your best performing ad is running… keep coming up with new ideas to test against so that you’re always improving your results!

Testing is an easy and objective way to determine what ad campaigns will work best with your audience. So no more excuses… :<)

I’ve got a riddle for you. What type of online advertising is free, will establish you as an expert, and can improve your website’s popularity with search engines… all while making it easy for others to drive traffic to your website. The answer: article marketing. So why aren’t you doing it? You should be!

What exactly is article marketing? It’s simple. You write an article and then submit it to article directories, websites, and blogs that are looking for quality content. They post your article, including your bio and a link to your website… and then good things start to happen!

How to get started?

• Write about what you know. Make writing easy. Write about topics that you’re interested in and have plenty to say about. Just make sure your articles are related to your business or industry. That way when readers check out your website they’ll know they’ve come to the right place. And no selling please! Your articles are for educating and informing with your reader’s interests in mind. So when writing articles, think coach and teacher… not salesman.

• Keep it keyword rich. You want to make it easy for the search engines to find your article. No surprise right? Make sure your article title includes keywords you care about. It’s also a good idea to sprinkle keywords into the article text… but always remember it’s about engaging your readers not over-stuffing keywords.

• Have a compelling article title. The headline of your article is the only thing that most people read. So make it compelling. That way they’ll have no choice but to read on. How do you do that? Make your article title provocative. Try writing it in the form of a question that draws readers in. Or phrase it as if you’re going to let them in on a little known secret. You get the idea!

• Write articles often. Get in the habit of writing lots of articles. Volume counts… as one or two won’t do. That’s why it’s so important to write about what you know and like. Look for ideas in your favorite magazines and blogs. And from conversations with your prospects and customers. The good news is that your articles don’t need to be long. Figure 300 to 600 words. But you do need to write at least two articles a month (or more!)

• Don’t forget your bio. Besides your article title, your bio is the most important part of your article. Why? Because it’s where you get to brand yourself and include your website’s URL. This is where the selling happens so definitely add a few sentences about you and your company. The goal here is to get prospects to read about you and visit your website.

When you’re ready… start with publishing to the article directories. It’s easy and free. Go ahead and submit to all the top article directories such as: EzineArticles, ArticlesBase, Buzzle.com, SearchWarp, GoArticles, and IdeaMarketers.  Just search “article directories” to find more.

And keep a look out for blogs and websites in your industry that want guest authors (you can be one!) Having your article show up in a popular blog can mean thousands of dollars of exposure for your business.

Happy article writing!

Advertising your website means sending potential customers to your homepage right? Why not, since it’s the first page you want prospects to see so they can decide where to go next. Makes perfect sense… even though it’s the wrong strategy!

Here are five important reasons why:

• Your homepage serves many types of visitors. You’ve got customers and prospects landing on your homepage. Customers trust you, know how to navigate your site, and are open to discovering something new along the way. Prospects don’t know you, are very impatient, and have one specific purpose in mind. Sound the same? Not at all! You’ve also got homepage users that want to learn about your company, find a job, or need help with a problem. Remember, without a focus on prospects, it’s hard to turn them into customers.

• Everybody influences your homepage design. Your homepage reflects that great tradition of democracy… everybody gets a say! Marketing, sales, editorial, technology, and let’s not forget the CEO, each has an opinion on what the homepage should look like and how it can serve their (often conflicting) interests. So don’t be surprised if your online sales numbers aren’t what you’d hoped for.

• Homepages are about navigation… not sales! Most website visitors are thinking: “just passing through”, when they land on a homepage. That’s why good navigation is a rule of homepage design. But having your homepage be the first page a prospect sees also means they may be tempted to navigate to a place where it’s much harder for you to convince them to buy.

• Homepages have many distractions. Blinking ads, breaking news stories, and featured products… not to mention some person talking in a video! How will your prospects know where to click? Your homepage can be like an unfamiliar mall during the Christmas shopping season when you have one last present to find. Do you really want potential customers feeling like that?

• Homepages are hard to optimize. Your homepage serves multiple audiences and purposes, so it can be hard to optimize since there are lots of trade-offs to consider. Too many when compared to a “landing page” that has only one goal in mind: get the prospect to order the product, fill out the form, download the white paper… or whatever action you want your prospects to take!

Instead of using your homepage, you need to create a landing page customized for your ad campaign, target audience, specific offer… you get the idea! And landing pages are easy to set up and optimize, especially when compared to your homepage.

Your website is up and ready to go. Not to mention you’re chomping at the bit to make some serious money online. But don’t kid yourself. It’s going to take awhile to generate enough traffic to create a profitable business. And this assumes you have something unique to sell which will get prospects coming back… plus telling everyone they know about your website. How long will it take? Think twelve months at least… and most likely longer (sorry!).

But don’t worry. You just need to be patient and willing to work hard to spread the word about your fledgling website. Having some advertising budget helps too… like with any other business.  And since I’ll be the first to admit that the world of online advertising is confusing, complex, and cluttered… we’ve put together a roadmap to help you navigate:

• Search engine optimization. Make it easy as possible for your website to show up in the first page of Google search results. How to do that? Follow SEO best practices. Better yet, make them a way of life. Otherwise, your website becomes a tiny needle in a really big haystack… and prospects will never find you on their own. Not sure where to start? Check out the book: “The Truth About Search Engine Optimization” by Rebecca Lieb, on Amazon.com… and take the time to read it.

• Press releases. Get in the habit of doing press releases (at least one per month). In today’s web world, press releases can and should be an important part of your strategy to get the word out about your business… even if you’re a one person start-up working from your kitchen table. There are free and very affordable services ($25 per release) such as Free Press Release and 1888 PressRelease. So don’t hesitate to start making some news!

• Web Directories. Millions of people search web directories every day to find a business like yours. So definitely submit your website to online directories. Good ones include: Dmoz.org, Yahoo! Directory, Best of the Web, and JoeAnt. There are also web directories that specialize in blogs (e.g., BlogCatalog), local markets (e.g., Local.com), and industries (e.g., Business.com). Many are free but some do charge an annual fee (i.e., $20 to $300)… and you can also pay to advertise and get a more prominent listing.

• Internet Yellow Pages. Yes, it’s the online version of the tried and true yellow pages. Simple enough to understand right? For example, check out YellowPages.com, SuperPages, and Yellowbook. Each of these offers a free listing for your business and you can also pay for a more prominent listing… again, just like the regular yellow pages. A must for local online businesses!

• City Guides. These websites are more about “what’s great” and “what to do” in your local area, and user reviews and popularity are important factors in determining which businesses get the most attention. Citysearch and Yelp are good examples. And like the web directories and Internet yellow pages, you can get a business listing and pay to promote it in search results. Another must for local business owners.

• Paid Search. Of course, you can always pay Google, Yahoo!, and other search engines to show up in their search results as a “sponsored” listing. For example, if you’re a dentist located in Chicago, it may make sense to buy a paid search ad for the keywords “dentists, Chicago” to drive local prospects to your website. The good news is you only pay when someone clicks on your advertisement. But setting up, testing, and managing paid search programs can be very time consuming and complicated… so you may want to turn to firms like Yodle or ReachLocal to help out.

• Display Advertising. There are thousands of quality websites and blogs you can “display” your ads on. The key is to find sites that reach your target audience and make sense given your marketing budget. For example, try out Leadtail (our service) to find out where you should advertise online. Keep in mind that display advertising helps generate awareness for your business but not necessarily lots of visitors to your website. But awareness matters, since we tend to buy from companies we’re already familiar with. 

• Ad Networks. You’ll probably hear about ad networks (if you haven’t already). They make it easy to run your ad on thousands of websites and blogs… depending on the consumers you’re trying to reach. For those on an extra limited budget (aren’t we all?), take a look at BuySellAds.com, Performancing Ads, and BidVertiser where you only have to spend a couple hundred bucks a month to advertise your online business.

• Email List Rental. You can rent email lists and buy ad space in email newsletters that cater to your target audience. Just make sure the lists are “opt-in” as you definitely don’t want to “spam” anyone. And don’t forget to start building your own email list right away by offering your website visitors the opportunity to sign up to receive something from you (e.g., your email newsletter).

• Social Media Marketing. There sure is a lot of buzz about Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn… to name a few social media sites. And whether or not you understand what these sites are all about… your business needs to participate. It really does. So invest the time to learn how social media marketing can help get people talking (or tweeting!) about your website.

• Affiliate Marketing. Why not have other websites (i.e., affiliates) market your products for you? And when these affiliates send prospects to your site that purchase your products… you pay them a percentage of the proceeds (i.e., commissions). Makes sense right? There are lots of companies that’ll help you find the right affiliates for your business. Check out AffiliateTips.com to learn more. This is a must for online retailers!
  

• Article Marketing. Your prospects like to read articles related to your products, services, or industry. So go ahead and write lots of relevant articles and post them to article directory sites such as EzineArticles, ArticlesBase, GoArticles.com, and Buzzle.com. And with each article you submit, you get to add your bio and a link to your website. This means you’ll be establishing yourself as a thought leader with your prospects… while also increasing your site traffic!

This online advertising roadmap has plenty to get you started… so use it like a checklist. And when you’re ready to learn more, just do a Google search using the above bullet point titles as your search terms (e.g., “display advertising”). Of course, you still have to decide what makes the most sense given your particular business, target market, and budget.

Now take a deep breath… and get going in building your online business. You can do it!