Internet marketing tips for USANA

2005-08-30T17:15:00.000-07:00

Would Your Sales Increase If USANA Prospects Wore Bright Purple Jerseys?

Over the past, I've occasionally had the enjoyment of acting as a consultant directly or indirectly with USANA associates. No matter how many tips I blog, articles I write, or trainings I teach, I still occassionaly get folks that say, "marketing on a per-click basis through the various search engines might be great, but I'm not convinced it's for my nutritional supplements, skincare & weight management."

While this always amazes me, I'm certain that one of the reasons I hear this is because the "approach" of marketing on a per-click basis through the various search engines is still not understood.

Let's use our imagination a bit and see if we can get this concept vividly clear in our mind. OK?

What if you could invisibly appear at the front door of a Target store or JC Penney and immediately spot customers who were looking for your product? Lets say they wore vividly colored Purple tee shirts shouting out what they were after. Think of the business you'd generate if these buyers somehow knew to go straight to you rather than go round and round the store searching out the items on their shopping list?

With Google AdWords, Yahoo's Sponsored Search or other pay per click search engines, you connect with your customers immediately, the second they want to hear from you.

Let's take this concept a step further. What if you could have a thousand young college students at the door of every shopping mall in the country. What's more, you'd have to pay them only if they generated interest in your things and began promoting to them your nutritional supplements, skincare & weight management.

Now, even if other 'big dog' companies have displayed giant ad banners, hovering over everyone, it doesn't matter. Few customers are going to pay that any attention. All the while, your "agents" are continually interacting with every single potential shopper.

Using search engine ads is like deploying a team of non-stop "agents", except that these search agents won't require breaks and they will work without pay until a customer is delivered to your doorstep. Your "agents" will be waiting 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for customers looking for your products or services. As soon as prospects start search, you'll be the first to know.

Search engine marketing will grow by 33% this year, with growth slowing to 10% annually by 2010, when spending will hit $11.6 billion. (Source: Forrester Research 02/2005)

2005-08-23T22:54:00.000-07:00

USANA Seems Perfect for Mompreneurs?

Source: Direct Sales Association

Have you been looking around you? Moms, moms everywhere! Yes, according to figures available from the Direct Sales Association, 79.9% of people in "direct sales" are women. Any way you look at it the boys total a paltry 20.1%. Many of the women in our industry (and prospects we seek) are current or future moms. It was only a matter of time before a new term has entered our vocabulary... Mompreneurism.

Books About Mompreneurism Yes, you're reading it right. According to authors Patricia Cobe and Ellen Parlapiano, who trademarked the term "mompreneurs" and were recently featured in Time magazine and various other programs like Good Morning America; their mompreneurs online web site (www.mompreneursonline.com) draws millions of visitors each month.

In reading through the Mompreneurs Online web site you'll discover that they've interviewed hundreds of these "mompreneurs" working from home. Their interviews revealed that these hard working women share certain secrets for cyber-success. I borrowed a few points about mompreneurs from their site... below is a sampling of why and how mom-owned businesses are surviving and thriving on the web according to Mompreneurs® Online:

Team Work. Mompreneurs® forge powerful alliances--both online and off! Together they harness technology to build an instant network of personal and professional support through online communities and marketing cooperatives.
Web Wisdom. Work-at-home moms understand that a dot.com name alone is not enough to power success. But the Internet can be a very valuable tool when used in conjunction with more traditional business strategies.
Money Smarts. Moms don't overextend their financial resources and are less likely to use outside funding during start-up. So they don't have to worry about venture capitalists pulling the plug on their businesses.

Perhaps you think USANA is a perfect spot for moms? Maybe you're hoping to attract these "mompreneurs" working from home to your site, blog, product or business? Or, maybe you already have lots of moms and a true mompreneurial mindset?

Whatever the case, these "mompreneurs" working from home are an important niche and your marketing campaigns can target these moms. Moms are both a consumer and a business force to be understood and admired.

Think optimistically that your nutritional supplements, skincare & weight management will be just the thing these mompreneurs are desiring? Now, let's continue (below) with more tips in our series on techniques to assure a successful PPC search engine campaign. Maybe you can get some moms clicking!

Pay per click tips for this week:

Forget stupid characters. We are talking search engine listings (not eBay) so cool the clever punctuation it L@@KS stupid!!!!!!!! Don't make SOME words CAPITALIZED; it looks like you're shouting desperately for business. Respect the people who read your search engine listings.
People are by nature often interested in things like 'saving money', 'making money', 'curing something', 'striking a deal', and getting anything of value that is 'free'... but be careful. The addition of such self-interest phrases in your ad copy may skew your clicks upwards while leaving your sales flat. If you're tempted to try such phrases... test, test, test... while keeping an eye on your bottom-line.
Bluntness works: 'Refinance 4.5%', 'Viagra $39', 'No Interest VISA', etc
These are the type words that appeal to searchers: more information, complimentary, love, youthful, safe, new, benefit, gain, money, happy, glad, proven, guarantee, resource, fast, results, discover, how you, how to, your, yours, you'll, healthy, natural, magic, secret, comfortable, save, proud, secure, solution.

How to Reach Out to Mompreneurs

Here's one way you can be very appealing in reaching out to these "mompreneurs" working from home:

FLEXIBILITY: Understand that mompreneurs have unwieldy schedules. Strive to deliver your products and services with to fit their schedules. You might develop e-learning courses that are conducted by live phone coaching or web conferencing. This is much more convenient than scheduling babysitting to attend an in-hotel seminar.

2005-08-17T23:44:00.000-07:00

Want to sell nutritional supplements, skincare & weight management products online? But you need to know how they are marketed by a pay per click search engine campaign

USANA Health Sciences produces the highest quality nutritional and personal care products available. Whether it's a complete, balanced spectrum of nutrients and antioxidants to protect our bodies from free radicals or science-based personal care products that replenish and rejuvenate skin and hair, USANA's premier products simply make you feel and look wonderful.

As A USANA associate you know your product and you've set your goals. Your web page, site, or blog is up and you're pondering methods to get customers.

Can your nutritional supplements, skincare & weight management be sold by a pay per click search engine campaign or not? This is question number one, right? But equally important, can you come up with a search engine campaign that creates more solid customers than campaign costs?

Exciting news, the answer is: "definitely yes."

Pay per click tips for this week:

On the subject of ad copy (the words which will comprise your numerous different listing titles and descriptions) we can sum it up briefly: RELATE your listing to the keyword the searcher has typed, SPARK curiosity in their minds to encourage a visit, be TRUTHFUL, be BRIEF, be CLEAR, don't HYPE, and FILTER out bad clicks.
FILTER OUT BAD CLICKS? Yes, if your product is NOT for certain searchers, be clear upfront before they click. Example: If you bid on the keyword 'herbal shampoo' because your product is an herbal dog shampoo, make sure your ad copy reads: for dogs, pets, or animals. If you only fulfill orders in Canada, state this upfront in your listing ad copy. There is no need to pay for a visitor click if you cannot service a particular customer's needs. Use words to filter out bad clicks.
There are many good resources to help you with ad copy, writing, and knowing what to say about your product. We recommend the eBook by Kim Klaver, "If My Product's So Great, How Come I Can't Sell It". Click here for a complimentary 'Mini-edition' of this eBook.

2005-08-09T19:55:00.000-07:00

Bidding Rules Are Different at Google and Yahoo:

Yahoo Ad Sponsoring Rules (bidding)

Yahoo sets your keyword bid only 1 penny over your next lowest competitor. Thus, if you bid $3.00 per click, and the next highest bid is $1.95 per click, you will only pay $1.96 per click.
Yahoo allows you to see who you are bidding against and what they are bidding, so you know exactly where you will rank, and how much you will pay.
Yahoo's maximum bid is $999.99
Yahoo's minimum bid is $0.10

AdWords by Google

Believe it or not, Google never reveals what you will pay per click. Thus, if you bid $3.00 per click, you will pay anywhere from $0.05 to $3.00 per click.
Google does not allow you to know how much your competitors are bidding per click.
An advantage with Google is that you will rank higher if your click-through rate (CT rate) is better (a CT rate is the ratio of clicks on your ad to the number of times your ad is shown). Thus, you may have a better rank than your competitor, even if he or she bids more than you (because of your CT rate).
Google's maximum bid is $100.00
Google's minimum bid is $0.05

New Google AdWords keyword status changes: Simplified keyword states and quality-based minimum bids.

NEWS: Google announced in early August 2005 that they will simplify their keyword status system and introduce quality-based minimum bids, giving us more control to run all keywords we find important.

Google's New Rule

Each keyword will now be assigned a minimum bid that is based on the quality (also called Quality Score) of your keyword in your account. If your keyword or Ad Group's maximum cost-per-click (CPC) meets the minimum bid, your keyword will be active and trigger ads. If it doesn't, your keyword will be inactive and will not trigger ads.

Previosly, keyword statuses were called normal, in trial, on hold, and disabled. Under the new rules, this will be replaced with active (triggering ads) or inactive (not triggering ads). No more slowed or disabled keywords if no do not have a minimum clickthrough rate (CTR) threshold.

More tips for your PPC campaign:

Pay-per-click advertising tips for the USANA associate continue below:

Sometimes people type in web addresses in those search boxes! So bid on those if the search engine allows it: 'www.website.com', 'website.com', 'http://website.com' and every combination full or partial you think a searcher might actually type.
Match up keywords with words in your ad copy. Even though a 'spa', a 'hot tub', and a 'whirlpool' might mean the same thing in your mind, if a searcher types in 'hot tub' and your listing says: "Relax and save in your new Spa", you will miss out on many interested customers.
Think negative... yes, people search for herbs that can kill, plastic surgery pitfalls, mlm scams and sundry other peculiar things. Invite them to explore your related listing. Do you offer cosmetics or skin car as an alternative to plastic surgery? Is you mlm a beacon of light in a sea of seemingly dubious scams?
Get creative with interest spikes in the news. 'Mad Cow' might be a great keyword for your all vegetarian product line. The 'SARS' outbreak might have generated millions of searches that your 'immunity booster' could have benefited from (just don't make any false claims). And where were all the bra ads when a gazillion people typed in 'Janet Jackson' after the 2004 Super Bowl surprise?

For additional tips that might improve your pay per click ad campaign review the tips in my previous posts.

Hopefully you're learning valuable tips. Study previous blog posts for many other marketing ideas. Perhaps you should add our RSS feed to your "Feed Reader" so you don't miss future trainings?

Technorati:
USANA | PPC | pay per click | Google AdWords | Network Marketing | Yahoo Ads | Dan Hollings | Sponsored Ads | Contextual Ads | AdWords

2005-08-02T15:37:00.000-07:00

USANA? What's that all about?

Have you ever thought about the public's perception of what you do?

USANA

Do you believe that people reading your ads already know this about USANA?

That's a mystery-factor in any search engine marketing campaign; you must decide upfront (as you are preparing your keywords, your ads, and your landing page) what the majority of visitors already 'have perceived' about you and the nutritional supplements, skincare & weight management you offer. You might consider playing it safe and assume they've never heard of you. That's always the safe bet.

If you're selling iPODs or something very well known, you can approach things much differently. Less time explain 'what' you've got and more time explain 'why' they should buy from you.

If your selling something that seems like a common commodity (vitamins, shoes, cosmetics, telephone services, etc), then you must differentiate your product from the other seemingly similar things the public possibly will associate you with.

Much of these consumer 'mindset' conflicts should be handled on your landing page, that is, the page where they land after clicking your ad; so before you start any marketing drive, think like a customer and look at your landing page.

Search engine marketing tips:

Without any further delay, I'll continue with my tips this week.

When thinking up keywords, use examples of specific things your product is used for: 'clean floors', clean countertops', 'wash floors', 'mop floors', 'polish stove top', 'remove grime', 'shine appliances', 'disinfect bacteria', 'hide furniture flaws' etc.
Explore variations: 'soy milk', 'soymilk', 'soy-milk'
Add plurals: 'protein bar' and 'protein bars'
Use abbreviations and acronyms
Use US and UK spellings
Keyword phrases may be questions: 'how to repair bad credit', 'when should I diet', 'how do I lose weight', 'where are discount cosmetics', etc.

2005-07-26T18:05:00.000-07:00

"Google Trotters?" Yea, get a pair of those FadSense Sneakers and you'll fetch $100,000 on eBay.

It might sound fantastical, but if you could get your hands on a pair of those "Google Trotters" and sell them on eBay... I'm almost certain you'd fetch over $100,000. But if Google ever gets this FadSense thing really going, I guess everybody would be wearing them.

Is this the future? Google FadSense™

As A USANA associate, you might be wondering why I'm talking about a futuristic contextual AdSense (AdWord) program like FadSense. It's partially because it's funny, but more importantly, it's because I feel the type of advertising we have been discussing here at my "Internet Marketing Tips for USANA" blog, is critical to your future. What I'm hoping to teach you are skills and tips that will not only work for Google today, but for any similar type advertising in the future. Google FadSense, real or not!

To summarize the core of our current discussions, we want to know:

How to find keywords related to your products and services.
How to determine "tags" that help categorize your content.
How to prepare your marketing campaign from the ground up.
How to track your traffic, results, and advertising ROI (return on investment).
How to write effective ads.
How to create eye catching headlines for your ads.
How to use the internet effectively in any marketing campaign.

My Continuing Tips To Help You With USANA...

In my previous blog entries (last week and several weeks prior) we have hammered away with dozens of valuable tips. This week we continue.

If your product or service is something that can be related to a locale, like a city, state or region you may be able to find some ripe tomatoes in phrases like: 'retirement homes in Florida', 'Mississippi flat rate phone service', 'herbal sunscreen for southwestern sun', 'indoor air filters for Los Angeles'.
Discover more keywords by narrowing down to extreme specifics. People can be VERY specific when they search. Use names of months and years like '2004 tax savings', 'May flowers', 'Christmas of 2005' or 'September back to school supplies'.

Let's say you are marketing a broad line of herbal products... why not get a list of all herbs (there may be thousands) and use that list as a keyword list. Maybe your product doesn't contain every herb on the list, but people searching for any ONE herb specifically may be interested in others. Try specific model numbers, makes and designs if your products are sometimes referred to this way: 'Epson stylus CX6400', 'Apple G5', etc.
Add adjectives to your keywords like: big, purple, new, cheap, affordable, soft, aromatic, healthy, etc.

2005-07-17T15:32:00.000-07:00

What a day (historically speaking)... After 118 Years, Google Inc. Closed Its Doors.

What started as a collaboration between two Stanford University graduate students in computer science in 1995 and grew to become the "five-and-dime" of pay-per-click search engines, pulled the plug on the last server on this date in Mountain View, California. It's a story of a future time that could be soon, or beyond our horizon.

If anyone back in the late 1800's or early 1900's had been thinking ahead to the future of Woolworth Corp., it's unlikely they would have ever predicted that the famous five-and-dime would be a line item on a "Today in History" script published to millions of readers across this thing we call the internet.

Yet today, has I opened my RSS News Reader, there it was. I can recall shopping at the five-and-dime as a kid. It was the "best" store in town. Just like Google; the best. Now, its history. Perhaps the best is not good enough?

"The perfect search engine, would understand exactly what you mean and give back exactly what you want," says Google co-founder Larry Page, "Never settle for the best."

On this date...

After 118 years, the Woolworth Corp. closed its last 400 five-and-dime stores. Most of today's successful discount retailers began life as five and dime stores. In 1962: Kresge's opened its Kmart stores, Sam Walton turned his five and dime into the first Wal-mart, Woolworth's opened Woolco and Dayton Hudson opened Target stores.

Could this happen to Google? Well, yes. Bill Gates is on a mission to build a Google killer. What got him so riled? Google, the darling of search is moving into software and that's Microsoft's turf. Fortune story here. For now however, it's all fantasy thinking as the titans of search (Google, Yahoo, & Microsoft) battle it out in cyberspace.

Global search advertising revenue, which was $369 million in 2001, is expected to hit $7.9 billion this year, according to research from Piper Jaffray & Co. Those who work in and cover the industry see further expansion as paid search grows overseas and is embraced by ever- larger companies following audiences to the Web. (Source: Reuters 2005)

Good news for the USANA associate

The Cost Per Lead using Pay-per-click is Cheap Compared To Other Ads

Your cost per click might run you 25 cents or 50 cents or so, but if the research done by Piper Jaffray & Co. is correct, the only thing that counts is the cost-per-customer and those numbers are: $8.50 for search, $20 for Yellow Pages, $50 for online display ads, $60 for e-mail and $70 for direct mail. PPC search wins hands-down.

"It's a marketer's dream tool because we can monitor it in so many different ways and watch the effectiveness of it," said Jeff Saville, a consumer direct marketing manager at Deckers Outdoor Corp. (Nasdaq:DECK - news)

Are there dangers or flaws in search advertising?

According to WebTrends the data suggests that 60 percent of marketers do not measure sales, leads or key actions resulting from campaigns. [This is a dangerous number because that means you are competing with people who don't know what things are truly costing them. You need to be extra analytical when going head to head with this guy.]
Some worry that new advertisers are rushing blindly into paid search and inflating key word prices -- a concern underscored by WebTrends data.
An estimated 5 percent to 20 percent of clicks are believed to be fraudulent -- the result of people clicking on ads to drive up advertiser costs or to make a profit for Web site publishers who get a cut of revenue.

Adding all this up, we come to two conclusions: 1) It pays to get good at pay-per-click advertising if you plan to do business online and 2) we may only have 118 years left with Google :-)

Search engine marketing tips:

Expand your keywords by asking your spouse, friends, neighbors, relatives, existing customers and strangers to look at your web page and offer their keyword suggestions. In this phase you cannot have too many cooks in the kitchen.
Put your biscuits in the oven and watch'em rise... That is, use web based 'keyword expanders' and research tools to expand your keywords beyond what you can come up with on your own.
Remember, searchers may type in something that describes your product, but more often than not they will be typing in words describing their problem. If your product or service solves, fixes, heals, masks or even distracts them from their problem, you want those keywords on your list.
"In-house" keywords (those used frequently by others in your industry or business) are often the most costly because lazy business owners don't often think beyond their own nose. The result is these limited keywords get bided-up sky high. Customers on the other hand seldom search using "in-house" keywords. Your goal is to find keyword niches popular with customers but less popular with your competition.

2005-07-11T15:53:00.000-07:00

A USANA associate methodology for targeting prospects with pay-per-click.

Are you telling me that 192 days have passed since the beginning of this year?

Without question, 2005 is rapidly marching on, yet for may web entrepreneurs few visitors are marching over to see what's up. Are they marching to a different drummer or is it that your strategies for getting targeted visitors are just not keeping the beat?

Marketing to women?
It's important to note that the e-commerce gender gap appears to be widening, as more women opened their purse strings than men last quarter: the percentage of online purchases made by women reached 62 percent in the fourth quarter with men accounting for just 38 percent of transactions.
(BizRate 2004)

With 173 days remaining in 2005, imagine how much different your business would be if you could get just ONE serious customer, prospect or visitor to take action each day.

If you're asking "Please! Tell me the secret?" Maybe a little internet advertising is in order? Seems that's what a lot of successful online marketers are doing. And of all the methods out there, nothing seems to beat running a really well planned PPC search engine campaign.

Search marketing will represent 39% of all online advertising spending this year and will account for 44% of online ad spending in 2010. (Source: Forrester Research 02/2005)

All around the world you havve reports, stories and statistics that prove "it can be done". Yes, online sales are happening. Reports are continuing, sales are up, and the drum beats on.

Online retail sales in the first quarter reached $19.2 billion, up 23.8% from Q1 a year ago. (Source: U.S. Department of Commerce 05/2005)

But I'm A USANA associate, could it be a waste of time with what I do?

Maybe you are thinking that "some things" sell online but not your nutritional supplements, skincare & weight management. Nothing could be further from the truth. In most cases, it is not the product or service that hinders a sale, it boils down to traffic, strategy and page presentation. Whether you advertise using Google's AdWords, or do pay-per-click at Overture, Yahoo or MSN search, it's the campaign strategy that's important.

Over the past two weeks we started our series of PPC search engine tips. These tips will unquestionanly help your marketing campaign and hopefully put some of the statistics on your side. Ready or not, here they come. This weeks PPC tips to make you rich and famous (well perhaps that's stretching it a bit):

Search engine campaign tips:

When cooking-up your keyword phrase list, use an extended "keyword discovery" phase. Your competition, like you, will do basic keyword research. You can only beat them if you take it to the next level, and that won't happen in the first day. Having a large number of targeted keywords in your campaign is a side effect of an extended period of brainstorming, discovery, research, or whatever you want to call it.
Not very wood with gords? There is a hidden target market of quality visitors who type in incorrect spellings of what they are looking for. Site owners often overlook this. In a recent 30 day period on a major search engine at least 108 people where searching for a 'buisness'? Hundreds more were searching for: 'vitiamins', 'vitimans' and even 'vitamens'... You can bid on misspellings and have very little competition on the search results page.
Assume that at least half your keywords will be rotten eggs, that is, no one will ever look for them and end up at your site. Because there is no extra cost to add as many keyword phrases as you can think up, treat them like biscuits and bake-up as many as you can... 100 or more keyword phrases for each destination page you list in any PPC search engine.

In earlier blog posts you'll find the first and second installment of my PPC tips.

In addition, I've written a many 'how-to' articles specifically to help get your internet marketing strategy on-track. You might find these internet marketing articles for USANA interesting or helpful.

To make certain you don't miss this series of PPC tips, you might consider subscribing to my RSS feed.

Technorati:
USANA | PPC | pay per click | AdWords | marketing | search | retail statistics | marketing statistics | sales statistics

2005-07-04T16:41:00.000-07:00

Out-of-this-world Search Engine Tips Offer Deep Impact On Your Results

After 172 days and 268 million miles of deep space stalking, NASA's Deep Impact successfully struck comet Tempel 1. The cosmic collision between the coffee table-sized impactor and city-sized comet occurred at 1:52 a.m. EDT.

"What a smashing success for the 4th of July!"

And you're thinking, "What in the blogging world is this all about?" Yes, this is a blog about improving your business by better implementing your online marketing campaign for USANA. The bottom line goal is to get quality "hits"... not a hit like Comet Tempel 1, but a hit none-the-less from a targeted visitor.

Why all the deep space fireworks talk you ask? Well the truth is, I found this news story fascinating (perhaps like you and umteen others) and felt it was rather topical for this special blog post for this July 4th day of celebration.

It just so happens that being "topical" and relating what you do with USANA to news and current events is also a wonderful marketing strategy. Millions of people are on the internet today searching for information about all sorts of current events. If you're writing about that event or news item, you can increase the odds that searchers will find you. If what you do (or what you market) is related in some way, then "bingo" you'll create some real traffic fireworks at your blog or site.

The results that can achieve by riding on the comet tail of current events and news stories can be as spectacular as one might imagine. The impact on your business can be equally stellar.

In my previous blog entry we started our series of PPC search engine tips that can help your campaign for better targeted earthbound visitors. So without further comet (or is it comment?), let's continue...

Pay per click tips for this week:

Remember that with PPC campaigns, you are not sending search visitors to a site, you are sending them to a web page (called: a destination or landing page). You must discover keywords and set-up ONE page at a time.
Remember that people search by typing in more than one word:
The 7 most used word phrases in search engines according to OneStat.com:

2 word phrases 32.58%
3 word phrase 25.61%
1 word phrases 19.02%
4 word phrases 12.83%
5 word phrases 5.64%
6 word phrases 2.32%
7 word phrases 0.98%

Start your "keyword discovery" process by visiting the destination page you intend to send your search engine visitors to. Put on the 'reading glasses' of a customer and look at your page through their eyes.
Ask yourself this: "What keywords might a person type in a search box where when they arrived at this destination page, they'd say 'BINGO' this is what I was looking for?" Find these keywords and you've discovered your best keywords.

Looking for more tips? Check my post from last week for more tips and recommendations that will help you succeed at PPC marketing.

Like what you're reading? Subscribe to my RSS feed.

It happened on the 4th...
1970 - Casey Kasem hosted radio's "American Top 40" for the first time.

Deep Impact Kicks Off Fourth Of July With Deep Space Fireworks (Science Daily)
After 172 days and 431 million kilometers (268 million miles) of deep space stalking, Deep Impact successfully reached out and touched comet Tempel 1. The collision between the coffee table-sized impactor and city-sized comet occurred at 1:52 a.m. EDT. Mission scientists expect the project will answer basic questions about the formation of the solar system, by offering a better look at the nature

Hubble captures Deep Impact's comet collision (Spaceflight Now)
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope captured the dramatic effects of the collision early July 4 between a 370-kilogram projectile released by the Deep Impact spacecraft and comet 9P/Tempel 1.

NASA's Deep Impact Kicks off Fourth of July With Deep Space Fireworks (SpaceRef)
After 172 days and 431 million kilometers (268 million miles) of deep space stalking, Deep Impact successfully reached out and touched comet Tempel 1. The collision between the coffee table-sized impactor and city-sized comet occurred at 1:52 a.m. EDT.

Technorati:
USANA | marketing | search | comet | NASA

2005-06-26T14:50:00.000-07:00

How to get great traffic using "Pay per Click" search engines.

While contemplating the deep dark inner essence of my morning coffee, it hit me like a caffeine brick that lot's of people are running pay per click ads (like: Google, Overture, Yahoo, MSN search etc) and are not having the kind of results they might have expected. After several more java jive jolts, I decided to embark on a multi-week PPC tips post. What am I talking about? I plan to share what I consider the best tips for running a successful pay-per-click search engine campaign. I consider a 'successful' campaign one that generates blog, site or landing page visitors to your ad offer and visitors whose clicks don't cost you a fortune.

Unless you have very deep pockets, or you're completely nuts, or you have a solid money-making conversion rate, paying big bucks for clicks that don't pan out is busines seppuku .

Is it possible to launch a PPC ad campaign that drives quality traffic without causing a heart attack? What follows below and over my next several blog posts are my personal campaign tips designed to put your PPC project on a solid road to success.

Search engine campaign tips:

Forget stupid characters. We are talking search engine listings (not eBay) so cool the clever punctuation it L@@KS stupid!!!!!!!! Don't make SOME words CAPITALIZED; it looks like you're shouting desperately for business. Respect the people who read your search engine listings.
People are by nature often interested in things like 'saving money', 'making money', 'curing something', 'striking a deal', and getting anything of value that is 'free'... but be careful. The addition of such self-interest phrases in your ad copy may skew your clicks upwards while leaving your sales flat. If you're tempted to try such phrases... test, test, test... while keeping an eye on your bottom-line.
Bluntness works: 'Refinance 4.5%', 'Viagra 39', 'No Interest VISA', etc
These are the type words that appeal to searchers: more information, complimentary, love, youthful, safe, new, benefit, gain, money, happy, glad, proven, guarantee, resource, fast, results, discover, how you, how to, your, yours, you'll, healthy, natural, magic, secret, comfortable, save, proud, secure, solution.

In the final analysis, you must understand what your goals are and pay close attention to all aspects of your campaign. It can be safely said that if you run any PPC search engine ad campaign over a few weeks and you get nothing for sales or sign-up results, the culprit is most likely NOT the traffic you're generating from your ad, rather it is your site, your landing page, your product, your service, your price or some factor other than your PPC generated traffic . The first thing I'd look at ( when faced with dismal results ) is your landing page. I've seen many a site that look like a one eyed hooker with fish-net pantyhose. Go figure.

Check back next week for the next in this series of PPC tips... Until next week, happy PPC campaigning...

Best of Luck with USANA !

2005-06-19T17:29:00.000-07:00

Internet marketing tips for the average JOE or JOSEPHINE

Perhaps you stumbled upon this site by accident? Perhaps a friend recommended it? Whatever the case, you've just discovered the "Internet Marketing Tips Blog for USANA ." Since this is my first post, I'd like to lay the foundation for what one should expect as I blog away on the various topics listed further down the page.

What prompted this bog in the first place?

Well, after writing articles, publishing eBooks and training entrepreneurs for umpteen years (or longer) , my dog "Herbie" came to me recently in one of those 'dog to man moments'. With his piercing yet lovable eyes, Herbie convinced me that I should devote a little time each week barking (blogging, to use the human translation) about all this weird web stuff that he thinks dominates about 50% of my feeble human brain.

So, if you like this blog you can thank my dog. If you don't, I recommend you adopt your own dog (from a local shelter) and seek internet marketing advice from him :-) Note: cats are pretty good at this stuff too.

So, here we are, and you're now thinking deeply about two things:

What might you learn by following Dan's internet marketing tips blog?
-and- What exactly dominates the other 50% of Dan Hollings' brain?

I might can help you on the first item, but even I am a bit foggy on what dominates that other 50% on my brain :-) So let's focus on marketing ideas to help you promote Nutritional Supplements, Skincare & Weight Management .

In a nutshell, I have helped network marketers, website owners, bloggers, internet entrepreneurs, affiliates, and even big companies improve their internet strategies. But what I enjoy most is working directly with the average "Joe" or "Josephine".

I started out not knowing any of this techno-geek stuff. Yes, that was about 10 years ago. But today after acting like a loofa sponge for all these years, I've learned a trick or two about making money on the web. My goal is to cut to the chase and offer you hands-on strategies that will increase prospects, customers and visitors to your sites and blogs.

I'll be posting tips and stratiegies on anything and everything, as long as it works. It is likely that you are doing some things wrong or inefficiently and if you are like most, you're spending far more money than you should on 'stuff' that has questionable results.

Even though this particular blog will focus on strategies for USANA and how to market Nutritional Supplements, Skincare & Weight Management , I may from time-to-time give examples from other industries or areas to demonstrate a strategy or idea. It's your job to apply the concepts to YOUR particular site, blog, product or service.

A sample of the different concepts we will include follow:

Generating leads
Web page ideas (to increase results)
Landing pages
Building an opt-in list
The why and how of newsletters
How to blog effectively
How to create quality content
Profiting from Contextual ads
Search engines and Pay per click
Tags (the keywords of blogs and...)
"Social systems" for networking
XML and RSS feeds (the new feeding frenzy)
Creating Press Releases
and Generating Revenue on the Web

In addition, I've written a few 'how-to' articles specifically to help get your internet marketing strategy on-track. You might find these internet marketing articles for USANA interesting or helpful.

Finally, you may be asking WHY I decided to do a blog specifically for USANA ? The truth is, I run separate blogs for many types of of entrepreneurs. This is only one of my blogs!

Rest assured I am not a recruiter, I'm not active in any 'company', and I do not sell or share names on any of my opt-in lists. 100% of my money is made from helping others (like you) manage a successful online marketing campaign. My style is "go cheap" but hang tight with "quality". Doing a little, very consistently over a long period of time is my modus operandi. I'm a teacher first and a web developer and entrepreneur second (close second!). Occasionally I offer classes, sometimes I offer eBooks, and I have web systems that many subscribers use to improve their traffic, content and results online. That's the deal.

All my blog tips are free. I suggest you subscribe to RSS feed (look for the Feed buttons in upper right).

Thanks again for stopping by!

Internet marketing tips for USANA

Would Your Sales Increase If USANA Prospects Wore Bright Purple Jerseys?

USANA Seems Perfect for Mompreneurs?

Pay per click tips for this week:

How to Reach Out to Mompreneurs

Want to sell nutritional supplements, skincare & weight management products online? But you need to know how they are marketed by a pay per click search engine campaign

Pay per click tips for this week:

Sponsored Ads? AdWords? Help for USANA.

Bidding Rules Are Different at Google and Yahoo:

New Google AdWords keyword status changes: Simplified keyword states and quality-based minimum bids.

More tips for your PPC campaign:

USANA? What's that all about?

Do you believe that people reading your ads already know this about USANA?

Search engine marketing tips:

"Google Trotters?" Yea, get a pair of those FadSense Sneakers and you'll fetch $100,000 on eBay.

My Continuing Tips To Help You With USANA...

What a day (historically speaking)... After 118 Years, Google Inc. Closed Its Doors.

Good news for the USANA associate

Are there dangers or flaws in search advertising?

Search engine marketing tips:

A USANA associate methodology for targeting prospects with pay-per-click.

But I'm A USANA associate, could it be a waste of time with what I do?

Search engine campaign tips:

Out-of-this-world Search Engine Tips Offer Deep Impact On Your Results

Pay per click tips for this week:

How to get great traffic using "Pay per Click" search engines.

Search engine campaign tips:

Internet marketing tips for the average JOE or JOSEPHINE