Apr 19 2011

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Reading About SEO & Social Media vs. Putting It Together

We’ve been talking a lot about SEO and social media around Level343, lately. Partly because it’s what we do, and partly because there’s always room for learning better strategies for higher returns.

But, what are the returns?

You read on all these blogs and articles how social media returns are XYZ. SEO returns are ABC. SEO mixed with social media brings A-Z. Yet, have you ever noticed how the experts seldom agree with each other? How many times have you followed the experts, only to be frustrated because what they suggested didn’t work?

Hypothesis

It didn’t work because what they suggested didn’t match your target market and website offerings.

Solution

Each business needs to customize their SEO and social media advice. SEO is not a cookie cutter solution.

Reading

We recently put out an article: Building Campaigns Around Keyword Phrases: SEO, Marketing and Social Media. The way we laid out how to build campaigns around your chosen keywords is straightforward, simple, and will work – for most online business owners that visit our blog. However, following these tips does not necessarily mean success even if you followed them step by step.

Why?

Our article does not take into consideration, for example, heavy e-commerce sites. It is simply a guideline. Our readership ranges from real estate agents to beginning SEOs. We have people selling eBooks and people creating information hubs to monetize them. In other words, we can’t target the strategies we describe for every instance.

Doing As An Expert

Even as SEO specialists, things change from site to site. Here are two examples:

Site 1

Our client was receiving… a little bit… of traffic. She got comments on her blogs and a strong following on social sites. However, her main products – services and a related eBook, were being lost in the fray.

Our strategy was a two-parter. One was onsite. We changed the home page layout to provide better click through rates and added better search snippets for marketing purposes. We also changed her interior sales pages to have stronger calls to action. They weren’t big changes, but the goal was to increase how many actually clicked into those interior pages and then bought.

The second part was a comprehensive social media campaign, tying in the blogs, social and products/services as outlined in the article above (yes, we’ve used these steps!).

The results:

Since these things were implemented, she’s seen a constant improvement in traffic. Compared to the time previous, her visits are up by 123% and her page views are up by 87%. Although pages per visit are down, we can look at this as a positive number. People are coming to her site and finding what they’re looking for instead of having to search for it. The best part, her sales are up.

Site 2

We had a potential client come to us whose site was losing in the SERPs. Although traffic was visible, it limped along. Unfortunately, this potential client had heard tons of great things about social media and believed a social media campaign would do all the things the needed to bring in traffic.

Now, we could have gone along, picked up a new client, done what they wanted and darn the results. Here’s the problem. People just weren’t using regular social channels to talk about it. Instead, they were discussing the potential client’s industry on forums and blogs.

Therefore, the strategy outlined in SEO, Marketing and Social Media wouldn’t have worked for this client. His target market just wasn’t in these spaces. We offered proposed a different strategy, one that matched his site’s actual needs.

He didn’t agree, we wouldn’t waste time on strategies we didn’t’ believe would bring results, and we went our separate ways.

The moral of the story: Not everything you read will fit your site.

Doing As a Reader

Putting what you read into practice should always be a five-part process:

1. Read
2. Ask yourself if the advice you’ve just read will fit your target market. For example, if you cater to CEOs, you might be better off focusing on sites like LinkedIn i.e. you want to be where the CEOs gather. Their social media water cooler, as it were.
3. Ask yourself if the advice you’ve just read will fit your site. Think about it. Is this advice fit for an ecommerce site? Is it aimed towards informative sites? Perhaps this is for a service site. Mentally apply it to your site before physically applying it.
4. Test everything. Just because guru A says this will work, doesn’t mean this will work for your site. Moving your content layout around, for example, may severely damage your conversion rates rather than enhance them. Don’t make changes site wide without testing on a single page. This is what A/B testing is for.
5. Put what you’ve learned works for your site into action.

Conclusion

Much of what you read from SEO specialists comes from proven results. SEO, Marketing and Social Media, for example, was based off of strategies we’ve applied time and again. However, we do not automatically say, “This is the strategy we’re going to use,” because each site is different.

We may have to tweak the strategy.

We may have to change it.

We may have to leave social media out of it all together.

As you read, understand that each bit of advice needs to be changed to cater to your precise audience. Otherwise, you’re betting your entire online business to an SEO specialist who’s never seen your site, and might offer a different solution if they had.

Have you suffered frustrations from using someone’s advice and it not working? Have you found that tweaking the advice for your particular site works better? We’d love to hear from you – share your experiences in the comments!

Written By:

Gabriella Sannino | SEO and copywriting company | @level343

For the past fifteen years Gabriella has held positions as a consultant, web developer and creative director until she decided it was time to open Level 343, an SEO and copywriting company. She fancies herself an Italian rocker, rebel and SEO geek. She loves singing in the shower and keeps a notepad next to her bed.

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• http://www.brickmarketing.com/ Nick Stamoulis

  Excellent advice! I’ve had clients come to me and say “our competitor is doing this and it works. We want to do it too.” Unfortunately it doesn’t work that way. What works for one company isn’t always applicable to another, even if they are in the same industry.

• http://www.search-engine-academy-washington-dc.com/ Nancy

  Great article! So many times prospects come to me and say they “need” to do social media “because everybody does it.” It takes a lot of time to go over their industry, do some research to determine if social will work or not, and if so, which medium.

  Thanks for sharing your strategies!

• Talton Figgins

  I love articles that give people a wake-up call on social media. Everyone is saying “We know it’s big but how to we use it?” without first asking themselves “Does it make sense based on our goals and demographic.” Play where your customers play and be smart about investing time in social media.

  I commend you guys for not taking the easy money and entering in a race you couldn’t win or one that could have hurt your reputation in the long run. I think it was definitely the right choice.

• http://twitter.com/mmhemani Moosa Hemani

  Excellent post and i think very much on time… most of the time and mostly with small businesses what they do is read and try to implement. The test experts usually do may not work for other niche and there is a very common phrase that i usual quote and that is ‘What works for you may not works for me’ i think readers should consider this while implementing any strategy on their website.

• http://twitter.com/ConnieMcKnight Connie McKnight

  There’s no cookie-cutter approach to anything in this world, even a franchise.

  Thanks for pointing out the facts about Social Media. Even after you do all the basics, it still takes time and commitment.

• http://www.andreamoro.eu/ Andrea Moro

  Love this phrase … “This is the strategy we’re going to use,” because each site is different”.

  Unfortunately customers think it differently as they believe sites are all the same 🙁

• Adam Humphreys

  Every site is indeed different. I’m always astonished at how very different each audience is when I drill down and segment the data. It’s learning to fit and qualify those needs that makes us effective at our jobs.

• http://blog.karlribas.com Karl Ribas

  As Talton mentioned above, I too appreciate when social marketing providers are up front and honest with regards to the effectiveness of specific social media strategies. I work with mostly small businesses, and often at times, due to location and product/service, social media marketing just isn’t going to work.

• http://level343.com/article_archive/ SEOcopy

  Andrea, indeed. We have turned away a few clients that insisted the strategy they had in mind would work. When we looked at their numbers and 0 social media interactions we were dumbfounded. I’m still amazed how many clients don’t even look at their numbers. Just because their cousin or another agency told them that’s where they need to be…. mmah

• http://level343.com/article_archive/ SEOcopy

  Hey Talton, I cannot tell you how many times we have had to consider these questions “Can we do this? Can we show them results within their time frame?” Sure, it’s about reputation but it’s also very challenging. Social media takes time, strategy, plus you have to measure and tweak along the way.We would need a full time social media person on staff, period. But then we get clients that have deep pockets and don’t mind creating the first steps of their social media presence. Those are challenges I don’t mind helping them with. Especially if they have an ORM issue. One of my favorite challenges 😉 lolol thanks for your input!

• http://www.zippycart.com Zippy Cart

  Doing things by rote without looking for ways to innovate and adapt isn’t being a Search Engine Optimization professional – it’s being a robot.

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 Realtor.com reclaimed the top spot in a monthly report of the most-visited real estate websites in March, according to the latest rankings from Web metrics firm Hitwise.

Realtor.com bumped Yahoo Real Estate, which had held the No. 1 spot for four straight months, to No. 2.

Realtor.com’s market share rose to 6.51 percent in March, from 5.87 percent in February. Yahoo Real Estate saw its market share dip slightly, to 6.04 percent.

Zillow retained its No. 3 spot with 5.36 percent market share, up from 4.94 percent in February. Trulia and Rent.com each moved up one spot, to No. 4 and 5, respectively. Trulia’s market share rose to 4.63 percent while Rent.com’s market share stood essentially flat at 2.56 percent.

Apr 19 2011

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Google Invests a Hundred Million in Oregon Wind Farm

Google is on a clean energy spending spree. First, they branched out into clean power in Europe by investing approximately five million in a German solar farm. Next, they invested over $150 million in the world’s largest solar tower plant (Ivanpah), pushing total clean energy investments to over $250 million. And now they’ve surpassed a quarter of a million in clean energy funding for April alone by investing an additional $100 million in an Oregon Wind Farm.

The wind farm is located in Shepherds Flat and is slated for completion in 2012. It will generate a full 845 MW of energy, sufficient to power just under a quarter of a million homes. In additional to being a project with an immense power output, the Shepherds Flat Wind Farm will also help advance wind generation technology in the United States; the farm will utilize permanent magnet generators, which Google representatives call an “evolutionary turbine technology that will improve efficiency, reliability and grid connection capabilities,” which have never been used in the U.S. before.

The investment is a “win-win-win” situation for all involved. Much of the energy produced in this Oregon farm will be sold to California, helping the Golden State to push toward their lofty renewable energy goals. Meanwhile, a great number of job opportunities will open to Oregon residents, and the state will see an increase in tax revenue. Google, meanwhile, will have a significant share in another up-and-coming renewable energy business. However, this investment, while significant, is far from the final big move from the search engine giant. Their official announcement of the investment stated, “We remain on the lookout for more projects that make business sense and will help all of us take advantage of clean, renewable energy.”

[via the Official Google Blog]

 

Written By:

Rob Young | @RobDYoungWrites

Rob has been insatiably obsessed with Google, search engine technology, and the trends of the web-based world since he began life as a webmaster in 2002. His move into SEO work in 2006, and subsequently to writing for technology and Internet-focused publications, has done nothing but fuel this passion.

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• Rw19

  learn how to proofread “In additional to”

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Google Voice is a robust application that enhances your existing phone service. It was introduced in March 2009 and allows free calling and text messaging in the U.S. and Canada. It also offers low rates for international calls.

Despite not being able to place emergency calls, the service has come a long way in the last two years. You can now even make your Google Voice number, which you choose, your actual mobile phone number through a process called “number porting” — an important note: Number porting will terminate your existing carrier contract, and Google charges a $20 one-time fee for this porting service.

Even if you do not utilize number porting, Google Voice has some great features for real estate professionals. Here are 10 tips to customize Google Voice and get the most out of the service. 

1. Voice mail notifications. One of the most powerful features of Google Voice is voice mail notifications. Voice mail notifications alert you via email when you have missed a call or have a new voice mail. To enable this feature in Google Voice, click on the gear icon in the upper right corner of the Google Voice screen and select “Voice settings,” then select “Voicemail & Text,” then click on the “Email the message to:” option, and enter your email address. You can also enable alerts to send a text message to your mobile phone.

2. Create a Google Voice label and filter. After enabling voice mail notifications, you can create a label in Gmail (give it a name like “Google Voice” or “voice mail”) to manage all of your Google Voice email correspondence. Next, create a filter in Gmail so all of your Google Voice messages are delivered directly to that label. This will not only organize your messages, but also gives you the ability to quickly search your messages.

3. Google Voice player. The Google Voice player is a super cool gadget that allows you to listen to voice mail right from your inbox. To enable this gadget, click on the gear icon and select “Mail settings” (or click on the “Settings” field), then click “Labs,” then find the “Google Voice player in mail” tool in the list and click “Enable.” Voice mail recordings can play on mobile devices including the iPhone and iPad.

4. Share voice mail. With Google Voice you can forward and share messages. Just log into your account, select the message you would like to share, click “more” and select “Email.” If you have enabled notifications, you can also email messages from Gmail. This is a great feature, especially if you want to share an important voice mail with a client or colleague.

5. Voice transcription. Google Voice will transcribe your voice mail to text, allowing you to read voice mail as well as listen to them. Google states that “transcriptions aren’t perfect,” and they’re not. However, it’s a handy feature if you’re in a meeting and cannot take a call. You can also search transcriptions just as you would email. To enable this option, select “Voicemail & Text,” and click on “Transcribe Voicemails.”

6. Call or text from your browser. Google Voice allows you to call or text directly from your browser. Just log in to your account and click on the “Call” and “Text” buttons below the Google Voice logo.

7. Call Widget. The Google Voice Call Widget is a nifty little app that allows visitors to your website or blog to call you. The widget is super easy to enable and embed. Just select “Call Widgets” on the Google Voice “Settings” menu, click “Add a new Call Widget,” select the applicable settings, and click “Save changes” when done. You can then copy the snippet of code provided and embed it in your website. A visitor can click the widget and enter a name and number, and Google Voice will connect the call. You can see the Call Widget in action here.

8. Groups. As stated in a Google Voice description, you can customize “a special greeting for your family, or have your co-workers ring separate phones.” This is absolutely one of my favorite features of Google Voice. You can easily upload or manually add contacts to Google Voice and organize them into custom groups. You can then record unique voice mail greetings for each group, which is extremely advantageous. Real estate professionals can create groups for buyers, sellers, co-workers, etc., to help optimize communications.

9. Call Screening. Call screening is a valuable feature in Google Voice. To enable this, select “Calls” on the “Settings” menu and select “On” for “Call Screening.” Pressing “2” during an incoming call will send the call to voice mail. The best feature of call screening: at any point during the call, you can press “*” to join the call. You can also choose to block any caller as you see fit. In Google Voice, just select the message, and then click “more” and select “Block caller.”

10: Record Call. Pressing “4” during a conversation will record the call. The participants on the call are notified that the conversation is being recorded. Recorded conversations are available in your Google Voice inbox on the Web and in your mobile app.

Bonus Tip. To conduct a conference call, press “5” during an incoming call and the participants are added to the call.

Google Voice was “invitation only” for the first year or so of service, but all Google accounts now have access to the application. Also, Google launched a Google Voice iPhone app in November 2010, and it’s extremely slick.

Utilizing the service, I’ve been able to streamline all of my numbers including home, office and mobile. Creating groups and customized greetings has been fantastic … give it a try.

Please leave comments below to let me know about your own experiences using Google Voice.

Tom Flanagan is the director of information technology at Residential Properties Ltd. in Providence, R.I. You can contact him at tflanagan@residentialproperties.com or @tflan on Twitter.

 

This week, Inman News will publish the first in a series of articles highlighting the state of low-fee real estate offerings, which will include an analysis of commission trends over time, antitrust-related lawsuits and debates, new entrants in the industry, and an in-depth look at some of the major national companies with low-fee offerings and how their business models have changed over time.

The series will also incorporate some data from a real estate compensation and commission survey conducted in February and March. Watch for Part 1 on Wednesday.

Apr 19 2011

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Yahoo Buzz to Be Officially Sunset on April 21st

Back in December of 2010, everyone (yours truly included) was making a huge deal out of a single image released by a Yahoo staff member. That image was of a slide shown at a Yahoo employee presentation, where the company was outlining its gameplan for survival in a world where Yahoo is less about search than ever before. The gameplan was to shut down a great number of its services so the company could focus on its stronger and more profitable sites. Well, that gameplan is now in action and veteran Yahoo services are dropping like flies – with Yahoo Buzz showing as the next site on the chopping block.

Yahoo Buzz, the Digg-like service from Yahoo, never saw a huge amount of attention, profit, or (simply put) success. As such, it’s not likely that users of Yahoo Buzz will be too dissapointed when they site becomes inaccessible on April 21st. Many analysts anticipate that the former Yahoo Buzz users will simply migrate to Digg or other social bookmarking services.

Yahoo’s statement on the shutdown reiterates the company gameplan. “This was a hard decision,” read the statement. “However this will help us focus on our core strengths and new innovations [sic].” Other services that are likely to be closed in the near future include AltaVista and De.Licious. However, numerous core features, including Yahoo Sports, Entertainment, and Mail, are continuing in strength.

[via Tech Land]

Written By:

Rob Young | @RobDYoungWrites

Rob has been insatiably obsessed with Google, search engine technology, and the trends of the web-based world since he began life as a webmaster in 2002. His move into SEO work in 2006, and subsequently to writing for technology and Internet-focused publications, has done nothing but fuel this passion.

More Posts By Rob Young

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WordPress, the content management system that has taken the world by storm, is always a popular item of discussion among real estate “Web heads.” Whenever you get two people who run WordPress sites in the same place together, chances are the conversation turns to plug-ins.

Out of the box, WordPress does a great job of solving some problems that have been around as long as businesses have been hiring Web developers:

• Make changes to your website content without having to call your Web designer.
• Make the content easily portable through RSS and other geeky stuff.
• Add a blog to your site on your domain.

Not bad for free software. But after you’ve been playing around with WordPress for a little bit you’ll want to start doing more. That’s where plug-ins come into play. WordPress plug-ins are bits of software that extend what WordPress can do.

For example, there are plug-ins that make it easier to integrate video into your pages. There are plug-ins that make it easier to get all kinds of social media buttons on your site. Plug-ins for real estate listings and IDX feeds.

Plug-ins for adding widgets and tweets and backing up you content and adding Google Analytics and adding Woopra and integrating Facebook comments and generating QR (quick response) codes and making fancy image galleries and tricking out your search engine optimization and … you get the idea. There’s a lot of plug-ins.

But there are a couple of hidden problems with the nearly infinite flexibility that WordPress and all of these plug-ins create. Here are three tips for avoiding plug-in problems.

1. Only use plug-ins that solve a business problem

There are so many plug-ins. Many of them do something “cool” or really up the “wow” factor. And let’s be honest: when your competitor adds a shiny new thing on a website, you might get a little bit envious.

Many people discover new plug-ins for WordPress by seeing them in action on another website. That’s great for a demo, but it doesn’t help you stay focused on your business. Even if the other website using the new plug-in is a real estate website, that doesn’t mean the way you do business online will be enhanced by the plug-in you see on that site.

When deciding whether to use a plug-in or not, start by thinking about your business. Think about how you would like people to use your website. Then, use your Web analytics to tell you how people use your website.

If you can make these two things — how you’d like people use your website and how they actually use your website — more similar by using the plug-in, then give it a try.

2. Check for plug-in conflicts

One of the dangers of being able to install all of the additional functionality you want on your website is that some of the things you install will break other things you’ve installed. Testing this stuff is a hassle. It’s why your Web developer gets to charge so much.

Whenever you try out a plug-in, go through your site and make sure that none of your other plug-ins stop functioning. This process is one of the reasons to keep your plug-in count low: it makes finding conflicts easier.

If your new plug-in passes your test and doesn’t blow up any of your other plug-ins, then go ahead and give it a try.

3. When they don’t help, stop using them

You’ll notice that both of the previous tips ended with “give it a try” and not “install it and forget about it forever.” There’s a reason for that.

As you add plug-ins and functionality to your WordPress site you’re adding more computer code. The more code you have the slower your site will get. Some plug-ins will make your site slower than others. But all plug-ins will have an impact on site performance. Slow sites are bad for people and they are bad for search, as well.

If you took the time to identify the business problem that your plug-in is solving, then you should know if the plug-in is working to solve that problem. Maybe you won’t know right away, but you should know sooner or later. And if it’s working — that’s awesome. If it’s not working, remove it.

Cleaning out plug-ins that don’t help your business makes your site faster and gives you less things to worry about.

Another tip: The best SEO plug-in … ever

I often get asked about my favorite WordPress plug-in for SEO. I have a favorite. But I’m not really going to tell you what it is in this column. Not because it’s a big secret, because it isn’t.

The reason is that the best SEO plug-in for WordPress is actually your time. Whatever plug-in you’re using right now to handle SEO on your site (even if you’re not using a plug-in and just using out-of-the-box WordPress) is probably OK.

Take the time you spend worrying about whether you’ve got the best SEO plug-in, researching SEO plug-ins, and asking everyone you know about SEO plug-ins to make more content for your site.

Making more content for your site will almost certainly help your search-engine rankings more than whatever the SEO plug-ins can do for you.

Gahlord Dewald is the president and janitor of Thoughtfaucet, a strategic creative services company in Burlington, Vt.

This guest post is by Jill Chivers of www.shopyourwardrobe.com.

I found myself entranced recently by a “presentation” on a TV shopping network. I usually flip straight past these networks, as I was of the opinion that they were cheesy shows, presented by couldn’t-quite-make-it, and that they pushed sub-par products onto poor, lonely, hapless, housebound consumers who didn’t know better. Not that I was judgmental about them in any way…

But this time I found myself stopping for a moment, just to see what they were about.

As the “presentation” (which is what they called it—at this stage, I was still thinking of it as a cheesy, garbage-pushing intrusion) unfolded, I found myself becoming fascinated by the sheer audacity of it.

These shows face an enormous sales challenge, the scale of which could appropriately be linked to climbing to Base Camp, possibly without an oxygen mask. While no-one could call their techniques sophisticated, they are effective. The home shopping industry is a multi-billion dollar industry and sales actually increased during the global financial crisis, when all other retailing was going down the toilet.

What can we learn from how the TV shopping networks sell their wares? Without becoming cheesy and surrendering all integrity, of course. Well, the short answer is: a great deal! Here are the top 10 tips that we can take away from those who sell from, and to, the couch.

1. Repetition

The messages the tv service networks provide are repeated, over and over and over and over. They know that telling us once isn’t going to do it. Telling us twice is not enough either. We need to be told repeatedly about the product, the offer, the deal, the limited stock. They tell us—and they keep on telling us.

Ask yourself: How often are you sharing your message with your readers? We get bored with our own message long before our readers do. Don’t tell ‘em once, don’t even tell ‘em just twice. Tell ‘em over and over.

2. Funnel the info

Not only is the information repeated on these shows, but it’s funneled. They start off by overviewing the entire list of products and packages that are being presented. Then they go through each one in turn, detailing each product—what the product’s about, what’s in the deal, and what’s in it for us.

Ask yourself: Have you structured your information so it’s easy to digest? Have you overviewed your offering (helicopter view) first, and then dropped into the detail? Don’t expect us, your readers, to organize your information—lay it out for us.

3. Features and benefits

Aren’t you utterly tired of marketing gurus telling us not to share the features of our products and focus exclusively on benefits? I am!

The TV shopping networks prove how false a technique that really is. Features tell us the what, while benefits tell us the so what. Without the what the so what seems contrived, or made up. Features provide us with evidence—they’re the proof so many of us need. If all we hear is that the product is made from “all-natural products that smooths and brightens the skin with no harmful ingredients” we can find ourselves responding with, “Meh … aren’t they all saying that?” But when we hear the list of ingredients, or hear what’s not in the product, or hear any of the other details about the product, it provides us with proof.

Ask yourself: Are you explaining the what and the so what of what’s in your product or service? Are you making it easy for us to believe in your benefits by sharing at least something about the features?

4. Demonstration

The TV shopping network presentations show us the products in action. We see the Mink, marble-pressed mineral foundation with hydrating beads being dusted onto the model’s face—see how quick and easy it is to apply? We see the weight loss powder being mixed up with fresh fruit in the blender—see how “pantry friendly” the pack size is?

Ask yourself: Are you showing us how easy, quick, simple, effective, or whatever else your product or service is to use? What else can you do to put your product or service into action so your prospects get to see it in use before they buy?

5. Results

The TV shopping networks not only demo their products so we can see them in real-time action. They also show us people who have been using the products for a long period of time (often years), and get them to tell us what a difference their products have made to their lives. This is different to the demo, which is in real time and could possibly be faked. Results from real people aren’t quite so easy to simulate.

Ask yourself: Are you showing us the results that people who use your product and service get? Your testimonials page is one of the best ways of doing this—but are you keeping the testimonials fresh and updated? Build your “mountain of testimonials” over time, and keep adding to them.

6. Updates

Throughout the presentation, the presenters gave us updates about how the product was selling. When a certain level of stock had been sold, we were updated that “this product has just gone limited,” signalling that only a few were left. This happened from minute one: the presenters signaled that the product was already selling. Combined with point 9 below, this creates a compelling case to pick up the phone.

Ask yourself: How fresh is your information about your products and services? Have you updated your product or service in some way, and forgotten to tell your readers and prospects about it? Have you sold a milestone number, such as 100, or 1000 products? Has your list reached a milestone number of subscribers? Share what’s newsy and make your prospects and readers feel part of the action!

7. Packaging and bonuses

These home shopping shows rarely showcase single products for sale. Even big-ticket items are bundled up with bonus products to sweeten the deal. Instead of a single bronzer being sold, they sell us the Forever Flawless package with 3in1 skin perfector and auto lip-liner in a choice of three colours with the Diamonds Are Forever dusting powder—all packaged in a lined satin make-up bag for touch-ups on the go!

Ask yourself: How can you add bonuses to what you already offer? Or how can you make clearer to your prospects the bonuses you already offer? Tell us how much we’re saving or the value of our bonuses, so the final sale price makes us feel fortunate to have been so smart.

8. Pricing

These shows offer discounted pricing (although verifying that is problematic, giving the urgent timeframes they place on the offers); they sweeten the deal by offering some form of discount off ordinary pricing, however small. They also step out what we’re getting (the value of our whole package, with bonuses), and tell us what we’re saving.

Ask yourself: How have you explained your pricing? Is it a flat-footed statement of plain fact, or have you made an effort to show us what a great deal we’re getting? Even if you do not have a limited pricing offer, how can you make it easy for us to see how fabulous your pricing really is? Do you throw in postage and handling? Is your pricing less than some other poorer-quality, higher-priced competitor? What’s special about your pricing? How else can you position your pricing so that we feel oh-so-smart for buying what you’re offering?

9. Urgency

Through the use of updates, limited availability, and discounted pricing, a sense of great urgency is created on these shows. Viewers of the TV shopping networks are lead down a carefully constructed path that leads inexorably to action. Namely: picking up the phone and ordering at least one, if not more, products. Sure, they educate. Yes, they demonstrate. But ultimately, they’re here for one thing—to sell their product. They aren’t embarrassed about it, either. There is no coyness in their communications, no hesitation in their message.

Ask yourself: Why would a prospect buy your product today? What have you done to make it easy for them to feel good about making a Right Now purchase, rather than making it easy for them to delay the buy? If you can only create a false sense of urgency (and that makes you feel sleazy), what else can you do encourage action now?

10. Recaps and the late up-sell

It’s never really finished with the TV shopping networks. The sell, that is. After the presentation ends, there are other messages (commercials on a home shopping network seem like the ultimate act of a snake eating its own tail, and yet they have them!). But they always come back for one more up-sell. Often it’s positioned as a Buyers’ Choice segment—a short segment that highlights one of the packaged up bumper-bonus deals that we’d be mad to miss!

Ask yourself: Where is there an opportunity for you to do a late up-sell in the education and sales process you offer? Where can you offer a “wait—there’s more!” opportunity that truly adds value and book-ends the sales message you are delivering?

TV tactics on your blog?

You may not wish, or even need, to use all of these strategies. The TV and home shopping networks are a particular breed that not all of us wish to emulate in full—their sales approaches are more sledgehammer than fine scalpel, for one thing. But they can teach us a lot about selling: how to position our products, how to present them, how to craft our communications, and how to make the sale. After all, that’s what they’re in business to do—make the sale.

Perhaps you aren’t using the right-kind-for-you aspects of these techniques as conscious convincers for your prospects. Perhaps all you need to offer is one more thing in one more way—a tweak rather than an overhaul—to increase your conversion rates.

Ask yourself: What more can I be doing to make this sale easy for my prospects? That’s what the TV shopping networks do.

Jill Chivers used to love shopping. After completing her own “year without clothes shopping challenge” in 2010, she created an award-winning website and international business that helps other women create a healthier relationship to shopping. Check it out here: www.shopyourwardrobe.com.