Most people are billed once a month for services.  But are you really getting billed once per month?

You'd better double check.

Standard practice is a new bill is generated every 30 days (or on every “x^th” day of the month)

There is a little known “trick” that died out years ago due to customer complaints.  Be sure it is completely dead for you too.

IF YOU ARE BILLED EVERY                    YOU WILL RECEIVE

30 days                                                            12 charges per year

29 days                                                            12.6 charges per year

28 days                                                            13 charges per year

The key is the 28 day billing cycle.  Companies did this and it seemed reasonable to customers because it is close to a “month”.  After all some months have 30 and some have 31 and then one even has 28 days, right?

The explanation was, “Sir/Madam, you have a monthly service, due to our accounting systems, we just produce statements every 28 days.”

Click Here to see what GOOGLE says when you search “28 Day Billing”  the #1 result for me is an article written by an owner of an answering company ENCOURAGING people to use this as a way to increase the bottom line.  It was written for connections magazine back in 2000.  Connections magazine is a trade publication for call centers and answering services.

Sadly, this gentleman is right in my home town of Tampa Bay Florida.  Google uses geo tracking to help with results, so he may not be first on your list –so just in case, here is the link:  www.connectionsmagazine.com/articles/0/116.html

I DO NOT recommend anyone attempt such practices as it is misleading.  If you do this, ask yourself, is ONE month of extra billing worth making a customer feel taken advantage of?

If you find a vendor of yours subjecting you to this type of billing, call and protest. Insist they credit you or put you on 30 day billing – of course this only works if you purchased a service based on “monthly” usage.

Blessings to you all this CHRISTMAS season,

Maurice Evans

Part 3 in a Series

All you need to know about Guaranteed Web Site Traffic and Visitors.

Here are some important things to note when doing a pop under or redirect:

Keys To A Successful Campaign

1. QUANTITY. Because you will be hitting a lot of different people, it comes down to a numbers game. How many people will you hit that are interested in your offer at the time your ad “pops” under or redirects from the site they are browsing? If they are interested at a later date and your campaign is no longer running, then you will have in a sense helped your competition who is there later, "at the right time". So if you are buying guaranteed traffic, be sure to buy as many as you can afford to.

2. LANDING PAGE. The landing page is whatever web page that people see in the actual pop-under. This can be any page, whether it’s the home page or a custom sales page. Most often advertisers use their home page as their landing page. BIG MISTAKE!

I recommend that you have a page created just for your offer. Make sure you have a great headline that stands out and can be read and understood in about 2 seconds. It amazes me how many people use their homepage as their URL. When my company offers to create a landing page for our customers, they are always pleased with both the ad and the results. Some seeing increases of up to a 67.5% response over previously run campaigns.

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[Think about it] How come Amazon.com and Orbitz don’t just show their home page in a pop under ad?  Because it wouldn’t work!  What if a department store showed all the products inside of their store, or worse, the entire strip of stores in the mall they were located at, and put it all on a billboard? Would the average driver focused on their destination have time to understand the message the advertiser is trying to convey? The answer is: No, not many of them at all. What kind of results do you think that billboard campaign would achieve?  The answer is: poor results if any.

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Remember, your home page is used to navigate people to all the many different parts of your site. There is not usually any one specific theme or offer but, rather multiple offers, animations, buttons, and a lot of different paths to take. This is way too much for a person to comprehend in just 2 seconds.

So since most people didn’t ask to see your ad in the first place, the subconscious response is: “Since I didn’t ask to see this site and there is no distinct offer, there might as well be no offer at all.” <Click> close [x].

[==SUCCESS TIP==] Make a great landing page that directs people where you want them to go. I assure you it will increase your response.

K.I.S.S. - Keep it short and sweet.  Don’t try to close the sale, get the sign-up, etc in the first 2 seconds. Be compelling, get the viewers attention, and draw them into your offer.  Take them through a sales “process”, not a sales “slam” - you will have much better results.

3.  APPLES-TO-APPLES. One frustration common among advertisers is the difference between the response to a pop campaign and a pay per click campaign. There are many, many reasons for this difference, but a main reason is they are not the same type of advertising. One is active, the other is passive. Remember we talked about that earlier in this article?  In general pay-per-click (Overture Precision Match www.overture.com, GOOGLE ADWORDS www.Google.com, Find What www.Findwhat.com, etc) will always yield a higher conversion rate than a pop campaign.  It is also much more expensive and difficult to track to use this form of advertising.

One key reason there is better response rate in PPC (a passive form of advertising) is these are people who took the time to type in a phrase into a search engine and click a link. They are actively looking for your service. 

Conversely, pop type ads are active forms of advertising and show up on a related site, but the viewer, who is passive about your service at the moment, was in the midst of doing something else.

This is the same reason Yellow Page inquiries are more expensive, and generally will yield higher response than say Radio Advertising. This is due to the different focus of the viewers at the time of experiencing the ad.

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KEY POINT: DO NOT compare your pop ad results to your PPC results, they will NEVER match, nor should they. That would be an apples-to-oranges comparison.  Both methods should be implemented as a part of a well-rounded marketing plan.

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4. FOLLOW-UP. This is where over 97% of web sites miss it. They make an ad, they buy the traffic, but don’t tell people what to do when they arrive.  Here are some important questions webmasters should ask about any web site being advertised:

1. What happens after a visitor clicks your ad and arrives at the site?
2. Can they navigate the site easily to find EXACTLY what they are looking for?
3. Is your site compelling?
4. Does it draw them in deeper?
5. Does the site itself SELL?
6. Are People encouraged to contact you?
7. Is it EASY to contact you?
8. Is it easy to buy?

If you are buying advertising then you want something to happen. You want people to take an action. You want visitors to sign up for your newsletter, buy your CD, order your services, etc. Whatever it may be, all you want is for them to “do the thing”. SO ENCOURAGE IT! Gather as much information from visitors as you can. Offer free reports, bonuses, and/or extra services. Give a good deal, have a sale, do what it takes to increase “sales”.

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KEY POINT: Remember, simply getting “traffic” or “visitors” to a site is not enough. Despite what traffic resellers, web designers and hosts will tell you. As a business person you want CONVERSION. And that is the magic word.

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[==SUCCESS TIP==] Before running an ad campaign, ask yourself, “If I were looking to buy this same product/service, what would this website have to say and do to convince ‘me’ to buy”

Any site that can answer that question, is converting lots of visitors into customers. That is exactly what your site must do.

This, my friend, is the “Hit Myth”.  Hits, traffic, visitors, whatever you want to call them, do not do much for business and the internet unless you learn to convert the traffic into sales. Getting visitors to a web site is easy. Getting those visitors to actually do something is the real challenge.  

If you are going to buy traffic, make sure you deal with a company that can offer you full service and support towards making the campaign successful.

Keep an eye out as I share some simple tips to getting a better conversion rate out of your website.

Until we speak again,

Promote, Promote, Promote!
Blessings in Biz from Maurice

 ©2005 Maurice Evans. All rights reserved. You may reproduce this article only so long as this full copyright and author information is included.  Maurice Evans is the Development Director for http://www.iGROWyourBiz.com. Since 1992 he has assisted small business owners in learning how to get more bang for their advertising buck. For your Advertising and Marketing Consulting needs contact him at 727-417-6838

Part 2 in a Series

All you need to know about Guaranteed Web Site Traffic and Visitors.

Part 1 in a Series

All you need to know about Guaranteed Web Site Traffic and Visitors.

If you have a website, and are looking for cost-effective ways to promote the site, you might wish to consider “guaranteeing” that people will come to your site.

Today there are FOUR Primary types of guaranteed traffic you can purchase:

1. Pop-Up Ads
   A small window pops “up” over the webpage you are visiting with some sort of advertisement.
2. Pop-Under Ads
   A small window pops “under” the webpage you are visiting with some sort of advertisement and only becomes visible when you close the web page
3. Pop-In Ads
   This type of ad pops “into” the webpage you are visiting –seeming to hover between your screen and the website. You must close this ad or wait for it to disappear before you can continue with the website.
4. Redirected Ads
   This type of ad takes you to a website different than the one you tried to visit, because the original site no longer owns that web address.

There are other types such as, Search & Performance Campaigns, Pay-per-click (PPC) and Cost-Per-Action (CPA) which we will discuss at a later date.

Over the next few days, in this series of articles I will discuss the two most popular and affordable means of generating traffic to a website; Pop under and redirected traffic. Both work differently therefore, you should expect different results.

Type #1: Popunder Campaigns

These have been popular for years and are promoted on many major websites. This type of ad mysteriously seems to show up sitting on your computer screen AFTER you are finished at a particular site and close the browser. Remember that X10 camera banner? How about Expedia with the different games to play?  I bet you do!

Consider pop-under ads to be an Internet version of Outdoor Billboards. Because it is like a billboard, you will want to use active* or “intrusive” advertising techniques.

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[*Quick Definition] Active Advertising:  This form of advertising is considered active or intrusive because the viewers are passive, meaning they are not specifically looking for you or your service at that time.  Radio, Television and Billboard ads are all forms of Active Advertising.

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An effective active ad is used to reach out and grab someone who is not particularly looking for your product or service at that moment. The idea is to generate name recognition and familiarity in the marketplace with your brand.

[==SUCCESS TIP==] Whenever using this type of marketing, you must do a LOT of it (quantity and frequency) in order to be most effective.

The reason you need to do a lot of active marketing, is because the target audience is passive. Therefore, expect your response and conversion rate (as it relates to your ROI) to be lower than passive forms of advertising. This is because the majority of potential customers will not respond the first time they see your ad. People are busy, and they need to be reminded of your business.

With pop-under ads, people are going about their everyday web browsing, looking for whatever they happen to be searching or learning at that moment. If you are able to target your campaign then the site they are browsing should be somewhat related to your offer. However, remember they are not necessarily looking at that time for what you have to offer. So you are in a sense interrupting their browsing experience. This is why it is called “intrusive” marketing. SPAM is an example of active marketing that is seen as both “intrusive” and “offensive”.

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[Think about it]  When was the last time you saw an ad only ONE time and responded immediately to it?  How often do you have that type of immediate response?  Do you usually need to see an ad a few times before you take action if it is not an immediate need?

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Pop-up blockers are growing in popularity, but in all honesty, reports from many advertising networks show that less than 3% of internet users have an active pop-up blocker. On the flip side, a report from IT Facts (http://www.itfacts.biz/index.php?id=P1146)  says as many as 30% of internet surfers have pop blockers, however sources at advertising agencies say the actual number lies somewhere between the two.

A good traffic company promoting your ads will NOT count blocked pop-under ads against you. If they do count blocked ads against your order, find a new company! In other words, if your pop ad has been blocked by a pop blocker, then technically it has not been shown.  If their system can not tell the difference between a viewed ad and a blocked ad, there is a good chance you are buying poor traffic, or worse FAKE traffic.

The goal is for your offer to catch a percentage of the people who see your advertisement at the exact right time and make them say “oh, that looks interesting”.  Just like on a billboard on the Freeway, you have 1-3 whole seconds to get your message across. This means that if you do not interest a person within that time, they move their mouse to the upper right corner of your ad and press the [x] to close it. When purchasing guaranteed traffic, try to use a company that gives you full page sized or smaller than normal sized pop-under ads. This will give you an extra second or two to catch a person’s attention as they have to travel to the “x” to close the window.

The downside of a pop-under is you generally do not get a chance to be seen by the same people over and over with your message. In the advertising business, this important technique of repetition is called “frequency”.

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[*Quick Definition] Frequency:  Term used to describe the ratio or number of times an individual sees or hears the same advertisement. The higher “frequency” you have the better response you will get.

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Frequency is a major factor in response rates to any advertisement. You can see this in how often in a small time period you see the same commercials on TV. 

Frequency creates name recognition, brand familiarity and stability. All of which are necessary for positioning a product or service properly in consumers minds.

Using our billboard example again, this time we will contrast it with our pop-under ads. A billboard gets a lot of frequency. They are often effective at branding because travelers usually use the same roads multiple times per week. This allows a message to be presented to the same people, day after day, month after month. 

The street my office is on gets about 80,000 vehicles passing it per day.  This causes the billboards in this area to be pretty expensive as our building is located on a major road. As you can imagine, I am surrounded by many restaurants.

Alternatively, the benefit of a pop-under over a billboard is if, and I mean only IF, you have an awesome headline that grabs a persons attention immediately, they will most likely look to see the offer you have available and “click” for more info – right that second. It is highly unlikely that a billboard will cause a person to stop where they are going and immediately pull over to the side of the road to get your number and call you. The exception of course being a “directional” billboard (i.e. Chevron or McDonalds next exit).

For specific category targeted USA Pop-under ads expect to pay $6-$8 per 1000 on the retail side. Wholesale pricing is about 1/3 – ¼ the price of retail. Most reputable traffic providers will deliver traffic within 30 days, have a delivery guarantee, have a customer support phone number or LIVE help and some even have a rush option.

If you are willing to put pop-under ads on your own website, in exchange for putting your pop-under ad on someone else’s site, you may wish to consider an exchange. A company that has been around awhile you can try is www.ExitExchange.com.  It is free to sign up for the exchange or you can buy traffic at about $20 per 1000.

If you want a company to do it all for you and want rock bottom wholesale pricing try www.Pop-Under-Ads.com The prices for identical traffic is about 25% of the price of www.TargetedVisitors.NET, however they do not offer all the extras like double traffic and free landing pages.

Stay tuned for part 2 tomorrow!

Hi,

Thanks for visiting my blog site.  As you probably know, I have always tried to make my website a resource for small business owners.  I have provided great links to articles and reviews on products and services for small businesses, as well as some of my own personal techniques. 

We also have heavily used the Microsoft ".Net" technology.  In our various incarnations of the i grow your biz website, I have used articles bulletin boards and the like to provide the much requested hints and techniques for small business marketing.

Due to the many requests, everything will from now on be in the ever-popular "blog" format.

So stay tuned as you get a daily does of "marketing whiz for your biz".  In the near future I will institute a blog for www.musicbiztips.com that is more geared towards music business issues.

Enjoy

Maurice Evans
"Mr. I Grow Your Biz"

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