Creating more alcoholics

[Gale4rc]

Dammit... I was hoping for something about alcohol

 

[Tengen]

Three main things happening today. Firstly i bought OptimizePress and have integrated it into my site. Still going through the instructional videos and need to work with my webhost to fix a few things in order to get some templates working, but from what I've seen so far things are going to get awesome.

Second - my guest article finally hit on the website i submitted to and i got a record number of views on my blog. Bit of a ego/confidence boost.

Finally, i was privileged to have an informal Google hangouts session with andyblack, the google adwords maestro from IMGrind. He was gracious enough to take a look at my campaigns, walk me through what could be improved, and showed me a project he was working on that was infinitely better executed than mine.

I feel i'm starting to mount on the fast track, looking forward to the next few days...

 

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[Andy Black]

Hi Tengen,

This thread is how I found this forum, and this is my first post here. I was looking at my Google Analytics stats and saw a referral from thefastlaneforum. I was curious to find out what it was, and lo-and-behold, it's a Xenforo forum for entrepreneurs.

Thanks for the kind words. I hope you're new campaigns are running better, and you can see the wood for the trees now.

I'm building a paid Xenforo forum myself, so this has been a great find for me.

Right, I'll do a bit more reading and then go introduce myself.

Speak soon,
Andy

 

[Andy Black]

Yeah, no need to have dynamic landing pages at this stage.

Determine your bulls-eye buyer keyword(s), and create the ad, and landing page for them. Simple, simple, simple. Then fire consistent traffic down it, get your conversion rate, then take it from there. If it sucks, try and beat it (using the same traffic!), if it's good enough, try and convert the leads into cash.

You need a funnel first before you can fix the leaks in it.

Don't get too hung up on pretty landing pages, and world-class copy.

Sales come from the right people, hitting the right offer, at the right time.

If they were actively searching for what you're selling, then that's 80% of the battle.

 

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[Andy Black]

I am very excited and a little apprehensive. Heart-rate is slightly elevated. Now i just need to focus on my next blog post.

Yay! You're off the launch pad (again). Your excitement and apprehension comes from leaving the "echo chamber"... where you hear your own thoughts and positive feedback on what you're doing. Now you're baby is out there and you'll find out what the market thinks. Hats off to you for doing that, as many people never get out of their echo chamber.



Ok, my feedback... hope it helps!


1) Professional enough?

That nano-second where people decide whether they trust your site? I think it passes.

I do think the font is too small, however, and you could try it with 16px.


2) The headline?

“On the average, five times as many people read the headlines as read the body copy.” (David Ogilvy)

80/20 again eh?

The purpose of the headline is to let people know they are in the right place, and to get people to read the next line.

Does the experience match expectations for the visitor?

It's very hard to judge a landing page in isolation. Ideally we know the search term that they typed into Google, and the ad creative that enticed them to visit your site.

Did you promise them a course on how to become a sommelier in your ad? In which case the headline doesn't match their expectations.

Did you promise them "7 key wine concepts" in your ad? In which case it's a great headline.

We can't tell. (Don't worry... you're in good company - EVERYONE thinks of landing pages in isolation. You might want to check out this thread.)

TIP: You should be split-testing your ad copy to find out what headline and benefits to put in your landing page... for visitors using that search term.


3) Long form or short form sales letter?

Which is best?

Only your market can tell you, so you'll want to test both.

Whenever I see a client's landing page, I request elements to be REMOVED from the page, to see what effect it has on conversion rates.

So if you're going to end up testing a long form sales letter against a short form sales letter anyway, then which should you start with?

Which would be quicker to create, and get you out of the echo chamber to get market feedback earlier?

Hint: Which are you going to be less depressed doing? Removing a lot of work from your long form sales letter so that you can test a short form, or vice versa.


4) Write for the web

"An ad is finished only when you no longer can find a single element to remove." (Robert Fleege)

I think you can remove a LOT of words and tighten up.

For instance:

7 Key Wine Concepts You Should Know

The Question

'How do I find the best wine for me?'
​

Could just become:

What's the best wine for me?​

That's enough for now.

Let us know how you get on.

 

[Andy Black]

Your stats, plus @SebYK 's response, is telling Tengen.

You haven't detailed your keywords and match types (you may not want to make them public, which is fine).

With so many impressions, are your Ads showing in front of people actively looking for what you are offering on your landing page? Your buyer search terms will be those used by people looking for a wine consultation, or how to choose a wine, not actual wines. These would be the easiest to sell to and get profitable with initially.

Is the top of your funnel too wide at the moment?

If SebYK was looking for a "wine consultation" rather than "best red wines", then he'd be more "sold" on the idea of paying for a wine consultation.

"Buyer search terms" are ones where you can visualise the searcher with their credit card in their hand as they search.

 

[Kyle Tully]

Your mindset around price is off.

Price isn't the issue.

The market is.

$10 is going in the wrong direction. You'll attract the groupon type of crowd who *might* buy once because it's cheap and sounds like a laugh... but will never buy anything from you again.

And even it they really do take you 5 mins you're not going to make much from that strategy.

I would be going the COMPLETE opposite direction.

Write a book and become an authority. That leads into a $2000 personal consultation. Backend with $10,000 wine tasting holidays, $XXX monthly recurring program sending new wines each month, high end wine cellar gear etc.

That is the million dollar business here

 

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[Tengen]

Created this thread, then found this section that seems perfect to keep track of things and remain accountable.

To elaborate on what I wrote in the above thread, I've sent out links on Twitter, Facebook, a few forums and have reloaded my AdWords account which should be ready soon. Also been nervously clicking and refreshing all my analytics pages to see how many more people are checking my site out.

Current goal - Get at least 10 people to sign up for a free consult to determine market interest.

 

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[mayana]

I'm no expert on landing pages, but I do have a couple quick suggestions.

* I'd rather not see the sidebar on your landing page. You don't want people to get distracted by all of the other stuff. You should be able to pick a full size template for your page in Wordpress, which wouldn't show the sidebar.

* Don't allow comments on this page (also a quick fix on your page options)

* Try to find a wine-related picture instead of the lady with the question marks. (As long as you give credit, you can find a lot of stuff on Flickr creative commons, among other websites. Or you could buy a picture.)

* It's probably best if you can shrink some of the whitespace at the top and move everything (header, etc) a little closer together.

* It seems like a darker font color, and maybe a bigger size would be in order.

These are just my suggestions, I'm sure someone else might have some more ideas for you.

Is this just for list building, or are you planning on offering some sort of premium service?

 

[SYK]

Hey mate, a fellow Australian here. Nice work on getting things going.

I haven't read through this thread forensically but I did take a look at the site. As a casual wine drinker, some expert knowledge would potentially be of interest to me but not for $89.

Wondering if you could establish a model whereby you offer the consultation for free and get some wine makers as partners who give you a % of referral sales. Kinda like a wine broker, I suppose.

E.g. You have John as a client, you provide your full consultation for free, establish his tastes are Pinot Noir and Sangiovese and you refer him to your wine maker partner who just happens to make the best Pinot Noir and Sangiovese on the market for John's taste. Oh, and here's a 10% discount when you buy 6 or more bottles because you're such a great student of wine.

Like I said, my analysis of your situation hasn't been in depth. This method might not work/would need a lot of tinkering/or may have already been tried but just throwing my immediate thought at you.

Good luck with whatever approach you take!

 

[Tengen]

The usual slow progress, plus a bit of frustration from unexpected sources in the past week.

So happens my own mother checked out my website and tried to give me some "constructive criticism" like removing my picture from the material. Her reasoning - no one will take wine advice from some random Asian guy seriously.

I found this advice less than unhelpful. From what I've found, if there is a face on the website you are more likely to gain a viewer's trust. Does she expect me to grab some random Caucasian face on google images and slap it up there instead? Also, I find it rich that she's giving me business advice when she's entangled with yet another MLM scam.

This is just one of those situations where you have to nod, smile and say "shit, i've got a meeting in 10 minutes."

My second source of frustration was when I was trying to give wine advice on another forum that I'm a member of. I initially private-messaged the guy who asked the question, but someone else suggested I share it on a general thread. I did so, and caused a kerfluffle, mainly because I included links to my own website, but I was also accused of not giving real advice and being a wine snob.

First lesson I learned is to be very careful how you present your ideas. I linked to my website because I had written about certain topics that I didn't want to rehash. I included a link to my paid consultation, what I considered and afterthought, see-if-you-are-interested thing, but it got easily misconstrued as some kind of shady internet marketing shenanigans. Some even called for me to get banned from the forum.

Second lesson - any advice you give away for free is going to be under-appreciated. Either prepare yourself for this, or stop giving away free advice.

Third lesson - it is very difficult to take a moderate stance. Wine newbies are going to accuse me of being a snob. I expect when this project gets rolling, the real wine snobs are going to accuse me of being an over-informed, under-educated neophyte. If I didn't have a very strong sense of belief in what I was doing, I probably would have given up on he spot.

Fourth lesson - self control. There was all manner of expletives i wanted to employ, but I had to remind myself: You're a professional now. You have a business to run and an image to maintain. Don't let the voices of a few affect your mood. Grab a nice glass of wine, turn on some jazz, and chill.

I'm sure there are more lessons to be gleaned from this experience, if i've missed anything, let me know.

 

[JoeB]

Hey Tengen - thought you might like this

 

[Kyle Tully]

I've talked to people and while there's been a lot of enthusiasm, when it comes to pulling out their credit cards there's always some excuse.

What evidence do you have this is a viable service?

Enthusiasm doesn't put food on the table.

Took a quick look at your landing page and the offer doesn't really seem to match who you say the market is.

e.g. You're saying I don't have time to read books or have an event in a few days... but you want me to fill out a detailed questionnaire, wait two days, then read a 4000 word document.

It just sounds like a lot of work. And most of what's in the profile sounds like it could just be in an ebook anyway.

I'm not a wine guy so maybe I'm missing something. But from a copy/marketing perspective I don't quite get it.

 

[Tengen]

Just a small update:

Just had my tax returns done and I'm expecting a substantial refund, which I'll used to fund my future progress on this project.

I've also created MOBI and EPUB versions of my ebook with the intent of offering them in a package. Initially I had trouble formatting these different files but some well-placed questions and a little research resolved that.

Luckily I had a Kindle and Kobo nearby to do a test:

Overall I'm very happy with the results, and surprised it took me less than a day to figure out.

Still more work to do, will keep you guys posted.

 

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[Sully1994]

"Rich while young" "freedom" "making money"

I'm encouraged that you've picked up important skills like website creation, Google adwords and blogging- but look at these phrases dude.

This sounds mostly focused on "you" and not the people you're serving. That time when you got feedback from your friend over some Johny Walker- do that every day . Ask people what THEY would like to see in a wine consultation/ education site. What do THEY care about?

Forget all the technical shit and start there. If your product is not somthing people actually want - none of it will matter. It sounds your job is an absolute goldmine for insight into your target audience. Take advantage of that!

 

[Tengen]

Adwords has bee running for a few days, impressions are happening but not many clickthroughs. It's only been a few days though, so will continue passive observation.

Also looking at a few wine sites that allow guest post submissions, planning to write up a few articles to get more eyeballs.

 

[Cruor Vult]

Adwords can be real hard to get to work. Split testing, keyword research and all that. Make sure you keep track of the details, even if you're in the research phase. Get the most out of your money.

 

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[Tengen]

Just got an email saying some of my ads were disapproved due to punctuation and symbols and what not. Going to have to quickly edit and get them back up fast.

If anyone's interested in the details:

[Editorial Standards] Punctuation and symbols: Ads aren't allowed to have excessive or unnecessary punctuation or symbols such as the following:
- Exclamation mark in the ad's headline or more than one per ad
- Repeated punctuation or symbols (such as "!!!!free!!!")
- Characters that don't adhere to their true meaning (such as "4 sale" or "for $@le")
- Non-standard symbols (such as ~, *, and |) except in a company name or standard industry use (such as "5* hotel")

For more information and examples, visit https://support.google.com/adwordspolicy/answer/176095

https://support.google.com/adwordspolicy/answer/176095

 

[Tengen]

Got another request for consultation today, woot.

Adwords has also sent me a message about new "opportunities" to increase impressions and CTR, but after reading this thread about Google shenanigans, I think i'll just sit back and watch for the time being - I only just updated my ads to meet their grammatical standards.

 

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[Tengen]

My Adwords stats page seems to only update every 24 hours or something. Did some research and supposedly it should be more up to date, but maybe it's because of time zone differences.

EDIT - just noticed the small print at the bottom of the screen:

Reporting is not real-time. Clicks and impressions received in the last three hours may not be included here.
There is a 24-hour delay in conversion tracking reporting.

Impressions increasing pretty quickly, one campaign group seems to get more clicks than the other, but don't think the sample size is large enough yet to be statistically significant.

Submitted an article pitch to another pretty big wine website, waiting for a response. If they reject it I have another website in mind and have a good feeling they'll accept it because I submitted another article successfully there before.

Other than that, just trying to mentally chill and not be impatient. Went out, stocked up on beets and made some juice. Reading a few books on my Kobo to keep my mind buzzing.

 

[Tengen]

I'm no expert on landing pages, but I do have a couple quick suggestions.

* I'd rather not see the sidebar on your landing page. You don't want people to get distracted by all of the other stuff. You should be able to pick a full size template for your page in Wordpress, which wouldn't show the sidebar.

* Don't allow comments on this page (also a quick fix on your page options)

* Try to find a wine-related picture instead of the lady with the question marks. (As long as you give credit, you can find a lot of stuff on Flickr creative commons, among other websites. Or you could buy a picture.)

* It's probably best if you can shrink some of the whitespace at the top and move everything (header, etc) a little closer together.

* It seems like a darker font color, and maybe a bigger size would be in order.

These are just my suggestions, I'm sure someone else might have some more ideas for you.

Is this just for list building, or are you planning on offering some sort of premium service?

Thank you for the feedback mayana, i was able to fix most of that in a few minutes. Just seem to have an issue with font sizing as it's dependent on the theme one uses. Also regarding the whitespace, that may necessitate a redesign of the header image, so will look into that.

To answer your question, i am both building a list and planning on offering a premium service in the future, just need to work out the viability and interest with further testing, but also offering an MVP to anyone who comes through. Definitely not my intention to use adwords just to buy traffic!

 

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[Tengen]

You can change this in your CSS stylesheet. Some themes have a designated spot for custom css.

I don't want to mess with the backend stuff unless i really have to but i'll definitely look into it.

In the meantime, looks like there's a landing page plugin that could prove useful - http://wordpress.org/plugins/landing-pages/ [UPDATE: just tried installing this thing and almost crashed my site. Managed to delete it with an FTP tool, thank god]

Ultimately I want to create something similar in style to this - http://30daysofdiscipline.com/

Other than further tinkering and research, i've also submitted a guest post to a website which should be published within the week, hopefully driving some traffic to my site. Also touched base with a sommelier based in Japan of all places to perhaps write some articles for my blog. Guess we'll see what happens.

 

[Tengen]

Wordpress updated to 3.9.1 today, so decided to give the site-crashing landing page plugin another try (see above). Lo and behold it installs properly. I spend the next few hours tinkering and tailoring to see how everything fits together. I can't tell you how many hours i spend googling really specific crap when things didn't look 100% perfect (e.g. nRelate widgets in odd places, contact form formatting...)

Also installed their sister-plugins, call-to-action and leads, apparently they're supposed to work in synergy but I still haven't the faintest how all the pieces fit together - it's like giving a kid a lego set without the instructions. Just have to smash the pieces together and see what works.

Also reading more into Adwords advertising on IMGrind, holy crap those guys do not joke around. Here I am staring at my Adwords and Analytics stats like a stunned fish wondering what to make of everything, and there is all this gold information waiting for someone to use and put into action. I can only put my best foot forward and hope i'm up to the task.

 

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[Coriolis]

Hello Tengen

I did a little experiment. I am a web designer, but I've never had the opportunity to make a landing page, so I practiced with your site on photoshop. I think a page like this one may have to be more likely to convert.

I do it quickly so it is not perfect (colors, lines ...) but it can perhaps give you ideas.

 

[Tengen]

How the HELL have I not heard about Adwords Editor before now?

Was checking AndyBlack's video (specifically here) and was like watching a silent drama - for some reason the video has no audio but you can see the clicks and stuff in excel, and then magic happens when he uploads it via Adwords Editor. And to think i spent the best part of a day manually typing and copy/pasting links XD

It took me a while to figure out how to make things work because i'm on a Linux machine, and the program is designed for Windows/Mac, but managed to make it work using WINE, an emulator program not the beverage. I'm clicking through the program and i feel like i'm inside of a spaceship - no idea how to steer this thing, but very aware of the power it potentially has.

On a less dramatic note, added another testimonial to my landing pages after getting some positive feedback.

 

[Tengen]

Had my call with JackEdwards and have a better idea of what to do:

• Fix up my landing pages/copywriting, make it longer and offer more value
• Prove myself in the local market first before thinking of expanding
• Keep an eye on key performance metrics in adwords
  
• Stop offering the MVP for free, get some cashflow to help pay for ads
• I have not spent a lot of money on this idea yet.

I'm appreciate Jack's endorsement/approval for what i'm aiming to do, that it's not just a drug-induced fantasy or impossible dream. Just need to consider all facets of the idea in detail and take action, make the right mistakes and learn from them.

 

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[Coriolis]

You're right to build a page with OptmizePress, it will save time for a quality result!

 

[smithsta]

Hi Tengen,

This is a great thread, I feel like I've learnt some things just reading it. I just started work on a landing page today so will definitely be reading up on AdWords advice and I have bookmarked the IMGRIND website.

In terms of your landing page, I'm by no means an expert but on first impressions of your website I would say that there's just too much text on white background and almost everything seems to be aligned to the left.

You could perhaps break up the text with some small images/icons and headers/subheaders. For instance, a header saying something like 'Try our Free Personalised Wine Consultation and Satisfy Your Tastebuds Today' (My copy isn't the best haha)

Then where you have the 7 points that the personal brief will teach you, you could separate these by use of small images or icons. The landing page template I'm using does this (http://www.shapingrain.com/preview/3804089/) so you could do something similar.

I hope my constructive criticism helps you as much as your thread here will no doubt help me. Thank You.

 

[Tengen]

Getting close to publishing the launch pages, but finding myself scrutinizing and rethinking how everything is written - i'm not a natural copywriter and imitating others can only get so far. I'll give myself until the end of the week to read through everything and finalise before launching and activating adwords.

Also thanks to @Silverhawk851 who gave me some quick landing page tips here.

I guess the biggest thing I did was create a product preview for what i'm offering - a 4000-word, 11-page personalised profile. I basically replaced the body of it with your stock "Lorem Ipsum" text, which gives them an idea of what to expect without disclosing the exact information I'll be offering. See below for a preview.

 

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[smithsta]

Getting close to publishing the launch pages, but finding myself scrutinizing and rethinking how everything is written - i'm not a natural copywriter and imitating others can only get so far.

Are you my twin? This is me too!

I do my best to write copy but I'm always rethinking or having a mental block. I can never decide what sounds good and what doesn't, if it's in the right order, etc. I was attempting the Gary Halbert 30 day challenge but it's too much when your trying to start up a business, so i'm just reading when I can. I guess it's something that takes a lot of practice until your confident with how your copy sounds and know that it's working.

I just decided to go for it in the end and I think you should just dive in and go for it too. Like you, I was attempting to have everything perfect before launch but was told by a certain someone on here that it's never going to start off perfect. 'Just take baby steps and don't over complicate things by trying to get it all perfect.'

I like the product preview feature btw, may have to try that one myself!