Common Errors and Easy Fixes in Advertising

A couple of weeks ago, I emailed my subscribers and offered to make a promotional video for them if they would send me their name, email, URL and a description of the offer they were making for their product, service and/or business opportunity.

33 people responded which was more than I thought might do that which is a very good thing.  It took me over six hours to digest all the info, read folks websites, check out their offers in their description and then make a 2 to 4 minute video which I then uploaded to my YouTube channel with the info they sent in the description.

One of the things I quickly discovered was that I saw a lot of mistakes that folks are making in their offers which is preventing them from getting many opt-ins, getting many sales and making folks ignore their offers.

So I wanted to create this blog post/video to let you know about all those along with easy ways to correct them to get more sales and opt-ins for you.

I will not point out any particular names or URLs of course so you won’t be embarrassed if you see one of your errors.  Your secret is safe with me

Here’s the list:

1. Emailing from a free email address:
   1. Problem: Internet service providers who see lots of email coming from a free email address immediately equate that to the pattern that spammers use.
   2. Solution: Get your own domain and email address associated with it to prevent being tagged as a spammer.  See our Resources page for our recommendations for URL hosting.  Also, one other good idea is that after you get your domain, you can use Gmail to get your email by setting up your domain-based email with them for only $5/month.  Advantage:  Google has better up-time than most all hosting companies so it is less likely for your email to be down even if your host for your URL is.  And, you get the added benefit of already knowing how to use Gmail if that is your current email program.
2. Sending prospects directly to a sales page
   1. Problem: This is an error that has a couple of repercussions
      1. Loss of Opt-ins: If you don’t use a lead capture page (aka squeeze page) to capture your prospects emails before making them an offer, you will not be able to followup with them to get them to know, like and trust. 80% of all sales are made between the 5^th and the 12^th contact (many sources now say it’s as far out as the 20^th contact!)  Having them on your email lets you do that and do it in automatic (if you like that idea.)
      2. Crummy sales pages abound: Sending folks to a company-provided webpage (aka affiliate or MLM page) will get you few if any sales.  Those pages are made to make the MLM owner feel good.  They do nothing to capture a prospects email, address their core pain points that their product could solve, etc.  Far better to send prospects to a targeted lead capture page that you control to get the right prospects onto your list so you can then follow-up with them to make the sale.
3. Wishy-Washy Offers Don’t Work: Some folks must be thinking that the more you write about in your ad, the more your will get folks interested. The truth is 180^o out of phase with that thought.  Less is more in advertising.  The less you write, the more targeted you can get and the more qualified your prospect will be.
   1. Example: One of my subscribers sent the following: “Stop Overpaying for TV!”  Is there any question about what his offer is?  NO!  If you feel you might be overpaying for your TV, you will see yourself responding to this to find out how to STOP overpaying. The prospects he gets will be super-targeted to only prospects who want to Stop Overpaying for TV.  Think they will convert better than if he had targeted a wider audience?  NO!  Find the prospects real pain point(s) that your product or service can fix and address that in your ads.  You will get fewer prospects but a far higher percentage that will be ready to buy your product or service.  This is a million dollar lesson in this section.  Make SURE you understand it and put it to use.
4. Tracking your ads: Only a couple of the submissions used a tracking service to track their ads.  Why would you want to do that?
   1. Find out where your prospects are coming from.
   2. Find out which ads are working
   3. Find out which ads are not working
   4. Roll out your ads to those that are working
   5. Stop your ads if they are not pulling
   6. Get the drift? I could go on and on about why it is important to track your advertising results.  It boils down to saving money and making more money.   Again, see the Resources site for our recommended tracker.
5. Bad website addresses: Rule #1: Always copy/paste a URL from a known good source.  If you submit a URL with even one period or letter in the wrong place or mistyped, your URL will not work and you will never get an opt-in or make a sale.  It is vitally important to get that piece of information perfect every time. There is no excuse for a bad URL in an ad.  Double check them all the time.
6. Failure to follow instructions: I created a play list of all 33 videos and wrote a blog post explaining how to get more traffic to your site with these videos that I made.  Only about 8 of the 33 people that I created videos for did that.
   1. Why would you not want more traffic to your site? Ok, it does take some time to execute those simple instructions I gave you.  If free traffic is not worth it to you well then I understand.
   2. If more traffic to your site is important, then get to work and follow the instructions!
7. Balancing Hype and Believability: Folks are tired of hearing the $100K in 30 days or Make 10% per day kind of hype.  Skepticism abounds and rightfully so.  But prospects do want to strive for a better life, ending financial worry and such.  So you have to work to get your offer in the middle where it is a big leap from where the prospect is but he can still believe in the possibility as it’s not too far out in space.

Here’s a short diagram of the sales process in graphic form