Hi!

We had some great feedback last month on this 'new look' newsletter - glad you like it, and thanks for letting me know.

We're Melting!

Yes, that's right!

Us Brits aren't used to the kind of heat we've had over here recently, and there have been many reports of folk just melting into a puddle of skin and bones on the pavements. It's getting quite messy.

Temperatures the other day reached an all-time high of about 38 degrees. Not good for us Brits.

But the good old British seaside resorts are having a great summer. We took our two children to Filey, on the east coast of the UK, last weekend and had a great time paddling in the sea and eating ice-cream. And the sun shining off all the bright white British skins was quite dazzling.

The Best Way To Boost Sales...

Without any shadow of a doubt, this is the best way to reliably increase the response on your web site. And if you aren't doing it, you're probably losing money.

Find out what I'm talking about in this month's article below.

To Your Success,

Steve Shaw, "Technical eMarketer"
Publisher of essential software for effective e-marketing, including
"PopUpMaster Pro"

Contact me at steve@takanomi.com
 

The Single Best Way To Boost Sales On Your Site - Forever

Imagine if you could put something on your web site that you know will increase your sales and boost your profits.

Imagine if you could adjust your web site in a way that you know will maximize the amount of visitors you can convert to subscribers.

And you can do all of this, and carry on doing it, without any shadow of a doubt in your mind that what you are doing is of benefit to your business.

This article details exactly what you can do to achieve this - and although it really is remarkably simple, so few people are actually taking advantage of it.

So what's the secret?

It's the very simple technique known as split-testing. This term refers to the method by which you display a different version of a web page (such as a sales page) to different visitors, and then measure which version of the page pulls the greatest response.

For example, let's say you have two versions of your sales page, your current page, Page A, and a new page you want to test, Page B. Both pages simply display a different headline, and you want to measure which headline brings you the best results.

So you put both pages up on your site, and show each one alternatively to each visitor. Visitor A will see Page A, Visitor B will see page B, Visitor C will see Page A, and so on.

You wait until you have say 20 sales from both these pages combined. Then you examine your stats to see which page pulled the most sales. Let's say Page A pulled 7 sales, whereas Page B with the different headline pulled 13 sales.

You then know, without a shadow of a doubt, that putting Page B up on your site, and removing Page A, is going to massively increase your sales - in fact, if you do the math, by about 86%.

If the result is less clear cut, you can simply wait until you have got more results in, and a clear and consistent leader emerges.

So how do you go about implementing split-testing on your site?

There are two distinct elements in the process:

• Firstly, showing the separate versions of the page to different visitors
• Secondly, knowing which version pulled which response

There are also two different ways of implementing the former:

• Show a completely different web page, i.e. a different URL, to different visitors
• Show the same web page, or URL, but with one or more elements on the page changed

You may choose to just change one or two elements on the page, or you may wish to present a completely different web page to test out a new approach.

Get's complicated, doesn't it?

Well it's not really - it all depends on exactly what you want to achieve.

You may believe a new headline would improve your sales levels - so all you do is test out that headline to see if it really does work as you have expected.

There is of course far more than just the headline that you might want to test out - you may want to test whether one testimonial would do better in a different position, or a reworded first paragraph would pull in more sales, or a photo of you in the top corner would improve results.

You can either do it intuitively, or scientifically. The scientific method via split-testing is of course far superior, as you are directing your business based on real results, rather than often-misguided emotion.

But doesn't it get rather...technical?

It can do - but it certainly doesn't have to be.

There's a script available at http://www.splittestgenerator.com/ that's currently completely free, and is designed especially for non-techies.

There are numerous other scripts available elsewhere too. And if you know about server-side programming, or can hire a programmer who does, it's easy enough to implement split-testing on your site using most web-based languages like PHP, ASP or Perl.

And if you're in any doubt about whether you should be split-testing, then you must also be in doubt about the future of your ebusiness. As Declan Dunn has so clearly stated, "There are two types of companies; those who test, and those who lose money." Which category do you fall into?

Need content for your web site or ezine? You can republish this article, but please just write to me first to let me know, and I'll send you a short bio to include.

A sample from the postbag this month:

"I love your newsletter and your articles and have been a long time subscriber. Your newsletter is the first one I read. It is insightful, clear, and to the point and always contains terrific information which I can use right away."

Trevor Blake
http://www.personal-internet-publishing.com
 

If you have feedback, please just let me know.
 

How do I ... make my web page load faster?

Okay, this is a very big topic, so we're just going to concentrate on a single area - but a significant one that really can make a difference.

We're talking about images. There are basically three ways you can reduce the effect that images have on your load time, as follows:

1. Optimizing them - this means ensuring your image has the smallest file size, while retaining the best quality. There are various image optimizing tools available to help you do this, including popular graphics tools such as PaintShop Pro, and the more advanced Adobe Photoshop

2. Minimizing your use - be careful how many graphics you use on your page. This means not using graphics unless you feel they are absolutely necessary to the overall look of your page.

3. Setting their size - this is an often overlooked, but nevertheless important, part of speeding up your page load time. All you do is set the height and the width attributes of the HTML image (img) tag for every image on your web page - the value is set in pixels. This means the browser can work out much faster how your web page is set out - the alternative is for the browser to constantly rejig the layout according to the size of the images as they are loaded one by one. Apart from giving a bad experience to the visitor as they watch your page load, this can add vital seconds onto the load time, which you certainly don't want.

How you can ... increase your list by over 2,037 in less than ten days

One guy used an unconventional stunt to add more than 2,037 to his list in less than 10 days.

When I first heard about the concept he used, I realized it was so simple, that anyone could do the same thing for a quick but massive injection of subscribers to their list.

Here are the details: CLICK HERE

HINT: It's not what you think!

...Create Any Kind Of PopUp In Less Than Three Minutes!

He is a programmer by trade - he was awarded with a Masters Degree with Distinction in Information Technology, and is proficient in virtually all web development media.

He possesses a unique understanding of the technology that lies behind effective e-marketing, and has worked closely with leading figures in the industry including Jonathan Mizel of Cyberwave Media.

If you would like some assistance with your project and believe Steve may be able to help, please write to him at steve@takanomi.com or call 0044 1904 677680 for a free initial consultation.