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Testing And Tracking Your Business
Before you run your first ad, before you send out your first
email, there are two important questions you need to answer.
1. Who is your target market? 2. What makes them buy or sign up
with an organization?
The easiest and cheapest way for you to find the answer to these
two questions is through testing and tracking. These methods
will highlight your advertising strengths and weaknesses and
allow you to maximize your marketing dollar. Testing:
The purpose of testing is to increase the response rate to your
ad or offer. For instance, you could write a sales letter and
test out different headlines for the ad. Often a headline can
make all the difference in your response. Many marketers have
increased sales by as much as 200% simply by changing their
headline. Remember, even if your ad is producing steady sales,
you should always test. A small change could move your sales
from steady to overflowing!
Tracking:
You should keep track of everything you do in your business. Not
just your profit and expenses, but also your promotional and
advertising campaigns.
Let's say, for example, you're running an ezine ad. What kind of
information should you keep track of? The most essential are:
Where you placed the ad including the name of the ezine and date
the ad was run How many subscribers to the ezine The cost to you
The number of responses generated by the ad - Dividing this into
your cost will show you how much you paid for each response The
number of sign ups you got as a result Contact person and email
address for ezine The URL of the ad you used. This is especially
important if you promote more than one program Any comments or
notes you'd like to keep Headline used in the ad You could also
keep track of other items, depending on how detailed you would
like to be. The important thing is to study the numbers. Some
ads may produce great interest but if no one buys, your profit
is zero. Other ads may produce only a few click throughs but
generate more sign ups. Which ad was worth the most to you?
Obviously, the second one.
You will also probably use other forms of advertising, such as
maybe a pay per click program, and it is just as essential that
you keep track of these numbers as well. Set up a spreadsheet in
Excel or keep one on paper. Every dollar you spend on marketing
should be tracked so you don't waste precious money on things
that aren't working.
Also, don't forget, if you have a prospect and you're not sure
how they found you, ask them! You must keep track of all your
leads.
Do not underestimate the power of testing and tracking! By
following these techniques, you'll know exactly where you're
making money online.
About the author:
By: Anne Ahira Editor The BEST Affiliate Newsletter
http://www.thebestaffiliate.com