Archive for May, 2005
The Wizards of Web leverage the power of the web to market web marketing book
Book Hits NY Times, USA Today & Wall Street Journal Bestseller Lists in Two Weeks With No Advertising
New York, NY - June 1, 2005 – How does a web marketing book make the New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal and Amazon.com bestseller lists without advertising, national bookstore distribution, a major publishing house, radio interviews, television interviews, or print interviews? Ask the co-authors, web marketing experts
Bryan Eisenberg & Jeffrey Eisenberg, who proved their expertise when they accomplished this feat with their new book “Call To Action: Secret Formulas to Improve Online Results”, released May 9, 2005 by Wizard Academy Press.
Call To Action” may be the first book to become a national bestseller without nationwide bookstore distribution,” said
Jeffrey Eisenberg explains, “We created a buzz by pricing it lower than any 326 page hardcover has been priced in over 30 years. Then we asked all our online colleagues to mention us in their newsletters and blogs by offering a pre-release 3 for 1 special so that people would gift the book”.
Sales skyrocketed dramatically when uber-blogger Seth Godin wrote in his blog: “… don’t wait even one minute before checking out: Call to Action: How to Improve Your Conversion Rate… Despite the godawful cover, this book is an astonishing bargain. The book is straight forward and gives you direct, clear insight into what’s wrong with your site and what to do about it. No fancy metaphors or engaging banter. Just the nuts and bolts and the facts to back them up. I can’t conceive of a website that won’t benefit from the ideas inside. Still reading this blog? Stop! Go check out this book.” "
Word of mouth is incredibly powerful for great products," said Andy Sernovitz, CEO of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association. "The strategy here was perfect. They got the book into the hands of the people who could and should be talking about it."
Bryan Eisenberg and Jeffrey Eisenberg are co-founders of Future Now, Inc., a marketing boutique focused on helping clients convert their website’s traffic into leads, customers and sales by applying Persuasion Architecture, copywriting, usability and web analytics to design, redesign and optimize websites and other online marketing efforts. The book chronicles some of the successful techniques Future Now, Inc. has used to help clients like; Dell, GE Volvo, Overstock & Disney.
Bryan Eisenberg, best known for his ClickZ.com column. “We knew we had something special going on when we were up to #5 on Amazon.com on the release date.” To date, over 90% of the sales for the book were placed online.
Related Posts:
Written by:Persuasion Architects
Five Critical (and Overlooked) Design Elements
Ask any Web designer about the most important aspects of Web page design. You’re likely to hear the same three things over and over: usability, intuitiveness, and color. All are critical.
But when designing landing pages or buying/shopping process pages, these elements alone just aren’t enough.
Designers are also likely to talk about how a site or design “feels.” Often, a site can feel right, but perform badly. Designers are right; a site should feel right. But it should also convert.
How do you accomplish both? What does “feel right” mean in the real world? Is design totally subjective?
Following are some practical and commonly overlooked elements of landing- and buying-page design to help answer some the above questions and help you think about design elements more objectively.
Continue reading my column at ClickZ…
Related Posts:
Written by:Bryan Eisenberg
Business Blogs: A Practical Guide
If you blog for busines, or are thinking about it, then you need to read this book. Bill Ives and Amanda Watlington have done a great jog; not only does this guide contain the ‘how-to" information you need to make blogging work for you but it also contains the collected wisdom of dozens of successful bloggers who were interviewed for this book. This is not a fluffy light read, its serious stuff at approximately 600 pages. Get your copy now.
Related Posts:
Written by:Jeffrey Eisenberg
All Marketers Are Liars?
Today Seth Godin released All Marketers are Liars. Seth certainly knows how to write provocative titles and tell good stories. Telling good stories, instead of boring "factual" explanations is what this book is all about. I’ve been following the All Marketers Are Liars Blog with interest for weeks.
Here’s a tip: order two or more copies of All Marketers are Liars from 800CEORead.com and receive Seth’s new eBook, Knock Knock for free!
Related Posts:
Written by:Jeffrey Eisenberg
A Worthwhile Freebie
Nick hasn’t written much, except for clients, since releasing his excellent book: Net Words: Creating High-Impact Online Copy. However, Nick does publish his own newsletter where I became aware of a valuable offer. If you already subscribe to Excess Voice then you know how you can get your hands on a copy of the Excess Voice Guide to Writing for the Web: 7 Challenges every Writer and Copywriter faces when writing for the Web. If you don’t subscribe I suggest that you do so immediately since this publication is FREE for subscribers only. It won’t cost you a penny but you could make a fortune with Nick’s advice.
Related Posts:
Written by:Jeffrey Eisenberg
Keyword Metrics and Accountability
The “average time on site” metric helps you evaluate the effectiveness of your keywords
What do you think of when someone drops “keyword” into the conversation? I immediately start seeing dogs going at each other demolition derby style – a real dog-eat-dog extravaganza! Keywords are critical, and they are big business.But you only want to dig deep into your pockets for those keywords that are going to earn their keep. How do you identify the hard workers? John Marshall of ClickTracks contributed this information about the “average time on site” metric for our book, Call to Action.
John writes:
Read the rest of this article.
Read the entire newsletter: Volume 111
Related Posts:
Written by:The Grok
Evict the Devils in Your Details
Reinforce persuasive momentum by redefining the implications in your tactics
Creating a mean, green conversion system based on the principles of Persuasion Architecture requires looking at your project from every angle: the big picture that shapes how you approach your project to the nuts-and-bolts picture that influences your tactical choices.
In our just-released Call to Action, we organize the big picture into the key categories that make up persuasive design: planning, structure, momentum, communication and value. Within these categories, we expand on perspectives and tactics that will help you make a difference in your bottom line.
From the repository of tips that industry specialists gave us (you’ll find them woven throughout the book), I offer, for your reading delectation, these tactics from our own Dave Cadoff, a big-picture dude who wants to make sure you aren’t undermining your carefully crafted persuasive momentum.
Time to send the devils who reside in your details packing!
Read the rest of this article.
Read the entire newsletter: Volume 111
Related Posts:
Written by:The Grok
Calls-to-Action, Points-of-Resolution and Resolving Doors
Develop a hyperlinking strategy that lets their buying decision processes work seamlessly with your sales process
I could see you nodding your heads when I discussed the need to marry your sales process to your visitors’ buying decision processes. “Yep,” you murmured. “That sounds about right.” Then I heard a collective pause, some head scratching and this: “Uh, nice theory, Grok. But how do I put it into practice?”
You make this theory a reality in our business through hyperlinks. Hyperlinks that persuade action. Hyperlinks that answer the questions your visitors ask by providing relevant information. Hyperlinks that allow buying to co-exist happily with selling. Hyperlinks that establish and sustain persuasive momentum.
So let me introduce you to the hyperlinking strategy that is the backbone of a persuasive Web site.
Read the rest of this article.
Read the entire newsletter: Volume 110
Related Posts:
Written by:The Grok
A Site With a 100 Percent Conversion Rate
Which of the following goals helps plan a better Web site?
- Increase sales conversions from 2 to 4 percent, a 100 percent increase.
- Ensure 100 percent of visitors take the action planned for them to take.
Most managers would be thrilled with a 100 percent sales increase. They’d celebrate a 4 percent conversion rate. Yet that 4 percent conversion rate doesn’t tell the whole story. Let’s explore what, exactly, is left on the table.
Deal With Only Four Types of Traffic
There are four types of visitors:
- Those who land on the wrong site.
- Those who know exactly what they want to purchase.
- Those who know approximately what they want to purchase.
- Those who aren’t overtly in buying mode but might buy if they came across the right thing.
Are conversion goals identical for all four types of traffic? Of course not!
Continue reading my column at ClickZ…
Related Posts:
Written by:Bryan Eisenberg
Cause Seth Said So
This week has been tremendous . With the release of the our new book Call To Action, Jeffrey and Bryan have been plenty busy.
We’ve caught a couple of glowing reviews for the book, but interestingly enough, the one that did us the most good in terms of sales was the review by Seth Godin. It shows the power of transparency, and how just plain ol’ honesty can sell like crazy.
First take a look at some of the kick butt reviews on Amazon.com . Glowing huh? Five Stars!!!! They almost sound too good to be true.
Now read Seth Godin’s review…
Despite the godawful cover, this book is an astonishing bargain. The book is straightforward and gives you direct, clear insight into what’s wrong with your site and what to do about it. No fancy metaphors or engaging banter. Just the nuts and bolts and the facts to back them up. See the rest.
Seth hated our cover, but loved what was in between. Would you be surprised to know that when Seth posted this sales of our book spiked dramatically?
And the results from those glowing "this book is a gift to mankind" reviews, well, not so much.
Who around here thinks that if Seth hadn’t been so blatantly honest and wrote a five star review we still would have seen that spike?
Seems you can’t judge a reviewer by his hair either.
Related Posts:
Written by:Persuasion Architects
