< Website impact! - Connect with your audience! - News/Blog >

16% of traffic still depends on HTM pages - 37000 page views/month

vitalcoach — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 12:08:00 +0000

That's the big conclusion!

These pages are still based on the frontpage design that needs somehow to be fixed or updated.

While people can still watch the pages, the navigation is no longer coherent right now.

That's what needs to be either dropped (not worry about it as it only slightly affects the quality of the visitor's experience) or be put back on track.

low traffic HTM pages (realtionships, life skills, etc) = 1% of overall traffic! = 3000 page views/month

vitalcoach — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 09:02:00 +0000

Conclusion????

That's not much!

This part represents probably 500 pages of content

This means that this part of the site could

Be transfered to the new channels created
Republished in blog format
Not do anything! - Simply not worry about it as it gets very little traffic
Republished with anew system or site structure (ASP or Dynamic site template)
Other?

Site traffic - APRIL 2008

vitalcoach — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 08:35:00 +0000

These are the estimations for the last month

Home 4% (3000 pages/month?)
HTM 77% (37000 ?)
HTML (blogs) 7% (3000 ?)
PHP (forum) 12% (5500 ?)

Total pages 100% (48000 pages views/month)

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MP3 Estimation (45000 downloads/month)

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Other traffic

youtube 2000 views/day (60000/month)
other video channels 2500 views/day (75000/month)

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Total page views + downloads - 228000/month

site pages 21%
Mp3 20%
youtube 26%
other video channels 32%

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On this picture, the low traffic HTM pages (realtionships, life skills, etc) = 1% of overall traffic!

To attach pages to a Dynamic Web Template

vitalcoach — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 13:20:00 +0000

To attach pages to a Dynamic Web Template
In the Folder List task pane, select the file(s) that you want to attach to the Dynamic Web Template. To select multiple files, press CTRL and hold, and then click the files that you want to attach.
On the Format menu, point to Dynamic Web Template, and then click Attach Dynamic Web Template.
Locate and click the Dynamic Web Template you want to attach, and then click Open. If the body of a selected web page contains content, the Choose Editable Regions for Content dialog box appears. The dialog box displays the default settings for mapping content from the body of the web page to editable regions specified by the Dynamic Web Template. The Old column lists content in the body of the web page. The New column lists editable regions specified by the template.
In the Choose Editable Regions for Content dialog box, do one of the following:
To move all of the content in the body of the web page to the default editable region, click OK. If the default editable region contains content, that content is replaced with the content in the web page.
To move all of the content in the body of the web page to a specific editable region, click (Body), and then click Modify. In the New Region list, click the editable region you want to move the content to. If you click (none), the content is removed from the web page.
To maintain all of the content and structure of the web page, click Skip Current Page. The template is not attached to the page.

.dwt = Dynamic web template

vitalcoach — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 13:14:00 +0000

A Dynamic Web Template is an HTML-based master copy of a web page that you can create to contain settings, formatting, and page elements such as text, graphics, page layout, styles, and regions of a web page that can be modified.

You attach a Dynamic Web Template to the pages in a website, and that template defines the layout for those pages.

You can use any number of Dynamic Web Templates in a website, and you can attach a Dynamic Web Template to as many pages as you like.

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By using Dynamic Web Templates, you can create HTML pages that share the same layout. In addition to providing a shared layout, you can make some regions in a template available for editing while preventing changes to other regions in that template.

This means that you can allow others to add and edit content, yet still preserve the layout of the pages and the template itself.

Login and membership features - can be intergreated in the site using ASP

vitalcoach — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 13:05:00 +0000

That's good potential news

How easy is it to set it up, with database, etc.

ASP.NET pages or HTM pages?

vitalcoach — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 13:03:00 +0000

Of course, the present site is still HTM.

What is the future and what is easiets to create on the long term?

What gives the site the most energy and dynamism?

What do I need to go for on the long term? ASP or HTM?

ASP.NET and HTM pages? - Can they be together on the same site?

vitalcoach — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 13:02:00 +0000

If yes, that would allow me to progressively shift some part of the content to ASP.NET pages.

That's an option

3 way of creating pages

vitalcoach — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 13:00:00 +0000

cascading style sheet
Dynamic web template
ASP.NET master pages

At this stage, I tested the ASP.NET master pages adn it seems to work.

That sounds like an easy to use solution.

I was not able to publish it properly yet. The content was published but the matser page are does not.

Don't know why, yet

No more front page extensions

vitalcoach — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 12:58:00 +0000

That's now the first step to make the site future friendly.

The only element that needs somewho to be "converted" to function properly is the

"page include"feature which is extensively used on the site

For the rest, everything gets published via FTP and it works

150+ domain names - Yes? No?

vitalcoach — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 11:05:00 +0000

In the last year I have been owning 150+ domain names.

Out of those 150, around 15 have been used in one way or another.

Most of these sites have been created in one or two days, posted and unchanged.

Now, was it worth it?

The traffic to these sites is insignificant unless there is an active cross linking strategy + promotion of the site
The time spent on these sites could be spent on vitalcoaching.com, creating new pages, updating design, etc.

on average, these sites generate 50 visits/month x 15 = 750 visits/month and this could mean 1-3 sales/month.

What does it mean? that the sites just paid of for themselves but do not pay off for the 1 month work + attention they take.

yes, the success is equivalent to some of the steps taken on vitalcoaching.com.

No, there is no significant growth visible which is a pitty.

The next question is credibility or traffic building to other pages on vitalcoaching.com.

Do active links directed to vitalcoaching.com increase the rank of these pages in search engines?

This is the big factor that can't be measured!

Right now, only 10% of the pages on these sites do refer to pages on vitalcoaching.com

Yes! I do believe it has an impact and it reinforces the presence of vitalcoaching.com online but it is tricky to measure the impact they do have.

Right now, this would be the only reason to maintain these sites active!

Actively developing a site takes massive time and energy.

Especially the traffic building part.

Now, all this energy invested into new sites could be directed to vitalcoaching.com exclusively.

Or, these cross linking strategies are worth it and do generate higher ranking and exposure for vitalcoaching.com.

What really matters about your site!!! - Directories and community features??? - POWER KICK

vitalcoach — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 14:23:00 +0000

Directories are rigid, rational and non emotional - they are from the past in the web!!! - No one uses them anymore!

It's not about about logical menus either!!!!

Simple users an community information add nothing!!!! To the site! People are not stupid! They want real value! Not being treated like little kids!!!

Categorizing content kills its magic and spontaneity!!! It's not about category and type of content!!! It's about the emotions and value contained in your message! Step out of the rational loop! It ads nothing!!!

Only Tow things matter!!! edgy content!!! + interaction ability!!!

The truth is that this is not about knowledge!!!! It is about emotion driven action pathways!!!

Don't fall back into the old encyclopedic trap!!!

It's not about logical listing!!! Logical listing is boring and kills your life force!!!

So, if it's not rational navigation, useless community features, what is it??? It's freshness and edginess of the new content!!! That's what it is! Content fades out very fast!!!

It's not about archiving your knowledge!!! It's about keeping this present window in the future opened at all times without crystallizing it!!!

Everything you need to make this experience work is already there.

You are the one who needs to actively communicate this message!!!

If you wait for others to do it for you, it won't happen!!! You need to do it yourself!!!

What makes people come back is the fact that it's fresh and dynamic!!!

Create!!!!

The top priority for a visitor is not to login or register or receive some useless info about how many visitors have been on the site in the last 3 days!!! WHO CARES!!!!

There are all side tracks: shallow and boring community features - directory and archive oriented sites!!! - Who cares! visitors want speed and freshness!!! No dust!

"Marketers do and should do what they can to humanize their websites!!!" - QUOTE

vitalcoach — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 14:17:00 +0000

Here is a quote I found back. No idea where I took it from, so sorry if you are the author and don't get your link back to your site :) Email me and I'll ad it gladly

"Marketers do and should do what they can to humanize their websites. !!!

Bottom line, people want to connect with other people.

In fact, what they really want is to feel more secure and comfortable.

As a result, they are screaming for credibility. They want more proof. They want to believe.

And they most certainly want to buy.

People are tired of hype and scams.

But contrary to popular opinion, they are not moving away from salesletters. They simply want to believe more, they want to trust more, and they certainly want to buy more.

Rather than being sold, people are literally telling you how they want to buy.

While the concept of Web 2.0 is overused, don’t let it steer you away from what it really means, particularly when it comes to web copy: interactivity"

Videos! - How edited do they need to be? - TIP

vitalcoach — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 12:24:00 +0000

Here is my experience:

The level of editing in a video is totally irrelevant!!!

Okay! Maybe it matters at 5%!!! which is not much, right?

Here are some facts:

There is no correlation between how good a video is edited and the rating it gets on youtube for instance
The number of views are not related with the editing either
A very edited video does not seem to be more popular than any other non-edited video on a similar topic.

Conclusion?

All that matters is content!!!

Of course, the video should better be a good quality in terms of image, colours and sound.

Now, what your audience looks at is the quality of your content!!!

What you actually say! What is the message!

You can ad music, tricks, texts, etc. It does not actually show in the rating or the number of views which is stunning! I was suprised when I first noticed that. I did not expect it all. Now, a year later, it makes total sense

People like raw!!!

The background music or light editing of the video does not ad significant value. It could even take value away because it dissolves the content and shifts the viewer attention to aspects of the video which are not really important.

On top of that, a highly edited video takes 2 to 4 hours to create and publish.

A basic non-edited 5 video takes 30 min recording +publishing!

Go for Raw!!!

vitalcoach

Why pages of unsorted links or information overload kill the value of your site - TIP

vitalcoach — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 11:16:00 +0000

This one might be slightly counter intuitive but here is how it works:

If you have a whole list of unsorted (undigested) links on a given topic on a specific page, this could hurt the value of that page/topic for your visitor.

When you give them a whole page of unsorted links, you are giving them work.

In fact, it will create stress and force them to spend hours online sorting through pages of undigested info.

More links means actually less value!

This means that when you are confronted with the choice of adding pages of links, think actually of what you are saying to your visitors: work overtime to sort through all that!

Information overload is a real challenge.

Through the pages of links that you give to your visitors, there could be just a couple of key points they need to know about. The rest is just "noise" they can't use!

Remember that next time you think of filling a page with links you did not actually check and are of questionable value.

Ask yourself: Is this information making my visitor's life easier or harder?

Think about it!

vitalcoach

Don't complexify just for the sake of it - TIP

vitalcoach — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 10:10:00 +0000

If your site is a labyrinth impossible to use, visitors will leave frustrated.

There is one measure every one subsconsciously takes! It is "what is the real value I get from the site"

How rich is the content?

How solid is the information?

How energizing is the site?

Never complexify for the sake of it!

Getting visitor's email - Myths!!!!! - FACTS

vitalcoach — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 09:54:00 +0000

Okay, this one is a very sensitive topic because many people who start online believe this will be their core marketing strategy!

Forget it!!!

Here is the truth:

Your visitors are already saturated with loads of email they don't have time to read. 95% of what they get is junk! Now, they really think carefully before giving their email to anyone.
If you just have a page without forced opt in (forced opt in = you don't give any info before they give you their email), the conversion rates are 1-20%. To get 20% conversion rate you must either be super good with your landing page copy or have a product everyone needs!
Forced opt in? Is this an option? Well, it is an option if you have a great follow up system that will give your visitors real value. If you don't, you'll simply upset them and look like everyone else who is trying to bombard them with marketing messages they don't need!
Real delivery rates! You heard about email bouncing right? It happens when your email simply does not get to your subscriber's email. After 3 to 5 bounce backs (depending on your auto response provider), your email's prospect is simply taken off your list. Result around 50% of your list will bounce back within a year. If you have a list of 5000 subscribers you have now 2'500 subscribers left.
Opening rates. From those emails who make it to your prospect's inbox or junk mail folder, the opening rates are 5%-20% depending on the topic you cover, the trust they have in you and the need they have to what you offer. A first email might be opened at 50%-80% rate, while the 5th email of a series could get only a 5%-20% opening rate. This means that out of 100 persons only 5 to 20 people will open that last email.
Junk mail folder! This is a huge challenge: hotmail, yahoo, gmail all tend to deliver this type of mailing to your prospects junk mail folder. It is rare for someone to ad you to a white list or friends list. Your prospects simply don't take the time to do it.
Conversion into visitors to your site: 5%-20% of those who opened your email might click on a link and visit your site.

Okay, a little recap here :)

If you have 100'000 visitors to your site, here is what you can expect:

5'000 email addresses

2'500 emails delivered (not bounced)

250 emails opened

50 visitors to your site!

That's the final number you can keep in mind!!!

Is this exaggerated? I fully doubt it. I know that dozens of people are getting that type of results!

No one talks about it? Why?

Because those who market auto responder or promotion tools would lose all credibility if these facts were known! They simply don't want these facts to get out!

It simply does not look good!

Imagine: you end up turning 100'000 original visitors into 50 returning visitors and you still have not sold a thing!

Sure, in the process, emails will be read and some extra publicity and exposure will result from these specific marketing efforts. But the results are often insignificant!

Another underestimated fact: 100'000 visitors with let's say google adwords at $ 0.10/click makes: $ 10'000!

A new email subscriber can easily cost $1 each!

If you try to buy subscribers, you'll often end up paying even more than that.

So, conclusion, your subscriber's list of 5'000 will easily cost you $5'000 to $10'000.

This is what happens when you are just average marketers which is what 80% of those who are online are.

Now the conclusions:

If you want to get higher numbers you will need:

An incredible product!
A powerful sales page!
A flow of targeted visitors!

Now, does getting a visitor's email address have any real value?

Let's look at the same scenario but instead of getting an email address you head up directly for a sale.

With the same type of marketing efforts as those invested in your email marketing campaign you can get a 1% conversion rate on your targeted visitors.

1% out of 100'000 visitors?

That's 1000 sales, right?

Got it?

Conclusion?

Aim for a sale rather than an email address!

All this would not be true if the numbers where not what I describe. But believe me, they are usually pretty close to what I told you.

People try getting website visitor's emails believing that conversion rates will be 50% and email opening rate 50%. If this was the case, 100'000 visitors would turn into 25'000 emails opened.

Yes! An email list can start being profitable if you have 25'000 targeted prospects minimum.

Yes! These numbers will be different if you are a high profile figure already well known (it would work for Dr. Phil).

Yes! They could be different if your product is incredible and at least a target audience really needs it.

If you are not sure, invest $100-$1000 and test these facts. You will be surprised of what you find.

To be successful with email marketing your need to:

Get prospects to opt in
Get your email delivered in the inbox
Get prospects to open that email
Get them to click on the link and visit the page
Get them to buy your product

Many steps and you lose prospects with every single step! It is simply not worth it!

Even if you are a master at it, it is probably easier to be a master at directly selling to your visitors.

Remember:

Aim for a sale not an email address!

vitalcoach

The best ways to be recognized as an expert in your field - TIP

vitalcoach — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 13:34:00 +0000

The first obvious step is to actually be an expert in these specific topics.

This measn that you do have the skills, knowledge and answers people are looking for.

The next step is to communicate in an effective way.

If you don't speak out and position yourself as an expert, your potential audience will never know you even exist!

This means having a website, platform or blog which works!

You then need to have enough exposure for your site.

Media coverage gives you that type of respect.

Confidence and attitude will give you the edge as well.

Make this simple experiment:

Take an expert's site or blog and ask yourself: why do they get credibility from you?

There are always good reasons!!!

then check your own pages and material and ask yourself: "would I give myself credibilty if I was seeing this page?" Yes? No? Why?

In most cases you will get a very clear answer in no time on why you have credibility or not.

Next, trust your instinct and take action to reorient whatever is not on track!!!

vitalcoach

Absolute positivity! - Why it sells - ARTICLE

vitalcoach — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 12:54:00 +0000

Okay,

The other day, I checked a video on dating skills for men. The site promotes an e-book on the topic

The video had nothing but pictures of beautiful women.

I thought: "This does not work for me! - I don't think I want to know more!"

I was wrong. After a few minutes of being bombraded with pictures of beautful girls, I was on the edge of taking action evn though, it is not a product I need!

Two days later, it suddenly strikes me. I now understand how it works:

I was writing a follow up email for one of my lists and wrote first:

"Hesitation is a success killer! Get this full package now! You won't regret it!"

When reading this message again, something disturbed me: "hesitation is a success killer" contains "success killer" which impacts negatively on my mind.

It happens instantly on my subconscious mind and my emotions react to these words.

It simply creates a negative emotion which conflicts with my system.

I get the feeling that this specific expression does not sell well!

I replaced it now with:

"Trust is a success booster! Get this full package now! You won't regret it!"

Is it better?

Images or words do impact subconsciously! Does absolute positivity sell better than adding negative words even for selling purposes?

Right now, I am simply experimenting with this concept. I do not have the final answer to what works best!

Feed back? To be followed?

vitalcoach

Focus group for your site?

vitalcoach — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 13:22:00 +0000

A focus group is a set of users who will give you feed back on their needs and desires when they use the net.

This is not about your site.

It is about their site and what they need.

There are 3 ways you can approach this:

The first one is to check existing studies about Internet user behavior, needs, desires, expectations and frustrations.
The second one is to create your own analysis by bringing people or individuals to tell you about their desires.
The third way of doing this is by sitting next to someone using your site and let them give you feed back on what they experience while using your site.
The fourth way is to gather feed back by presenting visitors with a few simple questions about their experience on your site.

The third approach is very easy to implement. Sometimes, getting feed back even from a wife, husband, daughter, son or friend is very precious in triggering a whole set of realizations.

The fourth approach (visitor feed back) can as well be easily implemented.

Appeal to unconscious desires

vitalcoach — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 13:06:00 +0000

The role of any website and marketer is to appeal to unconscious desires.

There is always a trigger in the person visiting your site.

There is as well a very clear trigger when they decide to stay.

When your website responds to these core desires by stimulating the right emotional triggers, the cycle is complete.

This is what creates a win-win for both visitors and your site.

Let's take an example:

There is a product you want to sell on your site.

It is absolutely pointless to offer that product if the desires being triggered are not clear.

What are the emotions your visitors want to feel?

Do you know them?

Can you summarize them in a couple of sentences?

Does your website offer a real answer to these desires or needs?

Is your landing page responding to these desires or is it simply an expression of your own agenda?

Are you succeeding with triggering the right emotions or are you merely pushing your message and forcing them to listen to something they don't recognize?

This is the first question to ask yourself.

We'll come back with more on this topic

vitalcoach

How to post or sell audios on your site

vitalcoach — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 10:33:00 +0000

When you decide to create and sell audios on yoru site, it can be quite challenging to find system that works best for you.

Here is what worked best for me:

I always use the same audio format MP3
I host the audios on my site - upload them via FTP
For payments, I use paypal.com and 2checkout.com
For product delivery, I use Payloadz.com - customers receive a PDF file containing link, login and password to access their product page on my site
I direct the customers to a password protected download page on my site where they can download or directly stream the audios one by one.
They can as well download audio sets in zip files packages - 5-15 audios - 50-150 MB/zip file.
Here is an example of how files are presented on my site: http://vitalcoaching.com/spiritualpower.htm#audios (This is a free product - Same for audios for sale)

Questions?

Take care

vitalcoach

Coaching hype! - Why it is a turn off for visitors

vitalcoach — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 10:14:00 +0000

This one is mainly for coaches.

(I might publish this article on another blog for coaches at a later stage)

This is an essential issue!!!

I was just reading an articles I wrote some years ago where talking about myself, I used expressions like:

I am your change catalyst
I am an agent of your transformation
Etc.

Whaou! I see it now as such massive turn offs for those who would visit the site.

What do I see when I read this? I feel like I am singing songs to my own glory!!! :)

Why?

Because I am talking about myself in such grand concepts and words!!! Where does this leave my clients and those I help.

I glorify my action and the focus on my clients and visitors is lost!

The focus must stay on those who visit your site.

How to turn this around?

What would I say now?

I help you transition!
I support you in taking action!
Etc.

I ---> You

Works better to me :) Makes me feel better as well (It's not just a selling or promotional tactic)

What do you think?

To your power!

vitalcoach

"Customers define their needs in known terms, so be sure to use them, even if you don't think they're exciting"

vitalcoach — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 17:01:00 +0000

"Play down marketese and internal vocabulary. Call a spade a spade, not a digging implement. Certainly not an excavation solution. Many marketers like to embellish products to make them seem grander than traditional fare. But customers define their needs in known terms, so be sure to use them, even if you don't think they're exciting. The very fact that a word is unexciting indicates that it's frequently used. People search for terms like "cheap airline tickets," not "value-priced travel experience." Often, a boring keyword is a known keyword. "

From

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/search-keywords.html

Here is an example:

Just recently, I was trying to decide how to name a specific area of the site (it's a section in my life skills channel). I had two choices:

Motivation
Emotional fuel

While "emotional fuel" has been my first choice for a couple of years (becasue it sounds fresher and more exciting than the word "motivation"), almost since the creation of the site, this quote clearly says that "motivation" is actually a better option.

That's the one I finally instinctively chose for a couple of weeks ago.

New fresh content

vitalcoach — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 09:32:00 +0000

Visitors want to be in touch with the latest news, whta is trendy, the latest discoveries and fresh content.

The problem with traditional and static web pages, is that it does not change.

For the visitor, this quickly becomes boring.

New is exciting and refreshing.

Now, when you go to fresh, you need speed.

Speed does not offer too much space for perfecting the design.

It is raw!

Raw is good! That's what the public wants right now