Review and Optimize: 12 Months In

Introduction: Review and Optimize

Time has been sliding by. That really struck me in short order after I got back from my cycling challenge and got back on the horse. I started to catch up with what I had missed. Two of the things that really caught my attention were videos from Dean Holland.  I watched them in reverse order which probably helped get it into my thick skull. It all comes down to review and optimize and 12 months has slid by

Firstly, Dean Holland, my mentor, made a rant video to the Internet Profits community. His big message was

Working hard does not give you the right to succeed. Working smart does.

He issued a challenge to the group – publish your daily tracking sheet to the group.

I bet you that most of you cannot. In fact, I know you cannot

Tracking is key to Review and Optimize

Well, as it happens, I have been updating my tracking sheet – it must be the bean counter in me. Maybe not every day but at least once a week. I use it to adjust what I do. Here is a snapshot taken yesterday (November 19)

Now this sheet does not track all the clicks – it focuses on the clicks that are flowing from traffic sources other than traffic exchanges. I am learning that those traffic exchange clicks are not working for opt-ins – so I do not measure them that closely. Maybe I should.

The main standout for the last 12 months is  a big enough list of leads, and very low revenue resulting in a business not yet making a profit. Now I have had 7 people sign up for Internet Profits partner interviews – just no conversions from their side. I am hoping the foundations are solid enough for the next 12 months.

Power of One: One Source; One Process; One Offer

The second video was a bit like a state of the union address where Dean walked through what a winning strategy would look like.

Simple really

Traffic – > Capture -> Follow Up -> Make Offers -> Gain Customers -> Make Money.

The core proposition for us partners is that Internet Profits will keep making offers (high and low ticket) to people that come into the funnel – even after partners might have stopped making offers.

Two big things came out of the 2nd video

• Use the tracking sheet numbers to Review and Optimize on a continual basis
  • Keep doing what is working and fix what is not working.
• Focus on one version of the strategy before moving onto something else
  • One source, one process and one offer.

I did record a video integrating two key clips from Dean’s videos and highlighting what has been working over the last 12 months and what I have changed.

12 Month Overview: Review and Optimize

Now I have been doing review and optimize to a degree – not in a totally disciplined way – but it is there. That has resulted in making some changes.

Here are some examples

• My Twitter ads account was shut down. So I plugged the gap with solo ads.
• The one opt-in page (top left – Opt-in)  I was using was not converting well (2%) – so I tweaked it (2nd down – planb).  I then made a new one with a PDF lead magnet (3rd down – 13%). I now have three running (9%, 13% and 17%)
• I added video to test opt-in pages for one low response traffic source (better at 2% for that source but still low)
• Follow up email click rates were low. As I was using plain text emails, I was not getting open rate data – fixed that. Now I can email to people who have opened or not opened emails.
• Started making direct offers to low click rate traffic sources rather than looking for opt-ins
• Promoted a few lower ticket non-Internet Profits products to unresponsive list – starting to get some traction.

Now this does not quite fit with what Dean suggested – one source, one process, one offer.

Next Steps after Review and Optimize

Has this been enough?

Conversions are improving but it is not flowing through to sales. I still have to work on improving engagement in the follow up OR hit the disengage button.  I have been holding off doing the disengagement as I am co-branded partner on The Iceberg Effect. I have my copy. I have read it. There is a lot of material here to promote to the leads I have – going to give that a go and see what sticks.

And I do need to build a paid ads strategy – my thinking is to use video for that and focus on Youtube ads. I have to ramp up video work – that will make a great forcing device. I will be leaning on Video Marketing Insider membership hard as I add in video (see below under resources)

There is still a long way to go on the review and optmize process. All my processes are not routinised enough – that will definitely help tighten up the ship. I keep saying that BUT I have not moved past the hand written to do lists.

Resources

Convertri is the page builder I use. Its strongest selling points are the load time for pages and the easy to use editor for desktop and mobile pages. It works for me and the price point is lower than the main competitors. There is a free trial period – you will not be disappointed. Try it here

Video Marketing Insider is a membership site run by Adam Payne focused on video marketing. Adam has built a standalone business in video marketing promoting video related training. As a former teacher, he has a good teaching and coaching style. I like his stuff. Take a tour – he is raising the annual fee this coming week. Get in fast.