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Digg it UP - How a Blackbelt Got Raped By a Bunch of NERDS!
At the outset, lets accept that there is no such thing as an ideal candidate, and there is no employer who is ideal for everyone. Still, every time we see someone change his or her career or make an upward move, we say or at least think that he/she is brilliant and was the ideal candidate for the position and that the company is lucky to have hired him or her. But did the candidate really get lucky, or were they just smart?Is Career Networking So Important?Don not have an iota of doubt about this in your mind: networking plays an important role in career moves.
…So what do I want you to learn from this story?
The first lesson is this:
Most web designers don’t have the first clue about how to convert traffic!
Just think about it...
Over 99% of all web sites today are designed by programmers or graphic artists -- NOT marketers. Most of these guys have never earned a dime selling anything online except their overpriced (and under performing) web design services.
Sure... They can make you a beautiful, great looking website with all the fancy bells and whistles. Just one problem... It won't sell anything!
(I’m sure that somewhere out there in Cyberspace is a group of very nervous nerds, hiding under their desks from one very angry blackbelt!)
The second lesson is:
Small changes to yo
The young man took his place behind the lectern, preparing to address the graduating class. He had earned the right to make this speech by having the best grade point average over the last four years. In addition to being the valedictorian he was graduating with academic honors. So were two thirds of the members of his class.It's not just this high school. I checked around a bit and found that grades appear higher and there are more "honors" graduates, even though official standards don't seem to have changed much. And it's not just high school. At Princeton, in 2003, 4
A few weeks ago, I was playing golf with a friend of mine who owns a chain of martial arts studios. While we were playing he began telling me about how he had just spent over $50,000 having a website designed to promote his business.
He went on for over thirty minutes bragging about how beautiful the graphics and pictures were and how much he spent on this and how much he spent on that. He even told me how his graphic designer had created a large flash animated header to go at the top of every page showing him breaking a brick in half.
Well… After I had given him plenty of time to “tell me all about” his new website, I asked him a few questions.
Q - “So how long has your site been online?”
A - “…About thirty days.”
Q - “Is it getting much traffic?”
A – “Oh yeah. Tons! I’m spending over $500 a day on pay-per-click traffic at Google and Yahoo. I think we are averaging over 1,500 visitors a day!”
Q – “What’s your conversion rate?”
A – “…Huh? My what?”
Q – “Your conversion rate. You know… The ratio between the number of visitors you are getting to the number of sales you are making.
A – “Umm… Well, I’m not sure. We’ve only made 11 sales so far. But my web designer says that once the search engines index my site the sales will pick-up.”
After a few minutes of stunned silence, I said to him, “Let me get this straight. You dumped $50,000 into a website, and you’ve spent $500 per day for he last 30 days driving traffic to it and you’ve only made 11 sales?!”
“Well… Yeah. Why? Is that bad?”
“Is that BAD?!?! Dude! That’s HORRIBLE! You’ve been financially RAPED by a pack of nerds!”
Now it was his turn for stunned silence. After thirty seconds of looking like a deer caught in the headlights, he finally muttered, “…but ..but, the site looks so cool. And they tell me that traffic and sales will get better when the search engines come by…”
“Look. I don’t care what they are telling you. You don’t have a traffic problem, you have a CONVERSION problem. A big one!”
After giving him a second to let the reality sink in I said, “I’ll tell you what. I’ll bet you $250 that I can VASTLY improve your website’s conversion rate in one day. You make the changes that I tell you to make and if your sales don’t improve significantly, I’ll give you $250 cash.”
All he said was, “Eric, You’ve got yourself a deal.”
“Okay. The first thing I want you to do is lose the animated flash header.”
“What?! Are you nuts? That thing cost me over $3,500! They even came out to one of my Dojo’s with their lights and cameras to film me breaking that brick. You haven’t even seen it yet. Come on… I know if you see it you will think it’s cool!”
“I don’t need to see it. I just need you to remove it. It’s hurting your sales.”
After a bit more protesting and grumbling he said. “…Alright. Fine. I’ll take it down for now, but if sales don’t go up its going right back up and YOU OWE ME $250!”
…four days later I get a call.
“Eric… Man, I can’t believe it! We lost the flash header and our site went from one sale every two or three days, to four or five sales EACH day… What do I need to change next?”
Because his site had so many things that needed to change, I recorded a two-hour screen capture video, detailing each step he needed to take to improve his conversion rates.
After watching the video and implementing just a few of the suggestions so far, my blackbelt friend is experiencing much better conversion rates and overall sales.
…So what do I want you to learn from this story?
The first lesson is this:
Most web designers don’t have the first clue about how to convert traffic!
Just think about it...
Over 99% of all web sites today are designed by programmers or graphic artists -- NOT marketers. Most of these guys have never earned a dime selling anything online except their overpriced (and under performing) web design services.
Sure... They can make you a beautiful, great looking website with all the fancy bells and whistles. Just one problem... It won't sell anything!
(I’m sure that somewhere out there in Cyberspace is a group of very nervous nerds, hiding under their desks from one very angry blackbelt!)
The second lesson is:
Small changes to you
There are many sellers who are working full time at selling on eBay. In fact, it is their primary source of income and yet they have no idea how much they are making, I mean really clearing from the whole endeavor.It's easy to get carried away when you first start listing on eBay by the sheer volume of work. I remember working well past midnight running on pure adrenalin and excited by the fact that there was money coming into my Paypal account daily from the items I was selling.But like Coach John Wooden says "Never confuse activity with achievement".
Q – “What’s your conversion rate?”
A – “…Huh? My what?”
Q – “Your conversion rate. You know… The ratio between the number of visitors you are getting to the number of sales you are making.
A – “Umm… Well, I’m not sure. We’ve only made 11 sales so far. But my web designer says that once the search engines index my site the sales will pick-up.”
After a few minutes of stunned silence, I said to him, “Let me get this straight. You dumped $50,000 into a website, and you’ve spent $500 per day for he last 30 days driving traffic to it and you’ve only made 11 sales?!”
“Well… Yeah. Why? Is that bad?”
“Is that BAD?!?! Dude! That’s HORRIBLE! You’ve been financially RAPED by a pack of nerds!”
Now it was his turn for stunned silence. After thirty seconds of looking like a deer caught in the headlights, he finally muttered, “…but ..but, the site looks so cool. And they tell me that traffic and sales will get better when the search engines come by…”
“Look. I don’t care what they are telling you. You don’t have a traffic problem, you have a CONVERSION problem. A big one!”
After giving him a second to let the reality sink in I said, “I’ll tell you what. I’ll bet you $250 that I can VASTLY improve your website’s conversion rate in one day. You make the changes that I tell you to make and if your sales don’t improve significantly, I’ll give you $250 cash.”
All he said was, “Eric, You’ve got yourself a deal.”
“Okay. The first thing I want you to do is lose the animated flash header.”
“What?! Are you nuts? That thing cost me over $3,500! They even came out to one of my Dojo’s with their lights and cameras to film me breaking that brick. You haven’t even seen it yet. Come on… I know if you see it you will think it’s cool!”
“I don’t need to see it. I just need you to remove it. It’s hurting your sales.”
After a bit more protesting and grumbling he said. “…Alright. Fine. I’ll take it down for now, but if sales don’t go up its going right back up and YOU OWE ME $250!”
…four days later I get a call.
“Eric… Man, I can’t believe it! We lost the flash header and our site went from one sale every two or three days, to four or five sales EACH day… What do I need to change next?”
Because his site had so many things that needed to change, I recorded a two-hour screen capture video, detailing each step he needed to take to improve his conversion rates.
After watching the video and implementing just a few of the suggestions so far, my blackbelt friend is experiencing much better conversion rates and overall sales.
…So what do I want you to learn from this story?
The first lesson is this:
Most web designers don’t have the first clue about how to convert traffic!
Just think about it...
Over 99% of all web sites today are designed by programmers or graphic artists -- NOT marketers. Most of these guys have never earned a dime selling anything online except their overpriced (and under performing) web design services.
Sure... They can make you a beautiful, great looking website with all the fancy bells and whistles. Just one problem... It won't sell anything!
(I’m sure that somewhere out there in Cyberspace is a group of very nervous nerds, hiding under their desks from one very angry blackbelt!)
The second lesson is:
Small changes to yo
You’ve heard it a million times – cash flow can make or break a business. Lack of cash flow planning is the reason why many businesses fail. In fact, many PROFITABLE businesses fail because of cash flow issues. Without adequate cash flow, you can’t pay your bills and you can’t make plans for your business.So… what is cash flow planning? Cash flow planning is projecting your future cash inflows from sales, services, and loans, and comparing them to your future cash flow needs (suppliers, salaries/wages, loan payments, taxes, etc.). The difference between the two is
“Look. I don’t care what they are telling you. You don’t have a traffic problem, you have a CONVERSION problem. A big one!”
After giving him a second to let the reality sink in I said, “I’ll tell you what. I’ll bet you $250 that I can VASTLY improve your website’s conversion rate in one day. You make the changes that I tell you to make and if your sales don’t improve significantly, I’ll give you $250 cash.”
All he said was, “Eric, You’ve got yourself a deal.”
“Okay. The first thing I want you to do is lose the animated flash header.”
“What?! Are you nuts? That thing cost me over $3,500! They even came out to one of my Dojo’s with their lights and cameras to film me breaking that brick. You haven’t even seen it yet. Come on… I know if you see it you will think it’s cool!”
“I don’t need to see it. I just need you to remove it. It’s hurting your sales.”
After a bit more protesting and grumbling he said. “…Alright. Fine. I’ll take it down for now, but if sales don’t go up its going right back up and YOU OWE ME $250!”
…four days later I get a call.
“Eric… Man, I can’t believe it! We lost the flash header and our site went from one sale every two or three days, to four or five sales EACH day… What do I need to change next?”
Because his site had so many things that needed to change, I recorded a two-hour screen capture video, detailing each step he needed to take to improve his conversion rates.
After watching the video and implementing just a few of the suggestions so far, my blackbelt friend is experiencing much better conversion rates and overall sales.
…So what do I want you to learn from this story?
The first lesson is this:
Most web designers don’t have the first clue about how to convert traffic!
Just think about it...
Over 99% of all web sites today are designed by programmers or graphic artists -- NOT marketers. Most of these guys have never earned a dime selling anything online except their overpriced (and under performing) web design services.
Sure... They can make you a beautiful, great looking website with all the fancy bells and whistles. Just one problem... It won't sell anything!
(I’m sure that somewhere out there in Cyberspace is a group of very nervous nerds, hiding under their desks from one very angry blackbelt!)
The second lesson is:
Small changes to yo
Why is research and development in artificial intelligence and robotics so very important in the present period? Well because we are about to hit the end of an era as all these Baby Boomers retire and leave the work force. Many will be living well into their 100 year birthdays and beyond. These folks will be needing things, services and have demands and desires and yet they will not be producing. To make the issues worse industry predicts a job shortage of 10-million people by 2015. Do you doubt these figures?Well you should not as there are already severe shortages in
“I don’t need to see it. I just need you to remove it. It’s hurting your sales.”
After a bit more protesting and grumbling he said. “…Alright. Fine. I’ll take it down for now, but if sales don’t go up its going right back up and YOU OWE ME $250!”
…four days later I get a call.
“Eric… Man, I can’t believe it! We lost the flash header and our site went from one sale every two or three days, to four or five sales EACH day… What do I need to change next?”
Because his site had so many things that needed to change, I recorded a two-hour screen capture video, detailing each step he needed to take to improve his conversion rates.
After watching the video and implementing just a few of the suggestions so far, my blackbelt friend is experiencing much better conversion rates and overall sales.
…So what do I want you to learn from this story?
The first lesson is this:
Most web designers don’t have the first clue about how to convert traffic!
Just think about it...
Over 99% of all web sites today are designed by programmers or graphic artists -- NOT marketers. Most of these guys have never earned a dime selling anything online except their overpriced (and under performing) web design services.
Sure... They can make you a beautiful, great looking website with all the fancy bells and whistles. Just one problem... It won't sell anything!
(I’m sure that somewhere out there in Cyberspace is a group of very nervous nerds, hiding under their desks from one very angry blackbelt!)
The second lesson is:
Small changes to yo
Every day, thousands of businesses like yours make the same critical mistakes when outsourcing their software or web development.Mistake #1: Assuming that the outsource company you are working with can read your mind.Most outsource vendors expect complete requirements before they start the work, and will charge you for every additional change, regardless of the size. You'll need a plan for getting a good understanding of your requirements, and communicating them effectively. Otherwise you could waste thousands of dollars trying to get what you originally
…So what do I want you to learn from this story?
The first lesson is this:
Most web designers don’t have the first clue about how to convert traffic!
Just think about it...
Over 99% of all web sites today are designed by programmers or graphic artists -- NOT marketers. Most of these guys have never earned a dime selling anything online except their overpriced (and under performing) web design services.
Sure... They can make you a beautiful, great looking website with all the fancy bells and whistles. Just one problem... It won't sell anything!
(I’m sure that somewhere out there in Cyberspace is a group of very nervous nerds, hiding under their desks from one very angry blackbelt!)
The second lesson is:
Small changes to your website can produce huge results.
By getting an expert, outside evaluation of your websites design, copy, usability and sales effectiveness, you can quickly turn a poorly performing website into a raging cash machine!
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