Aweber's "Split Test" Functionality

Autoresponder company Aweber offers a great "split test" option to its customers that I just found out.

Imagine you have a subscription box on your web site, just like I do here in the right sidebar.

Let's say 1% of those who visit your web site are actually signing up.

The question is, could that have been 2% or more if you tried a different sign-up box and/or you gave out a different download premium... Wouldn't you like to find that out?

Aweber allows you to test exactly that by running a "split test."

This is how you do it:

1) You design two different sign-up boxes, with perhaps different text, different colors, different font family and font sizes, or a combination thereof.

2) You either link those different boxes to the same free download (or what Aweber calls a "message"), or come up with a second free download for the second signup box.

3) Then, you tell Aweber the probability with which those boxes should be displayed every time their page is viewed. (There are other and multiple pop-up options of displaying the box as well.)

For example, you can have Box A displayed 50% of the time and Box B displayed the other 50%.

4) Aweber composes a Javascript code for you based on the above steps. You copy that HTML code and insert it in your web page, in the appropriate location.

And you are done!

Not only your boxes are displayed according to the probabilities you have defined, but detailed statistics are provided about the performance of the alternative sign-up boxes. That way you can easily determine if your design changes have improved or actually deteriorated your conversion rate.

A very useful functionality that should help you improve the performance of your web site through a controlled and scientific method.

Write Powerful Copy by Eliminating Old and Tired Expressions

You'll increase your web site traffic faster if you use clean and short sentences.

Remember: less is more.

Eliminate all hackneyed expressions from your prose for some snappy copy.

Examples:

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Ring the bell in order to get service.

BETTER: Ring the bell to get service.

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Truth of the matter is, there is something fishy with this deal.

BETTER: There is something fishy with this deal.

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In a manner of speaking, he was the black sheep of the family.

BETTER: He was the black sheep of the family.

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To be perfectly honest with you, I don't like the way things are going.

BETTER: I don't like the way things are going.

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To be perfectly frank about it, I wish I had another option but I don't.

BETTER: I wish I had another option but I don't.

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The long and the short of it is, Frank has to pay that hundred dollars back.

BETTER: Frank has to pay that hundred dollars dollars back.

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Well, what do you think?

BETTER: What do you think?

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Worrying about the past does not make any sense and you know that.

BETTER: Worrying about the past does not make any sense.

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Needless to say, Hawaii is a gorgeous place to live.

BETTER: Hawaii is a gorgeous place to live.

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You will be able to leave on Sunday.

BETTER: You can leave on Sunday.

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You have the ability to learn.

BETTER: You can learn.

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The brigade was not enabled to deploy.

BETTER: The brigade could not deploy.

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Make sure to click the Start button.

BETTER: Click the Start button.

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Ideas in themselves cannot be copyrighted.

BETTER: Ideas cannot be copyrighted.

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Doctors recommend taking calcium in conjunction with vitamin D.

BETTER: Doctors recommend taking calcium together with vitamin D.

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The information in this document is considered the property of ABC Corporation.

BETTER: The information in this document is the property of ABC Corporation.

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In the event that your roof leaks, call a roofer.

BETTER: If your roof leaks, call a roofer.

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It simply works.

BETTER: It works.

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We were totally amazed

BETTER: We were amazed.

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He was really lost.

BETTER: He was lost.

“Fewer” or “Less”?

FEWER should be used when one can count the items/subjects in question. It is usually used with a following “THAN”.

For example:

1) Today I had fewer than ten phone calls.
2) Fewer awards than advertised were distributed at the Honors Ceremony.

LESS is used for items/subjects that cannot be measured.

For example:

1) You should work less to be healthy.
2) Since we had less snowfall this year, we decided not buy that snowblower.

Power of FRAMEMAKER Markers

There is a reason why professional technical writers authoring long complex documents almost always use FRAMEMAKER.

There simply is no comparison between FM and MS Word, for example, when it comes to industrial-strength heavy-duty documentation with multiple levels of numbering, indexing, TOC, multiple lists, etc.

One look at FM’s Marker functionality, and you realize right away how deep its marking capabilities are.

Here are just some of the markers you can use to tag your FM text with:

Index – the most obvious one, used for indexing terms.

Pending – used for not-quite-finished items that you would like to revisit at a later date.

Conditional text – used to generate multiple versions of the same document geared towards different audiences or markets.

Glossary – used to tag the items to appear in a Glossary.

Header/Footer – FM easily creates running headers and footers from existing paragraph tags. But if the text that you’d like to convert into running headers/footers is not styled as paragraph header, you can select that text and tag it with this marker.

Cross-ref – used to identify any text as a cross-reference to appear in the Cross-Reference dialog box.

Comparing Autoresponders Feedblitz vs. Aweber

Autoresponders is one of the must tools that should be used by all serious bloggers and online marketers. It is an excellent way to keep up with your readers and clients with minimum of effort.

Here is a brief comparison of the two autoresponders I’ve used in the past:

FEEDBLITZ

Major advantage: it’s free. You can broadcast your blog content automatically to your list.

Also has: double opt-in subscription engine. It eliminates people subscribing other people without their consent.

Support: so-so. You are basically on your own.

Questionable feature: number of subscribers are displayed under Feedblitz’ subscription box. That’s great if you’ve got 10,000 subscribers but it looks bad if only 2 people have subscribed to your newsletter.

Major drawback: you cannot schedule an e-mail campaign well in advance, with certain pieces mailed out on certain days.

Visit www.feedblitz.com for more info.

AWEBER

Big advantage: You can not only broadcast your blog content automatically to your list but you can also schedule an e-mail campaign well in advance, with certain pieces mailed out on certain days.

Also has: double opt-in subscription engine. It eliminates people subscribing other people without their consent.

Major drawback: it costs $19.95 a month.

Note: Aweber allows an “infinite” number of autoresponders for multiple websites.

Support: very patient people answer your questions politely and they never give up on you.

Too many configurable features to count here.

Visit www.aweber.com for more info.

My New Logo, thanks to Wikipedia

I use the public domain images of Wikipedia frequently and publish under GNU Free Documentation License.

In this logo, the earth image was also legally borrowed from Wikipedia. The rest was rendered in Adobe Illustrator.

Top 5 Sectors that Generate Maximum Online Leads

When it comes to generating a lot of online leads, all sectors are not created equal.

According to a recent Pew Internet & American Life survey, here are the 5 top sectors that generate maximum amount of leads:

1. Pharmaceuticals
2. Retail
3. Travel
4. Education
5. Personal finance

“79 percent of respondents said they turned to the web for health research. 91 percent of consumers who responded to a 2007 Prospectiv Consumer Preference Index (CPI) survey expressed interest in visiting websites focused on treatments for their ailments; 47 percent indicated they would like to receive treatment information via email,” according to iMedia Connection.

A Firefox Secret to Blogger Productivity

Darren Rose of PROBLOGGER writes:

"One of the little tricks that I use every morning when I first log onto my computer that gets me off to a flying start is to open up my ‘StartUp Folder’ on Firefox.

This is a bookmark folder that contains 15 or so key sites that quickly give me an indication of what is going on across my blogging business. Within 60 seconds I know what’s hot, what’s broken, where there’s a fire that needs to be put out and where I can give things a nudge to make them go viral.

Here’s how it works.

Firefox (and other browsers) allows you to arrange your bookmarks via folders and place these folders in your bookmark toolbar across the top of your browser. These folders can be accessed in two main ways:

* by clicking the folder and selecting a bookmark from the drop down menu
* by right clicking the folder and selecting ‘Open in All Tabs’ (if you have tabbed browsing turned on).

It’s this second method that I use every morning (and 2-3 times per day)..."

Click here for the rest of the story

Joy of Editing

“Honda recently announced that it is soon going to start its Mexican-built Civic exported to U.S.”

BETTER: “Honda recently announced that it will soon start exporting its Mexican-built Civics to the U.S.”

“upon the advertising campaign going active…”

BETTER: “when the advertising campaign is launched…”

“The signal to unlock a barrier can truncate upon the door position input going active."

BETTER: “The signal to unlock a barrier can truncate when the door position input is active.”

“They determine whether the authorized party is present prior to the start of a transaction.”

BETTER: “They determine whether the authorized party is present before a transaction begins.”

Bad English (or “Scamglish”) Gives Away E-Mail Scams

I’ve yet received another “Lottery Winning Notification” – this time from Microsoft (!). Ho ho ho!

There are two items that give away these scams immediately:

1) The domain name of the return link is invariably registered in some foreign country (Hong Kong, Slovenia, Russia, UK, Netherlands, Japan, etc.) but never in the United States. Just check out the last two letters of the domain name and consult the following country list: http://www.computeruser.com/resources/dictionary/domains.html

2) Bad English is the second giveaway since these messages are copied and pasted many times over, sometimes by scam artists who do not even know any English! And the results show...

Here are some sentences written in Scamglish, quoted from the “Microsoft lottery” letter that I’ve mentioned:

“…the Lucky numbers 14-21-25-39-40-47(20) which subsequently won you 1,000, 000.00 (One Million Great Britain Pounds) DATE: 9/APRIL/2007 DRAW NUM: 1 It was held in London (UK) the claims agent assigned to you to, for the Release of your prize…”

“…a wide range of web hosts which we Enjoy their patronage…”

We are all lucky that, even though the bad guys are smart enough to come up with these schemes, they are never smart enough to proofread and edit their English copy.

Caution -- Flash Drive Sticks

Flash drive sticks are great. They provide a lightweight solution to memory problems. I have one myself that I carry with me wherever I go.

But are you aware that the same innocent looking flash stick can actually be a Trojan Horse, carrying someone else's malicious code or virus?

How come? In essence, once you insert it into your USB port, every flash drive becomes a mini hard-drive. If all you have on it is a bunch of files and images that yourself have saved, then there might not be a problem.

But be careful every time someone hands you a flash drive! If there is a malicious executible file on the stick, it could automatically start to execute it the minute it is connected to your computer.

MS Word files fall in the same category. Be very careful about opening the MS Word files on a flash memory stick which is handed to you by others because Word is an excellent vehicle for all kinds of destructive macros. Once you open the Word file, macros execute and do whatever what they were designed to do.

Did you know that any high school student can write a 5 to 10 line Word macro that would wipe away ALL the files on your machine when the Word document is opened?!

Use and enjoy your flash drive stick but also keep in mind that sharing it with others is probably not a bright idea in this day and age of hacking frenzy.

(PHOTO CREDIT: Published under GNU Free Documentation License. Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Flash_drive_usb_memory.jpg)

Happy Mothers Day!

To all the mothers of the world -- you are the One! And we love you so...

(PHOTO CREDIT: Image by Jean-Pol GRANDMONT. Published under Creative Commons (CC) license. Image source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Grand-Reng_JPG05.jpg)

Yahoo Mail Alert

Have you checked your Yahoo mail recently to make sure it is working properly?

I have received a few complaints within the last 48 hours about how SLOW Yahoo mail is these days, with mails arriving DAYS after they were sent. If you are relying on Yahoo mail for your business, that might be a costly delay indeed.

Since I'm not using Yahoo mail myself I was not aware of the problem.