Brian and I are also working on an upgrade to our own website design (we’re so excited), but we won’t be ready to debut that until later. We’re in the design facelift phase right now and, as you can imagine, we’re nitpicking everything from the menu and the flow of content, to the paths our visitors travel, and every pixel of spacing.

The new upgrade is already so good, I’m having some website shame of my own (unheard of, I know) in regards to this one!

Why upgrade the site? Well first we do it every 18 months to 2 years as we continue to learn. Second, we’ve gained immense clarity (I’m talking crystal clear) about our brand and we need refine things a bit.

Now, along with gaining complete clarity about the Bourn Creative brand and where we want to take it, I’ve gained clarity in other areas too!

But My Clarity Lead to Infoproduct Irritation

This all came to a head while Brian and I were strategizing for 2012/2013.

You see, we were cleaning out my office and my office closet. At the same time and as we were making decisions, getting focused, and narrowing things down – I came across a bevy of information products. I found ebooks, binders, audio courses… and in debating on whether I should keep them or not, I had to ask myself – “Did they really provide value worth holding onto?”

Unfortunatey (except for two) the answer was no. Most were over-hyped and didn’t deliver the goods.

So Brian and I got to talking and I don’t know about you, but…

• I’m sick and tired of over-hyped information products promising to be the answer to all of your problems, and I am sick of them falling short big time.
• I’m sick of products only delivering the what and the why and leaving out the how — the part you really need — just so they can sell you down the road!
• I’m happy to have bought infoproducts that were awesome and provided value and saddened to see them lost in a see of bandwagon-ers who don’t compare.
• I’m sick of downloading at 60 page ebook, only to find 30 pages of it is more selling, the authors history, and filler.
• I’m sick of every product ending in the number 7 because at some point in product history, someone said 7 sells better.
• I’m sick of the overpriced nature of the industry. Incredible authors spend years writing books that truly transform lives and business that sell for $14.95. Why should the ebook you created last week (I have to print myself) cost me $97? Don’t get me wrong — if you have a good reason, I’ll pay it happily and pay you what you’re worth — but most people just make up a number.

I know tou need resources, tools, strategies, and information you can use right now. I know you’re sick of spending $47, $97, $127 or any other number ending in 7 to get a product that is half mediocre content and half filler. I know because I want the same thing.

It’s time for a change and we’re taking a stand

This year, In the spirit of “be the change you want to see,” we’ll be rolling out a series of quick-start guides and resources — without filler and fluff.

We are committed to bringing you the information you need to transform your business into an extraordinary brand and create a website that works when you’re not working — and we’re committed to doing it with integrity.

I’m excited to share with you that our first Guide: Anatomy of An Opt-In: A Quick Start Guide to Creating an Irresistible Opt-In Offer That Does More Than Build Your List was launched in our ezine last week!

This Quick Start Guide, in 17 focused, step-by-step, content-only pages, will walk you through how to finally fix your opt-in so you get more hot leads, more new clients, & more money by covering:

• 6 Basic Steps to A Successful Opt-In
• 10 Key Points to Remember About Your Opt-In
• 8 Components Of A Successful Opt-In Box
• 4 Things You Must Know When Creating Your Irresistible Free Offer
• Create The Best Irresistible Free Offer For Your Niche in 5 Easy Steps
• How to Use Your Free Opt-In Offer to Create More Clients and More Money in 4 Easy Steps

Our subscribers have been snatching the Guide up like crazy — first because it’s awesome, and second because it’s only $5!

I won’t make any claims that it is going to completely transform your life, but I will tell you that the content is awesome and it will help you make your opt-in more effective.

All of our Quick Start Guides will be launched through our ezine, and made available to our subscribers and community members for only $5. That’s the only place you can get them for now, and the only place you’ll ever get them for only $5!. With the debut of the new site, you’ll find the guides available everyone else for anywhere from $10-$20.

If you want access to our Quick Start Guides for only $5 — and you want to receive tips on WordPress, website marketing, and online branding, subscribe to our weekly ezine in the upper right-hand side of the page (and get our basic SEO course for free) — we publish every Saturday or Sunday (depends on our weekend plans).

Our next guide will be released in February!

I’d love to have you join our community!

What?!

If your free offer — the thing you’re giving away for free in exchange for their name and email address — isn’t what your visitors want or need, they won’t sign up and enter their name and email … even if your opt-in box is awesome!

Here’s the first thing you need to know about your opt-in free offer:

Your free offer needs to be irresistible. It needs to be extraordinary. It needs to be incredible. It needs to be valuable. It needs to be amazing. It needs to be so good that your first instinct is to charge money for it, and that it hurts a little bit at first to give it away for free.

Why? Because it really isn’t free. You may not be asking for money, but you are asking for their email address, and in today‘s climate of overcrowded, bulging inboxes that pretty much never reach zero, an email address can hold just as much value to your prospect as cash.

So how do you know if your free offer will be irresistible to your prospects and ideal clients?

You’re in luck, because figuring this out isn’t as hard as it sounds. There are only three other things you must know before creating your opt-in free offer to ensure that it is irresistible to your ideal clients.

1. You Must Know Who You Want On Your List

The first step to creating a successful free offer to use for your website opt-in box is to make sure you know exactly who you want to attract with your offer. Who is your ideal client? Who do you want to attract to your site? What type of person to you want to join your list so you can continue to market to them?

How do you know who your ideal client is? Your Ideal Client is some one who:

• Has problems and challenges you can easily fix and solve with your eyes closed
• Sees you as a valuable necessity they treasure, instead of a necessary evil
• Likes you, appreciates your hard work, and will tell their friends, peers, and contacts about you
• Pays you what you’re worth and is happy to do so because you’re worth it

By knowing who you want to attract with your free offer, you can tailor the development of your irresistible free offer (and the marketing for it) to speak right to them, making sure every bit of content is relevant, valuable, and useful.

2. You Must Know What Your Ideal Client Struggles With

The number one reason consumers go online, search the web, or perform a search with a search engine is to solve a problem or fulfill a need. That means that new visitors to your site have a problem or a need and they are looking for a solution.

They need help. Will you be the one to provide a solution?

It is critical that you understand the top three biggest challenges, pains, struggles, and frustrations that your ideal clients have — They are at best, looking for a solution, and at worst, looking for help to make it better.

3. You Must Know What Your Ideal Client Wants and/or Needs

To make your opt-in free offer irresistible to your ideal clients and ideal website visitors, it must provide something your ideal clients and visitors want and/or need — something they are looking for.

It needs to address or solve at least one of their top three problems. That way, when they reach your site and see your opt-in, they will:

• Identify with the problem you mention — “Oh my gosh! I have that problem.”
• Know they are in the right place — “It’s as if you are speaking right to me.”
• Feel relief at finally finding help/a solution — “Yay! I think this will help me, I should opt-in.”

If you know who you want to attract with your free offer, what they struggle with, and what they are looking for, you can craft the perfect irresistible free offer that will provide the solution they have been looking for (or at least a taste of it).

Just make sure you make it so good, you really want to charge for it.

In the example to the right, all eight components of a successful opt-in are used to create an irresistible offer for a free video series.

If you already have a website opt-in box, use this checklist to confirm that you have implemented each item listed and aren’t missing one key component that could increase your conversion rate.

If you’re in the process of planning or creating a new website, use this checklist to ensure your designer includes all eight elements in your website opt-in box so you can build your list effectively.

Here are the 8 components of of a successful website opt-in box:

1. Attention-Getting, Compelling Headline

The headline must instantly catch your visitors’ attention and peak their interest. Make sure the opt-in headline stands out visually by making it bigger, bolder, a different color, or a different typeface. The headline also must be relevant to what your visitors are searching for by addressing or solving a key problem, challenge, or need your visitor is struggling with.

When writing your opt-in headline, use “exact match” keywords and/or key phrases wherever possible. When a new visitor lands on your site, the first thing they ask is, “Am I in the right place?” and you want their answer to be YES! Visitors will connect with your site more quickly, recognize they are in the right place, and stay longer on your website if they immediately see they keywords and phrases they were searching for in your headline.

2. Eye-Catching Photo Or Graphic Image

People do judge a book by its cover and a product by its packaging. Also true, is the saying: A picture is worth a thousand words. Just as a physical product’s packaging or book design needs to make you want to pick it up and buy it, your ebook, special report, digital product, or information product needs to have a compelling and appealing cover design or packaging design – even when you’re selling it or offering it online.

In a store you can pick up a product and check it out in detail. When it comes to selling a book or a product online,
you want them to have as close to the same experience as possible. By offering a 3D book cover or report cover, 3D audio CD or video DVD, or other 3D product design, you are not only adding interest, you are simulating a tangible feel for your information product.

The key to information marketing success and information product sales is solving a problem, building trust, and delivering a valuable solution. To accelerate the sales and marketing process, and translate the value associated with a tangible product to a digital product or information product, you need to make a great first impression with a custom 3D graphic.

3. Brief Copy (Text) About Offer Benefits

There isn’t a lot of space in your opt-in box for long sentences and drawn our descriptions — but there is room for a short, brief, right to the point benefits statement. Don’t list boring features like the number of pages in your ebook, or the length of your audio recording. Instead tell your visitor how your gift will change their business, their life, or both for the better. They want to know in as few words as possible, What’s in it for me? Why should I care? and How will this help me?

4. Use The Word “Free”

Don’t forget to use the word FREE in your opt-in box. You’ve hopefully got an incredible gift to give your website visitor and you need to know that you’re giving it to them for free! Don’t use words like no-cost, zero-investment, complimentary — just cut to the chase and say free. The words is understood by everyone, it is easy recognizable, and people just can’t resist free!

5. Tell Audience What To Do Next

If your visitors have to guess what to do next, or even think about it, you may have already lost their opt-in. It may sound silly because you assume by now everyone would know what to do when they see two boxes labeled Name and Email, but they don’t. Tell your visitors exactly what you want them to do next. Tell them to put their name and email in the boxes below to get instant access to your gift.

6. Opt-In With Name And Email Fields

The actual opt-in to capture your new leads is the cornerstone of the entire opt-in box. These fields are the key to building your marketing list with new names and email addresses. Keep in mind that the more information you ask for, the fewer sign ups you will receive. Don’t scare people off by asking for every bit of contact information they have!

Ask for the absolute minimum amount of information to get new visitors onto your list, then focus on keeping them on your list with great content and value. Then when you have established trust, you can always offer more awesome free gifts and ask for additional information in that opt-in.

7. A Clear Call To Action Button

When you create your opt-in code with your email marketing provider, it will include the lead capture fields (Name, Email, etc.), and the “Submit” button. You can copy and paste this code right into your website and use it as is, but unfortunately most of those Submit buttons are boring, dull, and ugly.

A small, grey, lackluster Submit button doesn’t compel your visitor to take action in any way! Instead customize your Submit button. Make it a bold color, and give it some added visual interest with some bling, a gradient, or a shadow, and replace the blah “Submit” text with a compelling call to action like Sign Me Up, Send My Free Gift, or Get Instant Access.

8. Add a Short Privacy Policy

Including a short privacy statement at the bottom of your opt-in shows your visitors that you respect them, their inbox, and their privacy. Promise them that you hate spam just as much as they do and that you won’t share their information with anyone else. Make them feel safe and secure with you.

Often people know all the best practices and all of the components that make up a successful website opt-in box, but they don’t follow them or use them because it takes more work.

If you take the time to use each of these eight items in your website opt-in, you’ll already be heads and tails ahead of the competition in converting visitors into subscribers and leads and all you’ll have to worry about is delivering an incredible free gift.

But would it be nice to be able to see in Google Analytics exactly how much of your website traffic comes from the links you include in your email newsletter?

You can track this easily with one small piece of code!

Here’s the code:

(Replace “NAME” with your ezine name – no spaces)

So a standard link would look like:

A Google Analytics trackable link would look like:

Simply by adding the “UTM” code to the end of your links, you can track your links in Google Analytics. Just remember to add it in HTML view!

Blending your social media marketing strategies with your email marketing strategies may sound difficult, but honestly, some of the strategies are pretty simple.

In fact, I’ll bet you can implement most of the strategies listed below in your next email newsletter!

It’s time to integrate social media with email marketing! Here are your strategies:

Social Media for Email Marketing: Strategy #1

Include the same photo you use for your social media avatar next to your email signature. This can be done both in your email newsletter and in your everyday emails. Since 90% of our immediate recognition is visual, this strategy will help increase recognition of you and your brand on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn and infuse some of you in your emails.

Social Media for Email Marketing: Strategy #2

Link to your social networking profiles in your emails. In your regular email signature or your email newsletter, include links to your profiles or pages on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Invite your readers to visit the sites and connect with you.

Social Media for Email Marketing: Strategy #3

Don’t be afraid to make the ask. Ask your email newsletter readers to share their feedback and comments on your Facebook page. Invite them to share their favorite thing about an article or their ideas about your topic on Twitter. Encourage them to respond to a question you posted on LinkedIn.

Social Media for Email Marketing: Strategy #4

Interact with your email newsletter subscribers. Email isn’t a one way form of communication. Remember the reply button? Ask reader to hit reply and share a piece of information with you. Then in your next issue, share the results of your ask. Share some of the reader feedback, a specific comment, or the findings of the survey to keep them interested and engaged.

Social Media for Email Marketing: Strategy #5

Highlight your most active social media friends, followers, and contacts. Highlight comments, ideas, or posts shared by other members of your tribe in your newsletter and link back to their profiles. This is a great way to encourage more engagement on your social networking profiles and give back to those who engage in conversation with you.

Have you found other ways to integrate your social media strategies with your email marketing strategies? I’d love to hear about it below!
 

For visual people like me, check out the step-by-step information graphic of the basic opt-in process below – and for those of you who want this written out step-by-step, you can find that below the graphic!

Now Here’s What You Need to Know About Setting Up The Opt-In Process…

As I mentioned, time and time again, we see the same mistakes made in the planning, execution, and follow up (auto-responder) that takes place as part of a successful opt-in system. If you build your next campaign based on the following five key points and five opt-in best practices, you will increase your online success:

1. You must create a “free” giveaway like a report, e-book, e-course, audio download, consulting session, or something else that has intrinsic value, and will help your target market. With more online marketers adapting this method, your offer must be absolutely irresistible and address what we like to call your ideal clients’ “do-anything, pay-anything problem or need”; if you expect your site visitors to trade their email address (and your future marketing messages) for it.
2. You must think like an advertising copywriter when you write your call to action and opt-in box copy. Don’t use adjectives; use strong action verbs to motivate a response and focus your copy on the results your visitor will achieve by opting in to get your offer.
3. Use powerful imagery to increase your results. Avoid using the standard opt-in box that is provided by your email marketing provider. A custom designed and coded opt-in image or full integration into your website header or sidebar will compliment your website much more than the ugly standard box provided. If your irresistible free offer is a report, e-book, DVD, or CD, etc. consider creating a custom 3D product image to help draw attention to your offer.
4. Don’t ask for too much information. If your free offer is downloadable from your site, only ask for a first name and email address. If your free offer requires mailing, only ask for the information you need to deliver your product.
5. Always use a double opt-in (see below). Double opt-in sequences ensure that you have a real email address to market to in the future, and confirm that your prospect did not make a mistake in giving you their information.

Now that we have covered the five key points in planning your irresistible free offer opt-in, the next biggest problem we see is with the execution and set-up of the opt-in process. Follow these five opt-in best practices to ensure that once you hook your prospect with your offer, you can reel them in with ease:

1. When setting up your opt-in forms with your email marketing provider, select the option to send the visitor to a webpage on your site; not the ugly default page of the software provider. Don’t forget to add the actual page to your website. In a double opt-in sequence, we call this the “Confirm” page and usually have a message like:
    
   “Congratulations on deciding to take your business to the next step by grabbing your copy of our Awesome Free Report. We just sent you an email to the address you provided to confirm that you entered it correctly, and to confirm that you are just not some lame SPAM-Bot messing with my site. You should receive this in a few moments, and when you do, simply click the link for instant access to our Awesome Free Report. If you don’t get the confirmation email, you may have entered your email address incorrectly, so please try again. Thanks.”
2. Then create the confirmation email within the software provider you use and set it to send immediately after someone opts-in. In this email message, you need write a quick note to tell the recipient to click the link to verify their email address and get their free stuff. When setting up this step, select the option to “Send to a Web Page or URL” on your site when the link is clicked, not the ugly default page. We usually call this destination page the “Thank You” page and have a message similar to:
    
   “Thanks for confirming that you are an actual person, and not trying just fake me out to get my Awesome Free Report”. As promised here is your copy.”
    
   The “Thank You” page is where you will put the download link(s) and download instructions for your free offer. Don’t forget to add this page to your site and upload your offer to your website.
3. Do not commit follow up sequence failure, or forget to create a follow up sequence or auto responder. Many people opt-in to get free products but never actually read or listen to them. As a result, your message is never heard. A well planned follow up sequence or auto responder can help your message be heard and automate some of the initial marketing to your new prospect. An easy method is to have an email follow up sequence planned to send every few days for a week or two after someone opts-in. A great tactic we like to use is to supply surprise bonus content that was not mentioned in the initial free offer.
4. Use consistent email subject lines to avoid confusion with your new prospect. If your follow up sequence emails appear like random marketing messages, there is a good chance that your emails will not get opened, your new prospect will quickly unsubscribe, or worse, you will get flagged as a SPAM.
5. Finally, the biggest failure in executing an email marketing follow up sequence is the lack of adding a call to action or up-sell at the end. By now you have gone through a lot of work in creating your irresistible free offer and planning and coding the follow up sequence, so you better make a pitch at the end. It doesn’t have to be big or involve a monetary transaction; although ideally it would. It can be as simple as scheduling a free consultation, or a free trial of your paid product. If your prospect doesn’t “buy” right away, at least now you have their email address to send content-packed, valuable email newsletters.

If you follow the five key points to a successful opt-in process and the five opt-in best practices I outlined, your opt-in sequences will run smoothly and give you the greatest chance at successful email marketing and sales conversions.

We integrate Google Analytics with Infusionsoft in our online marketing in two primary ways; analyzing our email marketing campaigns, and tracking website conversions. With a planned approach for Google Analytics and Infusionsoft, I am able to answer the following online marketing questions with relative ease:

1. What type of visitor is filling out my Infusionsoft web forms, and where are they coming from?
2. How much of my website traffic is coming from my email marketing campaigns?
3. How effective are my sales funnels on my website?

Who is Filling Out My Infusionsoft Web Forms?

One of our goals as an online marketer is to build a quality list of prospects that may not be ready to buy right now, but may be ready down the road. So, we want to stay engaged with them, and like many other website owners, we have several irresistible “free” offers available for download in exchange for an email address.

I have never heard anyone say, “My list is big enough and I don’t want any more people on it, and I already have enough clients”, so to better understand your website visitors and improve your opt-in rate or contact form submissions, there are three steps to take:

1. When creating a web form inside your Infusionsoft application, select the option “send to a web page”, not “show thank you message”.
2. Create a thank you page as your destination for your web form and on your website.
3. In Google Analytics, set your opt-in thank you page and/or contact thank you page as a goal(s).

After you have completed these steps and have goal completions (opt-ins) in Google Analytics, you can segment your data within analytics and find out several questions about your successful opt-ins including:

1. Are my opt-ins first time website visitors or returning visitors?
2. Which source of traffic is getting me the most opt-ins?
3. What content are my visitors looking at before/after they opt-in?

Once you answer these questions, you will be able to make better decisions on your future list building and lead generation efforts, and make plans based on actionable data and not just guessing to see what works.

How Effective is My Email Marketing?

Like many online marketers, we publish an email newsletter, have multiple Infusionsoft follow up sequences (auto-responders) running from various opt-ins, and use email marketing to help sell our products, services, and programs. Our number one goal with all of this is to get the receiver to click a link.

We are big fans of Infusionsoft and use its many great reporting tools to analyze our marketing efforts in order to try and improve our outcomes, but I can’t get all of the information from Infusionsoft that I want, so this is where Google Analytics comes in.

With every link we place in an email message, I add an extension tag to the destination webpage URL to “tell” Google Analytics where the website visitor is coming from. Without placing the extension tag on the link URL, any website traffic from an email marketing link will show up as “direct” or as a referral from a web-based email provider in your traffic sources reports. When analyzing your Google Analytics data, you will have no idea how effective your email campaigns are.

Every link should have at least three parameters assigned to them:

1. Source-What is the source of the traffic? Ezine, affiliate, social media, etc.
2. Medium-What is the way the traffic is coming? Email, link, ad, etc.
3. Campaign-What marketing campaign is the traffic coming from? Spring Sale, New Product Launch, Email Newsletter, etc.

Some Examples:

If you are marketing new blog posts through your email newsletter to drive traffic to your site, below is an example UTM tag that Google Analytics can read. Everything after the URL, starting with the question mark, is the UTM tag.

http://www.yourdomain.com/newblogpost?utm_source=ezine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EzineTitle

If you are marketing a new product or service through your ezine, below is an example UTM tag. Note that the campaign parameter has changed.

http://www.yourdomain.com/salespage?utm_source=ezine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ProductLaunch

If you are sending an email message only about your new product or service, the following example could be used.

http://www.yourdomain.com/salespage?utm_source=email&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=ProductLaunch

Now let’s say that you are using an Infusionsoft follow up sequence to up-sell a program after someone opts-in on your site for your free report. Note the source and campaign has changed.

http://www.yourdomain.com/program?utm_source=FUS&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=FreeOfferOptIn

The key to using UTM tags is to remain consistent with the parameters you set. I recommend a spreadsheet to keep track. Until you get comfortable writing UTM tags, bookmark the Google Analytics URL Builder, and use their tool to auto-generate your links.

Adding the UTM parameters to your email marketing links will now allow you to analyze your efforts within Google Analytics, and determine your prospect’s behavior after any links are getting clicked on.

How Effective are My Sales Funnels

After you’ve built your list with your irresistible free offer and continued to provide value through useful content, the next step is to go for the sale. Your sales funnels will be determined through your marketing plan, and a little tweaking of Google Analytics and Infusionsoft, will allow you to analyze the process and try to improve your conversion rate.

To integrate Google Analytics and Infusionsoft order forms, three things must be done:

1. Modify your Google Analytics tracking code
2. Add the Google Analytics tracking code to your order forms
3. Set up Goals and Goal funnels inside Google Analytics

Because Infusionsoft is a third-party shopping cart that sits on a sub-domain of another website, when someone clicks a link to make a purchase on your site, they are technically “leaving” your website, and Google Analytics cannot track your visitor’s path without some modifications to the tracking code.

Before we dive into the super-nerdy stuff, Google recently released an update to its analytics code to asynchronous, so the following code examples will be for the newer asynchronous tracking code. If you haven’t updated your site to the new code, I highly recommend it. You can read more right here straight from Google

For the purposes of this post we will use the following Infusionsoft application example https://example.infusionsoft.com.

The standard asynchronous code, with event tracking and download file types also enabled, will look something like this:

<script type=”text/javascript”>
var analyticsFileTypes = ['pdf,mp3'];
var analyticsEventTracking = ‘enabled’;
</script>
<script type=”text/javascript”>
var _gaq = _gaq || [];
_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-XXXXXXXX-X']);
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);
(function() {
var ga = document.createElement(‘script’); ga.type = ‘text/javascript’; ga.async = true;
ga.src = (‘https:’ == document.location.protocol ? ‘https://ssl’ : ‘http://www’) + ‘.google-analytics.com/ga.js’;
var s = document.getElementsByTagName(‘script’)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);
})();
</script>

(replace UA-XXXXXXXX-X with your actual Google Analytics account number)

For tracking website visitors across Infusionsoft order forms, the following two bolded lines of code must be added to your analytics tracking code and updated on every page of your site and will look something like this:

<script type=”text/javascript”>
var analyticsFileTypes = ['pdf,mp3'];
var analyticsEventTracking = ‘enabled’;
</script>
<script type=”text/javascript”>
var _gaq = _gaq || [];
_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-XXXXXXXX-X']);
_gaq.push(['_setDomainName', 'none']);
_gaq.push(['_setAllowLinker', true]);
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);
(function() {
var ga = document.createElement(‘script’); ga.type = ‘text/javascript’; ga.async = true;
ga.src = (‘https:’ == document.location.protocol ? ‘https://ssl’ : ‘http://www’) + ‘.google-analytics.com/ga.js’;
var s = document.getElementsByTagName(‘script’)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);
})();
</script>

Now, when creating an Infusionsoft order form, the same modified Google Analytics code must be placed in the <head> HTML of the order form. After this, and one more step, Google Analytics will treat the order form as a page on your site and track the page view.

Next, on any link or “Add To Cart” button on a sales page on http://www.yourdomain.com, that sends to an Infusionsoft order form the link HTML must look like this:

<a href=”https://example.infusionsoft.com/saleform/example”
onclick=”_gaq.push(['_link', 'https://example.infusionsoft.com/saleform/example ']); return false;”>Add To Cart</a>

Replace https://example.infusionsoft.com/saleform/example with the actual link to your order form and Add To Cart with your desired link text or button source information.

Just like when creating a web form, when you create an Infusionsoft order form be sure to select the “send to a web page” option, and create a thank you page on your website. Set up this thank you page as an additional goal in your Google Analytics account and if you want, you can create a goal funnel too. Now Google Analytics can track buyers across your order forms, to your thank you page, and give you loads of insight to your website visitors that make purchases.

These are just a few ways to integrate Infusionsoft and Google Analytics to get you started, but remember that with any data collected from either software platform, the idea is to use the information to analyze, adjust, and improve your online marketing efforts. Don’t get caught up in “analysis paralysis”. Look at your data, make a decision on what to change, and then implement it. Lather, rinse, and repeat your way to success.

I would love to hear from any other Infusionsoft users on how they integrate Google Analytics into their online marketing, so please leave a comment. Also, if this post registers a little too high on the NERD-O-METER, and you have a question, please ask.

All legal disclaimers for products, programs, or services that you are marketing should be clearly visible on the same webpage or printed marketing piece that your items are described.

I have gathered the following marketing disclaimers as examples to consult when crafting your disclosures with a professional legal advisor.

General Website Marketing Disclaimer

“The income statements, testimonials, and examples on this website are exceptional results, and are not intended to represent or guarantee that anyone will achieve the same or similar results. Each individual’s success depends on his or her desire, dedication, marketing background, market place, product, service, effort and motivation to work and follow programs and advice. There is no guarantee you will duplicate the results stated here. You recognize any business endeavor has inherent risk for loss of capital.”

Membership Disclaimer

“Per the current FTC guidelines, we are in the process of collecting results data from Company X members in order to be able define the “typical” or “average” experience of our members. While we collect that data, we are sharing unique stories of individual Company X members. None of these stories in any way represent the “average” or “typical” Company X member experience. In fact, as with any product or service, we know that some members purchase our system but never use it, and therefore get no results from their membership whatsoever. Therefore, the member stories we are sharing can neither represent nor guarantee the current or future experience of other past, current or future Company X members. Rather, these member stories represent what is possible with our system. Each of these unique stories, and any and all results reported in these stories by individual members, are the culmination of numerous variables, many of which Company X cannot control, including pricing, target market conditions, product/service quality, offer, customer service, personal initiative, and countless other tangible and intangible factors.”

Coaching/Educational Program Disclaimer

“Every effort has been made to accurately represent our program and its potential. Any claims made of actual earnings or examples of actual results can be verified upon request. Testimonials and examples used are exceptional results, don’t apply to the average purchaser, and are not intended to represent or guarantee that anyone will achieve the same or similar results. Each individual’s success depends on his or her background, dedication, desire and motivation. As with any business endeavor, there is an inherent risk of loss of capital and there is no guarantee that you will earn any money.”

Affiliate Marketing Disclosure

The FTC clearly states that all products and services sold through affiliate marketing programs must have a clear disclaimer notifying the consumer that you may receive a commission or fee if someone purchases through your link.

“From time to time, we will promote, endorse, or suggest products and/or services for sale. These recommendations are ALWAYS based on a belief that the product and it’s author will provide excellent and valuable information or service based on a review of that product, our relationship with that person, and or previous positive experience with the person or company who’s product we are recommending. In some cases, we will be compensated if you decide to purchase that product based on our recommendation. We may also receive the product for free for review purposes. Always do your OWN due-diligence before making any purchases and never purchase anything that you cannot afford.”

My Personal Disclaimer…You Knew This Was Coming

“The contents of this post are intended to be purely educational in nature, and are not intended to be used as legal advice. As with all legal matters, consult a proper attorney before using any of these disclaimers in your marketing materials, advertising, or on your website. Use of these examples without due diligence is at your own risk.”

I read the email, re-read the email and again and at the end I still wasn’t quite sure what the sender was asking of me! But I think the sender was asking me to either meet him for a sales pitch or provide free coaching.

Here’s the problem with “cold calling” using direct email marketing: you can’t hear the tone of voice, you have a hard time reading between the lines, and you can’t clarify and ask questions easily.

In this post, I am going to share the email I received with you, I am going to critique it and share some insights on what a stranger would think reading it, and I am going to provide a rewritten version of the email that I would have liked to have received.

Here’s the email I received:

Hello Jennifer;

Looks like I could learn much from you. All that I read about you on your website says ” you are successful” and I feel that all of us could benefit from encouraging success at all levels in our lives. Our mutual friends of Cinderella and Snow White are wonderful folks. I would like to come in and meet with you and learn more about what you do and see first hand what you offer. I also am a member of Disney Church. We have a group that meets on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month. We are all business owners, managers or sales people. Good coaching and networking to help one another I think is one of the keys to help propel our business’ in this economy.

Jennifer, let me know what you think and how soon we can meet. I look forward to learning about your company, and seeing how we just might enhance one another’s business’. Thanks kindly for your time and I hope you have the best day ever!!!

Before I point out the mistakes made in this email, I want to be very clear that this email critique isn’t meant to bash the sender

• I think the sender actually had his heart in the right place
• I think the sender was truly wants to build a mutually beneficial relationship
• I think the sender was trying to reach out and do good
• I think the sender meant well

But this email message, from the recipient’s point of view, is a mess and sends up all sorts of red flags and doesn’t adhere to the most common direct email marketing best practices.

I chose to critique this email publicly on the blog because I get A LOT of these emails, sometimes several each week and I am seeing the same email mistakes made over and over.

Plus the email marketing statistics for a message like this has got to be awful. So, with a few changes and improvements, the senders could increase their success rate with email marketing leads quite a bit! And hopefully, this critique will help you write better and more successful solicitation email messages as well.

Email Introduction Critique
From a total stranger’s point of view as the recipient

Email Message Says:

Looks like I could learn much from you. All that I read about you on your website says ” you are successful” and I feel that all of us could benefit from encouraging success at all levels in our lives

Email Message Critique:

Starting off an email to someone you have never met, never had any interaction with, and have never introduced yourself to before with this statement immediately puts the recipient on guard and sends up fiery red warning flares telling them to watch out.

That statement alone, whether you meant it or not, screams asking for free work. In fact, the email might as well have read, “I’m struggling and I need help. You look really successful. In the spirit of giving, because you’re nice right? Will you teach me everything you know and coach me for free because that would be great?”

As you can see, starting an email off with this statement to a total stranger pretty much renders your message dead upon arrival and your email marketing statistic and success rate are probably going to be in the toilet.

Email Message Says:

Our mutual friends of Cinderella and Snow White are wonderful folks.

Email Message Critique:

Um, name dropping only works if you explain why you are name dropping. Yes, it’s great that we have some mutual friends and I’m glad you think they’re wonderful. But what does that have to do with me? Why are you using their names? Are you a client of one of theirs? Do you work with one of them? Did one of them tell you to contact me? You need to explain this to me or it just seems odd and leaves me baffled.

Email Message Says:

I would like to come in and meet with you and learn more about what you do and see first hand what you offer.

Email Message Critique:

Really!? Oh My Gosh! I am jumping up and down! Okay, not really. At this point I am actually wondering why. Why do you want to come in and meet with me to see what I offer? Earlier in the email you told me you were on my website. You even told me that it made me look successful. So why do you need to meet with me to figure out what I do?

Is it because you didn’t actually read anything on my website? Is it because you just went to my website to get my contact information so you could email me and it looked professional so obviously I am successful?

Or, is it because you don’t actually care at all what I do and you’re just using that as a reason to get in the door? I know this trick well because in the past I have fallen for it many times.

It goes something like this: I agree to meet a total stranger who wants to learn more about my services and when we actually meet, I can barely get out a brief overview of the company before they start in on their sales pitch of a product or service that would be a great fit for me and my clients. I smile, nod, barely say a word, excuse myself as quickly as possible and drive home mad that I just wasted my time on a work day listening to a sales pitch.

Email Message Says:

I also am a member of Disney Church. We have a group that meets on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month. We are all business owners, managers or sales people.

Email Message Critique:

There are so many things wrong with this statement it isn’t even funny.

I mean seriously… Good for you! You go to church and you network! But again, what does this have to do with me? I can’t figure out if this is a statement or a question or an invitation. Am I supposed to be familiar with your church? Am I supposed to meet with you because you go to church? Are you inviting me to be a part of your group? I am confused!

Email Message Says:

Good coaching and networking to help one another I think is one of the keys to help propel our business’ in this economy.

Email Message Critique:

Let’s just ignore the fact that the overused “in this economy” phrase was included and focus on the good part of this sentence. At least the sender understands that good coaching and networking are part of business success.

But it has the same problem as the other statement’s we’ve reviewed. What does this have to do with me? From the statement we just looked at I thought maybe you were asking me to network with your group. But from this statement, it sounds like you’re asking for free coaching.

These types of statements drive me crazy. It’s as if you asking for free consulting or coaching is acceptable because you’re asking under the guise of helping others “in this economy.” Is that supposed to make me feel bad or guilty and agree to work for free out of guilt?

Email Message Says:

Jennifer, let me know what you think and how soon we can meet. I look forward to learning about your company, and seeing how we just might enhance one another’s business’.

Email Message Critique:

This is the part that I have the hardest time with. How do I respond to this? At this point, I don’t really have a clear understanding of what you want, what you’re asking of from me, what your intentions are with the meeting, or why I should go. There really wasn’t a compelling reason presented that makes me think, “Oh Yeah! I want to meet with this person.”

And, I’m curious… the sender is asking how soon we can meet. Is he in a hurry? Is this urgent? Nothing in the email message made me think so.

The last line is the best. Of course the sender looks forward to learning about my company (even though the sender says they’ve already been on my website), learning about my company is just the appetizer they need to snack on before they push their main course across the table at me and sell me their product or service. They’ll talk about how much more successful I’d be if I used the product. Then they’ll ask me for ideas of how I would market and sell their product, and if they’re like the people I’ve met with in the past, you’ll expect me to pick up the bill for lunch because I’m the successful one.

Thoughts on The Direct Email Marketing Introduction
Insights From Past Experiences

Am I jaded? Of course. I have received enough of these direct email marketing messages to know that it is more than likely a canned email you wrote and sent to 50 people, just changing the names your dropping each time. And, I’ve sat through enough of these meetings to have earned the right to be jaded. Each time, Brian would always ask me, “Why are going to another one of these lunches or meetings? They’re always trying to get something out of you for nothing.” And each time I’d respond with, “But they seem really nice and they know Cinderella, and maybe this will be different.“  But they never were.

What people don’t understand is that when you first start out with your own business, you’ll take all of those meetings because you’re looking for every opportunity under the sun. You’re at the point where you’re saying yes to everything.

But then something changes. As you become more successful, those inquiries start coming more and more often. You try to meet with everyone because you want to be nice and you want to give them a chance and you want to help everyone who asks you. But then you realize you’re exhausted and you need to start protecting your time.

It usually isn’t until this point that a business owner or entrepreneur really starts to realize the value of their time and the exact dollar amount each hour of their time is worth. It’s at this time that the word “No” comes into play more often simply out of the need to stay focused and productive. It is not easy and it doesn’t always feel good because it is in our nature to help.

It’s at this time that the lunches and meetings over coffee with complete strangers who want to “see how we can work together” get cut out of the equation. Instead, only the inquiries from serious business owners and entrepreneurs who have done their homework, have come prepared, and present a proposal or idea of their own are the ones that capture their email marketing leads and earn the meetings.

It is with this approach in mind that I want to present the original email rewritten the way I would have liked to have received the email message.

Email Introduction Rewritten
What I Would Have Liked To Have Received

If direct marketing by email was part of my marketing strategy and I was going to reach out to someone I had never met before who had no idea who I am, my email would sound quite a bit different. Here’s an example of the email I would have sent:

Hello Jennifer;

I was recently at a networking meeting and I was speaking with the wonderful Cinderella and Snow White who mentioned your name and recommended I get in touch with you.

My name is Robin Hood and I think our businesses could be very complimentary to each other. I have spent some time on your website and see that you provide online marketing training and consulting, marketing implementation, and web development services.

I am a representative for Product X and while I see that you offer very comprehensive service, I also see how important it is to you to learn about new marketing products and tools that are available.

I believe that Product X is going to change the landscape of traditional marketing and online marketing by making it easier and faster for your audience to connect with you on the spot.

Obviously, you don’t need a consultant on SEO, but I do have some interesting ideas I think you’ll like about the immediate ways that I can see this benefiting Bourn Creative, especially when it comes to keynote speaking. Then, if you’re interested, I’d also like to speak with you about adding Product X as a tool or resource in your marketing training and seminars.

On another note, I see that you’re also an avid networker! The networking group I mentioned is held at Disney Church on Aladdin Street near your office. We meet on the first and third Tuesday of each month and regularly have about 50 business owners, sales reps, and managers in the room supporting each other. I would like to invite you to come and check it out and talk about having you speak to the group about online marketing and website marketing.

Thank you so much for your time. I look forward to hearing from you and hope we can meet soon!

Thanks kindly for your time and have a great day!

Here’s a quick recap of why this email introduction has so much more impact:

• Immediately, I was told why this person was contacting me and who referred me.
• The sender introduced himself and proved that he had done his homework and knows something about me, about my business., and about the services I offer to my clients.
• The sender told me exactly what type of business he is in and what product he is pitching
• The sender handled an immediate objection he knew I’d have because he took the time to learn about my business before emailing me
• The sender got my attention with the immediate ways he could see the product benefit my business, which means he has ideas to help me and isn’t going to ask me to come up with ideas about his product can help me.
• The sender didn’t push to sell the product or push me to sell the product to my clients, but instead asked to discuss the possibility of me sharing information about it along with the other resources I share (that’s called smart and respectful).
• The sender looped back to the first statement he made in the opening and gave me more information about his networking group and an official invitation to attend. The sender told me that is was close to my office which also shows that he did his homework.
• The sender closed with a positive but not pushy statement. The sender gives me the option of how to respond and when. I can email or call the sender, or I can choose to attend a meeting of the networking group to meet him for the first time there.

So there you have it. Insights on what a total stranger thinks when emailed a vague, sales-y introduction email that seems to ask them to do something for free.

I hope you found this email marketing critique helpful and that it improves some of the email communication being sent today!

When I checked in with Facebook this morning I saw that a friend of mine commented on the post (Don’t go looking to see who posted it. I deleted the comment so there wouldn’t be any embarrassment), and here’s what he said:

“Email Marketing is Outdated! Just FYI!”

I couldn’t believe I was actually reading this statement. I actually laughed at the ridiculousness and ignorance of this comment. Was he serious? There was no way he could really think that right? I was a bit more than surprised and had to tell Brian what I just read.

His response to my question, “Can you believe that statement?” was interesting. He said, “Yes I can.”

WHAT!?! I was getting ready for an argument because he knows that email marketing is a highly effective marketing tool for our business, for our clients’ businesses and many of our friends’ businesses.

But then he continued, “I can see that point of view, because if you’re not really using email marketing the right way and you don’t do any marketing to support your email marketing, you aren’t going to see good results and you might say that.”

Here’s the Email Marketing Problem

You see, I think some entrepreneurs and small business owners get sucked in by the often used sales pitch that email marketing is a quick and easy marketing magic pill. They fall in love with the idea that they can simply send an email once a week, or once a month, and then new clients and new qualified prospects will start beating down their door. They get bamboozled by the idea that all they have to do is add an opt-in form or subscribe form in the upper right-hand corner of their website and suddenly people from all over the web will flock to their site and their list will grow and grow and grow.

But that’s not really how it works – at least not in the real world. But they don’t know that.

So they keep sending out their emails and they keep seeing little to no results. And they’re sitting in front of their computer wondering,

“Why isn’t anyone buying my stuff? Why isn’t anyone registering for my classes, workshops, teleseminars, or webinars? Why isn’t anyone clicking on my links?” And then they get frustrated and say, “Email marketing doesn’t work. Email marketing is outdated.”

Um… Email Marketing is Not Outdated.
You’re Just Doing it Wrong

Since his comment was in response to my Infusionsoft’s Biggest Fan post, I need to point out that Infusionsoft calls their approach: “Email Marketing 2.0″ It’s because the old way of email marketing… ok, let’s be honest, the LAZY way of email marketing isn’t going to work anymore. Today’s entrepreneurs and business owners are too savvy for that.

You can’t be lazy about your marketing, not really try, then send out an email and expect magic to happen. To be successful at email marketing you need to embrace Infusionsoft’s Email Marketing 2.0 approach.

Here’s a quick run down of what I interpret to be the differences between Email Marketing 1.0 (the old lazy way that used to work) and Email Marketing 2.0 (the new kick butt approach that totally works).

Email Marketing 1.0: Blast all of your current and past clients, prospects, vendors, and partners with a marketing sales message and hope that it resonates with someone.

Email Marketing 2.0: Tailor separate versions of your sales message for each segment of your list: current clients, past clients, vendors, affiliates, partners, prospects, etc. Each group gets a highly targeted email that speaks right to their needs and problems, which makes them instantly feel like you know exactly how they feel and your conversion rate increases.

Email Marketing 1.0: You use it only for your weekly, or monthly (not as effective) email newsletter to your whole list.

Email Marketing 2.0: You use it for your newsletter, small targeted sales messages, and all different types of multi-step follow up like the ideas listed below.

• The “Hey great to meet you at…” follow up sequence
• The “Thanks for subscribing…” follow up sequence
• The “Congratulations on your purchase…” follow up sequence
• The “Holiday Message…” stay in touch sequence
• The “Did you know…” stay in touch sequence

Email Marketing 1.0: Your follow up email is inconsistent, mostly just a single email and that’s it.

Email Marketing 2.0: Your follow up emails are pre-written, planned, and tested. They are not a single message, but instead a sequence of emails that build off of each other. Your follow up sequences can be 3 emails, 9 emails, 12 emails, or more, and they can be spread out over a couple weeks, a couple months, or even a year or more.

Email Marketing 1.0: You send your email newsletter and sometimes look at the report, but you mostly just wonder why it’s not working.

Email Marketing 2.0: You integrate Google Analytics and you track, measure, and test everything, looking at the reports from your email marketing service provider and Google Analytics to see what is working and what is not working, then you adjust your marketing accordingly.

Email Marketing 1.0: You operate in an email marketing bubble and you don’t put much effort into other forms of marketing to support your email marketing.

Email Marketing 2.0: You’re everywhere! You’re regularly posting rich, valuable, content to your blog or website, you’re sharing useful and helpful information across your social networks, you’re attending live networking events, you’re using direct mail, and you’re staying in the conversation with your audience, working to build strong, trust-based relationships.

Email Marketing 1.0: You’re thinking “I sent it, they will click it.” You wonder why you’re not seeing results. You never think it could be because you’re doing it wrong… Nope. It’s not working because email marketing is outdated. (FYI).

Email Marketing 2.0: You are reaping the benefits of an integrated marketing strategy. When you send out your email newsletter, or sales-oriented solo email blast, your community takes action. You see a spike in your website traffic, you see a significant jump in registrations and/or purchases, and you receive emails in response about your great article or about how excited they are about the purchase they just made or the class they just registered for.

Email Marketing 1.0: You use a general opt-out or unsubscribe link that removes them from all of your lists and mailings.

Email Marketing 2.0: You use custom opt-out or unsubscribe links that let people change their contact information, choose when they hear from you, and choose what topics they want to hear from you about.

Proof That Email Marketing Still Works and is Highly Effective

At Bourn Creative, we use an integrated marketing approach for ourselves and our clients, which means we weave a wide range of marketing strategies together so they all work together and support the efforts in each area to work toward one single comprehensive goal.

We use social networking to build, nurture, and enhance relationships. The people we connect with on Facebook and Twitter, end up clicking a link we share and reading a blog post on our site. While they are on our site they opt-in for the newsletter. Once they are on our newsletter, and when it is the right time for them, one of our messages will strike a nerve and they will become a client.

Now this process is pretty standard, but there are some things you have to take into account to make sure that this process actually works. For example:

• You actually have to work at connecting on Facebook and Twitter. Just posting links and retweeting or liking other people’s stuff isn’t enough. You have to have conversations. Would you walk up to someone at a live networking event, shove a printed copy of your special report in their hands, walk away, and expect them to hire you? No way! If you did that, you know where your report would be? In the trash (and they probably wouldn’t like you).
• When people come to your site, they need to be in awe. If your website stinks, it doesn’t matter how much you market or how hard you work at your marketing, your efforts will be wasted because the visitors you get there won’t convert.
• Your opt-in or irresistible free offer also needs to be AWESOME! It needs to be so good that your site visitors feel like they have to have it – like they need it and can’t leave your site without getting it. If it is just okay, if it is just something you decided to offer because you think its good, if it doesn’t solve a painful problem your audience is aware of, it won’t work.
• Your newsletter needs to be fantastic week after week. You need to regularly provide useful, interesting, and when you can, entertaining content that will help the reader. You need to make it personal so they get to know you a bit, relevant so it speaks to their needs, and valuable so they don’t unsubscribe. Remember, people buy when they are ready not when you are ready. So you need to keep publishing great content and when they’re ready, they’ll work with you because you stayed in the conversation. For example, we recently had a subscriber who has been on our newsletter list since 2008 finally pull the trigger and hire us for a monster project. This is an extremely valuable connection for us and when we asked why us and why now, they told us that they loved our newsletters and it just took them a long time to get in the position to be able to say, “GO!”

Traditional Email Marketing May be Outdated, But Email Marketing 2.0 is Here and It’s Kicking Serious Butt

So, to the guy who commented this morning about email marketing being outdated (FYI), I say that your notion of what email marketing really is and how it is used is outdated. I know an unbelievable number of entrepreneurs and business owners currently using email marketing in their business and achieving great success as a direct result of their efforts.

If you need some help, you can always hire us… and if your email marketing provider stinks, you can always move over to Infusionsoft. After all, as I mentioned before, I’m Infusionsoft’s biggest fan.