Business Growth Strategies » Viral Marketing

Bye-Bye Email Subscribe Button

Ryan M. Healy — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 19:15:36 +0000

When I asked for you to vote on your favorite blog header graphic, I got a number of insightful comments and questions. If you voted or replied, thank you.

I also got a couple comments from readers who questioned why I was removing the red subscribe button from the header graphic. For example:

why are you taking out the email updates portion

And another one:

I wouldn’t be on your list if it weren’t for that red subscribe button ;-)

These are valid questions and concerns. Why remove something that’s working?

Why I’m Ditching the Email Subscribe Button

I’m getting rid of the button for a few reasons:

1. It competes with the Hello Bar I use on the site. I split-test various calls to action in the Hello Bar, one of which is to subscribe to email updates.

2. The entire header graphic — not just the red button — was linked to the opt-in page. I found this a little confusing. Header graphics, if they are linked, usually link to the home page. So removal of the button and the link eliminates confusion.

3. I’m planning to implement other avenues for new site visitors to opt-in to my email list. I’ll be rolling out these design tweaks over the next few weeks.

Keep Your Blog Fresh

It’s important to keep your blog fresh.

Obviously, publishing new content is part of that. But making changes to your site’s design is another important aspect that most bloggers overlook.

Over time, regular blog readers develop “ad blindness.” They fail to see the ads, links, and calls-to-action that surround your content.

Small design changes can make them reexamine your site and see things they may not have seen before.

Technology Is Changing Fast

What’s more, technology is always marching forward. I find this is especially true in the field of social media plugins. I think I’ve gone through at least 8 different plugins designed to enhance social media sharing.

ShareThis
Sexy Bookmarks
Sociable (Pro Version)
Topsy ReTweet Button
Active Share by OrangeSoda
SERPd button by Chris Burns
Google Plus Widget by WebpageFX
Google +1 Button by Jacob Gillespie

And I’m currently using Slick Social Share Buttons by Lee Chestnutt.

Some of the plugins didn’t quite work like I wanted them to. Some worked great, but failed to generate the response I was hoping for. And so forth.

The point is, you should always be testing to see what design elements work the best.

And to do that, you’ve got to try a number of different things, measure response/reaction, and keep making those gradual improvements every single week, month, and year.

-Ryan M. Healy

P.S. The winner of the blog header contest was Design #2, which is now at the top of this blog. It got 67% more votes than Design #1.Similar Posts:

Ryan Healy’s Social Network

Ryan M. Healy — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:09:45 +0000

I got more traffic to this web site last month (October 2009) than any other month since I started writing this blog.

Part of the reason for this is I have some truly great people in my social network. And they have graciously shared and linked to some of the posts I’ve written in the last month. (If that’s you, THANK YOU!)

And then I realized… I don’t believe I’ve ever formally invited you to connect with me on the social networks I’m active on. So without further adieu (all links open in a new tab or window)…

If you are active on any of these social networks, please connect with me.

What’s in it for you?

No promises (obviously), but I do try to reciprocate when I know somebody has helped me out. So I’ll Stumble or Digg an article of yours… or leave a comment on your blog… or retweet something you share.

In other words, I try to pay attention and respond to people who engage me — and help them out when I can. It’s just good netiquette.

Furthermore, I’ve found that when you’re online, there is strength in numbers. The larger your network, the more influence you have… and the easier it is to attract new readers, subscribers, etc.

With that in mind, I look forward to connecting with you on the Interwebs! ;-)

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

Brandishing a Red Hot Poker: Getting Attention in Hyper-Distracted Markets

Ryan M. Healy — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:35:50 +0000

Doesn’t matter what market you’re in, you’ll always be competing for the attention of your prospects and customers.

They’ve got a million things going on… oh, and they just got distracted by thing number million and one. (Was it a new email, a text message, an IM on Skype, an incoming tweet? Whatever it was, they’re probably not paying attention to you!)

But imagine for a moment the prospect of witnessing a man brandishing a red hot poker in the middle of a mall. You’d ignore everything else — for a few minutes, at least — to focus all your attention on him. You’d be compelled to find out, “What’s going on here?”

On Saturday, I published a post that got a lot of attention. I even rewrote the post (prior to publishing it) to get less attention, if you can believe it. And still, it’s quickly become one of the Top 5 most popular posts I’ve written on this blog.

And that got me to thinking. What made it stand out? Why was that one post so popular when many others I’ve written haven’t been popular at all?

With that in mind, here are three keys for getting people’s attention in hyper-distracted markets.

Red Hot Poker #1: Controversy

Hardly anybody can stay away from a good controversy. That’s one reason my post was so popular: It speculated about Perry Belcher’s real reason for retiring from Internet marketing.

Is there a controversy among your prospects? Or is there a subject most people consider controversial? (It will probably be different in every market.)

For instance, if I were a doctor, I might publish my thoughts on the recent universal health care legislation. And if I were a dentist, I’d be all over the fluoride controversy. Just the mention of it — for anybody who is “in the know” — can raise the temperature of people’s emotions like boiling water in a tea kettle.

This is the power of controversy if you are willing to step up and put yourself in the middle of it. A good controversy is like the proverbial train wreck: It’s hard to look away.

Red Hot Poker #2: Challenge Tradition (or, Tip a Few Sacred Cows)

It’s time to go cow tipping!

Is there something in your market that’s always been done a certain way — but you feel could be done better? Or is there an accepted dogma that you could challenge and perhaps even overturn?

If so, you may have a ripe opportunity for getting people’s attention.

And right now, I can think of no better example than the JK wedding dance. For years, wedding parties and brides-to-be have solemnly marched down the aisle to the alter of holy matrimony.

Then, one day, a couple decided to do it differently.

They danced.

And they got the entire nation’s attention. (If you haven’t seen the JK wedding dance, go watch it. I tear up every time.)

Red Hot Poker #3: Piggyback on Popular News

Probably the most familiar form of “piggybacking” is holiday sales. Everybody in the U.S. knows when Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas happen. It’s an easy way to piggyback on what’s already on everybody’s minds.

But you can piggyback on other news events, too.

For instance, tax day on April 15. The Superbowl. July 4th. These are all predictable events that you can bank on.

But there are also unpredictable events as well. Many times you can get better results from piggybacking on a big news item that pops up unexpectedly.

For instance, when the movie Dark Knight was suddenly popular, lots of smart marketers piggybacked on its success. Same thing when Barack Obama beat John McCain in the 2008 presidential election.

The key here is twofold: You not only want to capitalize on what your market is already thinking about… you also want to be entertaining. By combining these together, you have the perfect recipe for getting — and keeping — your prospects’ and customers’ attention.

(Hint: Any news items that show up on Saturday Night Live or become jokes on the late-night shows are usually things you can piggyback on to get your market’s attention.)

And with that, you now have three ways to get your market’s attention as if you were brandishing a red hot poker. Of course, what you do what that attention once you have it is up to you. ;-)

-Ryan M. Healy

P.S. What techniques do you use to get your prospects’ and customers’ attention? Share by leaving a comment below.Similar Posts:

Obama as the Joker: Bad Marketing?

Ryan M. Healy — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 20:19:27 +0000

In case you missed it, a doctored image of Obama as the Joker went viral yesterday after physical posters started showing up around Los Angeles.

Most things that go viral online start online.

But this started off-line… in one single U.S. city. Then it exploded on the Internet.

So there is clearly something about the poster that works. Here’s a picture of it in case you haven’t seen it.

At first, I thought, “Whoa. That’s really good.” It got my attention. I felt it made it a point — not necessarily on a conscious level, but on a gut level.

Then my friend ~~and political opposite~~ (Rob Siders) pointed me to an article in which Robert Dougherty makes an excellent point:

The Joker was many things, but he was hardly a socialist. In fact, the Joker is the polar opposite of a socialist, and anyone who watched The Dark Knight would know that. Socialism is the result of an all-powerful central government that runs every aspect of life — but the Joker subscribes to anarchy, one of socialism’s polar opposites.

And as much as I dislike Obama (and all mainstream politicians), I had to agree: Obama is not an anarchist. He’s a socialist. (Not to say socialists are good guys… their mass extermination projects have been among the greatest atrocities in history.)

So if the comparison is inaccurate, what is it about the Obama/Joker poster that works? Why did it go viral so quickly?

I think it’s because of the raw emotion created by blending Obama’s face with the Joker’s makeup. When you first see the poster, your brain isn’t thinking, “Oh, c’mon! The Joker is an anarchist. How could somebody be so stupid!”

And that’s the point: You’re not thinking. You’re feeling.

So on one level, the poster is very effective. It breaks through the noise. It gets to you. (Isn’t this the first job of all good advertising?)

But on another level, the poster loses its punch. Because it’s hard to make the logical connection between Obama and the Joker.

All good advertising must have a strong emotional appeal — and then be well supported by logic and proof. In this case, it seems the second ingredient is missing.

What do you think? Sound off and leave a comment.

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

Moonfruit Just Moonwalked All Over Michael Jackson

Ryan M. Healy — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:05:52 +0000

It all started on July 1 when the topic #moonfruit started trending on Twitter. Within a matter of hours, “moonfruit” was more popular than Michael Jackson.

Naturally, people on Twitter started to notice. Tweets started showing up all over the place saying “WTF is #moonfruit?” After all, what could possibly be more popular than Michael Jackson the week of his death?

A Twitter Campaign with Staying Power

So here’s the scoop.

Moonfruit is a web design company. They decided to give away 10 MacBook Pros on Twitter, one a day for 10 days. And all you have to do to enter is tweet #moonfruit.

Turns out, the campaign caught on like wildfire, and #moonfruit has been the #1 trending topic on Twitter for 48 hours now. I don’t think I’ve EVER seen a topic trend that long in the #1 spot. Pretty amazing.

I’ve seen other guys run contests on Twitter, and they’re usually fairly successful. But usually there is only one prize, or the duration of the contest is hours instead of days. There’s some buzz, but it doesn’t last.

Two things Moonfruit has done differently:

Give away a high-value prize.
Give away 10 prizes.

This is what has made the campaign go viral. The campaign has created so much buzz that news of it is moving off Twitter and has been covered on popular sites like Mashable and Brand Republic.

As a direct response marketer, the key question I want to know is: Will Moonfruit be able to turn all this attention into new business?

How to Enter the Moonfruit Contest…

If you’re on Twitter, you too can tweet for a chance to win a MacBook Pro. Simply tweet this:

Celebrate 10 years of Moonfruit and win a MacBook Pro http://bit.ly/96bxC #moonfruit

Of course, you can tweet whatever you want, so long as you include the #moonfruit hash tag.

And, while you’re at it, you can follow me @healymonster.

-Ryan M. Healy

P.S. Happy 4th of July! Enjoy the holiday weekend, and stay safe.

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