Author: webdesignguy

How Much Is High-Converting Copy Worth to YOU? (No, Really, Calculate It Here)

So you have an e-commerce or SaaS website, and you’re starting to suspect that your sales copy … sucks.
Like, really sucks.
Ever since you launched your product, you’ve noticed symptoms of Toxic Copy Syndrome breaking out across your website like a bad case of acne.
Symptoms such as:

Bounce rates so high you don’t even check GA anymore.
Email campaigns that generate as much enthusiasm as a letter from the IRS.
An alarmingly sieve-like unsubscribe rate.
Leads that appear to have Alzheimer’s, because they can’t ever seem to remember what your product actually does and

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Announcing The 2015 Cost of Online Business Report [Infographic]

Here’s a neat fact to start your day: Copyblogger has a goat keeper among its readers. We know because he took our 2015 Cost of Online Business survey.
Now, more than likely it’s a prank. A prank by some misfit in Boca Raton.
But I have to confess: part of me wants there to be a goat keeper (somewhere exotic) who is a faithful reader of Copyblogger. An enterprising shepherd who dreams of growing his herd — with content marketing.
Ah, to dream.
But whether or not the goat keeper is real doesn’t really matter. It is, however, just one of dozens of interesting discoveries we made during our 2015 Cost of Online Business survey.
Discoveries like:

More than a quarter of respondents identified as a Small Business Owner.
Most website owners are struggling to make a living online.
Yet more and more people are choosing to enter the online business realm.
Generating traffic is the biggest challenge of running an online business.

And 53 additional interesting results.
Results that will help us create content that solves your online business problems and develop new products that better serve your needs. Not to mention allowing us to upgrade our current products based on what matters most to you.
Naturally, we wanted this information to serve you better. But we thought you needed it, too.
How can you accurately evaluate your current strategies and tactics — and their associated costs — if you don’t know what other folks are doing and what’s working for them?
You need to know your options.
The survey results in three ways
We’ve decided to provide the results

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Lessons Learned from Conducting Two Monster Audience Surveys

You may be creating content in a niche with 1,000 other sites, but only you have your audience. And surveying your audience can be fertile ground for the kind of information and insight that builds your next transformative content series.
Just ask Demian Farnworth. He did it twice for Copyblogger in 2014 — and the results of his second survey will be posted here tomorrow.
We talked about his mentality in conducting these two surveys, his process, and the lessons he learned in the latest episode of The Lede.
In this episode, Demian Farnworth and I discuss:

Creating a survey to gain insights for a unique content series
Choosing the right survey methodology
How to survey your audience, even if your audience is small and you have limited resources
The golden rule of good content
What we’ll do differently when conducting our next survey

Listen to The Lede …
To listen, you can either hit the flash audio player below, or browse the links to find your preferred format …

Click here to download the mp3 | 33.4 MB | 24:06
Click here to subscribe via iTunes
Click here to listen via Stitcher
Click here for the RSS feed (non iTunes)
Click here for the show archive

React to The Lede …
As always, we appreciate your reaction to episodes of The Lede and feedback about how we’re doing.
Send us a tweet with your thoughts anytime: @JerodMorris and @DemianFarnworth.
And please tell us the most important point you took away from this episode. Do so by joining the discussion over on LinkedIn.
The

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The Complete Digital Analytics Ecosystem: How To Win Big

The world of digital analytics seems to be insanely complicated.
And, yes, some of it is. Third-party or first-party cookies anyone? And, are we tracking people, devices, web browsers or whoknowswhat?
But it is a lot less complicated than you might believe. No. Really. A lot less complicated.
I led a discussion the other day with a collection of people who were brand new to the space and some who were jaded long-term residents of Camp Web Analytics. When someone played the omg, it is all so complicated (!!) card, I took the opportunity to sketch a picture of the entire ecosystem to highlight that it really was not all that complicated. The process involved slowly laying out each piece of the puzzle and how it fit the piece next to it.
By the end of the exercise there was a lovingly simple picture, and a path to glory. In this blogpost I want to share that with you.
Regardless of your experience in the space, I believe you’ll find it to be of value. Even if you are in the super-jaded category, this will help you present something to your boss’s boss that will get them to finally understand what you do!
Our journey to understanding, dare I say nirvana, follow these steps:

Digital Analytics Ecosystem: The Core Elements
Digital Analytics Ecosystem: The Inputs
Digital Analytics Ecosystem: The Outputs
Digital Analytics Ecosystem: Optimal Execution: Three Phases
Digital Analytics Ecosystem: Optimal Execution: Timing Expectations

Doesn’t it sound absolutely exciting? It is. And along the way you’ll find helpful tips, links for deep dives, and a ravishing amount of new insights.
Ready? Let’s go!
Digital Analytics Ecosystem: The Core Elements
At the

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2015 Challenge 4 of 4: Make Yourself Really, Really, Shockingly, Nauseatingly Uncomfortable

This is the final part of our 4-part series on the challenges we’re posing for ourselves in 2015. Join us by challenging yourself to the same things. (See Challenge 1, 2 and 3)
The first conference I ever spoke at was Microconf Vegas in 2013.
I went on right after lunch on Day 2.
So I essentially starved for two days…
…because who could keep food down knowing some 300 startup founders were sitting – in long rows in a long conference room – waiting to stare blankly at you for approximately 7 seconds before realizing that, nope, they don’t

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