Newbies...Are You Overreacting to Your Marketing Stats?

I'm a member of several small business forums, and I'm constantly reading threads where newbies are freaking out, because their marketing stats aren't performing up to their expectations. Unfortunately, in most cases, their expectations aren't based on methodology or fact. They're based on whimsical fantasies of riches, and a quick buck.

In fact, in most cases, newbies don't give their marketing campaigns enough time to actually work, before they start making all sorts of unnecessary wholesale changes.

For example, many newbies start bouncing off walls when they don't get a few conversions out of every 100-200 click-thrus. Here's why that's a mistake: There are far too many variables involved to be able to gauge whether or not a marketing campaign is working after only a couple hundred click-thrus. Not the least of which is traffic quality, and the competency of your marketing materials. I always tell my clients, wait until you've received a minimum of 1000-2000 click-thru's, before you make any adjustments.

Here's why: It's possible you might not get a single sale in the first 100-200 click-thru's. But in the next 100-200 click-thru's, you could get 10 sales. That's marketing. It's like golf, sometimes it will drive you absolutely nuts!The point is you just never know in which traffic groups those sales are going to be in. Again, assuming everything else is in order. That's why it's important not to overreact.

Also, when you do need to make adjustments to your marketing materials, don't change everything all at once. Make one or two changes at a time, and carefully monitor those changes to see if they improve results, before you make any additional changes. The reason for this is simple. If you change your marketing materials in one fell swoop, you won't know with any degree of certainty which changes were responsible for the improved results. For example, sometimes, just changing the headline of your ad or sales letter, and nothing else, can improve conversions significantly.

You also shouldn't overreact to website traffic fluctuation. Traffic goes up, traffic goes down. It happens to all websites to some degreee. It could be because of economic downturns, the season, weekend, holidays, summer vacations...a variety of things! The point is don't worry about traffic peaks and valley's. The main thing you want to look for is consistency with your traffic. That's why when you read your stats, it's important to look for consistent patterns and trends - not temporary peaks and valley's.

In closing, the main point of this article is not to overreact. Because many times, when you think there's a problem, there isn't one.

NOTE: This article is also available in video version on my YouTube channel.