In This Issue...

• Introduction
• Editor's Perspective: Social Proof, Pickup Artists and a Billion Bucks
• What's New on SitePoint!
• Hot Forum Topics
• New Blog Entries

eCPM - What Matters Most!

Over the past year we asked several of our publisher partners what matters most to them. What they said was that a marketing "pitch" about revenue share doesn't amount to much. What they really care about is how much they earn, or their effective CPM.

At ValueClick Media/Fastclick we've earned our publishers' loyalty by providing them with tools to better manage their business and to maximize yield from their available inventory.

Our relentless focus on eCPM means our publishers always know exactly what they earn for every impression served.

Click here to learn more

Introduction

Recently, I was at the zoo with my sons, looking into an empty cage that had a sign "Exhibit temporarily closed." We were speculating how the animal played in the cage, how the zoo staff got in, and so on when some more people stopped at the cage to look. And then more.

After a few minutes there must have been 8 or 9 people viewing the empty cage. As we walked away, I noticed that other exhibits had just 1 or 2 viewers. People stopped to look because others were already there. As the crowd grew, more people stopped. They stopped because of what's called 'social proof': other people are watching, so it must be good.

In this issue of the Tribune, I'll show you how you can use social proof to help your business, whether you operate offline or on.

I'll also go through a few of the techniques of a pick-up artist and show you why making a sale is exactly same as picking someone up in a bar. I'm not making this stuff up! Read on for more.

Are you using all possible income streams for your business? Google paid out a staggering $1 billion to Adsense publishers last year ... should you bet getting a slice of that pie? I'll take you through the very simple way to get Adsense working for you, including figures from a very simple web site I created that makes me $5 every single day.

Happy Reading!

Brendon Sinclair
tribune@sitepoint.com

Editor's Perspective

Social Proof - How to get People to Buy from you Because Everyone Else Does

I've had a feature article on the home page of sitepoint.com for the past week or so, and the effect of that publication has been quite significant. Aside from the increase in traffic to my own web site I've experienced an added benefit of the credibility that the article gives me.

Imagine you're going for a large web development job. Imagine the marketing manager of the company you're trying to impress reads SitePoint. Imagine she happens to visit SitePoint and sees your article.

You're now the favourite to win that large job.

This example illustrates the concept of 'social proof': people see others acting in a certain way -- such as perceiving you as an expert -- and that increases their own acceptance of your product, service or behaviour.

The best example of social proof I can think of is the phenomenon of ugg boots. Once celebrities started wearing ugg boots it was 'okay' to be seen wearing ugg boots as "everyone was doing it." This happened despite ugg boots being, well, ugly ... in my eyes, anyway!

Here are three simple ways to make the concept of social proof work for you:

• Use testimonial at every opportunity: on your web site, on your brochures, in your packaging, your business cards, your advertising, etc.
• Write a case study on one of your best successes, then send it to prospects and clients.
• Win an award. I fall for this one every day. I visited a winery last week because I was driving past and saw a huge sign that said "Winner, Most Popular Winery in Southern Region 2005". I thought to myself, "If everyone else goes there it must be good." That's social proof in action!

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Learn how to Pick Up at Parties ... and Make More Sales

I've just read a very interesting book, called The Game, by Neil Strauss. The book is sub-titled "Penetrating The Secret Society Of Pick-Up Artists" and talks about how Neil learnt the secrets of picking up women.

It's one of the best sales books I've ever read. A friend in sales actually recommended it to me.

Neil talks about Mystery's (Mystery is one of his mentors) format for picking up girls:

1. find
2. meet
3. attract
4. close

That's not just a pick-up process. That's a sales process.

The most interesting thing about learning how to pick up a person you find attractive is the amount of work that goes into learning lines, taking in audio and visual clues, and changing your behaviour to reflect the changes. And that's just for starters!

Pick-up artists then spend hundreds of hours perfecting their technique to make their sale - or to get the girl or guy's phone number.

It's always useful to benchmark against other industries to see how we can improve our own sales or overall business. If people in business spent the same amount of time and effort as a pick-up artist on closing a "deal", they'd make the sale every time.

Want a Cut of $1 Billion?

Nope, this isn't one of the Nigerian scams. And no, you haven't won a lottery, nor do you need to send me $200 as a "Processing Fee."

According to ContentBiz, one of MarketingSherpa's publications, Google paid out $1 billion to Adsense publishers last year.

Here's how it works:

1. Sign up for an Adsense account (takes 5 minutes).
2. Publish a web site with good content.
3. Add a little code to have Adsense ads appear on your site.
4. Receive part of the money Google gets when the ad is clicked on (about 50%, most pundits agree).

In late 2004 I popped up a simple 10-page site as a test. I spent probably 5 hours developing the site, and have dedicated another 5 hours since. The domain cost me $10 US. Hosting is $15 per year.

I make up to $10 a day. The average has been $5. Doing the math tells me that the site has made me $180 for every hour I've worked on it.

Is Adsense part of your income streams? Should it be? Could you afford to put someone on at $15 per hour for a couple of months to develop content and give this Adsense thing a real test?

Help Your Friends Out

People you care about can benefit from the wealth of information on new and maturing technologies available on the Internet. Help them learn how to do it by forwarding them this issue of the SitePoint Tribune!