“Aim for success, not perfection. Never give up your right to be wrong, because then you will lose the ability to learn new things and move forward with your life. Remember that fear always lurks behind perfectionism. Confronting your fears and allowing yourself the right to be human can, paradoxically, make yourself a happier and more productive person.” — Dr. David M. Burns

Thanks to Wizard Partner Clay Campbell for sending the above quote.

“There’s treasure everywhere.” - Calvin & Hobbes (Bill Watterson)

How will you measure progress? - Wizard of Ads

In one of their latest articles titled, Google Shares 6 Ways to Maximize Your AdWords Investment they share some simple yet valuable ways to optimze your online marketing dollars.

Tips one and two specifically target value seeking customers. Well suited advice in tough times. While tips three to six are relevant at all times.

I have highlighted my favourite tip. Something every business owner needs to concentrate on, be it face-to-face, online, or in store.

The Six Tips

1. Focus your ads on low prices and savings.

2. Use value-related keywords.

3. Make sure your ad groups are targeted and relevant.

4. Don’t waste money on irrelevant clicks.

5. Make it easy for customers to buy.

6. Focus your money on your high-performers.

Make sure you read the full story.

Optimizing Copy - a 10 Step Process by Bryan Eisenberg

Wizard of Ads Partner and Future Now Inc founder Bryan Eisenberg has now made the process a whole lot simpler… thanks to his latest article Optimizing Website & Landing Page Copy - A 10 Step Process.

The 10 steps according to Bryan…

When evaluating and improving copy I work through these 10 steps one at a time.

1. Headlines

2. First Mental Image

3. What’s in it For Me

4. Check for We-We

5. Remove the Black Words

6. Reformatting for Readability

7. Improve Your Verbs

8. Wording in Links in Calls to Action

9. Words Exist in Other Places Than Just Your Copy

10. When All Else Fails - Use the Sucking Wind Checklist

Some steps may sound obvious, some may sound a little strange… “Check for We-We!”.

Bryan explains each step in the full article.

As an added bonus you can view the slide show and listen as Bryan explains the process. However this training video will only be available until June 3rd… so be quick and have a listen.

“Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose.” - Bill Gates

Thanks to Jeffrey Eisenberg for sourcing the above quote.

Murdock went on to say the ‘malfunctioning’ newspaper business had to change, and his company plans to start charging readers to access content on its web sites.

These comments were on the back of News Corp’s report of it’s newspaper segment posting a 97 per cent drop in its third quarter operating profit.

Source: The Townsville Bulletin, Friday, May 8, 2009