Conversion Optimization School is in Session

Thanks for sharing this video. It was really enlightening to see how to turn a blog into a real conversion machine and lead generator. Like a previous commenter said, it's great how you could be so humble, Jay, and take off the teacher hat and become a student again. I immediately trust someone more if they show they're open to learning, too.The overall message I got was to keep it simple, but it's really hard to stay simple. Especially since WordPress makes it so easy to install extra features via plugins. I was blown away when Derek said how few plugins he has on Social Triggers. I'm happy if I can keep the plugins on my sites to 10 or fewer. Derek is far more minimalist than that, yet gets a lot more results out of his site.Plus, I liked how Derek said "opportunities" rather than "problems." Nice that he focuses on the positive. I'll be visiting Convince and Convert and Social Triggers more regularly from now on!

Hi Jay, Just wanted to say that I really enjoy seeing the teacher become the student. Just doing that and being open to sharing the whole process is a great lesson for your readers. I think a lot of people would be scared to do something like this thinking they always need to look like they know it all. Hopefully, with this example, they'll see how it actually builds authority instead.

Jay...I applaud you for the open forum for many to learn from your "School Session." I have a question I hope you can shed some light on for me. After 25 years working for others, I've started my own consulting gig and continue to learn as much as I can of social media as part of the traditional marketing/pr mix. (A friend even called me a "geek", and I took it as a compliment.) I struggled through creating a site via GoDaddy at www.speercommunications.com, but I'm not pleased with the user-friendlyness of the templates and incorporation of a blog. I heard you discuss that you use WORDPRESS for your Blog...

Questions: Would you recommend Wordpress? And why do you have 2 sites, a blog at Convince& Convert and another URL at JayBaer?

Can you explain benefits of 2 URLs? And is JayBaer also on WordPress?

I'm sure other professionals who find HTML "Greek" have encountered same dilemmas. I want a content management friendly website/blog that I can regularly update myself without hiring a web development specialist. How do you recommend proceeding?

If anyone else can assist, I will be most appreciative.

Oh, and Jay, if it helps, I just ordered your book. :)

Thanks for letting us eaves drop on the conversation! I am a huge proponent of conversion and enjoyed the conversation with @derekhalpern.

(Figured the Johnson box was from a guys name btw)

Massive value. Timely post (love those). I'm doing an Adwords campaign for a PC repair company. Initially, it wasn't converting. All of my research points to the landing page. People are saying "it's always the landing page." I believe it. Working separate versions of the LP, we'll see how it goes. This definitely gets me thinking about a lot of things I wouldn't otherwise think about. Thanks Jay, thanks Derek. I'd answer the question, but I already have your book Jay! It pretty much rocked. I like the emphasis on culture.

Jay,

Re your consulting pice page, you might consider offering 3 levels of service. Call them what you want..gold silver bronze, or introductory one on one VIP, you get the idea...and assign different services with each level. For example bronze gets you 1 hr personal consulting and gold gets you 10 hours of personal consulting, unlimited email support, etc. This does a couple things. First, it lets users choose their own price point. Maybe they cant afford gold level of service but can shell out $50-100 for a bit of your time. Second, why charge a fortune 500 client just $100 if they are willing and able to spend thousands? Just a thought and thanks for the post...

Mike Patty

http://AmericasNewsNow.com

Great tips here, especially on making content pages and removing the side bar. I noticed on Copyblogger that they are also removing the nav and most of the stuff up top. Do you see value in this also?

Cool video. Nice pragmatic way of looking at it. And now I'm curious to see how fast you will apply the changes to your blog!

I cheated :)

The Johnson Box is named after direct marketer Frank Johnson, who is credited as having first used the Johnson Box to improve response to his offers for American Heritage magazine. He does not claim credit for creating the device, claiming to have only popularized it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnson_Box

I've been seeing Derek popping up more and more, appreciate the way he rips apart a page while rebuilding a better one. Too many people just focusing on the first part. Learned a lot, thanks for sharing.