Posted by When we were kids some of us had a Magic Eight Ball. Ask the ball a question, shake it up, flip it over and see the answer. If the answer was positive, it might say any of these following…
- It is certain
- It is decidedly so
- Without a doubt
- Yes – definitely
- You may rely on it
- As I see it, yes
- Most likely
- Outlook good
- Yes
- Signs point to yes
Sometimes the Magic Eight Ball gave a neutral answer, in which case it might say…
- Reply hazy, try again
- Ask again later
- Better not tell you now
- Cannot predict now
- Concentrate and ask again.
I was always frustrated and annoyed when any of those answers popped up in the window. Worse still was when I was hoping for a positive answer and instead got one of these…
- Don’t count on it
- My reply is no
- My sources say no
- Outlook not so good
- Very doubtful
“But that was just a toy and the answers were random. What’s that got to do with online marketing?”
Good question. Notice something about these answers… 10 of them are positive, 5 are neutral and 5 are negative.
When you know these numbers, you can word your question in such a way that you increase your odds of getting the answer you want.
In other words, you could fool yourself into thinking the game was giving you the answer you hoped for, when in fact you were rigging it to get the answer you wanted.
And when it comes to your business, we do the same thing. Our memories aren’t all that great. We think that a certain promotion brought in tons of money when it didn’t. Or we think that something else we’re doing is a complete waste of time when it’s not.
For example, you’re thinking of retiring one of your products because it’s not selling anymore. But if you look at your stats, you see it’s still making $1000 a month with very little promotion. Instead of retiring the product maybe it’s time to send more traffic to the offer.
Those affiliate links you placed inside your reports aren’t doing anything, right? You’re thinking, ‘why bother to keep adding those links in your new reports or update the links in the reports you have?’
But when you look at the stats, you see that each link is bringing in an average of $50 a month. Not bad for something that is taking zero work. 2 links in each of 5 reports and you’ve got a $500 passive income stream.
The point is that your stats are your Magic Eight Ball of your business. They will tell you exactly what you should be doing more of, where your focus should be, and what you need to change or drop.
Relying on guesswork or even your memory is going to cost you money.
Let’s say you’ve got a coaching program that you open for 3 days each month. When you look at your stats and you see that skipping just one month costs you $3000 in lost revenue. Now you know to not only make it a priority monthly promotion, but also to increase how often you open it – such as every 4 weeks – so that you had an extra few thousand each year.
Or you fondly remember that first promotion you did that brought in $5000. But you look at the stats and realize you paid out $3400 in affiliate fees, Paypal fees and expenses, earning you only $1600.
Maybe it’s time to stop bragging that your first promotion was hit out of the ballpark and let your new students know that you’re a mortal marketer who started at the bottom, just like them.
What if you want to dump one of your income streams? For example, maybe you’re tired of being an affiliate for product launches and want to focus all your efforts on promoting your own products.
Look at how much affiliate income you have been making each month so you know how much you need to increase sales of your own products in order to break even.
Even if looking at your stats make you cringe, they are still your best prognosticator of earnings to come. And they will tell you where to spend your efforts to increase your income, too.