As my regular readers know, I consider consistent testing of your marketing to be crucial to your success.

How much testing is enough? You can never test too much. You’re never done. I know we test more ideas, concepts, ads and sales copy than most people. We still don’t do enough.

Many of the concepts we test are simply small changes. We’ll try a new headline, or rewrite an ad. We recently tested a new lead in to the sales letter on a website. Not a big change, but preliminary indications suggest an increase of 45-50% in the conversion rate.

If you have a marketing system that works, don’t stop now. Keep trying new things, even if they’re small.

Every time we test, we learn something … good or bad. The learning part is important. So much of success in business has nothing to do with the economics they teach you in business school. This is especially true for us small business people.

Instead, you’ll find a large part of your success comes from testing new ideas. Measure and track your results. Stop doing what does not work. Do more of what does work.

I know that sounds simple. That’s because it is simple!

Many of you are intimidated by business and the Internet, but you should not be. If you use the methods I use, then you take very little risk in anything you do to promote your business. That means that any mistake you make is a small one. It can’t hurt you.

The real mistake you make is not consistently trying new ideas and continually working to improve your business. That’s a much bigger mistake than any attempt you make that doesn’t work.

So, your continuing mission is simple. Test. Measure. Tweak. Repeat.

Yours in success,

Shawn