Mat Greenfield

Articles by: Mat Greenfield

Mat Greenfield

Mat Greenfield has been in web marketing since 1996. He is recognized as a website conversion expert by a number of industry organizations including Register.com, Constant Contact and Insidesales.com. He is a consultant, author and trainer, and has worked with companies such as Novell, BugTrack, and Franklin Covey.

He is a regular contributor to a number of print and e-magazines, and has been a columnist for Practical eCommerce magazine since its launch in 2005.

Mat is originally from England where he attended the University of the West of England, Bristol, and the prestigious Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. He now lives in Utah with his wife, Trisa, and their four children.

Mat’s website is Webleadmachine.com, and features a collection of free, conversion-related resources.

Conversion
Conversion Success: Simplicity, Target and Alignment

June 9, 2008 • Mat Greenfield

I enjoy watching those television shows where the masked magician reveals the secrets of how stage magic is done. It’s funny because whenever he reveals a new trick, I mentally kick myself for not having figured it out earlier. It seemed so simple. In this, my final column for Practica...
Business
Conversion: Proflowers.com Ranks High

May 5, 2008 • Mat Greenfield

When Nielsen Online releases its list of highest converting ecommerce websites, Proflowers.com is frequently in the top ten. The latest numbers has it at a stunning 15 percent conversion rate. I'm always open to learn from the best, and while I'm not going to do a page-by-page review o...
Conversion
Promotional Offers Can Create Prospects

March 12, 2008 • Mat Greenfield

For ecommerce websites, a sale is a desired outcome. However, in some cases, building a mailing list of interested prospects can also be very valuable. In this article, we'll discuss some of the principles for developing a compelling offer to get visitors to convert in a non-financial...
Conversion
Conversion: Metrics Maximize Decision Making

February 6, 2008 • Mat Greenfield

One of the most appealing aspects of web marketing is that it is so measurable; you can actually quantify what works. Because I spend a considerable portion of my work time studying web analytics and metrics, here is a distinction I have found useful over the years: Some metrics are ...
Design & Development
What Makes A Site Effective?

January 14, 2008 • Mat Greenfield

A client recently asked me to do a quick-and-dirty analysis of a half dozen competitor websites. I decided to look at each competitor site and then give it a good/fair/poor rating for certain criteria. I thought that these criteria, and some explanation of what I was looking for, coul...
Conversion
Biggest AdWord Mistakes

November 20, 2007 • Mat Greenfield

Practical eCommerce asked Senior Contributor and website conversion expert Mat Greenfield, founder of Conversion Results, for his take on the biggest AdWord mistakes a website could make. If your AdWords' campaign is having troubles, it may be due to one of the following: Having too ma...
Conversion
Conversion: Experimentation Is Key

November 7, 2007 • Mat Greenfield

Deep down, we conversion experts carry a secret that we don't want you to know. Even though there are proven conversion principles which apply to any website, as well as many best-practices, which could be applied to improve most sites, there is a large grey area where we experts are f...
Conversion
Google AdWords: Get ‘Em Where You Want ‘Em

September 17, 2007 • Mat Greenfield

In the good old days (when Overture was the only paid search vendor) it was easy. Just bid one cent higher than the other guy, and get into position one, or two, or six, or whatever you wanted. Then Google came along. Now don’t get me wrong, I think Google is an extraordinary adverti...
Marketing & Advertising
Google AdWords: Structure For Success

September 3, 2007 • Mat Greenfield

As I work with many companies to improve and refine their conversion rate from paid search efforts such as Google AdWords, I have noticed a general misunderstanding about how the structural elements of Campaigns vs. Ad Groups should be used. Correctly structuring your Google account al...
Design & Development
Web Conversion Strategy: When Design Dominates

June 8, 2007 • Mat Greenfield

A local business magazine had written an article reviewing the website designs of various local companies. As you may imagine, I read with dismay as the three-page article focused solely on graphic design. There was no mention of usability, conversion rate or site effectiveness (using a...
Conversion
Conversion: Define Your Audience

February 12, 2007 • Mat Greenfield

Regular readers won't be surprised to find that this month's column describes one of the key elements of effective conversion. In fact, this element is so critical, I consider it to be the cement that binds all the other areas of effective conversion together. Before I reveal what it is...
Business
Identify your KPIs

January 4, 2007 • Mat Greenfield

One of the things I love about Internet marketing is that it is so measurable. But I understand that for many web marketers, it's a challenge to dig through the sheer amount of data that is available through most web analytics tools. I'd like to suggest a New Year's exercise that will ...
Conversion
Need a Stocking Stuffer?

December 1, 2006 • Mat Greenfield

If you're anything like me, your focus dwindles over the holidays. So instead of providing you with tips that you don't have the energy to use, I thought that I'd briefly review some of the books that have shaped how I think about the web. Feel free to copy down this list and use it whe...
Conversion
Six Tips For The Holidays

November 1, 2006 • Mat Greenfield

With the holiday shopping season upon us, the size of the ecommerce pie increases significantly. Here are some tips to make sure you get your fair slice: Create seasonal special offers Applying the concept of “showing visitors what they are looking for” is always important, but perhap...
Conversion
Use “Human Optimization” for Search Engines

October 1, 2006 • Mat Greenfield

I read with interest this month that Google has filed a patent to allow it to add a human-review element to their search results. This represents the next step in a series of interesting developments that I have watched closely for the past few years. But in order to explain, let me bac...
Conversion
A One-Second Review

September 1, 2006 • Mat Greenfield

I was recently reading a study published earlier this year by Carleton University in Ottawa. They suggest that web visitors make an instant assessment of the overall “quality” of a website in less than a second. This contradicts conventional wisdom that suggests you have 6-8 seconds to ...
Conversion
Rethinking Conversion Rates

August 1, 2006 • Mat Greenfield

When I'm not writing for Practical eCommerce, I spend my professional life running a “boutique” web-consulting firm. As a result, I get involved in numerous sales meetings. I’ve noticed something of a trend recently with companies evaluating our services asking for third-party “research...
Conversion
Five Great Conversion Tips

July 1, 2006 • Mat Greenfield

These conversion tips can be implemented by a business owner in just a few days with the possible aid of a competent web programmer. When implemented, the tips can make a profound difference on the conversions rates of an ecommerce business. The tips are: Simplify your home page. ...
Conversion
Web Design: Multiple Roles

July 1, 2006 • Mat Greenfield

A web redesign project is not a one-man assignment. Certainly technology has made it possible for a single graphic designer or programmer to build a site, but not a high conversion site (in my humble opinion). Instead, I think there are a number of key roles that must be fulfilled in o...
Conversion
Are You an Ego Marketer?

June 1, 2006 • Mat Greenfield

Ego or Effective? Good marketing communicates your unique value to your target market. It builds recognition and credibility for your products and services and creates a steady flow of interested prospects and new customers. Ego marketing makes you feel good at the expense of effective...
Conversion
Website Conversion – Revisited

May 1, 2006 • Mat Greenfield

For those of you new to the concept of web conversion, I thought that it might be useful to address some of the key ideas around this strategy. What is Conversion? A website is a corporate resource, and like any other resource, it should provide a return on investment. That return sho...
Conversion
Effective Landing Pages, Part 2

April 1, 2006 • Mat Greenfield

Last month we introduced the concept of website landing pages, and discussed a few key ideas on how they can be used. This month, we’ll look at some ways to develop effective landing pages. I mentioned last month that landing pages are typically used when you have an understanding of wh...
Conversion
Effective Landing Pages

March 1, 2006 • Mat Greenfield

This month we discuss landing pages, what they are, and how they can be used to increase your conversion rate. What are Landing Pages Your site has landing pages whether or not you think it does. Even if you didn’t specifically design landing pages – you have them, because the definit...
Conversion
The Home Page: Putting Your Best Foot Forward

February 1, 2006 • Mat Greenfield

You never get a second chance at a first impression. Or so the saying goes. Perhaps that’s the reason that website home pages are the most focused on by designers and marketers. In this case, I’m quite happy to agree with conventional wisdom. Having an effective home page is critical to...
Conversion
Use Web Analytics to Improve Profits for New Year

January 1, 2006 • Mat Greenfield

I love this quote by Albert Einstein: “Insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result.” It’s a great concept to bear in mind as the New Year begins. I expect many of you are looking for better results from your marketing, and Einstein reminds us that sticki...
Marketing & Advertising
Google AdWords: 3 Ways to Improve Your ROI

December 1, 2005 • Mat Greenfield

We manage a number of Google AdWord accounts for our clients, and I almost always find the same problems when we take over a new account. So “from the trenches”, here are 3 key principles that will help you have a prosperous new year with your Google AdWords. Split Test Your Ads Googl...
Conversion
Calls-to-Action

November 1, 2005 • Mat Greenfield

If you’ve ever taken a marketing class, or read a marketing book that deals with any level of ‘direct response’ marketing, then you’ve come across the phrase ‘call to action’. It’s the idea that in order to make marketing or advertising effective, you must tell your audience what step y...
Conversion
Web Marketing: Hitting the Target

October 1, 2005 • Mat Greenfield

Over the summer, I had the opportunity to try my hand at archery during a Boy Scout camp. It’s actually quite hard to hit the target, (and for me virtually impossible to hit the bulls-eye). However, it occurred to me that some of the instructions I was given, were quite similar to some ...
Conversion
Autoresponders: Follow-up for Success

September 1, 2005 • Mat Greenfield

Something that I often suggest is that companies give something away on their website. I believe that this is essential even for websites that are primarily ecommerce in nature. The reason is to provide a low-commitment next step, for potential customers that aren’t quite ready to buy. ...
Conversion
Know Your Enemy (err, Target)

August 1, 2005 • Mat Greenfield

An oft-repeated military slogan is “know your enemy.” I’m not too sure if it was first espoused by Sun Tzu, Clausewitz or Machiavelli, but I’m on board with the theory. If Sun Tzu (or whoever) were alive today, he’d probably be a web marketer, and his mantra would be “know your target.”...