Boy have we been saying over and over that using best practices will significantly increase your results listing with KnowledgeStorm. In each newsletter we share insight and tips on how technology companies are seeing substantial increases in ROI after taking steps we've suggested. You can expect KnowledgeStorm to continue sharing these valuable tidbits with you throughout 2003.

One of the most important factors influencing whether or not your listing will succeed is your copy. Those gut decisions or segmented and tested copy choices make all the difference. They become your figurative "first impression," which we all know comes only once-and with dramatic impact.

Your listing will get read, ignored OR induce a brain freeze. Your prospect will click or flee. It all comes down to the language you choose. KnowledgeStorm is not the first to proclaim the importance of copy writing for the Web, but we certainly can see the difference in copy that works and copy that...well flops. We also aren't the first to point out that what you think your audience will respond to favorably isn't always the case. Let's just say we've become big advocates for testing.

Let me give you one example of our own lesson learned. As you know, when visitors go to the specific product or service level, KnowledgeStorm presents them with a opt-in page we call the "bridge page." We were looking to modify it a bit to see if we could increase the number of buyers who opt-in. Our talented and well-meaning marketing writer suggested some new copy. Well, be glad you weren't here for the debate that ensued. "I love it. I hate it. Our visitors will hate it. It's a little kooky..." Of course none of our opinions mattered one iota. What mattered were the results. So just as we have been suggesting to you, our wonderful providers, we decided to TEST the copy. Well Shazam! We had a hit on our hands.

We learned our previous wording had been confusing, and rather than make the wrong choice, people made no choice at all. With the new copy, the page conversions are 96.5% higher than original conversions—which proves it's occasionally a good idea to take your own advice!

You can count on us to continue raising the benchmark for ourselves. We hope the implementation of best practices across KnowledgeStorm and among your listings will bring tremendous returns to you in 2003 and beyond.

Sincerely,

Kelly H. Gay
Chairman, President & CEO, KnowledgeStorm

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