This is a note for clients. As you're aware, we've built what is an extremely comprehensive statistical engine for WordPress websites called 'Xena' that replaces the older module. The new system is built with an 'AI-first' architecture to support more informed marketing decisions, and it also records every conceivable type of interaction data. Xena supports the conditional engine more efficiently and integrates seamlessly with new form, trigger and social modules. It also includes its own comprehensive and fully customisable tagging system. The point of this post is reasonably insignificant, but it is important, and it relates to a feature that was long overdue for an update.Until now, we've resolved user location and timezone based on an IP address, but this method has become less and less reliable over time. The integrated calendar feature associated with every form will display a resolved timezone (in order to show your available booking slots) but it will occasionally return an invalid location if the IP address resolves incorrectly. We now retrieve the timezone and UTC offset directly from the users' browser and then save these values to session and a cookie. It is this known value that determines what (default) timezone is applied to any calendar form. Since we've used this method we've seen 100% accuracy over several thousand page views.The plugin update that'll push on Tuesday includes this new feature (and over 100 others, almost all of which are more important than what we've described). The system is currently working through the millions of Web records and migrating data into Xena. Given that we've throttled the migration to only 200k records per hour we're still nearly a full day from completion. Once done, we'll mirror the older system until the end of the month before shutting the old 'Pixel' method down completely.
I took the kids to McDonald's in Narellan today but left because it was filthy. Absolutely filthy. I figured Emerald Hills would be a good alternative because of the larger play area, so we drove there instead. The kids insisted.Despite an empty restaurant, every table was truly disgusting , and the bins were literally overflowing with stacked rubbish. Adding insult to the mess was trash from neighbouring restaurants which including Pizza Hut and KFC. The bins were worse than Narellan but the tables were a little cleaner.A terrible experience. So much to unpack from this experience for our website.
The purpose of sharing this screenshot isn't because the lead cost is low, because it isn't, but it is within acceptable limits despite the fact the campaign is performing in the bottom 35% of all those we manage.I see businesses buy individual leads for anything between $80 and $200, and brokers will routinely purchase packs of 50 leads for around $8k. I took this screenshot when a campaign hit 50 leads to illustrate how you'd pick up a minimum of 1250 leads with the same budget, and how you would return the same volume of leads for just a few hundred. If we doubled the effectiveness of this campaign we'd pick up 2500 leads. The conversions from this volume is clear, and the advantages of taking ownership of your own business growth is evident. I've shared over 1000 examples in the past that shows how and why paid leadgen is plagued by compliance issues and illegal methodology, and I don't believe any of the leadgen charlatans can be trusted... and none of them are invested in your success.Don't buy leads. Stop the finspam.
We're a few days away from rolling out the final update to the new Sendify (social media) module. Morphing Instagratify, Sendly, Vista (Outlook social), SendPress, and other social modules directly into a unified module (and sitting on top of the content library), there are literally dozens of seriously funky social features and tools.One of the new features is the facility to simultaneously post a poll to Twitter, LinkedIn, and your website (pictured), via Instagram! It can obviously be accomplished in Yabber as well, but the Instagram option keeps the feed alive.The new system is easier to use, more intuitive, and far, far more powerful. Integrating fully with your website, it is the *only* system in the industry that's designed with genuine AI tech to leverage your social efforts and drive leads. Paired with our amazing website, it's a winning combination. The new system is also designed to make managed social options easier to manage (with major updates to better support aggregation and franchises). Well be shutting down all social for around 48 hours from Monday to perform a migration of old data, at which time the older system will be deprecated entirely.
Last week we dropped into an Easter event at Bunnings. I wasn't expecting much from a free event at a hardware store, but I needed some screws so I had nothing to lose.We stayed for over 2 hours. They had rides, a climbing wall, entertainment, and craft for the kids. We live in a world where we pay $50 for a showbag full of plastic junk from the Sydney Easter Show... and this event wasn't crowded, it was very community focused, clearly aimed at entertaining kids, and it was completely free.One of the activities involved decorating a pot, filling it with soil, and then planting some carrot seeds. Just a brilliant hands-dirty idea that promoted creativity and sustainability, and it's a gift of real value that has kept the kids engaged for days.Bunnings didn't ask anything of me. Nor did they try and sell me imported plastic junk that'd last less than a day. The kids took home a ton of chocolate, they didn't have to pay for drinks, and they genuinely had a great time.In the last couple of days the plants have come alive, and there hasn't been a day in the last week where I haven't thought of Bunnings or mentioned them to a visitor (and now I'm telling you).My point?When we're dealing with home loans, we often forget that it's a family home, and more often than not, we buy or invest in property for our kids.Gift baskets, hampers, champaign, and other perishables don't last and they're easily forgotten. My clients will *always* send a money box filled with a few gold coins to young children as a settlement gift (lenders will give you a ton of swag if you ask for it), and the parents will always receive a large framed historic print of their new house or suburb (they'll hang it up and you'll be an ongoing topic of thought and/or conversation). Anything you give to kids will always mean more to parents than anything you give to them. I like to think that our style of evergreen gift has the same impact on borrowers as the Bunnings plant has had on me.Think different. Be remembered.
This is a demonisation poll.
This is a test of the updated Twitter Sendify module.
This is just a test post. Testing Tumblr integration.
The other day I shared screenshots of a campaign that was returning $6.20 leads. The pictured campaign started around the same time on a $20 daily budget. Now on day 5, this particular campaign is returning leads at $5.47 (yes, still quite high, but we're optimistic that we'll get results below $3... but this isn't the point). The relevance of sharing this particular campaign (having returned just 18 leads) is that the broker will likely return up to 25 funnelled leads for the cost many brokers will pay leadgen charlatans for a single lead. Can you see why I get frustrated? There are leadgen crooks that'll charge up to 8k for a pack of 50 leads when this campaign - when optimised - will return around 2500 leads for the same investment. Even if you were to convert just 30% into $500k products, you would write an extra $415+m per year (conversions through dodgy pay-per-lead systems are usually less than 2% - a staggeringly dismal outcome that might net just $1m in deals... meaning a self-branded and fully-owned solution is potentially 450X more effective).To be clear, not all campaigns work. Sometimes you might try something 'different' and it fails flat. We saw this in the last quarter of last year with a couple of groups, and we have one guy currently paying nearly $20 for refinance leads. That said, over 90% of all our guys currently running ads see results in all categories for under $10. Around 20% of groups see leads for less than $3 (the latter results usually come from those campaigns managed by us). I know I'm talking into a vacuum... but please don't buy leads. Your worst attempt at creating an ad will be more effective than the non-compliant garbage peddled by the crooks. The industry and customers deserve better. Stop the finspam.
This is a reasonable example of what the leadgen charlatans don't want you to see. There's a $20 budget assigned to a video ad, and after a few days of its initial run it's already returning $6.20 leads. Given that it's a first print, the split and improvements will likely drive the cost to around $3 (CPC still isn't where it should be, PCR is still quite low, CPM is still high etc).We did everything on this ad that leadgen crooks avoid. We included full comparison disclaimers, full licensing details, and basic LVR information - all on an ad without rates. The ad is clean, professional, and presents honestly. The pictured example certainly isn't the highest-performing ad our brokers are running, but it's a strong start to a targeted campaign that'll return at least a few leads a day with *very* high conversions.I still can't wrap my head around why brokers pay for leads when this campaign took me minutes. Don't believe a word any of these crooks tell you - it's all a lie... and you'll be contributing to the illegal ad-rot and decay of industry confidence.Please keep in mind that FB represents a small percentage of our leadgen architecture, but it's a language that most brokers understand.Don't buy leads. Stop the finspam.
I criticise leadgen charlatans all the time. Usually because they're a business-debilitating service that'll do nothing but expose you to non-compliance and illegal advertising. Digital leadgen is easy. A 'generic' campaign takes minutes to create and outperforms pay-per-lead and industry-unawares leadgen peckers without exception.If you're engaging in Facebook advertising, consider the pictured 85 leads at $5.69 (still high, and nearly 6X what we were paying just a few years ago, but that's not the point). A leadgen crook would have represented your business poorly, given their own fake/illegal brokerage exposure, shared your leads with others (regardless of what they tell you), and then they'll charge you around $12k for the privilege. In fact, some leadgen guys will even double-dip on the ad and promote solar after your client has provided their details (****ify - obviously) - appaling conduct.By the way, leads under $6 are the exception rather than the rule. Most guys hover between $8-$11. It needn't be said that our objective is conversions - not leads... but you can't have one without the other. It's not hard. Don't buy leads. Stop the finspam.
This is an Instagratify test post with a URL.https://www.beliefmedia.com.auInstagratify is getting a very serious facelift
Test post only. Testing the new Instagratify.
Danny Glover as Roger Murtaugh and Mel Gibson as Martin Riggs in 'Lethal Weapon'. Amazing actors, amazing chemistry, and an amazing franchise.
In my 14-years at BeliefMedia, and in all the years prior with AWE and Y P/L, the one message (probably above all others) that I've tried to impress upon brokers is that they should *never* buy leads. Every business has the capacity to generate higher-quality leads as part of a fully branded solution for a fraction of the cost, and every business has the resources to create a more efficient campaign (when compared against the leadgen charlatans) in around 7 minutes. Your own solution is owned, far more cost-effective, compliant, ethical, and contributes to your own brand rather than that belonging to an illegal service.Of the 1.2BN our clients settle every *month*, around 400m is from Facebook... but FB returns a lower quality lead and requires more maintenance than grass-root relationship programs, with formalised referral arrangements returning far more volume and higher-quality candidates.The image shows a shiny new campaign that returned a lead for 67c (for a 2.2m deal). The second came in under $1. It's not typical, but once you get it right, it just works.Those boneheads that sell leads have the same common sales patter detailing why their service is of value. It's all total BS. If a variation of BID applied in the marketing industry they'd all be prosecuted. All of them. Without exception.As I prepare the migration back into my brokerage (iChoice) for the purpose of building an aggregation group focused on genuine business growth, I've had reason to pause and thoroughly assess our numbers, all of which I'm compelled to share in time, but the one that stands out is that those brokers that came to us after trying a paid lead service (or those rubbish groups that sell blocks of leads for 8k) generally multiplied their returns by at least 100X. If you purchase leads, let that number sink in.I obviously won't be able to support businesses as I have done in the past, but I'm always available for free advice. Please don't hesitate to call More details on our new product/service is forthcoming.
Note to clients. Later this week we'll be migrating the last of the Sendify features into Yabber, and we will be turning off the legacy social tools forever. Sendify integrates social media, Sendly, SendPress, Instagratify, Vista, the Social Library, Image Factory, and other tools into a single module.As part of the update, we've built in a number of new tools into Instagratify with an emphasis on Video/Reel functionality. When a video is created in Instagram, various tags and shortcodes in your message cause various effects and text to be rendered on the resulting video that'll be sent to social media platforms and your website social archive. Pictured is a video with the header, footer, upper CTA text, phone number, and Cash Rate applied, although there's a large number of options that may be used.Remember, most of your social is managed, so the Instagratify video, image, and album tools should be used to inject personality and branding into your messaging. Expect an email with links that'll point you to migration resources and FAQs.
I am just a test post. Testing new Sendify module.
A broker shared a link to a PDF I thought was worth reading. The document, however, wasn't branded with his name, logo, web address, phone number, or anything else - it instead included a generic brand shared by a few hundred. I had my wife call the 1800 number and the call was referred to a *different* broker.It shouldn't need to be said, but simply don't share CTA-based content unless it supports your own operation, and certainly don't pay for a managed service that sends enquires elsewhere. It's a deplorable practice. If you're paying for a managed service, it's expected that the product you're paying for will support your own business. We will never share content of any type via our managed services unless it promotes you and your business directly. Videos, images, and PDF documents are *always* fully branded with *your* details in full.
This was one of the two lowest-performing campaigns run this month in terms of the cost per lead (we saw refi leads as low as $3). The other low-performing ad was a custom campaign that we shut down pretty quick, but this one (pictured) came of the tail-end of a 5-minute turkey campaign that we literally created and had published in the time it takes to drink a cup of coffee. It returned leads for $7.48, so returned 9 leads for $67.28.First, I'm not trying to sell you something. As of January we work exclusively for just one group, so if you called me I'd either turn you away or try and recruit you into our subby. What I'm trying to do is get you to stop buying non-compliant and unethical garbage leads.What made this campaign interesting, and why it's a first for us (and in absolutely no way typical), is that 8 of the 9 leads converted - resulting in 9.4m in volume... and this was off a spend of just $67.28. Typical conversions are around 30%, so having all but one translate into a file was seriously unexpected... but satisfying given the broker was going through a difficult time (we didn't charge him for the ad, and this morning we received a gift basket - very much appreciated).You will not and cannot see this return by buying leads. In fact, the same number of 'leads' would have cost you around $1500 and you wouldn't have converted any (because they're crappy leadgen leads).FB advertising represents around 30% of the volume returned by our brokers. Other programs are much higher yield, but they also require more time. If Facebook leads were women, the quality of the average lead isn't much different to girls you meet hanging out at Caltex toilets, so the experience described above wasn't a typical one, but our brokers still manage to dig deep, find the diamonds, and *convert* at roughly $60 - around half of what you'd pay for a dud lead, and still a small price to pay given the returns.Moving forward, Belief will support our existing clients and larger franchise groups only. Details of our new venture are forthcoming.Don't buy leads.
Note for clients. Yabber's Content Library is undergoing a seriously significant update. As part of an architectural overhaul that impacts most major systems, the Content Library (in company with associated systems, such as the Media Factory, Instagratify, and Vista) is seeing new functionality that'll integrate it directly with the updated Sendify (social media) modules. The Content Library already includes thousands of images and video (and billions if you include external sources), but the branded managed content that is created and sent on your behalf was always part of a standalone system... but the fractional and disruptive nature of multiple content sources ceases with the update and completely rationalises all media - including that originating from Instagratify and Vista. In real terms, it means that you'll have more control over all your content - including that which you upload yourself directly to Yabber (pictured).Big-picture changes made with the update includes integration with the website article modules, website social media modules, website download archive, Testimonial media, and the website video archive. Generally speaking, all content modules of any type will find their way into the new 'Social Library'. Please take full advantage of the powerful social media systems and content libraries. There are companies that charge over $1500 a month for products that include only a tiny fraction of Yabber's content and social functionality, but Yabber's tools are all made available to you with a basic website package.Power keep an eye on the FAQs. We've scheduled in some time later this week to add the next batch of content.Disruptions to social media systems will be minimal, but managed content will slow down considerably for a couple of weeks.
This is an important note for all website and Facebook advertising clients.Xena is the only statistical engine of its kind in the market, and it builds on the amazing conditional engine that has continued to consistently deliver clients with spectacular website, promoted, and funnel results. While our existing model is industry-leading, the Xena engine takes our decade-old BeNet AI to the next level (details will be provided in private). The system is totally integrated in nature, so website traffic, email marketing interactions, phone calls, and *every* single other digital or organic touch point of any type, is all recorded within a singular system.Creation of Xena has taken nearly a year, and testing has taken place over the last couple of months via our Shortt URL service.The entire stats framework will be shut down on Thursday morning at 2am AEST for approximately 45 minutes while we migrate the system. During this window all web services will be limited.Other revised modules, such as SendPress, Sendify, Triggerly, and the updated Social Library, will all undergo updates over the next couple of weeks.
Facebook are deprecating Group Graph endpoints in version 19 of their Marketing API. As such, all Yabber FB Group integrations will be removed. The decision is one that doesn't make sense for owned groups, so we've reached our to our RM for a better understanding of immediate and future plans.Is you're reading this in one of our groups, you should understand that the post itself was created on Instagram, and this style of integration will sadly be lost.
We're big advocates for brokers recording their own ads (rather than using our generic video). It's easy to do: you pull out your phone and read off a few lines of text. Simple. The personalisation is more likely to engage with your audience, it enhances branding, and it legitimises your operation. You can shoot a little B-roll in the office, shoot some houses being built, and so on. We like the video shot at a location where the surrounds contribute to your message and narrative, but anywhere other than a blank wall tends to work well.The problem? Very few brokers have the time and/or confidence to engage with the process. However, a SA-based brokerage had just sent me the first of a large number of videos they shot over a few hours a few days ago, and they're absolutely brilliant. They're currently seeing leads at around $10 with our suite of 'generic' ads but I'm confident that their new material will cut their costs in half - the ads are that good.Their smiling actor (the daughter of the owner) is truly fantastic. She's enthusiastic, attractive, genuine, radiates a pleasant personality, and quickly connects with the audience. Unlike the leadgen garbage floating around the market, she doesn't hype the message but easily escalates audience attention.With sensible automation in place and a deeply immersive funnel, I'm confident the experience will have a seriously profound impact on their operation. Pictured: We'll be editing video into a square format for Instagram and standard 16:9 for YouTube. Basic screenshots shown. If you're using any of our generic 'turnkey' ads, I'd encourage you to make contact with us for guidance on how we can quickly create something that'll improve your branding and ROI.All that said, even our generic ads still outperform dodgy paid leads by at least 20X.With their permission, I'll upload some of the fished products next week.
This is one of the dozen different image formats that are automatically created whenever a cash rate decision is made. This particular style is called 'RBA Square Essentials'. The purpose is to enable a small commentary to accompany the standard information. If you create the image manually in Yabber, all aspects of the template may be customised.Once a cash rate decision is made, a large number of images are pushed to your Vista (Outlook) social media calendar. You're then able to remove those images that aren't required and schedule the preferred media back to selected social networks.Most businesses will have a specific image created for their own operation (they'll draw something and we'll just recreate it programmatically). A version of this image is created for all active partners before it's sent to them via email.
This is obviously just an example image. It's one of about a dozen different image formats that are automatically created whenever a cash rate decision is made. This particular style is called simply 'RBA Basic' and it's the least impressive of all images created by Yabber, but it's also one we've just pushed into our *free* industry website plugin.It's worth noting that once a cash rate decision is made, a large number of images are pushed to your Vista (Outlook) social media calendar. You're then able to remove those images that aren't required and schedule the preferred media back to selected social networks.A version of this image is created for all active partners before it's sent to them via email.
Mel Gibson, Jason Momoa and Their Son. Legend.
Important note for clients.Over the last few months we've spent a ridiculous amount of time reworking the funnel flows for various types of advertising (we've had to cater for the ubiquitous illegal advertising that populates various social platforms). Typical leads off *generic* programs are coming in at around $15 (this includes leads delivered by our free plugin), while funnel-focused leads with good video are coming in at no more than $7. It's obviously the short-term conversion that most use to measure their success, so if you're paying any more than around $55-$65 for a *conversion* we need to have a chat (don't feel bad - those silly peckers that buy leads are often paying well over $1000 for a conversion). Keep in mind that FHB leads are quite expensive, with conversions costing nearly $80 (leads float between $8.20-$13.50).We'll be hosting two client-only workshops next month (dates TBA), and they'll be the last events we host for a few months given our recent 'changes'. We'll shoot the style of refinance video with you directly that's currently returning $3 leads. Shoot us an email to reserve your spot.
Shad of the Day, 27th January 2024. The subscription flow from Zapp is a copycat experience shared by a number of others in the dodgy leadgen world, and the MO is the same: lie about the outcome, try and gamify the subscription, and deceive the potential lead with invalid results. In this particular example we also have a 'Proof' popup that returns invalid statements. If you're going to put a stepped form in front of somebody, don't suggest it'll benefit them in any way, and make it clear that responses in no way impact the outcome of their engagement (you shouldn't use the term' qualify' when no such qualification occurs). However, if you present a form to somebody and expect to use it in order to legitimately guide a user, put conditional logic in place to actually assess results (if you don't know how to do this, Chat GPT will write the code for you in seconds). However, if you do use a form, understand that it's a barrier to entry and seriously compromises the validity of results.My form responses wouldn't qualify me for Costco membership... so don't return a BS baiting response (we tried with all rates, incomes etc., and the result didn't change). Pure BS. We're particularly proud of the impact we had on leadgen crooks last year, and we managed to 'generally' change their language and methods in significant ways (they're still providing illegal advertising, but they're one step closer to being compliant).Needless to say, all the privacy, term, contact, and other website links were invalid.This appears to be a legitimate attempt at leadgen - it just isn't any good. Thankfully, an experience like this wouldn't have taken more than an hour to build, so their investment is limited.If your engage with this nonsense, don't pretend that you're in any way customer focused or compliant with Bid. Just appalling. Borrowers deserve better. Stop the finspam. Don't buy leads.
I'm just going to leave this here. The business must be commended for creating their own advertising, but there are some big-ticket roadblocks in the subscription process.The acid test of any basic ad campaign is to view the holistic experience as a customer. Expertise, authoritativeness, and trust. How are these attributes showcased in the seconds it takes to scroll through your content?Despite everything, this individual is still almost certainly generating leads for less than what it costs to buy them.
