Email marketing is most successful and is definitly important to build relationships on the internet. It is the best way to tie everything together especially...
The mere mention of marketing via e-mail conjures up images of unsolicited e-mails offering penile enlargement pills, Viagra, various stocks offerings, and breast augmentation. Derogatorily referred to as "spam", these emails have made it all but impossible to discuss the legitimate use of email as a marketing tool. Yet e-mail can be a powerful tool when sent to people who have either opted-in (indicated an interest in receiving e-mail from a specific sender) or have a direct interest in the information being sent. To exclude e-mail from your online marketing tactical basket is silly. You simply have to make sure you conduct yourself in a manner consistent with the accepted rules of the game - meaning you don't engage in the blind mass sending of e-mails to databases you have not either developed on your own, or purchased from reputable opt-in list brokers. The successful use of email as a marketing tool can be broken down into 5 components. They are: 1. Database Once you have determined that you wish to engage in e-mail marketing, you need to decide to whom you wish to send your messages. The selection of a list to purchase should be based on your knowledge of your targeted market and who comprises your most likely customer. Many list brokers have lists they can accumulate based on a variety of demographic information, and some can also provide names based on a history of responding to offers sent via e-mail. The more you can narrow down who it is you want to send the e-mails to, the higher the response rate will be. Another excellent way to gather a viable e-mail list is to build your own. Over time you can gather a list of customer e-mail addresses that will prove to be a tremendous marketing asset, as it is comprised of people who have bought from you already and presumably have an interest in what you sell. You can gather your own list at your place of business and via your website, by offering people an opportunity to sign up to get your emails (which feature special offers and new product announcements). 2. Content The content of your e-mails should be designed to meet the needs of your audience. As mentioned above, you can use your e-mails to announce new products or make special offers. You can also inform your customer base about new developments in your market, announce special events, or provide opinions (based on the type of relationship you have with customers and the type of business you have). The e-mail content needs to be precise, well written, and engaging. You should make an effort to drive the reader to your website, where the information either continues, or the offer you are making can be purchased. 3. Format There are two different ways e-mails can be sent and the selection of either is based on the content of the e-mail and how you wish for it to be presented. E-mails sent in HTML format look like web pages and can feature graphics. These are more effective for sales promotions, but some people do not have their e-mail programs set to receive HTML e-mails, meaning that the content will come in without the graphics. Text e-mail messages are useful when you want to relay information and are able to keep your message short and to the point. You can use a link in a text e-mail to send the reader to your website where he/she can view more information in HTML format. 4. Testing Prior to launching a broad and ambitious e-mail marketing program it is recommended that you test your message with a series of smaller groups to make certain that what you are saying is being well received and that the response rates you anticipate are being met. The tests enable you to make adjustments before you go live in a big way. Not only can this help you sharpen what you want to say, but it will also avoid any large scale errors. Testing should be done to representative groups by taking random selections out of the lists you intend to use. 5. Tracking The beauty of e-mail marketing is that it allows for the tracking of your marketing program in ways traditional marketing cannot do. The information provided can include how many people opened your message and how many of them responded to whatever offer you included. This tracking not only allows you to judge the worthiness of the program, but also gives you clues into how to improve it. E-mail marketing is inexpensive and flexible, but should not be overused so that recipients don't become overwhelmed by the volume of e-mails you are sending (and therefore ignoring what you send). Sort of like direct mail, but with automatic immediate response mechanism - your website - e-mail marketing is a viable tool that can be leveraged as part of your overall integrated marketing program.
The right direct mailing list targets people who want your product or service.
The direct mail mailing list is a key factor in a successful direct mail marketing campaign and a major point to consider in small business marketing strategies where marketing ROI (Return On Investment) is a key concern.
What really makes your direct mail marketing and advertising campaign successful?
The biggest single factor in the success of your direct mail marketing strategy is who you send your mailings to.
A. You need a list.
This can be: 1) a list of existing customers or prospects who have inquired as a result of any of your marketing efforts or
2) a list which you purchase or in some cases obtain for free.
B. The mailing list must contain the names of people who are likely to be interested in the benefits of your products or services.
Don’t try and sell beer to the Temperance Society or real estate to people who cannot afford it. You have to target your direct mail marketing efforts.
What kinds of lists are available?
C. The three basic kinds of lists that you can use are (you can use all three):
1. Your own list of prospects and customers. This is a list that you collected with your own personal marketing efforts. This is known as a house list. These people are most likely to respond to your offers, because they have responded in the past.
2. A response list is a list of people that have actually done something. They have either purchased something from the people who put together the list or inquired in response to some offer or asked to be on the list. They have some level of interest in the topic or purpose of the list.
These people have not previously responded to you, but they have responded to someone in a related area (if you have purchased a correctly targeted list) so you know they are at least warm. This is a direct mail mailing list you can purchase from the owner of the list (such as a magazine or company) or a list broker.
3. A compiled list is a list of people who were selected to be on the list because they possess the characteristics that you asked the list broker to screen for.
Examples of characteristics used to target correctly may include age, sex, geographic location, income level, etc. These are more fixed characteristics than response list characteristics, which are behavioral characteristics.
Case study: California based Sun Pacific Mortgage’s Forest Tardibuono found a great way to get the right direct mail mailing list for his company which has a very successful direct mail marketing strategy based on postcards and direct mail mailing lists.
“The title companies give us the mailing labels free. I’ll tell them we want all the homeowners in 95401 which is a zip we get most of our business from. So they’ll give us the mailing labels of anyone who is a homeowner from that lists. It saves money on labels and mailing lists. They’ll even limit searches to specific categories such as all homeowners from that zip who got a loan from certain companies and they’ll do the search according to that so I can really target the public so that the mailing will be more effective.”
Mailing lists, correctly targeted, can make the difference in a mediocre promotional campaign to a wildly successful promotional campaign. It really just depends on what you are willing to have – success or mediocrity. So which is it?
-------------------------- A typical day at the inbox --------------------------
Today, I received 374 e-mails total.
A pretty light day considering some days I get more than 1,000.
To clarify what they were--35 were for business, 4 were personal in nature, 11 were from groups I asked to get information from like Neiman Marcus and Urban Outfitters, VH1, and a PR Newsletter.
The balance of 324 was unsolicited (UCE-unsolicited commercial e-mail)--in other words spam.
If I extrapolate the UCE I’ve gotten in the last six hours alone, I find I must be missing something about myself on some spiritual level..
I am a balding, fat man with a small penis that doesn’t work. I am in debt.
I am looking for a lower interest rate on my mortgage while at the same time making thousands of dollars with no effort on my part in the privacy of my own home—filling out surveys, stuffing envelopes and not selling something that miraculously sells itself.
Even better, I can be a travel agent without wrinkles; obtain a college degree while waiting for my 1500 advance to show up in my bank account; I can restore my credit rating legally while watching my free satellite TV and munching on my drugs sent courtesy of an offshore pharmacy that has a doctor who will write me a prescription… HMMM…definitely something to consider. NOT.
I’ve also discovered that I am a prime candidate to help an African Prince transfer funds into the US. He trusts me. All I have to do is give him my bank account information.
The problem is that I am a woman who doesn’t suffer those ills. Someone thinks I do…There is something wrong with this picture.
------------------------------------------------------------ The future of bulk email and why it is likely to remain dead ------------------------------------------------------------
Now, you might be asking why I, who was dubbed the “Spam Queen” in the “Wall Street Journal” three years ago, am even bothering to say anything about e-mail?
Just to set the record straight, I have never advocated spam or sending spam.
One reporter said to me, "Some people consider all bulk email as spam. What do you have to say about that?" to which I replied, "Then I guess you'd call me the spam queen," as a joke.
In our sound byte media world, one editor turned this little quip into a buzzword and I became known almost instantly, all over the world, as representing what everyone, including myself, hates about email.
The media as usual emphasized sensationalism and missed the point.
I am not complaining because my marketing business skyrocketed as a result.
At that time I advocated email as a very effective medium for small business, which because of its low cost lets small businesses level the playing field against big corporations.
At no small personal risk, I visited the Federal Trade Commission in Washington, DC, and spoke my peace about small businesses and not throwing out the baby with the bathwater before even the very term spam could be legally agreed upon and defined to the satisfaction of marketers, ISPs and the government jointly.
Small businesses are the lifeblood of the US economy, and entrepreneurs with their dreams are what have made the US the economic powerhouse it still is today.
Email that is sent to people who WANT to receive it, and that is in accordance with their preferences, still gets a high response. It allows many small businesses to get ahead. I didn't want to see big corporations or the government take over email and bar entry, filter, and extort everyone else while still sending their own advertising messages freely.
And then came the Can-Spam act, which I and many other legitimate marketers welcomed, because it had a great promise of getting rid of the noise while keeping the signal.
As it turned out, the opposite happened. Email filters from ISP's now block a large amount of legitimate messages, which they call "false positives".
Marketers can't send the text they would like to send to their subscribers, so they have to resort to filter tricking tactics such as spelling the word spam as sp@@@M so that they can get past the filters that were intended for another purpose entirely.
In a climate like this, legitimate companies that had been diligently following best practices, and keeping their lists clean for years, suddenly did not want to stay in business with ambiguities in the law and the potential litigation that might ensue even if all the rules WERE followed, so many companies just folded.
However the people that continue to send email illegally did not fold.
Often times sending from outside the US borders, they stepped up their operations even more, to the point that there is almost no truly legitimate bulk email left.
In other words, the signal has become lost in the noise.
The simplicity is this — bulk commercial e-mail has gotten to the point where it isn’t effective. We just don’t do it anymore. What’s the point? It doesn’t get a response, and we found people are overloaded with advertising messages and no longer willing to receive more, especially in their inbox, unless they specifically asked for it.
As a marketing professional, the only thing that should count for you at the end of the day is effectiveness. Bulk commercial e-mail has turned into the above, a bunch of unprofessional, ineffective scams.
In other words, Spam is a four-letter word.
Legitimate marketers are staying away in droves and it’s easy to see why. First of all let’s look at some facts. In the United States, it is legal to send unsolicited commercial e-mail. The CAN SPAM act allows for this. You have to provide a way to opt-out and not hide who you are, and a few more simple but ethical rules.
Although it is legal, there isn’t an internet service provider in the United States who will allow you to send unsolicited commercial e-mail.
Larger mailers have opt-in information from lists they purchase which imply consent but those lists aren’t originated from the mailer, but from other sub-mailers—you get a free thing or access to a particular site and the user checks a box that it is okay to get information from their “affiliates and partners.”
The “affiliates and partners” they are referring to are those who pay for the e-mail addresses and opt-in information.
These guys are sending you mail legally, but the fact is, they are not getting into your e-mail box for the most part. Blocking, filtering, and doing it the “legal” way bulk wise, is just not working.
Not to mention, there is no way to prove that the recipients opted in or are willing to get the message since they opted in at someone else’s site, not yours.
The response rate is pathetic and when that mail does get through, you have many disgruntled individuals who never remember opting in, so in their view, the mail is unsolicited. The only way to get e-mail into inboxes en masse is by not following the rules, so the only messages getting through are the scams, including the pornographic, illegal, and objectionable.
It is ironic that the very thing people want to rail against, they are getting more of in the aftermath of Can-Spam.
So where does that leave us?
What can a small businessperson do to get their message out, and not break their bank?
-------------------------------------------------- How to market effectively in the new internet wave --------------------------------------------------
If you are a small businessperson, there are 3 alternatives that you should consider, which are described in this next section:
What is effective you might ask? (Ask away, it’s kind of the point here..)
1) First party offers that impart some value added (a tip; some information, something the consumer is interested in.)
Lets say John Q. Consumer gave his e-mail address for a newsletter, or for more information on a particular subject, or to play a game.
Chances are he probably would not be angered to get an e-mail from your company especially since he asked for you to contact him. He would recognize your domain name since he spent enough time on your site to actually ask the info.
Additionally, your internet service provider would not shut you down for violations and you’d start to build a small but effective list of people who are actually interested in what you, as a business owner, have to say.
This has been effective since the beginning of the internet. The only problem is, how do you reach people the first time, to get them to your site?
How do you find a target market for your products that is likely to be interested in what you have to offer and sign up for your newsletter, visit your site, and hopefully buy your stuff?
Is there anything less costly than television, radio, and (ugh!) banner ads?
Yes there is. Drum roll please…..Search Engine Marketing. If you write good ads, and compete with the right keywords, people who are already searching for an answer to a question, doing research, comparison shopping will go to a search engine and type in their parameters.
If you know how to market well, only people who are interested will go to your site.
If you have a web site that is compelling and you are offering a value added, they will ask for more information or sign up for your newsletter, or get your free download.
Now, getting to this point can sometimes take a little time, but if you are persistent, and know how to interpret your statistics, you can do this. If you want the result without the learning curve, hire a Search Engine Marketing Firm.
So the new tools for small businesspeople to stampede traffic to their websites in 2005 and beyond are going to be:
1) Search Engine Marketing 2) Publicity, including press releases that provide meaningful news 3) Providing quality content and expert commentary for radio, TV, and internet hubs in your field
You can be successful on the internet and these tools help to establish you as an expert in your field, as well as attract the very people who are looking for your product or service at the same time.
These are the tools of a new form of marketing, which people are calling "In Touch" Marketing, or "intelligent marketing" and is one way to cut through and actually get you the most possible business, at the lowest possible cost, with laser precise targeting. In future articles I will teach you how to use them with deadly precision.
This is the new way for small businesses and entrepreneurs to succeed in 2005 and beyond.
Have you ever received an email telling you that the person you emailed is on vacation and will not be answering his email for the next week? What about a company that answers with an email thanking you for your interest and that they would get back to you in a day or two? Or even an email saying that the email you tried to send could not be delivered?
Each of these is a different version of what we commonly call an autoresponder. An autoresponder is simply that, a computer program that automatically answers email sent to it. This simple definition, however, belies a world of difference between the different types of autoresponders in use today.
The first auto responders were incorporated into mail transfer agents or email providers. When they could not deliver a piece of email, they would send an autoresponse to you letting you know as much. These types of emails were helpful, but not particularly sophisticated.
That has all changed radically in recent years, as autoresponders have been incorporated into the marketing strategies of many companies. Today autoresponders are used by companies to immediately give feedback and information to prospective clients. This might include sending an autoresponse to email inquiries which include pricing information, more details about a product, and a timeline for when they can expect someone from the company to get back with them.
These ‘client touches’ are a valuable commodity in the world of marketing because they improve conversion rates in the purchase of goods by keeping the product or service in the mind of the purchaser for a bit longer, as well as provide the company with an additional opportunity to provide the potential customer with more information on the product.
Autoresponders are setup primarily in one of two ways, with an outsourced ASP model, and a server-side model. The Outsourced ASP model involves the company or provider who would like to incorporate an autoresponder into their business model contracting with an outside provider. The outside provider will then typically provide the user with access to a web-based control panel. From there the company or individual can dictate exactly what they would like the autoresponder to say to each email received as well as how to deal with different types of emails and other variations. For these services, the company typically pays a monthly fee to the autoresponder provider.
The second category of autoresponders is server-side. Server-side autoresponders simply refers to programs that instead of paying for someone to implement for you on a monthly basis, a company can install the system on their own server and run it for themselves. While this process is typically not as simple as purchasing a program out of a box and uploading to the server, it has become significantly simpler in recent years.
How do you actually make money with Internet Marketing, what steps to you take to deliver the results?
It is easy to get confused with Internet Marketing with everybody saying one thing or another is the Golden key to riches. But how do you actually get started or improve your results?
First you need to take stock of where you are and stop reading your email for a minute.
Ask yourself how many of the great ideas that you have read about have you actually implemented? Then ask yourself how many of those have actually made you money?
For most people the answer is not pretty. But be easy on yourself because there is hope. So where are you now?
For the beginners: Do you have a Domain Name? Do you have a Website? Do you have an auto responder?
Intermediate: What size is your list? How is your auto responder setup? How many products do you have or promote?
Advanced: How responsive is your list? How is your SEO? What results are you getting from your advertising dollars? What money are you making each month?
Now there are many other things that could go on this list, but has it got you thinking?
To improve on these things you need to look at how well you are executing the basics and how much time are you devoting to improving the things that support your internet empire and how much time do you spend chasing your tail or the latest super hot technique.
By the way, most of those super hot techniques rely on the basic stuff already being in place first to execute them properly.
So if things are not exactly where you would like them to be then you need to decide exactly in detail what you want to do about it and set aside some time to do it.
So how do you prioritize your time? Do what the professionals do and keep a diary. Now this may not sound very cool but it works and has worked for a lot of people for a very long time. Sounds simple right, but are you willing to just do it?
Set aside time each day (or as you choose) to work on setting something up, maybe a new longer series of auto responder messages that encourages the person to take another look at your products or affiliate links.
Improve the sales copy on your website, submit some more articles to the article directories, and be active in forums related to your niche products.
Now all of these basic things will make you money. And when your start making money with the basics then you can start adding things one at a time and see if they improve your sales. Ask yourself do these new techniques suit your style, your products, your mindset, then try them.
So set some goals in your diary and write down some activities that you will do to help achieve those goals and spend more time working on your internet empire than reading emails that are making other people money.
When you are making money these things become more enjoyable and you feel inspired to take it do the next level.
So be kind to yourself, decide exactly what you want to do, decide when you are going to do it and then do it.
Enjoy your Internet Empire, you are doing it for you after all!
First step: complete the address you want the email to be sent to. Then, you fill in the sender’s email, subject, message and sender’s name. Before you know it, you will become an anonymailer yourself! You will be joining other hundreds of Internet users who send anonymous email messages each day. The best thing is that your identity is completely unknown and you can use any email address as a reply address. The difference from this service with other similar resources is that when you send an email, the receiver sees both your email address and your name. This is indeed one great advantage.
What are other reasons you may have to become an anonymous mailer besides free prank email sending? Perhaps you suspect your husband of cheating on you and you want to catch him on the act. If you are a model citizen, then perhaps you might transform in a hidden sender and inform tax office about those who dare to cheat on their tax paying duties. Untraceable emails can also be used as a way to declare your romantic feelings to somebody. This resource is also perfect to send secure emails when your own email address does not function (temporary email). Other reasons for wanting to hide yourself from email receiver: reporting something to your boss (you might not desire for everyone to know you sent that specific email), sending fake email to verify the loyalty of your friends and warning someone through anonymous emails. In fact, there are so many reasons you should be interested in such a service. It might be a fake email or you may want to send email on behalf of someone. A free prank email can turn out to be a great joke, allowing you to tell (later) to your friends about hidden email sendersend anonymous messages.
However amazing this resource might be, you will have to understand that it cannot be used for illegal activities, committing offence or fraud. You can send emails to anybody but that does not mean you are not to respect the law. For your own security, both the IP address and country of residence are recorded. You can send your own fake email without using any real names, password or personal server. Fame email messages are sent through their server, requiring no SMTP or hosting account to be used. There is no limit on how many anon e-mails you can send throughout the entire day. The send a fake email service can be used from any part of the world, on any computer and by any Internet user (advantage of this service – support HTML platforms). If you enjoy this service very much and prefer sending fake mails through proxies, then you should be interested in the premier account. Apart from an increased number of additional features offered, the premier membership means no footer ads. It’s great, isn’t it?
If you've reached the point of exhaustion trying to keep up with answering the mountain of emails that threatens to bury you alive every single day, you're ready to learn about autoresponders.
The bad news is that people expect prompt replies to their email inquiries. However, unless you can figure out how to work continual twenty-four hour shifts, or hire enough people to constantly monitor incoming emails (while they're eating up your revenue), you have a problem. The good news is an autoresponder is an inexpensive - or even free - method of quickly responding to emails. What these programs do is automatically respond to incoming emails as soon as they are received.
Emails are essential to your business for many different reasons. Most importantly, these invisible email voices give you their feedback about your website - for free! However, if you spend all your working hours answering these emails, how are you supposed to run your business? The answer is simple: use autoresponders. Autoresponders are programs that automatically respond to your emails without you so much as having to click on your mouse.
There are a number of good reasons why you need an autoresponder besides just answering your email. For example, autoresponders can be used if you need a way to send information about your services or products, price lists, or if there are repeated questions asked across large numbers of emails. Maybe you want to offer your site visitors a special bonus of some kind, such as advice or relevant articles. All of this can be handled by an autoresponder. Additionally, you can advertise your business and then build stable relationships with your customers by using autoresponders.
Autoresponder programs vary from software that runs with your email program to a specialized script that runs on your web hosting company's server. This kind of script may use a web page form or simply operate with your email account. This kind of script is programmed to send out a standardized message whenever an email is received. The message is sent to a particular script or email address.
Some autoresponders can do more than simply send out standardized messages. They can send out an unlimited number of follow-up messages sent at predetermined interval of time. For example, you can set your autoresponder to send out a new message every day for as long a period as you desire.
There are numerous companies who offer autoresponders free of charge. Your website hosting company often provides autoresponders as a free service. If this is not the case with your web hosting company, there are numerous companies who offer this service for a small fee, or free of charge, providing you attach an advertisement for their company to your emails.
To personalize your autoresponder messages, you can attach a signature. Signatures in this case are much like business cards. You can include your name, company, all your contact numbers and addresses, and a brief message.
It's a good idea to attach a signature to every email that is sent out. This works as a repeated reminder of your business identity every time a customer sees it. The more they look at your signature, the more likely your company will spring to mind when your particular service or product is needed.
You can create a standardized signature that every employee in your business uses, or you can go wild, and let every staff member create their own personal signature. Of course, like everything in life, there are some rules and guidelines to creating a personal signature.
Keep the length of your signature between four to six lines of text, with no more than 70 characters in a single line. Make sure that your email program does not cut off your text! The content should include your name, your company name, your email address, fax number, and any other contact details, such as 800 numbers. Lastly, always include a short personal message about your company. It should be a subtle sell of your services or your products, and possibly your company's reliability and longevity.
Another specialized use of autoresponders is to create courses that you can then offer your site visitors for free. You must choose a topic in which you are an expert and that precisely targets your potential customers.
Once you have carefully chosen your subject, divide it into a number of different sub-topics. Then offer your site visitor a free 10 or 15 day course, each day offering a different sub-topic. The first topic should always be a welcome message to your site visitor and an explanation about what is to follow. Your explanation should be enticing, getting the point across that you are offering free, quality information that your target audience will find of great value.
With every lesson, include the number of the lesson, the topic title, information about your company and its services or products. At the end, include a few blurbs about the next lesson to entice the subscriber to continue on.
Make sure each topic is packed with essential and valuable information, and leaves the visitor lusting to know more. Otherwise, you may lose them in the very beginning.
Of course, you have to write up your course before you can offer it. Once you have done this, and gone over the material carefully, employing a professional writer or editor if necessary, you must transfer your text to your autoresponder.
There are a number of free autoresponders you can use.Try http:/www.getresponse.com, or http://www.fastfacts.net. Or go onto Google and you will find a long list of free autoresponder companies. Then sign-up for your chosen autoresponder. Once you do, you will receive instructions as to how to set it up and transfer your text.
Email is an excellent marketing tool; it is inexpensive and it is fast. Use it to advertise your business by choosing your email address carefully. Your website should contain different email addresses for different contact requests. For example, use info@yourdomain.com for information requests, or sales@yourdomain.com for questions about sales. It's a good idea to set up one for the owner, such as president@yourdomain.com. This presents your company in a personal, approachable light and insures that direct contact is provided.
Autoresponders are an effective and powerful marketing tool, allowing you to make contact with thousands of potential customers. This is an invaluable asset considering how many potential customers you usually have contact with before you make an actual sale. Essentially, an autoresponser allows you to automate part of your marketing campaign.
Savvy business owners who take advantage of Internet marketing realize there is a fine line between marketing and spam and orchestrate their marketing campaigns to gain the maximum amount of exposure without running the risk of being viewed as spam. The definition of spam is open to interpretation but most people agree on the fact that spam is equivalent to junk mail you receive at your residence. In general spam is unsolicited emails which are part of an advertising campaign. The term spam can also apply to message board postings which are posted solely for advertising purposes. This article will examine the differences between effective Internet marketing and spam.
First we will consider the use of message boards for the purpose of Internet marketing. Message boards are essentially online meetings places for Internet users who share a particular interest to exchange idea, ask or answer questions or just socialize. These message boards allow users to register and post messages. Most message boards have asset of guidelines which the users must follow when making posts. These guidelines may vary widely with some being very strict about acceptable content and others not being nearly as strict. It is important to follow these guidelines because failure to do so may result in the moderators deleting your account and other members not paying much attention to your posts.
Message boards are ideal for Internet marketing because they can provide a business owner with access to a specialized target audience. If you are in the business for finding jobs for employees who wish to telecommute, you might join a message board dedicated to working from home to find members who may be interested in your products. Here you may learn a great deal about the concerns of your target audience. You can also take the opportunity to post links to your website when appropriate and in accordance with the message board guidelines. This is considered to be smart Internet marketing. However, if you opt to respond to each and every post with a link to your website even when it is not relevant and do not offer comments of value to other members, they are likely to view your posts as spam. This can be damaging because these members may opt to avoid your website even if they have a need for your services.
E-newsletters and email advertising are one area of Internet marketing which is most likely to be viewed as spam if not done properly. Most Internet users to not appreciate unsolicited emails especially when these emails do not pertain to a subject that interests them. This is often the case when business owners buy email lists and send their advertisements to everyone on the list. This is not effective because you are not likely to reach a large population of your target audience. Additionally, recipients of the email may block your email address so future communications are automatically sent to a spam folder. Some recipients may even report you to their Internet service provider who may investigate the claim that you are a spammer. A better way to approach the concept of email marketing is to only send e-newsletters and advertisements to past customers who have specifically asked to receive such emails and potential customers who have requested additional information.
Most marketers will tell you that building a list is one of the most effective ways to spend your time if you hope to make money online.
Despite this, countless people do not bother to even try, or, having looked at the work required, decide that the effort is just too much. If you have come to think this way, I would seriously suggest that you rethink your marketing strategies. An opt-in list of prospects is one of the most valuable assets you can build. Let's look at that statement a little more closely.
I was talking to a friend and fellow marketer the other day, and we were discussing the relative merits of blogs and mailing lists. He runs a reasonably high traffic blog in the marketing and making money online niche and has built up a fairly decent subscriber base over the past couple of years. He is experienced and makes a full time living online, but, until recently had not focused too much on building a mailing list.
Recently, he changed his approach and began to build his own list and has been amazed by the difference in conversion rates that he has experienced. A mailing to his young list produced 40 sales from one email. A blog post on the subject of the same product produced 1 sale.
As you can imagine, he is now converted and a true believer in the power of owning a list.
This is all well and good, but the things that hold many people back from trying to build a list are often cost related. It costs money for a professional autoresponder - usually a monthly recurring charge, and it's not always easy to persuade people to sign up for yet another list, and it's no simple task to drive traffic to your opt-in forms either.
This is where maintaining a blog and your own website(s) becomes very important. Placing your opt-in form in as many places as possible will increase the chances of tempting new subscribers. You will need something to offer them in exchange for their information too and a free gift of some kind is usually the way to go.
It is a lot of work, and this is the other thing that puts a lot of people off. In terms of return on investment however, the work and the costs really are worthwhile.
There are plenty of free programs out there that claim to do the work for you, but, despite the best efforts of the program designers, most of them fall short for the end user and are really no substitute for your own list.
There is one solution that works very well for the beginner however. It does not require that you have an autoresponder (although if you do it provides for full integration) and you do not need to pay for the service.
It works on a very simple principle, that goes a step beyond traditional viral marketing. By using the system to build your list, you will also be helping others to build theirs. It sounds so simple it's a wonder that not more people have caught on to it but the results can be quite impressive. The marketer who invests in the primary software and hosting stands to gain the most of course, as he or she will reap the benefits of the viral effect in spectacular fashion, but it doesn't detract from the benefits for everyone else.
If you are still hesitant about building an opt-in list of your own, don't put it off for too much longer, because the sooner you begin, the sooner you will see the rewards. I have helped many new marketers on the road to their first list and if you want to know more, you can pick up a free manual from our site.
When you finish typing an email message, don’t forget to sign it. In email language, that doesn’t mean simply typing your name. The “signature block” contains a great deal more information.
An email is a blank screen. It contains none of the contact information found on traditional company letterhead or stationery. So, you need to provide this information in the form of a signature block.
Avoid the temptation to create a fancy banner with lots of symbols at the top of your email message. Most of that fancy schmancy stuff doesn’t translate well from one email system to another. It also creates huge files, which means the message takes forever to open. Locking up a client’s email is not the best way to make a positive impression on him/her.
The best position for the signature block is at the end. When creating your block, try to keep it to four lines. In some cases, you may need more space. Use caution, though, or the contact information may end up being longer than the body of the message. To solve this, try putting multiple pieces of information on a line. For example: Marketing Director, ABC Meeting Planners.
In determining what to include—again think of your letterhead. Provide your full name, title, company name, phone number, and email address. You may also want to give your mailing address and fax number. If you have a website, list that address, too. Don’t miss an advertising opportunity.
Why include all this contact information? Maybe an important client wants to call you instead of replying via email. Don’t make it difficult for him/her to find you. Including your email address is not redundant. Messages get forwarded, edited, etc. The ultimate receiver may not have a clue who the original sender was.
Almost daily, I receive requests from people for information, and they don’t tell me who they are or where they are. Even after requesting a mailing address, the response often comes back with no company name. Can you imagine mailing something to a 40-story office building that contains 150 businesses with the envelope addressed only to an individual?
If you work for a large company, such as a hotel or convention center, consider using a separate signature for internal messages, since your coworkers don’t need all those details. You might provide your phone extension, in case there isn’t a company directory handy, and your department, if the receiver doesn’t know you.
To keep you from having to re-type all this information with every message, newer email programs allow you to create standard signature blocks. This feature is usually found under the “Options” or “Preferences” heading. It automatically inserts the block at the bottom of your message. You can create numerous signatures and use them for different types of emails. If you use the same closing (Sincerely; Warmly; Regards) for all correspondence, you can save even more time by including it in your signature block.
Using autoresponders will help you to close more sales through consistent and effective follow up of your visitors.
With your autoresponders you'll be able to:
- Educate your visitors about your product - Share the benefits of purchasing your product - Increase your credibility - Build up your visitors' trust in you - Continue to keep your marketing message on your visitors' minds so that when your visitors are ready to purchase from you, they will.
Some profitable ways to use autoresponders:
1. Publish an ezine
Done right, your ezine will provide you with a powerful way to promote your products, special offers, and also your affiliate programs.
Your ezine can also provide you with an extra income, once it's large enough for you to start selling ads to your readers and visitors.
Begin promoting your ezine by including your subscription form and also your link to your sign up page on all your pages.
Also use a “popover” to plug your ezine and direct your visitors to either fill out your subscription form or visit your sign up page.
In addition, get the word out about your ezine by submitting it to ezine directories and ezine announcement lists.
Because these submissions can be very tedious, it's wise to use ezine promotion software to handle much of this time-consuming work for you.
That way you’ll be able to concentrate more on your ezine’s content and also on effectively marketing your business.
2. Offer a free email course.
The key to your winning course is your content.
Give your readers useful content, and they'll view you as a credible source of information and your product's value will increase in their eyes.
If your an article writer, you can use your articles as the basis of your course.
Because your articles are on topics of interest to your target audience, using them will enable you to create a course that both appeals to your visitors and provides them with information that they'll find to be very useful.
Simply choose a few related articles that cover different aspects of what you would like to write about. Then use these articles as your guide for writing the different parts of your new course.
3. Follow up with people that take you up on your free download or trial.
Start the follow up process by asking your visitor to fill out your subscription box or form in order to access her free trial.
On your "thank you" page, let her know that she'll need to confirm her subscription, and that after she does that she'll get her link to start her trial in her welcome email.
Give your visitor a strong incentive for taking you up on your offer.
For example, if you were offering a trial of your article submission software, you could offer an ebook that shares how to write articles and properly promote them to article directories and announcement lists as your special bonus.
4. Offer an article announcement list.
Your list will help you to get your articles published more frequently by webmasters and ezine publishers that have audiences that are interested in what you write about.
Your list can also help you promote your affiliate program and get more new affiliate sign ups.
In your publishing guidelines, let your subscribers know that they can earn money by rebranding your articles with their affiliate links in your "About the Author" section.
Your subscribers will be more apt to publish your articles, and you'll be able to get more new affiliates that have responsive subscribers and targeted traffic that they can promote your business to.
5. Offer a training course to your affiliates.
Savvy marketers know that to have a successful affiliate program, they need to invest in the success of their affiliates.
One powerful way to do this is to make a generic training course available to them by autoresponder.
Through your course, you’ll be able to provide your affiliates with valuable tips and strategies and elevate your profits by helping your new affiliates get started fast.
Make your course available on your affiliate sign up page/info page and also within your affiliates "control panel" where they check their stats.
If you run a two-tier affiliate program, your course can also be used as a smart promotional tool for your affiliates.
Just have your affiliates give your course away to their visitors or subscribers, and they'll be able to increase their commissions by referring more new affiliates into their second tiers that will successfully promote your biz.
We are constantly bombarded by sales messages every second of the day. Buy this. Do that. And quite often the next thing that comes around looks like the next big thing. It's so easy to get distracted off what you were doing and never quite finish it.
The only real method of preventing this is self-discipline. Make it a rule to complete what you started before going on to the next thing. If you are working in a day job, then this is even more vital, since your time is even more precious. I have tons of projects I am working on at any one time, so I'm not just talking out my hat.
I have adwords, web site development. I also do real live sales. It's a juggling act and sometimes it's so easy to just flit about and apparently do nothing. The only time I manage to get something done, is when I say to myself - right - that's it - I'm going to finish that now.
Keeping your eye on the big picture is key. What is your goal? The goal will align everything and all your activities should fall into place around it. It is like the guide to your daily life. When you wander off. Remember the goal you can get yourself on track again.
This is what I do and it helps me. So I hope it helps you too.
An email automatic responder or autoresponder is the second most important marketing tool I have to make money online. The first would be my hosting company. Without these 2 tools my internet marketing business is dead in the water.
In the world of internet marketing, millions of sites are fiercely competing with each other to gain new clients. For any ecommerce site to succeed, it must capture the interest and the trust of its visitors. It is not enough that your site is perfectly designed or has the latest in animation of content.
You should focus your efforts not only in attracting visitors but also in leading them to make a purchase. There are dozens of marketing strategies you can use to attract more buyers and pump up your sales. One of them is by establishing an excellent and professional reputation for prompt and efficient response.
As more potential customers visit your site, you should expect a flood of inquiries and requests for information. This is an excellent opportunity for you to capture more clients and lead them to buying from your site. Thus, it is important that you carry out an efficient and prompt response to every email you receive. The fastest and most effective way to do this is by utilizing an email automatic responder.
Autoresponder services use a computer program that automatically return a prewritten message to anyone who sends an email to your site. It is widely used for responding to consumer inquiries and visitor comments and suggestions.
Follow up automatic responders are also used by e-zines in responding to people who subscribe or unsubscribe to their online magazines. Companies, who send out their e-newsletter regularly, also use utoresponders.
How can effective autoresponder services help boost your business? The answer lies in its ability to return a prompt response to any e-mail the site receives. By responding rapidly and efficiently, you create a very good impression on your potential customer. Good email autorespondrs help you get important information back to these customers immediately. An effective autoresponder service helps you communicate your message promptly, creating a sense of professionalism and efficiency that your clients will definitely appreciate.
Another very important advantage of email automatic responders is that it saves time with multiple marketing tasks. Certainly, you do not have enough time to personally make and send all correspondence. Autoresponder services allows you to send thank you letters, newsletters, product information, brochures, orders etc. to hundreds of clients almost immediately and simultaneously. Autoresponder services are also indispensable in any email marketing campaign.
Choosing the right autoresponder is very important. What makes the best automatic responder? First, you should pick an autoresponder that is reliable and can give you 24/7 service. You cannot afford to lose a customer because your autoresponder failed to answer his query or request for information. The ability to respond promptly is the first thing you must look for in any automatic responder.
Another key factor you should consider when choosing Autoresponder servcies is flexibility. Good autoresponders allow you to customize unique responses that will have maximum effect on the customer. You should avoid creating an impression that the customer is communicating with a machine instead of a real human being.
An excellent email automatic responder lets you provide the information that is specifically targeted for what the potential customers are looking for. Because any email from potential customers essentially represent the customer's intent on getting more information about your product, which can ultimately lead to direct sales, all emails are important. Thus, a top Autoresponder servcie must fulfill all these duties to help you boost your business.
For all of our autoresponder needs we prefer Aweber. They are very reasonably priced and have proved to be reliable and easy to use.
While the rest of the world have developed many barriers and protection to keep their email accounts spam-free, there are also those that sign up to receive emails that promote various products, and services and their sites. This is mainly because these opt in subscribers wants to know more about what these sites are offering and can be beneficial for them. They expect to be kept posted on what they are interested in and whats new in the market or field they have chosen.
Businesses would be so lucky to have these kinds of customers, the basic element needed to get these type of people is, trust. When your customers trust you, they will reward you with their loyalty. Many internet users have gone to great lengths in protecting their email accounts from spam mail. Some free-mail internet providers and internet service providers offer spam protection while there are also some internet based companies that screen your mails for you.
With an opt in subscriber mail list, the email you send containing your promotional materials such as newsletters, catalogs and marketing media will go through. Your intended recipient will be able to read and view what you have sent, making it a successful transfer of information. To be able to be allowed to do so, you will need permission from your recipient, to get this permission; you need to be able to get their trust. With the great lack of disregard for privacy in the internet, getting the trust of an internet user, you do not personally know is a big achievement.
To build a good opt in subscriber list you need people to trust you, for a faster and quicker build up, you need to get your opt in subscribers to trust you quickly. The faster you build your opt in list the faster word about your site and company gets to be spread. The bigger the scope of your opt in list the more traffic you get, which means more profits. Its easy maths if you think about it. Getting the numbers is not that simple though, or maybe it is?
Getting the trust of your clientele should not be so hard, especially if you do have a legitimate business. Getting your customers trust should be based upon your expertise. People rely on other people who know what they are talking about. Gather all the knowledge and information about your business. Frankly if you decide to go into a business, you most probably already have an interest in it. Like how many basketball players become coaches, you don’t really venture into something you don’t have any interest in.
Show your clients that you know what you are talking about. Provide them with helpful hints and guidelines that pertain to what you are selling. Talk about how to install a roof if you're selling roofing materials or provide articles on insurance settlements if you are a settlement lawyer. You do not have to be a big corporation to make use of an opt in list. If your customers see you as someone who knows what he is doing and saying, they will trust you quickly.
Be true to your customers, if you want to hype up your products and services, provide guarantees. The more satisfied customers you get, the bigger probability there is, that they will recommend you. Generally, people will trust someone they know, when that someone recommends you, then you’re a shoo-in. They will go to your site and check it for themselves and be given a chance to experience what the others have experienced from you, so make sure to be consistent in the service you provide.
Another tip in getting a customer to trust you quickly is to provide them an escape hatch. Show them that you are not there to trap them. Keep a clean list that would enable them to unsubscribe anytime they want. Elaborate your web form by providing information on how to unsubscribe from the list. Guarantee them that they can let go of the service when ever they want to. Many are wary that they may be stuck for life and would have to abandon their email accounts when they get pestered with spam.
Remember that when you get the trust of your clients do not lose that trust. Because if you do anything with their email addresses like sell them or give them out, you will lose many members of your list as well as potential members. The true quickest way to gain the trust of your subscribers is when you are recommended by someone they trust.
Anyone with a Website who wants to communicate with their potential and existing customers to increase sales conversions, Knows that most of his workload can be taken care of by an Autoresponder. An Autoresponder should not be under estimated as they are a vital tool for selling online, they automate the follow-up sales process, sending information at pre set intervals and can be programmed up to 10 years ahead with the Autoresponder set to do its job you really can make money while you sleep.
People don’t normally buy on their first visit to a web site, they like to window shop searching for the right product at the right price. Having an Autoresponder is like a having a very cheap salesman working 24 hours per day, 7 days a week, 365 days of the year.
A website offering a free e book or download will require the potential customer to leave his or her email address for delivery. It is then the Autoresponder comes alive. Pre set with instructions An Autoresponder will send at a preset time a number of messages informing the customer of the product they looked at on your site, just like a salesperson it will let them know all about the product, what it does, why its better than your competitors, what it will do for them, and keep them up to date with the latest news and offers by text voice or video.
Professionally done follow ups will be etching the name and product into the customer’s brain, gaining their trust to buy from the site again and again.
Having a website these days is just not enough, there are millions of websites and hundreds of sites offering the same sort of products. An edge is required over competitors to entice shoppers to a site and buy. The Autuoresponder alone will not give the website the edge but I doubt the edge will be obtained without an Autoresponder.
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