Email Address

Build Your List, Build Your Business

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Welcome to part 2 of my exclusive money making series.

Today I want to start talking about my favorite subject… List building!

There  is is actually a lot more to this subject than I can cram into one blog posting but i’ll try and go over the basics to start with as much as I can.

If you are reading this chances are you have already tried promoting some kind of online business or affiliate program.  I am guessing you probably figured out  how to get some traffic but for some reason you aren’t getting many sales… if any.

Not as easy as you expected, is it?

Well, you are not alone.  Even people who are promoting free affiliate sites can have a hard time getting sign-ups.  That’s because most people don’t know them or trust them enough to join.

Trust is very important!

Here’s one of my favorite quotes:

“All things being equal people would rather buy from someone they know and trust.  All things NOT being equal… people would STILL rather buy from someone they know and trust”.

So how do you build trust?  Well, it does take some time…  and it usually takes a lot longer than the time it takes for someone to read your site.

In fact, here’s what usually happens.  Someone visits your website, they read your offer and think “sounds interesting, but i’m not ready to commit to this right now”. So what happens?  They leave and probably never come back.  The time and energy you spent getting them to your site was wasted.

That’s where the autoresponder comes in.

Your autoresponder is the single most important weapon in any Internet
marketer’s arsenal because it let’s you follow-up with your prospect days
and even months after they leave your website site.

The way it works is that you offer something of value to the people coming to your website in exchange for their email address.  Your offer can be a free ebook, a newsletter, software, or almost any other “digital” product.

When your visitor fills out the form on your site their info is sent to your autoresponder which then begins sending out a series of pre-written emails to them.  These emails can be used to tell your subscribers more about yourself and your business while providing them with more free information that they can use which compliments the free product you first sent them.

Hopefully over time your readers will get to know you and even look forward to the emails they receive from you.  Once they begin to trust you it makes it much easier for you to recommend paid products and services that you can earn commissions from later on.

Another great thing about autoresponders is that once you have your emails series setup you can practically set it and forget it.  If you wanted to you could set it to send an email a week for the next 5 years and it would do it for you.

Compare that to sending someone directly to your website where you only have one chance to get a sale.

Unfortunately good autoresponders are not free.  That’s one of the few things that you are just going to have to bite the bullet on if you want to succeed in this business.  Expect to pay about $20/month for a good autoresponder.

I recommend using either Aweber or TrafficWave.  Aweber is considered to be one of the best and includes a lot of advanced features.  TrafficWave is a more affordable alternative that will definitely get the job done.

Both autoresponders offer 30-day trial memberships so there is no reason not to try them both and decide which one you like the most.

Ok, I think that’s enough one day.

I’ll be posting my JV giveaway events listing tomorrow and Ryan Hogan is about to launch a new product so look for my next post in this series early next week.

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Avoid These Common Email Marketing Mistakes

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Email marketing can be one of the most effective ways to promote your Internet business. It can be a little tricky though if you don’t know what you’re doing so it is very easy to make some common when you are first starting out. This can be very frustrating as it can cost you a lot of money while not generating any sales. Here’s a few common email marketing mistakes you should be aware of when starting your next campaign. Following these simple steps will make your marketing strategies much more effective.

Your readers always want to feel like they are a real person and not just a statistic to you. This is why it is important that you take the time to address each email you send personally. You will get a much better response if you avoid starting your emails with something like “Dear Customer”. Also, try not to use dollar signs in your emails. It can be a real turn off to your readers who might look at it as if you are only interested in getting their money.

Remember, you readers probably don’t have a lot of patience! Your email should jump out at them as soon as they open it. Put the most enticing information at the beginning with the rest of the details later on. They are much more likely to read your entire email message if you are able to get their attention right at the beginning. Also, each reader is going to be different. That includes their computer setup as well as the kind of email program that they are using. Don’t assume that every email send will be receive through the same email service you are using. You should test the receipt of your email on several popular email services to make sure it displays the way you want it to.

Confidentiality is also a very important issue to your readers. Always make sure that your email sign-up form contains a disclaimer that clearly states that you will not abuse their email address in any way. You will be amazed by how many people won’t sign up for an email promotion if this bit of information isn’t given to them. There are many rules and regulations out there regarding what can and can’t be done when it comes to email marketing. Make sure you are familiar with these rules before you start your next campaign. The often vary by country so if you are doing a global marketing campaign be sure to check the regulations for each area you are sending to. Failure to do this can lead to huge fines for your business.

Never make the mistake of thinking that you know what your readers want. If you really want to know then take the time to ask them. Be open to comments and suggestions that they give you. Letting them know that you are available to answer their questions or concerns is a great way to earn the loyalty of your readers. It is often very easy to sell something to someone but it is much harder to make them happy enough that they will come back and buy from you over and over again.

You don’t want a mailing list full of unhappy subscribers. The law requires you to provide a link where your readers can easily unsubscribe from your list. While you want to do everything possible to keep them reading your emails it is also important that you respect their wishes and remove them from your list if they choose to opt-out. They will become very frustrated if they keep receiving emails from you after they have asked to be removed from your list.

Email marketing can be extremely beneficial for your business if you remember to keep these common mistakes from becoming a part of your marketing plan.