What is the most important part of your online business?Many people would say: "my website". And that'sunderstandable ? it's the most visible part of an internetbusiness.
But the real power in your online business is email. It'sthe ability to reach your database of contacts at the clickof a button. The efficiency of your email pipeline willdetermine how much money your business makes.
Your website is just a way of building your mailing list -by collecting the email addresses of your visitors.
In fact, we're not talking about one list, but several.Here are the lists that I maintain ? they're all people whoat one time or another have visited my websites:
- people who have bought my products- people who have signed up to receive my articles- people who have joined my affiliate program- people who have signed up for my email course- people who have joined my newsletter
So why are these lists so important?
Because most of your visitors won't buy on the firstcontact. Statistics show that most people will need to seeyour message 7 times before they make a purchase. So ifyou're not collecting the email addresses of your visitors,you are losing out on a lot of sales.
But there is one list in particular that is like gold. It'syour list of previous customers. These people arepredisposed to buying from you. In fact, some businessesmake 80% of their sales from previous customers.
All well and good - but what do I do with these lists?
Here are some ideas:
- announce your latest product to your customer list
- announce your latest product to your affiliates list
- send your latest article to your articles list
- announce your latest product in your newsletter
- publish your latest article in your newsletter
- announce 'related' products to your customer list
- send your latest article to your affiliates list so they can use
it to promote your products
For each list that you manage you will need (1) anautoresponder account or an autoresponder script and (2) away of capturing your visitor's email address.
(1) Autoresponder Accounts
An autoresponder account gives you the ability to manage alist without installing software - it's all done on aremote website. Most autoresponder accounts will give you:
- an email address for subscribing- an HTML form for subscribing- seven or more follow-up messages- a confirmation email to you every time someone joins- the ability to broadcast messages to your list- the ability to personalize your messages- database of your prospects- online stats
Here are some sites that offer autoresponder accounts:
http://www.aweber.com/
http://www.getresponse.com/
http://www.responders .com/
http://www.proautoresponder.com/
http://www.www.roibot.com/
http://www.infog eneratorpro.com/
http://www.replypro.net/
http://www.auto-responder.co.uk/
Now, autoresponder accounts cost between $17 and $20 permonth. And with most autoresponder services you can onlymanage one list per account. So if you are managing 5lists, that quickly adds up to a hefty monthly bill.
But there are a few services that allow you to managemultiple lists with one account. Here are some of them:
http://www.rapidreply.net/http://www.ezmailpro.com/http://www.autorespond-it.com/http:// www.1automationwiz.com/http://www.royal-responder.com/
(2) Capturing Email Addresses
The most popular way to get new subscribers to your list isa 'subscribe form' that pops up when your website loads. Iget 25 to 30 new subscribers a day using this technique.The HTML code for the subscribe form usually comes withyour autoresponder account.
Another way to invite visitors to join your list is an'alert box'. An alert box is a small gray dialogue box thatpops up when someone visits your website. It usually sayssomething like: "Please subscribe to my Newsletter. 5 FreeeBooks when you join". It's impossible to ignore an alertbox - you have to either close it or click OK to continue.
Alert boxes have two advantages over subscribe forms.Firstly, there's no form to fill in, so it's much easierfor people to join your list. People who have switched froma subscribe form to an alert box report 3 to 5 times asmany subscribers.
Secondly, alert boxes capture only "real" email addresses -the email address from the visitor's client browser. Youend up with very few Hotmail and Yahoo addresses, whichmeans you'll have a much more responsive list. For moreinformation about alert boxes, visit:http://www.optinlightning.com/
So to sum up, use your website to build several optinmailing lists and you'll have a private audience of peopleyou can market to over and over again - it's the key torunning a successful online business.
------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Southon has been writing for the Internet for over 3
years. He has shown hundreds of webmasters how to use this
simple technique to build a successful online business. Click
here to find out more: http://ezine-writer.com/
------------------------------------------------------------
Wow, we`ve already taken a domain and chosen a web... Read More
There are several reverse bid freelance sites out there. Beyond... Read More
You want to give your site's visitors a way to... Read More
People often come to me in a state of crisis... Read More
Profiles are one of the best kept secrets around regarding... Read More
More and more businesses are recognizing the importance of content... Read More
Web sites are an Ongoing Part of Business.All too many... Read More
Optimize your time. How much time each day must you... Read More
Simply ensuring your website is accessible to screen reader users... Read More
The Internet has opened a whole New World of opportunity... Read More
Did you know that hosting companies overcrowd their servers despite... Read More
Revenues are often lost because many business owners don't see... Read More
Your content is what gets you in search engines, speaks... Read More
What you should do and know if you are an... Read More
A simple website stats counter is not enough if you... Read More
There are many elements that are key to successful web... Read More
"Don't Sell the Steak, Sell the Sizzle."Have you heard of... Read More
Internet has opened a whole new world for web developers... Read More
What is web accessibility & why is it important?Web accessibility... Read More
Mini Websites are the most powerful and cost effective solution... Read More
If you are developing your website on a host that... Read More
1. As the first step, "Hire a web designer."First create... Read More
Project Safekids provides webmasters a valuable tool which could save... Read More
Thinking about starting up a business? The web is the... Read More
So what do you do if need to get a... Read More
family-safe home cleaners Northbrook ..When you publish a content site there are times when... Read More
Building a website and getting it online is easy. Driving... Read More
If you are developing your website on a host that... Read More
What is SQL? SQL stands for Structured Query Language and... Read More
In this day and age most businesses consider having their... Read More
In the time that I have been using the Internet,... Read More
Are bloated images slowing down your web site and causing... Read More
We've all seen those messages on some websites warning not... Read More
A lot has changed in the way sites are optimized... Read More
Knowledge is power.And undoubtedly, it is the key to making... Read More
Like most average persons, I wanted some extra money to... Read More
You've decided to create a website to market your products... Read More
If you have your own business website and you are... Read More
Is Your Web Site an Expense or an Investment?Why don't... Read More
I recently helped my mom to launch a website (www.mom2me.com)... Read More
1. SiteSpinner V2 - On Sale www.deprice.com/sitespinner.htmSiteSpinner is a user-friendly... Read More
The following is a list of patterns that many visitors... Read More
1. Upload robots.txt file in to your root directory and... Read More
If you haven't made the sales and built your clients... Read More
You have permission to publish this article electronically, in print,... Read More
Starting and maintaining a business is challenging enough without the... Read More
"I am a writer, not a business-person. I don't want... Read More
Wow, we`ve already taken a domain and chosen a web... Read More
Designing an E-commerce Web site is not as simple as... Read More
They might not be wearing a mask and carrying a... Read More
Web Development |