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/
------------------------------------------------------------
If one more business owner tells me their website sucks... Read More
Creatively marketing your corporate site takes time in the set... Read More
I still remember it very clear ... It was almost... Read More
Every online entrepreneur I talk to is asking the same... Read More
What is the point of having a website, you may... Read More
You've put up a website to promote a product or... Read More
If you're anything like most small business owners, you probably... Read More
Just starting out, you can start with a simple informational... Read More
In 1995 a new era of accessibility for disabled people... Read More
#5 User Satisfaction: Learn what your visitors and site users... Read More
Today it seems everyone is jumping on the entrepreneur bandwagon,... Read More
If you're looking for better web site ROI, chances are,... Read More
The needs of screen magnifier users are overlooked when implementing... Read More
Making a web site is easy. Making a good web... Read More
More and more non-profit organizations are developing websites to help... Read More
A simple website stats counter is not enough if you... Read More
First, using a lot of web graphics, flash, banners and... Read More
Like any area of business your website needs some effort... Read More
Making maximum profit from your law firm website is important,... Read More
Recently, a friend asked "What's the deal with those DIY... Read More
The evolution of web development parallels the model of technology... Read More
The Disability Discrimination Act states that service providers must not... Read More
Appealing to others is really important when you have a... Read More
The Internet is being used by local service business to... Read More
After planning the design and content of your website, it's... Read More
quick home cleaning Lake Forest ..A website provides invaluable advantages for businesses who have one.7... Read More
The internet has taken over our lives with a vengeance,... Read More
Creating a content management system either from scratch,... Read More
You've put up a website to promote a product or... Read More
That's right. Your method, behavior and strategy you are now... Read More
People often come to me in a state of crisis... Read More
I recently helped my mom to launch a website (www.mom2me.com)... Read More
If you ever want to create a state directory, article... Read More
Before you jump into spending coutnless hours on designing and... Read More
Even though the Internet has been around for a long... Read More
You have seen those web pages where they have the... Read More
While creating a Web site may seem like... Read More
The popular search engine Google indexes over 8 billion websites.... Read More
Better Web Site ROIHow to increase your business profitability by... Read More
A simple website stats counter is not enough if you... Read More
There are millions and millions of websites on the Internet.... Read More
"I don't sell anything online, I don't advertise online, in... Read More
A system development process can follow a number of standard... Read More
Did you know that hosting companies overcrowd their servers despite... Read More
Recently, a friend asked "What's the deal with those DIY... Read More
What to do if you are an artist after you... Read More
The "robots" meta tag, when used properly, will tell the... Read More
There are lots of HTML editors on the market, however,... Read More
If one more business owner tells me their website sucks... Read More
What do you mean, you don't have a website for... Read More
Web Development |