|
|
|
Choose Your Email Marketing Software Wisely
Successful online business can’t be led without email marketing. Many people know that it is very important to have a web site but having a web site is only one step in creating successful online presence. You have to stay in touch with your clients...
Easy to Execute!
Plug and play equipment or hardware solves the problem of driver installation, re-starting routines, and generally speaking, “hassle”, for those who are not technically proficient. If your computer supports “Plug and Play”, then, as the name...
Microsoft RMS Customization – PO Items Receiving in Great Plains
Microsoft Retail Management (RMS) and Microsoft Great Plains are retail and accounting/ERP solutions coming from the same Microsoft subdivision – Microsoft Business Solutions. There is often common need to do integration between the two. ...
Web Hosting & Web Development: Understand and Create Great Websites
If you’ve ever browsed the World Wide Web and wondered how you could stake your claim on the Internet, like the millions of others that have done so already, then web hosting can provide you with the services to do just that. The Internet is a...
When the Best Gets Even Better: The Release of Maya 6.5
No one would have thought that it is possible – I mean, how could the best possibly get better? But I guess for those who have a vision, it is possible. And vision is exactly what the people in Alias Systems Corp. have. February 2005 marks the...
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Top 5 Tips To Building A Large, RESPONSIVE List
Regardless of which type of product or service you're marketing Online,
building an in house list of prospects is absolutely essential.
One thing that is often not taken into consideration is subscriber
quality and retention.
Having a big list won't benefit you if it's members are unresponsive.
Here are a few tips designed to help you maximize the productivity
of your ezine, newsletter, follow up, etc. ...
1) Build a website, sub domain, or page off of your main site, solely
dedicated to collecting email addresses for follow up.
Legendary Internet marketer Terry Dean of NetBreakthroughs.com fame
< http://im4newbies.com/netbreakthroughs.htm > goes on record as
saying that the email addresses he collects using the aforementioned
method are up to 5 times more responsive than those collected by
outside sources.
These subscribers are ultra targeted, as they want, specifically, what
you have to offer.
You may think building a website on your own is an enduring task, but
it's really not.
HTMLGoodies.com < http://htmlgoodies.com/ > is an excellent resource
for those wishing to learn how to build a website on there own.
I also recommend Shelley Lowery's Web Design Mastery, which comes
jam packed with anything and everything it takes to build a professional
looking website, regardless of your past experience.
< http://im4newbies.com/wdm.htm >
When designing this site/page, remember to include ...
- A subscribe form/link on every page.
- Detailed description of your ezine/newsletter's content (what you
offer the subscriber to satisfy their interests, etc. ...)
- Testimonials, whenever possible.
- Full contact info, subscriber options, related associations that help
solidify credibility and trust (iCop, BBB, etc.).
- A sample of your work, archived editions, etc.
- A reminder to bookmark your site, and allow the ability to recommend
it to others, in addition to giving subscribers permission to forward your
publication to a friend, associate, etc. (add this to every mailing).
- Something of value for signing up ... a freebie download (software,
ebook, course, ...), discount, or other bonuses.
... which brings us to tip number ...
2) Focus on your content, NOT the freebies!
In an effort to draw more subscribers, I've witnessed many publishers
promoting the freebies to a greater extent than the follow up, itself.
This may increase the number of subscribers, but the level of
responsiveness, and retention, will surely suffer.
You'll draw more of those interested in only receiving the freebies,
defeating the reason you've asked them to join in the first place.
Promote your content, and yourself, first and foremost, following up with
the freebies.
Include reference to them as a P.S. (post script) to your promotional
copy.
3) Offer them an article series, course, or additional bonuses in each
mailing ...
... and end your send out with a sampling of what's to come.
This will keep your list members interested, and subscribed.
4) Make it interactive.
Give your subscribers the ability to provide feedback, in the form of
replies, advice, questions, etc.
Allowing them to participate will greatly increase the level of interest,
not only in regards to the one providing the feedback, but of those that
are reading it, as well.
Providing the ability to include a link in their response will aid in increasing
the level of interaction.
You may choose to involve them in other ways, such as group chats,
forums, polls, etc.
5) Maintain a clean list.
If you do not have the ability to bulk remove repetitive soft and hard
bounces, it is very important that you stay on top of eliminating them
manually.
This should be done for 2 major reasons ...
A) If your mailing does not reach it's desired destination, it will not do
you any good, nor it's intended recipient.
If you have the ability to auto send an unsubscribe response (HIGHLY
recommended), include the invitation to re subscribe using a new email
address. Even the most honest recipients of your mailings will occasionally
bounce, due to any of a number
of reasons, and they should be allowed
back if they so desire.
B) When your list becomes large enough to take on paid advertisers,
you're going to want to give them the best opportunity possible to achieve
good results. That means keeping your list as close to 100% responsive as
possible. When you make your advertisers happy, they will tell others.
And not only will you be able to enjoy filling your quota of paid ad spots ...
You'll raise the response rate of your own promotional efforts, in the process.
A major problem you'll face when trying to build your list to a size that will
generate significant income is time ...
It may take you YEARS to build a subscriber base large enough to allow you
to quit your day job ..;)
That's were co-registration services come into play.
These services utilize high level platforms to generate subscribers for a fee,
allowing you to build a list much faster than you ever could on your own.
But there is a downside. :(
Many of the larger services will generate tons of subscribers for you, BUT ...
1) They charge a relatively high rate per subscriber.
Building a list of the size you desire may require big bucks, up front.
2) They DON"T filter out free email accounts (Yahoo, Excite, Hotmail, etc.).
Unfortunately, most people use free email accounts to subscribe to things
they will never read, like FFA postings, free classifieds, etc., and even if
their usage was for honest reasons, the filters imposed, and the size of the
mail boxes allowed, will result in almost all of your unreachables.
... and you don't want that.
3) Many use untargeted means to acquire the addresses.
Your best subscribers will be those they want what you have to offer,
specifically.
Many of the large services, in an effort to meet subscriber demands, use
a VERY broad criteria when sending you subscribers.
Quality over quantity ... remember that.
One service that takes all of the aforementioned into consideration is
Optinfrenzy < http://optinfrenzy.im4newbies.com >.
Optinfrenzy ...
- Allows visitors to subscribe to your ezine/newsletter upon viewing copy
that you, yourself, have offered, making it ultra targeted.
- Provides double optin, confirmed subscribers.
If they don't respond, you don't get them, virtually eliminating undeliverables.
- They filter out free email accounts.
You'll enjoy up to 100% retention rate, and won't be subjected to
"over quotas", or "mail box full" messages. Your money buys the best kind
of subscribers ... those that have a real interest in the info you have to offer,
AND will actually receive it! ;)
Optinfrenzy will build your list faster than you can on your own, deliver quality
subscribers, and their prices are the best available. Highly recommended.
Well, there you have it.
Plug my top 5 tips into your list building strategy, and I'm sure you'll be happy
with the results.
To your success!
Mike Merz
Internet Marketing For Newbies
http://im4newbies.com
P.S.
For more great tips on building a big, responsive list, I recommend Paul Myers'
Amazing List Machine < http://im4newbies.com/alm.htm >.
Mr. Myers' is VERY highly respected in the field of Online publishing, and this is
his best work to date ... do check it out.
Feel free to distribute this article, as long as it, and the following resource box,
remains intact.
You may also change the above affiliate links to your own.
If you are not an affiliate of the aforementioned recommended resources, follow
each link and click on the clearly defined affiliate sign up links.
--------------------------------------
Mike Merz is a well known Internet Marketing consultant
specializing in Online newbie start up campaigns.
To find out more, visit:
http://im4newbies.com
©2002 Mike Merz - IM4Newbies.com (Top5News Group)
About the Author
Mike Merz is a well known Internet Marketing consultant, specializing in Online newbie campaign start ups, and is the owner of the Top5News Group of Internet Marketing related resources, featuring Internet Marketing For Newbies - < http://im4newbies.com >
|
|
|
|
|
| Tucows Downloads - Download Freeware and Shareware Software |
| Download freeware, shareware, and demos. Maintains over 45000 software titles that are tested, rated, reviewed and ready to download. |
| www.tucows.com |
|
| Free Software Downloads and Software Reviews - Download.com |
| Download shareware, freeware and Demo software for PC, Mac, Linux, and Handhelds categorized into categories, plus software reviews. |
| www.download.com |
|
| Computer software - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
| This includes application software such as a word processor, which enables a ... Application software is often purchased separately from computer hardware. ... |
| en.wikipedia.org |
|
| Shareware.com - Search for shareware programs and free software ... |
| Search for shareware programs from more than a dozen downloadable software directories. |
| www.shareware.com |
|
| Jumbo: Free & Shareware MP3 files, Games, Screen Savers & Computer ... |
| Source of free and shareware computer programs and utilities for PC and Mac. Evaluate software and read product reviews. Download games and screen savers. |
| www.jumbo.com |
|
| Computer Software in the Yahoo! Directory |
| Browse categories featuring sites devoted to computer software, including shareware and freeware download sites, operating systems, desktop customization, ... |
| dir.yahoo.com |
|
| IEEE Software |
| IEEE Computer Society's magazine covering all aspects of software, including software engineering. |
| www.computer.org |
|
| Free Downloads on ZDNet | Shareware, Trialware, Evaluation Software |
| ZDNet's Software Directory is the Web's largest library of software downloads. Covering software for Windows, Mac, and Mobile systems, ZDNet's Software ... |
| downloads.zdnet.com |
|
| FSF - The Free Software Foundation |
| Free software is a matter of liberty not price. Think of "free" as in "free speech". |
| www.fsf.org |
|
| Apple - Software |
| Software products for your digital life. ... The perfect addition for professional review. QuickTime Broadcaster. Encoding software for live events. ... |
| www.apple.com |
|
| Open Directory - Computers: Software |
| In Partnership with AOL Search. about dmoz | report abuse/spam | help. the entire directory, only in Computers/Software. Top: Computers: Software (38471) ... |
| dmoz.org |
|
| freshmeat.net: Welcome to freshmeat.net |
| About: The Web browser is probably the most frequently used software today, ... Web professionals can use the software for functional testing and regression ... |
| freshmeat.net |
|
| Software - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF) |
| Listing of the GNU software packages. |
| www.gnu.org |
|
| Sun Software |
| Get enterprise-class software--Solaris 10 OS, the Java Enterprise System, ... Sun Java StorageTek Software reduces cost and complexity with a single, ... |
| www.sun.com |
|
| Internet Real Estate.com -- owns and operates a portfolio of the ... |
| SOFTWARE.COM · SWEEPSTAKES.COM · PHONE.COM PODCAST.COM ... Software.com | Sweepstakes.com | Phone.com | Podcast.com | Shop.com | Safety.com ... |
| www.internetrealestate.com |
|
| Joel on Software |
| A weblog by Joel Spolsky, a programmer working in New York City, about software and software companies. |
| www.joelonsoftware.com |
|
| Amazon.com Software: Computer & video games, business, accounting ... |
| Online shopping for computer & video games, business & office productivity software, software from Microsoft, Apple, Adobe & more; accounting, antivirus, ... |
| www.amazon.com |
|
| IBM Software - Home Page |
| IBM home page for all of its software products, including Lotus and Tivoli, with keyword search, category browse and AZ product names. |
| www.ibm.com |
|
| Opera web browser: Homepage |
| Copyright © 2006 Opera Software ASA. All rights reserved. Skip navigation. Opera Software ... Copyright Opera Software ASA . All rights reserved. ... |
| www.opera.com |
|
| Google Directory - Computers > Software |
| Search only in Software Search the Web ... Software Categorized by Letter: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z ... |
| www.google.com |
|
|