The Marketers Edge

I’ve had a couple of emails last week that asked me for information on list building. I posted several articles on list building a while ago and even though list building is a constant thing that we internet marketers do, there is always something new to learn.

There are many experienced list builders on the internet. It is an indispensable tool to all marketers. I have several mentors that I still continue to learn from.

Mike Filsaime was one of the first list builders that I learned from, his viral techniques helped me understand the power of giving free products away in exchange for an email address and then “allowing” your customers to help you create a huge list through the power of the viral effect.

Not knowing the many techniques associated with list building, I neglected it for almost 2 years when I first started marketing on the internet. Rationalizing that once I had sold my product to this person I could always go back to sell them another and another. That is the general idea behind building a responsive list.

Being new to internet marketing and list building I did not build a relationship with all my customers. In turn my customers did not know who I was after the first sales and were not open to receive offers from me. Big mistake!

So I learned from that mistake and recommend that if you plan to make a living on the internet as a marketer you need to nurture a relationship with your customers. You need to stay in touch with them and you need to find out what they want and market whatever that is to them.

Provide value for your customers, market only products that you use or have tested and are willing to stand behind and they will be responsive to your offers.

If you are new to list building and do not know an autoresponder from a WYSIWYG editor here is a Link to a video for creating your first Autoresponder:

http://www.ebooksinstantly.com/List/tutorial/FlashCreateAList/

Till the next time,

Stay focused . . . .

How another web 2.0 website is making a show in the search engine game

Here we go again!

I received a flood of emails in the last few days touting this new traffic generating source. Curious as any other marketer looking for new avenues to generate traffic I am off on another adventure.

This new wonder is hubpages.com and it is a community of content producers that shares traffic and revenue through a quality index that promotes the best content.

This is another Web 2.0 site that freely hosts a community of content producers
much like Squiddo . And just like squiddo it shares revenues with the content creators. The idea is not new and it is appealing to the writers that are judged by the community for the quality of the content they generate.

The website is organized in tag based hubs that indexes the content by a “hub score” that is earned by the author of the content based on how the community judges the quality of
the content.

The content producer is encouraged to monetize his “content” with Adsense ads, advertisements from Amazon or eBay if you are an affiliate. They also provide lead generation tools that you can incorporate in your web pages. They also have a HubPages Royalty Program.

A warning here: if you do not want to share the revenue from your Google Adsense you should not choose to monetize your content that way, because HubPages wants 40% of that revenue.

The interesting thing is that the search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN are starting to rank some hubpages for very competitive search terms.

Knowing that the search engines are taking into consideration the traffic that is generated by the hub and that they are allowing all links in your content to external websites (your websites) as back links . It makes great sense to capitalize on the traffic that you don’t have to generate to benefit from search engine placement for articles that you write in your hubpages. Instantly your blog has a PR6 rating.

Creating Your First HubPage

The creation of your new account and the posting into your hubpage seems simple enough. They provide many “non-techie tools” that allow the inclusion of photos, audio and video from sources like YouTube, Google Video and others.

Membership of HubPages is constantly growing as people are discovering the community through word of mouth and search engine results.

Using HubPages.com to Improve SEO

Take a look at HubPages, if you have a blog, hubpages are very be similar.
You can lurk and see what the community is writing about and see if there is a place
there for your specialty. I found several internet marketers there and they have been
welcomed by the community.

Since this is another social networking site I can only recommend it with caution. I have
my reservations about this site just as I do about MySpace and Squiddo. The object is to create content of value for the community and grow your internet business at the same time. Many people become involved with the community and neglect their businesses.

You make the call.

Building Your Business with an Opt-in List

There are no secrets in building a targeted opt-in list. There are many fallacies and misconceptions that will need to be cleared before one indulges into building an opt-in list. These misconceptions create many obstacles for the startup business to profit initially.

Everyone uses email

Email marketing is one of the most effective marketing methods today. Simply because everyone has an email address. It seems that a person without an email address is a person without an online home, which is a must have if you plan to do business on the internet.

Email marketing campaigns can often be intrusive

The method to get around this small problem is to get permission to send an email. The opt-in method is popular and it allows the receiver the opportunity to opt-out at anytime.

Be selective about your target market

The key to this predicament is to have a very discerning eye on who to email and who to not email. Better look for some metrics on how to know which group of people would give you high ROI or return on investment.

The Real Deal with Building Opt-in List

After clearing the fog regarding some of the email marketing myths, here’s how one can benefit from employing the power of email marketing campaigns to build an opt-in list.

However, building an opt-in list is not a piece of cake particularly for the uninitiated. Here is a list of tips on how to succeed in this kind of marketing endeavor.

1. Strategic Collection of Data

Know which information from your audiences will help you in lowering expenses and/or make sales flourish. Devise a tactic to make people voluntarily provide you with the information necessary to create higher conversions.

Overload of data is not good. Ask only for their full name and email addresses in the opt-in process. Make sure that the profiles that you gather are updated to aid in improving the relevance, timeliness and satisfaction from each mailing you make.

2. Good Implementation

Old adage says it all - “action speaks louder than words”. This easily translates to the difficulty one has to undergo during the execution of his or her email marketing efforts. It’s a good thing that various methods, often low-cost, abound to help and facilitate the building up of one’s opt-in database.

Tracking your email marketing results can pose great hardships, too. Technology and relevant sources should be employed in making this aspect of your marketing more manageable. You should record the source of you high traffic of opt-ins, this will help you identify and target the source in future campaigns.

The following are the most widely used methods to leverage your efforts without overspending:

1. Make use of your website

Your website is an excellent tool for data collection and providing you with relevant information regarding your email offers. Use forms that solicit your visitor’s email address and consent.

2. Make use of print ads, brochures, TV, radio and direct mail.

These are the most popular ways of marketing to lead traffic to your site. You will want to ask for signups for mailing list services. Make sure your website is more visible through these media. Offering a free electronic newsletters, ezine and / or rewards program can be a good incentive to add clients to your mailing list.

3. Maximize your sales effort.

Customer service is a great opportunity to add subscribers to your list. Back end sales is one of the techniques that not only increases your bottom line but also can move your one-time customer into the valued repeat sales customer that will return time and time again to receive special offers and programs. Techniques like offering account updates and special programs through email can easily land you those lists of valuable visitors.

4. Don’t make your point of sale pointless.

If you have a mortar and brick business you need to include forms for signing up to your mailing list near your cash registers and other high-traffic and highly visible spots. This method is an excellent way for your business to collect email addresses. Notification of upcoming sales through their email addresses can coax them to supply you with the information you need.

5. Conferences or trade shows can work, too.

Giveaway offers or entries on sweepstakes are great for opt-in to volunteer their contact details.

These tactics should be applied with adequate caution and should focus on earning the trust of your opt-in list instead of simply collecting data for your sole benefit. Always make sure that the forms that you use and other methods that you employ will not be an inconvenience for your customer. You want to make the process simple and easy to accomplish and beneficial to you customer.

This information is basic to build an opt-in list; we are going to look at some tools to simplify this endeavor.

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