It's All in the List
If customers must be exposed to a product
an average of 7 times
before they buy, and
you don't have a way to contact a
surfer
after their first visit to your site,
how do you remind them
about your product six
more times?
Do you simply hope they'll remember your
name, your company
name or your URL? Do you
invite them to use a 'Bookmark
Now!' link?
Have you ever seen a typical file of
'Favorites'? I use the term
'file' very
loosely. Filing is rarely involved, and it's
unlikely
anyone will find your site again
amidst his or her 500 other
'favorite'
sites.
Even if those methods did work to bring your
visitors back,
how would reading your sales
copy six more times convince
them to buy?
It wouldn't.
That's why Internet marketing experts all
agree, without an
opt-in list or email
newsletter, you are losing sales and
money.
Put simply, having your own ezine is
absolutely
essential if your online business
is to achieve its maximum
potential.
'Ezine' is essentially a contraction for the
term
'electronic magazine'. They are also
known as opt-in lists,
email newsletters or
simply 'zines.
Ezines allow you to contact your subscribers
via email without
spa*mming, as they've
'opted' to receive your information.
In
other words, interested prospects have given you
permission
to send them news and
information.
Publishing an ezine that captures and holds
your
subscribers' interest takes some time
and effort. You must
commit to a schedule,
and give your readers
attention-grabbing,
useful information in an easy-to-read
format.
Your objective is to earn your readers trust
by
establishing yourself as a credible source
of valuable
information.
Does that sound like too much work? Are you
not convinced
that publishing an ezine is
worth the effort? Consider this.
What is the first thing most people do when
they turn on
their computers in the morning?
They read their email! If
your newsletter is
in their Inbox, your product gets seen
before
the competition's site is visited. Browser
windows
may be closed without book-marking,
and names forgotten, but
your email is still
in your subscribers Inbox!
The ezine itself is relatively simple to set
up. Do not use
software that resides on your
computer to build your mailing
list. As your
list grows in size, you run the risk of
having
your ISP shut down your connection for
excessive bandwidth
use or allegations of
sp*am. It happened to me and it's a
costly
mistake that you can and should avoid.
Instead,
purchase a service from one of the
many companies offering
mailing lists and
autoresponders.
As your autoresponder or mailing list service
charges remain
the same, your customer
acquisition costs decrease as your
list
grows. That makes publishing an ezine the
most
inexpensive way to build relationships
with your website
visitors.
Your effort and investment will pay off.
Sharing your
knowledge to help others is both
good for the soul and
financially rewarding.
A newsletter that readers look
forward to can
grow to thousands and tens of thousands
of
people. An average conversion rate of one
percent on a very
large list can be a large
reward in exchange for
the time it takes you
to write your newsletter.
Communicating with your customers on a
continuing basis
builds trust, goodwill and
increases their willingness to
buy from you.
Remember that it is 7 times less expensive
to
market to an existing customer than it is
to acquire a new one.
Start your own ezine. The effort will be well
worth your time.
Author's Resource: Article by Rosalind Gardner,
author of the best-selling "Super Affiliate Handbook: How I Made $436,797 in One Year Selling Other People's Stuff Online". To learn how you too can succeed in Internet and affiliate marketing, please visit
http://NetProfitsToday.com
(To use this article on your website please review Reprint Guidelines.)
© Copyright Rosalind Gardner, All
Rights Reserved.
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