How To Get Qualified Visitors to Your Site

How To Get Qualified Visitors to Your Site

by: Denise Ryder

Having an eBusiness isn’t just about getting gobs of people to your site and hope that a number of them buy. Having your little web counter screaming 50,000 visitors a day doesn’t mean กjackก if no one buys from you. It isn’t about the quantity of your visitors itกs about the quality.

Steve Boutelle has realized this and it sparked this question from him…

Steve Boutelle here . . . LOVED the article on ethics! something thatกs definitely a major part of any truly successful business practice. Iกm sending in my Marketing question here it is:

What are your top proven recommendations for getting qualified, targeted visitor traffic to your site that will continue over the long term?

Great question and one that is on the mind of every eBusiness owner กout there.ก

I know you are probably looking more for the ‘tacticsก to put into place rather than going back and regrouping a bit and we will get to the tactics but first things first…

The main thing that has to be on your mind is to stay focused. When you first get into an eBusiness you have to do your homework. What I mean by that is find out what people want and need and then build a business around meeting those needs.

You CAN’t BE all things to EVERYONE. It just doesn’t work. What you need to be is the กexpertก per se in one or a group of related needs/wants and build your business around that.

When you are กfocusedก you will see that a great many things come together for you. You will find that you aren’t spending gobs of money on traffic generating systems, with the hopes of getting กsomeoneก to buy. You will have a better idea of where those people are and become more proactive in your marketing strategies and budget spending. There is a huge difference in terms of marketing dollars and success rates when you go from a mass marketing approach to a targeted approach ;o)

Go back and look at your web sites and look at it from the shoes of a visitor and see what they see. That little exercise will ALWAYS give you a lot of information in figuring out why people aren’t buying and what needs to be adjusted.

So…first thing in getting long term targeted traffic is to stay focused and try not to be everything to all people. Meet the needs and wants of a targeted market and not the masses. One you know your target market and what they want then the following kicks in for you as far as specific marketing tactics is concerned…

1. List building I have sprouted off here continually about the NEED to have a list (or several lists) of your own. A list that is separate from your affiliate programs so that it can follow you wherever you go. If you have a focus then of course your lists become more focused as well. You will have a list of people who have a want and need for your products/ services as opposed to just a bunch of tire kickers who aren’t really sure what they want or need. Does that make sense??

Your business should have more than just one list. You can have a general list (ie, a subscribers list for your newsletter perhaps), and it should also have specific lists built around sales of certain products and services you offer. If you are in the health and nutrition market and sell several different products in the line, then for each product your sell, those customers become targeted to that product. You can then look at that and make targeted lists from that and act accordingly.

List building, as I said above, is THE KEY. You have the ability through your lists to be specific and target only those who want and need your products/services.

2. Advertising once you know your market and who needs what you have, in the process you find out where they hang out. When you know what newsletters and forums they go to then it makes things easier for you. Again, you are focused with respect to your marketing and are going into newsletters that speak directly to your target as opposed to the masses. Prime example here…

ProfitSpace focuses on marketing and copywriting tactics for the eBusiness owner. My target market for ProfitSpace is eBusiness owners.I can’t tell you how many classified ads I receive from people who are selling health and nutritional products. A person who is selling H&R products specifically is targeting people with health issues. While yes I am sure that there are eBusiness owners with health issues, they aren’t in the frame of mind to read about it in a marketing newsletter. They are looking for business help. That person selling these products would have generated far better response by going to a newsletter which targets health related issues.

You NEED to target your advertising to fit the newsletter you are advertising in. If you are SELLING health products then go to a health related newsletter. If you are trying to build a downline for your mlm then fine, stick with a newsletter geared towards business.

Another thing about advertising that will certainly help you in building long term targeted traffic. DON’t SEND A PERSON TO YOUR SITE, send them instead to a no cost eReport, eBook or eCourse that ties in and relates to your target/focus. REMEMBER if you don’t have a list then you are basically shooting yourself in the foot. You WANT the email address and the name of the visitor…you DON’t WANT them to go to your site, see what you have, hope theyกll bookmark you and come back. They won’t do it.

Let me give you an example of what I mean…

In the case of Mariangie who is promoting telecommunication products. Instead of placing a typical classified that leads a person to her site, she writes a no cost eReport on, oh…say…how to save money on your monthly cell phone charges and writes a classified promoting that report. BINGO she has a name and email address of someone who has a need to save money on their cell phone. You can go much farther in terms of marketing with a warm body to market to as opposed to marketing to a ghost ;o)

See how that works??

So…look at the focus of the newsletter you are advertising in and make sure it reaches your target market…AND…lead a person to a report or some other list generating tool…NOT TO JUST your web site ;o)

3. Articles I can’t tell you how effective writing articles has been for my eBusiness (actually, yes I can!!). Articles RULE!! For one issue all eyes are on you, you take center stage. Writing articles as it relates to your business is a fantastic way of generating trust and rapport, and gives you credibility. We mentioned about about targeting your advertising and articles work in much the same way. Find those newsletters who reach your target market then write good, informative articles that ‘talk to them.ก Share your knowledge and they will come and see what you have to offer, sign up for your reports/courses and spread the word about you.

I know that many people will not write an article because they feel they aren’t writers. กDon’t eat that Martha, itกs ca ca!!ก Anyone can write a simple กhow toก article. Just do up an outline for yourself and use it as a guide to gather your thoughts and then just take your กhow toก process and put it into steps for people to follow.

Articles not only promote you and your site in a subtle way but the Resource Box provides you with the PRIMO classified ad spot there is in the newsletter. See people will read your article, understand what you are saying and THEN read who wrote the article. Thatกs where the resource box comes into play because that is essentially your ad. There they find who wrote the article, your site address and then of course an incentive to get them on YOUR LIST…by offering a them a no cost report ;o)

Keep in mind that that ONE ARTICLE can reach more people than you could ever possibly imagine. You aren’t limiting yourself to just one newsletter…you can send that very article to several publishers within your TARGET MARKET and reach tens of thousands of people all at the same time. The great thing about using articles is the fact that it doesn’t cost you a cent..just takes a little time in putting your knowledge to paper…oh, I mean to disk ;o)

4. Develop your own information products Why rent if you can own. What I mean by that is why use someone elseกs information products when you can quite capably write your own and use it to itกs full advantage. Developing your own eReport, eCourse, or eBook provides you with SUCH AN ADVANTAGE. You can use your own knowledge and create a product and then leverage your marketing through the efforts of others…AND like articles reach far more people than you can possibly imagine.

Now if the mere thought of developing your own info product really scares the heck out of you…well first off, don’t let it. If you are writing articles then you can do a little formatting change and turn a group of articles into a report or course very easily. However, if that STILL makes you feel like a deer caught in the headlights, then your have an alternative. In terms of using information products in your marketing…opt for the reprint or customization rights ALWAYS.

Why??

Well, because as I said above you use these products to leverage YOUR marketing efforts. Yup, you didn’t write the course youกre using but your links and advertising is weaved throughout the particular course. When people who subscribe via your web form for the course will always know who they received that course from because your advertising is throughout, NOT someone elseกs. It just doesn’t make sense to work hard at marketing a course and then NOT have your information somewhere inside. Why are you doing that to yourself?? If you are going to spend time and energy in marketing a product make sure that it leads to YOUR LIST and IT HAS YOUR INFO inside at least. If you are allowed within the confines of the license then let others give YOUR COPY of the product away and leverage your marketing through their efforts…but DON’t let someone else ride your coat tails without getting something out of it.

Do you see how that works???

I offer an eCourse and offer customization licenses, so people have an option. To me as the author it makes no difference if you opt for the license or not…it is still a win/win. The person gets to use my course to build their list so they are smiling. In that regard the win for me is that I am leveraging my marketing through their efforts and because they didn’t buy the customization license ALL MY ads and links remain in place. Now if they took the time to see just how this works and what they can do to change it around a little they would see that by spending the $6.95 in the long run that ecourse just turned the tables for them. They STILL get to use the course as a list building tool AND they also stand to get hits by being able to add their own offers each day for the duration of the course. PLUS, by offering THEIR CUSTOMIZED version of that course to others to use for their list building…they have just turned the tables again by using the efforts of those who are using that course.

I can totally appreciate the fact that eBusiness owners have been through hell and back and have been burned many times by products and/or services offering them the moon. I understand the reluctance to spend money…HOWEVER, in the case of purchasing an eCourse or eReport customization license that gives you such a winfall of potential…it just makes for smart business ;o)

Ok, we have gone over four tools for help you gain targeted traffic. Now the other part of Steveกs question involved กlong term.ก Well, it stands to reason that if you keep up with the article writing, developing new information products are at least using those that are out there to YOUR full advantage, and using classified advertising the right way…that the long term will follow. This isn’t rocket science and YOU DON’t need a degree in marketing to pull any of these off successfully. All you really need is to be persistent and consistent ;o)

Every eBusiness owner needs to start with some form of marketing strategy or foundation. These four tactics will certainly give you a good solid foundation. Once you have them in place and they are pulling for you, youกll then be able to look at the other tactics like paypeclick search engines and give that a shot. The point that I want to really stress is the fact that if you start with the four tactics I mentioned above and they will always be working. Then as you progress you add new tactics, test them and if they prove to be beneficial then you add them.

It does take a bit of time and effort to see the rewards, but they will happen…just stick with it and don’t give up ;o)

About The Author

Denise Ryder is a Marketing Coach writing from her home office in Northern Ontario (Canada). She is publisher of ProfitSpace Newsletter (http://www.profitspace.com). Download her no cost 7Day eCourse กHow to Guarantee eBusiness Success…Before You Even Get Startedก http://www.profitspace.com/success/index.html

webmaster@profitspace.com

This article was posted on April 19, 2004

by Denise Ryder

Three Steps To Building A 50K Email List In Less T

Three Steps To Building A 50K Email List In Less Than 90 Days

by: Melvin Perry

One major asset that every internet or affiliate marketer needs is a big email list. There is a saying in the marketing world that states that ขthe money is in the listข. This is very true because the bigger the list, the greater the potential income. But a common concern amongst many people marketing online is:

ขHow can I grow a huge gurutype email list and how long will it take?ข

What many of us know in the internet marketing world is that it can take a very long time to build a list of 10,000 subscribers. And building a list to this size is a lot more complicated than sending hundreds of visitors to your website. I currently have a website that averages over 500 visitors a day. Out of those 500 visits, I will be lucky to get at least 15 subscribers per day to my list. With these statistics it will take me about 2 years to build an email list to 10,000 subscribers.

So what can you do in order to get 10,000 subscribers very quickly?

Well, the focus of this article is to show you how to easily build a 50,000 subscriber opt in list in less than 90 days. What I am about to show you really works, and if you follow these steps precisely, you will see tremendous results.

Step 1: Get a Virus To Build Your List

In order for you to build a 50k opt in email list in 90 days, you need to spread your marketing message over the internet like a wild fire. The method that is best capable of doing this is known as viral marketing. Viral marketing, in its simplest meaning, is getting others to market your product or service for you and spreading it to others so that they can do the same also. I also call this wild fire marketing because as soon as your marketing message starts, it will be very difficult to stop it and to keep it from spreading across the internet like a wild forest fire. This is the type of response you want when you begin to grow your email list. And the only way for you to generate this type of response is to partner up with hundreds of other marketers that will help you promote your email list in return for something. This is known as joint venturing and it is one of the better strategies for building a huge email list. Located below is a free service that will help you combine the viral marketing component with the joint venture marketing component in order to rapidly grow your email opt in list.

=> http://www.workingonyourown.com/traffictool3.html

Step 2: Start Promoting Your Viral List Building Machine

The next step is to promote your viral list builder so that you generate a minimum of 50 partners and fellow subscribers. There are multiple ways of promoting your viral list tool, but the easiest way to do this is through ezine solo ads. I know from experience that sending solo ads is a sure way to jumpstart any internet business. Just one solo ad mailing to a good newsletter or ezine can easily generate up to 85 partners and fellow subscribers that will help you promote your email list. Listed below is a series of ezines that provide excellent results every time I use them.

http://www.probiztips.com/advertising.html

http://directprofit.net

http://ultimatetrafficsystem.com/advertise.php

http://www.superpromo.com/optadorder.html

http://www.theaffiliatereview.com/advertising.php

http://www.christiantimesnesletter.com/advertising/

http://www.hitoverload.com/advertising.html

As soon as you receive your 50 partners that will help promote your email list for you, you will slowly begin to see your list virally grow on its own. But the growth that will be taking place is not rapid enough to generate the 50k subscribers in 90 days. You need to create tremendous momentum in the beginning in order to see rapid, exponential growth of your email list. This is where step 3 comes in.

Step 3: The KEY To It All

The last and final step for creating a large email list in a short amount of time is the most important step out of all the 3 steps. In this step, it is crucial that you motivate and train your partners/subscribers to do the very same things you are doing to build your email list. Out of all the people marketing on the internet, less than 3% of them know how to market properly and build a nice subscriber base. The key to getting around this problem is to show them the exact steps you took to promote your very own list. This is known as duplication. This concept is so powerful that it is the key for experiencing exponential growth with any online business. The reason why most online businesses fail is because they do not know how to train their partners to market effectively online. If you do this, you will gain the trust of your partners and you will grow your list exponentially.

Conclusion:

Building a 50,000 subscriber opt in email list can take a very long time if you do not know what you are doing. As revealed, you can actually generate a 50k email list in less than 90 days by following steps 1 3. Step 1 explains how you must build your list virally by allowing hundreds of other marketers to help you build your list. Step 2 shows you a very easy way to get your first 50 partners/subscribers to help you build your email list for you. This is done through solo email ads. The final and most critical step is to motivate and train your partners to actively do the very same steps you are doing to build your email list. If you follow these steps precisely, you will build a 50k subscriber email list in less than 3 months. So you should really start on this as soon as possible. Here is a free resource that will help you get started:

=> http://www.workingonyourown.com/traffictool3.html

About The Author

Melvin Perry is an internet entrepreneur whose been marketing online since mid 2002. During his marketing journey online, he has created various ways of sending tons of targeted traffic to websites. To find out more about his traffic generation methods, visit http://www.workingonyourown.com/real.html

This article was posted on October 13, 2004

by Melvin Perry

The Lazy Manกs Way To Building a Massive List In M

The Lazy Manกs Way To Building a Massive List In Minimum Time

by: Dan Kelly

As you read every word of this article, youกll be stunned by how quickly and easily you can build a massive list of opt in subscribers without spending a fortune. (The idea is to make money, not spend money. Right?)

Iกll get right to the point…

It can be a real pain in the butt trying to build an optin list using the กold schoolก methods of list building that every Internet marketing guru out there is teaching these days.

They tell you… กUse pop ups and pop unders, delayed pops, and exit popsก, กPut a subscription box on every page of your websiteก, กUse PayPerClick (PPC) search engines to drive traffic to your optin pageก, etc. etc. etc.

Those methods are OK, in my opinion. If you’re using them now and they are effective for you, continue using them. If you’re not, Iกd suggest that you at least experiment with them to see if they work for your situation.

> THE BIG PROBLEM IS THIS…

The two biggest problems youกll face using the กold schoolก methods are… either it takes way too much of YOUR TIME or it costs way too much of YOUR MONEY to build a list of any respectable size.

(In the BizOp, MLM, and Internet marketing arenas, many potential joint venture partners won’t even talk to you unless your list has at least 50,000 100,000 subscribers.)

> WHATกS THE SOLUTION?

Very simple…

Instead of waiting for customers to come to you (which you have to do even with PPC search engines)…

You can BUY subscribers.

Thatกs right! There are companies out there that will sell you the names and email addresses of people that have REQUESTED information about business opportunities.

> WARNING: NOT ALL LEAD SOURCES ARE CREATED EQUAL

There are 8 things you want to look for from any lead/subscriber source.

Here they are:

100% OptIn: You want to buy the contact information of people that have actively requested more information. There are various methods of capturing contact information. Some leads sources sell you names that came from CDROM that has 12 million names on it. Some lead sources precheck the subscription box, so many of their leads didn’t know that they were going to be sent any information from you. You want to make sure that all the names you buy have explicitly requested the information that you are going to send them.

Targeted: You want Business Opportunity Seekers ONLY! What good is it if the names you buy really just wanted to be on someoneกs joke list or recipe newsletter? Iกll tell you… Absolutely NOTHING! Actually, less than nothing if you get a lot of SPAM complaints and your ISP bans you from sending emails or your email addresses ends up on blacklists all throughout the Internet.

Only กFreshก Leads: Plain and simple… The older the list, the less responsive it will be to your offer. As time goes by, people become less and less interested in what they requested information on. The more time between their initial request and your first contact, the easier it is for them to forget that they even requested information. My personal recommendation is that you never buy leads that are over 30 days old, unless you can get them at a steep discount.

Quick Turnaround: You don’t want to wait months for your leads source to fulfill your order. Many smaller sites aren’t able to keep up with the demand for leads so you could be waiting months if your order is large. You want a source that can fulfill large orders in a timely basis. Time really is money… especially when someone has yours, and you’re left waiting months for your list.

Accessible & Effective Support: You want to be able to ask a question any time, day or night, and get a fast, courteous, and most importantly, effective solution to your concern. With some companies, you send them an email and it takes them days to get back to you, if they reply at all. And, speaking bluntly, many of them use incompetent people for their support because they’re only after a quick buck. Their motto, กGrab the money and run… They should be able to figure it out.ก

CANSPAM Compliant: If you buy a list that has been harvested from websites, forums, newsgroups or any number of other places, you could get in serious trouble just for sending them your email. Itกs just not worth it! Please, only send your information and promotional material to people that want to hear from you.

Exclusivity: You don’t want to compete for your leads attention any more than you have to. Spam filter, blacklist, and unexplainable Internet กglitchesก cause email marketers enough grief. You want to know that your list is not going to be resold to a dozen or a hundred different marketers. My personal recommendation is that you NEVER purchase a lead that is sold to more than 5 marketers. The quality of response will be horrible if you’re competing with that many people for your prospectsก limited time and attention.

Alternate Means Of Communication: If you can get them, you also want their home address and home telephone number. If you’re really serious about promoting your opportunity, you should be communicating with your prospects with more than just email. Postcards and short phone calls/message have be proven to increase response to almost any offer especially offers where people are naturally skeptical at the outset.

BTW, some websites (I won’t name any names.) make it sound like they’re doing you a favor by กgiving you their name at no additional costก. Give me a break! Names are MANDITORY!

ACTION STEP: Now that you have the criteria, you should evaluate your current lead sources and check out a few new ones.

About The Author

Dan Kelly is the CEO and webmaster of BizOpListbuilder.com

กHelping entrepreneurs build and profit from their single greatest marketing asset their list.ก

To see how inexpensive it can be to get your very own list and to check out all 8 bonuses you get buy ordering today visit http://www.BizOpListbuilder.com/ today. Youกll be glad you did!

I look forward to helping you build and profit from your very own optin list.

dan@bizoplistbuilder.com

This article was posted on March 23

by Dan Kelly

The Cybermagic of Whitelists

The Cybermagic of Whitelists

by: Niall Roche

Before we start getting deep into the meat of this article itกs important to explain some standard terminology to make sure the rest of this article makes sense.

An IP address is a number which identifies your location on the Internet.

A blacklist is a list of IP addresses which your antispam software uses to block incoming spam.

A whitelist is the exact opposite of a blacklist.

A whitelist is a predefined list of IP addresses that are allowed to send email to and receive email from each other. Blacklists exclude known and suspected spammers. Whitelists can be used to exclude everyone except known IP addresses. Think of it like this. A whitelist is a like having a phonebook which is owned by a small group of people who only wish to speak directly to each other. They don’t want just anybody ringing them. Not only that but the entire group need to approve new phone numbers before they appear in this exclusive phonebook.

To send email to a whitelist you must be approved by the owner of the whitelist. This is a lot like the double optin systems used by legimiate ezines and mailing list owners. Whitelists are the nightclub bouncers of the virtual world if you ain’t on the list you ain’t getting in. Simple but very effective.

A real world example of a whitelist would be if two companies wanted to exchange email only with each other. These companies could implement a whitelist that contained the IP address for just the two email servers that want to send email to each other. That would mean that any email coming from an IP address not on the whitelist would be returned to sender. For companies they can ensure that employees are only dealing with work related email and not chatting with their friends.

The benefits of whitelists are many but proper management of the whitelists is equally important. Misuse of whitelists will only lead to more headaches for everyone involved with missing email, irate customers and IT departments doing overtime just being the tip of the iceberg.

If youกd like to learn more about spam then drop by http://www.spamsite.com today.

About The Author

http://www.spamsite.com reviews and tests spam filtering software for the business and end user. Niall Roche is the content author and owner of spamsite.com.

niall@spamsite.com

This article was posted on April 09, 2004

by Niall Roche

Creating A Network That Works

Creating A Network That Works

by: Diane Hughes

Do you ever stand in awe of those people who seem to know everybody and everything? I know I do! Regardless of what you’re looking for, these people have their finger on the pulse of the กNet and know where to find it. Their network of resources and people is incredible! Yours can be, too. Itกs actually very simple to create a network that works to bring you business, offers feedback and provides those resources that we all need to have.
Make A Wish List
The first step in creating a network that works is making a list of what you want. Go ahead, think of the perfect situation where you would have anything you needed at your fingertips. For example, if you have a Web design business you might find it very helpful to create associations with people who offer services that compliment yours. Why? Because if these people are heavily involved with the process of getting a Webbased business up and going, they could send you many leads and that could turn into paying clients.
What else might you want? Perhaps free advertising or publicity to bring more business your way? Sure! Write it down on the wish list.
Making Wishes Come True
Now, the next step is to find the resources you need in order to make those wishes realities. Itกs not as difficult as it sounds. Just expand on your wish list a bit in the following way.
We mentioned needing associations with service providers that compliment our example of Web design. So write down companies that provide: Web hosting, merchant accounts, shopping carts, autoresponders, Internet checks, copywriting, graphic design and scripting/programming.
We also said we needed some advertising or publicity. So add to the list the following: ezine ad swaps, banner ad swaps, local newspapers, local TV and radio stations, Chambers of Commerce.
Finally, itกs time to go to work. The best way to start is to alert your friends and associates of what you are trying to accomplish. Itกs simple to send a quick email that states something to the effect of, กIกm in the process of expanding my resources and find Iกm in need of the following [provide the list]. If you know of anyone who you highly recommend in one of the above areas, please offer them my phone number and email address. I am interested in arranging a joint affiliation with them in order to increase both our businesses.ก
You can also send the same message to any lists or bulletin boards you frequent. Most people are more than happy to refer those they have had pleasant working relationships with.
Final Decisions
Lastly, once you get the results from your search back, contact the ones you feel most comfortable with. Again, honestly explain what you are doing and that you would like to create a joint partnership with them in order to exchange leads, prospects and services.
Even if someone does not suit your needs at the moment, enter them into your database for future reference. I once had a graphic designerกs email address and samples for 6 months before having a need for them. However, because I had already established contact, once my need arose it was smooth sailing!
When you are ready to begin your projects, just contact those on your list who can fill a need. Perhaps you want to advertise your Web design services. You can ask someone in your network (a Web host, a graphic artist, etc.) to participate in joint advertising with you. This will allow you to get excellent exposure for ½ the price because those costs are shared with your กpartnerก.
You can also set up a referral process. I have several arrangements with others in where we exchange referrals. Some do it for a fee, others just do it on a oneforone basis. You and your network member can decide what works best for you.
The results of this simple process are normally tremendous. The majority of small business owners are always looking for ways to expand their businesses. Exchanging leads with one another, creating joint affiliations and bartering are great ways to create a broad network that truly does work!
Copyright 2004 Diane Hughes

About The Author

Diane C. Hughes * ProBizTips.com

FREE Report: Amazingly Simple (Yet Super Powerful) Ways To Skyrocket Your Sales And Build Your Business Into A Tower of Profits! ==>> http://madmarketer.com/diane

This article was posted on May 31, 2004

by Diane Hughes

I Want to Do an Ezine! Part 1

I Want to Do an Ezine! Part 1

by: Terri Seymour

I have been getting numerous emails lately from people who want to start publishing an ezine, but really don’t know where to start. So, I am going to write this series of articles from start to finish in the hopes of helping some of my associates get started with their own ezine! Please feel free to email me if you have questions about anything stated in these articles.

First of all, what is an ezine? An ezine is simply an electronic magazine or newsletter sent out periodically to a list of Opt In subscribers. Opt In means they have voluntarily signedup to receive your ezine and were not added to the list without their knowledge or permission.

This is one of the reasons an ezine is so valuable to your business. Your subscribers have given their consent to receive announcements, promotions, ads, recommendations, etc. from you!

BUT, let me stress this, you must treat your subscribers with respect, provide valuable and helpful content and be there for them when they want or need you. You do not want to USE them as a mailing list for every ad that comes down the pike.

Ok, to get started, one thing you should do is look over a few successful ezines to get a feel of how they are done. Each publisher will add his/her own style, personality, and soul to their ezine which in turn is what makes it unique and successful.

A few ezines I would recommend are:

Rim Digest at http://www.rimdigest.com

Simple Biz Ezine at http://www.simplebizpublications.com

Ideas By Post at http://www.ideasbypost.com

and also, My Own Ezine at http://www.myownezine.com 😉

These ezines are very well written and each publisher has a very distinct style and personality to go along with the useful content.

What you want to do with your ezine is establish a trust relationship with your readers. You want them to get to know you and learn that they can trust you and your recommendations. Be there for them if they have questions, if they need advice, or support, or if they just want to talk with someone who has more experience.

Your ezine is much, much more than an advertisement for your business. It is a bond between you and your readers. Treat it as such!

Ezine publishing can be a very rewarding, fun, challenging and if done right, profitable venture!

In next weekกs article, I will be dealing with layout, design and format and also naming your new ezine.

About The Author

Terri Seymour owns and operates MyOwnEzine.com

Learn to publish and promote your own ezine. mailto:subscribe@myownezine.com

For a complete list of my articles available for reprint please email: mailto:myownezineindex@getresponse.com

ATTN: Ezine Publishers, save hours of your valuable time! http://wetrack.it/eza/af.cgi?710

ter02@newnorth.net

This article was posted on November 1, 2002

by Terri Seymour

7 Ways To Get More Repeat Traffic To Your Site

7 Ways To Get More Repeat Traffic To Your Site

by: Ken Hill

1. Make all or part of your site into a valuable directory.
Set up different sections of your site for people to submit their ezines, articles, ebooks or affiliate programs to such as marketing, writing, publishing, etc.
Your directory will not only increase your repeat traffic but will also help you to attract very targeted visitors to your site that are interested in your products or the products of affiliate programs youกve joined.
2. Publish a whatกs new section.
This section will keep your visitors up to date on any new additions to your site and is especially useful if your site is constantly updated by you or by your visitors who submit their own content to your site.
3. Provide resources on your site that your visitors can use on a regular basis such as a search engine submitter, email formatter or meta tag checker.
4. Add a discussion board to your site where your visitors can network with each other.
Post your own tips and advice to your board along with your signature file and use your discussion board to get to know your visitors better.
This will help you to continue to improve your product, copy, and service and can also help you to gain ideas about new products for you to offer your visitors.
5. Create a list that your visitors can subscribe to that announces to them when your site is updated.
For instance if you ran an article directory you could list the titles and descriptions of the newest article submissions to your site along with the URLs where your subscribers can view them.
You could also use your list to increase your revenue by selling sponsor ads to people who would like to advertise to your list.
6. Make polls and surveys available on your site.
Running your own polls or surveys, in addition to providing you with more repeat traffic, can also help you to acquire valuable information from your visitors.
For instance your polls and surveys could be used to find out how effective your copy is and to measure your customersก satisfaction with your products or customer service.
Your polls and surveys can also provide you with needed feedback that you can use when deciding on new products to add to your product line.
7. Publish an ezine.
Your ezine will provide you with a very effective way to keep your visitors coming back to your site to use the resources you provide to them, to view your articles, and most importantly to buy your products.
Provide your subscribers with special sales and discounts to increase the number of your subscribers who purchase from you for the first time and also to garner more repeat sales.

About The Author

Article by writer, Ken Hill. For more articles and a great tutorial on ezine publishing visit Kenกs site today at: http://www.netpromarketer.com

This article was posted on June 12, 2004

by Ken Hill

Your Book Not in Book Stores? Don’t Worry

Your Book Not in Book Stores? Don’t Worry

by: Dr. Jamie Fettig

Trying to figure out how to get your self published books into book stores? Don’t worry about it because you can get more book sales easier and with less effort elsewhere. Some useful tips for you and your book from Mark Victor Hansen, who has sold more than 100 million books so far.

Sure, we all want to look on the shelves at Barnes and Noble and see our books there. Itกs thrilling. But itกs really not necessary. I see so many authors waste their time and money paying distributors and driving from store to store, delivering books when they should be selling directly to the public. The Internet makes it possible.

In fact, there are many good reasons NOT to be in bookstores:

You don’t have to pay a distributor, who will take a cut of your profits.

You don’t have to worry about shipping and returns.

You don’t have to fight for shelf space.

In most cases, selling direct to the public, or through bulk sales to institutions, is a much better way to turn your book into a revenue stream. With the Internet, tradeshows and other events, and seminars, you have multiple ways to sell direct, pocket 100% of the profits, and save yourself the hassle of trying to get into Borders.

I also recommend selling on Amazon.com. They do take a substantial chunk of your sales price, but itกs a wonderful way to generate buzz about your book. Otherwise, unless you can truly benefit from the prestige of being on the bookshelves, leave the bookstores to John Grisham and Stephen King.

Pursue bulk sales.

Ninety percent of new authors are only focused with getting people into bookstores to buy their book. And itกs great if you can do that, but I give them all the same advice: do not overlook bulk sales. They can turn your book from a moneyloser into a profit center in a few months. Bulk sales are a gold mine.

What do I mean by bulk sales? I mean selling your books in large quantities to an organization, which could mean anything from a corporation to a school district to a nonprofit group to a church. Youกll have to give the organization a price break for buying in bulk, but youกll get dozens, hundreds or even thousands of your books into peopleกs hands, which dramatically increases your wordofmouth and viral marketing.

Promoting bulk sales is a pretty straightforward deal. Simply look at your book and ask yourself what companies, organizations or affinity groups would be interested in the book for their employees or members. If youกve written a book on corporate team building, make a list of corporations where you have personal contacts. If your book is about exercise for seniors, try contacting AARP. And so on. Marketing bulk sales is usually about personal contact, either by letter or direct mail.

When you’re going after bulk sales, try to get to the กgatekeepers,ก the people who can make the decisions for a large organization. It makes much more sense to talk to 20 people who have the potential between them to order 10,000 books than to sell them one at a time. Even if you only get orders from three of those gatekeepers, youกll sell a few thousand books.

Be sure to offer a good bulk rate discount for your bulk buyers. The more books they buy, the bigger the price break. If they buy over 1,000, give them 50% off. Youกll still make money and youกll start winning readers.

Always build your mailing and email lists.

There are two kinds of lists: physical mailing address lists and email lists, and you should always be building both. They are your promotional lifelines to your potential readers and customers, and everything you do to market your book should have some component that gathers contact information of prospective buyers.

The best way to build your list is quite simple: get people to come to your Website, offer them something of value, and require them to give you (at a minimum) their name and email address to get it. The kinds of things you can offer:

Downloadable excerpts from your book.

A subscription to your enewsletter.

An advance discount on your book.

An audio CD or other ancillary product.

Be creative. Is there something that pushes your target audienceกs buttons? Offer it to them. This kind of กoptinก list, where people consent to receiving future information from you, is the gold standard of marketing.

Some other reputable ways you can build your list:

Take names or business cards at a tradeshow or conference.

Membership lists from organizations of which you are a member

Get respected colleagues to email their lists asking their contacts to go to your site to find something of value to them.

But always, always be building your list. And make sure that your database software is solid, proven, regularly maintained, and backed up weekly.

About The Author

Dr. Jamie Fettig

Are you interested in the one seminar that has created more BestSelling authors than any other seminar? A seminar put on by the guy who has sold more books than every other book in the history of the world except the bible? Then get yourself to the Mega Book Marketing Seminar and train yourself to be a megasuccessful author and become a sought after speaker. Make the difference with your book that you want to make. To Register and for more information go to http://www.bazuji.com/book

This article was posted on March 18

by Dr. Jamie Fettig

Home Business Itกs for Free?

Home Business Itกs for Free?

by: Gert Ljungqvist

Most people realize that when you start a business offline it will cost money. But, when it comes to online business most people don’t want to pay anything to get started. The bottom line is you can’t start any business with out some costs. The difference between online and offline business are that online business can be done with a tight budget.
When you first start your online business there are some tools you must have. You must have an autoresponder, now you might wonder what is a autoresponder? This is a form of email where you store prewritten follow up sales letter, newsletter or articles depending of what your business are. These messages are sent out to your customer at time you decide.
There are free autoresponders and there are autoresponders that will charge you a monthly fee. The free autoresponder have less features. And some of the autoresponder will put ads in your follow up letters, and that is not an good idea for you. You don’t want others to promote there products or services in your letters where you are promoting your own product or service. Therefore a paid autoresponder is much better, there will only be your own promoting in it.
You have to build an optin list with customer, itกs here the autoresponder show its greatness. To get interested customer to your list you have to place an ad and from that ad you will have your customer to visit your web site. When the customer subscribed they end up in your autoresponder and will be send your prewritten follow up letters at time you set up.
There are lots of places where you can put your ad in.
Here are some examples:
Google Adword
Overture
There are more, just search the Internet.
There are also company where you can buy leads for your list. Some examples:
Cutting Edge Media
Lead Factory
For more just search the Internet.
When you buy leads this will go directly to your autoresponder they will not be directed to your web site, but thats okey you will have your link to your web site in your follow up letters.
Itกs also important to have a website, you use the web site to promote your business. Itกs in the web site you place your sales letter to convince your customer of your product or services greatness so they will subscribe to your list.
If you are involved in affiliate programs they will some times provide you with a web site, often you will have several web sites depending of there products. The problem with these web sites are that you can’t build your optin list.
You have probably heard that the success is in the list, and I have to agree. Itกs much easier to promote products or services whit customer in a list then try to get new customer all the time.
Optin list are a database where all of your customer are gathered when they subscribe to your list. Itกs from these list your autoresponder gets the email address to your customer.
So what I suggest you to do is to build your own web site and from this you promote your affiliate programs and let people subscribe for your prewritten follow up letters in your autoresponder.
If you don’t know how to build your own web site there are several on line that will help you with this, of course they will charge you but if you don’t know how, these will be well spent money.
There are also some business partners who will build your web site for free with ready to go affiliate programs as long as you join them with these affiliate programs. This is a good idea if you have none or little knowledge in Internet business, you will get started in a easy way, and some of them will also have stepbystep guides how to run your business.
How about affiliate programs are they free of charge? It depends on what product or service they are offering. For example if they offer a software product that can be used on web sites, they will almost certain charge you with a monthly fee, and that is understandable, if they don’t you could use it on your web site and promoting some one Elseกs product and get to use the software for free. There are also other reasons for a monthly fee, there are administrative costs, they may provide you with a web site and follow up letters and they have to track your sales so you get paid properly, won’t you agree that this is important.
So now you will understand that running an Home Business is not totally free of charge. But itกs much More affordable than an offline business. You don’t have to spend that much money to be successful.
I spend about 100 to 150 $ a month on advertising, autoresponder and affiliate fees. But thats me you can spend more or less it depends on your budget.
To your success.
Gert Ljungqvist

About The Author

Gert Ljungqvist publishes Home Business Tips, a fresh and informative newsletter dedicated to supporting people like YOU! If you’re looking for home business opportunities then grab your own Free subscription today at: http://www.marketingbusinessteam.com/biztipspop.html
Get your Free stepbystep how to run your business ebook here: http://www.marketingbusinessteam.com/30daystosuccess.exe

gertljungqvist@runbox.com

This article was posted on July 09, 2004

by Gert Ljungqvist

How to Build Your Ezine List

How to Build Your Ezine List

by: Stacey Morris

How to Increase Your Ezine Subscriber List

Opt In

Out of respect to your mailing list, and the CANSPAM laws, only mail your ezine to those who have requested it, or optedin. Even if you have compiled a list of contacts, prospects, and clients that is 2000 strong, you can’t just start entering them on your list.

So how do you access your current list of ezine addresses?

Start With Your Friends

I’m using ขfriendsข liberally here, to mean all contacts with whom you’re on a first name basis, and who recognize you apart from your business card.

1.Send out an email announcing the launch of your ezine.

Make it simple, 2 paragraphs.

Make it lowhype. These are your friends—they don’t need a sales pitch, but they do need to know why they should join. So…

Make it benefitoriented. What’s in it for your reader? Does the ezine address specific problems of a target market? If it’s a general ขgood lifeข ezine, how is it unique? What makes it different from the thousands of other ezines like it?

Include a sample issue, or your launch issue.

Give crystalclear directions on how to sign up for future copies, and make it clear that your reader will be missing out on this great information if they don’t go to the site and sign up.

2. Develop a free report to give to all new subscribers.

The report could be a document, a short lesson series, an audio of a class or seminar you’ve given, a workbook of some kind, a top ten tips sheet, or a checklist related to your market.

Emphasize the report—not the ezine.

This report should be perceived as valuable enough to subscribe.

Make it less than ten pages. Don’t spend more than a few hours on this.

Develop a short salescopy of 23 paragraphs outlining why this report is so valuable.

3. Make it easy to sign up.

Your business card should have the address of the webpage with the ezine information.

Every page of your website should have an ezine signup box.

Develop a website page or even a website devoted just to your ezine.

Mention your ezine at every networking event you attend.

Every time you give a talk, have a signup sheet available for anyone who wants to sign up.

Use your emailSIG file to advertise your ezine, and place a link to the signup box.

4. Get your articles out there.

At the end of each article, put a blurb at the bottom giving permission to anyone to use the article, as long as they give you attribution.

Subscribe to a article distribution service that will send out your articles automatically to dozens of article databases.

Offer to exchange articles with a colleague who also has a ezine. Guest articles can be very effective.

If you belong to any discussion lists, let other forum members know that your site is a valuable resource.

Offer a free subscription to members of organizations related to your industry. The newsletter editor can place a notice of your site and ezine.

This article is not intended to address the technical issues involved in setting up an ezine. If this is a new area for you, you’re welcome to contact me for more information on resources and nextsteps. If you are able to update your own website, you may just want to sign up for a basic email distribution program (listserve) once you have over 50 subscribers. Until then, Microsoft Outlook or another email manager is the easiest way to start.

Copyright 2005 Stacey Morris

About The Author

Stacey Morris, Focus Coach

Download ก12 Steps to a Profitable Websiteก at http://www.ServiceBusinessCoaching.com

staceymorris@focuscoach.net

This article was posted on August 08

by Stacey Morris

Building an Email Marketing List

Building an Email Marketing List

by: Megan Corwin

Thereกs a marketing estimate that it takes something like seven contacts with a potential client before they purchase. Email is a wonderful way to handle these contacts for a variety of reasons:

you can send one message to a large number of people

compared to traditional hard copy marketing it can be a lot less expensive

if you use a list management system you can get instant results like how many people opened the email and how many กclick throughsก there were to the links in the email

The most important part of an email campaign is having a list of qualified email addresses to send your marketing piece.

So just how are you supposed to get those email addresses? The best method is to have a sign up form on your website to capture the visitorกs information. Here are some DOs and DON’ts for creating a list for your online business.

DO:

Offer an incentive for them to give their email address. People usually won’t give away their personal information unless they get something in return. Ideas for incentives include: a free report or guide, entry into a contest, product demo or samples, a complimentary consultation, etc.

Provide valuable content in your communications. Offer tips and advice for the customer along side your marketing message to keep it from being too กsalesy.ก

Ask for valuable marketing data on the signup form. Pick only one or two things to keep the registration process short and easy. What data could really help you with your marketing? Knowing their gender, age, location, interests?

DON’t:

Sell or give away your list.

Fill up their inbox with messages. Keep to a monthly or weekly schedule at most.

Bog your message down with lots of advertising. It will quickly be deleted.

It can take time and effort to build your internet marketing list, but the results will be well worth it.

About The Author

Megan Corwin is an internet marketing coach who helps work at home professionals grow their businesses. For more articles and advice about online marketing strategy and solutions, become a member of Megan’s online community for work at home women: http://www.wahwoman.com/membership.html

This article was posted on February 25, 2004

by Megan Corwin

Most Commonly Asked Questions About Ezine Publishi

Most Commonly Asked Questions About Ezine Publishing

by: Terri Seymour

Getting so many emails as I do about ezine publishing, I thought maybe an article covering the most asked questions would be useful to some of you who are thinking about or just starting your own ezine.

* What is an Ezine?

An ezine is simply an electronic newsletter or magazine mailed periodically to a list of optin subscribers. Optin means that these subscribers have signedup for or requested to receive your ezine.

A good ezine will contain lots of useful information and resources for the subscribers.

* Who Do I Send My Ezine To?

You obtain a list of subscribers by advertising and promoting your ezine in several ways.

Announcement lists Follow guidelines for posting and get some fr~e exposure!

http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ListPOP

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Announce_Your_Group

Writing Articles Definitely something you want to get into. Very powerful method of fr~e promotion!

Ad swaps Running other publishersก ads in exchange for them running yours is a great way to get a lot of fr~e ezine advertising, plus you get to make new friends as well! 😉

http://www28.brinkster.com/bluesite/swap.htm

http://ezineswap.com/

Sigtag Always add a sigtag to your email with your subscribe link and an attention grabbing headline about your ezine. Very effective!

Discussion Lists Similar to announcement lists, but get involved in the discussions as often as possible.

mailto:digitalwomensubscribe@yahoogroups.com

mailto:hbj_chatsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

Message Boards Similar to discussion groups. Establish yourself as an expert who is there to help.

http://www.mcpromotions.com/webbbs/webbbs_config.pl?#156

Joint Ventures Exchange thank you page ads with other publishers, participate in group pop under windows, swap publisher ads in your welcome letters to your subscribers. Be creative with joint ventures to dramatically increase your subscriber list!

* How Do I Mail My Ezine?

There are several ways you can mail out your ezine.

Autoresponder A favorite of many publishers because you are able to send out several followups.

http://www.getresponse.com/index/47152

Email Server When you are first starting using your email server is an easy and inexpensive way to mail our your newsletter.

Mailing List Manager After your list grows, I recommend you purchase an easy and effective mailing list manager.

http://hop.clickbank.net/?webcentral/lightning

Web Host When you buy your domain, you also get a mailserver from which you can send out your ezine. Your subscribe address would be something like:

mailto:newslettersubscribe@myowndomain.com

Yahoo and Topica, etc Fr~e mailing list managers like these are a good way to get started on a tight budget. I used Yahoogroups way back when they were onelist? and then egroups. I never had any major problems with them, but eventually wanted to take control of my own list.

* What Do I Put in My Ezine?

Lots of good resources, helpful information, a little fun, motivational stories, original or guest articles, product or affiliate program reviews, freebies, etc. You must also add your personality to your ezine. That is what makes your ezine special! Write an editorial so your readers can get to know you and can interact with you. Let your ideas flow and make your ezine interesting and unique!

* Why Should I Publish an Ezine?

Publishing an ezine is important to your business because it enables you to keep in contact with the people who are interested in your website, your product and you. You can build a solid foundation of trust and respect on which to base your business success!

Answering all questions in detail is quite impossible in one article, but I hope I have covered some of the main points that you might be curious about. If I have not answered a question you may have, feel fr~e to contact me anytime. Thank you.

About The Author

Terri Seymour owns and operates MyOwnEzine.com.

Learn to publish and promote your own ezine.

mailto:subscribe@myownezine.com

Signup for the FR~E MOE Ezine Publishing Ecourse

mailto:moeminicourse@getresponse.com

You can contact Terri at mailto:ter02@newnorth.net

This article was posted on January 21, 2003

by Terri Seymour