Email Marketing How-to - 6 ways

You may not consider everything you just read to be
crucial information about email marketing.
Of all the ways to get website traffic and make money
online, nothing tops email marketing. Of course, email
marketing in itself means many things to many marketers.
After all, it can take on quite a wide variety of
formats.

Today I'll cover the various forms of email marketing
available to online businesses and reveal what works and
what doesn't. Here's what we'll discuss...

1. Unsolicited bulk email marketing
2. Opt-in email list rental
3. Email newsletter classified and sponsorship advertising
4. Email newsletter solo mailings (text and html)
5. Email newsletter network advertising
6. Opt-in "series" email marketing

1. Unsolicited bulk email marketing

Let's jump right into that dangerous endeavor referred to
as UCE (Unsolicited Commercial Email) or spam. Most of
you know my take on this. Sure, you can get some website
traffic using bulk email. (Though a response rate close
to the 10% rate some companies promise is not likely -
.01% is more likely.) You can tackle the rigors of
unsolicited bulk email marketing yourself (you'll need
lots of ISP connections because they'll be canceled
quickly!) or hire a company to do the dirty work for you.

But the fact is, since unsolicited bulk email angers a huge
percentage of recipients, your risks can be rather high.
Your domain will end up being blocked by many ISPs and you
could even face some legal battles. In my humble opinion,
unsolicited bulk email is not worth the trouble. Read on and
you'll find that bulk email marketing isn't really necessary
either.

2. Opt-in email list rental

A much "cleaner" version of bulk email marketing is "opt-in
email list rental." There are plenty of companies on the web
that will rent you email addresses that have opted in to
receive commercial email. Actually, in most cases they are
not really renting the addresses; that is, you never see the
addresses. Instead, they charge you a per email address fee
for mailing your message to a list under their management.
But does it work...?

As long the recipients are not being paid to read the
messages and they are genuinely interested in the offers
they signed up to receive, this strategy can be profitable.
The problem is that in most cases you'll pay from ten to
twenty cents per address and mailing to a list large enough
to get great results can get quite expensive. But if your
budget can handle it, you can generate some great targeted
traffic. I've tried a few list rentals myself, though not
recently. The best was from the site postmasterdirect.com
which has millions of addresses in a huge variety of
categories under management.

3. Email newsletter classified and sponsorship advertising

Now let's jump to a more reasonably priced email marketing
solution... "email newsletter classified and sponsorship
advertising". In my opinion this one still gives the best
bang for the buck, especially for small businesses with
modest advertising budgets.

Some people think I recommend ezine advertising because I
have an ezine and I'm trying to sell my own ad space. On
the contrary, I've been trying NOT to sell my ad space for
the last few years. That's why my own rates are fairly
high! I can run my own offers or affiliate offers and make
much more than I can selling the ad space. Many other ezine
editors are finding the same thing. While this has resulted
in rising ezine ad costs over the last few years, one fact
remains... ezine advertising is still one of the most
effective ways to get targeted traffic -- cheap.

Ezine advertising works best when you locate ezines that
your target market actually look forward to reading. And
that's not difficult to do... Just visit an ezine directory
and search for ezines in your niche market. Subscribe to a
bunch of free ezines and read them as they arrive. Look for
larger circulation ezines that have a good following. If
you like the content in any particular ezine, then hundreds
or thousands of other readers probably do too. Place a
classified ad and if your site and offer are up to snuff,
you'll make a profit nearly every time. If you can swing a
top sponsorship ad, that works about five times better than
a regular classified ad! Here are two solid ezine
directories you can scour and locate lots of ezines that
target your particular niche...

4. Email newsletter solo mailings (text and html)

An even better way to utilize email newsletters to drive
traffic and sales is to purchase "email newsletter solo
mailings." I've been able to locate both text and html
solo mailing offers lately and some ezine publishers
really underprice these. (especially compared to list
rental costs.) I've found html email to be especially
effective, returning 4-5 times the cost of the ad in most
cases. Once again, the list should be tightly targeted to
your niche audience for best results. Use the same
directories above to locate ezines that reach your best
prospects and you'll undoubtedly find some that offer this
type of advertising.

5. Email newsletter network advertising

The next email marketing strategy which I've been using
quite a bit lately is "email newsletter network
advertising." In a nutshell, you pay email newsletter
management sites to run top sponsorship ads across their
network of newsletters. The traffic can be targeted to
just about any niche and it's faster that finding each of
the ezines yourself. Although this requires a larger
initial investment than running ads in individual ezines,
in the long run it is usually cheaper and it requires much
less effort. The best advertising resource I've ever found
on the web is an email newsletter network. It's one of the
proven, super-resources I share only with my
Make-A-Living-Online.com members!

6. Opt-in "series" email marketing

Finally, I'd like to cover one last email marketing
strategy which very few Internet businesses use, and use
properly. It's called "opt-in series email marketing."
This is a secret weapon many of the big name marketers
prefer not to talk about much. It works like this... You
offer an attractive and irresistible freebie at your site,
(in most cases this works best via a pop up or pop-under)
and when your visitors claim their freebie, they are
required to enter then name and email address. They then
are subscribed to your series of personalized, scheduled
email messages that you have pre-written. The best type
of series is one that offers free valuable help and
information about the subject they were looking for help
on in the first place.

A well-written email series will form relationships with
your best prospects, something that holds more value than
most online businesses realize. The best part of this
strategy is that once you do the setup work, everything
is completely automated and personalized.

There are a number of sites that offer follow-up email
autoresponder services. I use my Web Business Wizard
service for my own follow ups and it has worked wonders
for my business. When used properly, and with a bit of
originality and flare, this email marketing strategy
can be one of your top sales producers.

In closing... There you have it; six email marketing
strategies and the results they yield.
As your knowledge about email marketing continues
to grow, you will begin to see how email marketing fits
into the overall scheme of things. Knowing how
something relates to the rest of the world is important too.




Eugenijus Sakalauskas publisher
"List Building Newsletter"
Subscribe to my exclusive 12 lessons e-Course
" Every Business Needs Opt-In Email Marketing "
and learn how to start building your own optin list

http://listingbuildingincometactic.com/freetraining/learn-more/

Auto Responder Improvements-Auto Responder Marketing Guide

If you're seriously interested in knowing about Autoresponder,
you need to think beyond the basics. This informative article
takes a closer look at things you need to know about Autoresponder.

Marketing through auto responder series is a popular strategy
to increase repeat website visits and sales. Here is a popular
strategy.

EZINE EBOOK

Instead of trying to publish a small daily or weekly eZines,
try publishing one large monthly eZine (similar to a monthly
magazine) as an e-book format delivered via auto responder,
preferably an Adobe .pdf file. You could have it made up of
a large number of articles per issue and insert regularly
featured areas throughout like inspirational quotes, industry
tips, favorite sites and advice from the pros. You could
also insert full-color graphics, multimedia components like
audio / video file links and ads. Then you can charge a monthly
rate, with an annual discounted package purchase, and sell
advertising spots to sprinkle in your auto responder
announcements for each issue and with an informational
series to announce your monthly eZine to new prospects.

In summary, by using customized marketing techniques like an
eZine eBook, tailored to fit your own products and services,
you can reach out and increase your website traffic and sales
opportunities. Internet marketing can mean more ways to grow
your business.

Stuck in an auto responder rut with only your eZine going
out regularly? Get out of the rut with some of these ideas
for improvements.

1. Provide back issues of your eZine archives via your
auto responder instead of hosting all your archives online.
This will give your subscribers and web site visitors easy
access to them and offers a chance to include graphics,
audio and video and other components all rolled up in
pdf files for quick, easy download.

2. Help with tech issues and publish your entire web site,
save it in a pdf file, and load it into an auto responder.
Sometimes visitors don't have enough time read your entire
site or they lose their Internet connection or time online.
So this way, they could print it out and read it offline.

3. You could offer your eBook via an auto responder. Often
your visitors won't have to download it or have the
software to read it right away, so this way they can take
it “to go”.

4. For a handy - -and nice legal - touch, you could include
the terms and conditions to purchase transactions and load
them into an auto responder that is triggered with each
purchase. This could include return policies, purchases,
refunds etc.

The Internet offers many means of affordable marketing with
auto responders. Here are a couple of popular ways of using them.

DIRECTORY
Some webmasters set up link or article directories on
their sites. They create a directory on a specific industry
topic, placing their own ad or banner along the top. Then
they invite others to add their website links via a link
exchange program, listing themselves in your directory. Or
they invite articles to be submitted that include a resource
box at the bottom of each with a link to the author’s website.
This results on increased traffic as sites link up across
the World Wide Web. Enter “link exchange software” or “article
directory software” into a favorite search engine for help
with each.

TEACH A COURSE
Some marketers write up a simple step-by-step instructional
class in their area of expertise. Then they break it up into
smaller portions or messages and set them up in an auto
responder as email messages, including short ads within each
message to invite sales & website visits. Then they invite
website visitors to sign up through on online form or email
subscription address offered through the auto responder
service. As people sign up, they will learn more about the
products and services through the teaching series.

Improve your marketing and sales with some auto responder
Improvements. Try some of these:

1. Publish free reports to send via your auto responder.
The reports should be related to your business or web
site & contain info, ads and links to your sites. People
love getting freebies.

2. Collect vital customer satisfaction information by
publishing a survey to send via auto responder to those
who sign up on your site in exchange for a free eBook,
software or trial period at your membership site. This
type of information will help you understand their needs,
likes & dislikes better.

3. Instead of answering each customer question that is
e-mailed to you, publish "Frequently Ask Questions" and
make them available via auto responder to those who sign
up. To save time and support headaches.

4. Instead of publishing all of your customer testimonials
or endorsements on your website, publish only a few there.
And set up an auto responder form that invites visitors to
receive a complete list via your. Give them a power-packed
list; it's more effective to include all of them.

Mix and match. Change your auto responder strategy to
change your auto responder results.

Don't limit yourself by refusing to learn the details
about Autoresponder. The more you know, the easier it
will be to focus on what's important.



Eugenijus Sakalauskas publisher
"List Building Newsletter"
Subscribe to my exclusive 12 lessons e-Course
" Every Business Needs Opt-In Email Marketing "
and learn how to start building your own optin list

http://listingbuildingincometactic.com/

8 Tips for Building Your Email Lists

A popular Internet battle cry states that “the money is in your
list”. It’s true that you can make a lot of money by building a
list of opt-in subscribers.

Establishing trust with those subscribers and sending those
subscribers special offers promoting your products.
But you must do it correctly. Here’s a few tips that will help you
get the most bang for your buck out of your list-building activities:

1.Collect Only Relevant Information

While requesting a visitor to sign up, collect information that is
relevant to your business. A recent study lamented that most of the
corporate probing was unnecessary, given that most companies never
act on the information they extract from their customers. It is crucial
that you know exactly what you intend to do with the information
you’re going to collect. Moreover, you should also be able to prove to
your visitors that information you would be collecting from them is
actually vital for your business.

2.Don’t Make Your Customers Repeat Information

Most customers don’t mind telling their banks the ages of their
children if they think the bank will use the information to help them
sort through the myriad of college savings plans or make them aware
of estate planning issues. But nothing irritates customers more than
having to repeat the same information to each channel as if it’s the
first time they've ever heard the information. This is especially true
in the case of email lists on websites.

3.Focus Your List

We’ve discussed the importance of focusing or targeting
customers earlier as well. Current customers are the most important
email addresses to collect, much more so than prospects. They’ll be
more receptive to your communications and likely to respond, since
they’re familiar with your company and its products. Don’t waste your
time running campaigns that attract a high number of visitors who
have no interest in your products or services.

4.Special Offers and Discounts

Special offers like coupons and discounts are classic direct
marketing techniques that translate extremely well to email. In order
for an offer to be effective, it must provide something of real value to
the recipient. Minimal discounts are not enough to get the reader’s
attention; you have to offer something of substance. Of course, don’t
discount lower than your profit on the transaction. Having a time limit
on discounted offers is also very important in order for the call to
action to work effectively.
Apart from using the Internet, there are also ways you can use
your marketing efforts in the real world to help build your email lists.

5.Networking Meetings

From your local chamber of commerce, to specialized industry
groups, the meetings of many organizations are great opportunities to
make contact with new people. You are exchanging business cards
with interested prospects or possible referral sources, so make sure
that you send appropriate email communications to these people. Start
with a personal email recapping your conversation with them, and ask
them if they would like to be added to your monthly email list. Don't
just start sending a barrage of email to every person that you come in
contact with. Make sure that the person indicated their interest in what
you have to offer first, or your contact will become quickly unwanted.

6.Trade Shows

Whether you have a booth, are one of the presenters, or are
simply attending a trade show, you have an excellent potential
opportunity similar to networking events, but on a much greater scale.
Organizing the follow-ups to people you actually spoke to yourself then
adding the person to your personal contact list is a given.
The general information requests gathered by associates at your
booth can be handled in a similar way. Lastly, you may have organized
a giveaway or contest to gather more leads at the show. These people
are frequently less interested in what you have to say, and more
interested in whatever they might be getting or winning. As a result,
it may require secondary contact to obtain the permission to add them
to your regular communications. In general, hitting
with a "hard sell" is not usually effective. contest winners

7.Seminars

Organizing informational seminars is a great way to build a
healthy relationship with prospects and potential referrers. One
effective technique is to have advance registration and to ask
permission to send regular emails at that time. This way, even if the
person is not able to attend the seminar, you still have an opportunity
to stay in touch with them. After all, they were interested enough to
register for the seminar.

7.Events

Concerts, parties, art openings, or any other occasion that gathers
people together provide an opportunity to build your email address
lists. Having a registration or check-in location, or associates with
clipboards working the room are just two ways to make contact. In the
case of events, it is a good idea to offer some kind of incentive to
boost signups. However, make sure that the person can only receive
the incentive via email. This way, you will improve the quality and
accuracy of the lists you are collecting.

8.Post Cards/Direct Mail

When a company has an existing database of postal addresses,
direct mail may be the best way to get the email addresses of your
existing customers and prospects. Again, offering an incentive always
helps stimulate a greater response and is particularly effective when
there is a pre-existing relationship. This helps increase the typical
response rate of converting postal address recipients to email
recipients. Publish a specific website address on your mailing to direct
people to a landing page with the list signup form on your site.


Eugenijus Sakalauskas publisher
"List Building Newsletter"
Subscribe to my exclusive 12 lessons e-Course
" Every Business Needs Opt-In Email Marketing "
and learn how to start building your own optin list

http://listingbuildingincometactic.com/