Thursday, November 20, 2008

Use AutoResponder Email Marketing To Convert Visitors In To Sales

You work hard to get visitors to your web site.

And for good reason. Visitors are the lifeblood of your business. No visitors means no sales. Everyone knows that.

So we work on things like:

Writing and Submitting Articles
Press Releases
Classified Advertising
Building backlinks
Creating a blog
Emailing our friends
Social Networking Sites:
* Twitter
* Facebook
* Myspace
* Digg
Participating in Discussion Forums
Buying Banner Ads
Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising
Search Engine Optimization
And more ....

And then visitors come.

Don't get too excited. Most visitors don't buy the first time they visit a web site. They are looking for information, comparing prices, checking for credibility, looking for testimonials, etc...

So how do you get those visitors to come back?

Add an autoresponder subscription form to your web site. Some people refer to these forms as lead capture forms. The purpose is simple: To capture your visitors' information so you can follow up with them.

Why is this important?

Remember that visitors hardly ever (almost never) purchase when they first visit a web site. Research suggests that prospects need to be exposed to your offer an average of 7 times before they will make a decision to purchase from you.

This is why it is critical that you add lead capture forms to your web site so that you can gather information from your visitors.

This is where your email marketing begins. You can now follow up with those prospects over and over again, providing valuable and relevant information that helps you:

1) Build credibility.
2) Increase exposure.
3) Generate repeat visitors.
4) Close more sales.

The big question is usually:

How Do I Get Them To Fill Out The Form?

It can be as simple as adding a line above the form that says:

Join Our Mailing List and Receive Important Updates

or you could use a bribe. Yep ... free information is still something people will usually give you a name and email address for if it is information they are interested in receiving.

In my case, as I am presenting information on AutoResponders to my visitors, my lead capture form says:

Free Report: How To Boost Sales With AutoResponders.

And every day, people fill out that form.

They found my site online either on an ad somewhere, a banner they clicked on, a search engine result they liked, an article they read, etc... I do a lot of advertising (most of it absolutely free). And when people come to my site, I know they are interested in how autoresponders can help them boost their sales.

So I offer them a free report on how autoresponders can help them do just that.

When they request my information, they get informative tips and suggestions on how they can use autoresponders and email marketing. I give a few specific steps, show them how they might create their own follow-up messages, give some of my own insights, share a few testimonials, etc...

And each letter closes by presenting them with my offer: A Free 30 Day Trial of the TrafficWave.net AutoResponder system.

Does it work?

Every single day.

Every single day, I get more subscribers (people requesting my information).
And every single day, I get more customers (people that decide to try my AutoResponder system).

If you're not adding autoresponder subscription forms (lead capture forms) to your own web sites and blogs, you are missing out on a LOT of potential sales!

Brian Rooney
TrafficWave.net LLC

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Benefits of Blogging

The Benefits Of Blogging:

1) Search Engine Marketing.
Search engines love fresh content. If you make a point of updating your blog on a daily basis, many of the search engines will make a point of indexing your blog regularly. This means they'll be going through your blog and adding the content (including your links) to their database. Get others involved in your blog as followers and leaving comments, and the search engines will love you even more!

2) Build Your Credibility.
There's no better way to establish your own credibility than by contributing valuable content via your own blog. People want to deal with experts. Your own blog can help establish your status as an expert within your niche.

3) Manage Your Reputation.
Rumors abound online and there's no better way to manage your online reputation than by contributing your own valuable content and being "transparent" via your own blog.

4) Stand Out From Your Competitors.
The internet is a competitive medium; especially if you are an Affiliate Marketer. You need a way to differentiate yourself from your competitors. Having your own blog helps you rise above the wave of duplicate affiliate sites. Again... Search Engines LOVE original content. Give them what they're looking for.

5) Low Cost.
Setting up your own blog on a site like blogger.com is free. That's a hard price to beat; especially when you consider the benefits you can realize via search engine marketing, relationship management, and brand building.

6) Direct Communications.
As people follow your blog, they can get your updates very quickly by simply checking in to see your latest updates.

7) Building Your Lists.
If you are planning to use your blog as part of your sales and marketing channel, you'll want to be sure you have an autoresponder subscription form on the blog so that you can convert some of those visitors in to targeted prospects.

When you think about it, the real question regarding blogging isn't so much "should I?" but more about "What are you waiting for?"

Blogging can be fun. It doesn't take much time to update your content and the benefits to your reputation, brand recognition, visibility, and sales are hard to beat!

Monday, November 3, 2008

Email Marketing

3 Keys To Effective Email Marketing

Email marketing is becoming a popular tool for many small and home based businesses around the world.

Email marketing allows businesses to eliminate expenses for things like paper, ink/toner, envelopes, postage, etc., and these savings make it a very attractive method of promotion.

Done properly, email marketing can be very effective. Unfortunately, too many businesses let the excitement of a low-cost marketing campaign overshadow their business sense.

Done improperly, your email marketing campaign becomes nothing more than a mess of sending the wrong message to the wrong market.

There are just a few key elements to launching and managing a successful email marketing campaign. They are . . .
The list (your database).
The offer.
The follow-up.
Start With the Right Email Marketing List

The temptation is to rush out and purchase a list from brokers or leads suppliers. The harsh reality is that most of these lists are simply harvested email addresses from search engines. The so-called "savings" of purchasing a list of email addresses can be effectively wiped out when email addresses begin bouncing and recipients begin complaining to your Email Service Provider for sending Unsolicited Commercial Email (or "spam").

The best (and only truly safe) way to build your database is to market effectively. This can be done both online and offline. Traditional methods such as collecting business cards in a drawing and offering free information in exchange for contact information still work very well.

Additionally, Search Engine Optimization strategies can be very effective. The key is to get prospects to visit a "capture page" that is designed to entice them to give their contact information in exchange for something you are offering, such as a free report or free download.

As your list begins to grow, if you have targeted your market effectively, you will find yourself with a considerable database of motivated and targeted prospects.

The Offer

Email marketing is about getting your offer out in front of your database. Yes, they have joined your list voluntarily but keep in mind that you are competing with hundreds of other email messages they may be receiving that day.

Your job is to make sure your email marketing message is opened and read by your prospects.

The key is to create a compelling subject line. Where possible, use the prospect's name in the subject line. Most recipients are much more likely to open an email addressed to them by name.

Once your message is opened, the copy must create a compelling interest so that the reader will want to learn more.

The key here is to think like your prospects. They all have the same question on their mind when they open their email:

What's in it for me?"

Answer that question in your copy and your email marketing campaign could be a huge success. Focus on telling prospects about the benefits of your offer. What will it do for them? What can they expect if they order from you? How will it help them save time, increase revenues, lose weight, feel more attractive, etc.?

The Follow-up

The next step is to follow up with your prospects. Studies have proven that prospects need to see your message over and over again before they make a decision to purchase. Using an AutoResponder to follow up with prospects can dramatically increase the response rate of any email marketing campaign.

The ability to follow up with prospects over time is critical to your success.

Your follow-up letters should essentially repeat your original message. Maybe each follow-up message can stress a particular feature and continue to reinforce the benefits to your prospects.

The idea behind an effective email marketing campaign is to ...

... Tell them.
... Tell them again.
... Tell them what you just told them.

Attention spans are short. Competition is high.

Keep your messages to the point and focus on benefits, benefits, benefits.

Make your prospects WANT to buy from you by consistently keeping your email marketing message in front of them.

The reward for a job well done will be increased revenues and customer loyalty.


Saturday, November 1, 2008

How To Add An AutoResponder Subscription Form To Your Blog

Hi, Folks.

Here's a quick way to add a subscrption form for your TrafficWave.net AutoResponder to your blogger blog.

1) Log in to your back office at http://www.trafficwave.net/login.html

2) Go to the AutoResponder you want to work with.

3) Click "Capture Pages".

4) Click "Generate Capture Page Form Data (HTML)".

5) Click "Select All" and copy the form code in the window.

6) In a new browser window, log in to your blog.

7) Under "Settings" click the "Layout" Tab.

8) Click "Add A Gadget".

9) Click the "HTML/Javascript" Gadget.

10) Enter a Title (This will appear on your blog)

11) Paste the subscription form code in to the big text field.

12) Click "Save".

Feel free to make any edits by going back to your new Gadget. It will be labeled as the title you typed in when you set it up.