Email Marketing ? Is It Part of Your Marketing Strategy?
There are many voices out there today, each one clambering for our attention. In our home based business, we get bombarded daily with offers that we are told we just can’t refuse! Each one offers their best marketing strategy and/or courses, which if you will just simply buy it; it would literally set you financially free! Ever been there?
Well, that’s not what I’m going to do here!! We’re going to be talking about one subject: Email Marketing and email marketing strategies. Clearly there are more marketing strategies than email marketing. The fact is, there are many different marketing strategies out there, and we have many choices, but you have to decide which ones you want to implement. A strategy that has worked well for me and other internet marketers is to start with two, maybe 3 marketing strategies. Get very familiar with those, and make sure they are working for you. Don’t let anything or anyone sidetrack you. Stick to your guns. Once you have those mastered, move on to the next 2 or 3, but don’t abandon the original 2 or 3.
There are many marketing strategies, and I’ll name a few, such as:
• Social Media – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Yuwie, Friendfeed, Squidoo, etc
• Articles – Ezine, Articlebase, BetterNetworker, etc
• Press Releases – FreepressRelease.com, 24-7pressrelease.com, PRWeb.com
• Videos – You Tube, Traffic Geyser, Camtasia, etc
• Blogging – WordPress, Blogger, Digg, etc
• Forums – Warrior Forum, Google and Yahoo forums, etc
• Email – Viral Host, AWeber, List Bandit, List Joe, Viral URL, etc
There is a myth floating around out there that I want to address right now, and that is this: There is a common misconception by many people nowadays that the internet is too competitive, and that a newbie [slang word for a newcomer to the internet] cannot possibly hope to succeed running against the big dogs, or the more seasoned internet marketers.
Nothing could be further from the truth! There are many ways of making money online and so many opportunities and niches to take advantage of. And the bottom line is this: there are constantly new people coming online, and new people looking for business opportunities. The key is to find something you are interested in, have a passion about, and begin to market in that niche.
This is not about niche marketing, and at this juncture I’m not going into how to find your niche and finding the right keywords to market your niche or product. There are plenty of articles and blogs out there about that.
You can find plenty of articles and blogs about all the different marketing strategies, but what I’m going to focus on here is email marketing. Email marketing is a key part of any marketing plan, but where that falls in priority for you is totally dependant on what your marketing strategies might be.
I’m going to assume that you already have your list [if you don’t contact me, and I will help you with that, or point you in the right direction]. Email marketing lists are important, but maintaining them and keeping them up to date is even more important.
In email marketing, your reputation is important, more so online than offline. Both are important, but most of us reading this are trying to build a home based business through an online presence. We build and develop our online reputation through social media engagements, blog posts, press releases, articles, forums, videos and etc. Our reputation actually is created by our readers, and if we continue to supply them with valuable content, our reputation grows.
When it comes to building our reputation in social media, it is important to not bombard your friends and followers with just links to your site. Several times throughout the day is okay, but provide valuable content, such as positive quotes, links to videos that can help build their business, etc. A whole article could be written just on this subject, and many have been written.
Our online reputation is what makes our email deliverable! That’s right; our reputation is what helps get our emails opened. If our reputation has become tarnished because of some negative posting on a forum or a negative blog, it will definitely affect email deliverability. If people on our list view us negatively, they tend to blacklist us, and now the email goes into the spam box instead of the inbox. That will have a direct impact on your bottom line.
Here are 7 tips that will help get your emails delivered.
Tip#1: Manage and Maintain Your Online (and Overall) Reputation
a) Can’t say enough about this – it is completely within your control!
Tip#2: Get Opt-In Permission
a) You have to provide options to your subscribers to allow them to change their subscriber preferences. Subscribers have to have the option somewhere in your email to opt-out if they so choose and it should be plainly visible.
Tip#3: Recipients Expect Frequent and Valuable Content
a) I get some emails on a daily basis, and one even sends between four and six per day. However, I always read them, because invariably they provide good and valuable content. Actually, two or three times a week is sufficient, and there is even some thought out there that once a week is enough. It really depends on your list and your product.
b) The bottom line – whatever your frequency, it has to contain relevant and valuable content. If not, they will opt-out or drop it into the spam folder!
Tip#4: Use a Recognizable “From” Address
a) I’ve received email from online marketers where it was kind of obscure as to where the email was coming from. There are plenty of email providers out there (see list above) so there is no excuse to not have a recognizable “from” address.
b) Make sure your subscribers have a way to reach you. If your “from” address in your email is not a reachable address, provide one somewhere in your email. I prefer to provide mine in the signature of my email.
Tip#5: Design the Header of Your Email to Deliver Your Message
a) This is the first thing they see when they open their mailbox! If you know anything about copywriting, you know that the header is the most important item to getting your email opened and read. This can be the difference between a successful or unsuccessful email campaigns.
b) Let’s say you aren’t good at writing headlines – there are plenty of sources out there where you can find someone that is. Go to elance.com, post what you want done and you’ll find someone that can do it for you. Just be sure to check them out thoroughly and get some good verifiable references. For as little as $200 you can get someone to write you a great email campaign with a great header.
Tip#6: Spam – Who Defines It
a) Does it really matter who defines spam? Absolutely!! What comes to mind when you think of spam? Most times the response I get is “It’s sending unsolicited emails.” Really, is that it???!!! If that’s what comes to mind, then you definitely need to familiarize yourself with what spam really is!! It can mean the difference between getting your email opened (delivered) or not.
b) CAN-SPAM laws were created and enforced by the FTC [Federal Trade Commission]. What is CAN-SPAM? The acronym CAN-SPAM derives from the bill’s full name: Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing Act of 2003.
c) ISP (Internet Service Providers), as well as the FTC have a large part in determining what is or is not spam. ISPs do not rely on CAN-SPAM to define spam. Their contention is that spam is first and foremost defined and determined by the user. If, for example, a user determines the email is spam by putting it in their spam folder, or in their blocked senders list, or just simply not opening it, then the ISPs consider it spam – whether or not it adheres to each and every rule of CAN-SPAM
d) Stay current on the CAN-SPAM rules and make sure that every email campaign complies and adheres to those rules. Be sure that your email recipients can opt-out easily. Remind your email recipients of the email address they should use to request information or if they have any questions.
Tip#7: Relevance and Continuity
a) When the potential client and/or email recipient clicks on your PPC ad or a link that you provided in your email, it is imperative that what you had in your email and/or ad is where the link goes to. For example, if you are advertising something about weight loss, make sure that when they get to your site, you are actually promoting weight loss, and not something irrelevant – like, let’s say skiing!! Remember….it’s your reputation. If it doesn’t connect or is irrelevant, it could make the customer want to consider future ads irrelevant and they will avoid clicking on them.
b) When that happens too often, search engine algorithms will then label your ads as irrelevant, suppressing the Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and PPC conversions. SEM is only relevant if you have a website
The last thing I want to cover (and certainly not the least) is search engine marketing. Search engine marketing can and does have a great impact on your online reputation, i.e., your email deliverability. What is search engine marketing? Glad you asked!! Search engine marketing is the performance of marketing or advertising your web site through search engines, like Google, Yahoo or Bing. Search engine marketing (SEM) may consist of one or more of the following components:
Pay Per Click (PPC) - On the right side of the page you will see little boxes or ads, and those are what are considered PPC [Pay Per Click]. Every time you click on those, the advertiser pays Google, Yahoo or Bing (the amount depends what search engine you are using). You bid the amount you are willing to pay per click. The more you bid, the more likely your ad will appear higher in the search engine results. Google Adwords has implemented an additional aspect. Your ads will rank based on the relevancy or importance that Google places on your site, which is very difficult to manipulate. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – Google, Yahoo and Bing [formerly MSN] crawl through content of your article, blog, website, etc., and look for valuable and relevant content. SEO is what gets you in the top 10 positions on the left side of the page when it is opened up. It is referred to as generic listings. Pay For Inclusion (PFI) – What is PFI? It is a search engine marketing technique that involves paying for a Web site listing in a Web directory, for example Yahoo Directory [not same as Yahoo Search] or Verizon’s SuperPages. The bottom line is you are paying to be included in a Web directory. In addition to search engines, like Google, Yahoo and Bing, various other directories also exist on the web. These directories can either be general in nature or can be related to a specific topic. You can get free listings in some online directories, like DMOZ. However most directories now charge for a listing. Yahoo describes its directory as: Subject-based directory listing websites in a wide range of topics, from arts, entertainment, and society and culture, to science, education, and health.
So is Search Engine Marketing Important?
It really depends on whether you decide to make search engine marketing a part of your marketing and advertising strategy. If you don’t have a Web site or ever plan to have one for your business, you certainly wouldn’t need search engine marketing. But in today’s business climate, it’s hard to imagine anyone not wanting or having a website, as nearly all business are expected to have a website and most do.
Search engine marketing is used as a means to get traffic to your website. This again can be done through your emails with links to your website, or through SEO, PPC, or PFI. This then should ideally lead to getting new customers and adding to your home business revenues.
When compared to other means of advertising and marketing, search engine marketing can be very cost effective. For instance, you could implement some SEO techniques on your own. Organic search rankings are free, so if you can move yourself up in the rankings, your traffic should increase, which, in turn, should increase your home business revenues.
In the same way, PPC can be very cost effective. Since you can set limits on how much you’ll pay per click and how much you’ll pay per day. By doing that, it’s fairly easy to keep your costs in line. As previously mentioned, some Web directories like DMOZ allow free listings, while others can cost as little as $25 – $30 per year.
In closing, it is vital to your success to keep your lists up-to-date so that you can optimize your response rates, your conversions, and your overall email campaign performance. With all the spammers and fraudulent email senders out there, it has created a lot of mistrust. So I can’t stress enough how important it is to consistently update your email list, review your list often to establish which email recipients haven’t opened or clicked through for the last six months. Make them another compelling offer, and if they still don’t open them, you might want to try one more time, but then take them off your list.
To your success in getting your email opened!
How You Can Secretly Profit From Affiliate Internet Marketing
Do you you every ask yourself how can I make as much money as all these guru’s say I can using affiliate Internet marketing. Well if you want to lets get started, first lets cut off a layer of hype that all the gurus use in there recipe and get straight into the good stuff.
Affiliate Internet marketing is mainly about two things, traffic and converting that traffic. Since you don’t own the product or don’t own any of the responsibilities that come with owning your own product it makes you job a lot easier.
You only have to put your minds attention on making money from that product and if you want to make the most money you need to learn how to build a relationship with your customers and track your system. So on to finding some people.
Where can you find people to buy your product well that depends on what your selling so let say you selling dog collars. Well most people that are looking for dog collars on-line are going to go to the favorite search engine and type in dog collar, buy dog collar or something like that.
So one way is to get traffic is to be ranked high in the search engines for that keyword,then there is pay per click, trading links with websites that maybe talk about dog health or other related sites, posting helpful links in forums or writing articles explaining why collars are beneficial to dogs and there owners. These are only a few ways to obtain some traffic.
There are many more ways to get traffic but you get the point, I hope.
Now that you have traffic or know how to get it where is it going? You could send it directly to the merchant but then you lose all control and if it doesn’t convert you just lost a customer that you could have made repeat sales to.
So you need a landing page. So just throw up a web-page that says thank you for stopping by, now buy this product now because I said so now I need some money to pay my house payment now, OK so that probably didn’t work maybe one or two sales but that probably from you and you mom that feels sorry for you and bought your product.
To make it simple give them more information on the topic of choice, give them a plan of action that includes your product and then they will swarm to buy your product.
As I mentioned before tracking and building a relationship. For every different source of traffic make a separate landing page or get some tracking software so you can see whats working and see whats not, this way you can cut your losers and ride your winners.
Get there email and name so you can give them more information see what they need help in and help them but show them how your product will make it easier.
So find a product set up a landing page send some traffic test get to know your visitors and start making thousands to millions a year. Sounds crazy but it can be true take your time step by step and keep learning. “Be, Do, Have”
Emmanuel Aubrey Affiliate Marketer, Get More out of the work you already do. Need advice, help, or free qualtiy information vist http://www.affiliatemarketinghelpcenter.info/affiliate_lead_marketing_mlm_network.html
or Affiliate Lead Marketing MLM Network
Online Marketing: Some of the Best Tools are Free
Online marketing is tough. There are so many businesses competing for attention that it is difficult to stand out from the crowd. The upside is that the World Wide Web provides ample opportunity to build your business for free…if you are willing to put in the time and effort.
Job #1: Search Engine Position
The primary goal for marketing online is to drive traffic to your website. More traffic equals more sales. The best way to achieve that objective is to show up at the top of the search engines. That is, when potential customers search for a product or service that you carry (your key words), your business should be on the first page, the higher up, the better. Even if your business serves only a local area, your customers need to find you easily on the web. The way this works is people enter, for example, “pest control Las Vegas” and the search engine returns websites that are optimized for those key words. The trick is to get your website to the top of that list.
There is not quick and easy way to get there. You cannot buy your way to the top of (or even into) search engines. The search engine companies like Google, Bing, and Yahoo use complicated, secret algorithms to determine which sites rank the hightest. The rules are ever-changing, mostly in an attempt to combat scammers. However, there are legitimate tools, referred to as SEO (search engine optimization), that can be worked to build your site’s status. For the most part, these tools cost no money, but do require time, effort and patience to achieve.
Most people understand SEO to be about placing the right keywords on your website pages and setting the appropriate tags for the search engine crawlers to find. While these factors are important, there is a lot more you can do by utilizing other existing websites to get the word out about yours. One of the factors that all search engines rely on are the number of links back to your site from other, well-ranked websites.
Social Networking and Bookmarking Sites
As soon as your website is posted, even if it is a “coming soon” page with a limited description, begin spreading the word. Start with the popular social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn. Users of these sites can create or join professional groups and post business pictures and videos. Join in with forum discussions relevant to your business. Be sure to include a link back to your website, when possible, but do not spam the boards. That is, be sure you respond appropriately to the question or discussion. If you just post your link to every forum, you will be kicked off the networking site and develop a bad reputation for your business.
Other users can join your business’s profile and be kept up-to-date on your postings. Twitter and Tumblr also allow users to keep tabs on what is happening with you and your business. These networking sites take a while to build up, but over time can be an effective tool for virtual word-of-mouth marketing.
Other websites, called social bookmarking sites, allow you to select and bookmark noteworthy web pages or news articles for others to view. These bookmarks also allow comments from other users — a great opportunity to market your own business. Of course, be sure to stick to relevant topics and offer pertinent comments. The same rules apply here as with other social sites. Some of the more popular bookmarking sites include Digg, Del.icio.us, Reddit, Mixx, Fark, and StumbleUpon.
Content is King
Building content on and off your site is critical. Whatever your business idea, there is a lot that your target market doesn’t know about what you do. In a bizarre twist of modern consumerism, your customers expect free information or free samples before they buy. Your site should contain enough valuable, relevant, free information to get your potential market interested in your product. For most products, tell them why they need it and how they will benefit from purchasing your product. Write articles about particular features or uses. Write product reviews of the products you sell. Start a blog that discusses relevant news articles or opinions of interest to your target. Then, post announcements of these articles to your social networking sites.
Also consider writing informational articles (not blatant advertisements) to submit to article directories, other free content websites, and even magazines and newsletters that are read by your target market. The articles should be useful to your market — the intention is to become known as an expert in your field. While for the most part you should not (and, for some cases, can not) include links or references to your business in the body of the article, you can usually include two or three links to different pages of your website in your byline. Be sure these links include the key words you are trying to optimize. For example, an article by the owner of a pet supply company might be about the health benefits of dog sports. The byline might read as follows, with the underlined words linked to pages on the website:
Mutt Trainer, owner of DogSportsStuff.com is a Certified Pet Dog Trainer. During his 28 years in the dog world he has competed in conformation, obedience, and agility with his pet Chesapeake Bay Retrievers. His first love is dog sports, especially dock diving and flyball.
If your articles are well-written, interesting, and informative, they may be picked up by other online e-zines to be distributed through their newsletters and websites. A single article, then, can result in at least two and as many as hundreds of links back to your website. Depending on how crowded your key words are on the web, these links can make a big difference in moving your site up the search engine results.
The Payoff is Worth the Time and Effort
Boosting your ranking on the search engines takes significant time and effort, but the payoff is significant as well. Once your business hits the first page of the major search engines for the right key words, your business will reach a far broader market base than through any other single form of advertising. How long it takes to get there depends on how crowded your key words are and how much effort you put into SEO. Key words like “starting a business” are especially difficult to crack. It can take a year or more of concerted effort to consistently show up on the first page. Less common key words take less time but still require the links back and content to get you to the top. Be warned — those SEO consultants that guarantee your business will be in the top 5 of the search engines do not guarantee the key words you want. That is, if you are in the pizza oven business, they cannot get you to the top of “pizza oven” searches any faster than you can. However, they probably can get you to the top of “Mike’s Pizza Oven, Inc.” relatively quickly…because you are the only business out there with those key words.
About the Author-K. MacKillop, a serial entrepreneur, is founder of LaunchX and authors a small business startup blog. The LaunchX System is designed to help entrepreneurs start a business. Visit LaunchX.com to learn more about creating a comprehensive marketing plan for your business startup.
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