By John Alexander
If you are trying to build a business online, then it's a safe
assumption that you would
like that business to make you money. After all, anything else is just a hobby.
The good news is that there are many ways to earn money online, and there are also
many ways to advertise your business.
One of the most popular methods next to SEO and Social Media is
permission-based
email marketing.
The benefits:
- It's relatively easy to
do, with the right approach.
- It allows you to get to
know and build relationships with your readers.
- It's inexpensive, and even more importantly, it's very effective
when you
follow a few guidelines.
Here are some important things to keep in mind.
1. Building a permission based list is the key to success.
If you have spent any amount of time looking into permission based
email marketing, then you have probably heard the old expression
that people say, "the money is in the list." The reason so many
people say it is because it's true.
In fact, it's so important that everything that follows revolves
around this tip.
2. Opt in once, market forever.
Sending traffic to your website takes a lot of resources. It's
necessary, but email marketing simplifies things.
Here's how:
once people are at your site, you encourage them to share their email
address with you. Then it doesn't matter if they ever come back to your
site or not. Instead, you can then market to them whenever the need
arises.
3. This next point cannot be emphasized enough...Always provide value.
One of the most common questions about email promotion internet
marketing is how often to send sales messages, and how often to send
informational messages. There is a myth that you shouldn't send too many
sales messages, but that's not true. As long as you are providing value with
what you are selling, then you are good to go.
Remember, that like any real world relationship, it takes time to build
a genuine rapport with your readers. Far too many people seem to miss the
term "permission based" e-mail.
Before you can sell, or even build a rapport and communicate with
readers,
you need to show your audience that you are sincerely interested in steering
them with useful, helpful and engaging tips and advice.
Far too many folks seemed only interested in making some quick one-time
affiliate dollars and often end up trying to sell anything at all without ever testing
or trying a product themselves (not very wise.) Then they can't understand why
they never build any real long term readers and subscribers.
For
example, many of my subscribers for example have been reading
my newsletter or tips since as far back as 2002.
4. Spend time focusing on quality advice and information
first, then crafting compelling subject lines. The subject is what the people will see in
their email inbox. If they don't like it, if it doesn't make them want to see
what's inside, then they will simply delete it...without ever opening it. And
that means no relationship building and ultimately, no sales. However, if
you can at least get them to open your email, then you'll get a chance to
present your message to them.
5. Don't be tricky. Yes, there are some subject lines that will give
you a much higher open rate, but you should never use them to "trick" people into
opening the message. If you do, they will open your email, but once they
realize that you have tricked them (read: lied to them), they will unsubscribe.
A simple way to put it is to always make sure that the body of the
email message absolutely delivers something useful and helpful and actually fulfils
any promises you make in the subject line. |
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6. What can you share from your own personal
experience, that is helpful and not just pitching some sneaky
up sell or anything that would indicate a lack of your
sincerity to the reader.
For example: Last month I had some readers write to me just to tell
me Happy New Year
and take time to dialog with as many as I can. Another one wrote and said, "John, thanks
for this tip today. I've been following you now for quite a while and there is one thing that I
notice....whenever I follow your advice and teachings from the Workshop, I always see
results...but when I follow the advice of others, I rarely see any impact."
To me, this was a very nice compliment and any time one of your
subscribers takes time
out of their busy day, just too right to you - then be sure you take time to acknowledge that
person. Not many people today take time to write a thank you note, but when they do - take
time to0 express your appreciation.
These are only a few tips to help you with your permission based email
marketing efforts.
There are plenty of other things you can do, but these are a good start. The worst thing you
can do is wait to build an email list. With all of the things it has going for it, every minute you
wait is another minute you will be leaving money on the table.
7. Always try and build genuine two way relationships with your
readers. Making some money
is important, but it is still only temporal. By that, I mean everyone needs to earn money to live,
however you'll find that if you put "relationship building" as first priority, then you are more
focused on "people." People are what this life is really all about.
People are not temporal, they are in fact, eternal. Care about your communications and put people
first and guess what? The money will come too because you have not got your cart before the horse.
8. One last tip is to really watch your unsubscribe rates as a
thermometer for how well you are doing.
People will always unsubscribe if they want to and that's fine. But if you see a huge number unsubscribe
after a specific mailing, you may want to back and look at what you said to your readers.
Another thing I usually do randomly, is I like to give my long term
subscribers (those who have been
reading 5 years or longer) a little free gift or e-book from time to time, just to thank them and let them
know that I especially appreciate those who have been reading my content
loyally for the longer term.
About John Alexander:
John Alexander works together with his network of globally located Search Engine Academy SEO Trainers who teach
hands-on SEO Certification Workshops in communities across Canada, The United States, Australia, Asia and soon in the
United Arab Emirates. John also is a writer of the Free SEO Tip of the day which offers you literally hundreds of free
SEO tips (one fresh SEO tip each day for free.)
If you are interested in training for an SEO career please visit one of our local community based SEO training Workshops
located closest to you. Read a few SEO graduate success stories here.
