Why is Email Autoresponder a must have marketing tool?
Studies show a potential visitor will take seven to nine messages before he or she becomes comfortable with you and eventually contacts or preferably buys your products or services.
If you are left with only one marketing tool, what would you retain? Most marketers would say autoresponders or their email list. This tells you how serious you should treat your email marketing effort AND your autoresponder tool.
What is an autoresponder?
An email autoresponder allows you to follow up your potential customers at a predefined timeframe automatically through emails. You may acquire this functionality by installing a script on your webhosting or you can acquire this function through third party autoresponder service providers.
What criteria should you consider when it comes to picking an email autoResponder? What is the single most important criteria when choosing your autoresponder service?
Three criteria you should consider before you invest your hard-earned cash in this vital marketing tool.
1) Deliverability
A great deliverability is the most sought-after feature of any email autoresponder. Any internet user would receive tons of SPAM mails in their mail-box each day.
There are 2808 spam emails in my email account as at the time of writing. I will never read these emails.
If you use some poor autoresponder service, your emails will automatically be streamed into these SPAM folders.
You may ask, "What determines which email go to "SPAM"?"
Unless you are your email service provider, you don't know their "way of thinking". But definitely you don't want to be the one who emails your subscribers to their SPAM folder!
2) Self hosted OR third party professional autoresponder service
Every marketer or business person has a mission - to lower his/ her cost of doing business. No one throws money out of the window. I don't easily invest in any recurring marketing tool, except for the really required. When it comes to email autoresponder service, I recommend using a third party tool - a tool that is not hosted on your webhost. The mission of third party autoresponder service providers is to deliver your emails.
Why do I not recommend a self-hosted script which you can install onto your webhost?
The reason is one word: "SPAM". Some of your subscribers will report you as SPAM, no matter how diligent and sincere you are with your email marketing campaigns. People just forgot they had signed up on your mail box and they will report your emails as spamming one day down the road.
When subscribers report your emails as spams, their internet service provider (ISP) may blacklist your future emails. This blocks your emails getting into their inbox in the future.
I have previously used a hosted service, which had good results initially (for about 6 months). After a few of my ex-subscribers complaint me spamming them, my emails are not as effective as before.
Great email autoresponders service companies eat and breath on deliverability. They ensure your emails get delivered. Some autoresponder service us claiming that it delivers 99.34%, meaning it their readers get 99 emails out of 100 emails!
3) Price
There are some free autoresponder services out there. I urge you not to waste your time finding or even trying one. Why? I have used those services and only found myself promoting someone's else services.
Those free services basically send out your emails with their own embedded advertising. Your readers will read their ads first before your messages. If you are not serious about your business, use free autoresponsers.
Price should be the least concern, as autoresponder is your lifeblood of your viral traffic. Usually a quality autoresponder costs around $20 a month.
In conclusion, when you choose your autoresponder, the following is a list of criteria that you should consider before spending money on email autoresponder.
Roy Chan is an online business consultant. He provides solid marketing strategies since 2004. Subscribe his marketing e-newsletter. Get his email marketing strategic software valued $27 free for a limited time. Visit: http://www.email-autoresponder-review.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Roy_Chan
Friday, 15 October 2010
Taking the first step to being your own boss
It is a big decision to make, going out on your own and working for yourself.
It does not have to be a difficult one though if you plan ahead and have a clear idea of what you want to achieve. Start off with an idea and gradually build on it, test the water by researching your chosen subject. Online businesses are very easy to set up and do not have to be expensive, plus you can do most of your pre-planning and research for free. Using search engines such as Google can quickly show how popular and how competitive your chosen business idea is, do not be put off by competition if your subject is very popular there are bound to be lots of others already in the field. Offering something slightly different or of better quality/service can give you an edge over the competition. Also learning good marketing strategies before you launch your business will help you better your competition.
Be prepared to put in the work, unless you have a large budget to get you started you are going to have to do a lot of the setting up yourself. Think about how you can market your business in the most cost effective way, you will probably need to hire some outside help for some of the tasks.
Starting up your online business such as getting your first website up and running is really easy these days with so many packages to choose from that do most of the work for you, again it all depends on your budget but remember the most expensive is often not the best. Some businesses spend fortunes on fancy websites with moving images and graphics that look great, but very often they just end up confusing or annoying the visitor. A simple black text on white background web page is much easier on the eye, think about if you read a book or any written text is it easier to read black on white or other colours? What if the pages of the book you are reading started flashing images at you, how easy is it to take in the information?
Some images and gimmicks can of course attract your customers attention and enhance the overall look and appeal of your website but don't over do it. It is good practice to test your ideas, show them to friends and colleagues for some feedback before going ahead with them.
To summarise then lets look at a simple list of tasks,
· Write a business plan
· Decide on a budget for your venture
· Research your chosen subject
· Test your ideas
· Start building the business
· Outsource some tasks
Your business plan does not need to be complex nor set in stone, you can always add to it and adapt it as you get going.
It is a good idea to set yourself a budget of at least 10% above your estimates to give yourself a cushion for the unexpected.
Research is the key, you must be sure there is a market for your product or service. How popular is your subject online?
Test everything out if you can before committing yourself to a task. Most things can be changed quite easily such as website design or layout, try several and see what people think works best for your business.
Once you have a clear focus on what you want to do, start building your business. Your website, products or service, emails, marketing and stock if you have any should all be in place.
The jobs you can't do, don't know how to do or just don't want to do should be outsourced. The more you can do yourself the more control you will have over the business, so learn as much as you can. Some tasks like building a website if you have zero experience may seem impossible right now but with a little effort you may surprise yourself. A lot of tasks like building your own site are much easier these days with lots of companies offering great learn as you go packages.
(c) Gordon Bloomfield 2010
Marketing and online resources.
Useful links to get you started, the last three are for when your site is up and running to generate that all-important traffic.
email auto responder
Website Building software and instruction
Website hosting
Website traffic builder
More website traffic
Free website traffic
It does not have to be a difficult one though if you plan ahead and have a clear idea of what you want to achieve. Start off with an idea and gradually build on it, test the water by researching your chosen subject. Online businesses are very easy to set up and do not have to be expensive, plus you can do most of your pre-planning and research for free. Using search engines such as Google can quickly show how popular and how competitive your chosen business idea is, do not be put off by competition if your subject is very popular there are bound to be lots of others already in the field. Offering something slightly different or of better quality/service can give you an edge over the competition. Also learning good marketing strategies before you launch your business will help you better your competition.
Be prepared to put in the work, unless you have a large budget to get you started you are going to have to do a lot of the setting up yourself. Think about how you can market your business in the most cost effective way, you will probably need to hire some outside help for some of the tasks.
Starting up your online business such as getting your first website up and running is really easy these days with so many packages to choose from that do most of the work for you, again it all depends on your budget but remember the most expensive is often not the best. Some businesses spend fortunes on fancy websites with moving images and graphics that look great, but very often they just end up confusing or annoying the visitor. A simple black text on white background web page is much easier on the eye, think about if you read a book or any written text is it easier to read black on white or other colours? What if the pages of the book you are reading started flashing images at you, how easy is it to take in the information?
Some images and gimmicks can of course attract your customers attention and enhance the overall look and appeal of your website but don't over do it. It is good practice to test your ideas, show them to friends and colleagues for some feedback before going ahead with them.
To summarise then lets look at a simple list of tasks,
· Write a business plan
· Decide on a budget for your venture
· Research your chosen subject
· Test your ideas
· Start building the business
· Outsource some tasks
Your business plan does not need to be complex nor set in stone, you can always add to it and adapt it as you get going.
It is a good idea to set yourself a budget of at least 10% above your estimates to give yourself a cushion for the unexpected.
Research is the key, you must be sure there is a market for your product or service. How popular is your subject online?
Test everything out if you can before committing yourself to a task. Most things can be changed quite easily such as website design or layout, try several and see what people think works best for your business.
Once you have a clear focus on what you want to do, start building your business. Your website, products or service, emails, marketing and stock if you have any should all be in place.
The jobs you can't do, don't know how to do or just don't want to do should be outsourced. The more you can do yourself the more control you will have over the business, so learn as much as you can. Some tasks like building a website if you have zero experience may seem impossible right now but with a little effort you may surprise yourself. A lot of tasks like building your own site are much easier these days with lots of companies offering great learn as you go packages.
(c) Gordon Bloomfield 2010
Marketing and online resources.
Useful links to get you started, the last three are for when your site is up and running to generate that all-important traffic.
email auto responder
Website Building software and instruction
Website hosting
Website traffic builder
More website traffic
Free website traffic
Thursday, 7 October 2010
Quick online money made easy
There are ways of earning an income online in double quick time and without the hassle of having to build your own website with all the costs that are then involved. You can make money online, starting right now. All you need is a simple to follow method with step by step instructions to explain the process from start to finish. Click Here to find out just how easy it is to earn money online.
Monday, 4 October 2010
Tips and tricks, the marketing systems
Hi again, here we are heading towards the cold weather, a good excuse to spend some time in the comfort of the office (office at home in my case) and get some marketing done.
As always I am spending some time building back links to my various sites, this is an essential way of getting your site recognised. If you have your website up and running but are not getting the traffic then make sure you have a links page set up and start filling it. The page does not need to be any more than a list of other relevant sites but some may want you to include a clickable picture or banner. You should always check that the site you are linking to has set up a link back to yours otherwise you will not gain any real benefit as far as the search engines are concerned. If you are new to this and don't know were to start here is what I recommend, first do a search on Google or any other search engine for sites in the same subject as your own (it is important for the links to be relevant to your sites content). Then with this list start contacting the owners and requesting a link exchange (aways be polite, please and thank you goes a long way).
You may find that sites run by manufacturers and the like are not able to link back to you for various reasons but you may still search their links pages to find other related sites.
I suggest writing a standard email message and save it then you just need to collect all the email addresses from the sites you visit. Do not expect to get replies to all your messages some will no doubt get labled as spam and not make it, others may just be disregarded. Keep at it and soon you will have a growing list of sites linking into yours, then the next time the search engines crawl your site they will see it's relevance in your niche and this should help with your ranking.
As always I am spending some time building back links to my various sites, this is an essential way of getting your site recognised. If you have your website up and running but are not getting the traffic then make sure you have a links page set up and start filling it. The page does not need to be any more than a list of other relevant sites but some may want you to include a clickable picture or banner. You should always check that the site you are linking to has set up a link back to yours otherwise you will not gain any real benefit as far as the search engines are concerned. If you are new to this and don't know were to start here is what I recommend, first do a search on Google or any other search engine for sites in the same subject as your own (it is important for the links to be relevant to your sites content). Then with this list start contacting the owners and requesting a link exchange (aways be polite, please and thank you goes a long way).
You may find that sites run by manufacturers and the like are not able to link back to you for various reasons but you may still search their links pages to find other related sites.
I suggest writing a standard email message and save it then you just need to collect all the email addresses from the sites you visit. Do not expect to get replies to all your messages some will no doubt get labled as spam and not make it, others may just be disregarded. Keep at it and soon you will have a growing list of sites linking into yours, then the next time the search engines crawl your site they will see it's relevance in your niche and this should help with your ranking.
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