List Building Strategies
If you lived in a vacuum, “sequestered” from all outside influence, would you know how to create a product and website, drive traffic to it, and convert those browsers into buyers? If so, then you will never run out of money. Even if the Internet folded up and died tomorrow, you’d likely still be making a living as an entrepreneur. Now let me back up a moment. Yes, when credible marketers reveal new techniques to get traffic or improve conversions, you should do some testing of your own to see if these techniques work for you. There’s nothing wrong with slashing the learning curve by learning from others. However, as you well know, there are plenty of people dishing out misguided or just plain wrong information online. They’re spitting out stuff they’ve “heard” about but have never tried (which is ok if the technique actually works). They’re positioning themselves as expert marketers despite the fact that they’ve only made a couple hundred bucks. Sometimes they’re stating their opinions as solid facts.
Posturing marketers like that can easily lead beginning marketers like lemmings off a cliff. Soon enough you have plenty of posts from people claiming, “Internet marketing doesn’t work” and that “anyone who says they make money online is lying.” If these beginning marketers have only listened to posturing marketers with no real results to back up their bluster, then you can see how one could come to such conclusions. Even more experienced marketers with a few sales under their belts can fall prey to these hucksters. Many times a huckster can get away with spewing crap because his theories sound credible and they sound exciting. Since many folks won’t actually put the theories into practice, there are few people to step forward and say “this is a crap.” Someone who’s new to the game MAY try out the theories, and find them worthless. Since he’s new, he’ll likely blame himself for the failure. If he’s the type who hasn’t taken responsibility for anything in his life, then he will blame the posturing marketer …and yet keep trying different things, flitting from one project to another, never settling down long enough to see success.
The good news is that no matter what your experience level, you can protect yourself from wasting time trying things that simply won’t work. Of course nothing is foolproof – there may be things that will work that you think won’t work, and vice versa. However, in this report you’ll learn how to separate the wheat from the chaff with amazing accuracy when it comes to certain marketing techniques. How? By learning to ask yourself two simple questions whenever you see a “new” marketing technique: where did this traffic come from, and is this traffic targeted? We’ll talk about how these two questions come into play, and then we’ll focus in on mailing lists and how you can use these factors to build an ultra-targeted, hyper responsive mailing list.
Your List Building Tools
The people on your list are your target customers. You must convert them into a base that looks forward to receiving your messages and following your recommendations, advice and information.
Let us talk about the basic things you need before you actually experiment with different methods of building lists and stick to the ones that work most profitably for your particular line of activity.
A Website The first thing you must set up is your website, so that your contacts have a place to come to and find you. They also need a place where they can securely leave their email and name. You must ensure that they do not have any difficulty in the process. Not only that, you want to give them something of value to remember. Your website is practically your main point of contact with your users. So make sure you build a site that is good to look at. That does not mean graphics rich and jazzy, but something that is designed to be professional and effective. It must attract your users enough for them to want to browse around and check out what you have for them. Use pleasant colors and relevant images, a good layout and useful information.
Your site must provide crisp content. Write it in such a way that it draws their attention – like a magnetic headline, bulleted points, etc. On top of everything else, it should endorse your own image. Do it in a way that is unique and memorable for your visitor. They are only going to be there for seconds before they move on to browse elsewhere. It must have something special for your prospect to remember and come back. The number of sites on the Internet is growing rapidly and it is up to you to make yours look special. A point to bear in mind here is that even after you’ve drawn the visitor to your site, there is no fixed rule that says they must purchase from you the first time they go by your site. Which means we must make sure there is some way by which they can leave their contact information behind before they go?
You do need to remind them and follow up, don’t you? You can do this by asking them to sign up in exchange for something valuable to them – like a free download or newsletter. In this manner, your list continues to build. You must find a way to
follow up with these contacts to that they become your customers.
Autoresponder
The next thing is your autoresponder. (We will talk about this more in detail in a subsequent section). Subscribe to one that suits your needs best. These are a wonderful way to automate your follow up, when you have to keep in touch with your customers regularly.
You might find it easy to keep in touch with, say 200 or 300 people, but when the list runs to thousands, just imagine the amount of time you’ll spend, time that you can devote to more creative activities. Instead, a good Auto responder can help you tremendously in keeping up with your reminding and emailing. Sources: Aweber
Ways To Bring Traffic To Your Site
Coming to the main purpose of this ebook – unless you bring traffic to your site, how will you build lists? Right. But bear in mind that your traffic must be relevant to your requirement. In Internet marketing, the pay per click advertising campaign method is effective. What you really need to take care about is the keywords you use; they must especially relate to your unique product. Also, writing articles about topics related to your
business and posting them on online directories can bring in traffic. You can tie up with an allied business so that together you can offer a range of services and mutually benefit while building those lists.
Relevant Content It follows from the above that you must be attentive to what you write in your emails. You users will look for information that is useful and relevant to them. If you don’t send them messages that are meaningful, they will cease to read them. On top of that, they will unsubscribe. So make sure you provide value, because it will be a worthwhile investment. And, though it seems obvious, each contact must be able to sign up with you easily. Which means, every official communication that goes out of your office, whether online or snail mail, must contain your web URL, and encourage them to get on your list. You must remember that it is not just for size that you are growing your list. Why you are doing it is so you can convert it into business. You can start with a strong small list and build it as you go along.
If you haven’t already decided what you are going to offer and to whom you are going to sell it – your product and your target market- do it now. Pick something you are interested in and get familiar with it. Some people even select products sold by others, and when they become confident, choose something similar and market it.
Why Marketing Works: The Two Things You Need to Ask Yourself…
When you’re determining how to get traffic to your website, there are two main things you need to consider: 1. Is the traffic TARGETED?
2. How did the traffic find my site?
In most cases, if you have targeted traffic the second consideration isn’t quite as important. Nevertheless, your conversion rate will soar if your web visitors are actively looking for you (versus you trying to wave your hands and get their attention). Let me give you a crazy example to make my point clear: Let’s suppose that you sell article writing services (i.e., you’re a ghost writer). Let’s further suppose that you’re invited to a party that’s a mix of writers and people who need writers. You get to the party to find it’s jam packed with people, and, as you might expect, the noise level is quite loud.
Stay tuned for Part 2 of List Building Strategies…
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