Software Release:

Turbo Tell A friend
Not just a tell-a-friend script: this one allows you to securely build your list on autopilot!

JV Spawner
Allows you to create trial versions of your software in seconds!

Download Site Creator
Lets you easily manage your download area. For membership site owners!

Ebook Release:

Web Traffic Explained Volume II
Reveals the brand new traffic building strategies!

And of course, the new Keywords Set: Camping, Car Rental, Summer Vacations, Water Ski.

I also created the Rewards section, a cool place where you can cash your Rewards Points into products at no additional cost!

I’m working on updates to this section, so expect new products soon!
Oh… and by the way:
There are 7 spots left to the Maketing Main Event II, if you’re still interested ;o)

Gilles Rais

Categories: Affiliates, New Products, News
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If there is one piece of advice I would give to every
business operating on the Web today, it would be this:

You MUST collect the opt-in information
of visitors to your web site!

Why? Because if you’re not constantly building your opt-in
email list, you’re letting MOST of your sales opportunities
slip right through your fingers! I can’t say it often enough!

Studies have shown that it takes an average of FOUR TO SEVEN
points of contact to make a sale — and you won’t make it to
the second point of contact if you don’t have a way to reach
your visitors after they’ve left your site.

Think about how many web sites you visit in an hour of
surfing the Internet — do you remember the salescopy and
products from each of those sites? Could you find a particular
site again if you wanted to re-check their information? Even
if you Googled it, there’s no guarantee that exact URL would
show up in your keyword results.

In most cases, visitors come to your site, they look around,
then they leave, and they’re gone forever.

But simply by collecting their first name, last name, and
email address, you can stay firmly on their radar and expose
them to your products time and time again — all at nearly no
cost to you! These people are your opt-ins, and an opt-in
email list is the very foundation of any online business.

That’s why it’s amazing to me that many people don’t take
advantage of opt-in email marketing.

Especially when statistics from PostFuture back up exactly
what I’m saying:

*82% of online buyers have made at least one purchase
in response to an email promotion

*67% of users open at least 60% of opt-in emails they
receive

*32% have made an immediate online purchase in response
to an email!

*59% have gone on to redeem an email coupon in an
online OR offline store.

People pay close attention to their email, and more and more
people are buying online every year!

But consumers know that their personal information is gold,
and they won’t give it to you unless you give them something
they want in return. If you provide your visitors with a
targeted, valuable opt-in offer, your opt-in email list
will grow — and so will your revenues.

So now that you know WHY you should be collecting your
visitors’ information, let’s take a look at…

*WHO you should be considering when you build your
opt-in strategy

*WHAT to offer your visitors to get them excited
about opting in

*HOW to promote your offer

*WHERE to put it on your web site!

Once you’ve got the answers to these questions, you’re
ready to put together the best possible opt-in offer for
your target market.

——————————————————–

WHO? Know your target market — and build an
offer they can’t refuse!

——————————————————–

The first step in creating a solid opt-in strategy is to
consider the people you want to opt in to your list. Just
as the best businesses are created in response to the needs
of a specific niche market, so are the best opt-in offers!

That’s why the first, most important question is always
WHO. Unless you can specifically say who you’re aiming your
strategy at, you’re going to have a hard time running any
kind of an opt-in campaign… AND your business, for that
matter.

You can find out a lot about your site visitors’ preferences
and habits by looking at the server logs that your web host
supplies. What’s the most popular page on your web site? What
pages do visitors stay on for the longest time? Build your
opt-in offer around what’s on those pages.

Where do people most often click away from your site?
Obviously whatever’s there isn’t something your market
considers valuable, so a related opt-in offer wouldn’t work.

When do most people visit your site? If they’re visiting
during work hours, your offer will be much different from
one aimed at people visiting in the evenings.

Also consider the questions or comments you get from
customers after a sale. What do they want to know? What
do they like or dislike?

The more hard information you have on your target
audience, the easier it will be to come up with an
opt-in offer that answers their specific needs.

Now’s the time to think about WHAT your target market
really wants…

——————————————————–

WHAT? Discover the opt-in incentive that will
provide maximum value for your opt-in email list
– and get your subscribers in the mood to buy!

——————————————————–

There are tons of different incentives you can use to
encourage people to give you their personal information –
but not every offer will suit every web site or business.

Because people already get so much email these days, you
need to provide them with a really compelling incentive to
opt in to your list.

Most people think of newsletters right off the bat when
they are first developing an opt-in incentive for their web
site.

Starting your own online newsletter is one of the
most effective methods of building your opt-in list. It’s
an incredibly powerful way to position yourself as an
industry expert with your customers and subscribers, and it
reminds them regularly of your presence.

For some businesses, however, offering a free newsletter
isn’t the best way to collect email addresses. Let’s suppose,
for example, that your site sells washers and dryers. You’re
going to be hard pressed to come up with interesting, relevant
information about laundry for your free newsletter every month!

According to an Ipsos-Reid poll, 71% of all Internet users
have unsubscribed from at least one email list because the
information delivered wasn’t sufficiently interesting or
relevant.

Before you start a newsletter, think about how much
interesting and relevant information you can deliver to
your specific audience and how much time you have
available to put it together so it can be delivered
on a regular schedule.

If a newsletter isn’t a good fit for your business, don’t
worry — there are other ways to collect email addresses,
and they require less time and effort.

1. Offer a free course

If you have a lot of know-how in your area of expertise,
you can turn your “expert” status into a free multi-part
course on a subject your readers are interested in
learning.

It’s another great way to start collecting opt-in email
addresses, and it has the advantage of putting you in
touch with your opt-ins several times.

Ask yourself what kind of information your readers want
from you — what do you have to teach them? What have they
come to your site to learn, or what kind of information
were they seeking?

By using delayed autoresponders, you can set up the
different lessons in your course to be emailed to
subscribers at specified intervals, all without any
effort on your part.

Your delayed autoresponder program could be set up to
send a new lesson to subscribers every seven days –
meaning that subscribers would automatically be exposed
to your company and your offer four times over the
course of a month.

And the best part is, you are contacting them with
information that they have specifically requested.

If you’re interested in getting your hands on an
email management program with unlimited autoresponder
capability, check out:

http://www.marketingtips.com/mailloop

Don’t forget that your course can contain text, audio,
graphics — even video — whatever suits the material
you’re delivering. Just send your subscribers a link
to the web page where your course can be found.

Unlike email, your web site doesn’t put any restrictions
on how much rich media you can feature.

2. Offer a free eBook

A free eBook can be a great incentive, depending on the
kinds of products or services you offer.

If you offer a free eBook, you’ll have to take the time
to actually write it. But an eBook doesn’t need to be
hundreds of pages long to be useful. An information-packed
eBook can be as short as 8 to 10 pages, and still provide
a ton of value for your opt-in subscribers.

Not only does a free eBook help build your list, it also
helps familiarize your visitors with you and your products
or services.

You can also make your eBook viral — and no, that
doesn’t mean you’re making anyone sick!

“Viral marketing” is a strategy in which you encourage
your customers to pass on a marketing campaign or message
to others. Like a virus, your message has the potential
to spread throughout online communities.

With viral eBooks, word about your business spreads
quickly. For example, let’s say that you persuade 10
people to pass your eBook on to their friends. And if
they share it with even a few of their friends?

That’s a number that multiplies pretty quickly — and can
convert into tons of highly targeted potential customers!

You can even create a new opt-in offer for people who’ve
received the eBook from friends. Put a link in the eBook
to a special landing page that features the offer and
collect a “second generation” of opt-ins.

3. Offer downloadable articles

If your site contains a lot of useful, original,
content-rich articles, one of the best ways to collect
email addresses is to require that visitors to your site
opt in to your list if they want to download those
articles.

As long as you offer useful information, and as long
as the downloadable articles contain something that
people can’t get for free in the version you have posted
on your site, you can expect to get a TON of sign-ups
using this strategy

Now, maybe you’re not comfortable writing, or your business
isn’t suited to offering a written opt-in incentive. But don’t
worry! There are a number of opt-in offers that don’t require
much writing at all — just a bit of creativity!

4. Offer other “downloadables”

Articles aren’t the only items you can offer for download
on your web site — why not offer e-cards, screen savers,
desktop wallpapers, or templates that your visitors can
enjoy in exchange for their opt-in information?

For example, if you sell books about pet care, you can
offer e-cards or printable cards with photos of adorable
animals! Or if you sell beach home rentals, you could
easily create a screen saver with pictures of some of
your most beautiful destinations.

(Imagine if you could be on your visitors’ computer screen
EVERY DAY — whether they were online or offline! That’s
what screen savers and wallpapers can accomplish — all
with a minimum of set-up time, and at no cost to you!)

You don’t even need a ton of graphic design skills — a
few good shots of your products or related items, and
you’re most of the way to creating something attractive
that will keep your visitors connected to you and your
product.

You can even offer a monthly subscription to special
items like these, or a members-only area on your web
site where subscribers can go to find goodies that relate
to your industry.

5. Offer a contest, puzzle, or game

Running a contest on your web site works on the same
principle as dropping your business card in a jar at the
local diner in hopes of winning a free lunch for your
office.

The diner collects information about its customers, and
the customers get the chance to win a valuable prize.
Both parties benefit, and it doesn’t really cost the
diner anything more than a few burgers for the winner.

Depending on the kind of business you run, there are a
ton of different options for this type of opt-in
incentive.

Some examples include:

**A contest to win an item related to your product:
Say you sell party favors — hats, toys, and streamers.
You could hold a contest to win a free birthday cake from
a bakery in your area or a percentage-off coupon for a
party rentals place.

**A contest to win one of your products: But remember –
don’t offer to give away the primary product you sell.
People will enter the contest hoping to win — and leave
your site without considering an actual purchase!

**A weekly puzzle or quiz: The type of puzzle is up to
you: a crossword with words that relate to your
business, or a “multiple choice”-type quiz, an
animated jigsaw puzzle, or a game of “Hangman”!

You can set it up as a contest and draw a name from
the winning entries to award a prize — or require that
people give you their opt-in information to get the
answer.

6. Offer a survey

Surveys are a great way to generate opt-ins, and they
also provide a valuable service to the people who take
part in them.

For example, if you had something to sell that was of
interest to gardeners, you could mention your survey in
relevant newsgroups, forums, or related newsletters, and
give a link to the survey page on your web site.

Your survey could delve into what types of products
gardeners are using in different kinds of gardens, or
what kinds of gardening challenges they face in their
particular region.

Let participants know that you will send them the results
if they give you their name and email address.

Because participants have to come to your web site to fill
out the survey, you should be able to take advantage of all
that new traffic and generate a significant number of new
opt-ins.

You might even incorporate a survey question such as
“Would you like to receive a complimentary copy of our
monthly newsletter (or eBook, or course) with tons of
gardening tips and tricks?”

If they answer “Yes” to that question, you can add their
name to your opt-in list!

7. Offer a members-only forum or discussion board

Members-only forums and discussion boards can be a major
draw for people in niche markets. Because their areas of
interest are often unique and specific, they sometimes
have a hard time getting the information they want, or
finding other people who are interested in the same things.

You can step in and provide a community for like-minded
people to meet and discuss their hobbies or their concerns
– or pretty much anything to do with your market.

If you can provide a forum that appeals to your market,
people will RUSH to give you their opt-in information to
be a part of it.

This will also give you a great opportunity to learn more
about your customers and what kinds of products or
services you can develop to further meet their needs –
AND grow your business.

You’ll need to participate by establishing some community
rules and moderating the forum — not to mention starting
up some topics of discussion and adding your two cents to
the debates!

But in the meantime, your subscribers will do most of
the work by creating valuable content.

8. Offer members-only specials

One of the easiest ways to encourage visitors to opt in
with their personal information is to offer them a chance
to save money! It can be as simple as the following text:

“Do you want to receive our special MEMBERS-ONLY
offers? Every month we bring exclusive deals to
our subscribers that you can’t get anywhere else!
To start saving now, just sign up below!”

This is a great way to drive opt-ins AND sales, and to
make your potential customers feel appreciated before
they even buy your products!

There are many different opt-in incentives available — you just
need to apply a little creativity to choose the one that’s
right for you and your target market!

But even the BEST opt-in offer can be ignored if you don’t
know how to present it to your visitors.

Let’s check out HOW to get your potential customers interested
in your offer…

——————————————————–

HOW? Build a compelling opt-in offer that no
visitor to your site will ignore!

——————————————————–

Opt-in offers aren’t tough to write, but they do require a
little bit of thought and time on your part. We’ve worked
with some of the best (and highest-priced!) copywriters in
the business, and here are the three hard-and-fast rules
they follow when writing an opt-in offer:

Rule #1: Emphasize benefits, NOT features

To persuade visitors to sign up for your offer, you NEED
to answer their biggest question: “What’s in it for me?”
The best way to do this is by always emphasizing the
benefits of your product or service, as opposed to the
features.

Here’s an example: Suppose you are offering an eBook on your
tax advice site. If you were to write…

“Download our FREE eBook, written by a real CPA.”

… you’d be advertising a feature. You are telling your
visitors a fact about your eBook.

Here’s how it reads if we emphasize benefits instead of
features:

Don’t pay a penny extra on your taxes! Discover 10
simple things that you can do to save hundreds — even
thousands! — of dollars on your return this year! Just
enter your name and email address below to get your
FREE eBook!

That’s a pretty dramatic difference, isn’t it? You’ve hooked
your visitors by letting them know how THEY will benefit by
signing up for your offer — by avoiding costly taxes in the
future.

Rule #2: Include a call to action

If you want people to take action on your site (such as
sign-up for your eBook), you need to have a call to action
that tells them exactly what you want them to do.

For example, if you want your visitors to opt in to your
list (and of course, you do!) you should include a link
that says something like, “Subscribe here to receive dozens
of FREE PowerPoint templates every month!”

You might think it’s obvious that you want people to opt in
to your list — especially if you’ve written a great sales
pitch that explains how your opt-in offer solves their
problem.

But no matter how convincing your copy is, if you don’t
provide your potential customers with a very specific call
to action, you’re just leaving them hanging.

Rule #3: Include a link to your privacy policy

A lot of people still feel a bit reluctant to hand over
their personal information to someone they’ve never met
before.

The best way to ease their fears is to include a link to
your privacy policy whenever you ask for personal
information. In fact, you should have a link to your
privacy policy on every page of your site!

This lets people know that you are committed to protecting
their privacy, and makes them feel safe leaving their email
address with you.

Your privacy policy should state explicitly what information
you collect from your visitors and how you intend to use
it. You don’t even have to create your own privacy policy
from scratch! There’s an easy-to-use “privacy policy”
generator at:

http://www.the-dma.org/privacy/creating.shtml

Now that you’ve learned about HOW to craft a winning opt-in
offer, let me show you WHERE on your site it should go to get
you the maximum amount of opt-ins!

——————————————————–

WHERE? Place your opt-in offer in the RIGHT
spot and send your opt-in rates through the ROOF!

——————————————————–

Believe it or not, there are still a lot of sites that hide
their opt-in offer, making it almost impossible for their
visitors to find it. In fact, a 2005 MarketingSherpa study
showed that only 52% of e-commerce sites have a prominent
call to register on their main home page!

**If your homepage contains a long salesletter, you’ll
want to put the opt-in form somewhere around the second
“page” of text. By this point, you’ll have grabbed your
visitors’ attention and shown them that your site offers
some valuable information.

They’ll be more inclined to give you their email address
once you’ve established your credibility.

**If your homepage DOESN’T have a long salesletter, you’ll
want to place your opt-in form prominently within the
“first fold.” (This is the portion of your web site that
is visible to a visitor without scrolling.)

People’s eyes are generally drawn to the top left hand
part of a page first, so the top or left is a good place
to put your opt-in form.

**Place the opt-in box in the same place on every single
page of your site. The more chances you give your
visitors to opt in, the higher your conversion rate is
going to be.

Of course, you don’t want to overdo it… one opt-in
offer per page is plenty!

**You can create an opt-in offer that is specifically
targeted to a particular page on your site.

For example, if your web site is a catalog site selling
home aquarium products, and you have a special page
dedicated to different kinds of fish food, you can include
an opt-in offer on that page for a free report on “The Top
5 Mistakes People Make When They Feed Their Fish.”

And on your page dedicated to exotic breeds of fish, you
could offer a free eBook on “Tips and Tricks for Caring
For Exotic Fish”.

That way, you could establish yourself as a fish expert
with your potential customers at the same time as you
capture their information for your marketing purposes.

——————————————————–

Final thoughts

——————————————————–

An opt-in email list that you build with great opt-in offers
will generate profits for you starting immediately — and
continuing well into the future!

If you follow these suggestions, there’s no reason you
shouldn’t be able to get at least 10% of your site visitors
converted to subscribers!

If you are getting less than 5% of your traffic opting in to
your offer, you know you need to tweak your strategy.

I’ll say it again: Building a successful opt-in email list
is one of the most important things you can do for your online
business.

That’s why we’ve spent years learning and testing how to
create the kinds of opt-in offers that will have a DRAMATIC
impact on your conversion rates — and your bottom line.

To get insider-level access to advanced email tips and tricks,
head to:

http://www.MarketingTips.com/emailsecrets

=============================================

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Derek Gehl specializes in teaching real people how to start profitable Internet businesses that make $100,000 to $2.5 Million (or more) per year. To get instant access to all his most profitable marketing campaigns, strategies, tools, and resources that he’s used to grow $25 into over $60 Million in online sales, visit: http://www.marketingtips.com/tipsltr.html

==============================================

Categories: Articles
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Do you believe that you have the power to choose success?
If you don’t then success may not be a prominent feature in
your future.

Success is about choosing what you want and then taking
the necessary steps to achieve that goal - and not stopping
until you get there!

You see, before you even beginning to tackle the other
hurdles that lay in your way when building your online
business, you first need to convince yourself that you can
succeed.

If you truly can’t do this and you’re not absolutely and
totally confident that you can achieve your goals, then you
won’t. It’s as simple as that.

If you are not choosing success then it is likely that
something is blocking your ability to change and follow a
new path.

To achieve success you need to break though these mental
barriers to remove whatever is holding you back.

Has something happened in the past to affect your self
esteem? Do you immediately have negative thoughts as soon
as money and success come to mind?

To remove the block you must have focus!

To have focus you must first have an all consuming dream
of where you want to be. Only when you have defined that
dream can you start to focus on it. Focus so intently that
everything you do is done with your dream in mind.

Only when you are able to do this can you move toward your
dreams!

You also need to choose to live your success. You need to
live your life as if you were successful, as if you had
already achieved the goal that you are focusing on.

When you are at work, visualize what your workplace will
be like when you have reached your goal, and place yourself
there. Sit at your desk as if you were running the
multimillion dollar business that you are focusing on.

When you get into your car, visualize what your dream car
will be like and see yourself sitting in it. Visualize
yourself driving away from your dream house.

When you are in your home - look around it and see your
new surroundings. Get inside the feeling - really be there.

The more you do this, the more your subconscious will
think that you are successful and move you towards these
things. Live your success expecting to realize it. Living
it now is a practice run for when it comes to you. After
all, you want to be prepared, don’t you?

Then you need to choose to believe in your success.

What your conscious mind believes, your subconscious
strives to achieve. Look around at your friends and
acquaintances and ask yourself how many of them have
unshakable belief in where they are going. Are they
successful?

Possibly not - they may be in a good job and have a nice
life but they do not have the success factor. Perhaps you
do know of someone with unshakable belief. They may not be
successful now but they will be moving in the right
direction. Watch that space….

Belief is the catalyst which takes the dream and turns the
focus into a plan to get there. Never underestimate the
power of belief.

Last but not least, you need to choose to be emotional
about your success. Belief plus emotion are unstoppable.

If you have utter belief then you will develop emotion. If
you want something badly enough it is emotive. Maybe it is
to get out of debt. If you have suffered the hardships of
this situation you will feel everything to do with debt and
money is charged with emotion.

This is the reason behind so many ‘rags to riches’
stories. Sometimes only the most devastating of emotional
circumstances are the catalyst for change and a move toward
success instead of away from it.

You can choose success. Or you can choose to stay safe and
do what you do now. Guess what - you will still be doing
the same in ten years time.
The question is - do you want to?

Have a great week

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

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The 60 Second Weekly Tip…

As an online business owner you need to keep up with all
the new and innovative ways to meet the needs of your
customers. Basically, you need to continue to adapt to the
changing trends on the Internet to enable you to provide
the best and most relevant information.

The new hot trend at moment is video. Whether it is for
the delivery of a sales message, a testimonials or a full-
blown tutorial - video works. Why?

Video is without question the fastest, easiest and most
effective method that people can learn or obtain
information about a chosen topic. It is far easier to
learn about anything if you watch and listen to someone
showing you how to do this task.

Smart marketers are the first to identify this new trend
and they immediately start to employ the use of video on
their websites for maximum benefit. And you need to be
doing the same. If you haven’t yet started to implement
measures so that you can add video to your site, then you
need to start doing this today!

If you’re not quite sure on how to do this, here are some
tips on the best methods of using video to build
credibility, increase traffic and improve sales:

- Create a quick tutorial to promote affiliate products by
showing the major benefits of the product or service and
how it has best helped you.

- Ask satisfied customers to submit video testimonials for
your product or service.

- Create short ‘how-to’ videos that provide information on
how to do perform specific niche tasks, such as how to set
up a hosting account, how to pot a garden plant, how to
tile a floor etc.

- Produce a video newsletter to add value to the content
you provide and to stand out from the rest of the crowd.

- Produce video articles to better explain any hot tips
you want to share with your readers.

These are just 5 ways that you can use videos and I’m sure
you could use your imagination to find many more ways to
use them to suit your own personal circumstances.

But regardless of which method best suits you, you need to
do something if you are to keep pace with your competitors
and benefit from this new wave of the future!

Read the Online Video Marketing Manual to help you create
and earn from your own videos.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

For your enjoyment (and information), here is this week’s
quick trivia question…

Which TV show is an anagram of “methane totting intern”?

As usual the answer can be found later in the newsletter.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Featured Article
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Web Design Secrets - Clean and Simple is Best!

We live in a world full of excitement and new technology
that at times seems hard to believe. But this technology
is designed in such a way that even the greenest online
business owners can make use of user-friendly web tools
that add functionality only a web programmer could have
dreamed of just a few years ago.

And that is great, right? Well actually it’s not. Quite
the opposite is true.

You see, the availability and ease of use of such web
tools has resulted in hundreds of “junk” websites being
created that are so poorly designed that the web surfer is
completely confused.

Some of these web pages have as many as 7 or 8 separate
things going on at the same time - flashing header
graphics, an opt in form, Google Adsense ads, several
paragraphs of content, affiliate links, audio buttons and
more!

Don’t be tempted to make such glaring mistakes. It is
unlikely that most web visitors will be able to
successfully navigate such a site. There are just too many
decisions to make. And the content is completely lost among
all the technology and advertising.

So, what is the answer?

Most successful webmasters today will tell you that the
answer is clean, simple, easy to understand website. It
needs to be designed with the best interests of the end-
user in mind . Not your own. You need to make it an
enjoyable experience.

Successful websites focus on 3 basic aspects: simplicity,
clarity and speed. In other words, you need a site that is
visually appealing, but at the same time downloads quickly
and is easy to navigate.

To design a site that has visual appeal, you can make use
of simple graphics, color and graphical text. At all costs,
stay away from flashing animations and busy backgrounds.

In fact, if you want the majority of visitors to be able
to read your text easily a white background with black text
is best.

It isn’t necessary to be an accomplished graphic artist to
design a visually pleasing content site. Grab a photo or
two from a free stock photo site such as www.sxc.hu, add
some colored text and a tagline using a graphics program
like Windows Paint or Paint Shop Pro.

That’s all that is needed for a header. And that’s
assuming you want a header in the first place as studies
have shown that some niche markets achieve better results
without any headers or images at all.

Navigation should be simple text links or buttons, either
across the top, right under the header, or down the left or
right side of the screen. Make sure the text labels clearly
indicate what the user will find when he or she clicks on
them.

An optin form and one or two simple ads can also be placed
in the left or right columns, with your content in the
center of your site so that it draws the reader’s focus.

Clean and simple web design extends to the layout of your
content too. Text is most readable when it is in “chunks.”
This means short sentences and paragraphs of no more than 2
to 4 sentences each.

Make liberal use of colored subheadings and bullets.
Sprinkle a graphic or two per page to break up the text and
add visual interest.

Also use margins (padding) around your text, so that it
doesn’t bump up against the edges of your navigation or ad
panels. Lots of white space is crucial.

In summary, many beginning webmasters (and even some more
experienced ones) think that squeezing as much as they can
into every page is the right approach. It’s not.

What will keep people on your site and keep them coming
back is a clean, simple, easy to navigate design that
doesn’t give them a headache each time they visit your page.

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This Week’s Trivia Answer
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Here’s the answer to the trivia question I asked earlier…

Which TV show is an anagram of “methane totting intern”?

Answer: Entertainment Tonight

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Off-Line Marketing Strategies
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Writing Attention Grabbing, Profit Pulling Ad Copy!

Telling a story or sharing information is fine. But the
bottom line is that you want your reader to take the
desired action, which could include making a purchase,
joining a list or visiting a specific site.

And sometimes the smallest variations in your ad copy can
have a huge impact on your results. The trick is knowing
what works and what doesn’t. This can only be determined
from testing and tweaking, but here are tips to get you
started to writing profit producing ad copy…

1. How the product solve your readers problems.

Personally test the product you are promoting and share
with your readers how it compared to the competition, how
durable it was, how safe it is or how it made a difference
to your life.

In other words, discuss the quality and unique benefits
and how it will solve their problems. And present the
information in a professional way that includes such things
as specific results, before and after photos, graphic
images, a documented case study etc.

2. Build credibility

Tell them why they should buy from you. Don’t hide behind
a postal box or a Yahoo email address. Add your background
information, a photograph of yourself, your previous
results, testimonials from customers, educational courses
and seminars you attend, etc.

In short, let people know who you are and let them know
they are dealing with a real person.

3. Donate a percentage of your sales to your favorite
charity.

Make mention of in your ad copy that you will donate a
percentage of all profits to a charity. This has proven to
be a win-win strategy because you show that you care for
things outside your niche and you’re not just interested in
making a quick buck. This helps to improve your credibility.
But do not say so if you won’t do it…

4. Include ‘better than average’ guarantee.

Include a good, solid guarantee in your offer. And make
sure it’s one that sets you apart from your competitors.
For example, you could make it a lifetime offer and/or give
them back MORE than they paid for your product.

Don’t be too concerned with offering too good of a
guarantee as my own tests have shown that if you are
promoting a high quality product the return rate will be
extremely low (less than 2%), so it will have little impact
on your overall results.

5. Include a PS (Post Script)

Apart from the headline, the PS is the second most read
part of any copy. This may be your last chance to convince
them to take action, so give them a bonus if they reply by
a certain deadline, or repeat the best benefit why the
reader should take action - today!

6. Include your contact details

Make sure to include your complete contact information on
your site in a place where it is easy to find. Your
potential customers need to know that they can contact you
if they have any problems. Think about it. Would you buy
from someone if you didn’t know who they were and had no
way of contacting them?

And don’t forget to test any email addresses and telephone
numbers before going to press.

So next time you need to ace your ad copy, go back over
what you wrote and tweak it for better results. Better yet,
have a contest and invite your readers to do it for you by
asking what they did or didn’t like about your offer. How’s
that for a win-win solution!

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Have You Got Any Comments?
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

This is your chance to speak out.

Comment on articles I’ve run in the newsletter, give me
your thoughts on changes or your ad testing results or
questions relating to your business, etc.

In other words, just talk to me about what you think I
need to do to improve the newsletter.

Be sure to include your website address too, because if
I use your comments in a future issue of the newsletter,
I’ll thank you by posting your address so that you can get
additional free traffic to your site!

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That’s a Wrap for this Week
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

That wraps up another week’s newsletter and I hope you
enjoyed this issue.

Don’t forget to send me any comments or questions you
may have to the Feedback Loop. I would be only too happy to
help you in any way that I can.

From time to time I’ll send you important updates
that will provide information that has the potential to
greatly improve your online business… and of course
your profits!

However, you can rest assured that I will only ever
recommend products that are considered to be of HIGH value
and will provide indisputably benefits to help you grow
your business… that’s my guarantee!

Your friend,

Gilles Rais

Categories: Newsletter Issues
No Comments »

Tell-a-friend forms are a perfect example of viral
marketing. Viral marketing and viral advertising refer to
marketing techniques that seek to exploit pre-existing
social networks to produce exponential increases in brand
awareness through viral processes similar to the spread of
an epidemic. It is word-of-mouth delivered and enhanced
online; it harnesses the network effect of the Internet and
can be very useful in reaching a large number of people
rapidly.

Viral marketing is sometimes used to describe some sorts of
Internet-based stealth marketing campaigns, including the
use of blogs, seemingly amateur web sites, and other forms
of astroturfing to create word of mouth for a new product
or service. Often, the ultimate goal of viral marketing
campaigns is to generate media coverage via “offbeat”
stories worth many times more than the campaigning
company’s advertising budget.

Word of mouth is still an advertiser’s best friend - both
offline and online. With it, your visitors can recommend
your web site directly to their colleagues’ inboxes.

Email addresses are often long and complicated and most
people are not expert typists. Researches show that
without validation, as many as 40% of email addresses are
entered incorrectly or are invalid. So any professional web
application that asks a user for an email address will try
to check that the email address is ‘well formed.’

A good referral software does this of course - but also
goes one important step further and verifies that the web
server referenced in the email address both exists and is
up and running. This works for your visitors as an
intelligent assistant to help them address their referral
correctly and, if you are using the opt-in email check box,
it makes it more likely that you will receive good quality
email addresses for your database.

Now you can benefit from the power of viral marketing using
the Turbo Tell A Friend.

Without a doubt, old-fashioned ‘word of mouth’ is one of
the most powerful ways to publicize anything. So if a
visitor to your web site likes what he/she sees, why not
offer him/her a simple and attractive way to spread the
word? After all, put yourself in his/her position.

Say you want to tell a friend about a web page you have
seen. You don’t need to remember the URL, the web page
address. You don’t need to get on the phone and start
spelling out the URL. And you won’t even have to try to
type out the URL in an email. A sample code of a ‘tell a
friend service’ solves this problem by making it a simple
matter for a visitor to pass on their recommendation, and
consequently, they are more likely to do it. Not only that,
but this web tool makes sure they make the recommendation
error-free. The software knows the full and precise URL of
your web page and places it as a clickable link into the
recommendation email.

This can make a lot of hits to your website especially if
you have been patient about making your daily enhancements
on your website. This is another easy way to gain more
people’s trust, as these are often satisfied customers who
want to share their experiences. Adding this feature will
likely result in more traffic, resulting in additional
sales.

As a webmaster resource, a good referral software is a
perfect way to exploit a new kind of marketing, which adds
smooth, professional functionality to your web design and
at the same time is an invaluable web tool for driving
traffic to your web site through the power of viral
marketing.

Build now your list on auto-pilot and go viral with the
Turbo Tell A Friend!

Gilles Rais

Categories: Articles
No Comments »

When people like what you do, they are happy to say good
things about you. I’m sure you know that getting written or
recorded testimonials for your products or services is an
excellent way to build your credibility.

Sending and recording testimonials is one of the greatest
ways of establishing trust with your potential customers.
It is a way of showing them what your satisfied customers
say about your products and services.

But did you know that testimonials can help increase your
website?

Giving testimonials is not only a good way of brand
building yourself, but also in getting traffic to your
site. They are actually a unique and practical way of
gaining visitors to your site. In most cases, you can find
them in sales letters, sales text, email, etc. They can be
placed on the product sales page that has lots of visitors.

When a potential consumer is considering whether to buy or
not, testimonials may reassure him.

Basically, testimonials are a valuable addition to your
marketing materials and your website. When done right,
testimonials can be a strong ally in establishing the
credibility of your website. Not only that, they often make
the sale all by themselves. Therefore, you will have a
greater chance of boosting your profits.

So, how will you make your testimonial a hit to your
potential consumers?

No webmaster, no matter how successful, can resist an
honest, glowing tribute to their creation. The trick is to
write short, flattering testimonials for the content,
design, functions, products, services, etc. of many web
sites and send it to them as sincere “feedback.”
Testimonials also assure the consumers whether to buy a
product or not, so make sure that they absolutely get
published.

Here are some of the basic things to consider in making a
credible testimonial.

1. Photos

Photos add credibility. These can help prove that these are
real people. So, ask those people for photos. If they don’t
have a scanned picture, they can send a softcopy by email.

2. E-signatures

Generally, almost all online testimonials you see have text
signatures. For security reasons, it is not recommended
to scan and upload personal handwritten signatures.
Use “handwritten” fonts from www.1001fonts.com and
save it as a graphic on your pages.

3. Profiles

The basic part of a testimonial is the profile.
Ask your potential costumers to include a brief profile of
themselves with their testimonial. Let them answer some
basic questions like age, occupation, hobbies, favorite
motto, etc. This will make your testimonials more
entertaining to read. And, more chance of knowing you.

4. Recordings
Testimonials are not only expressed through writings, but also
verbally.
One thing you can do is record people’s testimonials with a mini
tape recorder over the phone, on your answering machine, or
voice mail. With each one, include a phone number they can call
to hear the actual testimonial.

You can record online audio and online videos as well. Just
convert the recording into an online audio file and upload
it to your website. You can do some research on how to
convert these files.

5. E-mail messages

When you get e-mail testimonials, publish the entire e-mail
message instead of just the contents about the product or
service. It will be more believable because it will include the
date, time, subject, who it’s from, and who it’s to.

6. Hand written letters

Like email signatures you can also mail hand written letters.
Scan and upload the entire written testimonial or letter to
your web site. This will give your testimonials a feel of realism.

7. Contact information

When you get testimonials from people, it is better to ask
them if they are willing to include their contact information
under the testimonial. In this way, you will allow your potential
customers to ask your current customers questions about
your product or service before they buy.

Also, if they’re speaking on behalf of a business, include
the business name. Mention if they have any professional
certifications or titles that would enhance their
authority.

Those are some of the relevant things to consider in making
a testimonial. Keep in mind that testimonials will help
pave your way to a successful business. It really is worth
the effort. So start collecting your own now!

Gilles Rais

Categories: Articles
No Comments »

Procrastination is basically a way of life for many people
as it allows you to take a more ‘comfortable’ option for
delaying tough decisions.

When people procrastinate they are more often than not
putting off doing something that could be a huge benefit to
them, but for some reason they use more energy and effort
in delaying this task than actually doing it.

If left unchecked procrastination can become habitual and
it this is one of the main reasons why many people do not
achieve their goals or dreams.

So why do people procrastinate?

While there are a number of reasons why this happens, one
of the most common reasons is due to a subconscious fear of
failure, or a fear of change that is stronger than the goal
of success.

Maybe you’ve had a past bad experience and therefore you
are hesitant to venture out of the box for fear of being
‘bitten’ again. Maybe it’s a confidence thing we’re you
just don’t have the self-confidence to breakout of your
comfort zone.

Or maybe it’s because you believe that because you weren’t
born into successful or wealthy beginnings, you will never
amount to anything remotely worthwhile. So rather than
going through the pain of failure, you just don’t bother to
try in the first place.

This is the road of self-destruction. Listen. You’re going
to make a few mistakes along the way - this is all part of
‘playing the game’. But you are also going to hit a few
home runs and it’s during these times you realize how easy
it really is.

Those who are totally committed to attaining their goals
learn to overcome their initial fears and take the
necessary action to do the things they have put off for so
long.

You’ll be surprised that when you break the cycle and take
action a great weight will be lifted from your shoulders
and you will wonder why in the world you didn’t do this
earlier.

But of course overcoming your fear is not always easy.

In fact it can be quite scary as there may be some real
issues that you need to resolve, so you don’t want to make
the wrong decision. So first and foremost you need to carry
out due diligence to satisfy any concerns you may have.

After you’ve done your research and you are happy with
what you have found, it’s time to make you’re your decision
as to whether it is worth your while to take action or not.

But how will you know whether you should take action?

To help you get started here are some steps you should
follow to help you make your decision a little easier (but
please… don’t delay doing it ):

Make a list of all the things you need to do that you have
been putting off, you probably have this “to do” list
already drafted in your mind or written down in a safe
place.

Then, go to a quiet place where you will not be
interrupted for about 20 minutes. Go through each item on
the list and write down your excuses for not having
completed the task already.

Maybe there is a money problem, or you do not think you
have enough education or the proper qualifications.
Whatever it is just write it down and do not worry about
how it will be resolved, you can worry about this later.

Next, go through the list again and write down the
benefits you currently enjoy because you are
procrastinating on these tasks. Yes, you must be receiving
a benefit for not doing the task otherwise you would have
done it by now.

For example - if you wrote down that you do not have
enough education, then the benefit you are receiving right
now by not getting an education is that you have more money
than you would if you were spending it on school fees or
text books.

Another benefit could be that you have more time to do
what you want, instead of spending it locked away for hours
on end studying for boring exams.

When you’ve done this repeat the same process, but this
time write down the benefits you would receive if you
didn’t procrastinate and took action on a particular topic.

Finally, look at all the reasons you have listed as
excuses for procrastinating and the benefits you are
receiving and compare these to the benefits if you did take
action. Do your excuses still make sense?

This is the time to sit down again and make a plan - a
plan that you will stick to and not put off for any longer.
Quickly write down a list of things you will do to make
your dreams a reality and make a “to do” list that you will
actually do!

Then, go through the list again and put them in the order
you will do them (example: Do you need to get a loan before
you can go to college?) Also, write down the date that you
will complete each item.

Now that you have your work planned that you can achieve
in a manageable way, go out and make your dreams come true!

Have a great week

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Don’t procrastinate! GoTryThis ultimate affiliate link cloaking
software is almost sold out!

Grab one of the few remaining copies right now at GoTryThis.

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The 60 Second Weekly Tip…

If you use PPC as part of your overall marketing, here are
a few things that are *vitally* important when it comes to
creating a profitable campaign:

1 - Exploit all the low priced traffic you can.

Use as many synonyms, misspellings and localized keywords
as you can to increase traffic. If you use uncommon
keywords you can often bid very low prices (5 & 10 cents)
and drive more cheap traffic to your site.

Using localized keywords that identifies city and/or
state, eg fish tanks in Olando, will often allow you to
receive very targeted traffic for much lower costs.

Also, don’t rely purely on broad match keywords. You can
triple your keyword count by using “phrase” and [exact]
match. And the bonus is that you can pay less for these
keywords

Using these techniques you can often turn a small list of
50-60 keywords and turn it into 1,000 or more!

2 - Always split-test and tweak your ads!

In most cases, by testing and tweaking your ads you can
increase your click-through rates from an average of 1% up
to 10% just by making a few changes. This alone gives you
up to 10 times more traffic.

All you need do is create 2 separate ads with a single
change and test which one performs the best. Then create
and test another ad against the best performing one to see
if you can improve your results.

For example, my testing has found that removing the “www”
and capitalizing the first letters in your domain name can
have a remarkable impact on your results, eg DomainName.com

If it wasn’t for testing and tweaking I would have never
realized this and I would have continued to leave profits
on the table. Adtrackz is a must-have tool for your spilt tests.

3 - Disable the Content Network option!

When you first create your campaign, disable the content
network to improve your conversions and reduce your costs.

Then when you’ve tested and tweaked you ad to obtain
acceptable results, enable the content network for your
keywords, but bid a much lower price than you would for
keywords on the search network.

As a rule of thumb use 30% of the amount you bid for
keywords on the search network. This way you can increase
your traffic and build your profits, but at a much lower
cost.

4 - Never send visitors directly to an affiliate site!

Above all, you must ALWAYS capture your visitors contact
details BEFORE sending them to the affiliate website.

Do this by registering your own domain name and then place
a capture page on this site to entice your visitors to join
your list by offering them information relating to your
topic. When they sign up then you can forward them to the
affiliate site.

Not only can you contact them at a later date to help
convince them to purchase your chosen affiliate product,
you can also offer them other related products at a later
stage. If you do this, you can double or triple your
profits virtually overnight.

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For your enjoyment (and information), here is this week’s
quick trivia question…

Which fashion designer is credited with introducing both
the mini-skirt and hot pants in the 1960’s?

As usual the answer can be found later in the newsletter.

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Featured Article
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Ready, Fire, Aim!

Success in any endeavor can be linked back to one simple
truth… Learning does not always require thinking!

This is a bold statement, but thinking often hinders
learning. Hinders learning? Wow. That flies in the face of
most of what we know doesn’t it?

As children we were often reproached when we made
mistakes: “What were you thinking! Don’t you ever think
about what you’re doing?”

Then there’s the most successful personal development book
of all time telling us to do what. That’s right, “Think and
Grow Rich”.

True it is a fantastic book and a must read for success
minded people. But many of us get so tangled in thoughts
that we can’t get them out of our “heads” and this
restricts us form taking the required action for success.

Socrates, one of the greatest “thinkers” of all time said,
“Action equals knowledge.”

Action, not thinking, is how we achieve results.

Take playing the piano for instance. We could think about
playing the piano, but if you did you would never improve
until you start just letting it happen and start pecking
away at the keys.

If you asked an accomplished pianist to start think about
the keys they are playing in the middle of a rapturous
concert, the music would probably fall apart into a series
of painfully disconnected notes.

The same is true with typing.

Ask a person who flawlessly types over 70 words a minute
to think about the keystrokes and you could probably watch
the mistakes pile up. You see it’s all done automatically.
Once you start thinking about it you interrupt the mental
process.

Thinking hinders execution - and thinking can hinder
success. The fact of the matter is we can intellectualize
all we want, but until we take action we will never
accomplish anything!

There is a mantra in the martial arts that says “Ready,
Fire, Aim”. Simply put, this means take action and correct
that action as you go.

It is quite probable that many businesses never get out of
the starting gate because of over-thinking and over
analyzing. Most people want all their ducks to be lined up
in a row before they begin. This will never happen. The
time will never be perfect.

The key is to dig in and get started - and then “keep on
keeping on.”

In the martial arts, students practice moves over and over
and over again. They train their bodies to transcend
thought and take action in the moment.

Imagine a trained martial artist getting attacked on the
street thinking, “Hmm, okay I’m being attacked. Should I
turn my body this way or should it be the other way? Okay,
now I have to trap the assailments arms, tighten my fists,
pull back, and strike.”

Of course this is not what happens in the martial arts.
The key teaching in the martial arts is to ACT NOW - in
spite of the mind’s tenancy to analyze the situation.

The worst kind of thinking is fear of failure. The “What
if” disease. “What if I fail? What if people laugh at me?
What if I lose all my money? What if, what if, what if”?

Fear is paralyzing. It stops the movement necessary for
success. Fear weakens our resolve, cripples our creativity
and ultimately stagnates our successes. Conversely,
movement overcomes fear. When struck by fear, move. You
need to DO something!

So, don’t wait to explore your entrepreneurial spirit;
take action now - and watch your dreams and goals cascade
toward you.

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This Week’s Trivia Answer
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Here’s the answer to the trivia question I asked earlier…

Which fashion designer is credited with introducing both
the mini-skirt and hot pants in the 1960’s?

Answer: Mary Quant

God bless her soul

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Off-Line Marketing Strategies
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How to Use Traditional Methods to Grow Your Business?

If you take the time to talk to almost any prominent
advertising agency or Fortune 500 company you will almost
certainly hear the latest buzz words like “fragmented
advertising” and “consumer-centric campaigns”.

So this leads to the questions - What is fragmentation
exactly?

In basic terms this is the increase in the number of
available methods for getting your message to your audience.

One of the main difficulties faced by any business owner
is that advertising has changed and evolved over the last
few years. It is now all encompassing and includes a wide
range of mediums such as visual, audio and electronic media.

In fact, if you do a Google search for advertising, you
will be amazed at all the options that are available.

For example, if you just focus on the advertising options
for your website you’ll find popups, popovers, audio
messages, flash video, RSS, and even animated “sales
people” that can be programmed to appear right on your site
and interact with your customers.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg!

So is traditional advertising that includes the likes of
newspapers and magazines, television, billboards and radio
dead?

Not by a long shot. According to one top advertising
expert, traditional advertising methods are still highly
sort after because they are still very successful. The
trick is to figure out who your target market is, what they
want, and how they traditional find the information they
are searching for.

If you know customers, you can focus your advertising
dollars on the mediums they use to find their answers.

If your customers are senior citizens who traditional do
not use the Internet, then focus the majority of your
advertising on more established mediums such as newspapers,
magazines, television, and radio that they are reading,
watching or listening to.

If your target market focuses on working parents, you need
to do research to find out how, when and where they get
their information. Things you need to determine include:

Do they use the Internet?
Do they watch television?
What magazines are they reading?
What radio stations do they listen to?
When and Why?

Here are some simple steps for creating an effective
advertising campaign:

1. Know your audience.

What do they want? Where do they shop? What do they read?
How old are they? Where do they hang out? Do they need your
product or services? Can they afford your product or
services?

2. Know your competition.

Be prepared to do a little detective work. What are your
three main competitors doing to advertise? Where are they
advertising? How often? What types of advertising methods
are they using? How long have they been running? Are you
reaching the same audience? Is your message different?

Look at what they’re doing right, and figure out creative
ways that you can make your advertising just a little bit
better, or differentiate yourself from the crowd.

3. Monitor the ‘big dogs’ of your market.

If there’s something you’ve got to keep an eye on in the
Internet, it’s the big guys. Take particular notice of what
they are doing in your field and see if you can adapt some
of their methods to your target audience and your budget.

If they’re spending big dollars, you can expect that it’s
working!

4. Know your message.

What exactly are you trying to say? What do your customers
want to hear? Why should they buy from you, and not someone
else? Make every word count.

The Internet has made unbelievable amounts of information
accessible so the chances are your customers are much more
tech-savvy than they were a few years ago. But the Internet
also has contributed to “information overload” so you need
to make it easier for them to obtain what it is they are
seeking.

Another side effect of the Internet is that your customers
have probably become used to getting “instant
gratification” when they are looking for information,
products or services. They want it, and they want it now.

So you also need to give your customers what they want,
when they want it.

If you want to have an effective advertising campaign,
don’t try to be everything to everyone. Think of your
advertising as a conversation between you and your one
“ideal” customer.

Remember, if you’re giving your customers what they want,
then you have to develop your campaign so they don’t
perceive your ads as a nuisance, they see them as a service.

Mark my words. traditional advertising is not dead. If you
pay attention to who your customers are, and what they want
you can use it to your maximum advantage.

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Have You Got Any Comments?
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

This is your chance to speak out.

Comment on articles I’ve run in the newsletter, give me
your thoughts on changes or your ad testing results or
questions relating to your business, etc.

In other words, just talk to me about what you think I
need to do to improve the newsletter.

Be sure to include your website address too, because if
I use your comments in a future issue of the newsletter,
I’ll thank you by posting your address so that you can get
additional free traffic to your site!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
That’s a Wrap for this Week
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

That wraps up another week’s newsletter and I hope you
enjoyed this issue.

Don’t forget to send me any comments or questions you
may have to the Feedback Loop. I would be only too happy to
help you in any way that I can.

From time to time I’ll send you important updates
that will provide information that has the potential to
greatly improve your online business… and of course
your profits!

However, you can rest assured that I will only ever
recommend products that are considered to be of HIGH value
and will provide indisputably benefits to help you grow
your business… that’s my guarantee!

Your friend,

Gilles Rais

Categories: Newsletter Issues
No Comments »

In today’s online marketing strategy, almost all who
promote business have a killer email signature on the
bottom. So what’s in an email signature? And how does it
drive traffic to the website you are promoting?

An email signature is like a mini ad that is affixed to the
bottom of an email. Its message could be as simple as your
name and email or as elaborate as flashing animated
graphics. And with a just few mouse clicks, you can add
your signature to the bottom of your emails automatically.

Generally, an email signature is a free marketing tool,
with the power to reach a large number of people.

To the individual, the email signature is a chance to be
creative or make a political or social statement. To a
business person, an email signature is a great opportunity
to advertise your business to everyone who views your
email. While advertising is often banned in mailing lists
and newsgroups, email signatures are not. Just post a
message followed by your worded signature.

Using email signatures costs nothing and takes virtually no
time to set up. Even so, a lot of popular web marketers
believe that it is one of the great ways to promote your
site.

Like to know more? I hope so!

Email signatures work every time you reply to or forward
any email message; the more times the email is sent or
forwarded, the more times the signature is shown. Say, the
second person forwards that email to his/her own circle of
friends, and then each person forwards the email again and
again. Your email signature linked to your website will be
shown to people you don’t even know, absolutely free! So it
only takes a few steps to spread and showcase your website.

Another good thing is that it is not SPAM. This is just a
circle of friends forwarding emails to each other. But be
sure you use the right email signature so that you’ll gain
potential customers from the list of friends.

Business contacts should always have easy access to your
website. Not everyone can easily memorize such a website.
It’s a big mistake if you use a free sub domain in your
signature as there is a great chance that people will not
remember the whole website address. And that is useless. So
it is important that you have a direct referral page URL in
your email. Another good tip is to always set up a default
email signature to be included in your emails once you use
them.

So how can you make your email signature recognizable?

Your goal here is to encourage people to click to the link
in your email signature. Remember that an email signature
is an advertisement, and therefore, the basic guidelines
for writing advertisements apply. To get the most mileage
out of your email signature, here are some vital things to
keep in mind.

1. Keep it simple, yet direct to the point. Most email
systems and mailing lists will automatically cut off any
signature exceeding 4-6 lines, so keep it below this
length. It’s also a good idea to set your line lengths to
about 60 characters — the optimal length for readability.

2. It should attract the people. Your email signature must
be creatively done. Make use of “borders” of text or
special characters.

3. Include the name of your business and a short, concise
marketing statement.

4. Sell benefits, not features. Consumers will be more
interested in the benefits they will receive from the
products rather than its features.

5. Offer something free. An example of this is giving free
information, a free-to-enter contest, free samples, etc.
Your free report can contain other advertising material,
but make sure that it does include free information so your
customers won’t feel like they have been exploited.

6. Avoid using HTML coding in the signature. Many persons
do not or cannot view HTML email. If you send plain text
email, you are sure that everyone will be able to view it
properly. Take into consideration different ways wherein
your email signature will be recognized by the potential
customers.

That’s all it takes to make your email signature stand out.
So, better try it! - don’t miss out on using this free,
easy advertising method to get more traffic to your website!

Gilles Rais

Categories: Articles
No Comments »

Email marketing has experienced a lot of growing pains over
the past few years. In the beginning, it was seen as the
perfect marketing tool — cheap, fast, and measurable.
Click-through rates were the only numbers that mattered, and
people were still excited to receive — and open — just about
every email in their inbox.

Then, it seemed like the explosion of spam, and the sheer
volume of email people receive ruined the effectiveness of
email as a marketing tool. Even perfectly legitimate emails
were being trapped by spam filters or deleted, unopened, by
wary recipients who were concerned about viruses.

Yet there are still companies that, despite these challenges,
manage to generate millions of dollars of profit every year
using email marketing software.

In fact, here at IMC, direct email marketing generated
$3.5 million in revenue last year alone! And the opportunities
keep growing.

According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, email
remains the number one online activity of Americans — ahead of
Web surfing and using search engines — and now that more and
more people are able to receive email on their cell phones and
PDAs, the opportunities for creative email marketing are only
continuing to expand.

At the recent MarketingSherpa Email Marketing Summit in
Chicago, Barry Stamos of Responsys.com even stated that people
now spend more time reading email than watching TV!

All of these developments, combined with the fact that email
can be tested and measured for specific results — unlike other
promotional methods — means email marketing remains one of the
most valuable tools in any marketer’s arsenal.

Despite the obstacles presented by spam and volume, email
marketing can still deliver an exceptional return on investment
(ROI) because of the massive amount of time people spend
online, and the proportion of that time they spend checking
their email.

In fact, eMarketer reports that email generates a much higher
return on spending than methods such as direct mail and
newspaper and radio advertising.

So if anyone tries to tell you that email marketing is dead,
don’t believe them!

The truth is that spam and volume didn’t kill email marketing
the way many so-called experts predicted. But they did manage
to create a few hoops you now have to jump through to get your
emails delivered and opened.

These days, you need to educate yourself on the best ways to
collect, manage, and store email addresses, and only send out
relevant emails that people will open without hesitation. Do
these things right and you’ll be able to profit from all of
the new opportunities available to email marketers… and
continue to enjoy the impressive ROI email marketing provides.

——————————————————–

Carefully manage your opt-in list to fully capitalize
on the income-boosting potential of email marketing

——————————————————–

Okay, so you’ve written an opt-in offer for your web site
and started to collect the names and email addresses of
visitors who want to hear from you on a regular basis. These
are people who have decided they like what they see on your
web site enough to give you their email addresses. They are
basically inviting you to sell to them!

Now you need to decide how you will store, manage, and use this
information. Many people simply store their opt-in lists in a
spreadsheet or text file, but there is also great email
marketing software out there to help you manage this
information more easily.

The method you choose to look after this information will
depend on your own unique situation, but if you are going to
get serious about email marketing, then you’ll need to get
serious about managing your opt-in list — not just building
it, but also cleaning and maintaining it to ensure that you
always generate the best results and never look like a spammer.

Here are a few things you need to know to effectively manage
your opt-ins… and guarantee the highest possible response
to any mailout you send:

a. Manage your “subscribe” and “unsubscribe” requests

One of the most important things you can do to minimize your
headaches — and maximize your profits — is to stay on top of
your “subscribe” and “unsubscribe” requests. If you don’t
have
an automated system for managing subscriptions to your opt-in
list, this is especially important.

Always treat requests to unsubscribe from your list seriously.
People who aren’t promptly removed from your list after making
an unsubscribe request can accuse you of spamming them, and you
can quickly find yourself in trouble with your ISP.

Of course, it’s just as important that people who ask to be
added to your list are subscribed right away, since you never
know which one of those subscription requests is going to end
up being your best customer.

If your subscribe and unsubscribe requests aren’t handled
automatically, you should take care of them right before you
send out a mailing. This ensures that your list is as current
as possible, and it also means that you don’t have to deal
with this chore on a daily basis.

b. Remove duplicate addresses

Before you send any mailings, you’ll want to make sure that
you don’t have any duplicate email addresses in your list.
There will always be some people — more than you might think
– who will opt in to your list, leave your site, and come
back a couple of days later to sign up again, forgetting that
they’ve already joined.

Now, people are happy to get one copy of your email, but start
sending them multiple copies and just watch how fast they
unsubscribe from your list — or worse yet, report you as a
spammer!

This kind of spam complaint is relatively easy to clear up, but
it is still a hassle, and instead of having a potential
customer who was so excited about what you had to offer that
they signed up twice, you now have nothing.

c. Clean your list

Keeping your list clean means more than just removing
unsubscribes and duplicate addresses. Cleaning your list
means sifting through the messages that “bounce back” to you
after a mailing, and deciding which ones should be removed
from your list completely, and which ones you might want to
try mailing again.

“Bounced” messages are those messages that, for whatever
reason, were not successfully delivered to the intended
recipient. Most bounced messages can be categorized as either
“soft” bounces or “hard” bounces.

- Soft bounces: These are messages that could not be
delivered at the time they were sent, but may be
deliverable at some time in the future. These types
of bounces are usually caused by the recipient’s inbox
being full.

- Hard bounces: These are messages that can never be
delivered. Hard bounces are usually caused by the
user typing in an incorrect email address when opting
in to your list, or the subscriber no longer using the
email address they originally opted in with.

Hard bounces should be deleted immediately. If you leave these
addresses in your list, you’ll just have to wade through
unnecessary bounce messages every time you send a mailing, and
that’s a waste of your valuable time.

Plus, if you continue to send email to an address that is
invalid, you can get into real trouble. This is one of the
methods used to identify spammers, and if you are found to be
repeatedly sending messages to a “dead” email address, you
could have a problem with the ISP receiving the messages.

Emails that are returned as soft bounces, on the other hand,
should be dealt with in an entirely different way. Since soft
bounces are the result of a temporary problem — a full
mailbox, for instance — you’ll want to re-send your promotions
to all the soft bounce addresses a couple of days after you
sent out the initial mailing.

You’ll be surprised how many messages get delivered on the
second try. And since you’ve already written the email,
there’s almost no extra work on your part.

d. Divide your list to conquer more subscribers

Given the mountains of email people receive these days, most
only want to see what’s relevant. And, unfair as it may seem,
anything irrelevant could be considered spam… and reported
as such.

If the people on your list know that the message you’re
sending is something they want, they’ll open it!

Using email to target different segments of your audience is
one of the single most effective ways to market products or
services on the Internet. In fact, email marketers practicing
segmentation are currently seeing much better results than
those sending undifferentiated mailings.

A 2006 report by MarketingSherpa found that email marketers
using segmentation saw click-through rates that are 72% higher
than email marketers who are not segmenting their opt-in lists.

The simplest way you can market to different segments of your
opt-in list is by targeting them based on whether they are
(a) existing customers, or (b) visitors to your site who have
simply opted in to receive your free newsletter, eBook, etc.

The message you send to your existing customers, for instance,
might focus on selling them an upgrade to a product they
already own. Because you’ve already earned their trust through
a previous sale, this promotion should do quite well.

Of course, you’ll need to approach your subscribers — those
people who haven’t made a purchase from you yet — with a
slightly different angle. You might try offering them a 25%
discount off their first purchase, for example.

There’s no end of ways to segment your audience depending on
the information you’ve collected — and email automation makes
it not only possible, but simple!

By targeting different segments of your audience with a
promotion specific to their current situation, you can just
about guarantee that the results of your email marketing efforts
will be dramatically improved.

e. Snag your recipients’ attention by using their names

If there’s a “secret” to getting email recipients’ attention,
it’s this: Personalize the subject line. There is no other
single technique that will boost the response rate of your
emails as much as personalization.

Have you ever noticed that a great salesperson will find out
your name and then use it every so often while they talk to
you? It’s a way of establishing trust and building rapport.
Using someone’s name makes them feel as though they have a
relationship with you. And the truth of the matter is that
nothing gets a person’s attention faster than hearing or seeing
their own name!

By personalizing your subject lines, you also make your email
appear more authentic and safer to open, because recipients
will be more likely to view your email as coming from a trusted
source.

Unfortunately, typing each individual recipient’s name into the
subject line of every email you send is just not practical!
Once you grow your list to more than 50 or 100 people, it
becomes unmanageable! It’s way too time consuming…

The good news is that there is great email marketing software
available these days that will help you completely personalize
your campaigns automatica