A study by Sharpe Partners, an interactive marketing agency, revealed that 89% of adult Internet users in America share content with others via e-mail. This is excellent news for those companies who use self-propelling word-of-mouse” e-mail techniques to sell their products.
The study generated some interesting results regarding the type of content that is most often forwarded, as well. The most popular content is humorous material.
The second most popular category is news, followed by healthcare and medical information, religious and spiritual material, games, business and personal finance information and sports/hobbies… in that order. So it is easy to see that humor is the best content for your viral e-mail campaign.
Cartoons, jokes and funny video clips are among the things that can be added to an e-mail to insure that it will go viral. People will want to pass along something that makes them laugh.
They are a lot more likely to hit the forward button and send your email to their friends and relatives if it is an “advertainment” rather than an advertisement.
Not along ago, about 35 million people got an e-mail containing a picture taken in Disneyland. It took a minute to see it but there was Donald Duck lying prone in front of the famous Cinderella Castle. The title of the picture was “Bird Flu has hit Disneyland”. It was a viral e-mail advertising Disneyland and used the edgy strategy of making light of what’s serious… and it works.
I’d guess that most people who own a computer have seen that picture… and thus the advertisement for Disneyland. The bird flu epidemic is newsworthy and has the potential to attract an enormous amount of attention to any brand that might, for whatever reason, associate itself with it.
Remember that people are much more likely to share a joke or a funny picture than anything else so you would be well advised to include humor in your e-mail campaign.
The written word has been around for many centuries. The ancient Egyptians used hieroglyphics on tablets to communicate in writing. Hieroglyphics and other early symbolic writing styles eventually developed into alphabets paper, movable type and printing presses. This made the written word more portable and accessible. Then came computers, word processing, email and the Internet.
One might think that writing has not changed much since the invention of modern writing techniques. The Internet has brought forth new technologies and an abundance of information. Because of those variables, writing for the Internet has become a whole new ball game.
Search Engine Optimization
One thing that turned writing for the Internet on its head was the invention of the search engine. These handy tools index web pages and allows users to search for information online. They display search results in order of relevance which is determined by the search engine’s algorithms.
With the rise of search engines came the opportunity for web pages to get more traffic but only if they could be found easily in search engine results. So webmasters began to add keywords to their writing so that the search engines would recognize them as a good source of information about those words.
As the search engines have become more sophisticated it has become necessary to use keywords in a natural manner. While making keywords invisible by making them the same color as the background once worked, search engines penalize pages that use that technique now. Overusing keywords can also cause a site to be ranked lower and it makes the writing flow poorly.
Writing for Internet Users
The enormous amount of information now available on the Internet is another factor that has necessitated a change in writing techniques. Web users are faced with numerous sources of information about virtually any topic. That means that web copy must be attention-getting to keep them from moving on quickly. Once the visitor has decided that the web page is worth looking at, the information they want must be there in order to prevent them from leaving to find it elsewhere.
Getting and keeping a user’s attention during their initial visit is important. It is also vital to keep them coming back. Whether you are selling products or bringing in advertising revenue, giving users an incentive to return is vital. This can be accomplished by doing things such as adding new content frequently, offering special reports and encouraging them to sign up for your mailing list.
The Internet has a wealth of information to offer its users. Getting visitors and keeping them coming back to your site requires you to get them there, get their attention and keep them interested. Writing successfully for the Internet takes these things into consideration while giving visitors what they came for.
If you keep up on business and marketing information, you know that having a “mailing list” is a great way to add to your income. Your mailing list consists of people who have asked to be contacted by you. Most likely, they visited your site and signed up for your newsletter, an eCourse, or some other offer you provided.
If you are offering something for free as in incentive for people to join your mailing list, you will have a list that contains some “freebie seekers.” A freebie seeker simply wants something for free. They may not even have an interest in your product. They simply sign up for your list in order to get something for free.
To start avoiding them in the first place, change the type of incentives you use. For instance, if you have a website that is focused on gardening and are holding a contest where the prize is a free flat of flowers you will attract a lot of freebie seekers. They simply want a chance at winning some free flowers.
However, if you offer a free informational product, such as a small report on how to create a garden in contained pots, you will attract a much more targeted audience. You know that the people that sign up for this promotion want specific information. You can create a more in-depth informational product and sell it or promote others’ products to this same audience.
Contacting your list on a regular basis can help you turn freebie seekers into customers. The more they hear from you, the more they will come to see you as an “expert.” When they are in need of the type of product or service you offer you will be the first person that comes to their mind. They are not going to seek out a similar product offered by your competitor. They will come straight to you.
If you already have a nice-sized mailing list and want to get rid of the freebie seekers who are already on it, start weaning yourself from this list. Start by sending this list a new offer, such as an informational product. The people who take the time to open your email and sign up for your new list are the people who are truly interested in what you have to offer.
You may want to email your old list several times with this type of offer. After a few months, the people that are actually interested should all have signed up for your new list and you can delete your old list.
When used properly, your mailing list can serve as great way to stay in contact with your customers and promote new items. Remember, having a small list of people who are actually interested in your products and services will net you far greater profits than having a huge list full of people who never intend to buy anything from you. As for the freebie seekers, you can try avoiding them in the first place, or you can try to turn them into loyal customers.
When I got online looking for ways to supplement my income back in 1999 I didn’t have my own product(s) to sell. Even if I would have had my own products, I didn’t have the knowledge required to know how to sell them online.
So the FIRST thing I did after reading Robert Allen’s Multiple Streams of Income book was get on his conference calls to learn about OTHER ways to make money online since I didn’t have my own products. That’s when I first discovered affiliate programs.
I learned that there are a bunch of companies on the Internet that will allow you to fill out a short application and INSTANTLY become their affiliate. These companies provide the products for you to sell, give you websites and marketing tools to sell them with, follow-up with any prospects you send their way, close the sale, ship the products, handle customer service and complaints, and do virtually all the stuff you would have to do if you were selling your own products.
Then whenever someone you send to that company buys something, you get paid a commission for it. It’s a win-win situation. The company is looking for more people to promote
their products and they only pay a commission when an actual sale is generated.
As an affiliate, you don’t have all the burden of providing the product or service, following-up,
closing the sale, handling customer satisfaction issues, dealing with “problem people”, etc. You just get people to the company’s website and the company takes care of all that for you.
So being an affiliate is really a mindset thing. Would you rather run a company that is responsible for providing the product or service, starting relationships with prospects,
following up relentlessly to close the sale, shipping the product, handling returns, dealing with all the customer service issues including people who are only want to give you a hard time… Hey, a lot of people love doing those things and that’s great. We need those kind of people and
I’m deeply thankful for them myself.
Or would you rather simply focus on bringing prospects to the table and letting the company do all the “dirty” work for you? This is the choice of an affiliate.
The amazing thing about affiliate marketing is that you can often earn a lions share of the profit. Yes, many companies are willing to pay you more than they earn themselves for
making a sale. For example, there is one affiliate program I do very well with called GDI International.
That’s why affiliate marketing (when done intelligently) is the BEST way to make money online. Sure, most programs on the Internet don’t pay anywhere what GDI International pays, but there are are some that do. In fact, that’s what the whole Plug-In Profit Site system is about – connecting you to a handful of proven affiliate programs that pay out MIGHTY commissions.
And that’s a BIG secret right there. There are THOUSANDS of affiliate programs on the Internet. But the fact is you could put the exact same energy into one program as you do
another and earn 100 times more. You MUST choose the RIGHT programs if you’re going to succeed in affiliate marketing.
I’ve seen so many people fail in this business simply because they joined the WRONG program(s). They put their heart and soul into promoting it, but it never produced big
profits for them. These people leave the Internet thinking that affiliate marketing is a scam, but the truth is often that they just joined the wrong programs.
If they would have put the same energy into another affiliate program (one that actually converts prospects into customers and pays YOU the Lion’s Share of the profits), they would have succeeded.
So think about that as you continue your journey of learning about affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing can be the easiest and the best way to make money online because you can get started INSTANTLY (even if you have no products of your own or prior experience) and the company handles all the “dirty” work for you. But affiliate marketing can really only be the easiest and best way to make money online IF you choose the RIGHT programs to promote.
I’ve been doing this since 1999 and have tested out hundreds of the most popular affiliate programs in that time. Whenever you do something long enough, the cream always rises to the top. Out of the hundreds of programs I’ve tried, there are only 5 that consistently produce the most profits for the least amount of effort for me. Those are the 5 affiliate programs that are part of the PIPS system.
If you want to avoid joining the WRONG programs and get on the fast-track to affiliate marketing success, I encourage you to get started with the Plug-In Profit Site right away at: http://xr.com/pips
This is a very touching true-to-life story of Jun Kintanar, a former pinoy jeepney driver, who became a multi-millionaire in his networking business in the Philippines.
Home Based Business -- The Best Online Business of the 21st Century By James Parmis
There are many ways to start a home based business, but in reality many who have tried to generate income online either end up with no money left to spend for resources and advertising or are so fed up with not being able to earn anything online that they leave their websites and go back to their usual 9 to 5 jobs.
The truth is that running a home based business requires time, effort, understanding, and of course the proper way to sell one’s products and services in order to be able to earn income online.
Just because you get to work at home, spend time with your family, and enjoy the things you never used to enjoy with your old job doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t work hard with your new online business.
So if you want to become like those self-made internet millionaires that talk about success and how it feels to be financially stable, here are a few tips and strategies on how to run a business within the comforts of your home:
• First, you need to do research and know what it is that you want to sell or promote online.
If you’re into bags, for example, you can begin by researching on how you will be able to sell these products, what type of market or audience you want to target, and the resources that you will need to be able to acquire the products. It is also important that you sell a product or service that you are very much interested in or else you won’t be able to enjoy and at the same time run the business effectively.
• Second, choose a website that is not only actively running but also attractive and interesting to your customers.
You can do this by searching for web hosting companies that offer the best deals (trial periods, 100% money back guarantee, 24/7 customer service, etc.) and web designers who can create a good lay-out and background for you.
• Third, you have to establish good communication with your customers to be able to get them to come back to you.
Use an email address, for example, that is easy to use, that is actively running, and that won’t be marked as spam if you try to send email updates to your customers through a mailing list. Remember that the key to a successful transaction is communication, which will eventually lead to long-term buyer-seller relationships.
• Fourth, increase your website’s popularity by joining social networking sites, advertising your products and services using Google AdSense or other platforms, and of course using all kinds of applications like Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace.
These social networking sites are filled with potential customers who may be looking for what you are currently selling.
• Lastly, learn how to effectively optimize your website using internet tools like SEO or search engine optimization.
This will not only increase the ranking of your website in search engines like Google or Yahoo but will also increase web traffic, bringing in more customers and more sales as well.
As a business owner, you know how important your customers are. Without them, you wouldn’t have an income. Once someone becomes your customer, they are more likely to purchase from you again in the future.
It is a smart business move to take the time to build long lasting relationships between yourself and your customer. Creating lifetime customers will net you more profit, than constantly seeking out new one-time customers.
Creating quality products is definitely the first step in developing your customer relationship. If your products are anything less than great, your customers will not see a reason to order from you again. However, if you give them something beyond their expectations, they will want to try out more of what you offer.
The next step in relationship building is providing good customer service. When a customer contacts you, especially if it is with a problem, it is important to respond back in a timely manner. If your customer contacts you, they are not thinking about all the other people who are requesting your attention. They are only thinking about the reason that they contacted you, and they want you to give them your full attention.
Staying in regular contact with your customer will ensure that they remember you and the other products and services you offer. People get busy and have a lot of things on their plate. They may have intended to order an additional item from you, but it just slipped their mind. You may want to send out a monthly newsletter to keep them updated on new items or any specials you are offering.
Speaking of specials, you may also want to consider having a few “customer only” sales each year or offering some other customer only incentive to motivate a repeat purchase. You may also want to send them an occasional freebie that coordinates with an item they already purchased, or an item that you will be launching in the future.
For example, if you sell day planners and you are coming out with a time management audio, send the customers who have bought a planner a free small report that covers some basic information about time management and let them know you are coming out with an audio that goes into more detail. Including a special “pre-launch price” on the audio will encourage further sales.
Creating a lifetime customer doesn’t happen overnight. It is a process that can take time. If you consistently show your appreciation and respect to your customers, you will be well on your way to creating lifetime relationships with them.
If you do business online, you know how important it is to have a website. Your website is your “store front”; it welcomes new customers from around the world. The graphics you choose play a major role in your website’s success or failure.
First and foremost, professional-looking graphics lead to a professional-looking website. If your graphics are blurry, out of focus, or simply look haphazardly put together, the whole look of your website will take a turn for the worse. When a new customer visits your site, they will assume you are an amateur or that you don’t care enough to do a quality job, and they won’t stick around for long.
To be as effective as possible, the graphics you choose should help to create brand recognition and convey the message you are trying to send to the world. Take Nike, for example. Their famous “swoosh symbol” is featured on their website, as well as pictures of shoes, athletes, and other sports-minded images.
When you visit the Nike site, you know you are in the right place, as the images coincide with Nike’s message of “just do it.” On the other hand, if you went to the Nike site and saw photos of ice cream, cakes, and cookies, you would wonder if you were in the right place. You might not even take the time to read the words on the website, as you might just “click away” and try finding the correct website.
The same theory applies to your website; if the graphics do not convey the message you are trying to send, your visitors will end up confused and click away. The quality of your graphics also affects success of your affiliate programs as well as the number of incoming links you may receive.
By offering an affiliate program, you are asking other people to partner with you and sell your products or services. If the looks of the graphics you choose for your affiliate program do not convey an image that people want to endorse, you will have a hard time recruiting affiliates. If they are going to take the time and effort to promote your product, they deserve to have quality tools to do so. One of the tools they need is quality graphics.
Likewise, when you ask someone to partner with you on a link exchange, they are going to expect a quality graphic. They will be displaying this graphic, with a link to your page, on their website. If you send them an unprofessional-looking graphic, it is going to bring the look of their site down. They will more than likely decline your offer.
As you can see, graphics play a big part in your business. If you do not have experience with graphic software or don’t feel that you are the best one suited for creating your graphics, you should hire a graphic designer. It may cost more up front, but think about how much money you would lose by having a poor image as your graphic. It is well worth the investment to hire a professional.
The essence of an X-Factor technique is combining multimedia, such as audio or video, with a social media service. The idea is that multimedia has more impact than text and through the use of social media you can syndicate the content further, thus bringing more traffic back to your blog.
The single most powerful X-Factor tool I’ve seen in recent months is YouTube. We all know how good Google is at delivering traffic and ever since Google purchased YouTube, they have placed YouTube videos at the top of their search result pages. As a result of this, simply learning how to effectively use YouTube to market your videos can bring in significant traffic back to your blog.
I’ve had first hand experience seeing how many of my student’s blogs benefit tremendously from YouTube, so much in fact that they haven’t needed to focus on much other content. I’m talking about hundreds of daily unique visitors coming from YouTube and Google within a matter of weeks, just by using YouTube with a few smart optimization techniques.
The problem, which this video helps you solve, is how exactly to get the most from YouTube.
In this X-Factor video Gideon reveals 7 tips you can use to optimize your YouTube videos to bring in maximum traffic for your blog. This really is killer stuff and I promise you, if you do each technique, you will get results.
Inside the program is a full range of X-Factor techniques for each different area of building a successful blog, plus the entire series of training videos on how to set up and optimize your blog, create powerful content, market your blog and of course, make money from the audience you build.
You can take the course over six months paying a low monthly fee, or pay a one time fee for access to all 60+ videos at once (plus the other resources we provide in the program).
You may think that having a successful business is based around how much marketing or advertising someone does, how well they handle customer service, or some other reason. You may be surprised to learn that having a profitable business can simply come down to determining what your target market wants and what their needs are.
Your target market is the group of people that you are marketing your products and services to. Not everyone will want to buy your product or service. For instance, your whole town does not drive one type of car.
There are some people who prefer sporty sedans, and there are some who want minivans, and there are others who want SUVs. And then there are the people who want trucks, or motorcycles, or what have you. The point is, different segments of the population want and need different things.
To be successful, you will need to determine what your target market wants and needs, and then you will want to provide it for them. If you happen to be in your target market, you are off to a good start. You can start thinking about the things you want.
Now, if you are not directly a part of your target market, you can start off by putting yourself in their shoes. What do you think they would want? Picture yourself living a day in their life and imagine what types of products or services could make their lives easier.
You can also study the competition. Look at other products that are aimed at your target market and compare your products or services. What features and benefits can you offer that will give you an edge over the competition?
Try to find some websites that are dedicated to your target market and spy on them through the websites’ forums. You can learn a lot about your target market and what they are looking for by using this tactic.
Don’t forget to simply ask your target market what they want. You can create a form on your website that asks some basic questions about their needs and what they would like to see in the type of product or service you offer. Start asking your visitors or the people on your mailing list to fill out the questionnaire.
This is a great way to find out exactly what your target market wants and needs. Once you have that data, you can create the product or service to fill their needs. Since you already have their names and email addresses (from when they filled out the form in the first place), you can email them and let them know when the new product is ready. This could be a great way to jump start your sales.
If given the choice, would you rather walk into an insurance agent’s office where you were greeted with a friendly hello and the staff called you by name when you paid your bill, or would you rather walk into an office where the staff acted as if accepting your payment was a waste of their time?
Most people want to do business with people they like. It is hard to like someone who makes you feel uncomfortable. However, if they feel that they are treated with kindness and feel that you are their friend or trusted advisor, they will feel that they have a relationship with you.
When you take the time to establish a relationship with a customer, you will notice that your customers become loyal to you. They will see you as the expert in your field. They wouldn’t think about doing business with anyone else.
Establishing relationships with people will take time. They don’t develop overnight. The following are some tips on creating relationships with your customers.
Offer your sincere help:
Your customers are coming to you for a reason; they need your product or service. Instead of acting like you are doing them a favor by providing that product or service, offer them your most sincere “thank you”, and make sure you offer them your sincere help.
Instead of thinking about the things you will get for helping them, think about the things that they can accomplish with your help. If someone is just looking for advice, give them the answers they need.
Let them see the real you:
Yes, it is important to present a professional image if you want to be taken seriously, but you don’t want to seem so professional that you intimidate your customers. Let them know that you are human and that you occasionally have a bad day or have a day where you wake up and the kids are sick and, from that point on, everything is off kilter. If people can see that you are “one of them”, your chances of a sale go up.
Communication:
A key component of any relationship is communication. Keep your customers updated on a regular basis through your blog or website. If someone has recently purchased something from you and has a question or needs assistance, answer their email (or outsource this to a virtual assistant).
By implementing these practices into your business, you will see that your customers will feel appreciated and valued. They will also be more likely to send you referrals as they know how great you treat your customers.
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