18 Feb 08 Don’t Miss The Affiliate Marketing Bus

While not right for everyone, there’s one method of marketing on the internet that is overlooked by many…affiliate marketing.

One of the more prolific ( and most successful) affiliate marketing systems available today is the one from Amazon.com. In your travels around the web, I’m sure you’ve seen something like the bar to the right more than a few times.

This has turned into a very successful marketing tool for Amazon, because the legions of people spending time, money and effort promoting and marketing their products only get paid when a sale is made.

“Sure, Dave,” I hear you saying, “I already know all of this. What does that have to do with me?”

If you’re not using affiliate marketing with your online business, you should. And if you don’t think your online business is compatible with affiliate marketing, you haven’t spent enough time “outside the box” while thinking it over.

If you sell a product (as Amazon does), then affiliate marketing seems obvious, but if you sell a service you can still take advantage of the power of affiliate marketing, because what you’re really selling is your expertise.

So why not write an ebook in your area of expertise?

This isn’t the frightening prospect you think it is. True, you may want to hire a professional writer to put your knowledge into the proper form, but it will take less time than you think, and accomplish several things:

1. It will increase your standing as an “authority” in your field.
2. It will lead people to your website that might not otherwise find it.
3. It will lead to an additional revenue stream!

When it comes time to start up your affiliate program, there are services available that take care of the process for you, with Clickbank being one of the largest. After that, you can also let your present customers know through your regular email newsletter that an affiliate program is now available, giving them the opportunity to make money while promoting your product.

This can lead to an increase in sales, because the best salesperson you can have is a satisfied customer.

Here’s my question for you…have you used affiliate marketing, and what were your results?

Popularity: 10%

Tags: affiliate marketing, email newsletter, Sales

12 Feb 08 Email Marketing Is Like Sex

Okay, I’ll give you a few moments to get those images out of your head, and we’ll continue.

…

Better? Okay. Now, let’s answer the question on your lips; (No, not “Have you flipped your gourd again, Dave?”) how is email marketing like sex?

Sometimes, whether it works or not, and whether or not it’s good for everyone, is all about the timing.

If you ask ten email marketing professionals when the best day of the week is to send your newsletter, you’re likely to get more than ten different answers. Of course, that’s understandable…every newsletter is unique. Your newsletter is addressing a different problem to a different readership in a different way. However, there are some basics you can use:

• Don’t send your newsletter on Monday, especially if it’s aimed at an “at work” readership. Their inbox will be clogged from the weekend, giving your message a greater chance to be overlooked or simply deleted.
• Likewise, don’t send your newsletter on Friday. If your readership leaves early for the weekend, or spends a greater amount of time finishing up the week’s work to leave, then your message may not be looked at until Monday…if at all.
• Don’t send your newsletter just before or after a work holiday. A fantastic newsletter with excellent content and a strong marketing message won’t do you much good if you send it the day before Christmas.

People also like to debate the best time of day to send their newsletter…early morning? Midday? Late in the evening?

In my opinion, this question is somewhat overrated.

One of the advantages of email marketing is that it is a worldwide marketing method. If you send your newsletter at a time to ensure that it reaches inboxes at the start of the day, the question is “Who’s day?” You likely have subscribers in quite a few time zones.

To me, it’s much more important to be consistent. If you’re going to send a newsletter weekly, choose the day of the week you want your newsletter to be published and stick to it. This alone can make you stand out from the crowd.

No one can decide the perfect time to send your newsletter, because no one knows your subscribers like you do.

Popularity: 13%

Tags: email newsletter, when should my newsletter be delivered

29 Jan 08 A Blueprint For Newsletter Construction

Constructing an effective email newsletter may seem to be an art, but there’s a good bit of science involved as well.

Each article in your newsletter should answer the “Six W’s” known to all journalism students…Who, What, Where, When, Why and hoW…about their subject. However, there is one other question you need to answer is “Why should I care?”

That is the big one.

The first six won’t matter if you don’t show your subscribers why the subject is important to them. Don’t assume they will figure it out…make it clear. You may be offering an anecdote or tip that could show them how to better accomplish their goals; if so, great! Be sure that you tell them how. Be clear with your message…”Listen to this…it’ll help you because __________!”

As I’ve said before, promoting your business is perfectly fine in your newsletter, as long as you make sure that’s not all that you do. Give your readers useful content with “nothing in it for you”; this will build trust with your readers, increase your credibility and increase the likelihood that a subscriber will become a customer.

This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t promote your product or service…far from it! After all, that’s one of the purposes of your newsletter. Your promotion can be anything from a full-blown ad to a simple “Let us help” style link to your offer on your website. Just remember, television, radio, magazines and newspapers have content for a reason…their audience comes for the content, which gives those mediums an opportunity to present advertising messages. Make sure that you give subscribers content to come for, or it won’t matter how good your marketing message is, because few (if any) will ever see it.

Also, even though you may not think of a newsletter as interactive, it is (and should be). Give your subscribers the means to request topics and subjects they would like to read about in future newsletters. This will prompt “buy-in” from your readers, as long as you follow through on suggestions. When you answer questions or provide asked-for content, give them credit for the question or idea when possible. This will allow that reader to feel a sense of ownership in your newsletter (and probably result in that issue being forwarded to their friends and coworkers, bringing your message to new eyes), and prompt other readers to do the same thing.

And don’t forget to give subscribers a clear, simple method of unsubscribing. You have to do this to stay compliant with the laws governing email marketing, but it’s also the equivalent of a money-back guarantee…if someone knows they can stop receiving your newsletter any time they choose, it makes it easier for them to make the commitment to become a subscriber.

If your newsletter is useful to them, however, the chance of getting an “unsubscribe” message is small.

A newsletter should include the following:

• A welcome and/or thanks for subscribing.
• A useful article.
• Your advertising message.
• Contact information for readers to ask questions or suggest topics they would like to learn more about in a future newsletter, which can lead to an increased readership for your message and loyal subscribers.
• A simple unsubscribe process.

Is this all it takes? Not necessarily; each newsletter should be an original outgrowth of your business website, so each one should be different, but this list of elements is a good starting point when creating your newsletter’s layout.

Popularity: 13%

Tags: email newsletter, newsletter layout, what should a newsletter contain

28 Jan 08 The Most Important Subscriber To Your Newsletter

When you have an opt-in newsletter for your website or blog, your focus is getting your subscriber number as high as you can. Obviously, the more people that receive your newsletter, the more effective it will be in helping your image and your business. However, there is one person that should be subscribing to your newsletter…the most important one.

You.

Why is it important to subscribe to your newsletter? Because that’s the only way you can get the “end-user” experience. This can be very valuable if you take the time to read your newsletter with a critical eye, and ask yourself some objective questions:

• How does the title of your newsletter look in the subject line of your email client? Can it be improved to better reflect your goals?
• Does the content display the way it should? Most stand-alone email clients will do a good job of displaying your newsletter the way you intend, but online-based email systems (such as Hotmail, Yahoo and GMail) can sometimes mangle your newsletter’s formatting.
• Is your newsletter easy to read?
• Does the marketing message overpower the content, therefore running the risk of turning some subscribers off?
• Is there an easy method of opting out included in your newsletter?

There are other reasons for subscribing to your own newsletter, but to me the most important is this…you need to experience your newsletter from the perspective of a subscriber to truly know what your subscribers are receiving…and how to make it as effective as possible.

Popularity: 8%

Tags: email newsletter, newsletter

25 Jan 08 Content Should Be King

When putting together your newsletter, it’s easy to get so caught up in concentrating on the sales aspect that you forget something very important, especially when it comes to email newsletters.

Content.

If your newsletter offers the subscriber no content, except for new product or service announcements and a run-down of how things are going for you, then your marketing plan will probably get little or no value from it.

I’m not saying a newsletter shouldn’t have those elements included…far from it. But if that’s all you have in your newsletter, you’re limiting its effects, because the vast majority of people that will opt-in for it will be that group that’s already interested in what your company provides.

However, if you provide content…whether it be industry news that has an impact on your customers, ways in which your products have been (or could be) used to solve a customer’s problems, or…best of all…tips, tricks and information that are useful to your potential customers and help them to succeed. Providing this kind of content will accomplish several things:

• Entice people that have no current interest in what you have to offer to subscribe anyway, simply because the information they will get for free has obvious value to them.
• Give you an opportunity to point out ways in which subscribers might improve their business, and allow them to see how your business can help achieve that.
• Help establish you and your company as an “expert”…someone who knows their stuff, if you will. Customers are more likely to believe the marketing message of someone they already trust, especially if they already trust them to be an expert in the field their company specializes in.

All of these can be very effective in turning browsers of your site into customers, but only if the content you provide has value.

Share your wisdom. Give advice and tips on a subject your subscribers will find interesting and important, and don’t skimp on it. This is the “free offer” in stealth mode; subscribers to your newsletter don’t think of it as a “free offer”, but that’s what it is…you’re giving them content for free that you could be trying to sell to them. It’s the difference between someone loaning you money to entice you to babysit their kids, and someone handing you money because “You look hungry.”

In the minds of a customer, the first offer of help seems tainted; the second builds trust and thankfulness. Make sure you’re building trust with your newsletter…with high-quality, informative content.

You’ll see the results.

Popularity: 8%

Tags: content, email newsletter