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5.5 Tips That Boost Your Subscriber Profits July 7, 2008

Posted by Virtual Assistant in Digital Coaching, Interent Marketing, Internet Marketing, Marketing, Productivity Coaching, Web 2.0, Web Marketing, eNewsletters, eZine, entrepreneur, small business, solo professional, solopreneur.
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List Hero has been great and the guys over there were great about getting more information to give you guys. Here’s a must read article from the creator - whether you are a virtual assistant, coach or any business owner looking to grow your list…

5.5 Tips That Boost Your Subscriber Profits
By Brian Terry
Have you ever wondered how you can make the subscribers on your list
more responsive? Here’s what I mean… I’m sure you’ve done this
before, you send your subscribers one email after another full of
valuable, useful content, then you make a recommendation to a product
and virtually no one orders through your link. Sound familiar?
It took me many years of trial and error to create this list of 5 tips
that help you boost your subscriber profits.
Pay close attention to what I’m about to reveal because it can and will
increase your listbuilding profits.
Tip 1: Use double optin subscriptions
Getting people to confirm their subscription ensures you have people on
your list who definitely want to hear more from you. This is one of the
most important steps to take because it helps you to build a quality
subscriber list. Remember listbuilding is about quality not quantity.
Tip 2: Use personalization
It’s been proven time and time again that personalization significantly
increases the effectiveness of your communication with your
subscribers. By including your subscribers name in the emails you send
them gives the message a sense of it’s being sent just for them and
no-one else.
Tip 3: Train your subscribers
For every 2 emails you send out that are content orientated send out 1
email that’s an honest recommendation you make for a product you think
will help them. Train your list to expect to receive offers from you
that will be of use to them.
Tip 4: Regularly survey your subscribers
Find out what your lists wants, then give it to them. Simple. You could
ask them questions like what’s their biggest problem online as well as
ask other demographic style questions. This helps you to build a
profile of your subscriber and gives you great understanding as to how
you can help them better and what offers they’re more likely to respond
to.
Tip 5: Give your list special offers
It doesn’t matter if you own a product or are an affiliate, make your
list an offer only they’ll be getting. It could be for the next 48
hours you’re offering 20% discount on your product. Or you offer an
extra bonus but only if they order something through your affiliate
link.
Tip 5.5: Keep in regular contact with your subscribers
It’s when you email your list 2 times a month that they begin to forget
who you are. Stay in regular contact and people will begin to know,
like and trust you. Above all don’t forget this one golden rule of
listbuilding… the money is in your “relationship” with your list not
it’s size.
——————————–
About the Author
Brian Terry is the Co-founder of ListHero where he provides you with
the fastest, easiest way to build your list for free.
http://www.listhero.com/44407
——————————–

List Building… July 1, 2008

Posted by Virtual Assistant in Administrative Assistant, Interent Marketing, Marketing, Productivity Coaching, Virtual Services, Web Marketing, eNewsletters, eZine, entrepreneur, small business, solo professional, solopreneur.
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I’m evaluating a viral list building software tool from the folks at ListHero.com.

It’s the fastest, simplest and easiest way to build your list that I’ve seen
in a long while.

Here’s all you do…

  • Create a short ad that promotes
    your newsletter or ezine
  • Add some code to the pages of your website
  • … sit back and watch your list
    grow.

ListHero helps you generate 1,000’s of highly targeted
subscribers for free and pays you generous affiliate commissions as
your list grows.

I’ll let you know what I think of it once I’ve had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile go grab access to this free viral listbuilding software while it’s still free.

Bulk Mail Lists… June 24, 2008

Posted by Virtual Assistant in Interent Marketing, Marketing, Web Marketing, eNewsletters, eZine, entrepreneur, small business, solo professional, solopreneur.
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Refrain from Buying Bulk Mails

I am sure that you have thought about buying a mailing list at some point in your business. Or maybe you have already done so. If you haven’t, you will eventually come across advertisements that read: “2,000,000 email addresses for $29.99″.

Click in the other direction quickly!

Sure, having 2,000,000 subscribers is the best thing that could ever happen to any company especially an internet marketer. But this often is too good to be true.

What many beginning marketers do not really know is that these bulk companies harvest the email addresses using robots and other wares on the Internet. That is how the 2,000,000 email addresses come about, whatever the amount is.

Now, the really awful part is that if you purchase the so-called 2,000,000 names even at a low price, not only is it a waste of money, you are risking being accused of spamming. It is no longer a surprise how you often receive spam mails on Viagra, OEM Software and things you do not even need in your inbox.

How useful is a lead that has never heard of you and is feeling a bit angry since you are spamming them!

On top of that, not all 2,000,000 email addresses are really in use because a portion of them can either be owned by the same owners or are just completely obsolete.

So next time you are thinking of purchasing these lists, tell yourself that it is a waste of money.

Build Your Potential Client List with Paid eZine Advertising April 5, 2008

Posted by Virtual Assistant in Digital Coaching, Internet Marketing, Marketing, Productivity Coaching, Web Marketing, eNewsletters, eZine, small business, web design.
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When it comes to unleashing the full potential of paid eZine advertising some business owner’s miss the mark.  Investing even a small sum of money can be risky to a number of business owner’s who are on tight budgets. But in spite of the risk factors, eZine advertising can still be rewarding, if done right. Here are some tips to help you with the process. 

-The advertisement must be compelling and attention grabbing.  Short, sweet and to the point.

-Keep in mind that there is no telling if the eZine’s subscribers constantly practice a buying habit until you put some money to find out.

Instead of competing with the several other ads as well as the eZine author’s articles it would be wiser to use eZine advertising to build your mailing list.

-Some eZines display more than one sponsored advertisement, you can grab the subscriber’s attention by giving a free or risk-free product or offer through your ad.

-When the subscriber clicks on your ad, he or she can opt into your mailing list in exchange for the free offer, which can be a free report or even a trial service.

While you are not making a hard sell through your advertisement just yet, building your list by getting other eZine’s subscribers subscribed to your eZine allows you to follow up with them in the future, as and when you have new offers.

The eZine Olympics: HTML, Text and PDF Fight it Out! January 31, 2008

Posted by Virtual Assistant in Marketing, Productivity Coaching, Virtual Services, Web Marketing, eNewsletters, eZine, small business.
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I just signed on another newsletter client and I was again reminded of the forever going arguments of which format is better for an eZine. Well with the massive amount of newsletters I publish on a monthly basis I see which format has what benefits and drawbacks.  

Ultimately, you can decide which format is the best choice for you, though each winning format has its pros and cons.

The text eZine is the most commonly published. The advantage of this format is that other than writing, you do not require any special skill to use a Word or Notepad program.

While the HTML eZine format requires a certain degree of HTML skills on your part, you can add more sophisticated features to your eZine issues, making them more appealing to your subscriber thus increasing your readership value, something that text eZines do not have.

You can decorate your eZine format, change your fonts, include pictures, and more. Even more beneficial, you can add them as archives on your website. However, the drawback often faced by HTML eZines is that they often get trapped into spam filters before they reach their subscribers’ inboxes.

Another option is to use a blend of HTML and Text which allows you to have less of a chance to be caught by the Spam filters.

The third and least used among the formats is the PDF eZine. Publishing your eZine in PDF format can consume a lot of time and effort on your part but often make up in quality readership.

Due to the commitment, PDF eZines are usually published on a monthly basis. The great part, though, is that you can put your affiliate links in your PDF eZine issue and allow your subscribers to pass the eZine around.

Given the choices, however, you do not have to necessarily choose strictly one eZine format, as some eZine publishers today do publish in more than one format.

Why Publish an eZine? January 14, 2008

Posted by Virtual Assistant in Marketing, Virtual Services, Web Marketing, eNewsletters, small business.
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Hello! I hope everyone is having a successful 2008! To help with that success it is a great idea to put together an eNewsletter or eZine…

On the Internet, it is very possible to make money without selling any product. One way of doing so is through starting your own eZine, also known as an electronic newsletter.

In a nutshell, you send out your eZine issues on a periodical basis to your subscribers. The good part is that you have a flexible choice in automating the send process or you can manually send them on a periodical basis (this depends on the size of your list).

As an eZine publisher, not only can you easily achieve the benefits a conventional newsletter publisher enjoys without having to chop down several trees in the process, you can easily and conveniently spread your marketing influence and expertise to your base of subscribers from the shoes of an ordinary individual. In other words, you do not have to invest in expensive printing equipment, brick and mortar business, and hiring staff just to run your own newsletter publication, resulting in a lot of time, money and effort saved. Basically, all you need to start your own eZine are an auto responder and broadcast feature to go with, enabling you to reach out to your massive subscribers whom you can regard as your prospects, too.

All in all, if you do not have the commitments of creating your own product for sale, then publishing your own online newsletter can be one of the wisest decisions you will ever make, given the benefits of impressive marketing power and influence it can offer to you.

Once your newsletter creates a buzz and your list is quite large you can think about hiring a team to manage it. I recommend my clients to write the articles and leave the design, send management and spam issues to me. It’s a great task to deligate but by writing the articles your stamp will show through every newsletter!

Get the Word Out! 10 Free or Low Cost Ways to Market your Website! December 7, 2007

Posted by Virtual Assistant in Digital Coaching, Interent Marketing, Marketing, Productivity Coaching, Virtual Admin, Virtual Services, Web 2.0, Web Marketing, eNewsletters, eZine, entrepreneur, small business, social networking, solo professional, solopreneur, virtual assistance, virtual assistant, web design.
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Get the Word Out! 

There are hundreds of ways to market your website and they do not have to break the bank. As a Business Owner I know how hard it is to stay ahead of the Marketing Game! I know what you are saying, “who has the time or money to start another marketing strategies?” Well, guess what it doesn’t have to be time consuming or bank breaking!

I have put together a list of low cost or free web marketing tools you can use right away to increase your web presence, get better search engine rankings and drive quality leads to your website.

1. Your email signature line: If you think about how many people you email-existing customers, vendors & new customers; you will be amazed at the marketing potential. You can add a simple link or if you’re using and HTML email editor, you can add a banner ad (a simple search engine search for “HTML coding” can give you free information on how to create the code).

2. Create your Own Blog: If you are avoiding this marketing strategy than you are loosing potential customers & website traffic. A simple paragraph a week with pertinent industry information and links to your website can turn a visitor into a hot lead. While you can outsource this task you can also easily maintain this task yourself. Here are some free blog hosts:
Blogger.com – Free to set up & customize.
WordPress.org – Free program to download & install on your web server.
Movable Type – Free & paid subscriptions available.
Live Journal – Free to set up & customize with an upgrade available.
My Space – Free to set up & customize (You should set this up in addition to a blog.)

3. Commenting on Other Blogs: A very simple way to market your website is to visit other blogs within your industry and submit comments to their blog entries. To bring traffic to your website you will need to leave intelligent comments that will draw in your potential clients and a link to your website or blog. For example: If the subject is low cost marketing, I would post… “I have put to use an Article Submission plan and it has brought me tons of business. I now offer my clients this service and you can find out more about it at www.mjondemand.com.” Just make sure you respect the blog you are commenting on. You want to give the editor and the audience good information and not annoying advertising copy.

4. Classified Ad Sites: Although some will argue that use of these websites (craigslist.com, backpage.com, etc.) will bring you some spam, it is worth it to increase your web presence for free. The ads on Craigslist.com come up in the top search engines when potential clients search for the keywords in the ad and drive free traffic to your website. Also because of the high traffic to these sites you will receive a great high quality back link to your site.

*Bonus Tip:To limit the spam you receive, do not put your email address; just put your website address. The spammers are less likely to go to your website to find your email address.

5. Article Submission: Another free way to increase your web presence and your search engine rankings is to submit articles to article submission sites or directories. Your articles are put out there for thousands of customers, publishers and editors to view and may be selected for media publishing and that is the most cost-effective marketing there is!

6. Link Submission: With the same premise as article submission this will increase your web presence and search engine ranking. But remember don’t buy in to those link blasts. Search engines only like back links that are created over a period of time.

7. eBooks: If you are a consultant with only services to sell this will allow you to get away from selling your time. Imagine sleeping and making money! If you have a proven method or information that can help your customer why not write it down and sell it. There are tons of free information on how to go about this process or you can enlist a company to help you manage the process.

8. Offer something for Free: Want to increase site traffic or your contact list, offer a free product. You can offer a mini eBook, a coupon or a list of free sites/links that will help your client. If you keep a list or free article or eBook on your site chances are customers will come back to it and will provide more traffic to your site and in turn increase your search engine rankings.

9. Newsletters/Auto Responders: Depending on the level of design and advertising copy you can maintain these services yourself with little to no cost. Constant Contact and iContact have made these tasks easier, although you must watch your spam count with these programs. When I create email newsletters for my clients there are many factors that go into the creation to assure a low spam grade. But the best thing to do is to watch your click-through and open rates closely.

If you do not have a list yet I would start by sending simple emails with tips and tricks of your industry and start building. Add a newsletter sign up page to your website and a link to your email signature. Once you have a large list, you can use a database manager with reporting features to send out your emails to a larger database. Outsourcing this task is a great idea, but make sure you start out small and build your list before you hire a separate company to maintain this task for you. Auto Responders can help you give e-courses, mini eBooks and other free information to your customers without having to send it each time an order is placed.

10. Market to Your Inactive Clients: You worked with John Doe six months ago and you haven’t heard from him since completion of your last project. Give John Doe a reason to use your services again. Offer them a “Gold Client Discount” or a “Customer Appreciation Sale” in an e-mail or even better with a friendly phone call. Set up a special web page for them to visit so your client feels like they are really getting the red carpet treatment.

*Bonus Tip: Do you have a product? Create a separate splash page that is dedicated to that product and market it separately. Each one of your products should have special attention and separate marketing plans. Yahoo!, Google & Microsoft have website building programs that will allow you to build a splash page for free!

All of these tips can be done & maintained by you or your staff. ON Demand Virtual Services has used all these tactics and more and can help you to implement them. Go to www.MJOnDemand.com today to learn more. If you need some guidance but are not ready to hire a virtual assistant yet you can get fabulous advice from the eZine Queen’s product “Online Success Blueprint Workshop.”