I am always amazed at how many people do not understand how to do email marketing correctly. I think it has to do with the fact that they do not like to receive email trying to sell them something. There in lies the problem. Let's look at how to do email marketing correctly and why it is critical to your online success.
If you hate to receive email trying to sell you something you are not alone. None of us like that unless it is something we have requested or are looking for. That is concept number one. You want your email to be accepted and opened. There is a saying that if you do not get read you are dead. A deleted email that did not get read is sure death for your business if it happens too many times.
The power of internet marketing starts with having your own list. Building an opt in list of people who agree to receive mail from you is the key. What you send them can range from eCourses, newsletters, invitations to go to your blog, product specials and so on. Think about this though. In the old days a business would build a customer base and ignore them. It was too much trouble to call or snail mail them. So they spent all of their time trying to acquire new customers and only taking care of past ones when they were called by them. Email marketing is free to do and you can email thousands of people in a few seconds with one click of your mouse. This allows you to mass mail to your existing list or to rent a list to mail to. Depending on your budget you can reach thousands or even millions of new prospects for pennies on the dollar. Something you could have never done before.
Spamming is against the law so we want to quickly touch on it. Mailing to a targeted list that you build on your own is the best way to avoid spam complaints. Using an autoresponder that requires your reader to opt in gets you off the hook and a record is kept of their approvals to receive mail from you.
Building a relationship with your reader takes time and this is another advantage of email marketing. You can drip free information to your list which allows you to develop credibility over a period of time. Remember, when we talked earlier about people who do not understand how to do email marketing so they just try to sell all of the time. Big mistake. You may make a few sales, but your unsubscribe rate will always be high because you have not built a relationship first. Publishing a email newsletter, or eNewsletter, is a great way to build trust and build relationships. People get used to seeing it. They appreciate your efforts in publishing it online. Now when you have something of value to sell they will have a more open mind and your conversion rate will be high. My advice is spend a little time putting together a good newsletter. It does not have to be long, but it should be meaty. This just means it contains quality information. Now you can even put html in your newsletters and your autoresponder. You do not have to overdo this, but something simple like your logo can help brand you and create a relationship of trust.
This article was meant to drive home the point of using email marketing to make money only after you have built a relationship first. If you learn how to do that you will be successful over time.
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Pasi K. owns
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