Autoresponders - Simple Tweaks That will Improve Your Return Rate

Autoresponders are, without a shadow of a doubt, one of the most powerful and important tools available to anyone marketing on the internet today. They allow you to automatically send out a sequential series of email messages to prospects who have signed up to receive your information and who you therefore know are interested in what you’re offering.

They make it easy to build a relationship and establish interest and trust with your prospective customer or recruit and they minimise the amount time you need to devote to busy work. By the time your prospect has got through your series of messages, if they feel the need to make further contact with you prior to making a decision, you are at least assured that they are sufficiently interested to merit your manual input and the time taken to communicate.

It depends very much on the type of product, service or opportunity that you’re marketing but it is generally accepted that somewhere between 5 and 9 “contacts”, or messages, are required before a customer is comfortable enough to make a decision. Seven is often quoted as the ideal number but it does vary and this should not be taken as gospel.

I am constantly surprised by the number of marketers, some of them very experienced, who load up their autoresponders with 7 messages, capture the email addresses of interested parties, send them their message series and leave it at that. If that’s what you’re doing then there are a couple of very simple tweaks you can make to improve your return on the time and money you spend to collect those valuable email addresses.

The first is simplicity itself and requires very little effort on your part - no need to even change your message series. Let’s assume that your message series consists of the standard 7 and that this suits the type of product your promoting perfectly well (it probably does). You send out these messages spaced one day apart over the course of a week, messages 1 to 5 are probably largely informative and messages 6 and 7 may well contain a “call to action”, possibly with a sense of urgency being introduced - although you may have introduced a call to action earlier in the series depending upon the product type.

Your prospects go through this series of messages and a percentage of them will take your advice and sign up for whatever your promoting. The majority of them won’t - that’s just statistics I’m afraid.

However, you can increase your sign up rate by something as simple as introducing an eighth and ninth message. Send message 8 a week after they receive the last in the main series of messages and send message 9 about 3 weeks after message 8. Just give them a gentle reminder about your offer and see if they’re still interested. Keep the wording generic and don’t repeat a hard sell - your original message series should have done all the selling - this is just a reminder.

This is a very simple technique and if it seems obvious to you - congratulations, you clearly know your stuff. Nevertheless, you’d be amazed at how many marketers omit this easy memory jogger. Speaking from personal experience, I get about 20% of my signups this way, either after message 8 or 9. Some prospects were waiting for pay day, some were going to do it after they came back from holiday, some just plain forgot. Whatever reason they may have had for not signing up at the first or second call to action, this technique boosts my return by 20%.

The second simple tweak takes advantage of the ability of most modern autoresponders to send out a “broadcast” to those prospects on your mailing list. This can be considered as a supplementary message and you can use it to either update your prospects on your original offer or introduce them to a new, but related product or opportunity.

This needs to be used with a little more care. I send out an update at least once every 6 months and preferably once every 3 months (it depends upon the nature of the individual list). I make sure these broadcasts only go to people who have been on the list for at least 3 months. My earlier emails will have already highlighted the fact that they would be provided with important updates in future.

There are plenty reasons for you to communicate. If you are promoting a product you can advise of any feature upgrades or special price promotions. If you are promoting an opportunity then you can update them on any new features which might make them think again. One technique which works very well with opportunity seekers is to update them once about any new benefits they should know of and then, if they still don’t sign up, follow up 3 months later with details of a slightly different opportunity.

Both of these techniques work and will produce a welcome boost to your signup rate. Certainly you can expect to get a few unsubscribes, but if they’re genuinely not interested that’s no great loss. There’s no point in making the effort of building your list and then not communicating with them - both you and your prospects stand to gain from a little extra communication.

Hamish Hayward
Discover the key criteria you MUST evaluate to ensure business success - now available in e-book format.
http://www.perfectsystem.co.uk/

Tips for Getting More Sales From Your Website

(1) Create a Direct Response Website, with the minimum number of pages possible (e.g. an Index Page, a Contact Page, and an Order Page).

(2) Make sure your sales copy is positive and inspiring - people buy things because they want to improve their lives.

(3) Identify a problem and show people how and why your product or service solves the problem.

(4) Keep your paragraphs short - no more than 2 sentences per paragraph.

(5) Use bold headings to break up your sales copy into short chunks of text.

(6) Use a bulleted list to itemize the benefits of your product or service. Start each benefit with an action word: “turn”, “make”, “triple”, “grab”, “create”, “build”, “convert”, “start”, “change”, “drive”, “organize”, “promote”, “develop”, “learn”, “compel”, “fill”, “attract”, “get”, “earn”, “take”, “discover”, “produce”, “find”, “generate”, “acquire”. “inspire”, “send”, “blast”.

(7) Give your visitors at least 3 order links (e.g. 1/3rd of the way down your page, 2/3rds the way down, and at the bottom). But don’t stop there - turn some of your key phrases into hyperlinks that go to your order page. Here are some examples of phrases that you could link to your order page: “increase your sales”, “take advantage of this offer”, “try it risk-free for 30 days”, “get the following 5 bonuses”, “the competitive edge you need”, “this risk-free offer”.

(8) Use purple (#990099, R=153 G=0 B=153) text - the color purple (used sparingly) has been shown to increase sales.

(9) Give a time limit - most people are procrastinators.

(10) At the end of your sales copy make a call to action: “Act now - don’t let this opportunity pass by”

(c) 2002 by Michael Southon

————————————————————
Michael Southon has been writing for the Internet for over 3
years. He has shown hundreds of webmasters how to use this
simple technique to build a successful online business. Click
here to find out more: http://ezine-writer.com/
————————————————————

7 Facts About Your Website Search Engine Optimization and Promotion

1. You MUST promote your website. The Reason? You are competing with many other businesses. You can’t just drop your site in humongous Internet pool and expect immediate clicks and sales.

2. Basic search engine optimization (SEO) is a minimum you must do for your site, otherwise NO ONE will ever find it.

3. SEO + ongoing link building + fresh website content is a lean and mean formula for online success. If your competition is ferocious, you may need to add other components.

4. You can promote your website yourself - there are many do-it-yourself resources available, subscribe to Internet marketing newsletters, build links, keep learning and experimenting, but don’t kid yourself - it is time-consuming.

5. If you decide to hire professional help, start with your web development company - see if they provide search engine optimization and website promotion services or if they can recommend someone who does.

6. Your website promotion doesn’t have to be expensive, but it has to be ongoing.

7. There are quite a few 800-pound gorillas out there with large advertising budgets and brand-name recognition that you can’t beat. BUT most of your competition are probably businesses just like you. If you persistent in promoting your site, you will find your place on the first pages of Google.

This article can be be freely distributed and reprinted as long as the following information and live link to author’s web site are included:

Zhenya Beck, M.A. is founder and a principal of Centauria Web Design - http://www.centauria.com, a professional company specializing in web design and development, corporate identity and logo design, search engine optimization and Internet consulting for start-ups and established businesses.

Using Your Competitors Keywords for Search Engine Optimization

There are quite a few new software and search engine
optimization solutions and products out there these days. The
main focus of them seems to concentrate on getting the best
keywords for your site. Some even offer to scan your competitors
web site in order to find out which keywords they are using,
suggesting that all you have to do is copy them and you too will
show up within the top ten listings.

Unfortunately, most companies who offer these types of services
are merely preying on the lack of consumer knowledge in regards
to true search engine optimization (SEO). They are banking on
the fact that there is an uninitiated market out there which
will unknowingly purchase these products. Usually the web site
selling the product is a plethora of testimonials and hyped
marketing jargon designed to do one thing, convince you the
product is the greatest thing on Earth. I feel sorry for the
consumers who do purchase these types of so-called search engine
marketing programs, only to discover after their money is spent,
that there is a lot more to online marketing than meets the eye.

It also leaves a bad taste in their collective mouths and truly
inhibits the integrity of the SEO industry. Once burnt, the
average consumer is a lot more wary about SEO the next time
around. Many simply fail to believe in SEO at all after a bad
experience, which does neither the consumer nor the professional
SEO firm any good whatsoever.

One of the latest marketing forays by this type of
pseudo-optimization software is the claim that all you need to
do is analyze what your competition has on their web site for
their keywords and phrases, and simply copy that formula for
success. Yeah right! They guarantee you a top ten placement by
simply following this procedure. See what the competition uses
and do the same. It worked for them, so it will work for you,
right? Please don’t fall into this trap. If it were that easy
don’t you think everyone would be doing it? As a web site owner,
use a little common sense and look beyond the hype.

A competitive analysis of a web site of similar nature to your
own is in itself an excellent idea, but let’s get realistic
about it. Sites which rank near the top of their categories are
likely to have great keywords and phrases placed throughout the
web site, but that’s only one part of the equation. The top
sites also have a lot more going for them, such as excellent
content, great meta tags and a good number of incoming links all
relative to the subject matter on the site, to mention only a
few requirements. By simply copying their keywords into your own
site, you haven’t helped yourself at all. In fact you may have
seriously damaged your chances for success. Here’s why: Let’s
say you are in the hot tub business. Your competitor sells
fiberglass hot tubs, you do not. Obviously if you simply copied
the keyword phrase “fiberglass hot tubs” into your own keywords
not only may you be a fool, but if the search engine spiders
come by and see that particular phrase within your keywords, but
find no reference nor content on your site to support that
phrase, you may be penalized. Which in layman’s terms means your
site could have a ‘black mark’ against it. Search engines tend
to greatly frown upon web sites which have keywords and phrases
that are unsupported within the sites textual content. It’s one
of the measures they take to weed out unscrupulous marketers,
who will chock a site full of car insurance terms to get a high
ranking, but once clicked upon, ends up at an adult XXX site.

Although misrepresenting your site may not have been your
intent, by merely copying your competitors keywords and using
them as your own, you run the risk of being found guilty by
association. Try explaining that to the search engines once the
damage has been done.

The analysis of your competitors keywords and phrases is a good
exercise to ensure you have similar terminology within the
content of your site. Use them as an example of how it should be
done. Do not, I repeat do not simply copy them to your own site!
Your site should have its own tone and individuality. Treat your
own keywords with respect. You must have appropriate textual
content on your own pages to support the keywords. Anything less
is an exercise in futility.

At its best, a competitive keyword analysis will give you a good
basic idea which words you should be using within the content of
your site. Incorporate some of them into your own sentences and
descriptions but try and keep a realistic approach to the
process.

One of most valuable aspects of a keyword analysis is the
ability to spot words and terms you may be missing from your
content. But before simply cutting and pasting, take a little
time to find out which terms have the most ‘weight’ or most
value, when it comes to usage by the searching public. Think
about the keywords and terms originating from the searchers’
point of view. If you were trying to find your site without
knowing it was on the Internet, what would you search for? What
would Aunt Martha search for? What words and terms is your
targeted customer likely to use when searching for your goods or
services? Here’s a real tip: Don’t guess!

There are tools you can use to assist you in this decision
making process. Take your competitive analysis keywords and run
them through a site such as Overture’s Keyword Selection tool
<http://inventory.overture.com/d/search inventory/suggestion/>

Originally designed for advertisers to select the best terms for
pay for click advertising, it will show you how many times the
term you used was searched for within the past few months. You
may discover that “hot tubs” although generic enough to score
highly, could be greatly enhanced when used as a term by adding
a single word such as “accessory” or “portable”. The power of a
single word (different from your competitors) also helps to set
your site apart and dare we say, in some cases, may help your
site to rise above them.

Remember - Choose the most popular ’searched for words and
terms’ and ensure they are contained within the content on your
site before using them as keywords within tags or title
descriptions.

The Seven Deadly Sins of Web Business Design

Before you take a road trip it is usually a good idea to know where you are going. It is the same when you are building a business, creating a marketing plan or building your web site. Know what your end result will be when you are planning and designing your site will help you to build it properly from day one.

Here are the 7 Deadly Sins that most web business owners commit when designing their site.

1. Picking a business without knowing wether there is a deman.

2. Picking too broad of a subject. If you pick a huge subject like real estate the likelyhood of soaring to the top of the search engines is slim. Niches tend to be easier to conquer and more profitable.

3. Picking a low cost web host. You get what you pay for. Many low cost web hosts go out of business leaving your business lost in cyber space.

4. Failure to analyze keywords for profitability. Picking the right key words for your business can be the difference between making and losing money.

5. Failure to create and maintain your site’s meta tags. These are the html tags that tell the search engines what your site is about. No metatags equals little to no traffic to your site.

6. Failure to optimize your web business for search engine ranking. Just adding meta tags will not earn you a number one ranking. You need to know how to pick a domain name, and how many times to include your key words within your site.

7. Failure to submit each page to the search engines on a regular basis. The greater the number of pages in your site that are spidered, the better the chance that your buyers will find you.

   About The Author

   Caterina Christakos has worked as a web designer, web design consultant and internet marketing specialist for companies all across the US. This is the web business design software that she reccomends the most: http://buildit.sitesell.com/dollarsandcents.html

   Posted by admin under Web Infos | Comments Off

Ebay Tips For Buyers & Sellers

As a buyer you are trying to find bargains i.e listings with the
best price (Buy It Now Items) or listings with the fewest bids
(Auction Items). Generally these listing are the ones that get
the least amount of visitors, and most of the time it is because
of missing keywords (Product Serial, Manufacture Name…etc) in
the title field. Thus, the key is finding listings that contain
misspelled keywords or listings that are missing important
keywords in the title field. Since the default eBay Search box
only searches the title field, you can often increase your
chances on finding deals by checking the “Search title and
description” check box.

The next thing you will need to know is the “Art Of Gaging An
Item Price on eBay”. A nifty way to find the going price for an
item is by looking at the ended listings. To search for ended
listings, simply click “Advanced Search” link found under the
upper right hand search box. And then check the “Completed
listings only” check box before beginning the search.

Always “Find Reserved Price Auctions”. You will be amazed at how
many people just don’t bother bidding when they see the reserve
price tag, most of times the reserve price is less then 10% of
the item going rate which means huge savings. Remember however
to place your bid in the last 10 seconds.

A nifty way to save cash on items is by offering sellers an end
bid early option. The key here is that you will have to find
recently listed item (less then 100 views) and from sellers with
fewer than 50 feedbacks. Try to keep your initial offer to no
lower then 10% of the regular eBay price (See Gaging Item Price).

If you are a pro on eBay then you will mostly likely only bid
twice on an item. The first bid is optional and it meant to take
the item out of the “Buy It Now”, since you will be more likely
to win the item at a lower price through an auction. The second
bid should come on the last 10 seconds of the auction, this
maybe longer if you are on dial-up

You can tell a lot about your competition (fellow bidders) by
looking at their previously won items to see their bidding
pattern. You will be amazed at how many people keep their last
bid to a whole dollar, meaning you only need to add a cent to
snipe them in the last 10 seconds.

You will be more likely to win an item at a lower price on a
weekday then a weekend. The reasoning is simple, less
competition, most people with jobs will be unavailable or less
likely to bid, and thus increasing the probability of winning
the item at a lower price.

Did you know eBay occasionally issues Paypal coupons that could
save you anywhere from (5 % -10 %) when paying for your eBay
items.

You can save a lot from buying from sellers with little or no
feedback. But again the key is knowing your seller so you don’t
get burned. Here is what I do before I place a bid, first I
email the seller, asking him/her about the condition of the
item. If he/she replies back then I check the email headers to
get the remote ip address, I then go to a WHOIS database and
verify the location of the seller. If everything is OK so far, I
contact the seller through telephone to verify the item, its
condition…etc. Remember that eBay only covers up to $175, so
it’s best to ask for insurance and always ask for shipping with
tracking. Also I found its best to stick with Paypal as payment
option.

As a buyer you need to be aware of the following points:

* Be suspicious of sellers with low rating. * Be suspicious of
sellers using stock pictures (pictures from manufacturers
website). * Sellers who use free email (Hotmail, GmailScience
Articles, Yahoo..etc). * Sellers who do not accept Paypal. *
Sellers who do not reply to email. * Low rating sellers with 1
day listings.

You Need To Treat Your Website Like An Employee - Here’s 5 Ways To Do It

People often come to me in a state of crisis and say their website isn’t working. Usually they’re in a cold sweat:

“Mike, give me some practical things I can do to get more sales from my website!”

You want practical advice? Stop treating your website like an object in your business and start treating it like an employee. Most businesses treat their website like a physical item in their business - such as a filing cabinet for example. Just take Mr. Smith from ABC Ltd.:

“Everyone else has got a filing cabinet so I thought we’d better get one. I’m not very interested in cabinets myself but people seem to think they get you more customers. It looks quite neat though - I made sure my face is on the front of it.”

Very good. How much business do you get from it?

“Business? Oh I don’t know - I haven’t even looked at it for a year or so. It’s been a waste of money. We paid a company to build it and it doesn’t work.”

Right, I see. Have you updated it regularly and promoted it extensively?

“What? No - it went live and that was it, nothing’s happened. I thought the phone would be ringing off the hook. Come and have a look at it anyway, it’s over here in the corner - gathering dust.”

So here they are:

5 Ways To Treat Your Website Like An Employee And Make More Money As A Result

Treat your website like one of your employees and it will start to behave like one.

1. Look after your employees - give them the attention they deserve, pay them well and don’t neglect their needs

2. Make sure your employees look the part - first impressions count: scuffed shoes and scruffy clothes won’t bring in the business

3. Give them mobility - buy them a company car so they can get out into the world and sell for you, they won’t sell much stuck in one place and not being found

4. Keep them informed - give them the latest information on the focus of your company, new services, new sales scripts, latest changes to the way you do business etc.

5. Introduce them to everyone - don’t let your employee feel like they’re on the sidelines of your business, separate to everyone else - they need to be a fully integrated part of your business, not an after-thought bolted on at the last minute

Mike Cheney

www.magnet4web.com

About The Author

You can get free access to lots more of my articles plus a Free Bonus Special Report “How To Turn Your Website Into A Customer Magnet” worth a value of £47 ($85) here: http://www.magnet4web.com/website_services/?page=freeguide

Analyze This: Web Analytics

So, you think you’re off to a good start because you finally got
your new Web site up and running. You even have one of those
counters at the bottom of your homepage so you know exactly how
many people visit your site. Done patting yourself on the back
yet? When you are, it’s time to move your site to the next
level. It’s time for Web Analytics.

Web Analytics may sound like some sort of complex configuration
for your web site, but for amateur Web page developer and
internet retailers, Web Analytics is actually an incredibly
useful, and easy, tool. In one fell swoop, Web analytics can
help you figure out all the important information about people
who visit your site. Put simply, it’s a way to study who visits
your site, what they do while they are there, and why they
leave. We’re talking about, all the Whos, Whats, Wheres, Whens,
and Whys.

If you’re looking to sell something on your site, Web analytics
can tell you what product pages are attracting the most viewers,
which ones the least. The tool can even tell you what parts of
your site are confusing to your visitors. And it can tell you
where your biggest customers are coming from.

If you’re looking to market yourself on search engines, there’s
no better way than Web Analytics. The tool allows you to figure
out which keywords work best to drive traffic to your site. It
can help you figure out how many hits you’re receiving from your
advertising campaigns. That way, you can build your Web content
to focus on those keywords and campaigns, and to drive even more
traffic to your site.

The benefits of Web analytics are many, so here is just a short
list of the main ones. Web Analytics can:

* provide a traffic count. But unlike those basic counters on
the bottom of a homepage, Web Analytics can breakdown your
visitors by how many are new, or “unique,” visitors, and how
many are repeat visitors, along with what pages, and how many
pages, they viewed.

* track down the IP address of your visitors, which is like
their numerical address on the Web where the visitors are coming
from. Not only that, you can track them down to their
geographical, real-world location, too, as well as the time of
day that they came.

* breakdown individual visits by the entry page, where the
person first landed at your site, and the exit page, the last
page they visited before they left. Entry pages generally show
that the visitor may have bookmarked your site on that page,
probably because of its valuable content. Exit pages, on the
other hand, could be your site’s most boring content.

* count the total time that visitors spent on your site, and
exactly what path they took through the site. This can give you
the better idea about how well-designed your Web page is, so you
can learn how to better design your site’s navigation to direct
visitors where you want them to go, and get them to stick around
your site longer.

* trace your visitors back to the links that brought them to
your site. The more links other Web sites have to your pages,
the better. On the other hand, visitors may have come straight
to your site, which is also not too shabby. It could mean that
word-of-mouth on your site is working.

* weigh the value of search engine keywords in your Web content.
You could find out what search terms visitors are using at your
site. And you could also analyze which terms people are using at
search engines to find your site. Either way, it’s a great way
to optimize your content to what your visitors are looking for.

The ultimate benefit of Web Analytics is to make your site more
worthwhile to its visitors. But of course, you want to make it
more worthwhile to you too.

How You Can Automate Your Business Using Autoresponders

What is an Autoresponder?

An Autoresponder is a program or service that allows you to automatically send pre-written emails to anyone at anytime. It is basically a sequential automated email system. You write messages, load it on your Autoresponder, set the time difference between emails being sent out, then leave your Autoresponder to finish the job. You can then get people to start the email sequence by sending a blank email to your Autoresponders email address or complete a form at your website.

How you can automate your business using autoresponders

Let’s see why Autoresponders are important to those who own internet businesses.

Consider this; your visitors would only have 3 options when they visit your site.

1)Buy your product or service.

2)Leave their email & other information for follow-up.

3)Click away.

You wouldn’t want prospects to click away right? You and I know that if they click away, they probably would never come back again.

So, what is next? What are the chances prospects will make purchases on their first visit? Chances are rather slim right? That leaves you to focus on trying to make visitors choose option no.2… to leave email addresses and other contact information. You can create a subscription form and place it at a strategic location inviting visitors to subscribe. You can then increase subscription rates by throwing in a free Ebook or report in exchange for their email address. You may give them a freebie today, but as your messages build relationships with them, you will end up earning money from them for years to come.

When they have submitted their email, you will send them messages on a regular basis. This is where you will need an Autoresponder. You can write a series of follow-up emails or good training materials and load it up on the Autoresponder, and then leave the Autoresponder to send out those emails at a specified time.

Besides sending out follow up messages, Autoresponders could also accomplish other tasks. Consider another scenario. You have a lot of people asking the same questions about your product or service over and over again. If the same questions are being asked too many times, you probably would grow frustrated answering them. Setting up an Autoresponder to reply to all these messages while personalizing each email sent pretty much solves the problem.

Where to get an Autoresponder?

You can find a free Autoresponder service at http://www.freeautobot.com/ or if you do not mind paying a little fee you might want to consider using Getresponse at http://www.getresponse.com/ or Aweber at http://www.aweber.com/.

In conclusion, having an Autoresponder will save you a lot of precious time. It helps by automating part of your business so that you can spend time focusing on expanding your business.

Find out how you can FULLY set up and run your own internet business within a few days at http://www.ebizmodelsyoucancopy.com

Visit E-Biz Wiz Blog for proven ideas, tips and information on starting your own Internet Business and subscribe to the 12 Day Internet Marketing Success Course. http://ebizmodelsyoucancopy.blogspot.com

Eyepinch web design, web hosting and search engine optimization services

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Web Design

A critical element in effectively presenting ideas and content
is planning your web site with your targeted audience in mind.
Who will be viewing the web site? What will those people find
useful and interesting? Whatever the purpose of your web site,
that purpose should be recognized from the moment the page
begins to appear, creating the intended mood - the web design.

Web Hosting

Web hosting is a service that provides individuals,
organizations and users with online systems for storing
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own for use by their clients as well as providing Internet
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Internet Marketing / Search Engine Optimization

The fact of the matter is, it pays you to optimize your web site
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