Internet and Businesses Articles

If there's one thing I've learnt in over 3 years of web marketing, it is this: you *must* follow up with your visitors.

The statistics are very clear about this: the 1st contact produces 2% of sales, the 5th to12th contacts produce 80% of sales.

I knew about this for years but didn't act on it. Then, about 8 months ago I wrote a 5 Day Email Course about my eBook (Ezine Writer) and offered it to my visitors.

The response was amazing - my sales almost doubled.

This is how it works:

When visitors leave the index page of my website, a popup appears inviting them to join my newsletter.

When they join, they also receive a free subscription to my 5 Day Email Course, which is delivered by sequential autoresponder.

But there's an important detail here. You don't want the popup appearing when your visitors click on the 'order' link - it distracts them and you could well miss a sale.

So the popup has to be designed so that it *doesn't* appear when the order link is clicked.

You do this by including an 'exit=false' tag within the order link. You can get the code for this - and for the popup - at: http://www.ezine-writer.com/popup-code.html

The next thing to do is set up your Message Sequence on sequential autoresponders.

There are two ways of doing it - you can use a web-based service or you can install a script on your server.

I use a web-based service (aweber) - mainly because my web host doesn't allow mailing scripts of any kind.

Here are two of the best-known web-based services: http://www.aweber.com http://www.getresponse.com

If you want to avoid monthly fees, there are sites that offer free sequential autoresponders (but they will insert their own ads in your autoresponse):

http://www.freeautobot.com/
http://www.informationbyemail.com/
http://www.autorespond-it.com/
http://www.sendfree.com/

The advantage of a web-based service is that everything is done for you. The downside is monthly fees and a limited number of follow-ups (you can get more, but you have to pay for them).

The second method is to install a script on your server. Here are some scripts that give you unlimited autoresponders:

http://www.smithfam.com/follow-up.html
http://www.ursoftware.com/autoresponder/
http://www.constructorbooks.com/easysponder/

The advantages of a script? You have no monthly fees (just a one-time payment for the script) and you get unlimited follow-ups.

So, those are the tools you need to deliver your Message Sequence.

Writing your Message Sequence is quite an art and you may need some help. Here is an excellent short tutorial: http://autorespondertools.com/autoresponder_follow-up_series.htm

That's it! All the info you need to double your conversion rate.

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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/
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