Internet and Businesses Articles

Getting other people to promote your web site is one of the most popular Internet marketing methods around, today. Affiliate relationships are all the rave with people who have web sites. Web marketers worldwide are trading links everyday, in hopes of driving each other's traffic to their respective sites. This is certainly something any hard-working Internet business owner should do, but it may be a bit overrated. While using affiliate advertising is a strong marketing ploy, effective use of multiple e-mail lists and an autoresponder is one of the most powerful, multi-faceted marketing tools available today.

Many Internet marketers are using autoresponders, but very few are getting the most from them. Most people use their autoresponders strictly to publish ezines. A well-written ezine is a powerful tool, no doubt, and should be part of any successful online business, but there is so much more to autoresponders that many people overlook. I have spent recent months experimenting with various uses for my autoresponder.

Following is a variety of ways to increase your customer base with proper autoresponder use..

1. EZINES: Write a powerful, information-packed, weekly ezine (electronic magazine). Place a subscription link on your site, so all visitors subscribe to your ezine. This way, you have them, if they don't buy, so you can constantly send them information, tossing in links back to your site and plugs for your product or service. Remember, research says the average consumer needs to see your name, product, or service four to seven times, before they finally decide to buy. Don't forget to offer something free to entice people to subscribe, and be sure to let them know you'll never share their information. Don't bombard them with useless information or solicitations. Give them information that they will value, so your name becomes synonymous with professionalism.

2. e-COURSES: In addition to your ezine, use your autoresponder to offer some type of free five or seven day course. This is another great way to gather those e-mail addresses. If a visitor doesn't subscribe to your ezine, perhaps she'll be interested in your course. Then, you can send her the ezine later. Be sure to keep the e-mails in the course brief, and don't give away too much information. Be sure links back to your site are all over each e-mail, so the person will ultimately go back and buy your product.

3. FULFILLMENT: If you're selling information, use your autoresponder as a fulfillment tool. Make sure your online merchant (PayPal, Click Bank, etc.) is set up so upon payment, your customer is taken to a Thank You page. On this page, add HTML code from your autoresponder that actually sends the product the customer purchased. Incidentally, any good autoresponder will generate the HTML code for you, and you simply cut and paste it to your web site. When setting up the delivery e-mail, just write a nice letter, telling the person her new information product has arrived. Then, upload the product as an attachment to that e-mail. Remember to give very clear instructions. For example, if your book is a PDF file, be sure to say in the e-mail that the person will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open it. I always add a link to Adobe, to make it easy for the customer to get Acrobat Reader, and I remind the customer that it can be downloaded there for free. When you read about successful Internet marketers who say they make money while they sleep, this is how they are doing it. I didn't believe it, until I converted my business to this type of system. Now, I make money while I sleep, too.

4. REFERRALS: First, to make this work effectively, you should have a web site for your ezine. If you don't have a site, strictly advertising your ezine -- you should build one. Then, place a referral page on it. Again, use your trusty autoresponder to create this system. On the page, offer something free to visitors who refer a friend. Assure them that you will not spam the person -- that you are just going to send him an e-mail explaining what your ezine is about and then the person will have the option to subscribe. This is another great way to capture e-mails. Incidentally, you can set up the autoresponder to e-mail the free information to the person doing the referring, as well. So, once again, you are doing no work, once your codes are placed on your site.

5. ADVERTISING: Your autoresponder is the vehicle that drives your ezine, so advertise on your ezine, and use your autoresponder to promote that advertising. You can get creative with this and have a lot of fun, while you're making money. There are sites that you can join for a nominal fee that drive advertisers to you. Just search ezine advertising on the Internet, and you'll find plenty of them. Once you join, you'll start getting lots of small ads in your personal inbox, or any e-mail address you supply (it can't be an autoresponder address, though). Then, you run this ad for free in your ezine, but you get to add the new e-mail address of the advertiser to your list. Now, just create another list for your autoresponder that sends sales pitches to these people with other types of advertising offers. For example, you might charge $25.00 for a solo article about one of your advertisers in a future edition of your ezine. Be sure to keep the sales pitches coming by writing constant short letters about your service to the people on this list, and set up your autoresponder to send them to the advertisers every couple of weeks.

These are just a few of the ideas I've put into place with my own Internet business that have been successful. Remember, the key to successful autoresponder marketing is to come up with every idea that will gather more e-mail addresses of prospects, who will eventually become customers. Be creative, and have fun with your marketing.

Mark Barnes is author of the wealth-building system, Winning the Mortgage Game and other investment real estate books. He is also a suspense novelist, and his new novel, The League, will thrill both suspense and sports fans. Learn about Mark's wealth-building system and get his free home loan course at http://www.winningthemortgagegame.com Learn more about The League and read an excerpt at http://www.sportsnovels.com