“We all prefer to do business with those we like and trust.”
That simple truth has existed since prehistoric (wo)man
traded mammoth-tusk carvings for new-model wheels. It’s a shame so many
business people forget or ignore this. In the faceless online world, this
concept may seem as extinct as those mammoths. In fact, it is more valid than
ever.
Your goal is to build a quality, long-term, repeat-exposure
relationship with your visitors/customers so that they will happily return to
your site frequently... and monetize! Site-blogging and e-zines are two strong
ways to deepen the PREselling that your high-value content has begun.
You need a Backup Response, an alternative reason to visit.
A good Backup Response must...
• deliver a benefit to your visitor at a “no-brainer” price
(free is best), and...
• provide you with an ongoing opportunity to remind your
customer about you and
your product/service or the merchant-partners that you
represent.
Sooner or later, a healthy percentage of those who trigger
your Backup Response will deliver your MWR -- a sale or a contract, depending
on your situation. Why? Because you’re building a quality, long term, repeated exposure,
one-to-one relationship with your visitor/customer.
Build Relationships
With A Site-Blog
Blogging is taking the world by storm. Or so it would seem
if you’ve been reading anything from Newsweek to the most specialized online
publications.
Here’s the bottom lines on blogging. Most small business
people don’t have...
• the time
• the inclination
• the subject matter.
While full-blogging is only right for some small businesses,
blogging is recognized by more and more regular Web surfers. The mass market is
subscribing to blogs. And...
Since your visitors like your content, they will want more
of it. It’s your pleasure to give it to them, as long as it does not require
you to master a new technology and create more content than you are already
doing now.
Don’t confuse a blog with RSS. Your blog is the content. RSS
is how you distribute your content. Think of it like your local newspaper. The
blog is the newspaper. RSS is the paperboy.
But what exactly is RSS?...
RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication.” And that is
exactly what it is... a new way for you to distribute content. That content can
be any electronic communication (i.e., Web pages, mp3s, video, etc.)
RSS/Blog It! converts your SBI! site into a blog. It turns
your RSS feed into a perfectly formatted and visible TIER 2 Web page. Of
course, that gets the attention of both your human and spider visitors!
And here’s the fun part. Every time you create or modify a
Web page, those changes are distributed through RSS to the world. It even
automatically pings every major RSS/blog engine/directory, saving you the
tedium of doing that every time you post.
Visitors subscribe to your site, the way they subscribe to
your e-zine! It’s the best of both worlds. Publishing a site-blog is a
fantastic, non-intrusive way to maintain contact with your visitors.
Your site blog lets them know “something's new.” Since they
like your material, they click to re-visit your site. Bingo!
Site-blogging is so easy, and such an effective way to build
a following and build traffic faster, you should enable it within your first 10
pages.
Build Relationships
With An E-Zine
A common Backup Response on the Web is the e-zine (an
e-mailed newsletter). Once you have some decent numbers, it takes only a day to
get an e-zine up and running.
A good e-zine tells its readers to revisit you…
• to click on something missed during the first visit
• to respond to an announcement you make
• to see new content you’ve added
The e-zine builds a relationship of trust between you and
your visitors. Put yourself in the visitor’s mind. A new e-mail arrives from
you. Full of excellent content that meets her needs, the e-mail prompts her
either…
• to click on the link back to your site to take you up on
your great offer
• to click on a link to one of your affiliate partners
• to file in her memory that you are the person with the
answers to her questions.
You will use the content in your e-zine to get your MWR.
It’s fine to give lots of information. But use that information to PREsell.
Give your visitor a reason to click on a link back to your site or directly to
one of your affiliates. The WIN-WIN provides information for your visitor and
income for you.
Build a Sales Page
For Your E-Zine
How good of you to provide a free e-zine! But will your visitors
subscribe?... It’s free but… you still need to sell the idea that another piece
of e-mail is a good idea. After all, your visitor is going to give up her
e-mail address and the time it takes to read what you send.
While she’s on your site, she needs to feel that continued
contact with you will be worth her while. So you will…
• stress the benefits of your particular newsletter
• add a clear “call to action”
• finish with a subscription form
Make sure the benefits are clear. Add a testimonial. Link to
back issues. (Some Web masters write an issue or two no one else receives so
they will have back issues. Visitors can see what they will get.) Stress that
your e-zine is free.
Develop A Format
Template… And Stay With It!
Readers like familiarity and predictability… so develop a
template, and stick with it. Make only minor, incremental changes every now and
then, saving your last issue as the template for the next one. From top to
bottom, here’s a quick list of things to address in your format...
1) Name your e-zine -- you want your subscriber to smile in
recollection when she sees it. Make the name short, memorable, descriptive, and
relevant.
2) Subject, including Issue Number and Date
3) Small logo
4) First text block -- start off your e-zine with a catchy
benefit-oriented slogan. For example, under your Cactus Gardening logo, you
might type into your first text block... “Prickly Issues, Creative Solutions”
5) After that, experiment with a combination of text blocks,
line breaks and divider lines, so that you can deliver the following “starting
information”...
i) Valuable PREselling Proposition -- stress the key points
of your e-zine.
ii) A promo pass-along -- add something like this...
If you like this
e-zine, please do a friend and me a big favor and “pay it forward.”
If a friend DID
forward this to you and if you like what you read, please subscribe by visiting...
(Then add a link to your page that promotes your opt-in
newsletter.)
6) Issue number and Date (you did it in the subject, now
repeat it in the body)
7) Table of Contents -- show your reader what you’re
covering in this issue.
Provide tantalizing “read me” headlines in your TOC.
8) From this point, experiment with…
• headline blocks to start each section
• dividers
• line breaks
9) Then the content!
10) You might want to add one more text block before the
closing information (unsubscribe, etc. -- details a bit later) for your
readers. This text block could include anything, for example...
Comments? Ideas? Feedback? I’d love to hear from you. Just
reply to this e-zine and tell me what you think!
11) Closing information. You need to give readers a chance
to unsubscribe, etc. Make sure to save all this as a template for future e-zines
(more on this below), so you don’t have to do it all over again.
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If your niche is Wordpress or Seo, then your list and site visitors will Love Related Rss.
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Set Up Your
Subscription
You’ve already created a form for subscribers on your sales
page. You may opt to include this form on other pages, or at the least include
a link from other TIER 2 or TIER 3 pages to your sales page.
Do include an e-zine button on your navigation bar so
visitors can find the sales page easily. And be sure to include many references
to your e-zine so your visitor has many opportunities to sign up.
To prevent spamming and/or to prevent people from giving
other people’s names and addresses without consent, use the “double opt-in”
approach… your visitor must confirm her subscription.
Although adopting a double opt-in policy means you will grow
your list slightly more slowly than a marketer using the single opt-in
approach, there are several reasons why it is smart to adopt such a strategy...
1) A double opt-in policy builds a truly qualified, high
value list. Do not be concerned about losing a few subscribers. The
confirmation step ensures that your subscribers are interested in you and your
product or service.
2) A double opt-in policy establishes your credibility with
the subscriber, and emphasizes the value of your publication.
3) A double opt-in policy lowers the risk of being reported
to a spam policing server by an overzealous surfer.
The value of a qualified subscriber’s list? Priceless -- no
credit card can buy that kind of confidence!
Advertise Your E-Zine
List your newsletter in major e-zine directories on the Web.
You’ll find these work much the same way as the main directories. Drill down
through the categories and sub-categories to find the best place and submit
your newsletter to the most appropriate section of the directory.
Some submission tips to consider…
Try some tinkering first. Do a search for your most
important keywords at each directory, and note from which categories the
returned results are coming. Check for keywords in the Title and the
Description, as well. Remember, your subscriber is most likely to find you as a
result of a keyword search. So do your best to ensure your site is listed for
each particular keyword.
Keep in mind that your Description is the only impression a
directory visitor will get of your e-zine, so make sure you sell it!
Bottom line on the e-zine directories?...
It depends. If your e-zine is about a popular topic that is
likely to generate many keyword searches and you’ve listed your site properly
(with a compelling Description), there’s no reason why these directories
shouldn’t bring a constant trickle of subscribers to your newsletter.
Of course, if your newsletter is about a highly specific
niche topic, your major concern will be listing in directories that receive
enough traffic to generate keyword searches for that topic. It’s ideal if you
can find a directory dedicated to a category that includes your theme.
All in all, if you can hit the major e-zine directories in
an hour or so, it’s not a bad way to spend your time. Just be sure to do your
homework. Learn how to submit properly, or you’ll be wasting your time.
There are free resources where everybody and everyone can
list their e-zines for nothing. These include...
New-List.com
Newsletter Access
EzineAnnouncer
There’s a pleasant bonus when you market your newsletter.
Not only will you build your e-publication, you will build more traffic to your
site (if you provide a link from your subscription page to your home page). On
top of that, you will also generate some all-important link popularity which is
always a good thing! An e-zine is not the only way to stay on your visitors’
radar screens…
To be continued...
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