A visitor may visit your site only once. That’s “one shot”…
one shot at earning income. But if she subscribes to your e-zine (i.e.,
e-mailed newsletter) that’s many shots. Provide good content, keep PREselling,
and you’ll succeed at building longlasting visitor-to-customer relationships.
This is especially important if you’re a local service
seller. The difference between unprecedented success and failure may very well
rest with your newsletter/e-zine. Sure, it prevents the familiar “out of site
(couldn’t resist!), out of mind” scenario by allowing you to stay on your
target group’s radar with ongoing communication.
For you, publishing a quality newsletter option is not an
option. It builds that all-important trust that is so necessary to convert a
visitor/subscriber into a paying client. Trust, trust, and more trust. Your
newsletter is the conduit with which you will establish your credibility,
energize relationships, and increase your Conversion Rate.
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For example, if you have an affiliate site, your MWR is to
get a click-through to one of your merchant’s sites, so you can earn a
commission from a sale at that site. Or, if you are selling an e-good, your MWR
is to make the sale. (By now, you see the connection between your MWR and your
primary monetization model, right?)
You build your whole site with that MWR constantly in mind.
But you also realize that only a small percentage of visitors will actually
deliver your MWR during a visit. So you need a Backup Response, an alternative “shot,”
to offer. A good Backup Response must...
• Deliver a benefit to your visitor at a “no-brainer” price
(free is best), and...
• Provide you with the opportunity to remind your customer
about your business.
Sooner or later, a healthy percentage of those who trigger
your Backup Response will deliver your MWR. Why? Because you’re building a
quality, long-term, repeated exposure, one-to-one relationship with your
visitor/customer.
You’ve done a lot of work building traffic to your site. Can
valuable content enable you to reach them again and again, after they leave?
Funny you should ask... When someone leaves your site, you may be losing them
forever.
Here’s why... There is an old show biz axiom that says...
“Keep them coming back for more.” That’s true and reasonable advice for
entertainment-based sites, as well as other sites that change every day, like
news sites. But for most sites, people don’t come back over and over again.
It’s nothing personal. It’s simply a big Web out there...
might as well see something new! So, unless the very nature of your site tends
to generate frequent, repeat visits, realize that your customer is in “now or
never” mode. If that’s your case, and it most likely is, why don’t you revisit
them? Convince them to subscribe to your e-zine or RSS feed. With valuable,
relevant information, you also provide them with reasons to revisit your site
and reconsider your product or service or merchant...
• “second-look” reminder (maybe now the time is right to buy
or hire)
• upgrade announcements
• new product/service introductions • new info about your
site
• the rest is, as they say, “limited only by your
imagination” (and good taste).
Publishing an e-zine is an important part of PREselling and
building a long term, great list of future (and current) clients. Even if a
visitor bookmarks you, she’s unlikely to ever return once she leaves.
(Check your own Bookmarks or Favorites list to see what I
mean!). Newsletters are the best way to defeat the “out of sight, out of mind”
pitfall. The most important aspect of a vibrant online business -- building a
sense of community and trust -- is based on nurturing a great relationship with
customers. That’s the goal of a newsletter. There’s just no better way to keep
in touch with them on a regular basis.
Every time your potential customer/client receives your
newsletter, you...
• remind her about you and your business
• build trust
• establish a relationship
• build credibility
• promote your products or services or merchants
• build your image as an expert in the field.
Before deciding upon what you’ll write, remember who you
will write for. Obviously, you’ll publish a newsletter for your subscriber’s
mindset. But what content will you deliver to your subscribers? Will you
provide a tip of the day?
Will you digest news in your field down to a small number of
key snippets each week? Or will you write an original article with valuable
info once per week, or month? No time to write? It can be as simple as
periodically informing subscribers of new content on your site!
One word of warning about content... Don’t give away the
farm! Make sure your subscriber still needs what you are selling or
representing. Let’s say that you have an e-good for sale… Write about topics in
such a way that you can work your product into the copy. “In-context”
references are very effective. Don’t be shy to weave mention of your
products/services/affiliated merchants into the content. As long as you are
providing valuable information, people expect a gentle self-plug to come with
the content. And if someone does unsubscribe because of your product mentions,
was she ever a potential customer in the first place? Remember, it’s not worth
the effort if it doesn’t bring a return.
The bottom line?...
Talk to a “friend,” offer outstanding content, and blend in
some gentle selling. Whatever or however you do it, you have but one mission...
Above all, deliver a high-value publication.
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