1. Typos, misuse of grammar and misspellings. I can’t tell you how many times I have run across ads on the internet, whether in text ads or email subject lines and content, that contain typos, grammar usage errors and misspelled words. Nothing says “unprofessional” like an un-proofed ad copy. The good news is that all of these errors are avoidable. The main thing I think a lot of marketers need to do is just slow down a bit and take the extra time and steps needed to make sure they are running a professional ad. The way I create my ads is to use the word processing software that is on my computer. This is also a good practice because you can save them for future use. This helps me tremendously in my articles and blog entries. I use the spell and grammar check in all my online marketing content. Another thing I do, which you may think is silly, is read it out loud. That way I can hear what the reader is hearing in his or her mind as they are reading the content. This has helped me many times to catch my own errors as well.
2. Not sending personalized welcome messages to new referrals. One of the main reasons that people drop out of programs is because they feel like they have no support from the person whose affiliate page they signed up from. In other words, “no upline support”. We are all here to grow our downlines so that we ultimately make money from internet marketing. However, the best way to ensure that we achieve our true goal of making a solid residual income and ultimately becoming “financially free” is to not focus on trying to make a “sale”, but rather on sincerely trying to help others. A great quote from Zig Ziglar that I like to tell people is “you can have everything you want in life if you will just help enough other people get what they want”. There’s nothing more true than this in internet marketing. When you are lucky enough to get referrals into your programs, always send them a welcome email letting them know that you are a real person and that you are there to provide them with help and support. And then actually help them if they need it, as they are here for the same reason as you and the rest of us--to build a successful online business. Also, let’s face it. When you help them, you help you. You will be amazed at how far this personal and hands on approach will take you in this industry.
3. Not confirming entry into the programs from the link in the confirmation email. Ok, so you’re online browsing, surfing traffic exchanges and clicking ads and you come across a program that you are actually interested in seeing what it is about. So you put in your name and email address in the form and then…what? Believe it or not, a lot of people never open the confirmation email that most programs send out when you hit that “join” or “send” button and they really aren’t even signed up for or won’t get the information they were trying to get in the first place. With all the SPAM laws, most programs require you to confirm that you wish to receive information from them and if you are not remembering to check your email AND your bulk mailbox, you may miss these messages. The reason you want to check both is because sometimes, depending on your email client, messages will be automatically labeled SPAM and go straight to that bulk or SPAM mailbox instead of your inbox. It may be a good idea if you are in the internet marketing industry to set your SPAM filter to allow you to have the option to look through them first instead of the client just deleting them as they come, without you even getting a chance to see what it is.
4. Not “Whitelisting” the email addresses of the programs they join. Another thing you want to do that coincides with No. 3 above, is to “whitelist” the email address of the programs you join or are receiving information from so that the mail doesn’t go to your SPAM folder. Doing this lets the email client system know that it is ok to deliver those messages directly to your inbox.
5. Not using an autoresponder. Once your business starts to grow, you want to utilize all the tools necessary for you to become organized. As you start collecting prospects, you want to be able to communicate with them about your current business and even future endeavors. Email marketing is one of the top forms of business building on the internet. What an autoresponder does is automate that form of marketing for you. Let’s say you have 100 people respond to your ad giving you their contact information because they happen to be very interested in what you’re offering. Can you imagine how much time it would take to email all of these prospects individually? With an auto responder program, you build your list of prospects because once they submit their contact info, they are instantly put into your autoresponder system. They will still have to confirm that they want to receive information from you but once they do that, they can start getting that information through an email or even an email series pre-written by you and stored in your autoresponder program. You can also send broadcast messages to all of your subscribers at the same time. Think of the time you will save in using an auto responder, especially as your prospect list and organization grows to hundreds and even thousands of potential buyers.
6. Not using a lead capture page (LCP). After reading No. 5 above, you may be asking how do I get people to enter their contact information and subscribe to my list? The most common and effective way is by using what is called a lead capture page or (LCP). This page should be a page that contains catchy content or video and a form which prompts the visitor to provide their name and email address and whatever other contact information that you may wish to have. If you make the page unique and exciting enough to “bait” the visitor into wanting to know more, then they will go ahead and fill out the form and “presto”!! You now have a new lead or prospect subscribing to your autoresponder list.
Written by Lisa Washington. THE WASHINGTON-REPORT ã2009
http://www.website.ws/lisawashington
Friday, August 28, 2009
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