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Email Marketing and Opt In List Building: On Keeping Online Businesses Profitable

Since the arrival of the records technology, the Internet have been a treasured commodity to most people. Here, they locate ways on how to earn extra money even without having to spend greater capital on building a enterprise.

Nowadays, many enterprise human beings are figuring out the importance of e mail advertising and marketing. Through emails, an internet business can market their product at once via their customers.

Generally, the primary reason of e-mail marketing is to reach their target audience as quick and as direct as feasible. They want to attain their goal marketplace so as to promote their services and products that would benefit their clients.

However, some companies use electronic mail advertising with a view to preserve their touch and relationship with their clients.

The motive why electronic mail advertising has grown in such extraordinary fee is primarily based at the fact that humans inside the digital community are always hungry for information. They join records that they’re inquisitive about.

On the other hand, not anyone are inclined to join such information. They may be involved to your merchandise as soon as however may now not be fascinated to shop for again. Moreover, when you still ship those emails that do not have their permissions, you could be accused of spamming.

Today, spamming is a critical offense mainly in the international of information era. Because the Internet is this sort of wild location, most government regard the privateness of anyone as precious and that they keep to uphold this questioning even at the Internet.

With this, the introduction of decide in listing had won incredible popularity. Because of its viability and feasibility to maximum on line companies, a lot of human beings have found out how vital decide in lists are in email advertising.

Basically, decide in list refers back to the listing of e mail addresses of people who have agreed to join your mailing list. In this manner, you could freely send emails that entail promotions, brochures, new product announcements, and every factor of your advertising and marketing campaign.

When you build an decide in list, you do not best growth the possibility of being successful in e mail marketing but additionally improve your income and income as nicely. This is due to the fact constructing an decide in listing will give you the hazard to live in touch along with your clients through getting their e-mail cope with.

In this manner, you could preserve to sell your services and products wherein they’re inquisitive about due to the fact they’ve opted to subscribe on your mailing listing. Hence, whatever it’s far that you feed them, possibilities are, they may maximum likely reply positively.

In truth, building an decide in list is simply letting the people comprehend the charisma and magic of e mail advertising. In this way, spams can be avoided, if now not removed, and will now not break the advantageous image of e-mail advertising.

With spamming, email advertising and marketing becomes a disgraceful interest in the Internet. But with opt in list, online organizations can hold to enhance their businesses thru email advertising and marketing while not having to worry about being accused of spamming.

In building choose in list, there are types to be considered. The first one is the single decide-in and the other one is the double opt-in or the showed opt-in.

In building unmarried choose-in listing, on line organizations would definitely use a “signal-up tag” in their web web sites so that whenever a person visits their internet site, he or she will favor to subscribe in the business’ e mail list.

On the other hand, a confirmed decide-in list or double opt-in entails a affirmation message after the customer had subscribed to the specific web website online’s e-mail list.

Usually, the confirmation takes location by means of replying on a device-generated message that asks for a affirmation of the subscription or by clicking on a hyperlink that involves the confirmation of the consumer.

Whatever type of decide in listing you will decide upon, each has its personal execs and cons with regards to e mail advertising and marketing. But though, both are designed to give your on line enterprise the pleasant answer possible for you to generate emails and permissions while not having to get into problem.

Indeed, e-mail advertising is this kind of worthwhile enterprise within the Internet. But it would now not be complete and could in no way be successful with out the assist of the decide-in lists. These need to continually move hand-in-hand as a way to achieve success inside the digital global of Internet advertising.

Hello my very non-evil marketing minion…

Got a good’un for you right now.

See, a lot of so-called email marketing experts bang on about the size of their email lists.

You’ll see them brag about how many hundreds of thousands of people are on it.

But here’s the thing:

What’s the point in having a big email list if it’s unresponsive?

So instead of worrying about getting a huge email list in terms of numbers, focus on getting a list full of high-quality prospects.

In other words, people who really are potentially interested in buying from you.

So how do you do this?

Good question. One that I’ll now answer:

You see, it mainly comes down to these three things:

1) The “ethical bribe” you’re offering.

2) You squeeze page copy.

3) The “welcome email” you send when people first subscribe to your email list.

Let’s start with the first:

Only offer an ethical bribe which appeals to your target market.

Sounds kinda obvious, but a LOT of people get this wrong.

Clearly this is all about understanding your market and knowing what they want.

Second, you’ve got to make sure the copy on your squeeze page repels “bad” optins, whilst attracting “good” optins.

Mentioning you’ll be sending daily emails is just one way of doing this.

Finally, when people have opted in, you then need to send them a “welcome email” which further repels the “bad” optins (so they unsubscribe), whilst really draws in the “good” ones. These will be the people far more likely to buy from you.

MODULE 1

CHAPTER 8

CREATING YOUR SQUEEZE PAGE

1. INTRODUCTION
2. OBJECTIVES

3. MAIN CONTENT

3.1 The Game and the Uses

3.2 Types of Squeeze Page

3.3 It is a Useful Trap

3.4 Types of Offer

3.5 Call to Action

3.6 The Practicals

3.7 The Process

4. CONCLUSION
5. SUMMARY

6. ASSIGNMENT

1.0 INTRODUCTION

A squeeze page is a web page with a form, where you collect email addresses (and possibly names) of your prospects for further interactions with them in your attempt to lure and convince them to do business with you in the near or distant future.

There are two possible aspects to a squeeze page:

– The theory of what it should be and

– The practice of actually setting it up online.

In a good show of brevity I will touch both aspects in this discussion.

2.0 OBJECTIVES

– To highlight the importance of a squeeze page to any web-based business

– To encourage learners to practice the process of setting up his/her squeeze page

– To provide resources that can ease the learning process and shorten the learning curve.

3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 The Game and the Uses

If you have been online for any length of time, you can remember visiting a website and after a while a software appear from seemingly nowhere asking you for your Name and Email so that they can send a gift to your email box.

That page was a squeeze page on display!

It is called a squeeze page for two reasons:

1. It is use to get (squeeze) the customers’ details (names and emails) through the sales funnel to the landing page.
2. It is also use to get (squeeze) the prospects’ email addresses out of them for future marketing activities

More often than not the experience can be quite annoying, but the prospects are pacified with a carefully preselected and matching gifts that will perfectly tranquilize all his/her annoyances while at the same time satisfying his curiosity for free information (or sometimes free products/services are used as bait gifts) about certain niche of his interest.

3.2 Types of Squeeze Page

There are three most popular types of squeeze page namely:

1. Static squeeze page – the most common, static and beginners’ friendly, in terms of cost, seen on most websites
2. Pop up squeeze page – a bit pricey, and the
3. Splash squeeze page – a highly professional software

There are all plug-ins that are used to collect people’s emails for marketing purposes and the format of choice all depends on you and the money at your disposal as well as the speed you want to build up your list.

If you are using WordPress CMS to run your website, there are many of these plugins that are free to use. Even if you are not using WordPress, most of them can still be adaptable to other content management software like Wix, Joomla and Google Blogger.

Squeeze page is such an important tool in the management of your website and no serious, professional, and experienced site owner will ever make the mistake of ignoring its use.

Next time you visit a website, look around to see if it has this curious marketing tool.

If not, leave the website as soon as possible.

Reason: the site is owned by an Amateur – may not have much to offer than buy, buy, buy…

Some website even go to the extent of adding a timer and a counter to encourage their prospects to sign up as quickly as possible; and in view of the overwhelming statistics on such webpages, this easily robs the visitors of any resistance.

3.3 It is a Useful Trap

Before setting up the squeeze page, you might have prepared the offer and store it up somewhere so that your client can be REDIRECTED to them as soon as they finish the signup process.

It is this offers that you advertise on your squeeze (sign-up) page that will act as a subtle bait to induce your prospects to be willing to give out his email/name and in so doing, you successfully trap their addresses for further business deals and subsequent follow up.

Generally, the content of the squeeze page must not be too many to avoid distractions, simple and minimally bulleted points is recommended.

Remember to always add a sense of urgency and possibly scarcity and your (so to say) trap will become very magnetic and effective.

3.4 Types of Offer

You can use any of the items listed below as an offer to encourage your prospects to sign up. It all depends on you and the type of online business that you are promoting.

But it is noteworthy that your offer must match your business model otherwise your unsubscribe rate will hit the roof. It is also a good idea to setup your offer so that they can ONLY get it through their emails and not as a video or downloads which they can easily access elsewhere. This way, you will look more professional, successful and less scammy.

The common type of offers are:

1. Newsletter
2. Sample product
3. Email course
4. eBook
5. Video Course, etc.

The last three have the highest signup rates though it all depends on your target niche markets. From my experience on some of my websites, I also advocate adding any of the social squeeze page and at least a video to increase your signups. This opinion may be disputed by some web masters, but as cited above, I support the idea for obvious reasons.

3.5 Call to Action

Again I say, always include a very specific but social call to action on your squeeze page

Examples:

1. Send Me My Free Tips is better than Submit your Name and Email
2. Sign Me Up is better than Sign Up Here
3. Get Instant Access is better than Join Here
4. Give Me Access is better than Subscribe Here

3.6 The Practicals

I am now going to talk about the practical aspect of setting up your squeeze page and targeting.

It is important to mention here that Targeting is more critical than any other thing else.

Suffice it to say that before you even begin the process of setting up your squeeze page you should ask and answer the following question for yourself:

5. Which market am I targeting?

5. Who are my anticipated audience?

When I am targeting Entrepreneurs, Professionals and Bloggers who want to take their business online, I know my audience are mostly newbies – young school leavers, WASCE, Diplomas, HNDs, Graduates, Retirees, 5 years before Retirement, Underemployed Employees, BYO Boss aspirants, and Unemployed.

The best offers for them are eBooks and ecourses, etc.

I target different group of audience when I am selling a Software.

3.7 The Process

As for the setup, it is the simplest thing to do especially when you decide on the particular list builder (autoresponder) that you intend to use. There are plethora of information on their sites to help you do this like in a bliss.

You must also first decide as a learner whether you intend to start with a paid version or a free version to learn the robes.

The most popular ones are Aweber, MailChimp, etc. as mentioned in the previous courses. Their courses on set up are easy to follow.

4.0 CONCLUSION

With modern software squeeze page can be set up by anybody who is not a Techie. Only acquire the resources, stoop down and learn the step by step process.

5.0 SUMMARY

In this lesson we covered the importance of a squeeze page to any online business venture. We also emphasized the fact that anyone who wants to set up his/her online business in such a way that will guarantee profitability in the shortest possible time, should place one signup form at least on the home page of his website.

6.0 ASSIGNMENT

THE PRACTICE: Sign up with any autoresponder of your choice and get a code.

Use that code on your website to create a squeeze page.

What is the difference between A SQUEEZE PAGE and an AUTORESPONDER?

The content for your website is your primary resource and it’s importance cannot be underestimated. It generates traffic. It helps make a sale. Also, it provides authority, credibility and gets your business noticed above other online business. It also helps you market your business.

What Is Website Content?

Website content can be read, watched, listened to and shared. It covers everything from blog posts, articles, videos, reports, e-books, reviews, infographics and audio files.

But just having content is not enough. There’s good website content and there’s bad website content. Is the content on your website helping or hurting your online business?

It Must Have A Purpose

Unfortunately, many online business owners publish website content without any purpose in mind. They may write brilliant content material. Yet if it doesn’t have any purpose, it’s missing an opportunity.

It doesn’t matter if your website content is a short blog post or article or if it’s a larger content piece like a report or eBook. It needs a purpose. Possible purposes for your content material include:

• Generate traffic to your website
• Improve your website rankings in the search engines
• Lead traffic to an online sales page
• Bring in affiliate income
• Enhance your reputation in a specific niche market
• Get a response or comments from your audience
• Gather opt-ins to your email list

How To Create Website Content

Different people take different approaches to producing good website content. Some plan their content for the coming week. Others plan it for months ahead. When you plan your content you’ll need decide how you will publish it. Will it be text, video, audio or graphical? Maybe a mixture of one or two of these options?

Then what is the subject matter gain to be about? What keywords and phrases should you include? You’ll also have to decide when you’re going to publish it and where. It makes sense to incorporate your content material into your all your online marketing strategies. All of these factors give your content a purpose.

What Do You Want To Achieve?

Every piece of content needs to have some sort of call to action. For example, if you want to encourage comments and feedback at the end of a blog post, you have to ask for it. That’s your call to action. If you want to send people to a sales page, you need some sort of “Click here to learn more.” Your purpose will be integrated into your call to action.

When you are building a business online an essential element for success is effective email marketing. Every online business needs an email list. This is the list of prospective and actual customers that you have on your email database list and who you can email messages to at any time. Your email list is a vital tool in the online marketers’ toolbox and like all tools, if you don’t use it, nothing will happen.

For effective email marketing, you need an email autoresponder. It is your electronic personal assistant who works for you 24/7. It’s important to use it to its full potential if you are serious about building an online business. Here are 5 steps to make your email autoresponder work harder.

1. Create a compelling opt-in form.

Your email autoresponder software can create an opt-in form to capture email addresses. This opt-in form should be placed on the home page of your website. You only need to ask potential subscribers for their email address. You don’t need their name or anything else at this stage. The more info you ask for, the lower your conversion rate is going to be.

2. Provide something of value.

To encourage your prospects to input their email address into your opt-in form, you will need to provide something of value in return. For instance, this could be a free report, training video or e-newsletter relevant to your business. Set up your email autoresponder to instantly send what you offered in exchange for the email address when somebody does opt-in to your list. In this electronic age, people expect to have things sent quickly and if they have to wait for days to get anything back from you, when they do get it, they will have most likely forgotten why they asked for it initially.

3. Keep providing value.

Effective email marketing means developing a relationship with new subscribers as soon as possible. Studies show that it takes approximately seven emails before most subscribers will act. To stay in regular contact with your subscribers, pre-load your email autoresponder with a sequence of helpful emails that are automatically sent out over a set number of days or weeks. Generate a desire for your subscribers to want to know more by providing value and sparking your reader’s curiosity.

4. Avoid the hard sell.

Create a balance of selling to them versus being helpful. Send out a series of lessons. Ask them to participate in a poll so that it becomes interactive. Be a little controversial, but not offensive. You’ll want to set up a series of emails that your subscribers will want to read and will look forward to receiving. Moderation is key with effective email marketing and you don’t want to overdo it by bombarding a new subscriber with sales messages every day.

5. Send real time broadcasts.

Your email autoresponder works 24/7 for your online business. Your follow-up email marketing campaign is basically a series of emails that have been pre-written and loaded into your autoresponder. They are automatically sent out whenever somebody joins your list. But you don’t want to just rely on automation. You can enhance the relationship with your subscribers by sending emails that sent in ‘real-time’ about things that are happening now.

You can do this with a broadcast email that you send out to everyone on your list at the same time. Everyone will receive the same message whether they’ve been signed up to your list for days or years. This type of email message is particularly effective if you have some new product or service you want to let your customers know about, or if you’re having a sale.

For most people, deciding on what to send to their email subscribers can be really difficult. To get people to buy your products or services, without getting them offside to the point that they un-subscribe, what ratio of information, articles, tips, and sales offers do you send them? The fact is there are three distinct ‘types’ of subscriber. There’s prospects, new customers, and longer term repeat customers. And you should be talking to each of these 3 distinct groups in a different way. In this article, we are going to look at people who are in the first stage, which is before they become a customer.

Your Main Goal At the beginning Is Purely Lead Generation

At this stage of your relationship, your focus is all about lead generation. You want to throw out a wide net, and capture as many potential prospects as you can. To do that, you should be offering all of your website visitors some kind of ‘Lead Magnet’ that convinces them to subscribe to your email list.

You can use any number of options to create a lead magnet – it might be a White Paper, a video, an audio, or some other piece of valuable content that helps your customers start moving down the path towards where they want to be. If your lead magnet can do that, people are going to see you as an expert, and they’re going to want to reciprocate because you’ve actually helped them with your marketing.

The Key Distinction Between Marketing That Works And Marketing That Fails is This

Consumers have changed. In the old days, you could sell virtually anything using mass media and hype. But that doesn’t work any more. Your marketing has to be valuable to your customers, or they are simply going to ignore it. So how do you attract attention to your products or services? Make a note of this quote I learned from Frank Kern. It could be worth thousands of dollars to you and your business if you take it to heart…

As a business owner or manager, set yourself a goal of making all of your marketing materials so good, so helpful, and so different from everything else your customer sees from your competitors, that they find them useful and thank you for sending them, even if they don’t buy from you initially. Your marketing materials should actually HELP people, instead of just trying to sell to them. If you can do that, you’re going to stand up head and shoulders above everybody else who’s just saying, “Buy my stuff, buy my stuff.”

So you should be sending this Report, video or whatever it is to your customers immediately after they opt in and confirm their email address. Once you’ve given your readers that initial push towards their goal with your lead magnet, every couple of days you should send them extra information that helps them continue moving towards where they want to be.

Most of the time there’s multiple steps involved in getting from where your readers are to where they want to be, as it relates to your product. So you should be giving people the first steps in your lead magnet, and then give them additional steps and advice in the first three or four pieces of additional content you send out by email.

You should have a call to action in each piece of content, which means you ask your readers to buy something or book your service, because some of those people are going to be getting being closer to buying from you all the time. After that, you’ll want to continue sending your readers helpful content, with offers and ideas on how they can continue moving towards that goal they have as it relates to your product.

The Simple Email Sequence That Could Easily Double Your Sales

So after your initial series of three or four emails where you help people go from where they are to where they need to be using your product or service, next I’ll give you an ideal message sequence you could send to send your readers:

1. In the next email, you highlight one of the major problems your product or service helps to solve, and discuss the problem and the consequences of having it in the person’s life. You goal with this message is to try to aggravate the pain your reader has, so that they come to the conclusion that they need to take action, and they need to do something about it now.

At the end of your email, briefly mention that tomorrow you will give them the solution to the problem you highlighted today. The idea here is to open a loop in your reader’s mind.

They’re thinking, “OK. Now I know I’ve got to fix this problem.” And because you’ve promised you’re going to help them solve that problem tomorrow, and you’ve given them a small taste of how they will benefit by reading tomorrow’s message, your readers are going to be anticipating tomorrow’s message, and they won’t be able to wait to open it.

2. Then in that second message, you show them how your product or service can help solve the problem that you aggravated yesterday, and you close the loop by showing them your solution. You can make an offer to purchase your product based on the fact that they know they have this problem, and you can help them fix it.

When you use this format, you’ll typically see a large spike in sales as people read that second message.

3. Then in email number three a couple of days later, you highlight a different problem that your product or service helps to solve. You discuss the problem, aggravate it, make your readers understand that some of them really will have this problem.

We use this ‘problem probing’ technique, because some people are going to have different problems to others, and we want to cover as many as we can to help a many people as possible, and of course, to maximize your sales.

A Summary Of The Big Idea

So the idea then is to cover all the problems that people are experiencing that your product or service helps to solve, and go through them one after the other in your email sequence. So your message is: Here’s a problem you may have one day, here’s the solution the next day.

You open anther loop again in email 3. In email 4, you show people how your product or service helps them to solve the second problem. If they don’t have that problem, they’re not going to be interested. But if this is the problem that’s keeping them awake at night, they’re going to be interested and you make an offer for your product or service again as the solution.

If you continue to do this, highlight the problem one day and show them how your product or service solves the problem the next day, you can use this system again and again and again.

You can do that for as many problems as your product or service solves, and eventually people are going to buy from you, because you’re going to hit on the exact problem they have, and you will be able to solve it for them.

So that’s the sequence. You send out your lead magnet. You follow up with your readers for a few days and show them how buying your product or service can solve their problems. But if your readers haven’t bought by then, you just go through and highlight a problem one day, the solution the next day, problem two days later, solution the next day. Continue doing that until they buy.