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I am sure you have all head this before, but I am going to
reiterate again just how important list building is to your overall success on
the web. I cannot understate how
important that having a list of past and future customers can be, so I won’t. It is the single biggest step that most
failed web sites miss. I believe it is
for one of two reasons. Either they are
afraid to ask people for their email addresses for fear of making them mad, or
because they just don’t know how.
To address the first issue real quick. If someone is afraid of giving you their
email address then they weren’t going to do business with you in the first
place. Don’t be afraid to ask just because
of all of the complaints about email junk.
What is the worst that can happen?
The person refuses to give you their email address for fear of getting
one more junk email. I personally look
forward to getting email from the people or companies that I have signed up to
get email from. In fact there is one in
particular that makes me mad when they don’t do a daily newsletter. Seriously I kinda ruins my morning when I don’t
get the read the foolish junk they produce.
So put up an email gatherer and flat out ask everyone that comes to your
site to sign up.
Now for the possible other reason that websites don’t ask
for email addresses. When I said they don’t
know how, I was referring to one of two possibilities. Either they already have a box on their site
to collect email addresses and nobody ever signs up, or they just don’t know
how to implement the technology. Let’s
talk about not understanding the technology first. Most internet marketers use a service called Aweber.com
to send email for a couple of reasons. Aweber.com
does a great job of getting their email white listed, meaning that it isn’t
automatically blocked by major email providers.
So most of there email goes through to the intended recipient. The second reason is that they keep record of
how people signed up and can prove that what was sent was not spam when someone
complains. Aweber.com also has a readily
available script to place on your site that makes it very easy to put in
place. If you are technologically challenged
then a service like Aweber.com is definitely the way to go. On this site I have chosen to use a script
called PHPList that I set up myself. I
did a lot of testing with different email services before I switched it over
from Aweber.com to make sure it would go through. So far I am happy with the way it is
working. If it breaks or something goes
wrong I will let you know.
Now if you already have a signup box on your site and no one
is signing up it is because there is no compelling reason to sign up. Here in a nutshell is how you get people to
sign up. GIVE THEM SOMETHING! Yup that’s all you have to do. I can’t tell you exactly what to give them
because it will be different at every site.
But usually it will be an ebook or report that answers an important
question they have. Make whatever you
are giving them valuable. You don’t want
to give out partial or just plan bad information or they most likely wont trust
that any of your other products are worthy of their attention. I am not saying that you have to give away
the farm, but it has to be what you promised and nothing less. Don’t mislead people or use the signup to get
their interest in something else or it will backfire on you quicker than not
having it there at all.
Now that you are getting signups don’t forget to communicate
with them. If you have a list of
customers who have already purchased something from you, they are your most
valuable asset. Make sure you email them
every time you are having a sale. Or have
a sale just so you can communicate with them.
Seriously it is that important.
Most businesses concentrate on the next customer instead of taking care
of the ones they already have. Communicate
with your existing customers as often as you possibly can. I apologize that I don’t know the female equivalent
of this but it is just like when you walk into an auto parts store and you are
talking with the guy behind the counter and he stops helping you to answer the
phone. It makes me want to scream. I took the time to walk into your store and
you decide to help someone that is price shopping and may never be a customer
of yours ever? Take better care of your
current customers and they will take better care of you. Don’t give them an excuse to go price
shopping and find someone else who does take better care of them. Use your email list as the important business
tool that it is.
Now if you haven’t done so already look up in the left
corner of this website and sign up for my newsletter. Seriously go do it now! Right now!
I’m not promising you anything, just do it. Really I am just kidding but if you are
looking for help with your website then join us over at the forum and feel free
to ask any questions you like. The only
stupid question is the one you didn’t ask.
Last update : 06-05-2008 09:29
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