Eddie the Erroneous E-Marketer – Email Marketing
Eddie the Erroneous E-Marketer
Jason OConnor
Poor Eddie the e-marketer has been plagued by errors in judgment all his life. From always picking the longest line at the toll booth to buying lots of dot com stocks right before the bubble burst, he constantly struggles with making the right choices. >From disagreeing that a car really needs oil changes every three thousand miles to insisting that the eight-track is going to make a comeback, Eddie bumbles through life perplexed. One area that particularly suffers is his e-marketing efforts.
You see, Eddie recently got himself a new website for his business. Unfortunately, hes been trying in vain to turn it into a vehicle for getting leads and making sales. Hes confused. Hes dazed. He thrashes about lost in a maze. Although he at least understands the importance of e-marketing for driving traffic to his site, hes like a hamster running on a wheel, wasting energy and getting nowhere. Lets take a look at a few of the more typical e-marketing errors Eddie regularly makes.
Treat the Web as a different medium
The other day his business partner, Betty, showed Eddie a recent half-page ad they ran in one of their industrys magazines. Eddie, excited at how pretty the pictures were, wanted it up on their website pronto. Did he alter it in any way before they posted it to the site Did he add a specific call to action hyperlink in it Did he optimize the large print graphics so they would download fast in peoples browsers Nope. He just took the ad, as is, and posted it. Eddie has never been able to grasp the idea that traditional marketing and e-marketing, while related, are not the same thing. What works in print doesnt always work online. Why Different mediums require different approaches. Look for Eddies static magazine ad in his first TV commercial, just the motionless ad on the screen for thirty seconds. Riveting.
The Web is interactive. Site visitors can click buttons, fill out forms, or post immediate comments in forums or blogs. When Eddie was having his site built, he really just wanted to have a way to talk about his business. He wanted to tell the world how great his company was and the exciting history of its formation. This is called brochure-ware. Its just taking a company brochure, posting it online and adding a few links. To say that Eddie is underutilizing the Web is like saying the ocean is mildly wet. The Web is extremely powerful and businesses have a choice of taking advantage of its power, or just scratching the surface with simple brochure-ware. Its similar to buying a tank, climbing in and lifting the hatch only to shoot spit balls at the enemy. If you have that kind of power, use it.
Ask your customers what they want
Since Eddie doesnt really grasp the interactive nature of the Web he guesses what his potential customers want and need. One day in a meeting Eddie was scratching his head, staring up at the ceiling and saying, Gee, if there was only a way to figure out what our customers want, a way we could get in their heads, and a way to reach enough of them to get a really clear picture, hmm . . . Thankfully, a timid but sharp junior associate raised her hand and suggested that they just ask their customers their opinions and needs directly, and do it online where they could ask a whole bunch of them.
Eddie jumped at the idea. Finally he was going make the right choice, albeit aided by a junior associate, but the right e-marketing choice nonetheless. They created an html form with forty of the most important questions he could think of and posted a link on their homepage called Customer Survey.
Offer incentives
Only three people ever filled the survey out, and that was it. Eddie was dumfounded. What went wrong He was hoping for hundreds. The problem was that Web users are not patient and generally dont like to fill out forms, especially long ones. Even more importantly, they dont like to do something for nothing.
If you were jostling your way through a crowded store in a big rush and a bored teenage clerk asked you to fill out a survey of forty questions but wasnt offering anything in return, how likely would it be that youd do it A more effective approach for Eddie would have been to narrow down his list of questions to four instead of forty, and offer a coupon for 10% off any online purchase in return for filling it out. If you want to create leads using your website, offer something for free and require your visitors to give you a bit of information first. Theyll be much more likely to respond if they get something they perceive as valuable in return. Give the people what they want, an incentive.
Regularly study your website statistics
Another area that Eddie seems to miss the e-marketing boat is in analysis. He doesnt have time for looking at all those pesky Web statistics. He cant be bothered with analyzing the number of visitors who come to his site, or how they got there, or where they go once theyre there. Hes rendered blind to his e-marketing campaigns successes and failures. Its like always ignoring your checking account balance and then despairingly wondering where all your money went each week. Whats worse, because he ignores the numbers, he has no useful information to help plan his next campaign. Numbers help in life.
A jumbo jet is off course 90% of time. It reaches its destination successfully by constantly checking the data on its exact position and continuously making the appropriate adjustments until it lands on target.
Likewise, an e-marketing objective can be best reached by analyzing the data and making the necessary modifications. For example, if your target is a thousand visitors a week, then look at your website statistics and learn where the majority of your visitors are coming from. Discover what type of site, link or search engine is doing a lot of the referring. Then adjust your time and budget accordingly.
Its been rumored around the office that Eddie sometimes locks himself in his office and counts his new websites hit counter, prancing around in jubilation each time the counter goes up by one. Yet he hates to hunker down and look at all the numbers, all the visitors, all the referrals, and then conduct a meaningful analysis to help understand the past and better plan for the future.
Since Eddie hates looking at his site statistics, he has no idea how well his last email marketing campaign went. He sent out five thousand emails to a rented list and then asked his sales people if they got any more phone calls that day. Itd be like a television network executive asking his employees if they happened to see their neighbors TV sets on the night before to determine if the new show did well. Hey Eddie, I have an idea, check your Web stats for page views and youll know exactly how successful your email was!
Poor Eddie the erroneous e-marketer, is he condemned to sub-par performances in life and business If he tries to learn from his mistakes, if he starts to treat the Web differently than print or any other medium, hell start to see results. If he uses more of the Webs power and potential, tapping into its interactivity and offering easy ways for his site visitors to communicate with him, and if he offers incentives to motivate his visitors to take action, then maybe, just maybe, he may not be doomed after all.
Unfortunately, after choosing the longest line at the toll booth again, his cars engine seized from idling and poor oil maintenance. So to pass the time waiting for the tow truck, he popped in an eight-track cassette, flipped open his cell phone and purchased some more Enron stocks.
About The Author
Jason OConnor is President of Oak Web Works and runs http://www.getredsoxtickets.com - one of the cheapest places on the Net to get premium and sold out tickets to sporting events, concerts and shows.
http://www.oakwebworks.com
http://www.getredsoxtickets.com
When Internet Marketing Gurus Sell Their Souls – Email Marketing
When Internet Marketing Gurus Sell Their Souls
Gobala Krishnan
If youre just getting started in Internet Marketing, you may be awed by the amount of "Internet Gurus" out there, all making millions of dollars or so they claim and for some reason seem more than willing, for a fee, to teach you their biggest, most intimate secrets.
I believe in one thing - If it sounds too good to be true, it most probably is!
While I have no doubt on the specialized skills and techniques used by these gurus, it can get way too frustrating simply getting into all their hype, and find almost no value at the end of the day. Hype - thats one thing I agree these gurus are really good at. For some of them, unfortunately, hype is the only thing theyre good at.
So the question, for those who are trying to master Internet Marketing, might be:
Can I learn anything from these gurus without paying money
Who is real and who is not
Whose methods should I follow
Can You Learn Something for Free
Most gurus have opt-in newsletters on specialized subjects like website marketing, Pay-Per-Click, search engine optimization or whatever specialized skill they have "mastered". Almost all of them ask you to subscribe to their newsltetter in return for some kind of "breakthrough" report, and promise to deliver "valuable information" weekly or monthly to your email address. Sound great.
Heres what happens 2 weeks later - You realize that the "breakthrough report" is the same old regurgitated information which you can find almost anywhere. You might also relize that the "valuable information" never comes in full, without any hidden agenda. The "valuable information" is actually a soft-selling sometimes even blatant advertisements ad for the gurus products, or even worse, some other Internet marketers products.
Im not trying to shoot down any marketer here, but the irony is in their teaching. Almost all internet gurus would advice you to offer valuable, free information that benefits other people. Profits, as they say, is secondary to actually helping people and making a difference in their lives. What a load of BS. How come they dont practise what they preach Of is that how the Internet Marketing Game is played
Fortunately, not all gurus are the same. There are still some jewels to be found, and they offer some great information in their newsletters, such as:
Vishal Rao: http://www.home-based-business-opportunities.com talks about home based businesses.
Mike Cheney: http://www.magnet4web.com talks about building an effective and efficient business web site.
Jill Whalen: http://www.highrankings.com talks about Search Engine Optimization.
Of course there are more out there, but it is not necessary to subscribe to every Internet Marketing newsletter just to hope for nuggets of gold that may never come. Instead, give the guru a "trial" month, and if you dont find anything of value from them, just unsubscribe. It will only be a loss to them, not you.
Whos Real and Whos Not
To answer this question, you really have to "get around" the Internet a lot. Go to forums where you will definately find topics on info-products offered by these gurus, and see what others are saying about them. Forget about all those blaring testimonials that the gurus compile on their site. Forums are where the real testimonials are. You may also want to consider this site:
GuruDaq : http://www.gurudaq.com
Taking on a Nasdaq-like approach, this site lists all gurus according to ratings and stock price. Although I would advice to take it more as an entertainment that actual recommendations, perhaps this site will allow you to get a glimpse of "whos who" in Internet Marketing.
Whose methods should I follow
Honestly, nobodys. At least not word-for-word of what is thought in their newsletters or ebooks. The important thing to realize is that you need to develop your own technique to be really successful. The gurus dont teach you everything, anyway. They almost always feed you the crop but keep the cream for themselves. In other words, no one really tells you the "hot money-making secrets", especially those gurus that have sold their soul a long time ago.
Its really up to you to learn some tips and tricks of the trade from them, but set out on your own course. In order to be successful in anything, you need to do your own thing. Be original in you approach, whether its writing sales letters, doing email marketing, pay-per-click or search engine optimization.
Dont look to someone who has sold their soul to lead you to the path of success. Thats wishful thinking.
Copyright 2005 Gobala Krishnan
About The Author
Gobala Krishnan is an internet marketer and home business owner. Visit his site at http://www.sfidreamteam.com to start your own Internet based home business today, and get a free kickstart package, one-on-one coaching and a clear, proven system to earn a six figure income.
How To Choose The Best MLM Leads – Email Marketing
How To Choose The Best MLM Leads
Jeff Schuman
What are the characteristics of the Best Mlm Leads This is a good question to ask before you spend any money buying leads to build your MLM business. Before we get to that lets take a look at why you would want to buy MLM leads in the first place.
Over the years the multi-level marketing business has gotten a black eye because of the over hyped promises of money and freedom. Very few people have ever achieved a high level of success in any MLM business. And even fewer have ever been able to maintain the level of achievements over a period of time.
That does not make MLM companies bad. Nor does it make the opportunities they afford the average person as a way to make extra money or even as a way to drastically change your lifetsyle. It can be done and using MLM leads is a great way to do it.
There are 2 big benefits to buying MLM leads.
1. It gets you away from approaching your friends and relatives. If you have been in more than one MLM business over the years you may have already approached them and used up your credibility when you were unsuccessful.
2. This is a duplicatible way to build your business that you can pass on to your downline. Any successful network marketing business will tell you that one of the main components of success is duplication. Anyone can buy leads and work them over the phone or thur the internet with the use of an autoresponder.
If you are unsure of how to work a lead over the phone I would suggest getting the book "Recruit Your Way To Millions" by Fred Stegge. After reading this book you will be able to explain what you do and what you offer to a new prospect in 30 seconds or less. http://www.team-schuman.com/recruit-your-way
If you are unsure of what an autoresponder is or how to use one read this article I wrote "How To Effectively Use An Autoresponder." This is an absolutely essential business tool if you are going to succeed online with your MLM business.
http://team-schuman.com/articles/article15.html
Now that you understand some of the benefits of buying MLM leads and how to market to them lets take a look at what are the characteristics of the Best MLM Leads.
1. How many times are the leads sold Many MLM lead companies sell their leads over and over. You will be contacting a prospect that has already been marketed to. Personally I like eads that are exclusive to me.
2. How old are the leads Would you rather contact a prospect that has expressed an interest in the past 48 hours or in the past 48 days. Being able to strike while the iron is hot so to speak is a great benefit of a fresh lead.
3. How many leads do you get for your money Obviously the more leads you can get for the best price the more leads you can buy at a time. This is especially important when you are first starting or when you are helping your downline get started.
4. What is the quality of the lead Nothing compares to a lead that contains both a phone number and email address along with a few qualifying answers to questions like "How much can you invest to get started" or "How soon do you want to get started" or When is the best time to contact you" If a prospect is answering these type of questions you are getting a much better quality lead than if you just have a name and email address.
5. What is the response rate This will improve as your skill level at working your leads improves, but the fresher higher quality leads will give you a better response rate even when your skill level is low.
6. Do your leads come with any extras such as an autoresponder, training on how to work leads, pre-written email marketing letters, phone scripts, your own website, flash presentations, etc.
These are the top qualities of the Best MLM Leads. Be careful when choosing a place to get your leads. Not all MLM Lead companies are created equal. It is going to be the single most important decision you make when trying to grow your MLM Business. Make the wrong choice and you will waste your time and money as well as the time and money of your downline. Make the right choice and you can be building your business successfully for years to come.
Copyright 2004 Jeff Schuman
About The Author
Jeff Schuman has made over $35 Million Dollars in sales in his 20 year sales and marketing career. His Best Mlm Leads website contains the best mlm leads companies available today. His Team-Schuman.com website contains the best make money, and make money online websites anyone can use to get started making money from the comfort of their own home.
http://www.team-schuman.com/bestmlmleads
http://www.team-schuman.com