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Why You Need a Newsletter This entry was posted on 3/2/2007 3:19 PM and is filed under General Marketing Tips. Generating traffic to your Web site is the first step towards building a successful online business. Without traffic, you won't have customers - it's that simple. But, since new visitors to your Web site may not purchase on the first visit, you need to find a way to get them to come back again. There are two obvious methods for securing such return visits: You can "pay" for return visits by continuing to advertise to the same market. Or, you could collect email addresses from your visitors and use your Express Email Marketing tool to reach out to visitors on a regular basis. The latter is most certainly the least costly option. And if you take full advantage of your email marketing, this option will also prove the most effective.
So how do you get those visitor email addresses? Simple: Create a monthly (or weekly) newsletter and add a subscription box on your custom home page. I know... I'm already hearing the excuses: I don't have anything to say in a newsletter; I don't have anyone to send it to because I don't have a list; I hate writing; I don't have time to write a newsletter every month…. Not to worry; I have the answers to all those questions and more. Fake It Till You Make It When I first started sending out my newsletter I had four (!) subscribers – myself and a few friends I talked into subscribing. Still, I wrote my newsletter as though I was sending it out to 1000's of recipients. That is: I made sure that my message was carefully crafted and the offers enticing enough to appeal to a broad customer base. You never know when one of your subscribers is going to forward the newsletter to a friend. And the more appealing the newsletter, the more likely your recipients are to share it with friends, family, coworkers, etc. So, fake it till you make it. Act like you've got a list of a million and one day you just might. The important thing to remember is that you're using your newsletter to build your list. Don't wait until you have a list to build your newsletter. Besides, you can use the feedback from your first newsletters to improve it as you grow. Getting Visitors to Subscribe Once you've decided to create a newsletter, you need to convince your visitors/customers to subscribe to it. One way of doing so is to combine a newsletter subscription with the 5% off $25 promo: Offer this discount as a bonus for subscribing – e.g., "Subscribe to my free newsletter and get 5% off!" You can then add the promo code to the Web page subscribers see AFTER they have confirmed their subscription. If you're using Express Email Marketing, you'll find this page by clicking Opt-In Magnet. It's the last step in Build Sign-Up Form called the Subscription Confirmation Message. If you have a clear idea of what you intend to put in your newsletter, you can place a "teaser" segment next to the subscription box, thus allowing potential subscribers to get a gist of what they can expect from your mailings. Be sure to put your "subscribe" block in a prominent place on your custom home page. Alternatively (or additionally), you can use a "hover ad". A hover ad displays on your home page when the page loads, and then disappears after a few seconds. You can create a hover ad using a free tool at: http://www.tamingthebeast.net/generators/popup-hover-ad.htm. Also, hover ads are not blocked by pop-up blockers so your visitors are sure to see it. I got a new subscriber to my list within an hour of adding my hover ad. Note, however, that some Internet users are annoyed by any kind of pop-up/hovering content on the pages they visit, so tread carefully if you elect to use this concept. What to Put In a Newsletter Composing and distributing a newsletter may seem daunting. But don't panic: You're not aiming to write a bestselling novel or trying to win a Pulitzer. All you need to do is provide some interesting reading for your subscribers and a special offer to attract them to your storefront. People don't have time to read pages and pages of copy, so keep you content to 1500 words or less. In other words: Keep your message simple, appealing, and to the point. The content of your newsletter should be relevant to your niche market. Write a short piece on how one of your products can be used in your niche, preferably a product you have on sale that month. Write another article that is strictly informational and relevant to your niche – no sales pitch. Include a few links to other interesting articles or news stories you've found on the Web. Write a case study of one of your customers: What they do, how they use your products and link to their Web site. Include a short article about a new feature that's available for a particular product, or describe a new product that you've added to your storefront. The key to writing an article that your visitors will read is keeping the sales pitch soft and giving them interesting information. As you compose more and more articles for your newsletters, you'll gradually learn to get the balance right between useful information and subtle, yet effective product marketing. Obviously, you want to link any offers and products you mention in your newsletter to your storefront pages, with a source code, but you can link informational articles to your site, as well. For example: Display the first few sentences of the article (or a quick overview of its main points) in the newsletter and add a Read More link that takes the readers to your custom site. This will help direct the newsletter recipients to your site, which is where you want them. Re-Purpose Your Newsletters Don't have time to write a newsletter??? You don't have time NOT to! Look at all the ways you can use your newsletter articles to grow your business:
So no more excuses – start your own monthly newsletter and watch your business grow! CommentsDisplay comments as (Linear | Threaded)
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