Articles are a very cost
effective, viral marketing strategy for your business. After all,
you know your businesses inside out, right? It would be a natural
extension to share some of what you know through articles.
So, how can you use articles to market your business?
Step One: Developing an Opt-In List
You can't start an internet business without developing an "opt-in"
email list. You'll need something to give away. That's where an
ezine or ebook come in to play.
When you have a monthly ezine
or an ebook to give away you can start to collect "opt-in"
email list.
What's an "Opt-In Email List"
An "opt-in" is needed to protect you from spam complaints
and to make you compliant with the CanSpam
Act. Here' a "non-legal
definition" of the CanSpam Act.
Basically, you'll need your visitor's name, email address, a
timestamp and a date. You can get all of that by programming a
form on your web site. Although, to build and manage a strong
list, you'll want an autoresponder.
Having your own list of responsive subscribers enables you to
generate money on demand or drive traffic to any web site. It’s
also the ultimate form of free advertising for yourself. You know
ezine advertising works, so why not start your own instead of
paying other ezines all the time?
Generate Subscribers
Now that you have your ebook or ezine
ready to offer you'll need to start generating your opt-in subscribers.
Everything you do should be aimed at securing opt-in subscribers.
Some of the strategies you should use are:
- Articles
You could take all that expertise and write a couple of articles.
It's one of the best methods of free advertising and can help
build your subscriber list. You write them and then allow them
to be published freely on the internet. Of course, you'll add
your pertinent information in the sig line. What's a sig line?
A sig line is at the very bottom of your articles. It usually
contains your name, web site. url, your blog
url (if you have one) and any other information that will lend
credibility to your business. Try to keep it within three or
four lines.
- Subscriptions
Place a subscription box on every page of your web site. Your
visitors may not necessarily visit your homepage. They may be
looking at another page, so you'll want your subscription box
there too, right?
- Incentive Subscriptions
You'll want to provide attractive incentives or reasons to subscribe
to your ezine. You may want to offer your free ebook as an incentive.
Maybe you want to offer a contest, free ad or ecourse. You may
want to offer all of the above.
Using An Autoresponder
An autoresponder allows you to fully comply with the CanSpam
Act. It also let's you pre-populate your messages. With an autoresponder
it's easy to deliver an online study course as the incentive for
your visitor to leave their name and e-mail address with you.
With their e-mail address you have a way to stay in touch with
them, share information to benefit them, and let them know when
you have a new service or product.
Two popular autoresponder services are GetResponse
and Aweber.
Both give you a "trial run" to test their services.
You can opt for either a text or html e-mail format.
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