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DRAW YOUR CUSTOMERS LIKE A MAGNET!
by Mike Valentine
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The web is SO FULL of creativity and innovative ideas that
it's often hard to remember where you saw the last amazing
tidbit unless you bookmarked the site you visited. Sometimes
I don't even do that because my bookmarks already fill up
the screen and scroll even more! When I am taken by a great
new website, I'll often go right to sign up for their news-
letter so that I'm reminded of their web address often and
remember to return when I receive their mail.
Internet based businesses are wising up to the need to stay
in contact with their potential customers by offering these
regularly sent newsletters. Some of the best examples of the
technique are the search engine related e-zines sent to the
entire database of their listed web sites! Some even require
your subscription to list your site. Those zines attract a
huge advertiser interest because of the giant captive
audience it delivers (remember the subscription requirement)
Other zines are opt-in for subscribers, like LinkExchange
Digest, sent only to customers of their Banner Exchange who
have asked for a subscription. Every other day, LED shows up
in my e-mailbox with incredible posts from leading industry
gurus that contribute to the moderated list. It's invaluable
for webmasters interested in the latest internet development
or the newest web trends.
This leads to my point for this weeks advice, head on over
to one of the many available list hosts like ListBuilder
(my list host) or OneList which both offer opt-in list
distribution and archiving of your own newsletter. This is
becoming the ONLY way to market and establish customer
loyalty on the internet and leads to referrals and forward-
ing of your news and information to others. While it does
require dedication on your part in sitting down to compose
and edit a regular newsletter, you can choose your lists'
frequency by how often you're willing to DO that task.
I have set up newsletters for clients to send out to their
own list of subscribers and find that they often tire of
the additional responsibility of creating a regular news-
letter and soon stop (or never begin) writing and miss
building a community with their existing customers. Be sure
you are willing to do the work before building subscribers
so that you don't disappoint loyal followers looking for
regular contact from your organization. IT WORKS WONDERS
AT ESTABLISHING AND KEEPING CLIENTS! I didn't mean to shout
at you there but I do want to emphasize the effectiveness.
Those of you who are unwilling to create and manage a
regular newsletter or e-zine might consider another option.
Autoresponder-generated reports, books or lessons in your
own particular specialty available from your web site. We
have just established one of these in the form of a "Short-
Course" on small business e-commerce delivered automatically
to those who request it from our home page. When visitors
enter their e-mail address and name, our autoresponder
immediately sends a greeting note and then follows up with
"Lessons" from WebSite101 sent every other day for a week!
This method means that we have created what we consider to
be valuable advice to the small business. Info is created
ONLY ONCE and sent automatically to anyone who requests it!
You have the opportunity to emphasize parts of your business
that you want to highlight to new visitors by going to them
via e-mail instead of waiting for them to come back to your
site (which they may forget to do otherwise!) We have added
a great incentive to those who waver; a chance to win a free
custom designed website by "Registering for Class" It's the
only way to enter the contest! (Contests build traffic too!)
This approach provides value to the visitor of free advice
and important information, value for WebSite101 in the
ability to highlight specific portions of our services to
potential clients, and finally, opportunity to win a free
website design for businesses ready to expand their company
to the web. The advertising benefit to us is the increased
traffic generated by the benefit to the VISITORS of solid
information and the chance at a free website! Everyone wins!
Give it a try and tell us what you think! It's easy to get
unsubscribed if ya wanna stop!
http://www.website101.com/arch
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WebSite101 "Reading List" Weekly Netrepreneur Tip Sheet
Weekly Ezine emphasizing small business on the Internet
http://website101.com/arch/
e-tutorial online at: http://website101.com/shortcourse.html
By week's end you're ready expand your business to the web!
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