Featured Post
By Wendy On June 17, 2010No Comments
Visitors to your blog are good. RSS subscribers are better. But the real money online is in your mailing list. Build a large list of qualified buyers, and you’ll see a much higher return on your investment than you will from any other marketing effort. The only question is, how do you build a qualified list?
Present an irresistible offer. The days of getting people to give you their email address with the promise of a monthly or weekly newsletter are gone. You need to offer your readers something of value. Downloadable products like eBooks and special reports are popular, as are software, and even trial subscriptions to membership sites.
Use highly targeted marketing. If your list focuses on gardening, and all your Twitter followers are other Internet marketers, pushing signups on your Twitter account is not going to result in a lot of conversions. Instead, concentrate your efforts where gardeners hang out – online forums, niche blogs, even Craig’s List are all good choices for getting your list in front of qualified, interested individuals.
Get traffic to your opt-in page. Common wisdom says that you need an opt-in form on every page of your site, and while that’s important, it’s even more critical to have a separate opt-in page. When linking back to your site from articles, forums, guest blogs, or ads, link to that page rather than your home page. You’ll see conversions increase dramatically.
Test, analyze, tweak, and repeat. No headline or opt-in page is perfect from the start. Keep an eye on your stats, and systematically change out elements to test performance. You can use scripts to split-test headlines and other parts of a squeeze page, or you can just manually track which ones work and which do not. And keep notes, you’ll want to refer back to them later for other campaigns.
Change your offer, too. Today’s hot ebook will eventually become yesterday’s news, and a new offer will often rejuvenate a quiet list.
Getting sign-ups is only part of your overall list building campaign, however. Once people are on your list, your job turns to keeping them there. Start by living up to the promise you made them. Revisit your opt-in page and welcome letter and make sure you’re doing what you said you would do. Did you promise a weekly newsletter? Then you need to get it out in a timely manner. Regardless of the promised schedule, don’t let weeks go by without contacting your list. An out-of-the-blue email from someone they haven’t heard from in three months will likely result in an unsubscribe.
At the same time, don’t make every contact with your list a sales pitch. Sure, they know they’re going to be marketed to when they sign-up, but they expect (and deserve) some value from being a member as well. It’s impossible to say what the exact ratio of information to sales pitch should be, but you should definitely test and analyze your results until you find the optimum mix for your market.
Building a list and keeping it healthy should be your highest priority as a business owner. Whether your business is selling diaper patterns to new moms, or multi-thousand-dollar software systems to IT professionals, your list is your biggest asset. Treat it well, and you will reap the rewards.
For even more tips and ideas check out our free list building report
photo credit: mccheek
Recent Posts
By Wendy On April 20, 2010
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Here’s a question for you… Do you spread the word about your favorite service providers that have a hand in helping you with your online business?
I recently received an email from one of my graphic clients (I am also a service provider offering ecover & other web graphic design at GeteCovers.com), in which she said that she really loves my service and thinks it’s great that I offer an affiliate program as well, but would never promote it because she doesn’t want others to know about me. 
Basically, she wants to keep me all to herself and is worried that if I become “really known” I won’t have time for her any longer.
I use service providers on a daily basis and enjoy “spreading the love” about their services if I have found them to be invaluable, but I can also see where my client is coming from.
Where do you stand on this? Do you keep your service providers a secret from the world or are you happy to share with others?
By Wendy On April 19, 2010
No Comments
Hiring a copywriter is one of the most important investments any businessperson makes.
Even if you know how to write your own copy, you’ll still find that working with a good copywriter brings positive results to your bottom line.
That’s because you could be too close to your product or service to properly write copy for it.
Or you could be at that point in your business, when you no longer have the time and/or energy to do your own copywriting.
One place I recommend for copywriting is All Custom Content.
If you’re still on the fence about the value a high-calibre copywriter can bring to your business, then read on, because here are…
12 Reasons to Hire A Copywriter:
Even before a good copywriter writes one word for your promotion, he or she will ask you questions that will help you:
1. Clarify your target market
Your copywriter will help make sure that you have a clear idea and understanding of your target market, and that your product/service matches it.
2. Communicate your USP
A copywriter will also help you identify and communicate your Unique Selling Proposition. That’s what makes you stand out from your competition.
3. Identify the features and benefits of your product
Another part of preparing to write your promotional material is identifying your product’s features and benefits. Without communicating this, you won’t give your prospects enough reasons to buy your product.
4. Assess the strength of your offer
A copywriter can also assess if your offer is irresistible, or if it’s something your prospects can easily pass up.
5. Come up with all-purpose headlines
Your copywriter will brainstorm dozens of headlines before choosing the best one for your material. You can use these for your website, landing pages, text ads and banner ads.
6. Craft an engaging “About” page
Writing your personal story can feel awkward. A copywriter can write your “About” page copy, so that it helps readers know, like and trust you.
7. Come up with a laser-targeted, benefit-oriented title for your website and a headline for your home page
Make sure your home page communicates your USP within 3 seconds. A well-crafted website title, sub-title and home page headline are necessary for this.
8. Describe your products and services in a customer-focused way
If you have a catalog-like page of your products and/or services, a copywriter can write descriptions for them in a way that focuses on what your customers want and are looking for.
9. Create an effective opt-in form for your site
Effective copy makes a big difference in how many of your site readers sign up for your mailing list.
10. Write a high-conversion landing page for your products and/or services
A good copywriter will create a landing page for your product/service that effectively gets you more orders — even with the same traffic.
11. Write promotional emails that get opened, read and clicked through
If you have a list, you’ll want to occasionally promote your products or affiliate products to your subscribers. You’ll need good copy to get more of them to actually read your emails and click on your links.
12. Create promotional materials for your affiliates to use
Affiliates need promotional materials to help them pre-sell your products. Make their job easier by having a copywriter prepare solo promos, articles, blog posts, text ads and even Twitter tweets.
As you can see, copywriting plays a big role in your business.
You could do all the copywriting for your business if you want.
Or, you can focus on other strategic areas of your business and hire a copywriter to take care of all this for you.
All Custom Content can take care of all your copywriting needs. Click here to send a request for quotation
Copy can make or break your business. Make sure you get the best you can afford.
photo credit: Capeside.
