You've probably heard the expression, 'the money isin the list'. It's become a bit of a cliché - but it'sthe key to successful web marketing.
About 95% of visitors will not buy on their firstvisit to your website - in fact, most of yourcustomers will have to see your message 7 times beforethey buy.
Many people starting out on the Internet believe thattheir main marketing tool is their website.
In fact, your main marketing tool is your mailinglist. A website is just a way of building your mailinglist - by collecting the email addresses of yourvisitors.
Here are some examples of how to use mailing lists aspart of your marketing strategy. You could send:
=> a customized newsletter to your subscribers
=> sequential autoresponders to prospects
=> your Articles to Ezine publishers
=> offers for other products to your customers
However, managing your mailing lists can quicklybecome an organizational nightmare if you don't havean Automated Email Marketing Tool.
An AEMT is a program that merges personal data into aform letter, schedules follow-up emails, and handlessubscribes and unsubscribes automatically.
--------------------------------------- Server Side or Client Side? ---------------------------------------
The first thing you'll need to decide is whether touse a Server Side or Client Side program.
A Server Side program is a script that sits on yourserver, whereas a Client Side program is anapplication that sits on your PC.
In general, Client Side programs are capable of muchmore advanced email management than Server Sideprograms.
But Server Side programs do have some advantages:
=> With a Server Side program, people who join your
Newsletter receive an instant 'Welcome Message'
=> Server Side programs include an unsubscribe link
at the bottom of your Newsletter. The reader
just clicks on that link and the cgi program
removes them from your mailing list.
=> With Server Side programs, you don't need to be
connected to the Internet while your Newsletter
is being mailed out. You just click a button on
a web page and you can then go offline - the
mailing is being performed by your server.
Here are some tools for automating your emailmarketing:
---------------------------------------------- Subscribe Me Pro (Server Side) ----------------------------------------------
This is a popular program amongst Newsletterpublishers - it mails out your Newsletter and providesautomatic subscribe/unsubscribe functions.
Subscribe Me Pro gives automatic mail-backconfirmation when people subscribe or unsubscribe andyou can include automatic Add or Remove links in eache-mail, so users can add or remove themselves.
http://www.freezineweb.com/cgi-bin/subpro.cgi
------------------------------------------------- Auto Response Plus (Server Side) -------------------------------------------------
This program gives you unlimited follow-upautoresponders. It allows full personalization ofsubject lines, headers, footers, ads - every part ofevery follow-up message can be personalized.
Auto Response Plus gives you full control over thescheduling of your follow up messages - you can set aninterval between messages or schedule them to be senton certain days of the week.
Although this program is designed primarily forsequential autoresponders, it's also quite capable ofmailing out your Newsletter and managingsubscribes/unsubscribes.
http://www.freezineweb.com/autoplus.html
------------------------------- Mailloop (Client Side) -------------------------------
This application includes a newsletter server, webform processor, bulk emailer, customer databasemanagement, and autoresponders.
As with other Client Side programs, Mailloop allowsyou to merge an unlimited number of fields into youre-mail message (for example: first name, last name,e-mail address, product purchased, date of purchase,etc).
http://www.freezineweb.com/mloop.html
-------------------------------------- World Merge (Client Side) --------------------------------------
This is another application that allows you to mergepersonalized data into form letters.
Depending on your modem and the quality of your ISPconnection, this program will send approximately 8,000messages per hour.
WorldMerge is excellent value - it's about a quarterthe price of similar programs.
http://www.freezineweb.com/worldmerge.html
------------------------------------ Postmaster (Client Side) ------------------------------------
Like other Automated Email Marketing Tools, thisprogram allows you to create a form letter and mergepersonalized data into each letter. Your letters areaddressed to 'Dear Michael' instead of 'DearCustomer'.
Postmaster acts as a List Server, sends out follow-upAutoresponders, and manages your database of contacts.
http://www.freezineweb.com/postmaster.html
To sum up, in a successful web marketing strategy,your website is merely the first point of contact. Youthen need to:
(1) build an opt-in email list of potential
customers (your website visitors)
(2) use automated email marketing tools that allow
you to follow up with your site visitors.
If you aren't building mailing lists and usingautomated email marketing tools you could be losing upto 90% of your potential sales.
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Michael Southon has been writing for the Internet for over 3
years. He has shown hundreds of webmasters how to use this
simple technique to build a successful online business. Click
here to find out more: http://ezine-writer.com/
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