Winning the lottery is easy, building a viable online business isn’t. I know, I know, I just broke the “Guru Code” because I gave away the dirty little secret.

It is hard.

But there are tools available that turn time-consuming tasks into no-brainers. An autoresponder is one of those tools and I’m going to show you how using an autoresponder correctly can put your business on autopilot.

But first, just to make sure we’re all on the same page…

An autoresponder, quite simply, is an email address that automatically responds when someone sends an email to that address. You send an email to a certain address and a few minutes later you’ll receive a reply. Automatically. No humans are involved in the process at all.

A sequential autoresponder goes one step further — it sends out a series of emails on a predetermined basis. Maybe one every other day, once a week, etc.

And you may not believe it, but that’s a very powerful force to use with your business. Let me give you an example…

You’re a hot-shot marketer and have a sales page converting at 5% (that’s a huge conversion rate in case you didn’t know). That means 5 out of every 100 people who come to your page buy your product. Yeehaw!

Oh, but wait, that also means 95 out of every 100 people who come to your page DON’T buy. They just go away and you never see them again.

And that’s where an autoresponder can save the day. Because if you set it up correctly you’ll end up getting some sales from the 95% who don’t buy immediately.

If you’re selling Blue Widgets the people who come to your page are obviously interested in widgets, so what if you put together a special report called, “The Top 10 Ways Widgets Can Make You Rich.” And then offer that for free to the people who come to your web site. All they have to do is give you their name and email address and you’ll give them the report…

…and more information all about widgets, blue ones, especially.

The prospect signs up for the list, they get the report, and then your autoresponder takes over. You’ve put a series of emails into the autoresponder and once or twice a week a new email about blue widgets will be sent to the prospect. You’ll give hints and tips about using blue widgets, and then give them another opportunity to buy.

What you have is a way to continue the sales process, even after the prospect leaves the web site! You can share testimonials with them showing how other people have profited after buying your blue widgets, etc.

And you can continue to share the love of blue widgets with them until they decide to buy — or decide to get off your list. And as long as you continue to send them compelling and interesting info about blue widgets, they’ll stick around and listen to your pitches, be they soft or hard.

This means that when you get ready to promote a product (whether it’s your product or whether you’re acting as an affiliate), you shouldn’t “throw the switch” until you have a series of autoresponder messages loaded into your autoresponder and ready to go. And, you’ll need a special report or some other “enticement” to get them to join your list — saying “pretty please” doesn’t work all that well online.

We all want the kind of business where money rolls in while we drink fruity drinks out of coconut shells on the beach. We want that “autopilot business” everyone talks about.

An autoresponder filled with messages that continue the sales process is one of the biggest ways to make can happen. And whether you’re promoting your own product or someone’s product as an affiliate, a series of autoresponder messages can help build your list and make extra sales at the same time.

If you don’t have an autoresponder service yet, I highly recommend Aweber.

For a cheap and easy way to put together a special report that can be given as a gift to get people on your list, check out the simple process described at ContentConveyorBelt.com. It works really well.

Article Source: ArticleSnatch Free Article Directory

Spam. The very word is almost a four letter expletive these days something that should never be uttered in polite society. One place where it should most definitely never be voiced is in the world of internet business. One great anecdote is from Microsoft’s own Bill Gates:

“Like almost everyone who uses e-mail, I receive a ton of spam every day. Much of it offers to help me get out of debt or get rich quick.”

If the pioneer of the personal computer isn’t immune to spam then who is? Now this article is not here to go on and on about what spam is because everybody should know — it is those annoying advertisements sent via email. Instead we want to show how spam can affect affiliate marketing.

What is affiliate marketing? The promotion and selling of products online by an affiliate on behalf of a company. So one may logically assume that by “spamming” or sending out advertisements to as many emails as possible then they will target a vast and enormous audience and in turn achieve more sales, ergo more money.

Well this is a extremely simplified and just wrong view. Indeed Spam can actually hurt your affiliate. Up to 80% of all email these days is categorized as ’spam’ and many of these come from affiliate marketers believing that spam is the best way in which to promote, expose and gain their product recognition.

What the most likely result of spamming to gain recognition is that the recipient will just delete the message and block any further messages coming from that email address. So in essence before you have even made your first affiliate marketing sale your email if blacklisted. Certainly not what an aspiring entrepreneur will want. Furthermore you could very well be breaking the law.

In 2007 Robert Soloway lost a court case which was brought against him by an Oklahoma based Internet Service Provider; they accused him of spamming. He was ordered to pay over $10 million in compensation for his actions.

In the UK in the same year Gordon Dick successful won the sum of £1368.66 against Transcom Internet Services for spamming his email account. And these are not the only two cases on record that have brought spammers to court. Spamming for attention is a mistake that so many affiliate marketers make.

More often than not it ends their affiliate market careers but more server it can land them in court with a hefty fine and blacklisted name. If you are interested in becoming an affiliate marketer then you should read “Affiliate Marketing 101″.

“Affiliate Marketing 101″ is a free internet report that provides you with simple Do’s and Don’ts that you should follow if you wish to be a successful affiliate marketer. Not sending Spam is just one of those. It is highly recommended that you read this report before embarking on your career in as an affiliate as it could save you a lot of aggravation and possible legal trouble.

To learn more about affiliate marketing, check out the free Affiliate Marketin 101 report. Feel free to distribute this article in any form as long as you include this resource box. You can also include your affiliate link if you sign up at Clickbank Pirate.

Article Source: Spam: How it could cost you more than a sale

The need for speed is one of the most important changes in the Google Caffeine update, which includes the amount of time it takes to load web pages. In the search engine marketing industry, there is a general consensus that faster loading sites may now have an advantage over slower sites in competing for search engine rankings.

Best practice studies have shown that web page load times can be improved by following these guidelines. The list below includes some performance issues that can affect page load time:

• Minimize Number of HTTP Requests – Front-end downloading of page components, such as, images, style sheets, scripts, or Flash, can use up to 90% of end user response time.

• Reduce Number of DNS Lookups – Hostnames are used in a page URL, images, script files, style sheets, Flash objects, etc. Reducing the number of hostnames reduces the DNS lookups.

• Use a Content Delivery Network – A content delivery network is a collection of web servers distributed across multiple locations to deliver content more efficiently to users.

• Add an Expires or a Cache-Control Header – These headers increase the number of components that are cached by the browser to make subsequent page views faster.

• Use Gzip Components – File compression can be an easy way to accelerate page load times by reducing page weight and the size of the HTTP response.

• Place Style Sheets at the Top – Moving style sheets to the document HEAD makes pages appear to be loading faster, because it allows the pages to render progressively in the browser.

• Place Scripts at the Bottom – If possible, putting scripts at the bottom of pages can increase page load speed, because scripts can block parallel downloads.

• Avoid Using CSS Expressions – These properties can slow down a page because they are evaluated by the browser when rendered, resized, scrolled, or with mouse movements.

• Make JavaScript and CSS External – One technique is to inline JavaScript and CSS in the front page, but dynamically down load the external files after the page has finished loading.

•Minify JavaScript and CSS – Minifying removes unnecessary characters, comments, and white spaces from code to reduce its size, thereby improving load times.

• Avoid Page Redirects – Inserting a redirect delays everything in the page since nothing can be rendered and no components can downloaded until the HTML document has arrived.

• Reduce Size of Cookies – Keep cookie sizes as low as possible to minimize the impact on the user response time, or eliminate them if not needed.

This list is by no means exhaustive, but highlights some of the main issues for improving page load times, which may provide a boost in search engine rankings, and reduce bounce rate.

A site performance page has been added to Google Webmaster Tools in order to help webmasters improve page load times and create a faster user experience, which also adds more confirmation to the basis of the algorithm update. If Google is now favoring faster sites, then it’s time to get up to speed on your website to improve online marketing results.

About the Author: Written by Rick Smith: Online Marketing Agency, Auto Search Engine Marketing

Source: iSnare.com Permanent Link: iSnare.com/?aid=479356&ca=Marketing

If squeeze pages are used properly they will be highly effective, and one of your most important business tools.

Yet most website owners are passing up a fortune in revenue, every time a sale is made, since they fail to acquire the customer?s email address, and this is just sheer madness.

The main goal of a squeeze page is to persuade your website visitor to enter their name, and email address, so that they can subscribe to your mailing list.

Squeeze pages can also earn you loads of money in possible sales, even just by collecting the website visitors contact details. You can offer a free gift in return for the website visitor subscribing to your list. List building must be one of the building blocks of any online enterprise, for the reason that you can keep returning to your list with offers, and at some point move your list members to your buyers? list, and that means cash in your bank.

You can provide a free download of a report, ebook, software, and so on in return for the website visitor?s name and email address. The greater the perceived value of the product, or the greater the desire for the product, will improve the chance of your website visitor filling in your squeeze page form, and clicking the submit button.

The key thing is to keep the entire proceedure as simple as can be for your website visitor, yet most businesses complicate their squeeze pages and confuse the website visitor.

Your squeeze page ought to have a bold headline that holds the eye of your website visitors. You ought to have an compelling subheading, describing your irresistible gift.

Your opt-in form should not ask for too many details. A name, and email address, should be adequate for your marketing strategies. If you ask for too many details your website visitor may lose interest and exit your squeeze page.

Keep your message concise and straightforward, stating the message – please enter your details to receive your free report/ebook/software.

Your Squeeze pages must be free of diversions such as flash graphics, navigational links, or advertisements The plan is to keep your website visitors paying attention, and stop them from clicking off your squeeze page, so you shouldn’t offer them any diversions. You want them to concentrate on your offer. The only option you want to give your website visitors is to sign up, or exit your squeeze page.

If you have spent time and money to get prospects to your website, you do not want anyone to go away without signing up to your opt-in list. Everyone on your opt-in list is worth income for you in potential sales, so you need to do everything that you can to guarantee that your website visitors fill in your opt-in form.

It is well known that companies invest a lot of their advertising budget having their squeeze pages built to make sure their conversion rates are of a high percentage. But a profitable, high percentage converting, squeeze page does not have to cost a bundle of cash. Instead of using someone else, you could create your own squeeze pages.

So, then why isn’t every online business using squeeze pages? Well, simply since dynamic, and successful, squeeze pages can be challenging to create, and it can take a lot of effort to get them working correctly. But now, with the development of point-and-click squeeze page software, every one can create dynamic squeeze pages in minutes.

Squeeze Page Wizard squeeze page software -builds squeeze pages fast.

Article Source: ArticleRich.com

With the growing popularity of podcasting, publishers and marketers around the world are asking themselves how to monetize this content channel.

Today we’ll be taking a look at how marketers can monetize podcasting through enhanced marketing activities.

While publishers might find it relatively easy to integrate podcasting in to their business models without really “creating a revolution”, the opportunities for marketers really go beyond traditional marketing tactics.

To understand the opportunity we need to understand what podcasting brings to the marketing table: the power of voice, delivered directly to our prospects, customers, employees and partners.

While text might still be the most “usable” format and the easiest to consume, voice itself has the unique feature of being able to express emotion and bring personality in to marketing communications.

For marketers, monetizing podcasting won’t come through ad sales or content sales, but through opportunities to enhance their marketing communications with the power of emotion, delivered directly to their recipients.

Here are just some possibilities for you to consider:

In these examples monetization does not come through directly generated revenues, but indirectly through improved sales.

Author Bio: Find out all you need to know about RSS and how to use it to get your content delivered, win back your customers, make more sales and increase search engine rankings. Unleash the Marketing & Publishing Power of RSS, acclaimed as the best and most comprehensive guide on marketing with RSS by top RSS industry leaders, experts, developers and top marketers. http://rss.marketingstudies.net/index.html?src=sa19

Article Source: ArticleGeek.com – Free Website Content

If you have spent a lot of time on eBay you might have noticed that many auctions include a hit counter at the bottom of the information included. These eBay counters record the number of views that the auction has received, providing an instant assessment of the popularity of an item.

This can be used in two different ways for an eBay seller; researching potential items to sell and monitoring the success of niche markets. Let’s explore these two areas now.

eBay counters in research

There’s a saying that goes, ‘There’s no point finding a gap in the market if there is no market in the gap.’ You might think that you’ve stumbled upon an excellent area to sell in on eBay because no one else is selling that product, but it could be because no one is buying that product.

Many different tools offered by eBay help you to identify how successfully eBay items are selling or have sold, the Advanced Search is one such tool. However, many sellers forget to look at the hit counter at the bottom of the page at all, focusing instead on the quantity of auctions and how much they sold for.

While hit counters can be fooled with excessive refreshing of a page by buyers, looking at a few different auctions within a niche will give you an assessment as to the popularity of the items. If less than 50 page views are received toward the end of the lifetime of the auction it simply might not be worth selling into this area.

eBay counters in monitoring your auctions

It is free to insert an eBay counter into your listing and there are different designs that can be used to be aesthetically pleasing. This means that there really is no excuse not to include one. But other than in generating a vague interest as to how many people are looking at your particular auction, how can these hit counters practically help you?

Different items that sell on eBay can expect to receive different amounts of page views. A specialist niche tool, for example, shouldn’t expect to receive as many views as a hot selling item. That means that you don’t need to be depressed if your hit counter is coming up low, but it does mean that you need to monitor it, and other similar auctions, to see if it is worth continuing within that particular area. There is no point in spending a lot of money in advertising your items sold on eBay if they are simply never going to be popular enough to recover the costs.

Rather than simply looking at your page view counter and forgetting the information by the next day, record it in a spreadsheet for every auction that you list on eBay, whether it sells or not. Over time you will generate an incredibly valuable list that could show clearly how successful certain advertising campaigns have been, how many views you should expect for a certain niche or even how different products sell better at different times of day.

Never underestimate the use of eBay counters in your own auctions and in researching items to sell. Why not start implementing them now and begin to see how valuable the information that you will gain actually is?

Amanda O’Brien is a successful eBay Powerseller and author of ‘The 2,500 Per Week eBay Powersellers Secrets’ home study course. Want to learn more about starting an eBay business or simply want to improve your eBay sales? Claim your free eBay Selling Secrets Report at PowerSellerPod.co.uk

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Amanda_O’Brien
http://EzineArticles.com/?Essential-and-Free-Market-Research-From-eBay-Counters&id=3401864

All small business owners and webmasters want to improve the profitability of their endeavor. In order to accomplish this in the world of online business you need to develop an eMarketing strategy that helps grow your online presence, increase your revenue streams and ultimately get your name out there to more people.

Of course there are many different potential strategies as well as several overarching factors to consider before getting started.

The first thing you have to think about when developing an eMarketing strategy is what your goals actually are. Different strategies will produce different results, and therefore it wouldn’t be smart to do anything “just because”. Instead you want to pursue a path that helps you directly reach a goal.

For example, if you are trying to directly increase your sales for the lowest cost possible, a targeted pay-per-click campaign utilising high quality landing pages may be the best route. You will be finding highly targeted consumers that are known to be interested in what you have to offer, and then it’s up to you and your website to close them out.

On the other hand, if you are just trying to grow your presence and increase your status in the community you may be interested in social networking. This will help you grow from a grassroots perspective, reaching out to people and groups that share the same interests and values as your company.

If you are trying to entertain or demonstrate, video marketing could be a smart choice, while if you want to inform and build a reputation as a credible source, article marketing could be a great route to go.

This brings up another point as well, which is how much of a budget you have for an eMarketing campaign. PPC advertising will cost you every time someone visits a website, while social networking or other tactics such as SEO can be free if you complete them on your own. There is a whole range of potential costs, so after determining your goals you have to create your budget and then find the strategies that can keep your costs within range while still producing results.

The best eMarketing strategy for any company is going to involve pieces and parts of many different individual tactics. It would be unwise to rely only on one element, because you’ll be limiting your potential as well as limiting the number of people who you reach out to. Therefore, regardless of which strategies may work best for your specific circumstances, combining several of them into one cohesive plan is the best bet.

Remember that when you’re developing an eMarketing strategy that you have to consider what your specific goals are. There are different outlets depending on what you are trying to achieve. You also have to plan around your budget, because different tactics cost vastly different amounts. Some may be free while others could get quite pricey. So develop an eMarketing plan that takes all of these factors into consideration and you’ll help grow your business and your website and reach new heights.

Derek Rogers is a freelance writer who represents a number of UK businesses. For the very best in Emarketing services he recommends Hampshire-based Studio Republic.

Article Source: How to Develop an Emarketing Strategy

The significance of article writing is that it helps to generate hordes of web traffic without much effort. So the choice is yours…the way you write your articles are directly proportional to the number of people you’ll get to your website. This article will show you how to generate more traffic with article marketing.

Article marketing is considered to be an ideal way through which you can generate more traffic to your website. So you want to start off by writing relevant and effective articles. Article marketing can play a major role when it comes to promoting your website. However, prior to taking up your challenge to get more traffic, you need to have a sound knowledge about everything related to article marketing. To be more specific, you need to have a fair knowledge on everything from writing to submitting your articles to the popular article directories.

The article directories have their personal set of instructions that you need to keep in mind while writing an article. Make sure you follow their rules when writing articles to get traffic to your site. This helps to effectively promote your articles and it helps to get your articles approved. Getting your article listed in the major article directories is one of the most effective methods that will help you get a good page rank for your website.

Please take into consideration the following strategies of writing a well-informed and relevant article:

1) The most important thing to do before you submit your article to a directory is to READ THEIR EDITORIAL GUIDELINES. You can have an article written on the most popular subject, but if you fail to follow their guidelines, your article will not be accepted.

2) Make sure you submit your articles to as many directories as possible. The more directories you submit to the more back links you will have pointing to your site. And as result, your page rank and traffic should increase over time.

3) Make sure that you submit your site to a relevant category in the directories. Don’t forget, you are writing your articles to give people information. People will be come frustrated if they search a particular category for information only to find articles that are totally unrelated to that category.

4) In order to get a significant amount of visitors, make sure that your articles are unique, informative and are written by you. Try writing a well structured article with a proper introduction, body and conclusion. Pay close attention to your grammar, paragraph format and spelling. If you fail to heed these tips, most of your articles will not be approved.

5) Make sure you add a few of your keywords to your article. This helps the search engines to determine how relevant your content is in regards to the category in which your article appears. CAUTION: Do not just populate your article with too many keyword hoping that this will improve your search engine ranking. Don’t forget, you are writing for real people who will be reading your article. Placing too many keywords in an article will be annoying to readers and in some cases, your article may not make sense.

6) The majority of article directories do not allow any html codes in the body of the article. So do not try to sell your reader anything by placing a website url in the body of the article. You will be given a chance to sell whatever it is that you are selling in the Author’s Resource/Bio section.

7) The Author’s Resource/Bio section is placed at the end of each article. This is where you are given a chance to write a brief bio of yourself. This consists of a couple sentences telling the reader about yourself such as, your qualifications on the subject you are writing and telling them your name. You’ll also be able to add a link or two that will link back to your site. This link back to your site is the back link and this is how you will get traffic to your site as people reading your article may click on it if they find your article interesting and relevant. This is also what the search engines look for when counting the number of relevant links that are pointing to your site.

After your articles are approved and published online, you will find that the traffic to your website will increase over time. So in conclusion, all you need to do is follow the tips above and soon traffic to your site will increase and hopefully so will your sales.

About the Author: My name is Dan Richmond and I have been doing internet marketing since 1999. I currently co-own a successful Guaranteed traffic service with over 7,000 active clients. If you have a business opportunity or work at home program and you need business opportunity seekers to visit your site, we can deliver the traffic to your site 24/7. Just visit: MyGuaranteedVisitors.com for more details.

Source: www.isnare.com

Permanent Link: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=452650&ca=Marketing

Is it really possible to turn your autoresponder in a cash producing money machine? You bet it is, but it will take some planning on your part.

Any successful internet marketer will tell you that the money is in the list, your list plain and simple. The more subscribers you have in your autoresponder the more money you will make every month.

In order to create sales with your visitors, you need to funnel them into your autoresponder and than knock them out with your follow up series.

Now, your autoresponder series could be in the form of a weekly newsletter. A weekly newsletter otherwise known as an ezine, can be delivered once or twice a week at the maximum. Any more than that and you are just spamming your subscribers and they will grow tired of you and unsubscribe.

If they unsubscribe, you lose a chance at making a sale down the road.

How To Format Your Newsletter To Increase Sales

Just because, I visited your website and signed up for a free gift from you and am now on your subscriber list, I do not know anything about you. Why should I part with my money, on your recommendations?

You have to put yourself into your subscribers shoes first. Your newsletter should be written in a way, that you will be delivering quality content to them on a weekly basis. If they visited your clear up acne now website, I am pretty sure that they will want weekly tips on just how they can do that.

They will probably want to also know about home remedies and also new products or procedures that can help them clear up their acne.

They have a problem and you will do your best to solve it for them, through advice, articles and directions to resources that can help them.

That is what your newsletter should deliver to them. Your link to your affiliate product or recommendation should be lightly sprinkled into each issue that you send out.

Over time, you are building a relationship with this person. With the relationship comes trust. Once trust is established your sales will automatically increase. It is kind of like magic, but proven.

Setting up a money making autoresponder series in not hard as long as you always put your customers problems and needs first.

Please do not tell them how great you are. Check your ego at the door and simply knock them out with great weekly content and you will be making more sales than you have ever dreamed.

Want to learn which Autoresponders outperformed all the rest in in-dependant testing. Visit my autoresponder reviews today, and take one for a free test drive before you buy.

Article Source: EzineArticles.com

However, the downside, and where so many solopreneurs fail, is that they don’t get into a regular publishing schedule and they start to lose their connection with their subscribers.

Today I’d like to share with you my top 10 tips for publishing a successful ezine and building that all-important know, like, and trust factor.

1. Create an editorial calendar – this is so that you can plan out in advance what topics you’ll be covering in each issue, and therefore avoid ‘blank screen/page’ syndrome.

2. Create a template – it’s so much easier to put your ezine together when you’ve got a template to work from. Plan which sections you want to appear regularly in your ezine and drop the appropriate content in each time. Hint: there are just two sections that are likely to change each issue – your personal note and your article – that’s it!

3. Keep an ideas section – in your newsletter binder create an Ideas section so that when you come across a resource or topic that you’d like to share with your readers you have a place to store the information, making it much easier to come up with articles and content for your ezine – you simply flick through your Ideas section.

4. Use an article template – when you’re stuck for ideas on what to write about, use an article template. It’s so much easier to write an article when you’ve got the outline done for you and all you need to provide is the content.

5. Use a title template – similar to number four above, but this time you’re just using a title as a basis for your inspiration, i.e. Top 10 Tips to [fill in the blank].

6. Utilize a list management service – this is a biggie! No sending out your ezine via your regular email program; you need to have a proper list management service for a variety of reasons, but the main ones being you need to comply with SPAM laws, signup for your ezine needs to be automatic, and when your list size gets above 50 most ISPs (Internet Service Providers) won’t allow you to send bulk emails via your regular email program.

7. Check hyperlinks – before you hit the ’send’ button, ensure that you’ve thoroughly read through your ezine and check that all your hyperlinks are working properly. There’s nothing worse than asking someone to click through to a specific page and then find that the link doesn’t work.

8. Don’t include too many calls to action – if you include too many calls to action (i.e. click here to do this, click here to do that etc.) you’ll simply confuse your subscriber as they won’t know what they’re meant to be clicking on. So what will they do … nothing! Only ask your subscriber to do one or two things in each issue.

9. Deliver on time – this is so important. You need to publish your ezine exactly when you say you will each time. Not only does this build your relationship with your subscriber but they will also come to see you as being reliable – you do what you say you’re going to do, when you say it.

10. Seek feedback – And finally, ask for feedback from your subscribers. This is a great way to create one-on-one connections and also get valuable feedback on whether your ezine is providing the information your subscribers want.

Follow these 10 tips and you’ll ensure your ezine success!

Online Business Development Strategist, Tracey Lawton, teaches professional speakers, coaches, and authors how to operate an efficient, organized, and profitable business. Learn how to create an efficient and organized office in 7 EASY steps, and receive free how-to articles at OfficeOrganizationSuccess.com

Source: submityourarticle.com

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