After watching internet trends come and go for over 10 years, I am often asked by customers why internet marketing is so hard and why most internet marketers fail.

The reason, in my eyes, is obvious… They spend too much time chasing the latest get rich scheme, MLM, or newly launched opportunity and not enough time building a foundation for their business.

The easiest and most effective method of building a foundation for your online marketing business is through list building. With the incredibly widespread use of social marketing, list building has never been more achievable and effective.

So before you run off to chase down the next MLM launch, please stop yourself and focus your efforts somewhere where you can actually build and see tangible progress. The results will shock you.

Here’s the basics on how to get started…

1./ Start today by assembling a list of your existing downline members (if you’re involved in MLM or network marketing), business contacts, associates, or customers. If you are not ready or able to purchase a web-based mailer like an autoresponder then you can store this list of contacts in a spreadsheet program or word processing document.

2./ Over the coming days seek out methods that will allow you to establish contact with other potential clients or customers. Good free places to start are social networking websites like LinkedIn or Facebook. You can also place free classifieds on websites like CraigsList. When you establish contact with potential clients ask if you can add them to your contact list. Explain that you send out occasional articles and helpful information that will benefit them.

3./ Over the next few weeks write an article, or ebook that you will give away for free to people in exchange for them giving you permission to send them emails. Providing an incentive for people to join your list by providing them something of value is one of the quickest and most effective methods to building a sizable list.

4./ As your list grows make sure that when you send out emails to your growing list of prospects that you are sending emails that provide your subscribers with helpful content or valuable information. If you repeatedly send advertisements to your list you will quickly find that your list size will shrink and so will your profits. If you provide your list members with value or quality content in addition to the occasional advertisement you will find that you have happy list members who are more likely to tell their friends about the amazing content they are receiving from you.

Follow these basic guidelines, start building a sizable list of happy subscribers and you will find that the rewards and profits will ultimately follow.

One of the most important tools an online marketer can use is an autoresponder. An autoresponder is a mailing interface that allows you to automatically send a series of follow up emails to people who opt-in to your lists. Even though this can be one of the most effective methods of gaining new business and profits, many marketers do not use autoresponders effectively. Below are 5 important tips that will help you get the most benefit from your autoresponder.

1./ Utilizing Follow Up Messages

If you are like many marketers you go through the trouble of ordering and setting up your autoresponder capture forms. You may even create your first follow up message. Where many fall short is not creating enough follow up messages when they create their autoresponder.

Although it cam be time consuming. It is vitally important to set up at least 7 to 10 follow up messages in your autoresponder. Each of these messages should offer some type of value to your subscribe and entice them to stay on your list and keep opening your emails.

2./ Stay In Regular Contact

Many marketers go through all the trouble of autoresponder up and start building their lists but do not keep in regular contact with their subscribers. If you have ever signed up for an email list and not heard any communication until months later you likely had trouble remembering who and what you opt-ed into in the first place.

It is important when people subscribe to your autoresponder that you send them a series of regular follow up emails that contain value. If you keep in regular contact your list members will be more likely to stay subscribed because they recognize the emails and know why they are receiving them.

3./ Send An Immediate Email

When someone opts into your list your autoresponder should send them an immediate email. If you wait and send an email 24 hours later you have a higher chance that subscribers will not remember why they opted-in. Reach out to your new list members early and always include something of value in your initial emails (a free report, free advice, a link to an ebook or helpful article, etc.)

4./ Establish A Balance

After your initial emails it is important to establish a balance of content oriented emails to promotional emails. You do not want to spam your list daily with new advertisements or you will quickly find yourself losing subscribers. You need to establish a balance and include emails that provide value you to your subscribers in order to keep them as active subscribers.

5./ Offer Something Exciting Or Slightly Controversial

Enticing your readers and keeping your subscribers interested are vital concepts that will help you build a large and loyal subscriber base. Use enticing language and offer slightly controversial (but never offensive) content that will keep your readers interested and engaged.

Effective ad copy can make or break your business. It can be one of the most important tools that you can use to make your business a success. The goal of writing effective ad copy is to grab the prospects attention through the reader’s emotions and then convince them to take action (clicking your link, calling your phone number, etc.). Here are 5 quick tips to writing more effective ad copy…

1. Grab Their Attention

Spend the majority of your time writing a headline or subject line (if using email advertising) that will immediately catch the reader’s attention. The goal is to grab their attention and put a question into his or her mind that will entice them to keep reading.

2. Use Imagery

Once you have the reader’s attention the next step is to create a mental image or your product or service in their mind. Humans are visual by nature and your readers will remember your product if they can picture your product visually.

3. Tell A Relatable Story

The next step is to develop a story. Humans will remember a story much better than a list of bulleted features or a paragraph of sales pitch. You can tell them a story of how the product is made, tell them a story of someone who benefited from your product, etc. If you can put the reader in the shoes of the main person in your story then you will see your sales and profits increase.

4. Provide A Solution That Plays On Their Emotions

Once you have captured their attention and put them in the shoes of the person in your story it is important to describe to them how your product or service will help solve their problem. You can use a bulleted list of features as long as your features appeal to your reader on an emotional level.

5. Don’t Block The Sale.

The sales process from beginning to end is a delicate one. Do not include anything in your sales copy that would block or divert your reader’s attention. Make sure your ad copy is written in a way where you are not allowing your customer any reason to stray from the process of buying your product.

Email delivery rates can vary dramatically depending on your email configuration, the type of software you are using, and the servers that you are sending your mail from. Below are 5 tips to help you improve your email delivery rates.

1. Be Relevant

Include content in your emails that are both relevant to the recipient and well formatted. Make sure you include information or tips that will help your reader. If all they receive from you is a constant stream of advertisments they are more likely to mark your message as spam or send it to the trash.

2. Send In Small Batches

Most ISPs monitor and measure the amount of emails that are coming from your mail server. These ISPs will throttle your email delivery rate back if they detect large amounts of mail being sent from your domain or mail server. It is important to send your mailings in small batches that will not trigger the ISPs to temporarily or permanently block emails from your domain.

3. Get On White Lists

The most effective method to improve your delivery rate is to enlist the services of a company like Return Path. If you can get your server whitelisted then you will have an unobstructed path your recipient inboxes.

4. Get Off Black Lists

If ISPs have detected you are sending too much email or if individual recipients have reported your email as spam you may end up on one of hundreds of individually operated black lists. To check if you are listed on any of these black lists we suggest MXToolBox. You can enter your domain or IP address into this free tool to determine if you have been black listed. If you have you can also request to have your information removed from the black list.

5. Reply to Challenge Responses

As you are sending out mailings you may receive challenge emails that ask you to confirm that you intended to send email to the recipient. It is important to respond to the challenge emails with a response as this will build your sending reputation and improve your email delivery rates.

In order to close the sale and turn leads into revenue you will need some basic skills that will enable you to understand and approach your customers. Developing an effective method of turning leads into sales is an important cornerstone to your business’s success. The sales become the engine of your business that allow it to remain in business. Below are 5 essential tips for turning leads into sales.

1. Understand Your Audience

The first step in turning your leads into sales is to have an understanding of who your audience is. You need to gain an understanding of what their needs are so that you can tailor your sales pitch to fulfilling their needs with your product or service. Take your time to research your audience and learn the typical spending habits of your clients as well as their motivations and the value that they expect from your product.

2. Understand How Your Product Fulfills Your Customer’s Needs

In order to effectively convert leads to sales you need to effectively explain exactly how your product or service fulfills the needs or solves the problems that your customers are having. It is vital to your sales pitch to have a concise and effective understanding of how your product or service can solve your customers needs. This may seem like an obvious concept but many sales people forget this most basic concept and instead focus on the features or benefits of the product instead of how it solves the customers problem.

3. Perfect Your Sales Pitch

Practice, practice, practice. The more experience you have in selling your product the better you will become at responding to any questions, excuses, or problems that your leads may say to you. It is important to perfect your sales pitch through practice so that you can develop a sales pitch that can address virtually any obstacle the customer may present you with.

4./ Differentiate Yourself

In order to close sales more effectively you must be able to differentiate yourself from your competition. This does not necessary mean your product must be different. You can differentiate in a variety of ways including how you present yourself to the customer. Providing friendly and reliable communication may be all it takes to differentiate yourself from your competitor.

5./ Always Follow-up

One of the most critical and often forgotten step to turn leads into sales is the follow-up. Always follow-up with your leads to answer their questions and show them that you are serious and genuine in gaining their business. The more the customer feels that you are genuine in your desire to gain their trust and business the more receptive they will be to your offer.

Ever wonder how companies can generate hundreds of highly responsive leads every day?

With these 4 easy techniques you can start generating highly responsive and targeted leads that convert like crazy…

1./ Lead capture pages

The most effective and easy method to obtaining good quality leads is to install a lead capture page on your website. You should offer the visitor of your website an incentive to entering their contact information into your lead capture page. Some people offer service discounts, others provide a free newsletter or ebook for subscribing. Make sure the lead capture form is prominently displayed in high traffic areas of your website. Enticing your website visitors to enter their contact information is the fastest method to building your list.

2./ Leads through social media

If you have not yet signed up for a Facebook or Twitter account for your business/website do so immediately. Social networking has quickly become an incredible tool for websites and businesses alike to stay in contact with prospects and customers. Accept all friend requests and utilize the networking features of these websites to spread your brand and offers. While these “contacts” are not directly subscribed to your newsletter you can utilize social networking as a tool to help users take the next step to subscribing to your list, blog, or newsletter.

3./ Tell-A-Friend leads

In addition to lead capture pages, tell-a-friend forms are also extremely effective. After you have provided a visitor or subscriber to your list with a free product, free download, or helpful offer make sure you suggest that they tell a friend about what they just received. Prominently display a tell-a-friend form and sit back as your visitors help you contact additional potential customers.

4./ Leads through blogging and newsletters

Offering value to your website visitors or blog subscribers is extremely important. Periodically ask your readers to tell their colleagues or friends about your blog or newsletter. Offer a convenient method of allowing your readers to recommend your blog/newsletter via email or social networking. Think of your subscriber base as an army of sales people who will go to bat for you if they feel like they are getting high quality value and content from your blog/newsletter.

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