February 27, 2008 19:34
Category: Other Information
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Whichever way you look at it, much of the success of e-business depends on how well is your e-delivery. Websites, whether owned by you or by others, are a good medium of e-delivery.
In normal circumstance, if you're in an e-business, you'll like to have your own website that you use to deliver information to your clients. The information may be some marketing gimmick, or solid knowledge on a topic, or some third party ads, or just an invitation to join your forthcoming program.
It can be many things more. For example, RSS feed can work as a perfect carrier of information for your blog, and even may replace traditional e-newsletters.
Marketing In Other Websites
When you do not own a website, you can still e-deliver information in the form of comments, articles, images, videos, and so on in other websites.
The difference between doing it in your website and in others' usually determines to whom the benefit would go. There's no denying that you'll prefer much of your information is e-delivered from your site so that the cream of resultant benefit comes to you.
In practice that rarely happens. Like a big downtown market you have to take your e-wares to places like YouTube to deliver them, because that is where the virtual crowd assembles to select and buy their choice.
If big e-markets are one type where you do your marketing, you've to also develop direct marketing to your clients simply because not all e-deliveries can happen in the e-markets.
For example if you compose music for living, you can surely have samples in your YouTube folio, but to actually sell your expertise you'll prefer your clients coming to your site.
Coming to my opening statement, let me qualify it further. From the above it is clear that your e-business can only flourish on the back of how best you're able to communicate with your clients one-to-one.
Why Email Marketing?
One of the main pillars of one-to-one communication with clients is through emails. And an attempt you make to sell through email is called email marketing.
The importance of email marketing lists is such that experts believe whoever has a list of large e-subscribers - often running into hundreds of thousands - is likely to succeed more in e-business.
For most small business owners the trouble is how to get a loyal list of subscribers. True, you can buy a list from list-owners. But remember they are not loyal to you or your products.
They gave their emails to somebody else for reasons that you do not know. Such email marketing lists are always suspect despite the marketing blitzkrieg by the list owners.
If so, what is the way out for small websites? The answer is there isn't any quick solution. Like all other websites that have their 'own' subscribers-cum-customers, you too have to build your own from the scratch.
Where To Start
Well, the toil begins. If you look at it you'll see list building has 2 distinct components. The first is to let people know that you're building a list and having them opt for it.
Okay, you'll not tell it those many words. You'll much rather say that your website has the most amazing thing to offer, which one can lay hand on only if he agrees to become a member. This part is not difficult to understand.
What is difficult is how to spread the message of your offer? An ideal solution is to start a Google AdWords campaign. If you haven't done a campaign anytime in the past, it is better you've a fair knowledge about it
.
Let's hope you have done your campaigning well, and your offer page (the 'landing page') is so enticing that a majority of the visitors convert into subscribers by willingly parting with their names and emails.
Is your worry now over? Not really. As mentioned above, getting visitors to subscribe is just one component, the first one.
Servicing Your Email Marketing Lists
The second component is servicing your list. This is in fact more important. Guess why? For all the money and effort put for the first component, if the second one goes awry, all your investment will go waste.
Can you let this happen? Of course not.
The only way out is to get someone working for your list building who has the reputation and pedigree to serve you and your list properly. I suggest hiring AWeber for the purpose.
Why AWeber?
First, what is AWeber? In short, it is a standalone email servicing company that takes all the weight off your shoulders to keep in touch with your subscribers.
You may say AWeber is an autoresponder company, and so there's no point taking its service at a cost when your webhost provides the same service free.
Well, the truth is that in most cases your webhost doesn't provide the same service. Since all ISPs zealously guard their servers from spam mails, they often filter out incoming mails from quite a few sources including many webhosts.
What this means is that your marketing emails simply fail to reach your opt-in subscribers because the ISPs won't allow them.
Here AWeber scores high on the strength of its reputation and understanding it has with the most ISPs. There are many other reasons why AWeber is a better choice. Find out for yourself.
Building email marketing lists with AWeberConclusion
Many an effort is spoiled for want of a clear business roadmap. Blessed are those who have the gift of foreseeing the opportunities ahead. But when they miss the game by using faulty tools it rankles hard.
And what else could a spoiler be than choosing a wrong emailing system to collect prospects? Truth be told, email marketing lists are the backbones of web businesses.
There is no room to make any mistake in selecting how you wish to communicate with your customers. Think it over.
