Advertising @ Home

If you get an email with a title like ‘Don’t Ever Trust Me Again!’ and continues along the lines of ‘… then you don’t have to take my advice ever again!’

My advice is – Don’t *

Perhaps it’s because I’m skeptical of the number of “miracle” products, “great deals”, ‘limited time offers’ or ‘incredible packages’ that are advertised online every day. Perhaps it’s because I have bought more products than I can possibly use for now. Perhaps it’s because there are probably more people trying to sell this particular package than the number of packages that are available. Or, perhaps it’s because I received an email with almost identical content from too many different sources. Whatever the reason, don’t make the same mistakes as I have in the past.

* It may be a good deal. It may be exactly what you are looking for. But if you receive emails with exactly the same content from different sources, think carefully before you buy.

There are some good internet marketers that I have every respect for. However, there are an increasing number of ‘marketers’ that show little thought or consideration for others. They will take from you but offer nothing in return. You may disagree with the last statement. If you buy a product from them and you are happy with that product and they are happy with the money earned from selling you that product it’s a win-win situation.

That’s all well and good until you look more closely at the process. To do this, other factors must be taken into account. These include cost, value, convenience, time, and most importantly trust. You’ve probably heard of the phrase. “The money is in the list”. I wouldn’t disagree with that and it’s easy to see why many of the “big list” hitters are successful in the percentage game. But unless they offer you something more than somebody else’s ’sales pitch’ ignore them. Many of these people come and go. Make sure they don’t go with your money.

With regard to the email in question, here is a quote from a ‘trusted’ ezine that I subscribe to “This is only of interest to you, Bryan, if you really need some brand new products to sell. If not, don’t bother.” At least, this is honest and straight to the point. I know who I’d buy from. On occasion, time may be more important than trust. If this is the case, then make sure you have a use for the product before you buy it. We are all guilty of impulse buying. It can be all too easy to buy something that will seldom, if ever, be used.

If you subscribe to an ezine or newsletter, it’s often useful to keep tabs on the sender. By doing this you will learn to recognize if the content is original or simply a copy of someone else’s work. You’ll also quickly discover if the sender is only interested in using you as a means of earning a ‘fast buck’. This is obvious if there is little or no content, excessive affiliate URLs, or emails that are repetitive or delivered more often than necessary.

If you like the newsletter or email subscription, that’s great. If you don’t, you can usually ‘unsubscribe’. If this fails, then try ‘whitelist’ filtering to weed it out. If you think the email is from a spammer, then be careful. Don’t click on any URL or ‘unsubscribe’ option, and unless you are absolutely sure of the originator, never open an attachment.

If you use eBay or PayPal, you will no doubt be aware of the fake or spoof emails that are periodically blasted out. Well, the spin cycle has begun again. A good tutorial on spoof emails and how to recognize them can be found at http://pages.ebay.com/education/spooftutorial/index.html

Tip – If you have your own website, don’t use your default address for your PayPal or eBay account. Use a different address and you will quickly spot the spoof email in the ‘To’ line of the email.

Bryan Quinn
ebook-site.com
Offer a variety of useful resources for creating, reading, and publishing ebooks. A members’ area is provided for ezine subscribers where a selection of ebooks and reports can be freely downloaded.

http://www.ebook-site.com

Tags: Advertise, advice, attachment, ebay, email, ezine, Marketing, newsletter, paypal, subscription

Getting visitors to your site to sign up for your newsletter is one thing, getting them to actually read every issue is another. Research shows that many online newsletters just don’t get opened.

Think about it. How many emails do you get a day? Even if you don’t subscribe to many e-zines or services, you probably get a minimum of 25 a day. Most of us don’t have time to read all those emails, so we either leave the ones we aren’t as interested in or delete them to save space.

If your potential clients aren’t reading your newsletter, they won’t be clicking on your links or buying products that you advertise. To get them reading each and every issue, you need to make your content worth the time it takes to read!

1. Limit solo ads. Solo ads are ads sent out to your email list without any content attached. While your readers will probably tolerate one or two of these a month, you don’t want to overdo it or they will stop opening your emails and may unsubscribe.

2. Personalize. Studies show that people are more likely to open an email that has their name on it. It also gives you a way to connect with your readers. They will feel like they have more than just a business relationship with you. The idea here is to build confidence and trust so you can keep your clients.

3. Relevant ads. Any ads that you place in your newsletter should relate to the material presented. If you send out an email on dog clothing, for example, you shouldn’t include an ad for infant safety equipment. Your readers will be confused as to why you included it and it looks very unprofessional. Take the time to search out affiliate programs that relate to your topics.

4. Great Content. “Content is king.” Is the new e-commerce catch-phrase. Even though it might seem overused, it’s still true. You need to have interesting articles jam-packed with information that is relevant to your readers in order to hold their attention. You can find free content online, but you can also hire writers to write original content for fairly low prices. Try www.freelancewriting.com or www.elance.com

5. Pay for an auto-responder. “You get what you pay for.” My mother always said and in this respect, it is very true. Free auto-responders are great to start off with, but they usually include an ad in your newsletter (how else are they going to make money?). This ad is usually at the header of your newsletter, otherwise known as your most valuable ad space! Just taking on a paid ad for this space will easily pay an auto-responder fee! If you really can’t afford it right now, start with a service that gives you a free trial or that allows you to upgrade later.

Good newsletters require a bit of time and effort, but once you get your readers actually reading and responding to your work, it will all be worth it.

Genesis Davies is a freelance writer who currently runs 2 websites and an ezine. Check out her business site. Sign up for her free Create a Sizzling Ezine course

Tags: Advertise, email, ezine, newsletter