January 2016 – Page 2 – TP Javeton WebNet

Building a Profitable Opt-in List for Your Business

Build on a solid foundation

Most online businesses and Web marketing professionals come to realize sooner rather than later that they need a profitable opt-in list and, as a result of this realization, they begin earnest research and read countless articles on the subject, while seeking expert advice, as well as studying the success stories of people making a small fortune with opt-in lists, before undertaking the task of building their own list(s).

However, making the decision to build a list, absorbing all the knowledge and studying the examples of successful email marketers may still not be enough for you to build your own profitable opt-in list; because when you think you have done everything, know enough about opt-in lists and have diligently followed the advice offered by others, you may find that you are still unable to profit from all your list-building efforts.

In fact, if your language skills are unimpressive (poor or fair) you may be losing money by hiring writers to help you with effective messaging and other grammatical tasks; or there may be other expenses you’ve incurred, even if you have an average-sized list, because the percentage of your subscribers who actually buy from you is not big enough to generate enough income to cover your expenses, so you’re still losing money. After a few months of losing money – when you take a look at your statistics and sales figures – you’ll realize that something must change.

Real answers to puzzling questions

But what could have gone wrong? And why have others succeeded where I have failed? These questions are inevitable, and until you get reasonable answers to them, the direction of your email marketing campaign will continue in the same downhill spiral. In fact, when you think about it, the most suitable answer may be that you dove in headfirst and chose a topic you thought to was popular and would make you money, but your hunch turned out to be wrong. Keep in mind that just because you wrote to people from a list doesn’t mean they are going to buy instantly.

That having been said we’ve provided a few ideas in the following paragraphs for those who have started an opt-in list and have failed to derive sufficient enough income from it to – at least – cover expenses, and with some focused and sustained effort on your part you can rejuvenate your email marketing business. There is also something for those who are building an opt=in list for the first time.

Getting customers to trust you

First and foremost, you must get your customers to trust you and your products; because simply launching an opt-in list would not make you an expert and a believable seller, so it is important that you provide a number of interesting and useful articles before you start an opt-in list. Write about the topic you know best, preferable a topic that is compatible with the theme of your website. Try also to create a forum to gain knowledge about your customers, as well as about their wants and needs; then target those wants and needs.

Join forums from other sites as well and provide expert advice and recommendations during your visits to those other forums; and when you feel that people begun to trust you already this may be a good time to start your own opt-in list. You can build a base as well with other forum users; and you can ask them to join your list. Friends are always good customers, but you must put up a link to your site so that they’ll be able to see what your business is all about.

The plain truth is that money will only come once consumers and subscribers believe and trust in you. Understanding that most people want a product or service that would be a good exchange for their money will go a long way in helping you to address their needs; but people are not going to buy something based on your recommendation if they don’t know and trust you.

Products that people want and need

Find a product or service that people want and need may be easier said than done, but that doesn’t mean that you should not put in adequate research, time and work to find one. Although it may not be your forte, providing a product or service that you have researched and learned about thoroughly can provide you with the impetus to take your business to the next level; but you have to invest the time, effort and money needed to sell a product, as well as to entice buyers to opt-in to your subscriber list.

While it is true that it’s best to sell something that you have interest in, there are not many people who have the same interest as you do, so be mindful of trying to sell something that is not entirely popular or profitable. Do your research well and you will see the profits come in; and make sure to provide your subscribers with promotional material that they could actually use and spread around.

Befriend fellow list owners and thrive

Making friends with other opt-in list owners should not be too difficult to do, espec ially if you have a product or service that could be beneficial to their subscribers. Such a friendship could be basically beneficial to both of you, especially if it is someone who has recently launched a successful opt-in list and wants to build credibility with his/her subscribers.

Many list owners have experience in this JV (joint venture) approach and experience since is still the best teacher a joint venture could certainly enhance your email marketing expertise. Of course there are many articles available on the Web for your use, but there is nothing like getting a first hand account from someone you trust.

Experienced opt-in list owners will be able to explain some of the “what-to-do and what-not-to-do” aspects of the business and steps you should take because they have already gone through it; but different situations occur for different individuals, even though the general concept can still be very helpful. There are many things to avoid – and many to embrace – but these experienced list owners will be able to help you determine which ones are which.

Building a profitable opt-in list don’t just happen overnight; because preparation must be thorough and the time and effort must certainly be put in. This is due to the nature of opt-in lists, which are built from scratch, with care and with patience; but as your list grows, you should also make sure that it is of the highest quality.

Keep your opt-in list organized and manageable, and get or hire help if need be, but just make sure that your subscribers are happy and satisfied, and they will buy from you – and continue to do so – while recommending others to do the same which, as a practical matter, helps you to grow your list even bigger.

As a token of our appreciation the free ebook titled, Storytelling Marketing can be yours if you have any interest in the art of storytelling. All you have to do is download it here, enjoy the reading and learn how storytelling can be a powerful ally in any business or marketing pursuit!

Digital & Electronic Products – Unbeatable in Quality and Price!

Avoid the Path to Affiliate Marketing Failure

The lure of affiliate marketing

An increasing number of people are lured into affiliate marketing and you might very well be one of them. This lure is the result of affiliate marketing being one of the most effective means of generating a full-time income via the Web, without the need for a huge investment of money to get started. The business of affiliate marketing is primarily based on agreements between merchants and affiliates, as both groups benefit from the arrangement.

Similar to other business types, success in affiliate marketing depends on the affiliate’s advertising, promoting and selling strategies. Everyday, as the affiliate marketing industry expands, competition heightens as well, so an affiliate marketer must be creative enough to employ unique and effective ways that will convince potential buyers to purchase, or avail themselves of, the merchant’s products and services being offered by that affiliate.

Compared to traditional advertising practices, affiliate programs are more effective, risk-free and cost-efficient; but there is still a great deal of failure experienced by a large number of affiliates, and those not familiar with the business often wonder why. However, when they understand that affiliate marketing is a “you-get-out-what-you-put-in” kind of business, the explanation for such failure becomes more apparent – although there are other less apparent reasons.

Preparation begets success

The most critical aspect in any affiliate program is advertising; but many affiliate marketers fail in this area because they either refuse or are unable to put in the time and hard work required to excel in this most important aspect of the affiliate marketing business, or any other kind of business. And although it helps to be lucky, a business person cannot merely rely on luck to succeed as an affiliate marketer, but rather to understand that the business of affiliate marketing is much more than just directing customers to a website.

For example, if you are interested in becoming an affiliate marketer, and want to earn big money, you have to devote the necessary time and a great deal of hard work, as well as to invest the money necessary to promote those products and services entrusted to you by the merchants from whom you expect to receive commission payments.

As mentioned earlier, there is very stiff competition in any kind of marketing, and affiliate marketing is no different; but commitment to your objective, hard work, and consistent promotional activity will help you keep pace with that competition and operate a profitable affiliate business. On the other hand, if you are uninspired, unmotivated and/or unwilling to do what it takes to achieve success, the results you get will be unacceptable due to unpreparedness; because lack of preparation is almost always the reason for failure in affiliate marketing, whether the individual is a merchant or an affiliate.

When research is a success tool

Keep in mind also that part of preparation is research; and this is true for merchants as well as affiliates. Merchants must be highly selective in choosing the right affiliate websites for their affiliate program; and in order to be sure that they have the best choices, they must have exhausted all means in looking for highly interested affiliates whose sites (theme and content) are compatible with the products and services they provide.

Affiliates must make sure that visitors to their websites match those customers whom they’ve targeted as most ideal for the content they provide, as well as the kind of products/services they promote; and the affiliate marketer must likewise research good-paying merchants before they sign up with a particular affiliate program. In addition, an affiliate must ensure that a merchant’s products/services match his/her interests so that s/he can devote full attention and dedication to the program.

An affiliate can obtain valuable information by joining affiliate forums, comparing different affiliate programs and reading articles on affiliate marketing where s/he can get tips from more experienced affiliate marketers on how to choose the best merchants and select products with high conversion rate.

The website is a very important tool in the overall affiliate marketing strategy; and as an affiliate marketer, you should plan carefully on what kind of website you’re going to have; from a catchy and memorable domain name to the design, lay-out, content, and ads, your website must be conducive to the kind of affiliate business you expect to conduct if you expect to succeed.

Marketing to your targeted audience

Some visitors to your affiliate website will be particular about what they see at first glance and therefore, if they consider your site to be unattractive they won’t read through the content, even if your site has many interesting things to say and offer. Conversely, there are visitors who want information more than anything else; and affiliate marketers with “rich-content” web sites will usually be the ones who attract this group of visitors and prosper as a result, because the content improves traffic to those site.

Websites with high quality content and relevant keywords as well as valuable and useful information about a particular product, as opposed to empty and hyped-up advertisements, allow their owners to earn big in affiliate marketing even when they’re asleep. An important point to remember is that if you can’t sustain the interest of your site visitor, you won’t be able to lead him/her to your merchants’ site; and no click-through (to a merchant’s website) often means no sale and thus, no income for you.

Selecting a top level domain name is crucial to the success of the affiliate program. That having been said, there are many affiliate websites that do not appear in the search engine results because they are deemed by affiliate managers as personal sites; meaning that major search engines and directories would think of your website as transient and thus, they won’t list it in the directory; so before you decide on the domain name, know first what you are going to promote.

Knowledge creates a competitive edge

However, the domain name is not always the website title, and many affiliates fail to attract visitors because their websites are not appropriately named; and even when they feature the exact products customers are looking for, those customer might think the site is not relevant and therefore won’t enter the site.

Above all, an affiliate marketer must be willing to learn more about his/her business on an ongoing basis; because there is still a lot to learn, so any affiliate marketer who expects to achieve success must continue to educate him/herself so s/he can improve marketing strategies. Many fail because they don’t grow in the business and they are merely concerned about earning a quick buck; but if you want long-term and highly satisfactory results, you must take time to learn the ins and outs of this business.

Continuing to improve your knowledge, especially about the basics of affiliate marketing ranging from advertising to programming, web page development, and search engine optimization techniques will certainly provide some of the motivation and staying power needed to achieve success. Likewise, study the needs and wants of your website users and how different merchants compete with each other.

Fashion world descends upon us — *demonstration of a chic moment in time!*

Keep on trying; and don’t get disappointed if your first attempts do/did not pay off. Thousands are attracted by the possibility of generating huge incomes through affiliate marketing, and as a result of this attraction, they sign up in any affiliate program without carefully understanding every aspect of the business. When they don’t get instant results, they quit and sign up for another program and repeat the process of just copying links and referring them to others.

When you sign up for an affiliate program, don’t expect to achieve instant success and get rich quick. Make sure to work on your advertising strategies and other pertinent aspects of the affiliate marketing business; but most important, be patient, because you will never know how much you can get if you don’t persevere.