E-Mail Lists: Utilizing an
E-Mail distribution list is a great way to market your products
and services to a target audience. You can begin building your own
E-Mail list by saving E-Mails during everyday transactions. For
example, save the E-Mails from any correspondence you receive to
your Web site or from prospects who fill out your Web site's
interactive form. When you sell a product or service, ask for the
client's E-Mail address. If you don't have time to build your own
list, you can usually find someone within your field who has an
E-Mail list built up for your target market. Often, they will
allow you to sponsor an ad space either at the top or bottom of
their E-Mail message.
eMail Service Frequently Asked
Questions
What is a Subscriber? A Subscriber is
the person using the Service to receive messages from a mail
list.
What is a Mail List? A collection of
Subscribers, each of whom has assented to receive messages from a
ListOwner.
When you subscribe to a list hosted at
Christian eMail Service you will be provided with a welcome
message that provides your account information, how to contact the
ListOwner, and a reminder regarding this process.
New Directory
Submissions: Open Directory Project (dmoz.org) and LookSmart
(looksmart.com) are directories that now "feed" several of the
major search engines. The directories are divided into major
categories, such as "Autos," "Business," "Careers," etc.. When a
consumer enters a search criteria, for example, "Christian Jobs",
it used to be that the search engine would search for Web pages
that were related to Christian jobs. Now, however, drawing
information from these two new directories, some of the search
engines default to searching according to categories, not Web
pages.
The reason for this major
change? Possibly the major search engines are copying
Yahooís successful format, which has always searched
according to category first, not Web pages. Since the major search
engines are beginning to search according to categories first and
not Web pages, Web page only submissions will cause your site to
lose potential hits. Be sure to register your Web page with both
Open Directory Project and LookSmart, and use the following tips
to maximize your position:
Carefully choose the
category which is most closely related to your Web siteís
contents, NOT necessarily where you would prefer to be listed.
These are human-handled directories; submissions are not
automatically posted. For example, Open Directory Project uses
90,000 editors to determine whether your Web page will be placed
in their directory or not. If you do not submit your Web page
carefully, they may ignore your entry. It can take an average of
1-2 months to be listed.
In
addition to contact information already at the top of each page,
place a link for comments and advertising, including your
telephone number, on the bottom of each page. Place a pull-down
menu on the home page This pull-down menu allows users to go
directly to one of many different categories.
Link Command: Determine every Web site that has a link into
your Web site. Even better, determine every Web site linked into
another home page? Use the link command at Infoseek and Altavista.
Type into the search engine box the word link: and then type a URL
as one word and these two search engines will bring back a list of
Web sites that have a link into the Web page.
If the site is to generate a response or even better a sales lead,
then fewer Web pages are the preferred option. One of the major
aims of the site should be to generate a sales lead that can be
called and then sold over the telephone
An Interactive Form is a
form that people fill out on a Web site including their name,
address, telephone and what types of items they would like. Next,
the prospect clicks on the send icon and this information is sent
to you via e-mail. Its not the quantity of Web pages that makes
more sales, but having an accessible Interactive Form. In most
cases, your business or ministry only needs to have an Interactive
Marketing Form with a short paragraph explaining your products or
services. - only one Web page. This saves you time and money, and
in many cases produces even more leads because of the easily
accessible form.
Permission marketing is relatively simple:
offer consumers the opportunity to volunteer to receive marketing
materials via e-mail and the "takers" will be much more likely to
pay attention to the message. Add an incentive and you've laid the
framework to build a loyal following for a long-term. People
actually look forward to seeing the information. It's important
that subscribers receive an ongoing incentive in order to remain
receptive to the marketing message. Incentives can range from
information, to entertainment, to prizes.
Permission marketing is a win-win situation.
The consumer receives clear, concise information on something they
are genuinely interested in. According to a report from
independent Internet research firm Forrester Research, Inc., by
2004 marketers will be sending more than 200 billion e-mails
annually. Names as America Online, Amazon.com and My Yahoo! (a
subset of Yahoo!) openly endorse permission marketing. Soon, the
only mail (e-mail or otherwise) you'll be throwing out is
non-targeted information you did not ask for.
Publicity Pitches: Put together several
dynamic article ideas. Just the ideas, not the actual article.
This is called a Publicity Pitch. Take those ideas and then pitch
them to editors of targeted publications. It saves Editors time
and puts the outline right into their hands.
PERSONALIZE YOUR WEB
SITE WITH STREAMING MEDIA How, you ask? - Use streaming media
presentations to guide visitors through your site The most
frequently cited complaint among web surfers is that they don't
know the people "behind the scenes." They often cannot even find
an address or a phone number to call. Streaming media can easily
help you to wipe out that objection. Liven up your site with an
audio or video that introduces your visitors to your ministry or
business. A Real pioneer in this field with competitive prices is
www.goodnewsmedia.com - phone 863 858 6351 - email -
holyword@gte.net
Don't just list your
benefits. Paint a picture with an Video or Audio presentation so
your readers can visualise enjoying these benefits. Explain
why.... offer credible, logical reasons to support your
claims.
"Video or Audio ads achieve
faster results and consistently out-perform the competition ."
This is the place to give some details about you and your Company,
provide information about your qualifications and experience in
the field. You can also include brief testimonials from satisfied
customers -offer your customers an iron-clad guarantee. Always
include a time factor - the longer the better - people like to
know you'll be around for awhile. A Real pioneer in this field
with competitive prices is www.wcie.net - phone 863 858 6351 -
email - holyword@gte.net
Customer Service
Principles:
* Listen to the customer first.
* Rather than listing all your strengths
etc, help them find what they're looking for.
* Cut out the sales hype, and be clear and
straight about your product. Be informal.
* Keep in touch with prospective
clients.
Proper Showcasing of Your
Product:
* Put on all the information you have about
your product.
* Don't make it difficult to find the
price.
* On the Net, people don't spend too much
time on one website, put all your info in bulleted lists for quick
reading.
* Keep text and colors easy on the eye.
(Dark text on very light backgrounds is the best
combination).
* If you can, give people examples of how
they can use or implement your product. This will make them
identify it with themselves and bring them a step closer to
buying. Do this in a realistic way.
* Don't give customers too much of a choice
on one page. This confuses and you might lose the customer
altogether because he couldn't make a choice.
* People love stories, offer testimonials of
people who used your product and liked it. I say use 'stories'
rather than 'someone's words' because people remember stories not
words.
* Offer some physical object for free (no
matter how small). If you have no physical object offer some
useful free information (somehow directly related to what you
sell) that they can't easily get elsewhere.
* Make your website easy to use (for all
kinds of computers). Don't require that only certain browsers or
versions be used (others blocked out). Make sure your website
doesn't require special plug-ins or tools to fully function for
your viewer.
* Simplify, use few graphics and make sure
they load quickly.
* Don't require lots of information about
your viewer for access. Make your information gathering optional.
E.g., personal information such as birth dates is private
information that some people prefer not to share.
* Make it easy for a user to find what they
need at your website: Example: Put a "search this website" tool on
your website. Have a consistent pattern and placement (from page
to page) of how a person can maneuver around your
website.
* Have "real" contact people that can be
reached by email and provide their email address at the website at
a "contact us" page - and make sure these staff people
respond.
* Update the website frequently so
information doesn't get old.
* Offer your privacy policy regarding what
you're going to do with the data you collect from the
customer.
* Have the date at your website (on the
opening page) indicating when the website was last updated or
revised, etc.
* Provide a FAQ on your product.
* In your company database of customers,
separate your prospects from your customers.
* Involve your sales staff. Make sure your
salespeople know what's happening at the website. Coordinate
efforts.
* Find ways to make the interaction more
personal and pleasant, easy and quick; with the clients you
receive from the website. Add the personal touches, the thanks
you's, the confirmations, etc.
* Make the website interactive . . . get
some information from the customer that makes them feel important
and a valued part of your company; such as ask their opinions,
ideas for improvement, etc.
* Keep the links to other websites minimal,
you want to keep them at your website as long as possible.
Internal links to your pages are encouraged.
* Provide an 800-telephone number or an
alternative way for the client to reach you or make a
sale.
* Have the names and your department heads
email addresses available.
* Provide your company purpose and mission
statement.
* Provide some history about your company
and its products.
Each time you add a new related product to
your line, blast out another email to your customer base
announcing your addition .
Offer free software to your customers. Check
out tucows.com for software developers who are eager to distribute
their work for free.
Offer a free course via email. This can
simply be a few informative pages that help your target customers
solve a common problem
Offer to help or answer questions at no
charge.
Start your own contest. Have lots of winners
of small prizes with each winner eligible to win a much larger
prize.
Write a press release about all the special
promotions you are doing. Put it on it's own web page and register
with Alta Vista, Excite, Yahoo, and Hot Bot. ...free press
announcement builder at http://InternetWriters.com/release.htm
Creating A
Headline
The first part of your outline will be your headline.This
is the most important part of your entire sales copy. You must
write a headline that demands attentionand forces your visitor to
read on. Most of your visitors will only read your headline. If it
doesn't instantly grab their attention, they'll move on and never
return.
Writing an Introduction - Once you've captured your visitor's
attention, you'll now need to direct their attention to your
introduction. Keep your introduction brief and to the point. Let
them know exactly what you have to offer them.
Use Plenty of Subheadings - Your next step in creating
your outline is to add subheadings. Subheadings are basically just
smaller headlines used to break up your text blocks. They also
provide your readers with important highlights of your paragraphs.
Use plenty of subheadings throughout your copy, as not all of your
visitors will read your copy word for word. They'll simply scan it
and only read what catches their attention.
Call for Action - Ask for the order and provide an easy
ordering process. Continue to reassure your potential customer and
lead them to your order page.
Use a P.S. - When your visitor scans your sales message,
chances are they'll read your headline, subheadlines and your
PostScript message. Place your most important benefits within your
P.S. message. It will get read.
Writing Your Copy - Now, you're ready to begin filling in
the spaces. When you begin writing your paragraphs, get straight
to the point, avoid negativity and hype, and write in small
sections. Vary the paragraph sizes and limit each paragraph to
four or five lines max. If you feel that your paragraph will be
longer than four or five lines, try to use bullets to display
important points. Write in an everyday language that everyone can
understand. Make sure you use plenty of white space. White space
is the empty space between your paragraphs and around your text.
You don't want to overwhelm your visitors with a solid page of
black text. Nothing will make them click away any faster.
Pack your sales copy with benefits from your headline
straight through to your order form. Make sure you don't confuse
features with benefits. Features don't sell... Benefits sell. Your
visitor wants to know exactly what your product or service can do
for them.
Provide Testimonials - Testimonials provide another great
way to reassure your visitors. Blend your testimonials in with
your sales message. Avoid making your visitors have to click to
another page to view your testimonials;
Selecting Fonts - Avoid using fancy fonts. Fancy fonts make
text difficult to read. In addition, your visitor may not have
that font on their computer. Select a font that is easy to read
and use black text on a light background.
Long Copy Vs. Short Copy - It is a proven fact that long
sales copy out-sells short sales copy, but some visitors do prefer
a short sales letter. You can give your visitors both. For those
who prefer a short sales letter you can provide opportunities to
click through to your order page prior to ending your sales
letter.
Try to keep your sales letter all on one page.
Your words should seamlessly flow together from your headline
through to your order page. Keep it simple, to the point and pack
it with all of the benefits your product has to offer.
Here are a few basics that online customers want:
1. Net savvy customers dislike slow downloads of web
pages and graphics. There is a need for speed.
2. Navigation that makes no sense is another big
problem.
3. Limited selection will cause customers to look
elsewhere.
4. Online order systems must be flawless and offer an
alternative
in case of breakdown.
5. Provide FREE content to wet the appetite of your
customer.
One great way to increase business is to write up your own "how to
know when you need" sheet. It is a page that lists several
problems you can solve. Tell the reader how to recognize the
problem, then how to solve it using your product or service. Make
a list of the top four problems you solve. What are the symptoms
these problems show? While they may be super simple to you,
customers may not know the symptoms. Describe what they look like,
feel like, or smell like. Then present the possible solution.
Don't force a solution on people. Gently suggest it: "The problem
could be..." is a good way to start.
************************************
Five times as many people read the headline of an ad than read
the copy. Make your headline powerful, attention getting, and make
sure it sells your product or service. Anything less wastes most
of the money you paid for advertising. Be sure to include your
company or brand name in the headline. Since most people read
nothing more than the headline, leaving your name out will insure
80% never know who you are.
The best headlines promise the customer a reward. "Use
this product and get this benefit." Flip through a magazine or
newspaper and count the number of ads that shout a benefit in heir
headline. Have your headline announce news about your product or
service. Headlines that proclaim news are remembered by almost 25%
more people. Finally, make your headline L-O-N-G. Ten word
headlines sell far better than shorter headlines.
According to market research firm Information Resources Inc.'s
poll of 7,900 shoppers: The study found that only 12% of shoppers
want games on sites, though 38% of sites feature games. Instead,
about half of all shoppers said they want free samples and coupons
or special offers, while only 22% of sites have samples and 19%
promote coupons.
"You can have a lower cost, more efficient Web site that will
be more satisfying to consumers," said Rick Kurz, IRI's president
of strategic business development organization. Companies are
"wasting thousands of dollars" to research what people think of
their products by conducting focus groups and polls. Kurz's study
found that 74% of people will give feedback online, but only 38%
of Web sites ask for it.
Or is the Secret, How to Write a Webpage That Sells? By: Robert
Olson
By learning to write good sales copy, you can earn more with
less traffic. Many of my sales pages, have pulled 10% to 20% in
sales to targeted lists. There are some key components used in
assembling a sales letter or a website that sells. You will need
to start with a headline that clearly enhances your visitor's
life. Using active words like
Announcing, Discover, Facts,
Breakthrough, etc. will add power to your headline. Where
you can, use the most powerful words,
You and Free! Active words
do grab attention so use them to really peak your visitors
interest. Remember that customers are more interested in
themselves. What they want to read about is something that can
make their life better or easier in some way. They really didn't
come to learn about your company but rather for what you can do
for them. Write a list of every benefit your product or service
has that can possibly do your customer some good. Now, use your
list to write some explosive sales copy offering the multiple
benefits that your product or service offers. You will be able to
make your customer think....Yes, before you ever get to the point
of asking for the sale! Don't be afraid to use long sales copy. It
is a fact that long sales copy sells better than short copy.
Consumers want lots of information. Tell them everything they need
to know and solve their problems with your benefits while you are
giving them information. After you are done telling your customers
about all the benefits they will receive from your product or
service, you can spend a little time talking about your company.
People make the mistake of first telling about how great their
company is when it's a fact that your visitors are not coming for
that purpose. A good way to end your sales page is to summarize
your main benefits. It doesn't hurt to refresh your visitor's
memories about all you have to offer them. At this point, you need
to spell out a clear call for action. Ask your visitor to call,
email or click here to order now. You would be surprised at how
many people never ask for the sale!
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