Internet Marketing Q&A - Issue 2

It’s time to answer another set of questions from my readers. You’re in that group, so you get the benefit of the great questions your peers ask me.

A lot of people wonder why I do this. There are really three big reasons…

First, I care about whether you succeed or not. Internet marketing really isn’t rocket science…once you know what you’re doing. Before you “get it”, though, it helps a ton to have somebody actually answer real questions that real people ask along the way.

Second, even after you’re an “expert”, it’s great to get new ideas from other people. You never know when an answer to a question will press just right button in your brain…and boost your profits.

Third, I get literally thousands of emails every week, and it’s impossible to answer them all. So I set up this system to help me manage email better, while still giving you the information you need.

So read on, and I hope you enjoy the learning.

————- CURRENT ISSUE ————-

I’ve helped a significant number of people get their start online through my courses and products. One of the HUGE topics that always comes up is list building and email marketing. So this issue will be all about that.

1) What’s the “best” way to build a list (asked by Mark Owens)?

MY ANSWER: Well, there really is no “best” way. There are different ways, though, and there are a few that work very well.

For people with some money to spend, using Google’s AdWords program to send highly t’argeted traffic to your sign-up page really can’t be beat. It’s always been the fastest way to get traffic.

The downside to AdWords is that it can cost a LOT of money, especially if you don’t know what you’re doing. It’s called having a runaway campaign…and it can run away with your wallet if you’re not careful.

So most people want to find some free ways to get traffic. I’ll give you two suggestions that still work well:

- Write articles and link to your site in your author box at the end. You should try submitting to EzineArticles.com. They get gobs of traffic, and your article is likely to get linked to (and re-published) more.

- Create a lens at Squidoo.com and link to the sign-up page at your site. Google absolutely loves Squidoo, and you could end up ranking very well for the keywords your target with your lens. That will get you free “organic” traffic from Google and other search engines.

While there’s no “best” way to get traffic, those two ways are pretty darn good!

2) Is there a science to emailing (asked by Allyson Worthey)?

MY ANSWER: Yes and no. But I guess that could be the answer to any question, so let me dig a little deeper.

There may not be a science to emailing, just like there’s not really a science to high-stakes poker. But there are things that influence the game, and there are strategies that tend to pay off better than others.

For example, most people email too much or too little. If you send a single email every month or two, people are probably going to forget who you are. But if you send two emails a day, they’re going to get annoyed with you.

It’s smarter to send an average of one email per week, occasionally bumping that up to two for a busy week. That might be while you’re promoting an affiliate product launch, and launch day is coming up soon.

Another “scientific” thing is when you email. Actually, there’s no universally right or wrong time to send an email, but Tuesdays and Thursdays seem to get decent response for some reason. And mailing so that people get your email on a Friday, and then perhaps a follow-up on Saturday morning, tends to work well in the U.S.

So there’s really no science to emailing, but there are smart ways to go about it.

3) Why isn’t my list buying (asked by Darren Fomby)?

MY ANSWER: The simple answer is because you’re not selling. If you were selling, people would be buying. Sales isn’t just pitching something…it’s convincing people to buy it!

But there are a couple common reasons why people have trouble getting their lists to buy…

First, they email too much. That tends to happen when they promote everything that comes along. If you do that, people on your list will start tuning you. If they’re not paying attention, you won’t sell anything.

Second, their emails aren’t persuasive enough. Selling with an email is a bit of an art. It’s not as simple as shouting, “Buy this NOW!” In fact, you shouldn’t really sell anything in your email. Instead, you should compel somebody to follow a link to a web page where the real selling will happen.

As I teach in my Email Promos Exposed course, which is free at http://www.EmailPromosExposed.com, your email should be designed to get the reader to click the link you want him to click. In most cases, that link will take him to a sales page, or maybe a squeeze page. Let that page do the heavy lifting. Just get the click in your email.

If your list isn’t buying, try emailing less and making your calls to action more compelling in the emails you do send.

4) How can I get my list to buy more (asked by Clayton Veiga)?

MY ANSWER: This is sort of related to the previous question, but it’s slightly different.

There are two main strategies to increase your list’s buying potential, especially as an affiliate marketer:

- promote selectively, so that when you promote something, your list KNOWS it’s good

- promote things with killer sales copy

That second one is a little hard to quantify, but you can try.

One thing I like to do is ask the product owner how his sales page is converting. If it’s doing well, he’ll tell you, believe me. There’s no guarantee it’ll convert well for you, but it’s a good sign.

Another thing to try is reading the page yourself. But do it with one goal in mind…when you reach the end, ask yourself if you REALLY want to buy. Take your first emotional reaction. If you do want to buy, it’s probably good copy.

5) What if a promo doesn’t work (asked by Guy Slavens)?

MY ANSWER: Do another one!

Okay, that’s not so helpful. By all means, do another promo, but you can do better than that. Always learn from what works and from what doesn’t work.

Here are a few things to do:

- Check to be sure your emails got delivered. Your autoresponder should give you stats. If very few got through, that could be your problem.

- Ask any of your contacts if they got similar results. Sometimes a product is just a dud. Sometimes the market is too busy with other things. Your marketing friends may have encountered the same thing.

- Ask your subscribers. You can use a free service like SurveyMonkey.com to create a simple survey asking people why they didn’t buy. Their answers might help you make the next promo better.

Assuming you’re not mailing too often, or promoting junk, you could have encountered some kind of air pocket that’ll pass. Learn what you can, then move on to the next one.

———-

All right, that wraps it up for this time.

If you like getting answers to questions like this, ask your own question! You can submit your question by filling out the simple form at:

http://www.michaelrasmussen.com/questions/

Every couple weeks or so, I’ll go through the questions and pick out 5-6 to answer in an email to people on my lists.

Your questions are what will make this email helpful, so please keep them coming. I can’t guarantee I’ll answer your question, but if the same question gets asked several times, I’ll try to answer that one. So don’t think, “Somebody’s probably asked that already.” Maybe so, but it’s worth asking anyway.

All the best,

Michael Rasmussen
CEO, BulletProof Marketing, Inc.

P.S. If you know any Internet marketers who would enjoy this article, just send them an email with this link:
http://www.michaelrasmussen.com/internet-marketing-qa-issue-2

About the Author

Michael Rasmussen is a successful Internet Marketing Consultant and author of many top-selling eBooks. Michael has been marketing online since the early days and he knows what it takes to make money and succeed online. Stop by his Web site and subscribe to his Free monthly newsletter full strategies and techniques for successful web site promotions that can help YOU! Go to http://www.MichaelRasmussen.com

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