Is Email Obsolete?

That is a pretty startling question. And in that you no doubt have checked your email dozens of times today, sent numerous emails out and gotten that many or more in, to say that as a mode of communication that email is obsolete would be a mistake. Email is no more obsolete than letter writing or talking on the telephone is. But it is safe to say that its possible that email is no longer cutting edge and its era as a primary tool for internet marketing may be coming to an end.

When email first became a popular mode of communication, it virtually changed the way communication worked in a way that can only be compared to the invention of the telephone. Email combined the quickness of a telephone conversation with the ability to document what was said of a letter writing exchange. At the time to be able to send an email that reached the recipient’s email box in moments time even if they were on the other side of the world was mind blowing.

The internet marketing potential was tremendous. As internet marketing became a genuine mode of doing businesses, it grew up as the use of email grew up. However there was trouble in paradise and we probably don’t have to tell you what the problems were. It can be summed up in one word – spam. Spam is nothing more than unwanted email communications usually from an internet marketer. The corresponding experience outside of the internet is the solicitor phone call in the middle of dinner or junk mail and both are just as irritating and unwelcome as spam marketing emails.

So in the last decade internet marketing using email as the primary mode of communication with your customers has grown in two parallel lines. The legitimate side of email marketing and customer support has grown and become more sophisticated and useful. Many businesses were able to build impressive online business empires supported by email marketing and ongoing email communications with a growing customer base. For thousands of online marketers, the idea of conducting business without email communications with customers seems impossible.

But it was the other parallel line that grew like a cancer to the point that it snarled email communications and has interfered with email deliverability for the many legitimate email based internet merchants working in cyberspace. The spam merchants working with sophisticated mass mailing services and software have flooded email boxes of every citizen of cyberspace to such an extent that without spam control software both at the server level and at the desk top level, it is virtually impossible to use email for routine purposes any more.

Spam control software has grown exponentially as well and become powerful and sophisticated. It has also spawned a cottage industry which has imposed a whole new cost of operations on every email user in the world who wants to avoid the spam avalanche they will face if they go unprotected. This has created resentment and distrust in the email system of communications in general and certainly toward online merchants who wish to use the internet for customer service and marketing. To say that a few bad apples spoiled it for everyone puts it mildly.

Because of this ongoing war between spam operators and spam control software services, email deliverability has become a tedious chore to maintain and without constant oversight, an internet merchant can lose contact with its customers in short order. For that email has become obsolete as a valid and easy to use tool for marketing and customer communications.

Meanwhile new forms of communications such as instant messaging, VOIP and WEB 2.0 interoperability have started the next wave of evolution in internet communications. The chances are that we will see internet merchants move away from email marketing to exploit these much more dynamic methods for customer communications. And while email will never die as a cornerstone of online communications, from an internet marketing point of view, it is very much out of step with the times.

Affiliate marketing is an easy to start online business. It is really easy to start but requires the hard work to become successful. In this article you will learn the six basic steps that are required to enter in this business. The steps are brief and quite simple. You must follow these steps in order to become successful otherwise you would not get the desired results.

1. Choose a Broad Niche Market

Why choose a broad niche market instead of product? The reason is quite clear that you would like to put more products in your pipeline. You have to choose a market which suits you. You must obtain detailed information about it.

2. Choose a Product from Within the Niche Market

When you have decided upon a specific market, now it is time to select a product. You will definitely want to add all the products at the beginning, but it is advised not to do this when you first start because choosing more products in the beginning makes it difficult to focus. Your attention will be diverted to different products. So it is better to choose one product to get best out of it. You should add more products only after you have started making sales.

3. Create an Auto-responder Series

This is often overlooked, but very important: you simply must create a follow up series, which is also called an autoresponder series. This is a series of email letters that have the information about your product. For example, if you are selling purple widgets, you can build a series having some basic information about purple widgets and how to use them, explaining where and how they can purchase purple widgets. You might even profile some of the major purple widget users in the world – anything creative that will capture your visitor’s attention. Experts have said that during the period of first few months most affiliates do not usually get reasonable sales; however after six months, the sales figures will get better and better.

4. Create a “Squeeze Page” to Capture Emails

Another often overlooked necessity is the email capture page. After you create your auto-responder series (above) be sure to create a page in your website where you will capture information about your prospects so you can send them your follow-up series. If you are building a business, having your own web site is a necessity. This website will be needed to show your affiliate products to the website visitors. You will grab the visitor’s emails to promote your email campaigns.

5. Use Multiple Traffic Generation Techniques

Once your website is up, use some traffic generation techniques such as PPC, article marketing, social bookmarking and forum posting for example. After applying the traffic generation techniques, you should wait for some time to get the results. Try different techniques and see the results. Then on the basis of your experience, continue with the technique that shows best results.

6. Add Related Products

Once you have started to make a good and reliable income with a single product, then you should add some new products to your products list. But you must carefully select the products to put them in the list.

Always start with a single, hot and demanding product to gain good results. Concentrate on this single product, make your website to display the product and capture the email addresses of visitors. Use these email addresses and your website to start a powerful advertisement campaign. Use the techniques to drive maximum traffic to your website. Once you have started earning with a single product, add more products and repeat the process.

Last year I purchased my first ever Maytag product, a new refrigerator resplendent with stainless steel doors and lots of computerized gadgets. Why did I buy a Maytag?  Because for years I have watched as the lonely Maytag repairman of TV commercial fame sits pining for something to do. Maytag appliances don’t break down as other appliances do is the unspoken implication.

Six months later I’ve had to call that "lonely repairman" 3 times!  I bought the lie.

Yep, it’s a lie.  As the *real* repairman said, "The only person who is not working his butt off at Maytag is that actor in the commercials."

Lesson learned: Don’t believe everything you think you see and hear. The Maytag brand is just like all the others – their appliances do break down. The repairman is not lonely; he’s so busy I had to wait 2 weeks!

I was thinking about my refrigerator experience as I re-wrote a sales letter for my own private label articles site. After much writing and re-writing to make sure I didn’t mislead anyone, I finally perfected it (in my eyes) and uploaded it to my site. It goes against all the advice I’ve read from the gurus on how to write a sales letter but I feel good about it. It’s not long enough (according to some). But I don’t care. It’s not misleading. It’s not hyped up. It presents my offer in a clear and honest way. And, you know what? Each time I started to write anything "hypey", I would conjure up the image of the lonely Maytag man and I would start deleting. He has permeated my psyche!

Well, that works to keep me from writing hype and misleading advertising — but how can you protect yourself against the double talk of Internet sales hype that plummets your email account every day?

One caveat that holds true for every facet of the marketing arena is: "if it sounds too good to be true, it is — so don’t fall for it."

I know you’ve heard that a thousand times before and it might seem trite, but it will keep you from making a big financial mistake if you will follow it. Here are a few more tips:

• Read every ad and sales letter with a healthy dose of skepticism.
• Click away from claims of ultra high earnings
• "Google" the offer, adding +scam to the search
• Ask other opinions or advice about the offer
• If you’re dead-set on making that purchase … wait 3 days. Sometimes you have a better perspective when you give yourself space and allow your brain to process the information.
• Ask questions before you purchase. You will get a feel for the people behind the ad by asking questions. Do they answer right away? Is it an automated response?

And remember … if it sounds to good to be true …

I’m sure you get the picture! 

What about you?  Have you a bad advertising experiences you’d like to share?  If so, please click on the comment link and tell us about it.
 

-Linda

Tags: writing sales pages, advertising, internet marketing, misleading advertising

Sometimes you stumble across a website that just reaches out and grabs you by the stem cells, your tongue hangs out and saliva is dripping. Whoa! Where has this site been hiding?

That’s how I felt when I came across John Cow’s blog. My eyes popped at the graphics and I felt myself being sucked into the blogosphere vortex. I knew I wouldn’t be soon clicking away from the site. I had to read every word. You see, I am forever looking for ways to make money on the Internet. And, by accidentally typing “make mooney online” instead of “make money online” in the Google search box, I found a site on the subject that was worth investigation.

I was amazed as I skimmed through the posts and kept saying to myself, “what a great site.” And even after three hours of digging around in the content, reading everything he’s written to date I am still left with the tongue-hanging-out feeling of ‘WOW!” This is a treasure trove of information even if it does flow through a John Cow bias (sometimes you just have to grin and bear the euphemisms the man uses! In fact, he might be a redneck!).

Cow vs. Conn – a Friendly Battle
I finally got around to reading about the contest – err … cowtest … between John Cow and Garry Conn. I found it amusing that this cowpetition (read competition) started when Garry Conn wrote derogatory comments about John Cow in his blog at GarryConn.com. Now they’ve “put up their dukes” – like 2 kids on the playground, faces drawn in menacing expressions and fists clenched ready for the friendly “who’s the best man” battle. It sounds like it will be great fun and I am eager to join in.

Super Cool Prizes
It’s definitely worth the trade of your name and email address and promise to participate. Take a look at all the amazing rewards the winner gets:

A copy of Affiliate Elite Enterprise Edition ($550+ value)
A copy of TrafficTravis ($97 Value)
A 1 Year Membership at PLR Pro ($1164 Value)
A copy of Easy Member Pro Unlimited ($297 Value)
A copy of Video Post Robot ($197 Value)
A copy of the Full Blogging Mastermind Audio Series from Yaro Starak with over 10 hours of up to date blog training ($397 Value)
A copy of Web 2.0 Marketing Tips from Miguel Alvarez, author of Marketing Factor ($135 Value)

The whole purpose of the contest is to see who can do the best job of starting a blog from scratch and selling it for the most money on Sitepoint.com. While the contest is between John and Garry, team members will help them by spreading the word about the blog, thus increasing its value. In fact, the more you participate, the more points you receive. While John and Garry will get the funds from the sale of their respective sites, the person who acquires the most participation points will get all of the cool prizes listed above! John Cow says that 100% of the proceeds they get from winning this will go to World Vision but, says he, if Garry Conn wins World Vision will see nothing because he is keeping it all!

Now I love a good contest so I’m eager to join in this friendly competition between the two IM gurus. From the looks of it, this is going to be great fun plus they promise to teach me how to make money online. You can, of course, join in the competition by signing up at http://www.johncow.com/cowpetition. Why not? It’s what I call a win/win situation! Nobody really loses – we will learn at the feet of master Internet Marketer’s and have a boat load of fun while doing so.

~Linda

Tags: john cow blog, blogging, make money online, cow vs. conn, cowpetition, internet marketing, cowtest

Working on the Internet tends to make you a loner. However, one of the biggest assets you will find when you are in a home based business is networking with other business owners. Not only are they a great source of encouragement, but they can also lead to more business.

When people are selling products, such as jewelry or candles, a lot of times what they will have
an online party. Everyone goes into a chat room, and it’s just like a regular party, except it’s online.

Another thing you might do is to trade parties in the network. Let’s say that you sell jewelry, and someone else in the network sells candles. The two of you talk, and you agree to do a candle party for her if she does a jewelry party for you. This way both of you benefit from the experience, and hopefully the two of you make some sales.

Just like with a regular party that is held in someone’s house, it’s important to give your hostess a thank you gift for holding the party for you This way, even if she doesn’t buy anything, she still gets to see what it is that you have to offer and will keep you in mind for the next time that she wants to buy a product like the one that you are selling.

Networking is an essential part of having a home business, and can be very profitable if you take time to get to know those in your network.

Sometimes working on the Internet makes us lazy and we let things slide that we normally wouldn’t.  Especially when it comes to setting up our office space.  It is just so easy to sit with the laptop with our feet resting on a footstool, or better still, reclining in that big over-stuffed chair in front of the TV. A few years ago a big deal was made of being able to work in your pajamas to earn a fortune on the Internet.

Well, I might not be able to convince you to get dressed before you start to work each day (ha!  I don’t even do that myself!).  Bu, I hope to convince you of the importance of having a regular work space designated for your Online business. Before you start your own home business, the one thing that you should do is to designate a place for you to work. The area that you work in should be free of distractions and have a computer,a desk, a phone, a connection to the Internet, and, if possible, a bathroom. This way you will have everything you need
until you take your lunch break.

Something to remember is that you are ‘at work’ in this area. An ideal solution is to have every distraction taken care of. This means that you have someone looking after your child, if possible. If your child is younger than school age, hire someone to look after them during the day.

This may seem strange since you are working at home, but would you take a baby into your office with you? Probably not – your boss wouldn’t allow it. Having someone look after them while you are working ensures that you will get everything done during business hours.

If your children are school age and old enough to understand, let them know that you are working, and that you should only be disturbed if it’s an emergency. If they are still young, have someone watch them after school.

This may seem like an unnecessary expense, but if you are talking to someone on the phone they won’t take you seriously if they hear a crying baby in the background, or children fighting. You want to make yourself seem as professional as you can so that people know they can trust you — even if your work is conducted online.

Tags: working from home, internet marketing, internet business

Part of having an online business that you operate from your home is the process of building up your business. That’s important, yes, butjust as important is your need to become a part of a network of others who understand what you are doing — you need a peer group of Internet Marketers to help you.

Having an online business can be frustrating at times, especially if your friends and family aren’t supportive, so it’s always a good idea to get in touch with others who are going through the same types of things that you are going through.

The place to start can be daunting when you think of it. Where do you find people of like mind? Well, start with Google or Yahoo. You simply type in the phrase, "work from home" +forum and you will find many forums dedicated to the subject. The Internet is full of message boards and forums for people who are in home businesses of all kinds and who are talking about the ins and outs of working from home. One thing that should be noted is that these forums are not places to go to promote your online business, although there are probably threads that allow you to do that. Everyone on the message board or forum has an internet related business. This is a place to go and talk to other business owners and to find out what works and doesn’t work.

The first thing that you will want to do is to introduce yourself. Usually it’s acceptable to say what type of business you have as part of your introduction, but make it short. After you have introduced yourself, go through the different threads to see if any of the questions that you have are already being discussed.

Be sure to check the board or forum rules, but it’s pretty much universal what is expected of those that join the boards, and what is allowed.

Knowing where to go when you need help is half the battle. Enjoy your online business and be prosperous!

[tags}online business, internet business, internet forums, internet marketing[/tags]