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The Money Is (Not Quite) In The List
by David Hurley
I guess that most Internet marketers have heard the marketing proverb, "The money is in the list."
The idea is that if you are to make money online it is no good simply putting up a site and adding a bunch of affiliate links and banner ads to it then
sitting back and waiting for the mula to come rolling in.
It isn't going to happen.
No, the idea is that if you are going to make money online your first aim is not to sell to your visitors straight off the front page of your website but
to CAPTURE your visitor's name and, more importantly, email address. Your visitor will then be automatically placed on your auto-responder's mailing list
and will automatically start receiving your mailings, which you previously loaded into your auto-responder.
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| As your list grows, so will sales from the links you provide in your mailings. To add to your income, you will be advised to send out an e-mail broadcast
from time to time with a special offer.
This is all well and good, up to a point. But a one off e-mail broadcast is not much different from a one off visit by a surfer to your website. Indeed, it might
be less effective since the surfer quite likely initiated his own visit to your site, whereas your broadcast arrives in his inbox for him to delete or ignore without
taking any further action at all if he wishes. |
A one-off broadcast or a series of preloaded mailings that skip from subject to subject is therefore not the best solution no matter how big your list is.
What is needed is a concerted campaign in which an initial mailing is followed-up with two or three more messages, each one different in style or perspective,
but each helping to reinforce to basic "buy now" message of the first.
It is said that 60% of sales are made not in the initial approach, but in the follow-up. Hence, my title: The money is in the FOLLOW-UP rather than in the list.
Now you might reasonably object that without a list there could be no follow-up...
...but with no follow-up there will be no money!
Or at least, not as much of it sloshing around your bank account as there could have been if you'd followed up your initial approach with, well, with follow-up
letters.
Generate More Sales With Paydotcom
Here's what I suggest to improve your sales: Use PayDotCom as your source for affiliate products and write a mini product promotion campaign for your email list subscribers. This strategy is free to implement and once you have mastered it you will be able to generate many more sales and repeat sales from your list by offering your subscribers a much wider range of products that may interest them. Remember, follow-up sales are where the real money is to be made with email lists. And for follow up sales, you need a range of tempting products to offer your list. PayDotCom has hundreds of affiliate products for you to choose from and they pay commissions right into your Paypal account.
Setting Up A Mini Affiliate Product Campaign
First, choose a PayDotCom product that fits in well with your niche, then BUY it and thoroughly familiarize yourself with it. This is important because you are going to need to write a detailed product review and the only way to do that well is by testing and using the product so you can speak with the voice of experience.
Now, write a review of the affiliate product.
Begin the review with a strong curiosity-arousing headline to get your message opened by a reasonable percentage of your list. Open the review with a brief introductory paragraph talking about how you bought and tested the product. Give a convincing reason why you bought the product - why you thought it would help you solve a specific problem.
Benefits... Benefits... Benefits...
Next, in the main body of the article you will want to focus on the key BIG BENEFIT of the product. Don't waffle on about the features - focus on
HOW those features will BENEFIT the reader. Be benefits focused, not product-features focused. One way to go is to write "Feature - SO - BENEFIT"
Example: How You Will Benefit By Using A Pencil...
Let's imagine we are trying to sell a simple products, like a basic Japanese Mitsubishi pencil. (Note to reader: I live in Japan and always have a bunch of these pencils on my desk top.) The humble Mitsubishi pencil might not be thought to offer too many benefits,
but you can always dig deep and find something:
"The Mitsubishi pencil has an eraser firmly attached to the top by a metal band [FEATURE] SO when you mess up your sketch you'll never have to go searching
around your cluttered desk for an eraser [BENEFIT]." |  |
The aim of a product review is to build rapport with the reader and introduce the major benefit from the reader's perspective, dampen scepticism
and arouse sufficient curiosity or eagerness to cause the reader to click through to the main product sales page - the one provided by the PayDotCom product
provider.
If you get your reader that far you will have done well at this stage. Bear in mind that most people do not buy a product the first time they are exposed to it.
That's why you'll need to follow up with some more messages.
The Key To Selling Is In The Follow Up...
Two or three days later, follow up with your second review. This one should be in a "Question and Answer" format. The questions anticipate the objections
and immediately disarm them simply by showing that they have been thought about already. The answers serve to kill them off and reinforce the benefits the
product offers. Of course, a link to the product purchase page is provided here too.
Allow another two or three days to pass and then send the third review. This time it is seeking to strike home with the accumulated points made in the previous
two reviews. The third review is blunt, a series of bullet points, and has a sense of urgency and in recapitulating all the points it reinforces them in the mind of the
reader and - ideally - leads the reader to click the link and purchase the product.
It is important that you track your ad campaigns so you know which of your subscribers purchased the product and when they purchased it. Don't keep trying to sell something to someone who has
already bought it, because that sends out a negative signal that you are not treating your customers like individuals, but like, well, email addresses in an opt-in
list!
As soon as you get a sale move the customer from your "Subscribers" list to a new list designated "Customers".
That is the list with the real money in it - and it is essential that you follow up your follow-up mailing campaign with some new, exclusive, special product
offers.
If you don't know what to offer them in the follow up, simply head back to PayDotCom and you'll soon find something!
Thank your customers for purchasing and make them a special deal. Go on, make each one of them FEEL special about being your customer!
Adopt a more intimate or personal style. They and you are part of an exclusive in-group.
Treat them special, follow up your offers and you really will find that the money is in the list after all!
David Hurley
Free Business Websites
David Hurley is an Internet marketer who is based in Japan and is the owner of http://grasp-the-nettle.com, which focuses on success mentoring for Internet marketing start-ups.
Get your own work-from-home Internet business set up free and find out how you can build a successful online business.
This work is licenced under a Creative Commons Licence.
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