 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| eMarketing Tips and Tricks - September 9, 2003 |  |
 |
||||
|
Check out our eMarketing Tools
Informative eBooks
|
Today's Article: Your Traffic Building Checklist: Part 1 Today's Ask Dr. Ebiz: Deciding What Email Format to Send Today's Cool Find: Audio Generator Your Traffic Building Checklist: Part 1 By Alexandria K. Brown - "The E-zine Queen" When many of my clients first come to me for coaching, they share that one of their biggest challenges is getting enough visitors to their site. Attracting traffic isn't a cut and dry process - there isn't one perfect way to do it. But there are many ways that, when used collaboratively, will build you a nice stream of visitors. To get your marketing wheels turning, check out these 15 simple ways to attract new visitors to your site. This is not an exhaustive list by any means, but it will give you several fresh ideas to try. Now, remember - you don't want to expel effort in getting just anyone to visit your site. You only want people who would likely be interested in what you have to offer. So before you read on, answer this question: "WHO are your target clients or customers?" Are they men, women, or both? Do they own a certain type of business or work in a certain profession? Are they young, old, or middle aged? Are they left handed? Do they own pets? Can they juggle? I hope you see where I'm going here. The more you know about your ideal clients/customers, the better you'll know where and how to find them . So ... keep that information in mind as you consider these traffic-building tactics: ___ 1. Search Engines and DirectoriesWhy not be in front of people who are actually searching for your product or service? Get your site listed in the top search engines by either learning about this topic on your own or investing in assistance. Because there is A LOT to learn and the rules keep changing all the time, this is an area I advise you get some help in. (I recommend my friend Marc Harty at http://www.SearchEnginePatrol.com .) ___ 2. Pay-per-Click DirectoriesIn pay-per-click deals, you only pay for how many people actually CLICK on your ad to get to your Web site. Services such as Overture (http://www.overture.com/ ) and Google AdWords (https://adwords.google.com/ ) let you bid on how much you'd like to pay per click, and many times your listings appear above the regular listings in the major search engines. (To learn more, see my article, "Pay Per Click: What's It All About ?" at http://www.ezinequeen.com/payclick.htm .) ___ 3. Your Own E-zineIf you publish your own e-zine, you already have a warm pool of prospects who are likely interested in what you have to offer. Give them a reason to visit (or re-visit) your site by adding new content, giving away a free report or e-book, or offering a special subscriber-only promotion on your products and services. (To learn more about publishing your own e-zine, sign up for one of my FREE monthly teleclasses at http://www.ezine-queen.com/teleclass.htm ) ___ 4. Your Articles in Other E-zines and at Other Web SitesThis has been one of my most successful traffic-building tactics. There are thousands of online publishers who would like to use YOUR articles in their e-zines and on their Web sites! Find them via the Directory of E-zines (http://www.1automationwiz.com/app/aftrack.asp?AFID=44985) (my favorite) or search for Web sites that accept "free content" submissions. Be sure to add an attention-getting blurb at the end of your article that gives the reader a reason to visit your site ASAP. (To learn how to do this, see my article "Recycle Your Articles and Gain Tons of New Subscribers" at http://www.ezinequeen.com/recycle.htm ___ 5. Ads in Other E-zines Identify other e-zines whose readership matches your target market. Search the Directory of E-zines (http://www.1automationwiz.com/app/aftrack.asp?AFID=44985) and the Web. Find out if the e-zines accept advertising and learn what their rates are. Run at least three ads in a row, preferably five to seven, to get an accurate representation of how the ad pulls. Use an ad-tracking program to determine how many clicks each ad is getting. My shopping cart program has this built in, but if you're looking for a separate ad tracking service at a low cost, AdMinder is a good one. (http://www.adminder.com/go.cgi?id=akb1) ___ 6. Ads on Other Web Sites Research other Web sites where your target market visits and inquire about advertising. Have ready both text ads and banner ads of different sizes. (For examples of banner sizes, see some of the banner ads I provide to my E-zine Queen Affiliates at http://www.ezinequeen.com/graphics.htm ) ___ 7. Online Forums and Discussion GroupsWhere do your prospective clients and customers hang out online? What organizations do they belong to? Identify popular forums and discussion groups that are related to your subject area and where prospects in your target market may be lurking. You'll find more than you ever knew existed just by doing a few online searches. Don't be self-promotional in your postings - be helpful and answer questions as related to your area of expertise. Let your value shine through and include your Web site address underneath your name. TO BE CONTINUED ... (c) 2003 Alexandria K. BrownABOUT THE AUTHOR Alexandria K. Brown, "The E-zine Queen," is author of the award-winning manual, "Boost Business With Your Own E-zine." To learn more about her book and sign up for more FREE tips like these, visit her site at http://www.ezinequeen.com.
"Dr Ebiz" "We're just starting an e-mail marketing campaign. What other options are there for sending to both plain text and HTML recipients, other than multipart MIME e-mails? Is there any program that reports back to us what type (plain text or HTML) the recipient can receive and read? Is there a list that specifically states what e-mail programs can receive and not receive HTML? For example, can AOL receive HTML e-mails?" -- Chrystie Chase, PDI Global My
recent surveys indicate that nearly 99% of US e-mail recipients
use an e-mail program that enables them to read HTML e-mail. This
makes multipart MIME nearly obsolete. About 20% of recipients, however,
prefer plain text e-mails over HTML if given a choice. While recent
AOL e-mail versions can read HTML e-mail, hyperlinks in plain text
e-mails don't show up as clickable links unless specially treated,
so I prefer to send HTML to AOL subscribers. However, the default
setting for newest version of Microsoft Office Outlook My recommendation: Send the first e-mail to your list in multipart MIME, asking text only recipients to switch to the text-only version. For the second and subsequent e-mailings, send HTML to everyone unless they specifically request to switch to text. You can find more complete information on this and the results of my surveys in The E-Mail Marketing Handbook http://www.wilsonweb.com/ebooks/handbook.htm?c1=dre0827&source=ebooks&kw=handbook "Copyright 2003, Ralph F. Wilson. All rights reserved. Used by permission."
We have just found a great new application to implement our our site and ezine - adding audio messages anywhere on your site quickly and easily. Unlimited audio messages can be created for less than $1 a day. Click here to see an example of how you can use Audio Generator.
Mailworkz Home Archives Submit Articles
| |||||
|
©
2003 Mailworkz. All Rights Reserved.
|
||||||
