In the realm of internet marketing the speed and reach of internet is just mind boggling.
And new ways of promotions are being found every day. The present craze in social media sites, but older methods of marketing – such as SEO, banner ad, article marketing, PPC – are still going strong.
But the King of promotion has been and, still remains the good old email. Nothing beats email promotion in effectiveness. Those who make staggering amount of money in very short time rely on their lists and the means of communication is email.
The list has been called by various names such as the ATM Machine and Cash-on-Demand.
In the present scenario the list has become synonymous with success in internet marketing. In fact various promotional methods are used only to enlarge the list.
The starting point for making a list is the capture page on which we try to collect email addresses of interested persons in exchange for something valuable to them. Our entire promotional efforts are towards driving traffic to our capture page.
It will always be advantageous to host the capture page on our own domain name where we can have some control in designing the web page. On this page we can ensure that only those links are present that we want our visitors to use and not get distracted to some other site.
It is interesting to ponder over why people go on-line. They are obviously looking for ways to resolve some issue that is bothering them. They want solution to their problem and they want it free.
The internet has developed this cult of expecting things free of cost because so much is available free of cost and people have become used to getting free stuff.
Why do we say that we should offer something free of cost in exchange for email address? Well, there could be several theories on this issue.
Talking about myself, do I like to get things free of cost? Yes, occasionally. Why?
It is not that I cannot afford to pay for a valuable bargain. And I am sure this must be true for most of the people. Still people prefer to get things free of cost.
I have purchased dozens of courses, ebooks, software, membership. But I found that I am not able to use them all. Not because they are bad, some of them are real gems. But somehow I am mentally not prepared to take advantage of all the knowledge and opportunities that are at my disposal.
And I am very sceptical about buying anything on-line. Not because it will be bad, but more likely because I not be able to take its full advantage and then have the feeling that I have wasted money.
But free stuff? Here these situation can arise :
1. It does not matter if it is bad. All I lose is some time going through it.
2. If I am not able to use it properly then also it’s ok because I have not paid for it with money.
3. And if turns out to be good and workable then I’m impressed. I may be tempted to buy more from the same source. And I will remain hooked to the list.
When we offer free stuff for giving email address, it should fall in the category 3 above. Our free stuff is the free sample that is indicative of what can be expected from the newsletter.
List is nurtured and cultured with relationship.The element of trust has to be there otherwise it takes just a second to unsubscribe.
The biggest asset an internet marketer can have is the list of loyal subscribers. This is equivalent to loyal, regular customers of the physical world.
The human touch does matter.
