When you launched your business web site – you hoped for the best. You hoped that people would visit your web site – watch the clouds part and listen to the angels sing – and instantly KNOW that they had found what they’ve found the object of their desire.
However, as the months passed – you probably began wondering why more people weren’t contacting you.
Sometimes – people aren’t contacting you because they aren’t finding your website.
However, if you take a look at your log files and see that people ARE finding your web site – then the problem may be that you need to earn their TRUST before they take the leap and do business with you.
In order for people to trust you – they first have to get to know you. There are two GREAT ways to allow people to “get to know you” online…. an email newsletter and a blog.
I’ll be covering email newsletters here. Email newsletters can take two forms: autoresponders and newsletters.
An autoresponder is just what it’s name says it is – it’s an automatic response. When an email comes in – it “triggers” the autoresponder to begin sending either a single message – or a series of messages.
A newsletter, on the other hand is an email that you send to a LIST of people who have signed up and ASKED for this kind of communication.
Remember when I said that the purpose is to build TRUST with you. Well, the worst thing in the WORLD you can do is to try to build an email newsletter without using a double opt in email subscription process. While I can install such software on your server for you – over the long run – it’s usually more cost efficient to just sign up for a service like Marketer’s Choice.
You won’t build trust by sending emails from your desktop using Outlook Express to a bunch of contacts you’ve collected!
While you can set up an autoresponder on almost any email account – Marketer’s Choice offers the ability to set up the autoresponder to deliver a SERIES of messages delivered at scheduled intervals.
For example, if you offer a free ebook as your “legal bribe” to get people to sign up for your newsletter – you can set up an autoresponder of six follow up emails which are delievered once a week for the first six weeks after someone signs up for your newsletter.
What this does is to help “pre-qualify” your web visitors. If 100 people come to your web site and 10 sign up for your newsletter to get a copy of your ebook – then you know your web site message is on track and you’ve got a steady stream of prospective customers.
By setting up your email newsletter in this manner – it can truly become a “set it and forget it” business building tool.
The other option for email newsletters is to – again – offer a legal bribe to entice people to sign up for your newsletter, and then every two weeks – or every month – you send your list an informative newsletter. Your readers get to know you – and eventually some will trust you enough to do business with you.
Email newsletters are one of the most powerful business building tools on the web. If you need a virtual web assistant to help you set up or maintain your email newsletter – contact me.
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