Relationship Marketing | Build Your Online Business

The face of internet marketing has undergone significant changes over the past few years giving rise to the demand for effective online marketing tips and strategies.  As a result, opt-in e-mail marketing or permission marketing has seen an upsurge.

What is opt-in marketing? It is marketing or communicating through e-mail with a group of persons who have willingly given permission to be contacted by subscribing to your materials through an opt-in box or a landing page.  This has given rise to the statement, “The money is in the list.”  Savvy marketers know, however, that there is more to it than just having a list.  It's  important to build a targeted list of people who liked what they saw when they first visited your site, want to see and learn more from you, and are also willing to purchase your product or service that's offered on your website.

In order to make this effective, here are three critical things you need to do:

1) Create a squeeze page or landing page so your visitors can visit in a focused environment.  Many online marketers create a form on their blog or blogs for visitors to opt-in to.  While this may be good in the short term, a more effective strategy is to have your visitors go to a landing or sqeeze page.  Usually your blog has a lot of information and it may be difficult for your visitor to keep their focus; instead their eyes may wander to the different articles and offers on your page.  Make your landing page informative and inviting so that they want more.

2) Give something – a report, an e-book, a video, an e-mail course etc. or combination of these tools to thank your visitors for trusting you with their personal information.  On the “Thank You” page or on the “Download” page you then invite your visitors to your blog to learn more about you and what you have to offer.  You will  want to stay in touch with your list with autoresponders.  My favorite autoresponder is Aweber.
3)  Provide excellent customer service and products: Satisfied customers are more likely to share information with their peers and word of mouth advertising is best because these new visitors will be referred by people who already know, like and trust you.

Working full-circle is working smart and not hard.  Building your targeted list takes work but work that will pay you big dividends in the long run.

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