Viral Marketing and List Building Tips

May 24, 2010

How to Build a List Marketing Campaign Successfully

Filed under: Email Marketing, List Building — Tags: , — admin @ 10:12 am

One of the most powerful tools available to all webmasters is the opt-in mailing list. Most people visit a web site once and never return – but a mailing list is a method of keeping in-touch with readers and increasing the chances of having them return to the website.

When most people think of newsletters, they think of the dozen or so newsletters they send to junk-mail each day. This does not mean that newsletter marketing doesn’t work, it just means that most web sites use their newsletters to try and sell a product, or offer information. Few people will open a newsletter unless it promises to give them something they need or solve a problem.

It is fairly easy to build an opt-in mailing list if the web master understands why people use the web. If a person wants information, they will read a book. A person who wants to develop a skill will take a course. Most of the people who visit web sites are trying to solve problems. Promoting the opt-in mailing list as a source of problem solving solutions is one way to increase the chances of a person signing up.

The location of the sign up box is also important – the link bar is not a good place for a sign-up box. Placing the sign up box in a forum, or at the end of a free online course can improve the sign up rate. It is important to tell people what to do after they read an article. Readers who are not told where to go next or given something to do, will click the Google links and leave the web site. Instead of trying to sell a product at the end of a good article or in the forum, ask readers to sign up for the mailing list.

Beware of co-registration lists. This new SEO marketing tool lets web masters build a list in a short time, and the sign up reports look good, but the mailing list subscribers are not targeted to your niche or product. This dramatically lowers the web site’s ROI (Return On Investment). It is better to have a mailing list with 1000 targeted subscribers on it than one with 10 000 shared subscribers.

The one sure way of increasing a mailing list is to write an ebook. An ebook can be printed off and read when it is convenient. This has appeal to many readers.

The last word on building an opt-in mailing list is to guarantee privacy. Make sure that the sign up page is neat, free of ads, and has a promise that the information collected will not be shared with anyone not associated with the web site. I’ve seen some excellent sign up pages that include a quote from the company president claiming that the mailing list is for the benefit of the readers, and will not be sold or shared with other companies.

March 2, 2010

Twitter As an Email List-Building Tool

Filed under: Internet Marketing, List Building, Twitter Marketing — Tags: , — admin @ 10:05 am

One of the most efficient list building tools has come to the fore less than a year ago. That tool is called Twitter. One of the most significant advantages of using twitter as a marketing tool, and a list building tool is the immediate response which the company receives from all prospective subscribers. It is very easy to build a list of members simply by tweeting the right key words, and attracting customers to you rather than searching them out. This has turned out be a very efficient list building tool for companies all over the internet.

There are many strategies which one can employ to use the reach and popularity of twitter for one’s marketing purposes. The first method is simple yet gives really great results. Once the people have read your tweets and are interested, all you need to do is ask for their email address in return for more useful information from you about that topic. Some might take offense to this and even go as far as to call it blackmail, but it is technically nothing of the sort. You are providing them a service here, and are simply asking for contact details in return so that you may approach them later on to sell your products or services if they are interested. No one is forcing any issue here, and a good businessman will not listen to such mindless criticism for a second. Tweeting such invitations is a common thing these days, and everyone does it. What the company must keep in mind is the ultimate goal, and then it must employ the best possible route of getting there. As long as you are social in your tweets and not overtly marketing, there is no problem in employing such measures. Once that user has responded positively to your offer, you can then convert that user into a subscriber who will be added to your email list, and will become a responsive member in the future.

All the various tools and applications on twitter can be used as effective list building tools. Videos, posts, articles, links etc. all of these can be employed to let you tweet followers about your website, and try to attract them towards giving you their email addresses to strengthen your mailing list. Twitter is perhaps the most popular social networking site of all, and is a gold mine of potential customers and subscribers to your mailing list. All a company needs to do is build a credible profile for itself and figure out how to attract their target market of customers. Once this is done, the list building process will take care of itself, and the company is bound to prosper.

December 13, 2009

Using File Sharing in Viral Marketing

Filed under: List Building, Viral Marketing — Tags: , — admin @ 8:06 am

There are probably ten million people online, looking for downloads at any given time. Of course, a lot of them could be looking for pornography or free software but still, reaching a minimum on a million people on any given day does offer some rather intriguing possibilities.

People like using file services to download music for two simple reasons, they’re free, and there is an incredible selection. The fact is Pandora’s Box has been opened. In Napster’s wake, other quasi-legal services quickly emerged… a lot of them. Even if they are closed, others will succeed them. Major record companies would like to thing otherwise but they are never going to stop file sharing. Net users are file sharers…plain and simple. Long before the Internet came into being, people made cassette tapes of their favorite music for their friends…cd burners are so much easier and faster. So how can you use this to help your viral marketing campaign along? Think about this. Once someone downloads your MP3 files and those files are available on that listener’s hard drive, viral marketing begins. After two users start sharing your files, suddenly, your music is on the hard drive of a second computer…then a third… and on and on. When users are searching and they find your music on a lot of different computers, they are more likely to download the files. It’s just a matter of time before you’ll find your files showing up in more and more places. No matter what genre music you play…Rock and Roll, Country, Tejano, Mozart sonatas, Heavy Metal, of Brazilian Jazz, there is an audience for it somewhere. In this new paradigm, you aren’t hawking a product, you are offering free music via a medium that lets you be directly connected with your audience.

December 11, 2009

Using Forums in Viral Marketing

Filed under: List Building, Viral Marketing — Tags: — admin @ 8:12 am

Recently, forum marketing has been touted as a kind of free, organic, viral marketing. But because so many marketers go into forums purely with the intention of marketing products or services, their actions and attitude unwittingly causes the exact opposite of the desired effect.

Forums aren’t marketplaces but when used as such, the marketers’ actions become offensive and will only inspire the wrath of fellow members and marketers, not to mention moderators who can ban them from the site with the click of their mouse.

In order to be effective, this kind of marketing carries a certain degree of commitment, responsibility and respect. The first requirement is to take a personal interest in the main topic of the forum. Not only does that mean visiting it regularly, but it also means developing a good relationship with both other members and the moderators, as well as taking an active interest in helping others. Of course, it also means abiding by and all rules that exist. By doing this, one can develop a reputation and, since it is human nature to work with a trusted colleague, business will naturally develop from this.


This type of marketing has already suffered some abuse and because of this, many forums have recently developed stringent rules designed to protect their members from abusive or overly-aggressive marketing tactics. One forum grants .sig files only after a member has created one hundred valid posts and another has disallowed ads in sig files altogether.

Marketers must respect that the purpose of a forum is to be a platform to exchange ideas on a given topic. It is not there to advertise products and services. By focusing on the topic and posting questions and answers, a marketer’s reputation will grow and this creates the potential for sales naturally.



December 7, 2009

The Many Facets of Viral Marketing

Filed under: List Building, Viral Marketing — Tags: — admin @ 9:12 am

In the beginning, e-mail was the one way that viral marketing was started. Since that long ago day, viral marketing has gone from a marketing strategy to an art form and there are many ways to accomplish the objective of creating a successful viral marketing campaign. Seven of those ways are:

1. E-mail: It was first but it is still around and still used. It is, however, getting a little harder to use as more and more government restrictions are placed on it. Still… it does work.

2. Newsletters: This is an extension of e-mail but it a very effective tool. If you include enough timely and valuable information, a good newsletter can drive up the number of visits to your website.


3. Blogging: Providing the tools on your website to enable bloggers to interact with one another is a terrific way to get the message about your product of service out there and being talked about. Bloggers have their ears to the ground for new products and services.

4. Chat Rooms: A chat room on your website can and does encourage interaction among your customers and that can’t be a bad thing. Also, you can use the chat room to schedule special events like having an expert available to answer questions on a given day at a given time.

5. Tell-a-friend Script: If you add this with a statement saying that e-mail addresses supplied will never be shared with third parties, you can increase your potential customer list greatly.

6. Video Clips: Including cool video clips on your website will keep the interest up and increase traffic.

7. Flash Games: Although they are a little costly to start, they are an extremely effective tool to get your viral marketing campaign going. Once they are launched, they require nothing more from you.



November 27, 2009

List Building: B2B Marketers Do It Too

Filed under: List Building — Tags: , — admin @ 9:07 am

They use viral marketing by e-mail as a marketing tool… what did you think I meant? Viral marketing can work well for B2B providers, as long as the following is true:

1. The product or service has to add value for the sender, as well as, the receiver.

2. The offer has to be deliverable. You don’t want to offer a product that you can’t deliver if demand grows rapidly.

3. The offer has to be easily transferable to others. E-mail and Web pages provide the best medium to facilitate this.

4. The vest viral marketing campaigns use existing networks to move the message along.

The basis of viral marketing has been around for a long time. The idea is that you incite your customers or referral sources to pass on something about your business to their network of colleagues and friends. Those that pass on your information get something in return. The something might be a gift or service related to your business.

Using e-mail makes it incredibly easy to pass information on to a friend or colleague, especially if it involves something fun or free. With millions using the Internet worldwide, the potential for exponential growth is tremendous. The great things about viral marketing are that it is free and works virtually by itself. Once you make an offer and provide the facility for referrals, viral marketing spreads like… well… a virus…but the good kind.

To implement viral marketing at your business; first, start with your customer base. Incite existing customers to refer new ones. Second, go to your referral sources. Service providers, your outside network and colleagues can be encouraged to provide referrals that lead to business.

November 25, 2009

3 Steps to Find “Freebies” to Add to Your eBook

Filed under: List Building, Viral Marketing — Tags: , — admin @ 8:32 am

Those of us who regularly shop on line are familiar with the array of free gifts, free bonuses and just plain freebies that are offered to a visitor to a website to encourage them to buy. How could you collect, select and offer free gifts, which will be valued as much as the original merchandise that is being purchased, put these gifts together and add them to your eBook? There are just three steps to do that very thing. They are:

1. Identify your key words in each chapter of your eBook. Now, type those words into your favorite search engine. You are looking for free eBooks on the same subject in more depth, by a greater expert than you are, or by someone who gives a new and fresh angle to the topic. Add a link to the free eBook in each chapter of your eBook.

2. Research the Internet for related free gifts. Now you are looking for things that you could give as free gifts in your eBook that will make it more appealing and give it more pass-along appeal to your readers. For example: If you are selling gardening supplies, find a planting guide on the web that can be downloaded and include that as a gift in your eBook.

3. Download the freebies. Visit the freebies pages on those web sites. Most sites have freebies and encourage you to distribute them. Other key words I searched for are freebies, free eBooks, and free reports and then gave the key word that I wanted the free stuff for. Like… “freebies for gardeners”. Give your reader the vest that you can offer. Give them your book, additional reading material and free gifts to boot. Everybody loves a bargain!

November 23, 2009

Viral Marketing and List Building

Filed under: List Building, Viral Marketing — Tags: , — admin @ 6:18 am

As internet marketers we are all aware of the expression that “The money is in the list”. I certainly am and to that end, will be using Viral marketing to not only build a list but to give something of value to my future subscribers.

Too many people want to sell products and services but give little of value in return. I wish to emulate, that’s a posh word !, those marketers who succeed by giving away what seems to some as valuable material that should command the usual $47 plus price tag !! So bear with me and shortly I hope to be able to offer something many of you will find useful to download. Well I hope so.

In the meantime best wishes to you all

See you soon!

John Davies

November 21, 2009

List Building While Link Building

Filed under: List Building — Tags: , , — admin @ 9:48 am

So you want to gather contact details for your e-mail marketing campaign? There are various ways in doing it without your prospects suspicious. First, you need to create a need for them to need your product. Some people do not realize that they actually need your service or product until you tell them. You need to spark interest and give them an impression of, “Yeah, I think I need this”.

Let’s take for example when you have an online dog supplies store, you have various products some of them the pet owners might not find essential for their pooch. Some may even find it fancy. How would you convert that particular traffic or visit into a sale then? Easy, that’s what most blog sections are for! In your blog, you can discuss the benefits of having your products or services and it would help increase their interest when they see Testimonials from people who are already using it. By doing it you are helping the visitor realize that he’s way too left behind and need to pamper his dog with your pampering kit or supplies. Sometimes when you sell, not all your products are sell-able. That’s when the real marketing strategies should be applied. When a person would sign up for more daily newsletters, you are simply building a link between him and his pet by suggesting the latter needs pampering and you’re list building in the process as he gets more interested in what you have to say about dog care issues. You built a link between him and pet, you and him by gaining his trust.

Keeping the Privacy Policy

Now the tricky part is to keep this trust. Be sure to keep the Privacy Policy that you will never sell or share his contact details. Adhere to the very rules you created. You can send occasional newsletters to follow up on his interest but never spam! You can build list by building trust in your website. Make it a place where they could get information but not for them to be extracted information from. Also, you can do cold calls or pay someone to do it for you.

Telemarketing Campaigns for Lead Generation

There are several telemarketing campaigns designed to collect data of your prospects and you can even pre-qualify them through the reports provided. As your telemarketer builds link between you and your prospect by introducing your product through lead generation, you are also building your email list! Now that sounds like hitting two birds with one stone.

Social Networking for List Bulding

Connect or build trust through social media networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, etc. Once you have numerous contacts on your network with similar interest, you can start looking for opportunities to share your product or services. Remember, share it to them, don’t directly sell or they’ll automatically unfriend your ass! What’s good about this strategy is that these people have similar interest to yours and once you keep on offering them quality contents, they’ll start to come to you for advice and might even ask for your recommendation on which servicee or product to choose. Build authority, building links, building trust.

Here’s an excerpt from an email from a friend who trusts me so much:

Dear John,

How are you?  Since I quit my job, I am looking on starting my online business. I see that you’re very knowledgeable in this field that’s why I thought I’d ask, which web hosting should I go with?”

Voila! Because you made it clear that you genuinely like to help out, people will start to get curious as to what you do. The information you post on your profile are both helpful and interesting that you’re building an impression that “you’re the man” to talk to about internet marketing. Bank on that authority and build list!

The tricky part in list building is to maintain the trust that your prospects has given you. Be sure to never spam, sell or share their contact details. Once you succeed in avoiding those 3 S’s you’ll only build lists but also build lasting links and trust from your prospects–literally and figuratively.

September 8, 2008

Will Be Posting Soon

Filed under: List Building, Viral Marketing — Tags: — admin @ 5:20 pm

Welcome! We’re glad you stopped by. We are currently putting together various interesting offers and deals which we hope that our readers and visitors would find beneficial and helpful.

Mission:

It is our aim to provide you with both products and services which will help save you both your time and expense, thus, leading to a better life for yourself and families. We know how it’s like to search and eventually get frustrated not to find what exactly you’re looking for, so that’s exactly what we’re here for. We’ll be your advocate to getting the best deals, products and services online so you can focus on what you do best.

This is where your search ends.

We will assist you all the way through from products up to services. We’ve been through a lot of searches and frustration, you don’t have to go through them yourself that’s why we’re here!

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