THE SOLUTION?
(continued from page one) . . .
Build a much bigger list than you’d planned now that you know this statistic. Don’t spam those who are on your list or they will stop reading your emails.
Generally, I suggest a frequency of sending once a month or even once a quarter for an enews or blog, if you supplement that with other marketing activities. Many experts recommend once a week but if you’re just starting out this is often unrealistic to manage – as well as for your readers to keep up!
A sales call once in awhile will help you assess if that reader may
need your products or services. Perhaps they need your services in a few months. You won’t know if you don’t call to check in, though. If you think this is about pestering people, take a look at my article on this topic: “Marketing as a Spiritual Practice (no, it’s not religious at all!).
You could also send articles or useful resources in between enews editions to stay top-of-mind for your readers so they find you when they need you.
8) Affiliate or Incentive Programs.
If you are asking people to refer your products or services in your e-news, be sure to link them to the page that displays what you’re selling to make it
easy for them to do business with you or forward your information to friends who need your help.
You’ll simply make more sales if you can set up a shopping cart to make purchasing or registration (if you sell programs, events) easier. Best of all is to set up an affiliate program so that those who are championing your services get a reward (usually a percentage of the sale, often 10-50%) each time someone they refer makes a purchase from you. You’ll find some of our favorite resources – both low cost and free- on our store page. for these suggestions.
This works ideally for people with products or services that can be sold online. It takes a bit of back-end programming or specialized shopping cart to set up an affiliate arrangement, so another option is to let people know that when they refer someone who makes a purchase, they’ll be rewarded in some way.
Then, you’ll need to set measurements or special codes to ensure the right person gets rewarded for purchases they’ve referred to you.
9) Content With Value.
Be certain to make your enews offer something of value. We’re all busy, so if we read items that don’t benefit or teach us something useful, we’ll likely
unsubscribe to the enews. Make it interesting, valuable, or offer resources
that your readers are likely to benefit from.
10) Add Lots of Links.
In your content, it helps to engage people by adding links to other resources or sidebar items, to lengthier versions of short articles started in your enews, or to pages on your website with other worthy products or information, like this. You’ll be able to measure which links readers are clicking on when you use a good email sending program.
When your enews directs people to click into your website, you’ll be increasing your traffic, which ultimately helps your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) so you’ll get more highly ranked on Google. And when people click on links, you’ll be increasing your “conversion” – which gets visitors closer to making a purchase on your website.
11) For Blogs.
Don’t assume that most of the people on your database will subscribe to your blog. Generally, people feel they’re already consumed with information
so haven’t time to read one more thing. So, it’s most effective to combine
enews, live presentations blogs for quick news or updates, and articles
posted on various websites or in print publications.
Diversifying your communications efforts in this way will help you start to build readership of your valuable content.
Be sure to see our article on “HOW TO CHOOSE AN EMAIL SENDING PROGRAM”
IF YOU NEED HELP with marketing, such as strategic action plans, design, writing, editing, websites, programming or technical instruction, feel free to contact us. That’s what we do. Knowledge is Bliss, after all.