Posted by:
Clayton Makepeace
August 27, 2010
Issue #998
My Secret Weapon:
The “unfair advantage” that has helped me
beat the competition into submission since 1995:
How you can have it, too …
Dear Business-Builder,
They say the ultimate in “chutzpah” is killing your parents, then asking the judge for mercy because you’re an orphan.
I know – gross. But you gotta admire people who know what they want and who’ll go to just about any lengths to get it.
Like the guy I knew who landed an airplane, unannounced at a KGB listening post at the Arctic Circle and bribed a Soviet Colonel to lend him a helicopter – just so his son could make it into The Guinness Book of World Records as the youngest person ever to visit the North Pole.
Or the infamous mercenary and publisher of Soldier of Fortune magazine I spent a day and a raucous evening with in 1980 who got himself invited to tag along on the Bay of Pigs Invasion just for grins.
Or the guy I met just last week, who sold Castro a boatload of coffee for $1.8 million – cash in advance – then told the Cuban authorities his boat had sunk on its way to Havana.
I don’t care who you are; this stuff is priceless.
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Posted by:
Michael Masterson
November 25, 2008
Issue #553
"This may seem simple, but you need to give customers what they want, not what you think they want. And, if you do this, people will keep coming back."
John Ilhan
I believe that for every business, at any given time, there is an optimum strategy for acquiring new customers - and that the primary marketing obligation of the company’s CEO is to make sure that strategy is discovered and implemented.
What do I mean by an optimum strategy for acquiring new customers?
I mean a marketing and sales strategy that will produce the greatest long-term benefit to the company. Usually, that means finding and converting the greatest number of high-lifetime-value customers, i.e., customers who will continue to buy products from the company for years into the future.
Here’s an example …
Since its inception, EarlytoRise.com has recruited almost all its customers through Internet advertising. Of the many conversion strategies we have tested, two have so far proven effective:
- Selling informational reports on other websites and then giving buyers a free subscription to our daily e-zine, which then sells them all sorts of "back-end" products.
- Targeting search engine users on a pay-per-click basis with a free special report, and then giving them a free subscription to the e-zine with its back-end selling.
What we found - over and over again - is that those who had purchased our informational reports were worth considerably more over the long-term than those who had responded to our free report offers.
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Posted by:
Julie McManus
May 16, 2008
Issue #419
Dear Business Builder,
TGIF my friends and welcome back to In the ‘Net Trenches! Another week bites the dust. I hope you’re headed into a weekend full of fun and relaxation.
In last week’s issue, we talked about my five-step process for researching web sites that …
- Attract your best customer demographic …
- Speak to your prospects’ psychographic interests …
- Command a large volume of traffic …
- Attract direct response buyers …
- Are committed to your success!
This week, we’re going to take a closer look at banner ad sizing and take the mystery out of what you see on web media rate cards.
As I mentioned in previous issues, banner ads can be challenging to make work. But, in my opinion, they are worth the effort to try simply because the traffic potential is huge. If you can make banner ads work for your offers, you’ll quickly be in the money!
So, let’s get to it!
Making the switch from inches to pixels …
In your research of web media, you’ll find that websites offer many different ad sizes … all in pixels. Pixels can be confusing at first, especially if you’re making the switch from buying print media.
But after reading today’s issue, you’ll have a handy dandy little cheat sheet to take along when you start your ad negotiations!
Because today, we’ll take a look at the five most common ad sizes you’ll see on almost every rate card. And, I’ll give you the lowdown on each.
Let’s just start right at the top of the page …
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Posted by:
Clayton Makepeace
December 10, 2007
Issue #303
- Two ugly little secrets online businesses won’t tell
- The three reasons why most online advertising fails
- Why all of this is the best news for savvy entrepreneurs and copywriters ever
- And more
Dear Business Builder,
But before we crack out our tarot cards and take a peek into the future of web marketing, let’s take a moment to see where this online thing has been so far …
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Posted by:
Daniel Levis
November 14, 2007
Issue #281
In this issue:
- Why despite declining response rates, e-mail is still the killer online app …
- 7 ways to breathe new life into your e-mail marketing …
- How not to use curiosity to motivate your prospects to click on your links …
- How information marketing’s red-headed stepchild can be one of the most powerful ways to sell your products far and wide …
- Plus more!
Dear Web Business Builder,
Listen to some people, and you’d think e-mail marketing was dead – what with spam blockers zapping your e-mails, and a plethora of marketers stuffing your customer and prospect in-boxes with more pitches than you can shake a stick at. “Long live blogs and direct mail”, they say. “E-mail rest in peace.”
Huh! Let these whiners go running home to Mommy – and dig in for the long haul, because e-mail is here to stay. It’s still the killer online marketing app, IF, you know how to use it …
True, click through rates aren’t what they used to be. And acquiring fresh new names for your opt-in lists is more difficult, time consuming and expensive than ever. But come on guys, did you really think it was going to be like shooting fish in a barrel forever?
Despite all of its challenges, e-mail still offers incredible utility and cost effectiveness.
It’s still just too easy to funnel leads into a series of autoresponder messages that can continually work those leads for months on complete autopilot. And there’s nothing quite as satisfying as being able to broadcast additional promotions to that list at the click of a mouse, and turn on a flood of sales at a moment’s notice.
So in this issue of Web Marketing Advisor, I’m going to tackle some of the most commonly asked questions I hear about using e-mail more productively.
Should I use HTML or plain text?
My experience with HTML is that it does pull relatively better than plain text, probably because you can format copy and use images as attention-getters and therefore drive readership more effectively. But for many of your prospects, it won’t display properly. This, and the fact that it takes additional time to prepare e-mails in HTML, makes plain text my personal preference.
How often should I e-mail my list?
Some marketers I talk to are worried about over-mailing. Others are just lazy and are hoping they can send a monthly newsletter and think they’re actually doing something productive.
If your goal is to use e-mail as a revenue generator – and you should – the answer is to mail your list as often as you possibly can, with the following proviso.
Strike a balance between useful content and straight sales copy in the body of your e-mails. Too much valuable content and you’re sacrificing traffic that could be diverted to other mediums that close sales. Too little valuable content, and your prospects will begin ignoring your e-mails, and unsubscribing in large numbers.
Some of the marketers who habituate my in-box are entirely predictable. I know they’re going to pitch me every single time. And I tend to ignore them. Others I’m not so sure what to expect, and I’ll open their e-mails just to see what they have to say. Sometimes it’s a pitch, sometimes there’s practical information right in the e-mail.
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