Create Value and Keep em Coming Back
Dear Business Builder,
Happy Friday! Here we are, yet again, and another week bites the dust. Wow, one week closer to the holidays. Yikes! I spent the beginning of the week at the Early To Rise Information Marketing Bootcamp in Delray Beach, Fl. It was 3 jam-packed days of everything you ever wanted to know about info-marketing and then some.
The conference brought together an incredible collection of people from consultants (like myself), to current info business owners, to complete internet marketing novices. And the types of businesses were even more diverse from “secrets to living past 100”, to “saving the endangered bald eagle”, to “strategies for taking care of an elderly parent in your own home.”
Plus, the conference included some of the most well known internet marketing gurus in the business such as Alex Mandossian, Jeff Walker, Rich Schefren and Michael Masterson as well as a host of other really experienced “in the ‘net trenches” professionals. There were many excellent presentations and the topics ranged from concept, to list building, to product launches. I think a good time was had by all! I must say, this old dog certainly learned a few new tricks.
But one presentation stuck with me most because it was on a topic that I feel so strongly about … and it’s a topic I think is so often overlooked on the web by most businesses … QUALITY CONTENT ROCKS!
The presenter was a gentleman by the name of Andrew Palmer. For those of you that aren’t familiar with Andrew, let me fill you in. Andrew founded the position of E-Commerce/Web Marketing Director for Agora Publishing in 2000. He was tapped to create an internet business for Bill Bonner’s initial online venture The Daily Reckoning. The incredible success of The Daily Reckoning and Agora’s other online publications was the catalyst for a tremendous change in the marketing of direct response information products. To his credit, he has acquired more than one million “opt-in” names and successfully monetized them online for millions. But most important in my book … he was a really entertaining speaker and all around nice guy.
Mr. Palmer’s mantra (and the name of his consulting business) is Create Value or Die. And informative, well written, constantly updated content is the priceless value you must add to your website to be successful in your online business. And guess what else Andrew says … a good majority of that content should be easily accessible and free.
Andrew goes on to say there are two important factors when creating an online business:
- Create a niche of like-minded thinkers – a smaller portion of a large market …
- And build a community … not just a business!
And you do this by generating valuable content through an e-letter or blog that prospects connect with and look forward to reading on a regular basis. And by creating a content rich website that acts as a resource or wealth of information for your niche that encourages repeat traffic and word of mouth.
And if your editorial is written to benefit the reader (not just you), not only will it make you money, but it will keep your open rates, click through rates and retention rates high, and it will keep down your spam complaints.
Andrew’s Four Es for Creating Value
E-mail – List building should be the number one priority of your online business. E-mail is a cheap, quick and easy-to-use way to bring your content and your marketing messages to your prospects. If you send valuable content via e-mail to the people that have expressed an interest in your information, they’ll read your e-letter, they’ll read your ads and many will buy your products when you ask them to.
Engage – The internet is a constantly evolving medium. It is growing and changing by the second. So why would someone want to revisit a site that never changes? You must provide fresh content and new information on a regular basis to bring additional value to your site. You must give your prospects and customers a reason to visit you on a regular basis. Several ways to do this are through blogs, discussion boards, video and podcasts. But most of all your content needs to be a good read, it needs to be unique and it needs to be real.
Entertain – People love to be entertained. No one wants to repeatedly engage in a boring or tired conversation. Keep the tone of your content light, conversational and fresh. Talk to your prospects and customers like you might talk to a friend at a party, not like you’re conducting a college lecture. People love a good story and can relate to personal details. Besides that, music, games, contests and humor are another effective way in getting repeat visitors to your site.
Educate – The more information you can provide to your niche the better. By continuing to educate your prospects, you not only give then something of value, you also get something of value – their e-mail address – that you can market to over and over again. By giving away something of value with every contact you make, your prospect will come back and stay a while, and then they’ll come back again and buy. If they continue to receive value, they’ll come back and buy again. And that’s where the rubber meets the road.
So think about it, why just build a business when you can build a community of like minded people that see you as an expert … when you can build a community in which readers can connect with you on a more personal level, where you can build trust, share ideas and of course …
… increase sales and revenue!
Thanks to Early To Rise for an excellent bootcamp. To learn more about Andrew Palmer visit his blog – Create Value or Die (CVoD).
Hope that helped and have a great weekend.
Until next week,
Julie McManus
Editor, In the ‘Net Trenches
THE TOTAL PACKAGE™
And Web Media Goddess
P.S. Are you in the ‘net trenches? Do you need help? Send
me an e-mail to AskJulie@MakepeaceTotalPackage.com and
I just might answer your question in an upcoming issue.
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Comment by Free Traffic Tips — October 12, 2007 @ 8:28 am
Thank you for being the eyes and ears. Adding valuable content is becoming more and more prevalent. Which I think is good for everyone!
Travis
Comment by vipula — October 12, 2007 @ 9:28 am
give me the pakage deduct
money from my earning until end of November I cant take any risk lot of lone I have to pay.
if you could help me much
thanks
Comment by Myles — October 13, 2007 @ 4:36 am
Excellent article. I like the notion of a community and niche oriented. After all, there\’s billions of people on earth and even if only less than half are online, I am sure no one will ignore a slice of that–multi-millions. Here\’s the battlecry: Differentiate or Dive.
Comment by Krista Johnson — October 17, 2007 @ 3:07 pm
A very captivating and interesting read. It would be greatly appreciated if you could provide a back link to our company. Any help would be great. Thanks again for the great article and for sharing!!