What’s an autoresponder?

If you’ve ever asked for information online about a product or service, or signed up for an e-list or group membership on the Internet, and received a nearly instantaneous response in your e-mail inbox, an autoresponder program was responsible for delivering the reply.

Simply put, autoresponders are e-mail programs that send out a preset message in response to every incoming e-mail received. Some autoresponders, like sign-up services for e-groups and forums, are one-shot deals: a single response for every message received. Just about every Internet-based company uses autoresponders for a variety of purposes, from automating tasks that would otherwise take up hundreds of man-hours to building lists and tracking prospective leads.

Multiple autoresponders send a series of messages to received e-mail addresses on a predetermined, timed basis. For instance, a multiple autoresponder can be used to send an instant response, then a follow-up message three days later, then another five days after that, and so on. It can be programmed to send a message a day, one per week, twice monthly, or any interval that satisfies the purpose of the message series.

Autoresponders are the most powerful Internet marketing tools available. They are easy to use, and once they’re set up the entire marketing process is automated and instant. When you use autoresponders, your Internet business runs itself 24 hours a day. Launching an effective autoresponder campaign can mean the difference between a struggling business and a wildly successful one.

How can I make money with autoresponders?

Just about any online business can benefit by using autoresponders. In fact, with a properly arranged campaign, your as-yet-unfounded business can be built around an autoresponder program. All you need is a product and an effective series of autoresponder messages, and you can start carving your piece of the Internet pie.

Your autoresponder is your golden goose: the marketing tool that will sell your well-developed product far more effectively than any other form of advertising. Few sales are made by impulse buyers, particularly on the internet. But if you are able to get your message out repeatedly to people who are already interested in what you have to offer, you will see an explosive sales response.

This book will give you all the information you need to begin profiting with autoresponders. You’ll learn how to choose a topic that works best for you and your situation; research your market and find or develop great content that people want to buy; start you own automated storefront web site; tailor your autoresponder messages for maximum effectiveness; and build a powerful opt-in autoresponder list that will make money even while you sleep.

Let’s start making autoresponder magic!

PICK A TOPIC

To make money with autoresponders, you need a product. Most of the time, the product you’re selling is information: an e-book, print book, e-course, e-zine or newsletter, CD, or downloadable audio program. Your topic must be something that appeals to a wide audience—you could have the world’s best book on raising Amazon boa constrictors at home, but the only people interested in it would be people who already own an Amazon boa constrictor, or have thought about buying one. In this case, your sales base would be limited (to put it nicely). On the other hand, if your book or product tells people how to make five hundred dollars a minute—well, you might have quite a few potential buyers.

Also, your topic must be an area in which you have personal interest or expertise. If you can put your passion into your marketing material, people will be able to tell that you believe in what you’re selling. This builds trust and sales.

In this chapter we’ll talk about how to choose a topic that covers both these areas: widespread appeal, and your personal interest or expertise to back it up.

Your personal interests and areas of expertise

People who like their jobs are happier. Their enthusiasm spills over into their work, and they often find themselves receiving promotions or raises and attracting customers without even trying.

If you’re comfortable talking about your product, and you are passionate about the subject, your confidence will permeate every area of your autoresponder program. You will receive unsolicited comments from buyers who are pleased with your service. You’ll be able to build consumer trust because people will know that you endorse your product 100 percent.

One aspect of developing your personal interest in a topic is to actually use the information you’re offering yourself. That way, when you discuss the benefits of buying your product, you’ll be able to get personal about the experience.

Another important part of choosing your topic is identifying your area of expertise. This doesn’t mean you have to be an “expert.” It just means that it will be far easier for you to sell a product you know a lot about—and far easier for buyers to part with their hard-earned money when they know they are purchasing from a knowledgeable source. Think you don’t have an area of expertise? You may know more than you think you know. The topics you’re familiar with don’t have to come from a job or college courses.

Take the following quiz to help you determine your hidden interests and expertise, or develop and hone in on the areas you already know you’re interested in.

QUIZ: What Do You Know?

Answer the following questions as thoroughly as possible to discover the topic best suited to you that will help you succeed in your autoresponder campaign.

1. Who are you? This sounds too simple to be useful, but you’d be surprised how seeing your personal demographics laid out in black-and-white can provide insight into what topics are best for you. Write down the following information about yourself:

• Your name, age, and gender
• Where you live: House or apartment? City or suburb? New or old neighborhood? What area of the country?
• The rest: Blue collar or white collar? Religious or not? Any other identifying statistics you can think of?

2. What have you done? List every single job you’ve ever held. Leave some space between them, then go back and detail all of your job duties. Be creative—give yourself the best-sounding titles you can think of. For example: if you once worked at a fast food restaurant, you might have been a customer service specialist, a food service technician, or a sanitation facilitator. These might sound extreme or over-the-top, but no one will see them but you. This is just to help build your self-confidence.

3. What else have you done? Brainstorm any hobbies you have been into, groups you’ve joined, topics you researched for school or work, or any subject you might have taken a personal interest in and acted on.

4. Where do you go? Are you more likely to spend time at the park or the mall? Do you travel a lot, or do you prefer to stick close to home? Where have you gone on vacations, and where would you like to go?

5. Who do you hang out with? Your choice of friends can tell you a lot about you and the way you relate to others. Are most of your friends the same gender as you, or opposite? Older, younger, or about the same age? Where do they live and work? Think about the activities you and your friends enjoy together. You can even include online friends – people you might have met in chat rooms, groups, or forums with whom you exchange regular correspondence. Any common interests you share with your friends can help point you toward a topic you’ll be comfortable promoting.

NOTE: Building Credibility—When What You Have Isn’t Enough

Most of the time when working with autoresponders, you won’t have to worry about credibility. Your well-developed product will speak for itself. However, if you don’t have background experience that relates to your chosen topic and you would feel more confident with credentials, there are several simple ways to position yourself as an expert in your field.

Testimonials. Testimonials are statements from customers about their satisfaction with your product. These can range from short blurbs to full-page letters, and can be used for a variety of purposes, including establishing credibility. A full discussion on getting and using testimonials can be found later in this book.

Articles. If you choose a topic that you’re interested in but haven’t had much experience working with, you will have to do some research. As you find out more, you can write short, informative articles on your subject and publish them on the internet to establish yourself as knowledgeable in your field. There are hundreds of thousands of web sites looking for content that will be happy to publish articles with your byline and a link to your web site. Look for sites relating to your topic, or try these general article submission sites to spread your name around the internet (no, really; that’s a good thing):

• iSnare.com: Maintains a database of over 200,000 free articles. Add your own, and get great content for your web site while you’re there.
• ArticleBeach: A search engine directory of articles. Submit your article for inclusion in their expert database.
• EzineArticles: Allows e-zine or e-mail list publishers to post informative articles free for use on other people’s sites or in their e-zine or newsletter.
• IdeaMarketers.com: Free articles and web content for web site owners. Submit your article and showcase your work, and get more content for your site.
• ArticleCity.com: Another database of articles for free use by the online public.

Marketability: Will they buy?

We’ve mentioned that the topic you choose has to not only be of interest to you, but also have widespread appeal. This is the marketability factor. You will have to be able to make your product interesting and attractive to buyers. So you’ll need a subject that a broad audience can relate to.

How can you tell if your topic will interest enough buyers to make your autoresponder campaign successful? The following quiz will help you determine the marketability factor for your product.

QUIZ: The Marketability Factor

Answer the following questions as thoroughly as possible to help figure out whether your topic has mass-market appeal.

1. How often do you hear your topic mentioned in the news? If the news media considers your subject important enough to report on with regularity, it’s probably something quite a few people are interested in. Televisions, magazines and newspapers are looking for ratings, and they get them by drawing large audiences with the information they present. The broader the audience they feel can be reached with a topic, the more often they will seek to cover it.

2. How many products are available on the market relating to your topic? Finding out you have a lot of competition is not necessarily a bad thing. It simply means there is a large enough consumer base to support products that deal with the topic—and that will include your product.

3. What is the approximate age range of people who would find your topic interesting? The best topics have broad demographical appeal. If your subject can interest anyone from teens to retirees, you have a great shot at creating and selling a successful product.

4. How fast would you act on a great deal for a product relating to your topic? How about your friends? Would you jump at a bargain if it related to the topic you’ve chosen? And how about the people you hang out with—your easy-to-reach target market? The sooner you can hook people into a sale during the buying process, the more likely your autoresponder campaign will be profitable.

5. What are the benefits of knowing more about your topic that customers would gain by buying your product? People want to know they’re getting what they pay for. Your topic should be able to provide buyers with some tangible knowledge or skill they would not otherwise have if they hadn’t purchased your product. Being able to list the benefits of your product will also help in your marketing, which will be discussed further in this book.

The Marketability Factor Quiz: The Quickie Version

Ready? Answer yes or no:

1. Is your topic in the news a lot?

2. Do you have existing competition?

3. Does your topic appeal to several age groups?

4. Would you or your friends buy a bargain product related to your topic?

5. Does your topic have useful benefits?

If you answered “yes” to at least four of these, congratulations! Your topic is marketable! Proceed with confidence; you’re on the right track.

JUMPSTART YOUR TOPIC DECISION

Still have no clue where to start? Here’s a partial list of topics to choose from that have high marketability factors:

• Making money
• Investing money
• Saving money (on consumer purchases)
• Starting a business (online or offline)
• Running a profitable web site
• Dieting and weight loss
• Time management
• Relationships and dating
• Finding a dream job
• Working from home

RESEARCH YOUR MARKET

Now that you’ve chosen a topic, it’s time to research your market. If the word “research” makes you break out in a sweat and experience flashbacks to all that time you spent in high school poring over books, scribbling out notes and wondering why teachers delight in torturing their students, don’t worry—it’s easier than you think. There are no card catalogues involved in this type of research. In fact, you might find it fun!

The purpose of market research is an important one: you are going to determine who will buy your product, where they hang out both on and offline, and how you can best reach them through advertising your autoresponder program. The more you can pinpoint your target market, the better success (and profits) you will see.

There are many methods of performing market research. We’ll cover the most effective ones here. All of the following examples are fast, easy, and best of all…free. For best results, use each one of them and arm yourself with as much information as possible. This way, when you launch your autoresponder campaign, your earnings will truly be automatic.

Searches: Google, e-Bay, Amazon

Internet searches are extremely effective in finding not only how popular your topic is, but how to set up your autoresponder for maximum results. A vast majority of internet users find what they’re looking for by searching, whether they use a general web search engine like Google or a site-specific engine to wade through consumer mega-sites like e-Bay and Amazon. A quick search on your topic will reveal how many people are interested, and what convinces them to check products out.

Google

Without a doubt, Google is the most popular internet search engine—so much so, its name has become a synonym for the act of running a web search (i.e., “I couldn’t find that site that posts the winning lottery numbers, so I just Googled it.”) Many internet marketers make increasing their site ranking—the “place in line” the site appears in Google results using their keywords—one of the key components of their advertising campaigns. Obtaining a top 10 Google rank (appearing on the first page of search results) is akin to winning an Olympic gold medal in the marketing world.

The key to advertising success on Google and other sites:  the right keywords

How can this help you with your market research? By studying the top search results for pages you find through keywords relating to your topic, you can find out what these sites are doing to achieve search engine success. The following steps will help you run an effective and informative Google search.

1. List keywords and keyword phrases relating to your topic. For example, if your topic is “working from home,” your list of keywords might be: work from home, working from home, work at home, telecommute, telecommuting, at home jobs.

2. Go to the Google home page and type in your first keyword or phrase, then click on “Google Search.”

NOTE: If you are not familiar with Google, clicking on “I’m Feeling Lucky” will not produce a list of web sites; it will take you directly to what Google has determined the most relevant site for your keyword. But if you’re in the mood for a laugh, you might try “I’m Feeling Lucky” just for kicks.

When you receive the search results, check out the pages that are relevant to your topic (search engines are by no means exact, and sometimes you will find results that don’t relate to your topic—or at least, not in the way you had in mind). The best way to do this is to right-click on the links you want to visit and choose “Open in new window.” This will keep the Google search results page open so you don’t have to backtrack through your browser to find it again.

3. Note the way the sites are laid out (is it appealing and easy to read, or does it make your eyes bleed?), what kind of text is on the front page (does it seem informative, or is it all hype? Are there a lot of spelling and grammar errors?), and whether there is an obvious available product. If there is a site counter, note how many visitors the site has received.

4. Repeat this process with the rest of your keywords. You will often find the same sites showing up in the top 10 for different, related searches. Pay special attention to these; they are the ones you may want to emulate when you create the web site for your autoresponder.

NOTE: If you run a Google search on your topic and find only two or three related web sites before the results turn up unrelated material, it may indicate there is a limited market for your topic. In this case you should either rewrite your keywords and try again, or consider choosing a different topic altogether.

eBay

It’s said you can buy anything on eBay, from cars and computers to clothing formerly worn by celebrities. This massive online consumer marketplace and auction house is a haven for buyers and sellers looking for great deals from the comfort of their own homes. Searching for products related to your topic on eBay can help you home in on your market. It will also help you determine how much buyers are willing to pay for products related to your subject.

Follow these steps to exploit eBay for information:

• Sign up for a free eBay account. This personalizes your experience and allows eBay to provide you with relevant information every time you visit.
• Go to the eBay home page and log in.
• Choose one of the categories on the left-hand side of the page that’s relevant to you topic and browse through the listings, or search for a specific item or topic using the search bar at the top of the page.
• Make note of the price ranges people are willing to pay for items or products related to your topic. This will give you a general idea of what to charge for yours. Also, note how many products are available related to your topic in comparison to other topics. This is not limited to books: you might find CDs, audio programs, or one of many forms your product can take.

Amazon

Amazon.com, the “other” internet consumer giant, is similar to e-Bay in that you can find just about anything you want to buy. Amazon’s biggest selection is in media: books, movies and music; but they also have an enormous inventory of electronics, toys, jewelry, clothing and accessories, and much more. Where e-Bay concentrates on selling used products through auctions and classifieds-style advertising, Amazon carries new products along with a healthy dose of independent sellers touting used wares.

Your purpose in using Amazon for market research is twofold: you will identify your competition and find out how popular your topic is, and you will familiarize yourself with how Amazon works, as you will likely want to consider making your product available through Amazon. Here’s how to check it out:

• Sign up for an Amazon account, if you don’t already have one. Like eBay, Amazon will give you personalized recommendations based on your searching and buying history, and keep you updated with the latest available information on your topic.
• Once you’ve signed up, go to the Amazon home page and log in (you may be automatically logged in; Amazon really likes keeping track of its customers and often will keep you perpetually signed on, even when you leave the site…)
• Using the search bar at the top of the page, choose “Books” from the dropdown list and type in your topic or keywords. The results you get will be both print books and e-books. Since Amazon deals primarily in new product, you will be able to view the retail price of competitive products.
• Make note of prices and the number of titles available relating to your topic. Also, you might want to consider checking out the Listmania sections on the product pages you view (you can find this by scrolling down on the page, almost to the bottom). Listmania is an Amazon program that promotes customer recommendations by allowing Amazon users to compile lists of their favorite books on Amazon. Checking out Listmania picks helps you understand what type of product your target market is interested in, and how much they are willing to pay for it.
• Once you find a product, if you scroll down past Listmania you will find sections on “similar items by category” and “similar items by subject.” You can browse through the available products related to your topic in this way without going back to your search results page.

Groups and forums

The internet is a worldwide community connecting people with common interests who would otherwise never have had the opportunity to meet. There are groups and forums dedicated to just about any topic imaginable. For you, the main benefit of finding a group or forum related to your subject is a pre-assembled bunch of folks you know will be interested in what you have.

When dealing with groups and forums, the worst thing you can do is join up and immediately post a message asking people to buy your product. For internet group members, this is like having a salesperson show up uninvited at the front door of their house. At best your message will be ignored; at worst, you may find yourself banned from the group before you get started. When you find groups or forums relating to your topic, sign up and spend some time looking around, posting introductory messages and reading what the other members have to say. Reply to some posts and get to know some of them first. Then when you’re ready to start talking about your product, you’ll have a more receptive audience. During this time, do your research: notice what the group likes and dislikes, the things that interest them enough to spark long discussions. Pay attention to the general demographics of the group as well. What is an “average member” like? This will help you hone in further on your target market.

Here are some places to get started finding groups and forums:

• Yahoo! Groups: A directory of online groups and forums hosted by Yahoo, searchable by category or keyword. Yahoo! is one of the most popular providers of free group sites—you might even consider starting your own free group so you can get to know your target market better.
• Google group search: The search engine giant maintains separate engine listings for web sites, images, and groups. Just plug in your topic or keywords to find groups all over the internet related to your subject. You can also create your own free groups through Google.
• MSN Groups: Another online community of groups and forums, with a handy by-subject index and a search box. MSN has free group and chat room creation as well.
• Delphi Forums: A directory of internet forums, also searchable by keyword or topic and allowing free creation of your own forum for discussion.

Survey Says? Conducting marketing surveys

Marketing surveys are invaluable tools for discovering precise, targeted information about your intended audience. This method is so important, there are several companies that have made a business of providing marketing surveys to other businesses for a fee. The good news is, you can perform marketing surveys yourself without paying a dime and still get great results.

Ideally, you would institute a marketing survey after you’ve built an opt-in list (covered in a later chapter). But you can start mining your market for information even before you have your product ready. Groups and forums are good places to start; or you can set up a free mini-site just for your survey. You can even enlist friends and family to help you out by filling out surveys.

Constructing Your Survey

Have you ever received an offer for an exciting free gift provided you fill out a survey—only to discover the questions you had to answer required pages of information and would take up more of your time than you were willing to invest for whatever incentive was offered? This is a prime example of an ineffective marketing survey. You don’t want to lose consumer interest before they get to the good part: your product.

The principle of KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) should apply liberally to marketing surveys. The easier you make it for people to fill out your survey, the more likely they will be to respond. Try to keep it to 20 questions or less, including demographic information (age, gender and location—do not ask for names, as most people prefer to remain anonymous when filling out surveys). Also, make as many as you can yes/no or multiple choice answers, and remember to include space for additional comments.

A well-designed survey will impress your customers – and that means more sales

One great way to get survey responses is to offer a free incentive upon completion. This can be an e-book, a mini-course, or even the full version of your product when it is released (if you choose to give away free product, be sure to state only a limited number of respondents will receive the free gift. This also creates urgency and helps to increase response). A full discussion on free incentives can be found further in this book.

Setting Up Your Survey

There are many ways to go about setting up your marketing survey. One is to compose an e-mail and ask people to hit “Reply” and fill in the answers. This method is easier for you to set up, but some people would not respond simply because they do not know how to add text to a reply. Also, because of differences in browsers and e-mail programs, some of your responses may be choppy and difficult to interpret.

Another method is to set up a web-based form that sends responses to your inbox. Most of these are simple and free to set up; when you send out your survey request, you would only have to include a link to your form in the e-mail. Here are some places you can set up a free web-based form for your survey:

• Survey Console: A thirty-day free trial allowing you to test 400+ survey templates for your web site. NOTE: Thirty days should be plenty of time for you to conduct market research, so you won’t have to pay for the service.
• SurveyShare.com: By signing up for a free membership, you will receive free survey creation software and access to survey templates online.
• BlueSQL.com: Free web-based survey creation service that allows you to include dropdown lists, radio buttons, comment boxes and more. You can check your survey results online and have individual results sent directly to participants.

When e-mailing links to your survey, make sure your subject line is compelling and to-the-point, and the text is short and direct—particularly if you’re posting to a group or sending a request to people who have not asked to take your survey. Following is a sample of what your survey invitation might look like:

SUBJECT: You are a few clicks away from a free [incentive] on [TOPIC]

Have you ever wondered how to [compelling question on your TOPIC]? We are developing an exciting new [book, e-course, CD] on how to do just that—and we need your input. And just for taking a few moments to answer [number] simple questions, we will give you a free [incentive] for your time!

Click here to take the survey and claim your free gift: [link to your survey]

NOTE: Do not use ALL CAPS in the subject line or body of your e-mail. Many spam filters discard messages that use excessive capital letters, and your message will be lost before your target has the chance to think about it.

Posting surveys on your web site is a useful tool even beyond the marketing phase. The more interactive your web site is, the more likely people will return to visit again. You can find more information on getting repeat traffic for your web site in the chapter entitled “Drive Traffic to Your Web Site.”

Sample Marketing Survey

Here is an example of a marketing survey using simple questions and multiple choice answers:

SAMPLE MARKETING SURVEY

Age Range: ___Under 18  ___18-25  ___26-35  ___36-45  ___46-64  ___65+

Gender (optional):* ___M  ___F  *Note: Always make gender selection optional. Most people will fill in the answer anyway if you don’t ask for a name.

Location (State, or country if outside U.S.): ___________________________

How often do you purchase products online? ___Frequently  ___Sometimes  ___Rarely  ___Never

How often do you purchase products relating to [TOPIC]? ___Frequently  ___Sometimes  ___Rarely  ___Never

Do you currently own any products relating to [TOPIC]? ___Yes  ___No

Would you be interested in [brief description of your product]? ___Yes  ___No

If yes, how much would you pay for [PRODUCT]? (Set ranges around your desired price)

Would you purchase [PRODUCT] if it was on sale? ___Yes  ___No

Where would you be most likely to purchase [PRODUCT] from? ___Independent web site  ___Amazon  ___e-Bay  ___Physical location  ___Other

Is there anything else you think we should know?__________________________

Would you like to join our list for announcement, product updates and helpful information? ___Yes  ___No

Thank you for participating in our survey! [Reply or click here] to claim your free gift!

CREATE CONTENT

Your content is your product: your book, e-book, e-course, CD or downloadable audio program. This is the information people will pay you to receive. You must offer high quality information on your topic that would be otherwise unavailable without purchasing your product or a similar competitive product.

There are two ways to get content: create it yourself, or become a member of an affiliate program. Each method has its advantages and disadvantages. Review them, and choose which is right for you.

Original content

If you are very knowledgeable about your topic, or plan to be, you may want to consider creating original content by writing your own e-book or e-course. The main advantage to creating your own content is the competitive edge you will gain. With affiliate programs, there are several people selling the same product. However, if you write the book or program yourself, you have a unique take on your topic not available anywhere else.

Another benefit to creating your own content is the ability to institute an affiliate or reseller program. This means recruiting other online marketers to sell your product for you, and you receive either a percentage of profits (with affiliate programs) or a flat fee for the rights to sell your product (with reseller programs). These types of programs are discussed in greater detail in the following section.

The downside to original content is the time investment you must make. If you do not have extensive or specialized knowledge in your chosen topic, you may want to enroll in an affiliate program, as the results can be just as effective and profitable in either case—as long as you know which areas to focus on.

These days it’s easier than ever to create your own e-book. Many new computers come with desktop publishing software that allows you to format, add graphics and embed links easily with no programming knowledge. You can also find free or low-cost software for creating e-books, including cover creation, which is an integral part of your e-book as it will be the first thing buyers see when considering your product. Check out these e-book creation programs:

Easy Ebook Creator, $19.97, is a full-featured, easy-to-use program that comes with full resale rights. This means you can not only create your own book, you can also offer the Easy Ebook Creator to make an even greater profit.

Ebook Compiler, $29.95 for unlimited commercial e-books and free for personal use, is another simple program to create full-featured, attractive e-books.

Create your e-book for free: If you can write and format your book using your computer’s word processing software exactly the way you want it to appear on-screen, you can simply convert the file to PDF (Portable Document File) format, the most popular e-book format, viewed using the free Adobe Acrobat reader. You don’t have to own the full version Adobe Acrobat software to convert your file to readable format. There are several web sites offering free PDF conversion. A few of them are:

PDF Online	Pdf995
Primo PDF	CutePDF
PDF4Free	Click to Convert

NOTE: Another exciting benefit to creating your own content is this: you get to attach the title of “author” to your name! If you’ve always wanted to write a book, this method may be just the opportunity you’ve been looking for.

Creating original e-course content: An e-course is simply an e-book broken into timed installments, providing the same information in a manner that allows the buyer to digest one portion before taking on the next. E-courses can be enhanced with self-study questions and interactive elements; by providing consumers with more, you can charge more and still have satisfied customers.

Setting up an e-course for distribution is even easier than preparing an e-book: simply determine how many parts your course will be in, break the information into segments and put them into your autoresponder program. With an e-course, you will have two separate autoresponder series: one containing your marketing message and “teaser” information, and the other containing your actual product.

In the next section, you will learn exactly how to set up your autoresponder program for the best marketing results.

Affiliate programs

When it comes to making profits with autoresponder programs, most people choose to become an affiliate or reseller for an existing product. The benefit to this method is apparent: your content is already created for you, and all you have to do is sell it. Sounds easy, right? It is easy, but there are some things you have to know before entering one of these programs in order to be successful.

First, let’s define the difference between affiliate and reseller programs:

Affiliate programs: Many internet programs on a wide range of topics use affiliates to boost their sales. It’s free to join an affiliate program, but you keep only a percentage of the profit you make (albeit a high percentage); the rest goes to the parent company. Additionally, most affiliate programs offer bonuses in the form of money or “rank” when you sign up affiliates beneath you. The higher up in rank you move in an affiliate program, the more exposure your affiliate site gets. Affiliate programs set up everything for you, providing a web site with a distinct URL. Unfortunately, the URL only differs from other affiliate members by a few characters, so it’s easy for buyers to arrive at a mirror site run by another affiliate. This problem can be minimized or eliminated by using NameStick, a URL streamlining service discussed later in this chapter.

Reseller programs: In reseller programs, you will pay a one-time fee to purchase the program and all selling rights for it. This means you can then resell the program and keep 100 percent of the profits. The main difference between this and affiliate programs is the rate of profit and initial investment. Affiliate programs require no upfront investment, but take longer to reach the profit levels gained by retaining the full price of the program. With effective autoresponder marketing, you can quickly earn back the investment made in reseller rights.

What you need to know to profit from affiliate and reseller programs

The main thing to remember is this: hundreds of other people are selling the exact same product as you. One of the most important things you must do with affiliate and reseller programs is to keep an eye on your competition and try to make your product more attractive than theirs. There are several factors to consider in this process:

• Price. This one is obvious. You may not have much leeway in setting prices with affiliate programs, but with reseller programs you can check out how much others are charging for the same product, and set your price a bit lower. This means lower net profit per unit sold, but your higher sales volume will more than make up for it. Internet shoppers love to compare prices, and if yours is the lowest they will buy from you.
• Marketing message. Make your autoresponder series more convincing than the competition, and more people will follow your links and buy your product. Further in this book we’ll discuss crafting powerful autoresponder messages that get results. You will also find information on setting up your web site to draw customers in and stand out from the competition.
• Bonuses. Everyone loves to get something for free. You can give away free e-books, mini-courses based on the material contained in your product, or free newsletter subscriptions (as long as you make the content of your newsletter informative and worthwhile) that would be otherwise unavailable to the buyer should they purchase your program from another seller.

With affiliate and reseller programs, you already have a fully developed product people want to buy. This leaves you free to concentrate on your marketing effort. If you put all the proper components in place and invest extra time in developing your autoresponder message, you will be able to automate your profits and keep your money machine going with little effort or maintenance.

Get Started

A simple Google search on your topic (search for ‘[topic] affiliate program’ or ‘[topic] reseller program’) will turn up plenty of options for you to choose from. Also, following are a few of the many directories of affiliate and reseller programs, searchable and grouped by topic, that will help you on your way to profiting from autoresponders.

Affiliate and reseller program directories

• Affiliate Match: A comprehensive directory of over 2,000 affiliate programs on various topics. The site also provides information on making the most of affiliate programs.
• AssociatePrograms.com: Another comprehensive directory with over 8,000 programs, also containing lots of information on making affiliate programs work for you.
• Affiliate Programs Directory: Over 40 topics listing thousands of affiliate programs. This site is updated frequently to provide the latest and hottest in affiliate programs.
• 2-Tier: Over 2,000 affiliate programs, searchable and grouped by category.
• Affiliate Program Directory & Network Reviews: This site lists and reviews affiliate programs, and also hosts a forum for affiliate program discussion.
• Affiliate Hangout: Affiliate program directory and a link exchange program to help increase web traffic to your affiliate sites.
• SponsorDirectory.com: Searchable and topic-grouped affiliate directory with over 6,000 programs listed, and an extensive affiliate program resource section.
• PayMeUp.com: This site lists 200 affiliate and reseller programs, but is selective in its listings and promotes only the highest paying and most effective programs.
• earnFind.com: Provides a vast directory of affiliate programs, rates the top paying programs, and gives information on the most popular software providers for starting your own affiliate program.
• ClicksLink: Over 3,000 listed affiliate programs, with sections dedicated to new programs and top programs.

Remember, the key to succeeding with affiliate and reseller programs is creating a phenomenal autoresponder series that grabs subscribers and takes them step by step from interest to sale. We will now explore exactly how to create those enticing messages and start your autoresponder profits rolling in.

CRAFT YOUR AUTORESPONDER MESSAGES

Creating a great autoresponder message series is the key to making serious money on the internet. Studies have proven that most consumers buy only after repeated exposure to a product. Having an autoresponder system is the hassle-free, automated way to put your product in front of interested buyers enough times to move them from consideration to purchase.

An approximate breakdown of the percentage of people who buy according to product exposure is:

• 16 percent after one or two messages
• 34 percent after three or four messages
• 34 percent after five or six messages
• 16 percent after seven or more messages (and the passage of a considerable amount of time for deliberation)

This means the largest percent of your target market will buy after receiving three to six messages about your product. To build an effective autoresponder campaign, you should prepare eight to ten messages to load into your program. Each message should build on the previous one, and make your product more enticing to buyers. There are several methods you can use to increase interest through autoresponder messages. You will find a complete sample of an effective autoresponder series in the index of this book.

Once you have your autoresponder messages set up, you will need to determine the timing. You can send one a day, three at one-day intervals with weekly follow-ups; one a week (this is recommended for paid autoresponder e-courses), or any interval you would like.

Following are concrete tips on creating autoresponder messages that sell your product for you. You’ll learn what to say, how to say it, how to format it, and how to avoid having your messages sent straight to the spam folder unread.

Never spam – it’s a one-way ticket to marketing oblivion.

Components of a typical autoresponder message

So how, exactly, do you go about composing an autoresponder message? Here’s a breakdown of what your messages should contain. NOTE: These guidelines are just that: guidelines. There is no concrete method and you may feel free to use your own creativity. This will simply give you a framework to build your messages on.

• Subject line. The subject line is the first thing people will see when they receive your message. Therefore, it must be compelling enough to keep them from deleting the message unread. Which of the following e-mail subjects would you be more likely to click on: “Make a MILLION DOLLARS Practically Overnight!” or “Here is your free Report #1 on boosting your web site profits through the roof”? You may have jumped at the first one, but think about it: to most internet users, the first is obviously spam and would be deleted without a second thought. The second subject line implies that not only have you requested the information (and everyone receiving your autoresponder messages will have requested the information; see the section on opt-in lists), but you are receiving something of value for nothing. Be understated, but as specific as possible with your subject line to ensure your message is opened.
• Compelling opening sentence. Let’s say you clicked on the second subject line in the preceding example. You now have the message open, and the first line is this: “Buckets of money will pour on you. Buy My program Now, for only $495. It’s easey!” Will you read further? Chances are, you’re already looking for the delete button. This opening is long on hype and short on promise—not to mention riddled with spelling and grammar mistakes. But what if the first sentence reads: “You are about to learn the secrets successful web marketers use to make a killing on the internet.” Will you continue? Probably. There is no outright pressure to buy anything; you are being given something for free that will benefit you. So far, it costs nothing but a few minutes of your time.
• Disclaimer. This should not be lengthy. Immediately following your compelling opening sentence, remind people they are receiving your message because they asked to be on your list. It will keep them from clicking the “spam” button if they decide they aren’t interested in your product, and keep your autoresponder and web site off internet blacklists.
• Introductory paragraph. Explain in a concise paragraph exactly what your product will do for the buyer. Avoid using ALL CAPS or excessive punctuation!!! This looks amateurish and will almost certainly get your message deleted.
• Subheads and further information. Write compelling subheads, set on separate lines within your message, that describe certain benefits or sections of your program, then follow up with a short paragraph of explanation. For example, using the fictional internet marketing program we began discussing, your first subhead might state: “Millions of people do business on the internet. Are you reaching them with your web site?” Tease the contents of your product, but do not give away too much information (otherwise, why would anyone want to buy?).
• A call to action. After several subheads and short paragraphs of information, reveal your product. State what it is (an e-book, e-course or audio CD or download); where customers can get it (your web site, Amazon, e-Bay); and how much it costs. NOTE: To make your price impressive, state the retail value of your product (many affiliate and reseller programs have this in place already), and then reveal your price as a deep discount. When setting your price, aim for the high side at first and be willing to lower it in later follow-up messages—this will give people an even stronger incentive to buy after message 3 or 4. For example, your call to action in your first message might read: “This amazing e-book revealing internet marketing secrets to jumpstart your web site’s sales is valued at $395. Through our program, you can order “Huge Web Site Profits” for just $49.95.”
• Reminder of follow-up messages. Let your subscribers know the next time you will contact them, which will be the time interval you’ve set for your autoresponder distribution—tomorrow, in a few days, next week. Be sure to include a teaser of what will be revealed in the next message.
• Unsubscribe link. This is critical to a successful autoresponder campaign. You must give subscribers the option to discontinue receiving messages from you, or you will be labeled as spam. Most autoresponder services will provide you with an automatic unsubscribe list for all your autoresponder series. All you have to do is make sure to include the link in your message.

Making your message irresistible

With the inundation of available products and information on the market today, you will have approximately three seconds—yes, three seconds—to hook a buyer’s interest and keep him or her reading. Fortunately, there are ways to breach this barrier and keep the consumer riveted to your message.

• Passion. Remember when you were choosing the topic for your product? Personal interest was a key element in that decision-making product. Now that you have a topic you believe in, let that passion show in your autoresponder messages. Mention those aspects of your product you find particularly fascinating and give them your personal endorsement.

• Write casual. Make your message read the way a conversation in a restaurant would sound. Big words might impress some people, but most of them just want to know what you have to say—and they aren’t going to rush to the dictionary in the middle of reading your message to find out what you’re talking about. Use short sentences and keep it straightforward and direct. Don’t be afraid to use contractions instead of the more proper two word phrases. Do, however, make sure your spelling and grammar is correct. You want to seem friendly, not sloppy.

• Be personal. You are writing a message that will be read by thousands of people, one at a time. Each person who opens your message is an individual, and will be far more at ease if you address them as a person rather than a piece of the collective public. Use the word “you” as often as possible, and limit the use of “I.” You don’t want to tell them why you’re so great. You want them to know how purchasing your product will benefit them, and why they should part with their hard-earned money to hear what you have to say.

• Eliminate extra words. As previously mentioned, keep your message simple and clear. If you have an “effective web site marketing technique,” don’t say it’s a “wonderfully amazing, mind-blowing web site marketing extravaganza method.” No one wants to try and cut through all the fluff and hype to try and decode your message. It’s also annoying.

• Use decisive language. Try to use action verbs whenever possible—this means replacing as many instances of “are,” “is,” “was,” and “were” in your message with stronger wording. For example: instead of writing “If your web site has been languishing with low sales, this program might be able to help your business grow,” say: “Your web site sales will increase dramatically with this program.” Write your messages with the confidence that your product is worth paying for, and your subscribers will be more comfortable buying.

• Give reasons and incentives. Don’t be afraid to repeat the benefits of your product throughout your message. Just as repetitive contact is effective in converting prospects to buyers, repetitive reminders of benefits—without bludgeoning people over the head with them—can reinforce everything they stand to gain from a purchase. Also, reveal some of the information in your product within your marketing message without giving everything away, and then state that even more exciting information can be found when you purchase a product.

Testimonials: A marketer’s best friend

Testimonials are a great way to build consumer confidence in your product. Hearing from other people who have purchased the product and are satisfied with the results goes a long way toward making sales. Testimonials can range from short blurbs (a sentence or two, or a paragraph) to letter-length endorsements. The blurbs are great for interspersing with the text of your autoresponder messages; longer testimonials are excellent for posting on your web site.

How do you get testimonials? Once you start selling your product, you will likely receive unsolicited notes from buyers who are pleased with their purchases. But at the outset of your campaign, before you have actually began selling anything, there are several ways to get testimonials:

• Friends and family. Ask friends and family to review your product and write a few sentences describing what they like about it and why they would recommend it to others. This may seem like cheating, but no one has to know you’re acquainted with your testimonial writers—and besides, if they actually like the product, there is nothing dishonest about it.
• Colleagues and experts in your field. If you work or have worked in a field relating to your topic, ask your coworkers (or former coworkers) to write up a testimonial blurb for you. If you don’t work in a related field, look up people who do online (groups or forums are good places to start) and e-mail them to ask if they would mind reviewing your product in exchange for a free copy. Most reviewers work on a free-product basis and will be happy to do so.
• Other affiliate members and resellers. Think all people trying to sell the same product as you are bitter enemies? Think again! Many internet marketers working with affiliate and reseller programs are happy to help other entrepreneurs, because believe it or not, there is plenty of market to go around. Of course, they will expect the same courtesy from you. Since they are already familiar with the product, they will have no trouble coming up with a testimonial for you.

NOTE: Always make sure you have the permission of the person who wrote the testimonial to use their name and words in your marketing materials. Get it in writing or by e-mail, even from friends and family. Make that especially from friends and family—you never know when a disagreement will result in a rescinding of an offer to help. If you get permission via e-mail, simply end your disclaimer message (I hereby give [your name] permission to use my name and remarks for marketing purposed, signed X) with a line that states: Typing my initials here constitutes my official signature___. Then just ask them to reply to the message, add their full name and initials, and hit send. Most people will be willing to do this.

Spam-Me-Not: Avoiding too much hype

Keep in mind when constructing your messages and building your subscriber list that there are two types of marketing: “cold selling,” or unsolicited e-mail; and opt-in selling. It is highly recommended that you do not engage in cold selling.This is considered spam. If enough people report your address as spam, you will be banned from ISPs and search engines. The occasional sale you see from cold selling will not be enough to compensate for your being blacklisted on the internet.

On the other hand, building an opt-in list is a perfectly acceptable and highly successful method that will keep you from being labeled bad business. With an opt-in list, people ask to be added to your subscriber database because they’re interested in your topic. Opt-in subscribers should always be given the option to opt out…but you would be surprised how many people don’t bother clicking the unsubscribe link, and eventually make their way to your site to investigate your product further.

When preparing your autoresponder messages, it is imperative to strike a balance between excitement and hype about your product. You must avoid wording your messages so that they look, feel and smell like spam, even if they have been requested. This means following the rules of creating direct and simple messages as described above (no writing in ALL CAPS, or putting seven exclamation points at the end of every paragraph). There are also a few other deadly spam sins to avoid:

• Do not write your message in 18-point Impact Red or other “flashy” font styles and sizes. This does not draw attention to your product; it draws attention to your inexperience. It’s perfectly acceptable to use color in your autoresponder messages, and in fact may help to strengthen that three-second lead time by pulling attention to those compelling subheads you wrote (you did write compelling subheads, didn’t you?). But for the most part, keep your entire message in the same font and type size, using emphasis like color, bold and italics sparingly for effect.
• Do not stuff your messages with “cool” graphics, animated smileys, or a dreaded Flash presentation. This slows down load time considerably, and many people won’t wait for your incredible pictures to appear on the screen.
• Do not use chat language, or “leet,” in the text of your message. Even to people who know what LOL, IMHO, IOW and ROFLMAO* stand for, this is not professional and does not score you any “friendly” points. And if your subscribers don’t know what these abbreviations stand for, they will be quick to dismiss you as inept. (*In case you don’t know yourself: LOL=laughing out loud or laughing on line; IMHO=in my humble opinion; IOW=in other words; and ROFLMAO=roll on floor laughing my a** off.)
• Do remind people that 1. they are receiving your message because they requested more information (or a friend suggested they would like to receive the information; see the following section on name squeezing for further details), and 2. they can opt out of further messages using a link you have provided at the end of the message.

Spam filters: Is your message zap-proof?

Just about every e-mail program has built-in spam filters that route unwanted messages to a separate folder, often called a “bulk” folder, whose contents are routinely deleted by either the program or the owner of the account. Following the suggestions above for avoiding spam-type messages will go a long way toward ensuring your autoresponders don’t get diverted to an early grave. Here are more tips on beating spam filters and verification programs:

• Subject line don’ts: Never begin your subject line with ADV: or include the word “advertisement.” Do not state “this e-mail sent in compliance with…” And never use the word “free” in the subject line—especially in all caps.
• In fact, never use the word FREE (in all caps) anywhere in the message. If possible, avoid using all caps altogether.
• From address: When you set up your web site and associated e-mail accounts, do not name any account sales@yourdomainname.com – this guarantees you an automatic trip to the bulk folder.
• Within the message: Never say “for free?” or “for free!” or use the words “extra income” in the body of your message. Recently, many internet marketers attempting to bypass spam filters have begun breaking up the word “free” anywhere it appears in their sales copy: f-ree or fr.ee are the most commonly used methods.

Keep your messages out of spam oblivion by adhering to these guidelines, and you will see your sales and response rates climb.

Formatting your autoresponder messages

If you use the internet regularly, you have probably received at least a few e-mails that look something like this:

Dear Friend,

Congratulations! You have been selected

>>to receive a free

>>>laptop,

>during our promotional giveaway here at

>XYX Company…

This is either the result of multiple forwarding, or poor formatting on the part of the sender. Not many people would try to interpret this kind of mess if it was sent to them by a stranger, even if the information was requested. How can you avoid giving your autoresponder messages that choppy, I-can’t-use-a-computer feel?

First, you should understand why this occurs. Every e-mail program is different, allowing different line lengths for their viewing windows. If your e-mail program allows 75 characters per line, it may look fine on your screen—but when you send it to someone whose program allows only 70 characters per line, those last five characters get moved to the next line and break up your message with those pesky > signs. Another potential problem is the font you choose. Fonts like Courier New are fixed-width: every character takes up the same amount of space. But fonts like Times New Roman (the default font for most word processing programs) and Arial have varying width according to the character: an “i” takes up less space than a “w” and so forth. This variance in space creates the same broken effect as the line length problem.

Keep your messages in a fixed-width font (10-point size is best in nearly every case) and make sure each line is 60 to 65 characters long. When you reach the limit, use a hard return to start the next line rather than allowing your word processing program to wrap the text. If you’re using Microsoft Word to compose your messages, there is a counter at the bottom of the window that tells you what line and character number you’re on as you type (this reads Ln ## Col ##) which you can use to ensure you’re staying at 65 or less. You can also create a guide at the top of the page you’re working on (you will delete the guide after you finish your message) that will allow you to determine your line length at a glance. Your guide should look like this:

———1———2———3———4———5———6—–

Another way to avoid sending garbled messages is to save them in a universal format. Many people mistakenly believe ASCII works on all computers, but this is not the case. You should save (and copy and paste) your messages in either Plain Text (this is almost always in Courier New font) or Rich Text format (the format every word processing program can open, which allows you to preserve color, bold and italicized text). You will find these file formats listed in the Save As dropdown box on your Save window.

Get Started

There are several autoresponder programs available for internet marketers, all with different features and pricing plans. One great program is Automatic-Responder www.Automatic-Responder.com , which allows you to create unlimited autoresponder series and messages, and provides a multitude of easy-to-use tools like web forms for fast sign-up. They also offer a free 30-day trial to test drive their services.

SET UP YOUR SITE

Now that you have your topic, you’ve researched your market, and you have composed a fabulous series of autoresponder messages, you’re ready to put together the other crucial component of your successful autoresponder campaign: your web site.

Your web site will serve double duty as a sign-up point for opt-in subscribers and a sales point for subscribers who have decided to buy. There are several things you must consider when setting up your web site.

Name your domain

What’s in a name? Your domain name, technically, is the words in the middle of the string of characters you type into a web browser, generally preceded by www and followed by .com or another extension, that loads your web site onto your computer. Choosing a domain name is one of the most important steps in setting up your site.

Try to choose a domain name that is easy to remember and spell (for example, www.topmarketing.com rather than www.supersalesextravaganza.com). You should avoid odd or alternate spelling (www.craZmonee.com) and use as few underscores, dashes and special characters as possible. People will be more likely to visit your site if they are able to instantly memorize your web address and don’t have to bother using a search engine or backtracking through several previously visited sites to find yours.

There are literally hundreds of millions of web sites available on the internet. This means many domain names are already taken. When deciding on your domain name, come up with a list of your three or four top choices and then search for availability at a site like Checkdomain.com or Register.com. If all of your names are taken in the .com domain, look for a .net, .org, .cc or .info domain instead.

NOTE: If your product is an affiliate program, you will probably have a domain name assigned to you by the parent company. In this case, you should sign up for a free NameStick account (as discussed further in this chapter).

Web hosting: free or fee?

Why should you pay for a web site when you can get one for free? There are several advantages and disadvantages to consider when choosing between free and fee hosting companies for your web site:

• Will you have your own domain name? With free web sites, domain names are nearly always structured this way: www.hostcompany.com/yoursitename. This makes your URL difficult to remember, and you may lose sales as a result.
• Will your web site allow high traffic volume? Free sites have bandwidth restrictions. This means that after a certain amount of people in a given day visit your site, the page will no longer load and potential customers will receive a message such as “This web site has exceeded its bandwidth limit. Please try again tomorrow.” Some free sites provide sufficient bandwidth, especially if your site is light on graphics…but many do not.
• Will your web site be online at all times? Some servers are better than others. With a free site, you run the risk of downed servers showing visitors the dreaded “Error 404: Page Not Found” message when they click over to your site. Most paid sites have precautions to deal with server failure.
• Will you have to become a computer programmer? Before signing up for any web site service, find out whether they have templates and easy-to-use site building tools—or whether you have to create your pages in HTML code. If you plan to use a program like Dreamweaver or FrontPage to create your site, this won’t matter. But if you’re not, and you don’t know HTML, you need to make sure you will be able to put things on your web pages with relative ease.
• Will your visitors mind outside advertising and/or popup ads? Probably. Most free sites use outside advertising on all their pages—this is how they make money. Banner ads are usually acceptable, but if you have a page with three or four popups that spring out at unsuspecting visitors, they’ll be quick to leave and never come back. Find out what type of advertising the hosting company uses before signing up for a free program.

This is not to say you absolutely should not go with a free site. Particularly when you’re first starting out, a free site may be just what you need, and you can always upgrade to a paid site. For that reason, you should look into a web hosting company that offers both free and paid sites (or just start out with a paid site).

Get Started

Check out these web site providers:

FREE

• Bravenet.com: Free web hosting with decent bandwidth and storage, plus loads of free features. Also offers paid sites with free domain names and more storage and bandwidth. HTML-free.
• Tripod: A free web site host including blog and photo album. Service run by Lycos, one of the major search engines. HTML-free site building.
• Yahoo! Geocities: Similar to Bravenet; offers free and paid hosting packages, tons of tools, and no HTML required.

PAID

• EZ Web Hosting: Plans start at $5.95/month and include rollover bandwidth. Options for domain names; no HTML required.
• Homestead: Free 30-day trial; plans start at $4.99/month. Premium service includes e-commerce solutions, shopping cart, and pay-per-click advertising credits with Google and Yahoo.
• iPowerWeb: $7.95/month, lots of features plus a $25 Google AdWords credit.
• Virtual Hosting: Upgradeable plans starting at $2.95/month.

I signed up for a web site. Now what?

What are the components of a successful autoresponder-driven web site? Following is a guide for creating an integrated web site that is fully functional, easy to use, and most important: sells your product.

• The Landing Page. This is the “front page” of your web site; the one visitors surfing the internet will open when they click on your link in a search engine. Basically, it will take the form of a sales letter. The main purpose of the landing page is to get subscribers for your opt-in list—focus more on what visitors can get for free, rather than what they can buy. The buying persuasion belongs in your autoresponder series.
• The Product Page. This is the page you will link to from within your autoresponder messages, from which people will actually purchase your product through a shopping cart system or PayPal link. Depending on the type of web site host you choose, you may have a shopping cart system integrated into the page. The product page can contain testimonials, cover graphics, and/or “teasers” about the benefits of purchasing your product.
• The Resource Page. By creating a page where visitors can find useful, free, and frequently updated information, you will increase repeat traffic and inbound links (this is when other people visit your site and decide it’s so cool, they have to put a link up to it from theirs. Inbound links are a powerful way to increase your search engine ranking). This is the place to provide any articles written by you or other experts (with their permission, of course) relating to your topic.
• On every page. Be sure to place an opt-in subscription box or e-mail address link to your autoresponder on every page of your web site, in a prominent position. Also, provide a link to your product page from the other pages. Be consistent, honest, and direct with all your web site content.

Mystified? Visit these examples of successful autoresponder web sites to get an idea of how your site should look:

• Instant Internet Profits: One of internet marketing giant Yanik Silver’s many successful autoresponder-based programs.
• BizPromo: An example of a free e-book giveaway plus the use of an autoresponder to deliver a regular newsletter.
• Magnet4web: Advertising a free seven-part video course on internet marketing, delivered by autoresponder.
• The One-Minute Millionaire: Great example of using limited-time offers to spark people into taking action (there’s a countdown timer right on the web site!) with “free special report” autoresponders.

Accounts to think about: PayPal, ClickBank, NameStick

There are several programs that will benefit you as an internet marketer. Here are the top three programs you should consider signing up with before you launch your autoresponder campaign:

PayPal

How will your customers pay for your product? If you’ve ever done online shopping, you know most web sites with something to sell will accept credit cards, and you’ve probably heard of PayPal: it’s the largest online worldwide money transfer service in existence. PayPal accounts are free to set up, and you can start accepting money right away from customers. You can have PayPal issue you a check, or get the funds deposited directly into your checking account.

PayPal merchant accounts allow you to accept credit card payments from your web site. You pay a percentage of each transaction, from 1.9 to 2.9 percent, and your customers pay nothing extra. You can adjust the price of your product to cover these fees, and a PayPal account is far easier to set up than other shopping cart systems.

ClickBank

ClickBank is an internet marketing service that allows you to sell your product through their web site—and also enables their 100,000+ affiliates to sell for you. Setting up a ClickBank account costs a one-time $49.95 with no monthly fees, and like PayPal, they take a small percentage of sales. However, you must set a commission price for sales affiliates. Your profit per unit will be lower, but your sales volume will be much higher.

You can also enroll in ClickBank’s affiliate or reseller program and sell other people’s products for a commission. This will enable you to receive multiple income streams from one source.

NameStick

Bring all your affiliate and reseller programs together under one easy-to-remember domain name with a NameStick account. For a one-time fee and no recurring monthly charge, NameStick will provide you with a main web site that you can direct traffic from bulky affiliate-assigned URLs. If you plan to use your autoresponder campaign to promote affiliate programs, NameStick is a great way to bring your business together and keep track of the various web sites you will maintain.

A note on content

Your web site content is just as important as your autoresponder message content. Follow the same rules to avoid a spam feel for your site: don’t use lots of graphics or huge colorful fonts, don’t use all caps or excessive punctuation, don’t stuff your site with “exciting” fluff words, and do make sure your spelling and grammar is correct. Keep your web site content simple, clear and informative.

Also, a web site is a great opportunity to get repeat business. One way to do this—which also helps to increase your search engine ranking by attracting web crawlers, or “spiders,” to your site, is to provide fresh content on a regular basis. Add new articles or links weekly and give people great reasons to come back soon.

Above all, be professional. Don’t try to make your product look better by trashing other products or sellers; don’t use “bait and switch” by planting descriptions that have nothing to do with your product but are in high demand on the internet (unless you’re actually selling pornographic content, don’t use “sex” or “hot girls” to describe your site); and don’t flat-out lie (your product will not cure cancer). Believe it or not, honesty is still valued in the marketplace—and your honesty will earn you more sales and repeat business. You believe in your product, so let your product speak for itself.

BUILD YOUR OPT-IN LIST

Let’s review what an opt-in list is: a collection of e-mail addresses you get from people who are interested in your product, and request to join your autoresponder list. This means your autoresponder messages will not be considered spam, and the reputation of your business will help build consumer confidence and increase sales.

Now that you know why you need an opt-in list, let’s talk about how to get one. There are several ways to collect addresses for your opt-in list, and you should institute as many as you can to develop a wide subscriber base.

Free methods: Articles, e-books and mini e-courses

You can’t beat free! Though these list-building techniques take a little more time and effort than paid methods, they can be extremely effective in getting subscribers for you. In fact, you may have already done much of the legwork during your market research phase.

Articles

You can write articles pertaining to your topic, or articles that contain some of the information found in your product, and post them across the internet. Be sure the article contains useful information that will pique readers’ interest and get them to want more. When submitting your articles to other sites for publication, be sure to include your name (and company name, if you have one) and a link to your web site. If you have professional credentials that tie in to your subject, write a brief bio to include as well.

E-books and giveaways/contests

Just as the idea of free list-building methods appealed to you, the idea of valuable freebies will appeal to potential customers. Obtain short, informative e-books on your topic (or write one yourself) from affiliate programs or other internet marketers, and then offer them as an incentive to sign up for your opt-in list. You can also advertise a contest to give away a certain number of your product, chosen at random from people who sign up for your list during a prescribed period of time. NOTE: Setting limits on sign-up time and the number of giveaways gives people added incentive to act now. This is a technique you may want to incorporate in your autoresponder messages.

Mini e-courses

Developing a mini-course—a shortened version of your full product—is a great way to increase interest in potential buyers. When setting up a mini-course, break your product up into several sections. Give away a few secrets in each “lesson,” but not all of them. Remind mini-course subscribers that much more information can be found in the full version of your product, and include links to both your product page and your autoresponder landing page in each section. Plug your mini-course into your autoresponder program and fire away!

Pop-up ads

Pop-up ads can be an effective means of gathering addresses for your opt-in list when used on your own site. No one enjoys visiting a site about a topic they’re interested in, only to be bombarded with boxes proclaiming they’ve won free gas for a year or can lose 10 pounds in the next week. But used on your own site, pop-up ads let people know immediately that they can sign up for your list and get exactly the information they’re looking for delivered straight to their inbox. Recent studies have shown on-site pop-up ads to increase sales levels by up to 33 percent.

Paid methods: PPC campaigns, classifieds, and co-registration lists

When it comes to building a subscriber base, a little bit of money goes a long way. Most paid list-building methods are relatively inexpensive, and if used properly will more than pay for themselves in a short period of time.

For every paid method of obtaining subscribers, you will need your complete site URL and a brief (one- to three-sentence) description of your site. Word your description the same way you would in your autoresponder messages: make it short, to the point, and compelling. You will also need a list of keywords you want people to be able to find your site with through search engines.

Some popular paid list-building techniques are:

PPC (Pay-Per-Click) Campaigns

Pay-per-click ad campaigns bring visitors to your landing page by advertising your site on strategic points on the front search results page of keywords related to your topic. The term “pay-per-click” refers to the way you pay for the ads: a certain amount is deducted from your account—the money you put in to fund the campaign—each time someone clicks on your link. The most popular PPC program is Google AdWords; basically, though, all PPC campaigns work the same way.

Here’s how it works: when you sign up with AdWords, you submit a list of keywords and product descriptions. For example, if you were offering an e-book about how to increase web site profits, a list of your keywords might be: website, web site, web site profits, increase profits, internet, internet profit, online profit, online business, internet business, web site business, make money online, and so forth. Come up with as many keywords and search terms as possible so you can increase your chances of getting visitors. You may also consider including common misspellings ofyour most important keywords; in the previous example, possibilities would be: bizness, busness, inernet.

NOTE: You can use Google’s free keyword tool to generate even more related search terms for your topic.

AdWords ads appear on the right-hand side of Google’s search result pages in shaded boxes. The ads consist of four lines: the first line is your ad’s title, the last is your site’s URL, and the two middle lines are descriptive text. Length is limited—25 characters for the title, and 35 characters each for descriptive text—so you should choose your wording carefully. Also, you can’t use excessive punctuation (Make Lots of Cash!!!), gimmicky repetition (Money, Money, Money!), or inappropriate symbols/abbreviations (Big Bux @ my site 4 U).

So, following the above example, our AdWords ads might look like:

Online Success Increase your web site profits Get free information here www.yoursite.com

Free Reports! Boost your online sales Get internet marketing secrets www.yoursite.com

Internet Business Explosion 7 free reports that will make your web site profitable www.yoursite.com

AdWords operates on a pay-per-click basis. This means you pay nothing for your ads unless someone clicks on them. When you set up an AdWords account, you assign a monetary value to your keywords according to how much you’re willing to pay for each click on your search terms—the minimum value you can assign to a keyword is 1 cent. You can start an account with $5, and you will never be required to put more in –however, if you find your web site traffic increasing, you may want to consider adding to your advertising budget. In addition to the minimum, you will set a maximum cost-per-click (CPC) value for your keywords. But even if you reach the maximum, the AdWords program automatically determines the lowest price you need to keep your ranking.

AdWords and other programs like it – simple, inexpensive content-targeted ads.

Yahoo! also offers a popular PPC program called Yahoo! Search Marketing (formerly Overture). The major difference between the Yahoo and the Google programs is that Yahoo requires a minimum monthly spend of $50. You may find one more effective than the other—and it’s always helpful to try multiple methods. More visitors means more sales!

Classified ads

Placing classified ads, both online and in print, are a great low-cost way to reach potential subscribers. There are, of course, tons of places to list free classified ads, but the one or two click-throughs you’ll get for the amount of time you’ll spend placing them just isn’t worth it.

When composing classified ads, remember that you have limited space to get your message across. You might consider using the same formula as the one for PPC campaigns: an ad title, a few descriptive lines of text, and your site’s URL. For print classifieds, check out your local and regional newspapers. Categorize your ads appropriately: if you have a product about how to work from home, you could probably place it in the Employment section, but if your product is about diets or relationships, you should advertise in another section.

There are also many online venues for placing classifieds, from fixed sites to newsletters. Many newsletters make their profits from placing classified ads; if you can find one relating to your topic with a large subscriber place, it may be worth buying an ad—or even a sequential ad series (once again, repetition of your message is the key to convert prospects into buyers. If the same subscribers see your advertisement for three weeks in a row, more of them will visit your site).

The best way to place classified ads is to seek out e-zines and newsletters that either deal directly with your topic or would be of interest to your target audience; find out how large their subscriber base is; and ask about rates. Comparison shop: look for well-written newsletters or e-zines with low rates and discounts for sequential listings. This will help you make the most of your advertising dollar. Check out these newsletter and e-zine directories to get started:

• E-zine Directory: Over 3,000 e-zines and newsletters searchable by topic or keyword.
• Jogena: Hundreds of e-zines, list updated frequently. This site also features a directory of free e-books you can download and give away as incentives to your customers.
• eZINESearch: A directory of over 10,000 e-zines and growing, with top 100 listings arranged by category.
• ListCity: Thousands of e-zines and newsletters arranged by topic and searchable by keyword.

Co-registration lists

Remember when we mentioned prefacing your autoresponder messages with a statement that included “…someone else indicated you would be interested in receiving this material”? This is where co-registration lists come in.

Signing up for co-registration lists basically enters you into a partnership with other internet marketers who are selling products similar to yours. Each person on the list agrees to request that their subscribers agree to allow their “associates” to send them product information. Co-registration lists are a cost-effective, ultra-fast way to build a huge subscriber base, and work faster at bringing results than just about any other method.

The downside to co-registration lists is that they are typically the most expensive method of list-building. Still, we’re not even talking in hundreds of dollars here. Like PPC campaigns, you pay for subscribers on a per-click basis, and only for those subscribers who actually complete your sign-up process. The average cost per subscriber is around 10 cents. With a quality co-registration list, you can amass a great targeted subscriber base in as little as a week, and start selling your product right away.

Try these co-registration list building services to get started now:

NitroListBuilder.com

MeMail

PostMaster Direct

Advertising.com

BulletMail

Targ-it.com

HitMail

E-target.com

Copywriter.com

DRIVE TRAFFIC TO YOUR SITE

Once you have your product, your autoresponder message series, your web site, and all your accounts in place, it’s time for the fun part: driving traffic to your web site and watching your internet money machine in action.

Here we’ll review various methods of attracting site visitors and increasing your click-through sales ratio with your autoresponder series.

Keywords: Optimize, don’t stuff

Make your website visible to search engines by using, but not abusing, keywords and phrases related to your topic. Over 90 percent of Internet users find sites through search engines, and the more relevant information web crawlers (programs that travel the internet “capturing” information for search engine listings; also called spiders) discover on your web site, the higher up in search results your site will appear. Mention your keywords often, but don’t bludgeon visitors with them. This not only makes for sloppy copy, it can get your site banned from search engines altogether.

Also, be sure you submit your site regularly to search engines, either manually or with a submission service. Following are a few web site submission services:

• 1 2 3 Submit PRO: Offers free submission to 21 search engines (including Google) in exchange for a reciprocal link, and paid submissions starting at $9.95 to several thousand more. Also offers web site analysis and optimization services.
• Ineedhits: Free submission to 20 search engines. Google not included. Hint: use this in conjunction with SubmitExpress.
• SubmitExpress: Free submission service to 20+ top search engines, includes Google, Yahoo and MSN.
• SubmitShop.com: Free submission to 100 search engines—but you have to enter them one at a time.
• SubmitFire: Monthly submissions to 3000+ search engines; includes reports on submission success, link popularity and site rankings. $7.95/month; must sign a one-year contract.

Keep visitors coming back

Update your web site constantly. Be on the lookout for articles and new information on your topic that will interest the people who visit your site. You will keep your customers happy by providing them with more than just a product, and you’ll keep search engines happy by listing new content.

One way to keep visitors returning and get more traffic is reciprocal linking. This is the practice of putting up links to other sites on yours in exchange for a link on theirs. You can create a separate web site page for your links; it will give your listeners even more resources as well as draw traffic from other sites. Though not quite as effective as inbound non-reciprocal links (links from other sites to yours when no return link exists on your site) in influencing search engines, these links still carry some rank weight. It is important to ensure that all the outbound and reciprocal links on your web site are related to your topic—otherwise, it will reflect badly on your professional image as well as your search engine rank.

The No-Spam Diet: Black and white listing

By following the rules to refrain from sending out spam and making your web site professional, you can avoid blacklisting. This is when a search engine bans your site or IP address from its listings—and the ban is a permanent one.

Other actions that will put your web site on the blacklist:

• Mirror web sites. This occurs when you register for more than one domain name, but post the exact same content on each site. This is also a good reason not to plagiarize content from other sites. If you manage to get someone else’s successful site banned from search engines, you will have one unhappy internet marketer on your hands.
• Invisible text. One formerly common way to avoid obvious keyword stuffing was to add long strings of keywords to web pages in small font size, in the same color as the background of the page. This text is “invisible” to visitors, but not to search engines—and the spiders are on to this practice.
• Submitting pages too often. Keep to the 30-day rule when submitting your page to search engines. When a search engine receives duplicate page submissions within 24 hours, it is often immediate cause for blacklisting.
• Using a free web site host. This doesn’t usually result in blacklisting, but free web site hosts don’t generally make the climb to the top of search engine ranks. Downtime and bandwidth exceeding will deter crawlers from your site, and if it happens often enough your listing will be dropped (but not banned) from the search engine. If you plan to have a lot of traffic coming in to your site, you should seriously consider investing in a paid web site host.

If you are interested in finding out whether your site has been blacklisted, you can monitor some of the most popular blacklists yourself by searching for your site on MAPS Realtime Blackhole List or SpamCop.

Since blacklists are undesirable, you may have guessed that whitelists are the opposite: highly desirable. The practice of whitelisting e-mail lists came about in an effort to control the volume of spam flying across cyberspace. ISPs (internet service providers, such as AOL, Earthlink, MSN, and Yahoo) maintain lists of “safe” sites that are allowed to send messages to their e-mail customers. You can write directly to ISPs and request to be on their whitelist. Another way to be whitelisted is to subscribe to a certified sender program such as Habeas, where ISPs can access the list to find out whether a sender is qualified non-spam. Or, you could simply put yourself on your subscribers’ personalized whitelists by requesting that they set their e-mail filters to allow your mail. You can either do this in the body of your autoresponder messages (the best place is after you tell them what the next message will contain), or install a pop-up message to appear after your customer subscribes reminding them to add your domain to their “safe list.”

Launch your list-building campaign

Of course, the most effective means of driving traffic to your site will be your autoresponder series. Your well-crafted messages will send people in droves to your site to check out what you have to say. Just make sure you give them a good reason to go there, and great reasons to keep coming back, and you will build a rock-solid autoresponder campaign that keeps your profits rolling in.

Remember to check out the sample autoresponder series in the index of this book for more great ideas on crafting effective sales messages. You’ll also find links to even more resources to help you on your internet marketing journey.

And above all remember this: have fun!

INDEX: SAMPLE AUTORESPONDER SERIES

The following eight-message autoresponder series represents a fictional company and a fictional product. Any resemblance to real companies or real products is purely coincidental. Honest.

You can use these messages as a framework or guide to creating your own autoresponder message series. However, direct copying of this text is not only against the law…it’s cheating!

MESSAGE #1

(Sending time: instant—when an opt-in e-mail address is first received)

SUBJECT: Thank you for your order! Here is your first free report on internet marketing strategies.

Congratulations! You’ve just taken the first step toward turning your web site into a cash register. You are about to discover secrets successful internet marketers use to reap enormous profits online.

***You are receiving this message because you requested information from WebMoney or one of our partners.***

Do you want to know how they do it?

There are stories all over about people making a great living from the comfort of their own homes, all through online sales. But if you’ve tried to break into internet marketing and found out the cash just isn’t pouring in—and as a matter of fact, it isn’t even trickling—you may be asking yourself: “What do they have that I don’t?”

The difference between success and failure online

To become a successful internet entrepreneur, you need planning. Most people think you can just slap up a web site, hang out a shingle and name your price, but the truth is this: there are hundreds of millions of web sites out there, and drawing attention to just one is a challenge. The good news is: you can meet that challenge and win the marketing game!

This free series of report will show you how.

Secret #1: Sell something people want to buy.

Sounds simple enough, right?

Actually, this is one of the biggest hurdles facing internet businesses. The market is so glutted with products, it takes something special to get people interested enough to hand their money over to you. You need as many competitive edges as you can get, and the first is your product.

There’s an old quote that goes: “If you’re going to do something, do it right or not at all.” You want to do right by your customers, and that means giving them something worth every penny they paid for it and then some.

Find out more.

My comprehensive 7-part e-course “Super Web Site Profits for Explosive Sales” reveals in-depth trade secrets for putting value into your product, with advice from big names in internet marketing that will help you make your product shine. This valuable money-making gem retails for $395, but I’m making it available to you for just $49.95 through this special subscriber offer.

Check out the details of my course here: www.mysalespage.com

Coming soon: Who will buy from you?

Tomorrow you’ll receive Report #2 in this series. You’ll learn how to find buyers that match your selling goals and increase your click-through sales rate by up to 33 percent. Stay tuned!

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MESSAGE #2

(Sending time: Day 2)

SUBJECT: Ready to hook up with more customers? Here is your second Special Internet Marketing Report

Hi there,

Last time we talked about making your product worth buying. Today you’re going to learn who’s looking for what you’re selling, and how to find them online.

***You are receiving this message because you requested information from WebMoney or one of our partners.***

Finding your perfect buyer is like getting a hole-in-one…

He’s out there somewhere: your dream buyer. He wants what you have and he’s willing to pay for it. What does he look like? Where does he hang out? How can you connect with your market?

The good news is: Once you find one, you find hundreds.

“Great minds think alike.” The best thing about finding your target is people with similar interests tend to gather in the same area. This is true in both the physical world and the cyber-world. If you can identify the best way to reach your target market, you can strike internet gold mines.

Secret #2: Do Your Homework.

You there in the back: stop groaning! Thanks in large part to the ready availability of information online, performing market research is easier than ever. Here’s a list of quick tips to help you pin down that elusive species of Buyerus Onlinus:

• Look to your friends to find out what kinds of people share your interests. Ask them where they go online, then visit those places and check out the advertising there.
• Seek out groups and forums dedicated to topics related to your product. Join some of them and ask around: have they ever bought anything online? If so, what made them decide to spend money?
• Put up a survey on your web site to find out more about your customers: how old they are, where they live, how they found your site, what their online buying habits are.
• Ask an expert! Find successful web sites selling products similar to yours and ask them what their “sales demographics” are like (they’ll be impressed with your extensive vocabulary!).

In-Depth Research: It’s Easier Than You Think.

In my 7-part e-course “Super Web Site Profits for Explosive Sales” you’ll get tips, tricks, tools and free online resources for pinpointing your market research. The more you learn about your target market, the greater your click-to-sales ratio will be! Part II of my course contains market research secrets that can increase the number of visitors that buy your product by as much as 50 percent! You can get it now for only $49.95.

I’ll even throw in a bonus: if you order “Super Web Site Profits for Explosive Sales” within the next week, I will include 20 free marketing surveys you can customize for your web site. Click here to start your profits pouring in: www.mysalespage.com

Next up: Transform Your Web Site into a Beacon for Buyers

In a few days, you will receive Special Report #3, revealing the secrets to giving your web site a spit-and-polish. You’ll learn how to keep potential customers riveted to the screen once they arrive at your site.

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MESSAGE #3

(Sending time: Day 4)

SUBJECT: Your web site is invisible. Check out Special Report #3 to give your site an overhaul.

How many visitors come to your web site without buying a thing? If you answered, “Too many!” then read on to discover the secrets that keep them glued to your content and begging for more.

***You are receiving this message because you requested information from WebMoney or one of our partners.***

Is it too easy to leave your site?

What does your site look like? If it isn’t pleasing to the eye, then most vision-weary web surfers will go for the mouse and click away fast. There are a lot of visual turn-offs you have to consider in designing your site.

You’re not saying what they want to hear.

If the front page of your web site is just an advertisement for your product, you will lose the 95 percent of visitors who come to your site because they’re interested in your topic (and not necessarily your product). In order to attract and keep visitors, you need more than just sales copy. You need substance.

Secret #3: Looks Aren’t Everything (But They Sure Don’t Hurt)

A successful web site combines appealing looks with meaty content that keeps potential buyers exploring your site. The longer they stay in your domain, the more likely they are to buy! Follow these tips for hanging your web site in the stratosphere of success.

• Go easy on the graphics. Sure, images and flash presentations look great—but in most browsers a graphics-heavy page takes a long time to load, and buyers won’t hang around to wait when there are plenty of other options available.
• Choose a font style that’s easy to read. If you’re selling a book on relationships, putting all your web copy in Edwardian Script ITC  will not get the romance juices flowing. It will, however, cost you sales.
• Teach them something. Provide more than just thrilling monologues about how great your product is. Write articles on your topic or reprint articles from internet databases. After spending half an hour reading through exciting and informative pieces of your topic, they will want to learn more.
• Show your marketing savvy by providing a sign-up box or link for your newsletter, e-zine or autoresponder (*gasp* – you don’t have any of those? Visit the resource section on my web site right now at www.myresourcepage.com and find out why you need one!) right on your front page. Repeat for subsequent pages.

Get the keys to unlock your web site’s full potential.

My 7-part e-course “Super Web Site Profits for Explosive Sales” gives you a huge amount of web site resources and free tools for every aspect of site design and content creation, all in one place. You’ll get information that would take years to gather on your own (that’s how long it took me!) and cost you hundreds of dollars—and much, much more—for only $49.95!

Order “Super Web Site Profits for Explosive Sales” within five days and I’ll not only include 20 free marketing surveys you can customize for your web site, I’ll also throw in a free e-book on writing killer web copy.

Give your web site a kick in the profits right now: www.mysalespage.com

Coming soon…Repeat After Me: Repetition is Key

In your next Special Report, you’ll learn one of the most important secrets to internet marketing: why it’s good to repeat yourself. Stay tuned!

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MESSAGE #4

(Sending time: Day 10)

SUBJECT: Can you hear me now? Your Report #4 on internet marketing secrets has arrived.

Internet marketing is a whole new game: new rules, new crowd, new methods and a new generation. Would you like to find out why repeating yourself is not only recommended, but required?

***You are receiving this message because you requested information from WebMoney or one of our partners.***

We’re talking money, money, money…aren’t we?

Not exactly.

Using repetition in your internet marketing does not mean putting the same word or phrase together multiple times to give your web site more keyword pull. You’ve seen sites  that say things like: Sign up here for cash, cash, cash! This Money Magnet works. Order a Money Magnet today. Click here for Money Magnet.

It’s annoying. And it doesn’t get you to buy anything.

So what am I supposed to repeat?

For the purpose of this lesson, “repetition” does not refer to the number of times you use a certain word or phrase, but the number of times a customer sees your advertising message. On average, a person must see or hear mention of a product at least 4 times before they will consider buying it.

You will also repeat certain ideas within your marketing message. If your product has a number of amazing benefits for the customer, it doesn’t hurt to remind them what they’re missing out on by not buying now.

Secret #4: Be the squeaky wheel.

You need to get your marketing message out there in front of the customers multiple times. Other than getting them to come back to your site every day, how can you do this? Check out these great repeat-exposure tips:

• Autoresponders. These are perhaps one of the most powerful internet marketing tools available. With autoresponders you can send a series of messages (just like this one!) to people who are interested in your topic, by simply adding their e-mail address to your list. The process is completely automated; the messages go out by themselves at preset intervals you determine.
• Newsletters and e-zines remind your customers of new developments, updates and special deals on your web site. A weekly, bi-weekly or monthly e-zine is a great way to keep your product at the front of potential customers’ minds.
• Placing sequential classified ads in other people’s newsletters and e-zines also gives your message multiple exposure. Classified ads usually begin to produce results after the third appearance in a newsletter or e-zine.
• Be sure to frequently highlight the benefits of your product…just like I’m about to do.

Get the keys to unlock your web site’s full potential.

“Super Web Site Profits for Explosive Sales”, my extensive 7-part e-course, takes you step by step through the process of setting up an autoresponder, newsletter or e-zine for your web site. You’ll discover how to get thousands of subscribers, where to place your sign-up forms for maximum effectiveness, how to word your sequential messages to pump up your profits, and so much more—all for a one-time payment of $49.95!

In the next three days, if you order “Super Web Site Profits for Explosive Sales”  you’ll get the 20 free marketing surveys, the free e-book on writing killer web copy, and a free subscription to my award-winning newsletter “Blast Off! Marketing,” featuring fresh bonus tips every week.

Why wait? Start collecting your slice of the online market: www.mysalespage.com

Next up: How to get more money by giving stuff away

Now if that isn’t an oxymoron. How can giving things away make you money? Find out when you receive Special Report #5. Stay tuned!

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MESSAGE #5

(Sending time: Day 14)

SUBJECT: Your Report #5: Give stuff away to get more money

By giving away free e-books, mini-courses, or even a limited number of copies of your product, you can generate more sales than ever! Why? Because everyone loves to get something for free.

***You are receiving this message because you requested information from WebMoney or one of our partners.***

Isn’t it counterproductive to give away what I’m selling?

Not at all! Holding contests, free drawings and giveaways is great publicity for you, and as a result you’ll get more traffic to your web site. More traffic means more exposure, and more exposure…well, you get the idea!

I don’t want to give away my product!

You don’t have to! Instead of holding a contest, consider giving away e-books on similar topics (there are thousands of free e-books floating around the internet that anyone can give away) or coming up with a short version of your product to hand out as a mini “teaser” course.

If you can offer everyone who comes to your web site a valuable free gift, your visitors will spread the word about your site through their respective online communities. Word-of-mouth is every marketer’s best friend!

Secret #5: Give your customers a good reason to buy: free stuff.

Hosting giveaways not only gets you more web site traffic, it also serves as powerful incentive to purchase. Gather as many bonuses as you can and be prepared to give, give, give! Some tips on making bonuses and incentives work for you:

• Make sure whatever you’re giving away is valuable—and not just because you say so. It’s great to get something for free, but not so great when you find out it’s something you already knew, or were never interested in anyway. Consider your topic and look for giveaways that have concrete benefits for your customers.
• Give before, during and after your sales campaign. Offer a free sample of your product or a gift for signing up for your newsletter or autoresponder series; give bonuses with every purchase; and have a follow-up thank-you gift ready.
• Set a schedule and promote your contest or giveaway “for a limited time.” Knowing the offer will expire gives customers added incentive to act now.

Are your web site sales still languishing?

If free stuff sounds like a great idea, my e-course “Super Web Site Profits for Explosive Sales” is just what you need! Part V of the course lays out 6 giveaway strategies that will flood your web site with visitors. You’ll also discover the hottest giveaways on the ‘net and how to get your hands on them free. The $395-value “Super Web Site Profits” e-course is yours at the special subscriber rate of $49.95!

Good news: your deadline is extended! Order “Super Web Site Profits for Explosive Sales” in the next 5 days to get the 20 free marketing surveys, the free e-book on writing killer web copy, and a free subscription to my award-winning newsletter “Blast Off! Marketing,” featuring fresh bonus tips every week.

Cash in on the internet’s best-kept secrets now: www.mysalespage.com

Coming Soon: How to be a complete yo-yo on the internet

If you can’t beat ‘em… have a sale! In Special Report #6, you’ll learn the importance of setting a price you’re willing to come down from—and then squeezing every potential drop of profit from your huge blowout clearance. Stay tuned!

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MESSAGE #6

(Sending time: Day 15)

SUBJECT: You are a yo-yo: Here’s your Special Report #6 on internet marketing secrets

Hi again,

Last time we talked about giving stuff away to get more money. Now you’re going to hear another contradictory bit of advice: lower your price—and get more money.

***You are receiving this message because you requested information from WebMoney or one of our partners.***

Now that really doesn’t make sense…

Not true, my friend. Think about it: how many times have you walked by a particular item and thought, “Gee, it would be nice to have it,” then a few days later you find it on sale…what happens? You snatch it right up!

The two most powerful words in marketing: “Save money”

Discounts are even better than free stuff. You know you’re getting more value for your dollar when you buy on sale, especially if you’re familiar with the product—and if you’ve done your marketing homework, your customers will have already received your message several times before you offer a sale.

Secret #6: Less is more.

When your per-unit profit goes down, the number of units you sell goes up exponentially. This is where those “wild profits” internet marketers talk about come in. Give your customers a bargain and they’ll line up to buy.

• Just as you did with your free incentives, put a time limit on your sale—and stick to it. Bump your price back up at the end of the time period. Then, when customers miss the sale, you can let them know you’ll offer it again soon. This will keep more people watching your web site for deals!
• Don’t undercut yourself by charging dirt-cheap rates. Even if you’ve built your entire marketing campaign on a shoestring, you are in business and deserve to be compensated for your time, if nothing else. If you’ve set your rates wisely from the beginning, you should be able to offer big discounts and not end up “scraping by.”
• Consider investing a little more money in marketing your sale. Remember, sale items sell faster and in greater quantity than regular priced items, so the added exposure you’ll get for a few extra marketing dollars will be priceless.

I’m putting my money where my mouth is…

Yep, you guessed it: I’m offering you a discount. A huge discount. Buy “Super Web Site Profits for Explosive Sales” in the next week at 50 percent off the special subscriber rate! You’ll find out the incredible strategies successful internet marketers use to promote sales events and make thousands of dollars in just a few weeks!

My e-course will also show you exactly where and how to advertise your sale on the internet for an explosive response, and much more—all for just $25! But you must order within the next week to take advantage of this offer.

Order “Super Web Site Profits for Explosive Sales” at the special sale rate and you’ll still get the 20 free marketing surveys, the free e-book on writing killer web copy, and a free subscription to my award-winning newsletter “Blast Off! Marketing,” featuring fresh bonus tips every week. Click here now: www.mysalespage.com

Don’t go away…we’re almost there!

Your final Special Report will arrive soon, where you’ll learn the most crucial internet marketing secret of all. Here’s a hint: it has something to do with lunchmeat…

Stay tuned!

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MESSAGE #7

(Sending time: Day 22)

SUBJECT: The most important thing to (not) do for your customers: Special Report #7

You’re about to discover the Number One secret to successful internet marketing, and it’s not about what you do—it’s about what you don’t do.

***You are receiving this message because you requested information from WebMoney or one of our partners.***

Put your customers on a no-spam diet.

That’s right! Making sure you don’t spam is the most important step in your internet marketing campaign. Not only will unsolicited mail and web site hype drive customers away in droves, it can also get your site banned from search engines and choke off your traffic before you get started.

But isn’t all internet marketing spam?

Wrong again! The key to avoiding spam is to build an opt-in list. This is where people actually sign up and ask to hear more about your product (like you did when you signed up for this free report series).

You may think this severely limits your market reach, but again…wrong idea. Since the people on your list have already expressed interest, your odds of converting subscribers to buyers is far greater than the traditional “cold sell” spam marketing: 1 in 10 instead of 1 in 500! Can you beat those odds?

Secret #7: No more throwing spaghetti at the wall.

That’s what spam marketing is like: throwing spaghetti at the wall to see how many pieces stick. By avoiding spam-like techniques, you guarantee yourself greater profits and happier customers—who in turn will bring you even more business. Apply these tips to your marketing to ban spam from your domain:

• When you send out list messages, don’t stuff your messages full of graphics and hype. Stick to the facts, ma’am: describe your product, tell them exactly how they’ll benefit from it, and put substance in your send-outs. People want to know that you know what you’re talking about!
• Never, ever send unsolicited e-mail. Ever. If ISPs start receiving complaints about messages coming from your domain, they will blacklist your site, and your business will be as good as dead.
• Spam-proof your web site along with your e-mails. Don’t practice keyword stuffing, using mirror sites, placing invisible text, or other “cheat” methods of boosting your search engine ranks. DO offer concrete, valuable information in an eye-pleasing format, and be honest. Believe it or not, people appreciate honesty!

Are you ready to pump up your profits?

“Super Web Site Profits for Explosive Sales” explains every detail you need to keep spam from your marketing and still get buyers excited about your product.

Did you miss my blowout sale? You can still get the $395 value “Super Web Site Profits” e-course for only $49.95. You’ll even get a fourth valuable bonus if you order within the next week! In addition to the 20 free marketing surveys, the free e-book on writing killer web copy, and a free subscription to my award-winning newsletter “Blast Off! Marketing,” featuring fresh bonus tips every week, you will receive a free in-depth web site evaluation from an internet marketing professional. You’ll find out exactly what’s working and what’s not on your site—and how to fix it—absolutely free!

Don’t wait another minute. Start making money now: www.mysalespage.com

P.S. Though this is the end of your free Special Report series, I’ll contact you again in a few days to find out how you’re coming along on your road to internet marketing success. I may even have a special offer, just for you…

Stay tuned!

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FOLLOW-UP MESSAGE (#8)

(Sending time: Day 29)

SUBJECT: Even more internet marketing secrets! Act now…this is your last chance

Are you applying your internet marketing secrets to your web site? By now you may have noticed an increase in interest, and you may even be enjoying more sales!

***You are receiving this message because you requested information from WebMoney or one of our partners.***

Do you want to know more?

I’m going to let you in on even more internet marketing secrets—at absolutely no cost to you. There is a secret section on my web site with loads of marketing resources, helpful articles, free tools and expert advice, and it’s available only to subscribers. Here is your secret link to this marketing treasure:

www.myhiddenpage.com

Happy marketing!

Welcome to Last Chance Gulch

If you missed my super special sale, I have good news for you: it’s back by popular demand! But you have to act fast—purchase “Super Web Site Profits for Explosive Sales” within the next 48 hours to receive an incredible 50 percent off the special subscriber rate! The in-depth insider secrets you’ll learn will pay for themselves over and over. You can start to see a profit boom in as little as two weeks!

Order within the next 48 hours to get this special discount as well as all 4 bonuses: a $150 value for absolutely nothing. You’ll get the 20 free marketing surveys, the free e-book on writing killer web copy, a free subscription to my award-winning newsletter “Blast Off! Marketing” featuring fresh bonus tips every week, and a free in-depth web site evaluation from an internet marketing professional. Act fast—this offer expires in just 48 hours! Get your spectacular, one-time-only deal here: www.mysalespage.com

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THE END – OR IS IT THE BEGINNING?

To the reader of this book:

Congratulations! You are now ready to get out there and profit from autoresponders. Apply the techniques in this book to your marketing plan and your product, and you’ll see that “hidden profit stream” successful internet marketers talk about.

One quick note: If you hold a sale on your product, create a separate page with separate purchase buttons just for your discount price, and be sure to include a link to the sale page rather than your main product page in the messages that offer discounts. This saves you a lot of time and keeps you from changing your web site every time you send out a “sale” notice.

Remember: you can succeed with autoresponders. And best of all, you will love what you’re doing…which is worth more than wealth any day.

Happy marketing, and may every success be yours.