2. Customer Service: Many companies with thousands of customers now use Twitter as a customer service center. Companies can respond to customers via a Twitter customer service account and are answered quickly. A corporate Twitter account is free, so it costs you less on a per customer interaction basis than more traditional customer service management tools (like a call center or pricey software). You might have a more satisfied customer as well because they didn’t have to wait on hold for ten minutes.

3. Website Traffic: Look at the number of hits to your website before and after you’ve started a social media marketing campaign. If your social media marketing efforts are successful, you’ll see a spike in traffic. If you know your website conversion rate, you can now measure the ROI of your campaign.

4. SEO: Google your company name before your social media marketing efforts and then look at it just three months later. I guarantee that your results are more favorable if you’ve been running a good social media marketing campaign. Also, if you’ve optimized your social network accounts and linked them to your website, your search engine ranking has probably also improved.

Below are some questions you should consider answering before placing banner ads, and using social media outlets to market your landing page.

1. What is the ONE action you want your customers to take after reading your landing page?
2. Does your landing page match the ad that precedes it? Will the reader make the necessary connection between what the ad said and how it looks with the landing page content? Why?
3. What does the design of your landing page say to the reader?
4. Have you removed all extraneous links from the landing page and just included the few powerful ones?    Remember too many choices can lead to a confused mind. The visitor will less likely move towards the call-to-action.
5. Is your call to action clear?
6. How are you going to measure the results from your landing page campaign?

In a nut shell, think of your prospect or visitor thought sequence:
Where am I?
What can I do here?
Why should I do it?
Compliments from one of my favorite sites, MarketingExperiments.com

I hope you find the following tips beneficial if you are using or considering adding email to our marketing strategy for building valuable relationships.

The benefits of selling online is that you can offer far more personalized service than you are normally capable of providing in an offline setting.

“…What?” you might be thinking. “How can I offer more personalized service on the Internet than when selling to people face to face?”
The answer is very easy: “Email”.

By offering valuable information in exchange for your visitors’ names and email addresses, you can build a huge list of potential customers and then use email to build a strong
relationship with them over time.

When you have an offline business without any sort of online presence to back it up your only chance to connect with your visitors is when they come into your store.
But when you sale online, you can use email to communicate with your customers regularly, whether they are at work, in a coffee shop with their laptop, or in the comfort of their own home.

However, there are 5 essential rules you need to follow in order to make sure your emails make your customers loveyou… instead of dislike you.
( Because we all know what it’s like to receive unwanted
emails from spammers whose only purpose for mailing you
is to try to trick you to part with some cash. You DON’T
want your potential customers to think you’re one of “them.”)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One of the greatest benefits of email is that it helps overcome buyer resistance by encouraging your subscribers to trust you. But first, you have to prove you are trustworthy!
You have to respect your list, and think more of THEIR needs than yours. And you have to meet their expectations by delivering what you promise.

For example, if they opt into your list because you have offered them a free report full of valuable information, make sure you GIVE them a free report full of valuable information
- NOT a sales pitch.

Also, resist the urge to hammer your list with promotional emails every single week. The valuable “free info” emails you send should outnumber the purely promotional messages. Otherwise, your subscribers will opt out in droves.

Finally, be sure to include a link to your privacy policy right in the opt-in box on your site. This reassures people that you respect their privacy and won’t share their personal information with anyone else - under ANY circumstances. And then make sure you adhere to that privacy policy!

Remember, the opt in is the first experience your future customers will have with your business. So you have to make sure it’s a positive one.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

People want to deal with PEOPLE, not faceless companies. So you DON’T want your emails to come off sounding like they are official, corporate-sounding announcements.

In order to connect with your subscribers, your emails should be written in a casual, conversational tone. Write like you are talking to a good friend. Let your personality shine through. If you are a funny person, use humor in your emails. (Without being offensive, obviously.) If you speak with an accent, let that accent shine through in your writing. Include whatever characteristics make you, YOU. It will help your subscribers feel like they know you…
And that will go a long way to encouraging them to buy something from you!

Finally, in order to hammer home the point that your emails are coming from an actual person - as opposed to an organization - make sure the return address on all your emails has your name in it (i.e., yourname@yourbusiness.com.
Whatever you do, don’t use an anonymous address like info@yourbusiness.com - or even worse, sales@yourbusiness.com.
They make your email sound way too impersonal, and will actually discourage people from opening and reading it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is truly one of the cardinal rules of email marketing:
In order to “get,” first you have to GIVE.

Never ask your subscribers to make a purchase unless you have offered them something of value beforehand. For example, if you are gearing up for a major promotion, it’s a good idea
to send out a few “no strings attached” emails full of useful information and then follow them up with an email that includes a call to action.

The same thing is true of your newsletters. If you want to promote any of your products, make sure you include lots of free valuable information in the newsletter BEFORE you
get to the product “plug.” That way, people won’t mind so much if you ask them to
buy something. After all, you have just given them a whole lot of useful content for free!
Plus, if your content really is valuable, it’ll convince your readers that your product or service is valuable, too.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’ll admit it: I’m an absolute NUT for testing.

But when most email software these days allows you to test absolutely every single aspect of your marketing efforts - so you can discover exactly what’s working and what’s NOT - why on Earth would you not take advantage of that ability?

When it comes to your email campaigns, I strongly urge you to test as many different elements as possible.

These include:
· Your offer: Try testing different price points, different bonuses to go along with your main product, different product “bundles” - as many variables as you can come up with.

· Different segments of your list: Send the same offer to different segments of your list (e.g., your customers vs. your subscribers)

· Subject lines: This is the first point of contact with your audience. Your subject line has to grab their attention and encourage them to open your email!

· The email itself: Be sure to test different email messages to see which one encourages the greatest number of buyers through to your sales letter.

· Different calls to action: You never know what language is going to get your readers to click on your call to action! Maybe they’ll respond to a simple “click here.” Or maybe they like more casual language, such as “check it out by visiting…” Maybe they don’t need the URL written out for them or maybe they do.The only way to know for sure is to test different calls to action and see which works best for you!

· Time to send: Which day of the week yields the best response? And which time of day? Will you get better results if you send on Wednesday at 3:00 p.m. or Sunday at 8:30 in the morning? Once again, the only way to know for sure is to TEST.

Constant Contact email marketing solutions allows you to do this kind of testing. If yours doesn’t, it’s time for you to start looking for a new software package or service provider.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The rules I’m talking about here are the international laws that outline what emailers can and cannot do in order to avoid being labeled as spammers. Some of the things you’ll need to do are…

· Include your physical address in every email · Include easy-to-follow “unsubscribe” information in every email · Remove your “unsubs” from your list within the required 14 days · Remove all “hard bounce back” email addresses from your subscriber list

One last thing: Be extremely wary of lists for purchase!

Often you’ll come across sites offering to sell you something like a list of a million names for the low, low price of $59.95. Buying a list like this might seem like a good idea… but it’s not.
Chances are, the names and emails were taken without the people’s permission. So when your emails start showing up in their inbox, they are going to think you are a spammer,
and may even report you to their ISP or an anti-spam organization like SpamCop. Bam! Now you are blacklisted and aren’t allowed to send email to anybody. Definitely not worth $59.95, is it?

Even if the people on the list did give their permission to be put on it, the majority of them simply aren’t your target market, and won’t be interested in your offer. And why go to the trouble of emailing someone who’s never going to buy anything from you?  That is why I always have the unsubscribe link for those who has no intention on having a relationship with Your Host Solutions. This helps us stay in contact with those who truly want to know about what we have to offer that will help their businesses grow.

All right… so those are my top five rules for smart email marketing. Just remember, if you follow the rules and be a good “email citizen,” then you will be able to grow a responsive list of subscribers who will be eager to read your emails.

Bottom Line: A responsive email list is equal to building valuable business relationships!

Time waits for no one, so let’s get started today!

Author:  My Twitter Friend, Leif Nisan

View this hilarious interview on the Colbert Nation Show, and tell us what you think about Twitter’s business model?   Value vs. Profit…

An online presence is a great way to connect with people, but remember: Everything you write or say online can be found . . . and held against you.

The internet provides an impressive way to connect with people (in essence leveling the playing field for home based business owners). Incorporating social networking into your business’s marketing plan will pay off tremendously. Many entrepreneurs participate in socially geared networking forums as well as business networking forums; the caveat is both reflect heavily on you and, by association, your business. Therefore, it’s important to realize the potential impact of your online activity on your business.

Social networking sites are a great way to stay in touch with family and friends, but remember the content published here is accessible by others. This includes people with whom you do business. Even though you may have separate sites/accounts that seemingly split your business and personal online personas, anybody could easily access the information on your personal site prior to doing business with you. For example, many HR departments Google candidates’ names to obtain additional information about them during the hiring process. So why wouldn’t a CEO turn to Google before entering into a business relationship with a person or company?

Keep anything you write on the web professional. Someone wanting to do business with you doesn’t want to witness you using vulgar language or discrediting another person or business on an online forum. Once it’s out there, it’s hard to take it back. Also, any pictures posted should be kept to those you’d feel comfortable sharing with your grandmother. Log-in names should also be kept professional; don’t use names or terms that might hurt your image.

Blogs are a popular way to add frequent content to your site. It drives traffic to your site and is a useful tool to inform your visitors of issues and trends. If you use a blog to promote your business, it should mirror your business and its website. Formal businesses, such as financial planners, should keep their content focused on business recommendations, financial advice, etc. If you have a website geared toward children’s items, it would be appropriate to have your website more lighthearted.

Sharing links on blogs is another popular way to increase website traffic, but caution should be taken regarding what websites you link to from your blog. If they change their blog content and it ends up being something racy or provocative, you probably don’t want to be associated with that type of activity.

There are so many forums out there, but we tend to become comfortable communicating with a particular individual or group of people. Even though you may think you know these people, remember, you really don’t know them. Be careful with the information you share. Proceed with caution when asking for feedback regarding a business decision or idea so as not to divulge privileged information. Some people participate in these forums to capture ideas from people who’ve invested lots of time and energy into their product development.

It’s important for PR purposes to utilize social networking sites, but it’s just as important to be smart about how you utilize them.

Author: Lesley Spencer Pyle is the founder and president of HomeBasedWorkingMoms.com

• It reinforces the idea that you are an expert in your field.
• It helps pull a community of like-minded people together
• You get useful feedback from people who have bought or might buy your product.
• It increases the likelihood that the media can find you and write about your products.
• ZDNet Research reports that 67 percent of journalists use blogs as sources to find industry experts.
• It helps develop the brand story so that people can tell others about you and generate further leads.
• The content is always fresh, so your business demonstrates that you are active and responsive.
• It generates traffic to your website and any other links you include on your blog.

cPanel Hosting Account control panel for hosting

Hello Blog Visitor,

Email marketing is one of the most powerful and effective marketing tools available to businesses today. And it’s not just the “big guys” who are using it. Small businesses are tapping into this incredible resource, as well. If you want to learn how you can use the power of email marketing to help you build your business, you can’t afford to miss my upcoming FREE Mega Workshop

“Grow Your Business with Email MarketingMega Workshop.”

When: Monday, April 6, 2009
Time: 9:30 am - 4:00 pm
Location: Georgia International Convention Center, 2000 Convention Center Concourse

Register Today

This Mega Workshop is free and we will provide morning coffee and
an afternoon snack break.

There are a lot of great new choices in the Camp Creek Parkway
business district for lunch.
In/Out Parking is $8.

SCHEDULE:

9:00 - 9:30 Doors open/Registration

9:30 - 11:30 Part I: The Power of Email Marketing (best practices)

11:30 - 1:00 Lunch (on your own)

1:00 - 4:00 Part II: Getting Started Constant Contact (how to workshop)

ABOUT THE MEGA WORKSHOP:

Pamela Adams will share with you the current “best
practices” in planning, designing, and sending your email campaigns. Bring
all of your questions about email marketing and receive a lot of
resources to help you improve your campaigns.

Part I - The Power of Email Marketing will be a comprehensive discussion about winning strategies for getting and keeping quality subscribers, increasing deliver ability and open rates, how to avoid
spam, and how to use email marketing to build business and drive sales.

Part II - Getting Started with Constant Contact will be a hands-on intensive workshop where you will be guided through the tools and features of the Constant Constant system. You’ll learn how to set up account options, add sign up boxes to your website and emails, load a list, build a campaign, and
brand your email to match websites and logos. We will also go over text editing and how to work with graphics and colors to give your emails a polished, professional look.

Who should attend: Suitable for all experience levels. Anyone interested in learning more about email marketing and anyone interested in discovering more about Constant Contact.

Register Today - Email Marketing Mega Workshop

Web Consultant, Africa Riviera of YourHostSolutions.com recently joined Twitter.com and is very excited to network and share messages other Twitters. It would be a benefit to follow Africa because she shares good online marketing tips to business owners!

Here are 5  twitter tips for businesses: 1. Helps your SEO and search-engine rankings try to use your most effective keywords in your tweets and track your links to your landing pages that has a specific call-to-action. Some great URL shortening and tracking tools are compared on Search Engine Land. 2. Monitor what people are saying about you. You can monitor the tweets about you by searching for your ID, company name, industry segment and by watching @ replies. 3. Make interesting tweets. Like most other things on the web, one way to get people to follow you is to post information they want to know about. 4. Have a goal for using Twitter and a way to measure how you’re doing at achieving that goal. Guy Kawasaki, suggested one good tool for doing that is Retweetist, which shows how many times you’ve been retweeted. (A retweet is when someone repeats what you said so people they know will see it.) 5. Copy best practices. On Twitter that means looking at how other companies are effectively using Twitter to engage with their customers and build buzz. JetBlueAirways and Amazondeals were two of the good examples on Twitter.

Common Craft explains in ‘Plain English’ what Twitter is all about.
Check out their video below.