Chapter 9 - Build Business Relationships
Big shots are only little shots who kept shooting.
--Christopher Morley
A visitor may visit your site only once. That’s “one shot”… one shot at earning income. But if he subscribes to your e-zine (i.e., e-mailed newsletter) that’s many shots. Provide good content, keep PREselling, and you’ll succeed at building long-lasting visitor-to-customer relationships.
This is especially important if you're a local service seller. The difference between unprecedented success and failure may very well rest with your newsletter/e-zine. Sure, it prevents the familiar “out of site (couldn’t resist!), out of mind” scenario by
allowing you to stay on your target group’s radar with ongoing communication. For you, publishing a quality newsletter option is not an option.
It builds that all-important trust that is so necessary to convert a visitor/subscriber into a paying client. Trust, trust, and more trust. Your newsletter is the conduit with which you will establish your credibility, energize relationships, and increase your Conversion Rate.
For example, if you have an affiliate site, your MWR is to get a click-through to one of your merchant’s sites, so you can earn a commission from a sale at that site. Or, if you are selling an e-good, your MWR is to make the sale. (By now, you see the connection between your MWR and your primary monetization model, right?)
You build your whole site with that MWR constantly in mind. But you also realize that only a small percentage of visitors will actually deliver your MWR during a visit. So you need a Backup Response, an alternative “shot,” to offer.
A good Backup Response must...
• deliver a benefit to your visitor at a “no-brainer” price (free is best), and...
• provide you with the opportunity to remind your customer about your business.
Sooner or later, a healthy percentage of those who trigger your Backup Response will deliver your MWR. Why? Because you’re building a quality, long term, repeated exposure, one-to-one relationship with your visitor/customer.
You’ve done a lot of work building traffic to your site. Can valuable content enable you to reach them again and again, after they leave? Funny you should ask...
When someone leaves your site, you may be losing them forever. Here’s why... There is an old show biz axiom that says... "Keep them coming back for more." That’s true and reasonable advice for entertainment-based sites, as well as other sites that change every day, like news sites. But for most sites, people don’t come back over and over again. It’s nothing personal. It’s simply a big Web out there... might as well see something new! So, unless the very nature of your site tends to generate frequent, repeat visits, realize that your customer is in “now or never” mode.
If that’s your case, and it most likely is, why don’t you revisit them? Convince them to subscribe to your e-zine. With valuable, relevant information, you also provide them with reasons to revisit your site and reconsider your product or service or merchant...
• “second-look” reminder (maybe now the time is right to buy or hire)
• upgrade announcements
• new product/service introductions
• new info about your site
• the rest is, as they say, “limited only by your imagination” (and good taste).
Publishing an e-zine is an important part of PREselling and building a long term, great list of future (and current) clients.
Even if a visitor bookmarks you, he’s unlikely to ever return once he leaves. (Check your own Bookmarks or Favorites list to see what I mean!). Newsletters are the best way to defeat the “out of sight, out of mind” pitfall. The most important aspect of a vibrant online business -- building a sense of community and trust -- is based on nurturing a great relationship with customers. That’s the goal of a newsletter. There’s just no better way to keep in touch with them on a regular basis.
Every time your potential customer/client receives your newsletter, you...
• remind her about you and your business
• build trust
• establish a relationship
• build credibility
• promote your products or services or merchants
• build your image as an expert in the field.
Before deciding upon what you’ll write, remember who you will write for. Obviously, you’ll publish a newsletter for your subscriber's mindset. But what content will you deliver to your subscribers?
Will you provide a tip of the day? Will you digest news in your field down to a small number of key snippets each week? Or will you write an original article with valuable info once per week, or month?
Not time? It can be as simple as periodically informing subscribers of new content on your site!
One word of warning about content... Don’t give away the farm!
Make sure your subscriber still needs what you are selling or representing.
Let’s say that you have an e-good for sale…Write about topics in such a way that you can work your product into the copy. “In-context” references are very effective.
Don’t be shy to weave mention of your products/services/affiliated merchants into the content. As long as you are providing valuable information, people expect a gentle self-plug to come with the content. And if someone does unsubscribe because of your product mentions, was he ever a potential customer in the first place? Remember, it’s not worth the effort if it doesn’t bring a return.
The bottom line?...
Talk to a “friend,” offer outstanding content, and blend in some gentle selling.
Whatever or however you do it in the new millennium, you have but one mission...
Above all, deliver a high-value publication.
SIDEBAR:
Not sure about the “ins and outs” of publishing an e-zine? Are you feeling a bit intimidated or overwhelmed by the whole idea?
Site Build It! also helps you produce and manage a professional e-zine, without any stress. All the tools and guidance you need are at your fingertips! And everything is presented in an uncomplicated, easy-to-understand way.
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Quality, not quantity, must become your watchword. There are so many sub-standard newsletters out there in cyberspace that quality newsletters stand out.
Make your e-zine worthy of your visitor’s attention. Stand out.
10.1 Dedicate a Page to Your E-zine
Increase your subscription rate by highlighting your e-zine on its own dedicated page. On this page…
• design a sharp offer
• add a clear “call to action”
• finish with the subscription form.
Do this while placing yourself inside your customer’s mindset. Keep in mind for whom you are creating your Backup Response, and what you trying to achieve.
What’s that, you say? Why are you working so hard to sell something that’s free?
Because...
Your free e-zine is not really free. It’s going to cost your customer some anonymity. A name and an e-mail address are not given lightly. And it’s going to cost her some time... time to read your zine.
Everyone (and his dog) offers an e-zine. As a result, he has to be selective. This means that he has to decide, right now, while he’s on your page, if he wants to hear from you again... if he wants to pay the price of anonymity and time.
So, as always, to make a “sale,” stress the benefits of your offer. Add a testimonial or two. Include a link to your back issues. Build a strong case to “buy into” your freebie.
SIDEBAR:
SBI! MailOut Module makes publishing and managing a quality e-zine a snap! No technical knowledge or prior experience needed. Just insert your content and leave the building part to SBI!. The MailOut Manager automatically follows your prescribed schedule and automatically sends out the correct format, HTML or text, for each subscriber.
The MailOut Module is one small part of the all-tools-in-one-place SBI! system. SBI! has everything you need to build a thriving online business at an affordable price. Try it risk-free. Success is guaranteed.
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An e-zine must contain excellent content. Here’s why...
• It impresses people with your expertise and ability to deliver. You build credibility. If you’re selling a personal or professional service online, a high-quality e-zine is twice as important.
• It builds the habit of dealing with you. Every month, there you are, friendly as pie, helpful with great info... and obviously, an authority!
• It makes your prospect like and trust you -- they feel good about you, confident.
• It develops feelings of obligation. Since they keep getting free, valuable content from you, when it comes time to do business, it will be from you, not a competitor.
But do not let your Backup Response become a one-way street, where you just give, give, give. You must weave in reminders that you want their business, or your customers will just fall into the habit of receiving great content... free. After a while, they just take, take, take, while you give, give, give. They don’t even thank you anymore!
So...
1) Always tie the content back to your MWR. PREsell. Then sell.
2) Provide excellent content, but make it clear where the “best stuff” is (in your MWR, in case you were wondering). This is a thin line to walk. A good content e-zine not only gives, it takes. It should directly increase your chances to get your visitors back to your site and your MWR.
Your “take-away lesson”?
An effective e-zine is another way to build a relationship and establish trust.
As a visitor becomes accustomed to hearing from you, the barriers to completing that first purchase or contract, come down.
Remember, out of sight… out of mind! Don’t stop at “one shot.”
Guess what? You are on the home stretch of The Netwriting Masters Course. On to the wrapup…
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