Auto responders have become a major tool in online marketing, and marketing in general. The Internet offers many means of affordable marketing with auto responders. Here are a three of the most used ways to utilize an auto responder.
DIRECTORY
Some webmasters set up link or article directories on their sites. They create a directory on a specific industry topic, placing their own ad or banner along the top. Then they invite others to add their website links via a link exchange program, listing themselves in your directory, or they invite articles to be submitted that include a resource box at the bottom of each with a link to the author’s website. This results in increased traffic as sites link up across the World Wide Web. Enter “link exchange software” or “article directory software” into a favorite search engine for help with each. When it comes to an auto responder, the marketer creates a series of emails describing the benefits of listing a link or article on their site. They usually provide other links related to the specific topic, but all of it is focused on acquiring links or articles for the site.
TEACH A COURSE
Some marketers write up a simple step-by-step instructional class in their area of expertise. Then they break it up into smaller portions or messages and set them up in an auto responder as email messages, including short ads within each message to invite sales & website visits. Then they invite website visitors to sign up through on online form or email subscription address offered through the auto responder service. As people sign up, they will learn more about the products and services through the teaching series.
INFORMATION REQUEST FOLLOW-UP
The third most used technique for auto responders is sales follow up. Ever wondered how a company followed up with you after a webinar so quick? They probably used an auto responder. Using this example, the company would then send you an email the next day to with more information you may want. The following week, they will send another email to “touch base” with you and follow up. This email usually invites you to visit the website or even contact the sales department. At this point, the company may continue to follow up or start sending emails about other products or webinars. Each company is unique, and their auto responder program will be unique as well.
These three methods of using auto responders are only a few of the ways you can use an auto responder. There are many other ways to use them, and the opportunity is endless. For an excellent auto responder service that is very affordable (as low as $19 a month) try aweber.com. Aweber has been very useful to me, and they offer a great deal of service and support.
Nate Stockard is the owner of Stockard & Associates, Inc, a marketing and design firm in Houston, TX specializing in small business solutions. He is also the author of The Market Seedling, an informative source of information, articles, tips, and advice for small business owners and marketers.
Article Source
Try Aweber for FREE, click here now!
Web 2.0 Basics Page 5
One of the reasons web logs are popular for marketing is they allow users to provide content that is updated frequently. You can post daily, weekly or monthly. The more frequently you post information to blogs, the more likely you are to maintain your page ranking.
Like social bookmarking sites, blogs are not anything new, but are now gaining more attention and popularity among individuals, communities and online entrepreneurs and marketers. People are using them in many ways, even politically, to announce their passions, beliefs, purpose or to pitch their products and services while providing visitors with valuable content and information.
Like social networking sites, blogs are targets for spammers, who frequently post spam and links to junk sites in the comments section of blogs, so most webmasters will have to monitor this to avoid clogging their blog with unnecessary spam.
Everyone these days, from celebrities again to political commentators use blogs to deliver information and news to people throughout the globe. There are private and public blogs, blogs focusing on entertainment, those focusing on politics, the media and people. Even corporations are starting their own blog campaigns to encourage people to investigate their company.
Of course, as with anything there are problems with blogs and potential concerns. For example, many people do not realize the consequences of posting potentially negative or defamatory information on their blogs. Yes, free speech is important. But bloggers beware, there are many instances where bloggers have been cited for liability or defamation. Make sure if you communicate you do so wisely and with good intent.
Folksonomies
An interesting name for an interesting concept. These are sites that allow users to categorize and classify information on the Web, including websites or pages, photographs and other information like links. Users can classify information using tags, or special labels containing brief information about each categorized piece of information.
An example of a popular “foksonomy” site is Flickr, where users can classify and organize and share photographs. Yet another is del.icio.us that allows users to tag and classify information ranging from web pages to links to blogs and more. As with anything, once information is tagged and categorized, it becomes more easily and readily available to the public. Think of tagging as a unique way of creating navigation bars, bars that reside throughout the Web or that are easily accessed through multiple portals on the Web, rather than through a single web page.
Tagged sites are more likely to be picked up by search engines, though some people will refer to popular folksonomy sites to find information they are looking for rather than rely on popular search engines including Google.
There are some disadvantages of using categorical sites as these. For one, the tagging “system” isn’t really well defined. Because there are no exact rules or regulations defining how tags should be implemented or inserted, many are inserted inconsistently. This can make navigating these sites a bit tricky.
However, if used wisely, folksonomy sites and tagged pages are an excellent way to provide information to the public in an easily navigable format. As with anything, entrepreneurs and other small business owners can use these sites to help promote their products, services or link to their web pages or affiliate marketing sites on the Web.
Wikis
Another example of Web 2.0 in full force is the wiki. These are websites that allow individuals to add, edit and even remove content. Many act like an encyclopedia, like Wikipedia.org, where users can add content creating a global online dictionary or encyclopedia of sorts.
The problem with such sites is the information provided in the sites may not always be accurate. Remember, anyone can log into the site and edit, remove or add information, so most “wikis” need some form of monitoring.
This usually comes in the form of community collaboration, where a group or wiki community work together to make sure any and all users are engaging in reasonable and acceptable practices when adding information.