Free From Harm Blog

Archive for January, 2012

These days, autoresponders make for great follow up tools.  You can set them up to your liking, as they are easy to set up and will hold a lot of preset messages.  Although they are very popular, a lot of people fail to see the power they hold and therefore never use them.  If you’ve been looking to make extra money, the tips below will show you how you can make money using an autoresponder.

The first thing to do, is ensure that your site has a signup form.  A signup form is an obvious way to use an autoresponder, yet a lot of people don’t think about it.  Each and every day your website attracts visitors, many of us come back.  If you put a signup form on your site, they can sign up and become a contact.  This way, your customer base will grow with each passing day.  You can stay in close contact with your customers this way, and even increase your audience over time as well.

You can also give out free reports or ebooks as well.  It’s actually an easy task to exchange reports or ebooks for someone’s email address.  Even though you may not have a website, you can still make the free report or ebook available by having people send blank emails to your autoresponder.  In doing so, you will build a client list and get your report out there – which can help you make money.

You can also choose to publish an ezine. To do so, you’ll need to load your autoresponder will a course that contains several parts.  This way, your clients will receive your reports and material in sections.  You can also build a customer base this way, and eventually recommend you to their family and friends.  Once you have a relationship and your clients start to trust you, you can send them information for other products.

You can also use autoresponders as curriers as well.  When you send an email out, ask the recipient to pass your email along to family and friends.  As they pass your emails along, you’ll gain more subscribers.  Although you’ll have to start out small when you first begin, you’ll find that your client list will grow in little to no time at all.

Autoresponders are also great to use with customer response as well.  Autoresponders are very handy, and they can answer a large portion of your technical questions.  Whenever someone sends you an email needing customer support, simply answer with an autoresponder message that entails a lot of the most common problems.  A lot of customers find this to be very helpful, as chances are it will cover the issue they are experiencing.

Autoresponders are also handy with site updates as well.  If you update your site on a regular basis, you may want to use an autoresponder with individuals who want to be informed when your site is updated.  With an autoresponder, all you have to do is send out a broadcast email and everyone will be informed at the same time.

No matter how you look at it, an autoresponder can help you bring in profits – as well as make your life a lot easier. They are easy to use, and will work great with your website.  If you operate several websites, you simply must have one of these.  Once you use an autoresponder – you’ll never want to find yourself without one again.  If you’re interested in finding out how easy they can make your life, all you need to do is give one a try.

Branding is big business.  Companies actually use a significant amount of their budget simply to build and fortify their brands.  Brands identify a product and are used by consumers to associate a company with a specific business or service.  When you’re marketing online to promote your blog or your business, easily one of the most effective means to build your brand is using an e-mail signature, one that will identify you and associate you with a specific type of service or information.

What exactly is an e-mail signature?

An e-mail signature is an identifier that you will usually include at the end of every e-mail message, article, post or thread that you send or publish online.  It includes your name, your company, the title of your blog or website, its address and other contact information about you.

The e-mail signature is equivalent to a real world business card – its main purpose is to introduce you to visitors and readers and to provide them with a means to get in touch with you or find their way to your blog.  It’s easy to set up and better yet, you can use it a thousand times each week and still not spend a single cent.

How important is an e-mail signature?  Consider the posts in blogs, articles and comments that marketers and bloggers often leave online and on all those e-mails you receive.  At the bottom, you’ll find the ubiquitous e-mail signature with a short description of the blogger and their contact information.

Click on the link provided and you’ll be brought to that blogger’s little space in the Web.  Without a signature, it will be difficult indeed for anyone to locate that blogger’s URL or at least go through the trouble of seeking him out actively in search engines.

Writing a good and effective e-mail signature for your blog

Promoting your blog can be done in small yet effective steps.  One of these is by using an effective e-mail signature.  Here’s how to write an e-mail signature that will work for you and create buzz for your blog at the same time:

Check the e-mail application or program you’re using

Most e-mail applications popular today have a tool that allows you to set up your own e-mail signature.  This tool will then automatically add your signature to every e-mail you send out.

Check your e-mail program for this tool.  In Windows Mail or Outlook, for example, writing a good e-mail signature can be performed in just a few minutes with a few simple clicks.  Use the signature editor on the program in case you want to make changes or use the signature only on specific e-mails you want to send out.

Include carefully chosen keywords

Other than your contact information, consider using keywords in the text link that are related to your blog’s subject.  This will help increase that link’s relevance and popularity, promoting your blog in the process.

Keep it short but informative

Think about all the important information you’ll want to include in your e-mail signature – your name, contact information, blog title, address, etc.  It’s a free country, so you pretty much have a choice on what you want to include but it’s best to stick only to the kind of information that will bring you the best results and promote your blog.

Keep your links minimal.  One or two will do.  Most readers find multiple links to different URLs a bit suspect, so it’s best to use only links to the blog where information related to your entry will be found.

Be prepared to be flexible

If you will be submitting some of your blog entries or e-mail content to article directories, find out if these directories have any submission guidelines you will have to comply with.  Generally, you’ll find that directories or databases prefer plain text formatting and specific rules regarding placement, length and structure of your byline.  Tweak your e-mail signature just a bit and you’ll be refused.

Since these aren’t your rules to bend, you’ll have no choice but to follow these submission guidelines so you can get back to the business of promoting your blog.  To solve this, write multiple e-mail signatures and use these templates as needed.  Then update these should changes occur.

This is also a good idea in case you will be sending out e-mails with a different theme.  Changing the keywords on your text link will help increase its relevance and promote your blog.

You’ve just signed up for this fantastic new affiliate program. They have great products, free referral websites, training, pre-made ads for you to copy and the best compensation plan on the internet. This is the best affiliate program on the internet! Put a few ads out there and you’re on your way to becoming the next internet millionaire. Right?

Before you break ground on that big mansion on the hill, here are a few mistakes many new affiliate marketers make that you’ll want to avoid.

5. Believing the hype

And yes, I do mean the hype promoted by your own program. Those income projections that every program makes are just that, projections. You can make that much. Will you within your first few months of the program? Probably not. Look at this as a long term investment in your future, not a way to get rich quick. Believe in yourself and your ability to make your dreams come true. But don’t believe the hype.

4. Expecting instant results with little effort

Expect to work your business. And expect to work it daily. If you opened your own neighborhood store, you’d expect to have to go in to work daily, wouldn’t you? You’d expect to have to advertise and get people to come to your store. Well, you just opened your own brand new internet store, what are you going to do to make it work? How are you going to get people to come look at your product?

3. Lack of a plan and specific goals

You’ve probably heard the saying, plan your work and work your plan. You need to have a specific plan and clear, measurable goals. Many people join affiliate programs with the vague goal of wanting to make a lot of money. How much money? How quickly do you want it? (Try to be realistic here, making a million dollars in one month is not realistic.) Okay, you have your clear, specific goal. Now how are you going to get there. Again, think clear, specific steps here.

2. Advertising your affiliate link

Wait a minute, if you don’t advertise your affiliate link, how are you supposed to get sales and downline members? Create your own website that has a link to your affiliate program. Every affiliate for your program gets the same website that you do. You have to be able to make yourself different from everyone else. The way you do that is with your own website.

1. Quitting

You’ve been working your affiliate program for 2, 3, maybe even 4 months now with very little to show for it. You’re getting discouraged and beginning to wonder if this is worth it after all. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and figure out what it is you need to be doing. Learn more. Bug your sponsor and your upline members until they help you out. Don’t quit. No one ever achieved success by quitting. Neither will you.