Aug
8

Autoresponder Success Tips

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AutoResponder Success Tips

Once a business realizes the power of AutoResponders, the next logical question becomes:

How Do I Put AutoResponders To Good Use?

There are many ways you can use AutoResponders to automate repetitive sales tasks.

Most sales people find themselves answering the same questions over and over via email. Why not create a series of commonly asked questions and answers and make this information available via an AutoResponder?

AutoResponders can be used to send price lists to perspective customers. Adding a simple form to your web site allows visitors to request pricing information by entering their name and email address.

An added benefit for you is that when a visitor enters this information, they are entered in to your AutoResponder database and you now have a targeted lead.

AutoResponders can be a great way for publishers to allow prospects to sample a new book or series of articles. The AutoResponder can send out the first few chapters and include a link that directs readers to a site where they can purchase the rest of the information online.

Sales Managers can use AutoResponders to train their sales staff, send outseasonal and promotional information, etc…

Restaurants can use AutoResponders to follow up with customers that drop their business card into the fishbowl as they cash out.

Entertainers can use AutoResponders to stay in touch with their fan base and let fans know of events, concerts, shows, promotions, etc…

Service related businesses such as auto mechanics, pest control operators, air-conditioning companies, pool companies can send timely reminders and service notifications to create repeat business.

Retailers can put AutoResponder technology to good use by letting customers know about close-outs, promotions, and coupon offers.

Keys To AutoResponder Success

Some of the keys to success when using your AutoResponder include:

* Personalize your messages. Good AutoResponders can personalize your subject line and email text with the recipient’s name and other contact information. Recipients are much more inclined to open a message addressed to them personally.

* Keep the content relevant. AutoResponder messages that are off-topic or irrelevant can actually do more harm than good. When the prospect gave you their contact information, there was an implied trust that you would send them information relevant to what you were offering at the time. Protect your credibility at all times by keeping your content concise and relevant.

* Always use double opt-in subscription techniques. Double opt-in means that before someone is added to your AutoResponder, they go through a process of confirming their interest. The first opt-in happens when your information is requested. The 2nd (double) opt-in happens when your AutoResponder sends the prospect a message to confirm their interest in receiving your information.

* Offer free relevant content. You might set your AutoResponder up to send a case study, free tips, or other information to entice your readers to purchase from you.

AutoResponders are a great way to put the power of Email Marketing in your hands.

The time and cost savings are well worth the effort to learn how to use AutoResponders effectively.

Article by Brian Rooney
About The Author:
Brian Rooney is the founder of http://TrafficWave.net LLC. http://TrafficWave.net provides AutoResponders to thousands of small and home based businesses around the world.
Brian Rooney can be reached online at http://www.trafficwave.net

Aug
8

Business Card Cutters Reflect New In-House Marketing Trend

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Marketing is one of the most important facets of any successful businesses and one that can’t be skimped on, but today’s small businesses are finding ways to do it themselves. From business card cutters to binding machines and color copiers, they are investing in the tools to make their own marketing tools to save money by creating their own marking pieces in-house.

The trend has emerged in the last five years in response to the increasing cost of using traditional advertising companies and their art departments. An advertising firm has to charge an overhead to cover the cost of their own art department’s costs, which is then passed on to their clients.

In more recent years, small businesses turned to print shops to do tasks such as portfolios, business cards and brochures to save money. The savings was impressive, they could choose from an impressive array of options and still have professional results with a relatively quick turn-around because chain print shops had massive printers, business card cutters and binding machines that produced professional results. The downside was the sometimes limited choices. And of course, over the years the cost of this option went up as well.

Over the years, the cost of the equipment used by advertising firms and print shops went down as technology improved and manufacturing costs stabilized, putting ownership of a professional grade business card cutter or portfolio binding machine in reach of most small businesses. Just a few thousand dollars can help a small business set up their own in-house print shop that they can use any time day or night with no waiting in line at a print shop and no unexpected problems.

A small to medium sized business that designs and makes its own business cards, flyers, brochures and presentation portfolios in-house has much more control over the finished product. They are controlling everything from design to printing and binding from beginning to end; if they want to make a change it’s not a problem.

Creativity is maximized when you’re creating your own business cards and brochures. Most business card cutters and table top publishing packages are compatible with programs like InDesign, Word, Illustrator and Quark, so you can let your imagination run wild and design business cards and brochures that reflect your company’s unique message. You can even change the look of your business cards every six months to keep things interesting if you want to!

Flexibility is built in when you work in-house. If you have a great 20-page presentation bound and ready to go but need last-minute changes, it’s much easier to change out one page by printing it yourself at the office and using your own binding machine than hoping you can find a print shop that can squeeze in a rush job and then paying a premium for a “rush job.” Business card cutters can also do double creating scored paper and perforated tickets for special promotions.

Advertising dollars are stretched over the long run. An investment of a few thousand dollars on each piece of equipment for an in-house marketing and advertising set-up will save you tens of thousands of dollars over just a few years as you save on the costs of paying a print shop of advertising firm to do business cards, brochures, portfolios, flyers, posters and any other type of print job. With today’s exceptional software packages and the right tools, you can now do the same job yourself for much less money.

Article by Andy West
Andy West is a writer for iShoppapercutters which offers an extensive line of paper cutter needs including the business card cutter.

Aug
8

Linking Out to Attract Valuable Links

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When working on your backlink strategies and off-page optimization it is imperative to know each possible method in order to gain inbound links, if you don’t know them all then it is time to do some research . The easiest links to get are those called reciprocal where webmasters of related niches share links with each other because they are relevant and complement each other, the reciprocal link exchange technique was penalized by the search engines due to heavy spam but it still gives some benefits so don’t be afraid to start your reciprocal link exchanges.

We then have the wonderful world of inbound one-way links, these are hard to get because people have to willingly put a hard-link from their site to yours, there is no automatic reciprocal network which could aid you here, this is why having a good strategy to come up with one-way links should be at the top of your optimization list.

During off-line meetings what do people do to get noticed? They dress well, they use nice fragrances, girls have all sorts of accessories and those who have strong speech skills talk. Talking is often the most effective method in order to get yourself noticed, when you speak you create sound and people unavoidably pay attention to you, it doesn’t matter if it is to hear your brilliant message or to tell you to shut up, they will react based upon your actions.

The same principle can be applied to the online world, specifically to inbound one-way links. If your site is powered by a script which allows you to blog about certain topics, or manage communities then you are set and ready to get things going. Blogs, forums and other scripts which help you build communities are necessary to make the following strategy work, in other words this can’t be done easily with a static site, unless you love updating everything by hand on a daily basis.

Lets use SEO (search engine optimization) as an example, lets say that I have a site which offers site ranking services and I want to optimize it, the first thing I would do is to run a quick research within my niche to determine which sites are ranking high, for what reasons and determine if they have scripts which allow them to create communities. Once this information has been gathered is now time to talk about the big guys, you can visit their forums and read what topic in particular is causing commotion, what is hot or what services are controversial, do a review about their site but don’t just mention their valuable services, argue about things that they don’t have, comment on their services or ask people who have received their services to give you an interview (online off course). Remember that you are not doing this as a service to them but to establish your site so think like a movie critic!

If you have a blogging platform these sites will notice that you are talking about them, if you write something good then they are bound to reply to your message. Now wait here just a second, please notice that I said that “if you write something good/interesting about them, then they are bound to reply” If you want to execute this method effectively you need to imagine you are in a conference room where everybody is talking and contributing to the main topic, now imagine you raise your hand and say something stupid, what do you think will happen? Do you think people will pay attention to you? or will the coordinator just ask someone else to provide their input because your comment just wasn’t worth replying to?

If you comment about their site, or bring up something controversial they will have to link to you in order to reply to your blurb. If they don’t have a blog then you can use their forums to form a discussion, remember to position yourself as an expert in your field and talk. Most top ranking sites have some way to allow user interaction so make sure you use these tools to get people to notice you (But DON’T spam them). Blog use track-backs that show people who is linking to them, if they see you are just syndicating their content you will most likely get ignored but if the blogger reads something which needs to be addressed then you can be 99% sure they will reply.

You can write the most provocative point in their comment boxes and then the other part in your site, just make sure the blog or site is active, in other words if there is no one participating in the site then don’t even bother about writing about them. A site must be alive in order to receive all the benefits from this strategy.

As you see, this particular form of SEO and link building method is all based on common sense and you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to pull this off.

Article by Todd Daon
One of the best directory submission services for helping your website is Effective Manual Directory Submission Not only will they help grow the popularity of your site, but they will set it up for long term success in the future by establishing a trusted network of links from which the website will grow. View some of their Discount Manual Directory Submission Service.

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