If you are
active on the web promoting
your products, affiliate
programs or services, you
probably sense where I’m
going with the title of my
article. We all put a lot of
effort into our internet
business. We all have the
same hopes and dreams about
where our internet business
will go. Unfortunately we
are all depended on too many
variables that have to be
just right at the right
time.
What is he
talking about you might ask.
Let’s take a simple example.
Listening to self declared
gurus of internet marketing
they all tell you the same
thing. “You have to build
your list”, by that they
mean your email list.
After
following this advice and
spending hundreds of dollars
in opt-in email leads and
maintaining a list of over
5000 subscribers I was
pretty convinced that
success is just around the
corner.
This is as
far away from the truth as
human possible. I’m running
a newsletter delivered daily
and I send additional sales
letters to pitch some of my
affiliate products. I track
every email with ad tracking
and click through analysis.
Guess
what? Nothing! Sending daily
emails and sometimes an
additional sales letter
would trigger something, at
least a wave of
cancellations, don’t you
agree? Well, my conclusion
of this mess is that over
90% of the emails never
passed the SPAM filters.
This is
devastating. As you know
most people sing up for
newsletters through their
free email accounts. The few
who use their regular email
address unsubscribe within a
few days.
Don’t get
me wrong, newsletters are
great and if done right they
can help you to promote your
business. I believe the key
is that your newsletter
needs to be unique and very
narrow focused on a niche
target.
Going back
to the email leads issue.
Buying email leads from
email harvesters it is a
waste of money. Even if they
are double or triple opt-in
leads. Promoting a copied
newsletter is a waste of
money. Why bother to promote
something that is already
promoted hundreds of times?
If you are
targeting the people who are
looking to make money
online, your target audience
is pretty narrow and they
probably have already
subscriptions to one or
another form of marketing
newsletter.
I’m
actually shifting my focus
completely and put a
newsletter together to help
people to get started with
real estate investments,
especially Florida real
estate. As you can see this
is a very narrow target
audience. If I get a couple
of hundred subscribers I
will be happy. If you’re
interested send an email to
mailto:pdobler@suncoastrenttoown.com
I will let you know when the
newsletter will be
available.
The bottom
line of my story is, don’t
advertise to the advertiser.
You just waste your time and
money. That’s the main
reason why people getting
frustrated with their
internet business and simply
quit. This is like car
dealers advertise solely to
other car dealers. What do
you think will happen?
I know
what you are thinking. What
happened to him? Didn't he
tell us in his article
"Where's the Traffic?" that
email lists are the cure to
non-visited websites? Yes,
that's true. I still believe
that autoresponders are good
business practice to
communicate with your
customers. I just didn't see
the value of buying email
leads. Yes, I changed my
opinion, which is plain
human nature and happens to
all of us.
I hope
this made you think a little
bit and if you can turn your
business into the profitable
margins based on my little
advice please let me know.
I’m eager to hear if
somebody actually is
listening to what I have to
say.
