Affiliate Program

Things That Need to be Considered Prior to Setting Up an Online Business

During this chapter, we will look at things that you need to consider before you actually set up your online business.
What product or service will you want to provide?
For many people, they will start an online business based on knowledge and experience that they have already, while others may spot a gap in the market. But the most important thing that you can do is carry out research with companies and individuals that you do not know in order to get a more unbiased view.

Also, do as much reading and research on everything you can about particular areas of interest, as well as studying the pros and cons that this will have in relation to your overall goals. Plus, make yourself familiar with your competitors, as this will boost your confidence and enthusiasm for setting up an online business.
Where to work from?
You do not need to work from home, but this is an option that many online business people prefer. But others prefer to have an office away from the home, as they find it difficult to focus, as well as feeling isolated.
How to market the business?
It is important, if you want your online business to thrive, to ensure that you establish a web presence. The best way of doing this is by direct mail, networking, display advertising etc. But what approach works best for you will depend on the product that you are selling. The best way of finding out what will work, is by trying a different number of methods initially, and then go for it once you know which one is best. However, if you are unsure where to start, then look at how your competition is marketing their goods, if it works for them, it may work for you also.
Develop a Plan
Without having a blueprint on how to reach your goals, you may find that not just your efforts, but the resources may well be squandered. Having a plan provides you with focus, direction and momentum to keep the business on track. We will look further at setting up a business plan in the next chapter.
Check Laws and Regulations
It is important that you check to see if there are any local laws or regulations in relation to setting up an online business from home. Also, you will need to get laws and regulations in regard to being self employed.
Setting up the Office
More often than not, an online business will be conducted from the person’s home. So it is important that you set up a home affice prior to starting up the business. You should arrange to have all the necessary equipment that you will need such as computer, internet connection, printer, fax machine (but not essential) are just a few things that you will need if you want to be successful with your online business.

Moh. Ali Albar
I rewrite this article of E-book “Creating an Online Business 101”
www.SiteIndeed.com

There are plenty of reasons as to why many people start an online business, and below we will provide you with just a few of them.
For many people, the main reason that they decide to start an online business is to earn an extra income. Usually, this is in addition to the income that they are already earning. However, soon becomes a full time one.
Another reasonthat people decide to start up an online business is that they have more control over their working life.
Also, it provides them with a chance to spend more time with their family and friends. Today much too much time is spent working, and many people find that they have little or no time to spend with those that they love.
Furthermore, there are other reasons as to why so many people now choose to set up an online business.
What rush hour?
No longer do they need to get up in the morning to rush off to work and get caught up in all that traffic. Now taht time which would normally be wasted sitting in traffic can be used to their advantage. Plus, it is up to you when you work, so if you don’t want to start until late in the morning, you do not need to.
Prosperity
Because of the rapid advance in technology, many online businesses today tend be prosperous, and so getting involve in this type of business is a good way to make some money.
Cost of Starting Up
This is probably one of the biggest reasons as to why many people choose to start an online business. As many of the transactions are completed online, there ai little or no need for lots of paper and documents. What one really needs in order to get an online business going is a computer, a high speed internet connection (ADSL), printer, fax machine and few other essentials that an office may need.
As you can see, these are just a few good reasons for why setting up an online business might be the ideal choice for you.
Moh. Ali Albar
I rewrite this article of E-book “Creating an Online Business 101”
www.SiteIndeed.com

Chapter 5 - “Top Ten Strategies To Fatten Your Opt-In List”

Is building your opt-in email list hard? No, not really. As I’ve shown you over the course of the past few chapters, it simply breaks down to just spending a few hours to write compelling opt-in offers and knowing the strategies to increase your click-through rates on those promotions.

There’s no doubt about it, there are good ways to entice visitors to “sign-up” and there are worthless marketing strategies that simply do not work.

I’ve given you a list of very effective and compelling opt-in offers, but there are still many additional strategies to help boost your list. The opt-in offers I spoke of earlier (i.e. free newsletter, free reports, download, etc…) are simply proposals. Giving them what they want, works.

But what are the best ways to go about promoting your newsletter and special offers? How can you make these offers more visible to your potential subscribers? Of course, you need to provide alluring offers, but there are other marketing tools that will make your promotion more visible and appealing to your potential subscribers – thus increasing the odds that they will opt-in on your offer. There’s a large array of strategies that well-known Internet marketers have proven to be successful. I have compiled together a “Top Ten” list of the best ways to fatten your opt-in list, and actually get your visitors to “sign-up”.

These tactics have been researched by the most recognized marketers on the Internet and have been proven very successful at skyrocketing lists of loyal opt-in subscribers.

1. Use Pop-up Ads with opt-in forms to collect email addresses and promote your
compelling offer.

There’s a reason that I listed this strategy as #1. If you ask any good Internet marketer, they will tell you that THE single biggest way to increase your opt-in subscriber list is to use popups. Many times visitors find these ads annoying, but it has been proven that pop-up ads are 13 times MORE effective at generating clicks and opt-in subscribers than standard banners and forms found imbedded in a webpage.

This is a very powerful way to present your newsletter or other free incentives. It ensures that your visitors will see your offer right upfront. Without a doubt, this is the most recommended means of creating a compelling and visible offer to your customers.

2. Increase the value of your offer.

People aren’t stupid; so don’t treat them like they are. You need to prove to them that you’re serious about helping and catering to their needs. You need to show them that you truly want to create a relationship with them that’s worth their while to give you their email address. Make sure you give away something valuable. This will stack the odds of you getting their address in your favor.

3. Everytime you sell a product, capture your customer's email address.

Your customers will already be entering their details on your payment pages and as such you should be adding their email addresses to your list.

4. Have a “Members Only” area on your site.

You can fill this section of your site with whatever your target market might find most interesting and valuable. You can offer downloadable articles that can only be accessed by “members”. To increase your odds of getting opt-in subscribers, you should make it FREE to become a member.

5. Sprinkle more opt-in boxes in your sales letter.

If you have a sales page with a single salesletter, you should ideally have one opt-in box on top, one in the middle, one three-quarters of the way down, and one right at the bottom. This way, you have four chances of getting the opt-in. A good thing to do is to exchange the first, top opt-in box with a pop-up ad, and then keep the placement of the other three boxes as described above.

6. Include an E-mail Signature.

Every time you send an e-mail, you can use your electronic signature as a way to advertise your opt-in offer. Although many times your emails will be sent to people not in your target market, you’ll be surprised at how many people actually visit the links in your signature. You won’t generate hundreds of new opt-ins a day by doing this, but every little bit helps.

7. Use Co-Registrations.

Yes, if you’re really lazy, you can actually buy subscribers. Basically, it involves having your subscription offer listed alongside other publications’ offers, so that when someone signs up to the other offers, they are given the option of signing up for yours as well. We don’t usually
recommend this option, but if you have extra money to spend, it’s not a bad tactic. But like I said before, there are better ‘free’ ways to increase your email list than this one.

8. Include “Send to a Friend” Options

Generate new subscribers with minimal effort if you include this in each and every newsletter, promotion, or special offer that you send out. I encourage you to make it easy for already-subscribed visitors to share your newsletter with others. They can simply forward the message, of course, but if you include an explicit send-to-a-friend link you are giving your customers and subscribers a gentle “nudge” to recommend your material to their friends and colleagues. This is a very powerful viral marketing technique that you need to take advantage of.

9. Promote Your Newsletter in Articles, Ezines, or Industry Directories

Any articles that you write and send into online article databases should include a reference and link to your newsletter or subscription offer. When you write an article for an online database, make sure you state that your article can be used on other webpages as long as everything written is held in it’s entirety (i.e. Be certain that if someone uses your article for their website, they keep your reference and active link in the article).
There are several article submission services out there. And most of them are pretty good - really, it comes down to "how much you're willing to pay" for the service or software. I don't want to get into the details about each article submission product, but the ones I've had the most success with are:

a.ArticleMarketer.com - They have a wonderful free service and it only takes about 5 minutes to submit each article. They also have a paid service that submits your article to more databases.
b.ArticleAnnouncer.com -- this is a software product that allows you to send your article to tons of different databases and ezine directories. It's definitely more expensive than ArticleMarketer, but it's still good software.
c.ArticleSubmitterPro.com -- this software has a very quick and easy download, is slightly cheaper than ArticleAnnouncer, and still does about as much.

10. Run contests on your website (or include surveys and polls) to entice opt-ins

A contest at your web site works on the same principle as signing up for a contest to win a free dinner at a local restaurant. Both parties get something of value (you get their contact information and they win a prize). Make sure that the registration for this contest is SIMPLE. Your visitor should not have to spend more than a minute or two to complete the task – otherwise, they’ll frequently opt-out and leave your site before you’ve had a chance to get their email address. A great way to inform your visitors of the contest is by way of pop-up ads or a “Special Offers” page on your website.
Another thing you could do is to have people subscribe to your newsletter as a requirement of entry into the contest. If you’ve worked hard on your newsletter and included the tips from our last chapter, they will probably decide to continue to receive it even after the contest or poll is over.

Even if you’ve only been marketing on the Internet for a short time, I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, “the money is in the list”. A good email opt-in list – one that you build yourself – is worth its weight in gold. It is the difference between being wildly successful and falling into the midst of the noname businesses on the web.

How you go about building this email list is completely up to you. But I guarantee if you put a little bit of time and effort into your marketing campaign, and use my recommendations, you’ll see firsthand how opt-in lists will skyrocket your sales.

If you’ve never implemented an intense “opt-in campaign”, you will be shocked and no doubt excited when you find this undiscovered gold mine of possibilities! It works, and it works extremely well.

Moh. Ali Albar
I rewrite this article of E-book “Email Secrets Exposed”
www.InstantPopover.com

To increase your sales and get the most out of your newsletter

We highly recommend following the tips listed below.

1.Registering New Subscribers

When asking visitors to sign up, ask only for the information you need – perhaps just the email address. Remember, that every additional bit of info you collect is another deterrent to customer signup. People don’t like to give away their private information, so don’t ask for anything more than what is needed.

Make it easy for subscribers to share your newsletter with others. They can simply forward the message, of course, but if you include an explicit send-to-a-friend link you are giving your customers and subscribers a gentle “nudge” to recommend your material to their friends and colleagues.

2.Check out your competition

Every business has competition. Find out what they are doing by researching their product or service. Sign up for their newsletters, and then make yours better than theirs. How are they generating opt-ins? Why is their offer appealing? What could you do better? Is there a gap in their service you can fill?

3.Content

The first thing I want to tell you is that “Newsletters must be simple.” You do not want to be the next “delete” button in your subscribers email account.

People get a lot of email. They don't have time to read a lot of text. Newsletters must be designed to facilitate scanning, but then again you want to give them the opportunity to get a “full dose” of what you have to offer.

So the best recommendation is to provide links like “Click Here for the Full Report”, or “Discover the Answers To Your Problem by Clicking Here”.

Above all, deliver content with real value. We're all flooded by email, and if your users don't perceive your newsletter to be worthwhile, they'll just delete it and move to the next message in their inbox. That's why it's important to track your click-through rates: they're proof that your messages are being read – not just your message views. Also, if you have a newsletter that covers a ton of topics and starts to get too long, be sure break it into separate newsletters.

4.Write a Good Subject Line

Writing good subject lines are especially important, both to encourage users to open the newsletter, and to distinguish the newsletter from spam. I recommend including some actual content from the individual newsletter in each subject line, even though it's a difficult job to write good content within the 50-60 character limit that is imposed by many email services.

5.HTML or plain text?

It's really a matter of what you think will most appeal to your readers. There really hasn’t been much difference as far as which one sells the best. It truly depends on your target audience. So if in doubt, offer two lists: one in plain text and the other in HTML. Then let your subscribers decide which one they want to receive. Personally, I use plain text messages to my lists…but just because it works best for me, doesn’t mean that it will work best for you. Test, test, test!

6.Let’s Make a Profit! Selling to Your Audience

Many people try and sell their product or service directly from their emails. Do Not Make This Mistake. This is the job of your web site, not your newsletter. The purpose of your email campaigns should be purely to get people to click to your web site. Two of the most successful ways to do this are

a.A “Single-Topic” Article in Your Newsletter

Create a single article that describes a common problem that your product solves. BUT, don't necessarily mention your product in the article but do point out some of the things to be considered when choosing a solution. Close your article by simply saying something like "To read more about this problem and discover our Tried-and-True solution – Click Here".

This link should then direct your opt-in subscribers to you product sales page at which point the user is already thinking about the problem and what to look for in a solution. Then, they discover your product, which just happens to solve their problem. Viola!

b.A Series of Articles in Your Newsletter

In each issue of your newsletter, focus on one particular problem that your product solves. But again, don’t necessarily mention your product – simply talk about some of the things to be considered when choosing a solution.

Dedicate the whole issue to describing this problem and what to look for in a solution. At the end of each issue point them in the direction of your product's sales pages. Again by the time they hit your web pages they will be primed and ready to learn how your product solves their problem.

Then, in your next newsletter series, you can incorporate a “new” problem that your product also solves. Get the picture? It’s a great strategy once you get the hang of it.

As noted in earlier chapters, never send your newsletter to anyone who hasn't specifically requested to receive it. Remember, new anti-spam regulations require every marketing email to include an opt-out condition and a valid physical address.

Email newsletters are a blessing to small businesses. They are a great way to generate a credible relationship with your customer, drive subscribers to your site, create demand for your product, and thus skyrocket your sales!

Establishing your credibility is the key to making your product or service attractive to potential customers. And once you’ve done that, your loyal subscribers will WANT to know more about what you have to say. They’ll be extremely receptive to your offers.

Remember: “The most valuable customer is the one you already have – right there in your email list.”

Moh. Ali Albar
I rewrite this article of E-book “Email Secrets Exposed”
www.InstantPopover.com

Chapter 4 - “Get The Most Out Of Your Opt-In Newsletter” How To Rake In The Financial Benefits From Your Loyal Subscribers

In the last chapter, I showed you how important your opt-in email list is and why you should develop it yourself, instead of purchasing a group of email addresses.

We spoke briefly about the most compelling opt-in offers, but we never got the opportunity to talk about the most powerful marketing tool and opt-in offer – the Newsletter.
In this chapter, we’ll dive deep into the importance of a well-written newsletter, its impressive money-making potential, and the art of writing a profitable newsletter that your subscribers will eat up like candy!

Email marketing is a blessing for small business owners. An effective, targeted email-marketing campaign can drive traffic to your site, get your name in front of qualified prospects and turn leads into sales - for much less than what you'd spend on a traditional direct-marketing campaign.

Once you have developed your email list, how do you turn those devoted subscribers into sales? No matter what strategies you used to get your subscribers to opt-in on your emailing list, many of them are already pre-sold to your product. Now, you just have to close the deal.
In this chapter, I’m going to show you why your site needs a newsletter and how to maximize your sales by using this powerful incentive. Offering a free newsletter is the best way to collect loyal subscribers who are actively looking for answers to their problems.

If you offer to provide potential subscribers with information they need, they’ll be glad to subscribe to your newsletter. But obviously the secret is out, and most online businesses are taking full advantage of the powerful capabilities of this marketing tool.

And as a result, there has been a mass of newsletters on the Internet full of nonsense and spam – leaving Internet visitors with a wary concern about handing over their email addresses to just anyone.

This doesn’t, however, mean that you shouldn’t start your own newsletter. And it doesn’t mean that you’ve missed the boat.

All it means is that you are going to have to work at providing your subscribers with quality information that they deem worthy enough to entrust their email address with you.

Not a problem! Just create a newsletter that people read faithfully, that is considered to be a reliable source of quality information, and that attracts a consistent number of opt-in subscribers. Readers love to meet a new personality, so give them what they want.

The best part about newsletters is that you can produce them with little to no cost at all! Of course you can hire a ghost writer to compose your newsletter, but the best way to truly acquire a lasting relationship with your customer is by simply “talking” to them.

Nowadays, it’s easy to get away with informal conversations with someone you don’t know all that well. In fact, many people actually feel more comfortable with the fact that you’re talking to them like a friend. Don’t underestimate the power of this kind of relationship!

If you are communicating on a regular basis with your subscribers, giving them valuable information, and allowing them to get to know and trust you, you shouldn’t be too surprised about how many of them will actually become devoted customers. Email newsletters are one of the great bargains in marketing. They keep your company in front of your customers on a regular basis for very little cost.

Newsletters aren't right for every audience – I wouldn’t recommend them if you’re targeting the local B-I-N-G-O crowd – but if you're in the web hosting business, there's a good chance that 100% of your customers and prospects use email…which makes newsletters a great tool!

Email newsletters are proven to increase sales, if used properly. As I’ve noted earlier, it’s been reported by research and testing that up to 50% in sales can be generated from newsletter autoresponder follow-ups!

And I’m sure you’ll also be glad to hear that if used properly, up to 10% of opt-in subscribers will purchase the product being sold. In case you didn't get that – it’s been reported that...

10 people out of every 100 subscribers will buy!

That’s enough to make me want to send out newsletters!

But there are a few things that you have to be cautious of when preparing your newsletter. If you want to rake in the ALL of the financial benefits possible, you need to follow the tips below. Trust me, there’s an art to creating a thriving, profitable newsletter.

There’s no doubt about it – a free newsletter is your best source of generating a list of subscribers you can send promotions to in the future! But how should you go about delivering your message to your potential customers without coming off as a huge advertisement billboard?

Because so many of us are already overwhelmed by the daily flood of email, your newsletter will need to be much more than just ads for your products. Including informative articles, interviews, or other information may help entice your subscribers to actually open and read your newsletter.

Light “plugs” in the body of your newsletter aren’t a bad idea, but remember that your subscribers are looking for quality information – not a salesletter…that’s what your webpage is for.
Moh. Ali Albar
I rewrite this article of E-book “Email Secrets Exposed”
www.InstantPopover.com