Start My Own Online Business

Must Have tools for a successful online business part 2

The next and second only to a good website is having an autoresponder service. An autoresponder is basically an email service/system that you set to send automatic messages to your prospects and customers.

As with any business, it is far easier to sell to someone who is already a customer than find new ones. By planning out your marketing campaigns, your autoresponder service can send specific messages to anyone who signs up to receive them. That means that you can let your prospects and leads know when you are having a sale, rolling out a new product/service, or recommending something to them. It makes marketing a lot easier because you don’t necessarily have to do anything to your website per se. You can simply direct your prospects to where you want them to go or buy.

That brings us to another tool that you need for your autoresponder system to work. Namely, you have to have a list of names and email addresses that you can send your messages to.  This is simply referred to as your email list. There are several ways to develop an email list for your business which are beyond the scope of this particular course, but needless to say you have to approach building your list with a  great deal of caution.

Unfortunately during the beginning of the online business and internet marketing boom, many unscrupulous marketers developed what we now call spam. This was done by scraping the web for email addresses and/or buying lists from services that had nothing to do with anything and then these marketers simply emailed all their sales pitches to these addresses. The result? A lot of unwanted and unsolicited email clogged many people’s inboxes. This was so bad that the US government decided to make it illegal to “spam” anyone.

As you are developing your online business, you will want to build a qualified and vetted email list that is generally referred to as “an opt-in list”. This can be easily done with the popular autoresponder systems available today.  No responsible Internet marketer uses unqualified contact lists. An unqualified list can hurt you in two ways. First, you have to pay good money for that list. If you purchase a list of ten thousand email addresses, and all but a hundred of them come back as undeliverable, you have effectively wasted resources that could have been used to better advantage.

An even more severe consequence of utilization of an unqualified email list is that your emails actually do get through to consumers, who get bent out of shape because they did not want the email in the first place. In a short time, you may find your company name or URL showing up on consumer driven spam reporting web sites, which will provide the type of publicity that you do not want to get. If you do use email as part of your marketing method, then make sure the list is qualified.  Over time you can build up your own qualified list of email subscribers who want to receive product notices, special offers, and other sorts of marketing information.

Another helpful tool that you can use when starting your online business is called a “Persona”.  Traditionally it was called “profiling” but that term has a negative connotation nowadays. A persona is an imaginary personality that represents your target audience.  Essentially, you want to create an image of your typical customer, including all sorts of details about their lives, likes and dislikes. Having a good idea of who you are marketing to will give you a better idea of how to market and what to market.  Take for instance a product such as video games. Imagine who would be more likely to buy a video game. Would it be a 50 year old marketing executive or a 20 year old college student? Or, would it be a 35 five year old single man who works part time, or would it be the single mother of 3 who makes a little more than minimum wage? These are all types of personas, but their buying habits would probably be very different. As you imagine who you will be selling to, it will be easier to sell. And, there are tools available on the web to help you build and develop your personas if you need help.

When you have your personas you can seek out marketing methods that focus on effectively reaching people who fit the profile you developed. This means you will spend more time getting your product and contact information in front of people who are highly likely to take the time to learn about what you have to offer. Second, this persona profile can form the basis for your marketing content. Why waste time talking about the big city when your services are geared toward people who live in a small town? Profiling helps to give your campaign focus, because it opens you up to the possibility of talking points that will grab the attention of the right people.

There is one thing that you should remember about having an online business or advertising online. What worked very well a few years ago has become commonplace and somewhat stale in some instances. Simply put, there are digital advertising methods that are not all that effective anymore. Still, some of these methods may be effective, depending on the customer you are trying to reach. The key thing to remember about online advertising is to not lock yourself into one particular method to the exclusion of all other methods.

Investigate your options carefully and always have at least three or four strategies taking place at the same time. If you can’t identify at least three of these methods that will allow you to reach your target audience, something is wrong. Either you are being too narrow with your basic client profile, or you need to do some more research on available marketing options. And don’t forget the most essential tool in your arsenal; You. It has been shown that if you make yourself available to your customers in some way, you get better results. Businesses are not built on the basis of your web site and snappy advertising alone. Sometimes, people will want to talk with your about what you have to offer. This means you should always make sure you have contact information readily available to customers and prospects.  Including a phone number if possible is also a good approach, but it shouldn’t be your home phone. You can get a Skype account and use that to communicate on the web.  Also, don’t forget about the social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. There are many ways for you to keep in contact. Let people know that you can be reached.

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