WHICH IS MORE IMPORTANT, YOUR PRODUCTS OR YOUR LIST? by John Vincent
With all the ballyhoo about This New Program, That New Service, "The Last Chance To Get On Board" program, the one thing that is ignored in all this Hyperbole (Hype) is the one ingredient, the one necessary element, the Heartbeat of all internet business . . . The Opt-In!!!
Your products can be outstanding but they won't make or break you.
Don't place your products in the number 1 position in your efforts, don't depend on them to make the wealth you deserve online. It just won't happen that way.
If you're looking to purchase that Yacht with your cool nickname attached to it better start focusing on building a list. Not your average list either, rather an extremely "targeted" list of subscribers giving them valuable content along the way never selling them until the list reaches a peak number. Then after you have built trust and a bonding relationship with your list members you should send a blast out with a targeted offer only after much exploration.
Think about it. If you have no prospects or customers, how can you possibly succeed and it doesn’t really matter what A Great Product you may have, you just won’t be in business.
The Opt-in is the Lifeblood of internet business. In the off-line world, what would Wal-Mart be without customers and folks considering shopping there? Can you say EMPTY WAREHOUSE?
And the same is true online. The secret to online success is to have your customers and prospects come from your Opt-in List.
When you accumulate Opt-ins you’re dramatically reducing your cost for advertising, in other words, you’re advertising (emailing) to your list for Free.
Did you know that each name/email address on your list has a value of $1.00 per month "in your pocket" potential. If you have a list of 2000 Opt-ins, that’s a potential $2000 in your Bank Account. What if you had 5,000, 10,000 or 50,000 Opt-ins?
So which is more Important, A Great Program or a Ton of Targeted Opt-ins? This is not a "What came first, the chicken or the egg" question :-).
The answer should be obvious, it’s a combination of both but you must FIRST have the Opt-ins.
But how does one get these Precious Opt-ins?
The Answer:
The same as any offline business gets its customers or "looky loos". . . Offer Incentives!
Offline businesses offer sales, ie, half off, 2 for 1 etc.
With an online business, I feel you must gain TRUST as a first step. So the online incentive should be something of value, something needed by the prospect and it must be offered FREE to this “potential customer”. (We’ll return to this little item in a moment).
USE TRAFFIC EXCHANGES
I know, I know there is a growing consensus that traffic exchanges don’t work, but I beg to differ. I don’t mean Auto-Traffic-Exchanges, they Are a waste of time. I talking about the manual Traffic Exchanges, these do work. Even if other marketers are using the New Fangled Multi-Surf-Page Gizmo, it doesn’t matter, you can get Opt-ins through Manual Traffic Exchanges.
Unfortunately, most marketers are using these exchanges in the wrong way.
WHAT THEY’RE DOING WRONG!
DON’T SELL, OFFER A FREE ITEM!
Something of value! And Never, Never Ever sell on a Traffic Exchange, it Just Won’t Work. I’ll repeat, you must offer something of value for “free”.
Should you display your Website on a Traffic Exchange? No way! Many websites are simply "too busy".
Here’s what I mean, you have a lot of "wording", links, offer(s), sales copy in other words, too much content for a 15-25 second look/see.
Remember (or maybe you're unaware) the surfer is not interested in your offer or sales pitch, he or she is only interested in you looking at his or her offer or sales pitch.
So if you shouldn’t use Your website or an Affiliate website in your traffic Exchange Marketing and if you want to change the "I Don’t Care About Your Offer, Just Look at my Offer" mind-set? What’s the solution?
The Answer Is:
A Splash Page
What is a Splash page? It’s simply a doorway to information, something the "Traffic Exchange Surfer" is interested in and in this case free information in the form of a report.
The Splash Page is a true study in "Simplicity". How simple? Consider a single page with a Great or interesting Headline that stimulates curiosity that turns into a "Real Need". This headline is followed by a few lines of explanation and a short form for the surfer to fill out. On this short form is your request for the Surfer to type his NAME and EMAIL address.
By the way, this form is connected to your Autoresponder. So when the Surfer fills in the form and clicks enter, it goes directly to your autoresponder and your free information is sent out to this NOW "Opt-in" Surfer.
That’s it! If you want to add Flash and Pizzazz to your Splash Page there are sources and resources to create such a page but it’s not necessary.
HERE’S WHAT YOU’LL NEED
1- Have yourself a Great Free Report or Give Away ready
2- Create a Splash Page
3- Remember, create a good to great Headline
4- Have "at the ready" an Autoresponder and load it with "Trust Building" messages.
Oh I almost forgot, have the "Great Program" lying in wait. And by the way, don’t sell in your first few emails, you want to build Confidence and Trust “FIRST”. Your Prospect doesn't know you yet, why should they buy from a stranger?
Eventually you’ll have a ton of Opt-ins (sooner than you think)!
This takes patience and focus. You will literally get your mind blown from even a 1 percent response to a mailing of 10,000 targeted subscribers.
Smart marketers have retired overnight following this simple but rarely taken road. Bombing your list with offer after offer hoping to make quick and fast cash surely will have your members un-subscribing big time.
So don’t sell, Build!
Folks like Mark Joyner sat back for 6 to 9 months while his posted splash/lead capture page took in the emails of interested visitors, cautiously targeting his audience with copy-writing technique and skill then when the time to reap what he had sown had come the list was used in a responsible manner and six-figures was easily made.
Mike Filsaime's success can be found by his almost genius use of free viral marketing sites to build his list. It's the list, but not only that , it's "how" you create/build it. This is the greatest marketing secret, actually it's really not a secret but most never take this advice and they struggle.
Ask any so-called Guru, if they would trade their product, software etc. for their targeted Opt Ins and you'll get a resounding NO!
Take my advice...
You Gotta Build That List!
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John Vincent runs The Opt In Magic System Website which provides easy-to-follow, free guidelines in how to build a massive Opt-in list that continuously makes money online at http://www.OptInMagic.net/
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