Welcome to part 2 of the Email Marketing Tips series. In the introduction of this we looked at what email marketing is and the benefits of email marketing. Let's now look at building an email list. Building your email list is perhaps the most compelling issue facing anyone looking to email marketing. It could be argued that building your list is not the most important issue, but it is certainly for most people the most pressing. After all, with no subscribers, it doesn't matter how good … [Read more...]

Email Marketing seems to be a topic many bloggers want to know about. While promoting my recent prize draw I was asked to expand on my article explaining the benefits of providing blog email subscriptions into more email marketing tips. I realized I wasn't going to be able to do the subject justice in just one post, so here is the first in a series all about email marketing and how to do it well. Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss anything :) First, let's clear up what exactly we … [Read more...]

Yesterday morning I was on a call with Cindy, a great lady who specializes in international and cross-cultural marketing. Cindy was saying how she had been spending a lot of time and effort in building up her Flagship Content and that it had started to show real dividends in terms of traffic and attention. She had been taking calls from as far afield as South Africa. I love it when people tell me these techniques work so well. I'm not one for blowing my own trumpet but please excuse me while … [Read more...]

Overcoming objections is an essential part of the sales process, but it seems one that people I speak to either neglect or are fearful of. Really it can be very easy to counter objections, but before we get into that, I should describe what I mean by objections and what I mean by overcoming. Objections are anything that stops a customer from buying from you. Note I said "from you". Although we are interested in what stops a customer from buying at all, we are mainly interested in why someone … [Read more...]

Naming your blog is an important aspect of blog branding, or blog success for that matter. It seems very important to my visitors too. Ever since my original "What's In a Name?" post, people have been asking for advice on how to select the best name for their blog. As I said in the first post, When choosing a domain name there are some factors to consider: How original and unique is it? How descriptive is it? What image does it convey? Would you remember it after seeing it … [Read more...]

Reciprocation is where you feel inclined to do something for someone else because they did something for you. It's about returning a favor, I help you, you help me. A great deal of modern marketing is based on reciprocation. It's a natural impulse and probably something that keeps society bound together. The classic example is where a charity "gives" you something, anything from a sticker through to greetings cards, and you feel compelled to make a donation. In the online sphere we give … [Read more...]

Reading a lot of advice and ebook sales letters, you could be forgiven for thinking all you need is one good tactic and you will be a mega success online. In fact what you need is a planned mixture of approaches. Understanding where certain tactics fit can be the difference between going nowhere and going viral. Before anyone points out, yes this is not a complete list, and yes some tactics fit into more than one area, but I think as an illustration of a point my mad doodling skills … [Read more...]

Recently I have been asked by a few people my opinion on a certain "link bait" event that happened. To save myself repeating the same answer, here it is. The story goes something like this. Writer creates fictitious story, gets it to the front page of Digg, which leads to mentions in tabloid newspapers and Fox News. Apart from the "fictitious" aspect, this would be considered by anyone a major victory. One count puts it at 1500 fresh inbound links. Unfortunately it is the truth/fiction … [Read more...]

A critical part of any online sales process is answering questions and objections before they are raised. Buying anything comes with some perceived risk. Blogging actually helps reduce this perception of risk because over time you can get to know the person behind the blog, their expertise and their approach. I imagine any of you who have been with me a little while feels like you know me a bit, and if I read your blog or follow you on Twitter I probably feel the same way. Another way to … [Read more...]

Over the weekend I had the fantastic opportunity to have a quick chat with David Bullock. Not only is he a super smart guy, especially in the crucial area of actually making money online, but he is a great bloke too. Like most people who heard him in Chicago, I am now a big, big fan. As Chris Cree reports, David a couple of times said that he was looking at Social Media to boost his community, that he has the making money side sorted but he like many sales people wants to grow his audience … [Read more...]