Well, this one question is one of the major questions I get from many of my subscribers who are interested in building a responsive email list. The majority of my subscribers say that they built a marketable email list by using various tactics like ad swaps, articles, and solo ads. But their major problem comes in the area of sustaining their email list growth.

A lot of my subscribers shared with me that they are actually losing more subscribers than they are actually gaining. So how do we avoid this?

Well, that is the focus of this article.

Now let me start off by saying that you will be deceiving yourself if you just think that you can overcome this problem of constantly losing subscribers without any work.

Sitting on your butt and doing nothing is the hogwash approach to online marketing!

It really frustrates me to even think that there are actual individuals who believe that success can come with no work at all!

So before I move forward, make sure you get the lazy approach to online marketing out of your system as soon as possible. If you do not extract laziness from your life and your business, you won’t see any improvement in your life and online business.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let me begin describing a legitimate way to passively funnel fresh responsive subscribers into your database.

I will list a series of steps that you can follow below:

1. Generate a content site for your niche

The goal in this step is to generate a website full of useful content that is related to the niche you are trying to build an email list for. A good content site, when organized well, can actually send repeat visitors to your website.

2. Place a Tell a Friend form at the bottom of the pages on your content site

A tell a friend form is a form that allows a visitor to recommend their friends to your website if they find the information on your website useful. A good content site with very valuable information will be virally recommended to a visitor’s friends and family if they find the content enjoyable and full of high quality information.

Therefore, make every effort to select or add the best quality content you can.

3. Add a popup note to every page of your content site

Adding a popup note to your website is an easy way to instantly grab the eyeballs of your visitors and force them to sign up to your newsletter or ezine. The type of popup notes I am referring to have been known to increase the responsiveness of website visitors to a certain offer just by describing the offer in the note.

To see an example of this type of popup in action, visit the link below:

http://www.free-traffic-generation.com

Now do you get the idea!

Just make sure you put a popup note on every page of your content website and you should see some consistent list growth. Also, make sure the popup is advertising your newsletter or ezine.

4. Write an article or press release about your new content website

Writing an article or press release is just a way to jump start the traffic to your website. Just one press release can send you hundreds of links to your site as well as some media publicity.

5. Generate another content website by repeating steps 1 thru 4…or just continue adding original content to your website.

Now this is all it takes to produce a passive list building machine that consistently sends streams of subscribers to your newsletter or ezine. The more content sites you have, the more subscribers you will be able to passively generate.

5 Steps To Generating Your Own Passive List Building Machine! is a post from: Business Blog | Lilamitre-arte.com

Well, running an online business is no different than running any business – you need to find ways to reach people who want and need (and are willing to pay for) your product or service.

Affiliate marketing (selling other people’s products) is a great way to make money online.

Yet, it is still a business, and the same rules apply to affiliate marketing – you need to find people who need what you are selling.

The best way to be a successful affiliate is to create your own website, provide information to get people ready to buy, and then encourage them visit the programs you are representing.

How do you do this, without spending a fortune on advertising?

1) Learn how to get free traffic from search engines

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) means getting the search engines (like Google and Yahoo) to place your website at the top of the rankings. Getting “free advertising” from the search engines is great. However, it is not easy, and it does take some time. The key is make your site the best possible site for your theme – tricks and scams may provide you with an instant “boost” but this rarely lasts (and sometimes even gets you banned permanently!) Over the past few years, I’ve made lots of money by having high rankings – and I’ve lost money when my rankings have fallen. It’s part of the process, so you shouldn’t count only on free traffic from the search engines.

2) Create your own newsletter

By creating your own newsletter, you can contact each person who signs up more than once, increasing your chance for a sale. Don’t have any ideas for a newsletter? How about a free course. Or monthly tips about the topic of your website. Sign up for a few newsletters in your industry to get an idea of how other websites maintain this important relationship with their current – and future – customers!

3) Write articles

Writing articles provides you with several benefits at the same time – by writing an article you are positioning yourself as an expert; when your article is published, you get a link back to your site (which helps SEO; you can promote your newsletter so you can contact readers more than once. You don’t need to have your article published in USA Today to get these benefits. In fact, getting your articles listed in an article directory (such as EzineArticles.com), can help you get listed in more specialized websites, newsletters, and magazines, helping you reach the right people!

4) Place newsletter, magazine, & newspaper ads

When spending money on ads, especially for the first time, start out small. It’s very easy to spend a ton of money, without getting any responses (a tough lesson many advertisers learn the hard way!) Email newsletters or ezines are a great way to start (start with the ones in your industry that you subscribed to in order to get ideas for your newsletter above). Make sure you offer something valuable – like your newsletter – to get as many people to respond as possible.

5) Watch out for scams!

Buying 10,000 visitors for only $29.95. Submitting your website to 150 search engines for $19.99. Getting your site listed #1 on all the search engines for just $50. Most of these sound very tempting, especially when you are just starting out. Unfortunately, most of these are great ways to drain your bank account very quickly – and make other people rich.

So learn from the real experts how to build your online business: sign up for newsletters (HighRankings.com is a great resource), read the forums (IHelpYouServices.com and WebmasterWorld.com), read articles (EzineArticles.com).

Yes, you can make money online. So, get started, keep learning and trying, and don’t ever give up!

5 Simple Ways To Promote Your Affiliate Programs – Without Spending A Fortune On Advertising! is a post from: Business Blog | Lilamitre-arte.com

So just how would you capture those leads and make them profitable for you?
Here are your 5 simple steps to setting up your own profitable lead capture system.

1) you will need your autoresponder setup, ready to accept your subscribers. To make it easy on yourself you can pre-load it with messages to send your subscribers from the outset, to remind them that they are on your list. Useful, informative and educational messages sent once or twice a week automatically will keep your list subscribers interested.

2) Setup an irresistible offer page, giving something of value to your potential subscribers for filling in the form to subscribe. This page needs to be as powerful as any sales page where you are charging for a product, as you will want it to convert as many visitors to subscribers as you can. Outline the benefits of what you’re giving away, and even the benefits of the information in your preset messages (you did setup those messages right?).

3) Most autoresponders allow you to set a url (website address) to send your subscribers to after they subscribe, you should send them to a thank you page, and let them know if they need to confirm their address before they receive the first email from you. If they do need to confirm (they should, this is called double opt-in and may help save you from spam complaints), let your new subscriber know they will only get the email with the gift link after they confirm their subscription to your list.

4) Your first email to your new subscriber should contain the download link for the free gift you offered for subscribing. The ideal situation here is to send them to a web page to download. This page can also contain a special offer, sometimes called a one time offer (or OTO). Make this an unmissable deal related to the subject matter of your emails. Let the subscriber know they will only see this offer right now, if you do not have a special deal to offer, you can instead add a link to a product you sell as an affiliate, but make use of this valuable backend sale opportunity.

5) Keep sending traffic to your offer page and keep those subscribers coming. Join JV giveaway promotions which are happening all the time to put your gift in front of more and more people. Make sure you keep your subscribers by sending them regular informative emails, and it helps to give them more free gifts on a regular basis.

Words of advice, your list can be your own personal goldmine, but don’t treat your subscribers as your personal ATM. Your list subscribers are people just like you, treat them as you’d like to be treated. Now get out there, and start building your subscriber list, using your new lead capture system, and watch how your profits increase as your list grows.

5 Simple Steps To Setting Up Your Own Profitable Lead Capture System is a post from: Business Blog | Lilamitre-arte.com

Sound familiar? Have you too been caught in the vicious cycle of high and low sales volumes? Why? Most of us tend to advertise heavily while things are slow – in a desperate attempt to get customers through the door, but back off when things are hopping.

If you’re looking for an even-keeled market, develop a steady marketing plan. Steady advertising produces steady growth…and steadily climbing profits!

2. Single Shot Advertising
One shot ads, rarely get results. Most customers are just like you, they don’t jump on the band wagon the first time it passes by. They often need to see your sales material several times before they actually make the move to walk through the doors.

Follow-ups are necessary for success. We’re not just talking about prospective customers now…even your loyal customers need to be cultivated for sales. How many times have you thought about making a purchase, but just never followed through with it? Sure, we all do it. Sometimes it takes a little pressure to get us to part with our hard-earned money. Make it a point to spend time building relationships with both new customers and your faithful following.

3. MonkeySee, Monkey Do Advertising
How many times have you seen the same advertisement ideas written with just a little different twist? If you’re surfing the Web you’ve come across plenty of the aped ads! Yeah, you can predict what the next paragraph will cover, because you’ve seen it so many other places.

Sure, copy cat ads can be effective for a little while, but the results will quickly die down as others join in the copy mania. If you’re looking for REAL and LASTING results, be original. Do what only you can do, forget about what everyone else is doing. Be you. When a competitor does have a good idea, improve on it. Don’t follow in his footsteps…step out and lead the way to more effective advertisements.

4. Wild Shot Advertising
Ready, aim…yeah aim before you advertise! Don’t be caught up in wild advertising that gets your message in front of a lot of people who have absolutely no interest in your product or service.

Target your market…and get better results for your investment. Finding the target market that has a specific need you can fulfill takes a little time and research, but you’ll feel the effects when you hit the bullseye!

Think about this…there are advertising venues that your competition is overlooking. What about postcards? These high impact marketing tools are often overlooked. Yet, they’re the perfect low-cost way to generate prospective customer interest. Keep an eye open for overlooked marketing gems, and get one up on your competition!

5. Me, Me Advertising
What is it that consumers are looking for? …Exactly, something that is going to benefit them. They really aren’t interested in the facts about your product…they want to know how it will impact their life or lifestyle.

Take a look at your ad copy, and ask yourself what are you portraying…facts or benefits. Multi Level Marketers have this all figured out. Rather than tell you they have a business to offer, they spend a lot of time promising you freedom to work your own hours, countless vacations, summer homes and a host of other things you’ve probably already dreamed about at some point. Hey, don’t knock it…the MLM industry is a steadily growing element in our economy.

Don’t bore your readers with the facts…attract them with exciting elements that will fulfill their needs or desires.

Are you getting the results you’ve been looking for? Take another look at your marketing strategy…are you making the same mistakes many marketers unknowingly make. Hey, real success may only be one change away!

5 Proven Ways to Waste Advertising Money is a post from: Business Blog | Lilamitre-arte.com

You’ve just cleaned out the attic and straightened up the garage. You’ve identified items you no longer need, but they certainly have a cash value to them. You could really use the money, but you don’t want to post the information on eBay. What to do? You create a classified ad!

Unlike in times past, the classified advertisement you run with your local paper will more than likely have exposure beyond the printed copy. Smart newspaper publishers, knowing the inroads that the internet has had on their businesses, now allow advertisers to have a copy of their advertisement appear online. This is important as newspaper readership is dropping rapidly as internet usage continues to climb sharply. Still, a printed copy is smart especially if the classified ad section of your local paper is popular.

When designing your ad, you need to come up with an eye grabbing title. The title you choose will help the reader decide whether they want to read more or continue scanning their eyes toward other ads.

List the item you are offering for sale predominately within the name of the title. If you have several items to sell, consider a catchy title such as, “30 Year Contents of Attic” which will indicate to readers that you probably have antiques. If you state, “Assorted Sporting Goods” you will attract people who are looking for a bowling ball, fishing equipment, children’s toys, etc. The key is attracting the reader and encouraging them to read your ad.

Beyond the title, the following five points will help you in your campaign:

1. Be descriptive The clearer you present what you have to offer for sale, the better your responses will be.

2. Do not abbreviate Not everyone understands what an abbreviation means. Spell it out and erase all doubt!

3. Specify the price Particularly if you are selling just one item, list the amount you want for that item.

4. Highlights I like ads that stand out. If the newspaper offers decorative symbols, characters, or fonts use them to draw the reader’s eyes to your listing.

5. Ad campaign One day listings only work for popular items. Do you believe your item will sell if you list it for just one day? If you list it longer, you can always cancel the ad. Remember to find out what the newspaper’s policy is about online ads too. Your buyer may only see the ad online.

Some newspapers will design the ad for you, if you find writing ad copy to be a difficult task. Not everyone is gifted in writing clear, concise copy. If they want your business, they should be happy to provide this service.

5 Print Ad Essentials! is a post from: Business Blog | Lilamitre-arte.com

Be sure that your claims sound believable, no matter how unbelievable they are. People are skeptical of “too good to be true” claims. It’s better to tone it down, and let them be surprised when it exceeds their expectation.

2. Keep It Short and Sweet
Long paragraphs and complex sentences look too much like work to read. Yeah, readers get bored quickly and easily. Chop it up, and break it up. Don’t use paragraphs of more than 7 lines or sentences longer that 18 words. Find ways to shorten it up, and you’ll keep the readers attention.

How many long words are in your copy? Replace them with short common words to create a reader-friendly appeal. Let your copy speak to them in the language they are used to hearing. Well, if your readers don’t like to spend a lot of time reading… it pays to choose your words carefully.

3. Keep it Active
Eliminate dull passive phrases. They do little, except bore the heck out of your readers. Dig them out and replace them highly active words that will motivate the reader to get up out of his easy chair and DO something.

The call to action is the most important part of any advertisment. Call, subscribe, join, order, buy… make them hear the call loud enough that they do something – NOW.

4. Skip the Humor
In the right place, and at the right time, humor is an effective tool. Written sales copy just isn’t it. Ads are short, concise and to the point. Humor tends to get in the way and distract.

Real life stories captivate readers. They relate to them. The human interest of these stories draws the reader into the message, whereas humor distracts them for the point.

5. Us A Powerful P.S.
A P.S. can be a powerful way to emphasize your product, highlight the points of benefit, or dramatize effects of the purchase. It’s the perfect way to summarize your page.

The P.S. is most powerful on Web pages. Surfers often read the headlines and skim to the P.S. where they look to get an idea of what’s on the page, and if it’s worth their time to read it. Put some effort into making your P.S. captivating.

5 Must-Have Techniques For Creating Unbelievably Productive Copy is a post from: Business Blog | Lilamitre-arte.com

So far, so good. But the problem is that no one can seem to agree on exactly which 5 P’s are important, so the list typically includes: people, product, place, process, price, promotion, paradigm, perspective, persuasion, passion, positioning, packaging, and performance.

Wow. Sounds complicated, huh? I’m going to try and simplify effective marketing into five moves – five concrete actions – that you can implement immediately. Your challenge: try one or more of these NOW.

Move 1: Move Up

Want to try something different? The next time you’re speaking with a prospect, when the question of price comes up, DOUBLE your normal price and see what happens.

Am I crazy?

Maybe, maybe not. The other side of the coin is that maybe YOU’RE crazy for not charging for VALUE, but instead competing on PRICE. Businesses that compete on price lose. Period.

The easiest thing your competition can do is undercut your price. In fact, the first thing they will copy is your price. It takes no imagination, no creativity, no innovation, no market leadership, and no vision to lower the cost of something. And it hurts all parties involved. Lower prices always mean lower profits. Studies have shown that a 1% drop in price leads to an 8% drop in profit.

What happens when you double your usual price?

Several things. Prospects perceive:

* An increase in the value of your product/service

* An increased level of prestige in owning/using your product/service

* An increased level of trust in you – and all your other offerings (the halo effect)

* An increased level of confidence that your product/service really works

A marketing consultant that I respect once gave me a very valuable piece of advice. She said, “Be expensive or… be free.” Being one of the most expensive providers of a service is remarkable – people talk about their $200,000 Italian sports car or $21,000 platinum-plated cell phone. Nobody talks about their $19,000 GM sedan.

I’ve helped companies double their prices, with great success, and I’ve helped independent consultants double [and in one case triple] their fees. In each of those cases, they got more clients, not fewer. Details on how to do this in Move 3. And perhaps this means you’ll lose a few unprofitable clients along the way. If you don’t lose some unprofitable clients, you won’t have room to serve the more profitable ones when they come along. It’s professional suicide to continue focusing on serving a market sector “that can afford” to pay your old (low) prices. Price doesn’t find clients. VALUE finds clients. And those clients that value your work should – and will – pay according to that value.

Free is also a powerful price point. And, of course, free is remarkable. Which is another facet to moving up – you move up when you give VALUE first. For free. Got a great idea for a prospect? Great! SEND IT TO THEM. Even better, got a business lead for them? Hand it over! Did you come across an article, a profile, or a piece of research that directly impacts their business? Clip it and mail it to the top person with a brief note. That prospect’s door is now open.

Move 2: Move In

Moving in means moving closer to the customer. Live in their world, think about their problems, and think about their clients and prospects. What’s the first step? Research. Preparation. Homework. Industry, regional, business, and company news is now at every salesperson’s fingertips on the Internet. If you’re not intelligently researching your prospect’s issues, challenges, and pressures, how can you possibly come in with a credible solution?

Don’t like sitting at the computer all day? An even better idea is to hit the street. Visit businesses, talk to your contacts in the fields you serve, get some firsthand information about what’s going on in their world – what are their challenges, perspectives, obstacles, priorities; what are their dreams, their “only-ifs,” and their biggest aspirations?

Is this a lot of work? You bet. Do the majority of salespeople put in this kind of effort? No way. Which is exactly why YOU should. That brings us to Move 3.

Move 3: Move Ahead

Moving ahead means going above and beyond what most salespeople are doing. It means putting in the work – yes, the real, hard work – that makes the difference between being a peddler and being a partner.

Want to move ahead? Start by avoiding doing things your prospects dislike.

Here are the top 10 things salespeople do that buyers dislike according to a Purchasing magazine survey. See if you (or your sales team) might be guilty of any of the following professional no-no’s:

10.Failure to keep promises

9. Lack of creativity

8. Failure to make and keep appointments

7. Lack of awareness of the customer’s operation (“What do you guys do here?”)

6. Taking the customer for granted

5. Lack of follow-through

4. Lack of product knowledge

3. Overaggressiveness and failure to listen

2. Lack of interest or purpose (“Just checking in”)

… and the Number 1 dislike: Lack of preparation.

You can also move ahead by charging more (remember Move 1?) and DEMONSTRATING the VALUE of your product service with hard numbers.

In his insightful book, How to Become a Rainmaker, author Jeffrey Fox calls this process dollarizing. Dollarizing is one of the most powerful sales techniques because once you show (with real numbers that your prospect will provide you with) the return on investment – how THIS much spent will generate THIS much savings, or profits, or sales, or new clients, or hours, etc. – you basically shift the conversation from selling what you’re selling to SELLING MONEY.

In my seminars, I do an exercise called “The Money Machine” that will help you spell this out in hard dollars, very clearly.

The Money Machine goes one step further because you can use it monetize against:

* competing products/services

* the prospect doing nothing

* the prospect doing it themselves

* other things the prospect is already comfortable spending money on

For a free copy of my Money Machine worksheet, email me: david@unconsulting.com.

Suddenly, your product/service becomes a real “investment”: meaning, you can show people the math behind “this much IN” for “this much OUT.” There’s nothing much easier than selling money at a discount!

Here’s another way to move ahead: stop the ridiculous game of “closing the sale.” Closing is not a technique; closing is not a trick; closing is not about magic phrases and looks and power games. Closing should be a natural extension of your conversation, and the two most effective questions you should ask your prospect as you near the end of your value-based discussion are:

1. Does what we’ve talked about so far make sense?

2. What would you like me to do next?

Answer to Question 1: If you’ve prepared for the meeting, discussed the prospect’s key issues, and monetized the value of your solution, of course it makes sense!

Answer to Question 2: “Let’s go ahead” or “Let’s do the paperwork.” Or if your prospect answers this with “Get Out” or “Drop Dead,” you have a pretty good idea that the sale is not ready to close. Seriously, carefully listening to the answer to this question will allow you to address any hidden concerns, hesitations, or issues – right then and there before the prospect would otherwise blurt out an abrupt “No!” to any other traditional “ask for the sale” verbiage that so many sales trainers recommend. Remember, you’re not there to sell – you’re there to HELP THE PROSPECT BUY. If you need to tattoo that on your forehead, be my guest.

Move 4: Move Aside

Here’s another thing that most sales and marketing people have a hard time with: you can’t be all things to all people. Move Aside is about finding your niche, and claiming your expertise in a narrow area of specialty. In plain English, this means you want to become the “Go-To Guy” for your specific product or service – the exact opposite of a “jack-of-all-trades and master of none.”

The people you speak with will have a very different reaction to these two mental images of your product/service:

* “I think we can make this fit.”

* “This is exactly what we’ve been looking for.”

Let me give you an example. There’s a real company that lists among its services “Carpet removal, house cleaning, odd jobs, catering.” Now, I don’t know about you, but when I want a caterer, I’m looking for someone who does catering 24/7. I don’t want to have to worry about “Did they wash their hands after the carpet removal job and before serving my guests?” In fact, if I’m looking for a caterer for a wedding, I might even be drawn to “Wedding Bells Catering” much more so than “Sam’s Catering” or “Good Eats Catering.”

Here’s another example. There are lots of graphic design companies that do all sorts of work – websites, logo design, brochures, collateral material, wine labels, book packaging, etc. You name it, they do it. And business is generally OK. (But let’s face it, if they were going like gangbusters, they probably wouldn’t have sought out my help!) Some of them had a hard time differentiating themselves from the competition and others found it challenging to develop a strong client base and referral network. We’ve had some good success developing their current business, but when we delve into the possibilities of “Moving Aside” and carving out a real niche, or developing one thing that is their flagship specialty, most of my clients get cold feet.

One company (not my client – too bad for me!) that has done this with fabulous results is MaxEffect. They made a tough call. They moved aside. They could obviously do a wide variety of things with their graphic design and advertising skills, but they do ONE THING: they work exclusively on yellow pages ads. That’s it. If you want a killer yellow pages ad with bold graphics, custom or stock photography, clean layout, and a strong, compelling message, these are your go-to people. They’ve designed hundreds and hundreds of yellow pages ads and they’ve built a fanatical client base, and they get a steady stream of referrals – not to mention the steady and growing flow of client work.

Check it out for yourself: http://www.max-effect.com

Move 5: Move Alone

Right now, you are lost in a sea of gray. Me-too rules the day. Everywhere you look, there is more and more and MORE of the SAME OLD THING sold by the SAME OLD PEOPLE in the SAME OLD WAY. Boring. And deadly.

The problem is that people don’t buy gray. If you and your company and your offerings blend into the background, you might as well close up shop right now. Let me put it another way: all companies go bankrupt. It’s just a matter of time. Want proof? Out of the 100 largest companies of 50 years ago, 17 survive today. And none of those 17 are the market leaders they used to be.

Why? Shift happens. If you’re not separating yourself from the crowd, you’re blending in – and nobody will even notice you, much less seek you out and tell their friends about you.

Here’s an example of a company that really hasn’t been doing a bad job – but they’re also not the standouts they used to be.

On a recent call to American Express, an executive was straightening out a billing problem. At the end of the call, the operator asked her, “Have I exceeded your expectations for this call?” and the exec flatly answered, “No.” She had a billing problem, and the rep fixed it. That’s the expectation.

Now, if the rep had offered the executive a $50 American Express gift check to be used at any of American Express’ online retail partners, THAT would have exceeded expectations, right? That story would be worth repeating to 10-20 people. Can you imagine the executive telling anyone, “Hey, I called AmEx to fix my billing error. Guess what? They did it!” That’s not moving alone.

Here’s a good test to see if your marketing and sales strategies are in the category of “moving alone” – they are if you’re doing something that:

* is “simply not done” in your industry

* customers will make a remark about (remarkable!)

* goes against conventional wisdom (I call this “uncommon sense”)

* others (including your competition) think is “crazy”

* others (including your competition) will actually be AFRAID to copy

Get silly. Get crazy. Get an attitude. Get noticed.

Author Seth Godin perhaps put this most succinctly when he said, “Safe is risky. And risky is safe.”

Let me conclude with a recap of the 5 Marketing Moves:

1. Move Up = Get more valuable

2. Move In = Get closer

3. Move Ahead = Get smarter

4. Move Aside = Get specialized

5. Move Alone = Get noticed

Taken together, these will also help you make the Ultimate Move = Get insanely great.

And remember the immortal words of Jerry Garcia:

“You don’t want to be considered the best of the best.
You want to be considered the only ones who do what you do.”

5 Marketing Moves for Business Success is a post from: Business Blog | Lilamitre-arte.com

Well, you haven’t tried starting the old mower, but hey, it’s raining cats and dogs outside. With nothing better to do, you head for the mall and find yourself among a line of shiny lawn mowers with a wide variety of prices and features. What are the advantages of each one compared to the difference in costs?

Yep, not every customer that walks through your door is ready to make a purchase. Maybe they’re still in the “thinking about it” stage. Yeah, when you think long enough, you usually talk yourself into doing it. That’s why it’s important to treat every customer’s question with respect. You never know when a properly answered question will lead to a sale.

Here are some tips to keep in mind for effectively answering customer questions:

1. A Question is the Sign of a Potential Sale.
Yeah, if a customer is taking the time to look you up and ask questions, you’re dealing with a high level of interest. Don’t take it lightly. A prompt and quick response laced with the added benefits of the product will go a long way toward closing a sale.

2. Make it Easy to Ask A Question.
There’s nothing more frustration than having a simple question and having to move heaven and earth to get an answer. Make it easy for your customers to ask questions. Make your website question friendly and include a phone number with all of your sales material.

3. Organize – Set up a Frequently Asked Question File
What questions have you emailed answers to sixteen times this week? Keep a file with those repeat questions. You’ll be able to copy and paste the answers into responses. Hey, your customer will be happy and you can spend time doing something else. Everyone wins!

4. Get Back – Quickly
How many times have you shopped around while waiting for someone to get back to you? Yeah, it’s easier than ever on the web. Customer attention spans are ever shortening with the vast global competition at their fingertips. Don’t dilly dally – get back to them pronto!

5. Make Every Question a Sales Opportunity
When someone asks you a question, you’ve got their attention! They’re waiting for an answer that is important to them. Yeah, it’s the perfect opportunity to expand your response to include benefits of the purchase.

Questioning customers wear a badge that says, “Buyer on Board!” Read it and pay attention. Often a little nudge will mean a sale to tally at the day’s end. Think of it like this…learning to effectively answer customer questions is a low-cost and effective way to boost your profits this year!

5 Keys to Capturing Prospective Buyers is a post from: Business Blog | Lilamitre-arte.com

1) Attend organization meetings

Where do people in your target market hang out? Research this, and then plan to attend a meeting or two to mix and mingle. What better way to meet and get to know these individuals while learning more about the market?

2) Offer to speak at a meeting or conference

What do you have to offer that you feel could be of value to those you are trying to reach out to? Present a short talk or slide show on a helpful topic. Be sure you present something of value to the group. What helpful tips or other material would hold ther attention, and entice them to learn more about you and what you do? Just give them a small taste of your skills and knowledge. Chances are, they will want to talk to you after the presentation.

3) Advertise in publications your target market reads

The Internet is a great place to research what publications are out there. You can probably even get your advertisement to appear online as well as in the hard copy of a publication. Advertising can be rather expensive, so be careful with this one!

4) Present a free teleclass

If you are not confident in your public speaking skills, but still feel you have something of value to teach those you are trying to influence, try offering a no-cost teleclass. It is usually fairly inexpensive to rent a bridge line to host your class. You can teach from the comfort of your own home, too. This is also a great way to get a list of names to add to your subscriber list for mailings. If you are comfortable with this option, you can charge a small fee for future teleclasses you hold, which will bring you some passive income.

5) Start a blog

Write daily or weekly posts related to subject matter that will pique the interest of your target market. Spend time researching particular topics that you can write about. Then, add some pizazz…get excited when you post the information to your blog. If you’re excited about something, others will be too. And don’t forget to use keywords. These are what the search engines will use to find the content in your blog and draw others to it.

5 Great Ways to Reach Your Target Market is a post from: Business Blog | Lilamitre-arte.com

So now you have to decide what you’re going to write or speak about. So just how do you come up with the content?

Well, you can start with looking at the knowledge you have that could truly benefit your prospects and customers. What do you know a lot about, that your customers and prospects don’t? What information could you provide that could help them to improve their business, or make them happier, or show them a different way to do something, or provide them with tips on how to buy or use the product or service you provide?

The key is finding out what information your prospects and customers need or want most. Asking them is the easiest way to find out, and it is a great way to generate content for your info products.

If you have made arrangements to speak to a group, ask the person coordinating your talk if there is a way to survey the group as to their most important questions relative to your line of business.

For example, if you offer Wellness Coaching Services and you are speaking to a group of corporate executives, find out what their burning questions are related to wellness.

In a corporate environment, they should be able to quickly and easily compile this information via an email sent out to all employees who have been invited to your talk. Knowing that your goal is to speak directly to their concerns, they will probably be more likely to attend as well.

When you get the results of your survey, look for common or recurring questions and focus your talk on the answers to these questions. Save any remaining questions as topics for your e-newsletter. You can use this as an incentive to get attendees to register for your e-newsletter by saying at the end of your talk “If I didn’t cover your most pressing question, I invite you to register for my free e-newsletter where I will address all remaining questions.”

Here are five more ways to generate ideas and content:

1. Add a page to your web site where visitors can submit questions. You could title it “What is your most pressing question about [insert your topic of expertise here]. Make sure the page is visible and accessible from all of your web pages. Consider promoting this service throughout your web site to drive people to that page to submit a question.

2. Purchase the domain name “askYOURNAME.com” (where “YOURNAME” is your first and last name) and publicize it as a service and great place for consumers to get their most pressing questions, in your subject area, answered. Registering domains is cheap, and you can always point it to a page in your existing web site if you don’t want to pay additional web hosting fees.

3. Include an email address, or web page address, in your e-newsletter or any other form of regular communication, inviting your prospects and clients to submit their questions. Odds are if one prospect or client has a question, there are many others who also have the same question.

4. If you do presentations or seminars already, hand out a survey at the end to find out what attendees liked best about your presentation (it’s always a good idea to get feedback anyway), and to find out if there are other relevant areas they would like to see you speak on, or if they have questions they’d like answered.

5. Keep your eyes open and your customers in mind when you read trade publications, magazines or newspapers. If you come across something you think would be of interest to your prospects and customers, share it. Is something going on in the news that is relevant to your product or service? Write about it.

In addition to using this information to drive newsletter or presentation content, you can also use it to develop articles and content for your website, or to write Special Reports, Tips Sheets, or How-To Guides you can sell or use for marketing to your prospects and customers.

(C) Copyright 2005 Debbie LaChusa, 10stepmarketing

5 Easy Ways to Create Great Info Products is a post from: Business Blog | Lilamitre-arte.com