Carrying on with the concept of building your own website for greater online profits…

I don’t know about you, but I find it pretty tedious building the overall site design - the template look-and-feel which all pages will have.

It can take hours - days even - to get the site design right.

Those are hours frankly I am not prepared to waste mucking about sorting and fixing the HTML for the template.

However…

What I do is this:

I simply buy a cool looking template ‘off the shelf’

There are loads of templates available for around £20 to £35 which will make your website look very attractive and professional - that says just the right message to your customers - and which then encourages and builds TRUST and RESPECT for your business. 

This means MORE SALES

I have tried many different template providers and the main one I come back to again and again is www.templatemonster.com

I have used Template Monster many times and they have a HUGE range of templates.  There are many others and you can find many in Google - some are good, some are unreliable but Template Monster is certainly the one I have bought the momst templates from.

So I wouuld suggest that if you are setting up your own website, head over to http://www.templatemonster.com and spend half an hour selectinng the best site design template for you.

Good luck.

You’ve already heard us talk about the power and importance of having your own website…

The difference between successful people and others is this;

The successful ones STARTED and then kept the ball rolling.

So here is how to start.  Just do this ONE thing today:

Check out this list of good domain companies and web hosting companies and MAKE A START TODAY.

And that is all for today. Go make a start now

Last week we looked at email autoresponders, which send email out in an automated sequence following sign-up.

Now let’s look at the flipside of the same coin - sending mass broadcast emails to everyone all at once.

This is good for when you need to tell everyone all at the same time, rather than a certain time after they signed up.  For instance if you have a sale on or special offer on at a set time.

This can be hugely profitable - and helpful to your recipients - so long as you send information and offers that will help them and you.

Watch this FREE VIDEO on how to send broadcast emails…

Again we are going to assume you have got an Aweber account. If not, take the FREE TEST DRIVE here

Click the ‘Play’ triangle to watch how to send broadcast emails …

For the FREE TEST DRIVE of Aweber click here

You may recall in a previous edition of the Tuesday Topup we looked at the importance of “Contact Management”.

Contact Management is the art and science of contacting your visitors and customers, in the most appropriate way, repeatedly, with the aim of helping them, delivering service to them and encouraging them to become a customer and a repeat customer.

So how do you do this?

There are more advanced ways, but the quickest, simplest and easiest is with Aweber’s email system.

In this edition let’s look at using “Sequential Autoresponders”.

I am going to show you inside a current LIVE email campaign with us on 2u.co.uk - but first…

Sequential autoresponders - break the words down into their parts.  It is an automatic responding email system that sends the emails out to the subscribers in a set sequence.

For example, the email sequence might be as follows:

Email 1 - Instant on sign up

Email 2 - Day 2

Email 3 - Day 5

Email 4 - Day 10

… or however you want to set it.

Think about how important this is …

You can send out the “thank you for subscribing/buying” email instantly, followed by “I hope it is to your satisfaction” email, followed by “You bought X, now you might want to consider Z” etc.

Now I am going to show you how easy this is to set up in Aweber - and show you in one of our LIVE email campaigns.

Click the ‘Play’ triangle to watch how …

If you cannot see the video above then click here now

For the FREE TEST DRIVE go to Aweber

This week we’ll look at how to get your email through to your subscribers (it’s not as simple as “just hit send”)

Last week I showed you the lead-up to email marketing and the best email system to use.

Now let’s dig a little deeper on just this one angle of getting your emails through to your subscribers…

So-called ‘intelligent’ anti-spam filters block email by

1. Its content AND
2. Where the email is sent FROM.

The biggest sinners in this are unfortunately the major email providers - in approximate order of effect …

1. AOL
2. Yahoo
3. Hotmail
4. and the other major providers

From experience, we have found AOL to be the biggest blocker of legitimate email.

Your email gets blocked BEFORE it even gets to the person’s junk filter box. That means that even if you were to speak with the person and ask them to check their junk email box, they would not find it, because …

It is NOT there!

Why?
The recipient’s email provider has filtered the email and blocked it. It is deleted and blocked.

If your email comes from an unrecognised or unknown server, the major email providers effectively flag your email as maybe spam. Then the slightest questionable content, and your email is deleted faster than you can say “legitimate email”.

That means that if you are sending email from your own server, from your own website, chances are that a lot of it is getting blocked in this way.

So what can you do about it
You need to send your email only from a server that is approved by the major email providers.

This is called ‘whitelisting’.

It is like a VIP guest list…”If you’re not on the whitelist, your email’s not coming in!”If your email is coming from a whitelisted server, you have a VIP pass.How do you get on the list? How do you get whitelisted?

You have 2 options:

1. Get your own server whitelisted
2. Send your email from someone else’s server that is whitelisted.

We analysed the first option - getting your own server whitelisted. It is not cheap. One of the main providers that enable you to get white listed charge approximately £25,000 to get set up - then £15,000 each year.

Obviously this is a little higher than most people’s budget!

There is another possible answer to getting your own servers whitelist, but we have not yet tested it so cannot recommend it to you one way or the other. It is still much more expensive that using third-party senders (see below) but is less that £25k+. With suretymail.com expect to pay around £200 a month.

So how about the second option - sending your email from someone else’s server that is whitelisted?

This is the option we currently use. And we STRONGLY recommend you use the same provider we use - Aweber.

Their servers are whitelisted so their deliverability rates are the highest in the market.

That means your email will get through.The cost is a less than a meal out - click here now to get your email DELIVERED.

There are many, many other benefits to using Aweber which add up to them being the best in the world, bar none.

Yes, there are 1 or 2 others that are equal like Email Aces, but none better.

And Aweber’s system is incredibly easy to use.

You can take a FREE test drive of the Aweber Email system here

Click here to learn more

In this edition of the Tuesday Topup I want to look at another marketing fundamental. 

Last week we looked at the vital importance of understanding the relationship between value and money. 

In short you’ve got to - got to - got to - give massive value before you can expect any money in return.  And the value is whatever the value is to the customer. 

Moving forward from there - a question … 

“How do you funnel customers to your product or service - and get them to come back again and again?” 

There are 3 key elements: 

1. Contact,
2. Contact Management, and
3. Giving value (as discussed last week) 

“Contact” refers to the initial contact.  The first thing the customer sees of you and how they got there.  This is discussed elsewhere under the broad headings of “traffic generation” and everything that gets the visitor ultimately TO your website. 

“Contact Management” is how you then ‘talk’ with your visitors, both at the time of the initial contact and every point thereafter.  Built into this is your overall ‘brand’ - ie the overall feel of the customer’s experience with you. 

I am going to go in more detail into the “Contact” part and the rest of “Contact Management” and talking with your visitor at a later point, but for now, lets look just at the methods for talking with them again. 

Specifically, you need to talk with your customer right now, and again afterwards, until you have given so much value to them that they are ready to buy, to give you money for what you are offering. 

It is a generally accepted marketing truism that on average customers need at least 7 points of contact - 7 repeated conversations with you or your company or your product or service - before they will buy. 

Over time you will build up a growing list or database of potential customers, who have not yet bought from you. 

If you don’t contact them again you are leaving a whole lot of money on the table - and you could genuinely be able to help them, and they will go without … 

Unless you contact them again a number of times. 

You need to be contacting them with valuable, helpful information that helps show them you are worth doing business with. 

And you need to talk with someone who first came to you yesterday differently to someone who first came to you 1 month ago or 6 months ago. 

So as the number of people who have visited your site or business grows,  how do you do this without working a 25 hour day? 

Email Marketing using Sequential Autoresponders: 

Now I will say this up front - Email marketing does not work as well as it used to.  But is that a reason to not use it? 

I have heard people say “There’s no point to doing email marketing because it doesn’t work as well as it used to” 

It’s possibly the dumbest answer I have ever heard. 

Just because something used to work better, is no logical reason to stop using it.  The only time to stop using something is when the returns are less than the time, effort and cost of using it. 

So back to email marketing… 

You need to contact your visitors again and again with useful, insightful, helpful information that shows you are an expert. 

Firstly you need to CAPTURE their contact details.   

If you don’t capture their details and if they don’t buy on that first contact - which in all probability they will not - then you have wasted all your traffic-getting efforts. 

The bare minimum thing to capture is their email address and a very close second is their first name.  You can ask for more, but with every field (piece of information) you ask you will get less and less people who actually respond. 

So you need to take and store their email and first name. 

Then you need to email them instantly to welcome them and thank them for giving their details. 

Then at certain regular intervals you need to contact them again repeatedly.  You will get much better results if this is regular.  For example, I have now made this blog into the “Tuesday Topup”.  How often do I contact our subscribers?  The clue is in the name

And attached into this blog is a VERY powerful system to automatically email out to all our blog subscribers to tell them when a new blog message or article has been posted (subscribe on the top left if you haven’t already). 

And this email system is the same system you can use to not only capture your visitor’s contact details, but also to send out emails in the sequence which you set, at the specific times you set.   

So you can set it up to send ‘new visitor’ information straight away, then later after a period of time and after a sequence of other emails, as you build rapport and you have built up more of a relationship, you can start sending out more in-depth information. 

Or however you want to structure it. 

The true beauty of it is that once you set it up - it is totally automatic. 

For example, on www.2u.co.uk down the left side you will see a form where a visitor can fill in their first name and email and get a sequence of money saving advice for their mobile phone.  There are a number of emails that go to the subscriber over a period of time.  The first is instant, then there are a number of weekly emails which give the visitor free information on how they can save money on their mobile phone bills etc. 

The WHOLE process is completely automated. 

 I set it up about 2 years ago and have hardly touched it since.  There are hundreds of people subscribed into that list who automatically get the information they have requested.

And it is incredibly easy to set up. 

Simply go to Aweber and get yourself an account.  The benefits you get FAR outweigh the tiny cost. So get yourself an account there now if you do not already have one. 

If you do nothing else for your online business this week DO THIS NOW. 

Then you can easily create a web form (which is the form to ask for their email address etc). 

Put this into your site.  You are now up and running collecting visitor contact details so you can contact them again and again. 

Now you need to start writing the sequence of emails to go out to these potential customers after they have signed up. 

Then decide how many days after signup they will be sent. 

And that is more or less it.  Sure there are more advanced strategies, such as segmenting, but this really is the bare-bones of an automated email marketing campaign. 

Aweber give excellent tutorials on exactly how to use the system, and I will go into more detail on what extra benefits you can use to enhance your email campaign. 

But this is the real skeleton outline.  And once you have done this, you don’t need to keep doing it. 

Set it -> forget it. 

Well, almost.  You need to revisit the sequence and check it is all up to date and if you could improve it to help your customers more. 

So that’s it for today.  If you haven’t yet go to Aweber and get yourself an account. 

Don’t put it off.  There is always an excuse but just get started and slowly over time your list will build up. Do it now.  Good luck.

Next week we are going to look in closer detail at exactly what you can do to fully automate a highly successful email marketing system. 

Speak with you then, 

Duncan Ritson-Elliott

This is the most basic, basic part of marketing - but it is also the most important!

It is SO fundamental that it is often overlooked.

And it is this:

The relationship between VALUE and MONEY.

Think about everything that means and everything related to it.

Providing value to your customers.  The money that ensues.

So many people start a bussiness idea with a thought process of

“How can I get money?”

“How can I make more money?”

The trouble with this thinking is that it should start with the customer.

The better question is this:

How can I better serve my customers such that it is worth so much to them that they will give me money for it.

(I know - it could be worded better, but you get the idea)

“How can I solve their problems?”

It is all about the CUSTOMER.

DRILL this into your head …

Give VALUE that people will be WANTING TO PAY FOR.

Return On Investment = ROI.

You’ve probably heard of the term “ROI” or “Return On Investment”.

You probably heard it from a business perspective, in terms of a business getting  return (income) from their investment in (say) building a product. 

They invest in their product and hopefully when they sell it, they will make more from selling it that they put into building it.

But it is far more important to your marketing mind to be thinking of that EXACT same equation from the CUSTOMER’s point of view.

The customer is going to invest their TIME and MONEY in looking at, and potentially buying your product. 

Is it going to give them a return on their investment?

Is the customer going to see what you are offering as worth more value than the money you are asking for?

As far as the customer is concerned, will they get something worth more to them than the money they paid?

So think about the customer’s ROI.

Today, do nothing else but these 2 things:

1. Think about how you can offer more value to your customers.

2. Think about how you can better communicate to your customers what current value you are offering.

That, in essence, is marketing.

I’ve just got back from 3 days at the Internet Marketing Seminar in London, set up by the guys from Rip2It - Sean Roach and Pat Lovell.

And here’s what I got from it - And what you could get from going to Internet Marketing Seminars in the future …

Sean and Pat have clearly put a lot of energy into it all, so well done to them.

I went to their event last year in Coventry (but could only go for the Friday, because I had a very close friend’s wedding in Scotland so I literally ran out on Friday night straight to the airport). Last year it was just shy of £500 to attend. This year it was £97. Being cheaper than last year, I had figured and accepted the fact that the event organisers would be making their money from the speakers/presenters making pitches for their products and selling to the attendees across the 3-day event (Friday, Saturday and Sunday).

Hence, because I understood a little of the commercial structure of seminars, I figured before I went that it would be a bit of a pitch-fest.

And I wasn’t wrong. Every speaker had a product, and clearly the magic figure for maximum profit and order take-up was around the £999 mark - or at least an instalment with an initial payment of £999. Again, I didn’t really mind this because I had accepted this right from the get-go.

Here is my list I had written for myself before I went, as to what I wanted to get out of the weekend and what expected.

1. Learn some nuggets of information that will pay for the cost of being there - about £400 all in with the ticket, hotel and bar costs (yes, Friday night was fun - the Solpadeine painkillers I took certainly saved me and got me through Saturday!)

2. To meet interesting and like minded people. Working full time on the internet can be a slightly lonely place so it is important to get out there once in a while and meet others who are doing (or trying to do) what you are doing - If only for my own sanity and socialising.

3. Network with other people on a similar level to me, to potentially Joint Venture and do business together in the future.

I certainly wasn’t disappointed.

1. Information nuggets:

I did not get a huge amount of information, which I was a little bit disappointed about. Very few of the speakers really gave much away beyond what they needed to for their sales presentation.

Some did – Tim Brocklehurst of ‘My Viral Spiral’ fame gave an informative and well-honed presentation on viral marketing and the elements of it (Viral seeds, Viral triggers, Viral Slip and Viral Motivators).

My number one favourite in terms of information was Mark Anastasi - www.mark-anastasi.com – although it was a real shame he had more to give than he had to time to tell – he had to cut the last 15 minutes down into 5! Mark – if you read this, I’d love to get hold of your PowerPoint file (subject to NDA of course).

But I certainly did get a few good tips and ideas. Just one tip saved me hours of frustration.

Actually this is a good example of why it is good to meet other people and why they can help you reframe a problem …

Prior to the seminar I had realised that because I use Outlook Calendar to remind me of what to do when, I often get distracted when checking my Calendar with the email that then suddenly come in - and get pulled in with “I’ll just answer this one - oh and that one …” and before I know it I have lost an hour (if you ever suffer from this, or from lost time to emails - listen) …

So I had spent a fair few hours researching how I could separate the software of Outlook Calendar from Outlook emails. I spent hours on it … and got nowhere. I had figured I would research it again after the seminar.

I asked Sean Roach this as part of a Q&A sessions (Questions and Answers) live in the seminar hall.

His answer?

“Work Offline: In Outlook, go to “File” -> “Work Offline”.

This stops the emails coming in - and hence they cannot distract me while I am in total-focus mode.

Doh!

So that answer alone stopped me wasting more of my valuable time. I would say that alone was probably worth the £97 cost of the admission ticket - just in my saved time.

It is also a good example of looking for the wrong thing by asking the wrong question.

Anyway, that certainly helped, so thank you Sean!

Overall, of the 3 criteria I listed above, it was the information that was a little low this year. Apparently next year they are toying with the idea of a much higher entrance ticket price, with no pitch-fest of each presenter selling products - so I would certainly be interested in that.

Personally I would suggest a ticket price of £999 plus no more than 3 products being sold and only the very best products - maybe the top-3 best sellers from this year.

Anyway, I am about to spend the next few days writing up my notes so I can consolidate everything and put the information into actionable steps. And that is what counts to me. Actionability (I got my grammar lessons from a Mr G. W. Bush).

2. Interesting like-minded people:

I certainly met many such people - and really, this is what seminars are about, beyond just the information. If you ever get the opportunity to go to seminars - jump at the chance - if only for this reason.

We had a very entertaining time of it in the bar on Friday night. It’s always very informative to meet other internet marketing of all different levels, and find out what they are doing and generally chew the cud on the state of the market etc.

You can often find out trends in peoples’ need – and therefore create products to help that need.

It is also inspiring to be around other people who are passionate and driven to provide value and make money on the internet.

For example, one guy called Alan, from Ireland, had given up an 8-generation family Butcher business to go fully online and make his fortune.

His tagline and next book will be “Butcher to Billionaire” – I love it! Good luck Alan – I genuinely hope you get there – go for it!

KEY TIP: (and this is so blindingly obvious but so often missed)

Create and offer value – the money will follow.

3. Network for potential Joint Ventures:

Again, it’s all about people. Finding out what they do and how what they do might tie-in in some way to what you do - and how you can help each other.

I met a chap for the first time, called Chris Freville and we spoke a few times about internet marketing in general etc - and it wasn’t until the Sunday that the coin suddenly dropped - that he had written the “Web 2.0 Stampede” book which I purchased, and is next on my “To read” list – by all accounts and recommendations a very good book. So there might be potential in the future for us to do business together, as he has produced some very good products which might help a growing number of people. Chris, if you get this - hi - drop me a line.

Plus a number of other people that either I could help - that they could help me – or we could both benefit.

All in all a worth while event.

Hard work and intense, but definitely worth while.

It will take me a few days to mentally process it all and come out with a strategy plan.

So if you ever get a chance to attend an Internet Marketing seminar – GO.

I’ll most likely see you there.

Please ADD YOUR COMMENTS BELOW. Have you ever been to I.M. Seminars? How did you find it? What do you think?

P.S. A relevant funny for you …

This was played at the seminar – to show the joys (or not) of having a job, and not working for yourself and having your own business …

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Hjhi_FHxY8k&NR=1

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_O_5ef49N5I

We get lots of very successful affiliates who sell our products - that sign up with us and hit the ground running.

Others, to be honest, struggle.  They don’t know how to be successful online.

The little-known fact of the matter is that it broadly follows the same rules as offline marketing - but with different tactics online.

So here’s the question:

What do you need to know and to learn, in order to be successful online?

What do you KNOW that you DON’T know?

(not yet a 2u Mobile Phone Affiliate? Click here to join)

Now, I know there maybe things that you don’t know that you don’t know, but lets maybe put those to one side for now.  What DO you know that you don’t know, in order to get  successful online?

Any answers are OK - let us know where you might need help and we will do what we can to help you.

 Simply answer in the comments section below - click “comments” below to reply.

This is brand new and hence has only very limited stats to show for itself, but if you have your own blog, this is a new method to get targeted (or at least semi-targeted) traffic to your site.

Down the left side of this blog you will see a dark block area saying “From the Blogoshpere …”

This is Blog Rush, a free marketing tool to get traffic to your blog.

It works like an advert swap; you have links to other sites, and other sites have links to you.

As I said, it is new and hence unproven, but it makes sense, its free and it is worth a try, to get free targeted traffic to your blog.

To register for free go to
http://www.2uaffiliates.com/public/BlogRush.html