Many companies begin their online sales ventures with the wrong
strategy to build long term success. Thinking that a website is
the core of their business leads them to focus on getting
website visitors. Making the site "sticky", by using a
member-only area or a community feature such as chat or a forum,
may get some of your visitors to come back for more.
Unfortunately, the large part of your viewers may not use these
features, and being in a hurry, they are just a click away from
another new and interesting website. Many of your "hits" are
just that, a quick click, and they're gone forever. The visitor
that clicked away likely found your site by using a search
engine. They were interested in the search term that was one of
your site's keywords. That means that they may be your "target
customer". Isn't it a shame that you only had one chance to sell
this visitor on your product or service? Don't you wish that you
could follow-up on that "lead" at a later time? With a better
offer or a different related product? You can. The focus of your
online sales business "has" to be capturing lead information
(email addresses) and building a database of prospects and
previous customers. This "house list" enables you to keep in
touch with your leads, building a relationship and your
credibility over time. The website is an important part of the
sales "machine", but is not the primary focus, building your
house list is. Many people might think that the value of a house
list is determined by the number of leads it contains. This is
true, to a point. Affecting the value even more is the quality
of the leads, or subscribers. A small list that is highly
targeted, with responsive leads, is more valuable than a large
list that is not targeted. Quality comes from the methods used
to build the house list. You want leads to opt-in, or subscribe,
to your list. These people are interested in your niche, or they
wouldn't have joined the list. Using emails from one of those "
One Million Email Addresses For $10" CDs will get little or no
response. You will also be labeled as a spammer. Buying
subscribers from list brokers is another option, but you have to
be certain that the leads opted-in to the list. If not, they are
practically worthless. Build "your" house list, do it properly
using opt-in methods, and reap the rewards of a responsive and
loyal group of contacts. Follow-up with your leads on a regular
basis, and you'll have it made.
|
