Are You Cultivating Your Online Harvest Or Are You Leaving Most Of Your Crop To Rot In The Field?

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There is a very good reason why Google and Facebook are two of the richest companies on earth, you are paying them handsomely for the traffic they generate. Therefore traffic to your Web Site costs you a lot in both time and money. People often focus almost exclusively on getting as much traffic as they can but overlook one incredibly important factor: Cultivation.

Once you have paid for this high value visitor to click through to your Web Site you then only have a few seconds to make a good impression. Hopefully your design is enticing enough to get them to stick around for a little bit longer as these extra few seconds are vital.

You then have to take full advantage of that short extended timespan.

Statistics show that it is very unlikely you will get a sale on that first visit at it usually takes 2, 3 or more before a new prospect becomes comfortable enough with you to part with their hard earned cash.

Remember:

People buy when THEY are ready to buy, NOT when YOU are ready to sell to them.


With that in mind you have to find some way to engage with them. To build rapport, create a relationship.

A reason to get them to come visit you again, a way to keep your domain fresh in their memory so that once they are ready to make that all important purchase they come back to you, NOT one of your competitors.

In the old days we used to prompt visitors to bookmark our site so we could easily be found when needed but things have moved on since then. When was the last time you were prompted to bookmark a site? If you look at your bookmark list you can easily see why. I need a bookmark list for my bookmark list!

Now when was the last time you were asked for your email address? That is a very different story isn’t it? Almost every site you visit now is asking you to sign up for their newsletter, special offers list, updates etc.etc.etc..

The reason for this is that an email address still remains hugely valuable if you use it correctly and this is what this somewhat long winded post is about.

If you are not yet collecting customer email addresses you should be. And if you are then you should be making the most of them.

One of the best ways to gain an email address from your visitor is through bribery. Basically to provide something of value to them in exchange for something of valuable to you. It has been proven that the best material for such a bribe is something short but useful such as a Top 5 list relevant to your niche.

For example if you have a model aeroplane site then something like:

• The Top 5 Model Aeroplane Accessories You Won’t Be Able To Live Without
• The All New 2015 Top 5 Engines for Economy and Performance
• The Top 5 Winning Plane Designs of 2015
• The Top 5 Cutting Edge Batteries You’ll Need to Know About This Year

I am just making these up as I know nothing about model aeroplanes but you get the idea.

Not only are these short ‘best of’ lists highly effective they are also very quick and easy to produce.

So much so that you can create several different lists for specific sections of your Web Site (the battery one for your Battery & Charger section, accessories for Accessories etc.) or rotate them on the front page through A/B split testing to see which convert better. There are scripts and software available to help you achieve this.

The proliferation of pop-up boxes requesting your email address is now becoming a little tiring so you might want to try something a little more subtle in order not to p*ss off your visitor but the reason you see so many pop-ups is because they are effective.

Managing your List

You can build your list manually or use dedicated software for the purpose. The most common ones I tend to come across are Aweber and MailCheat(Chimp) but there are lots on the market and all vary in cost and features. Here are just a few:

www.aweber.com
www.constantcontact.com
www.MailCheat(Chimp).com
www.exacttarget.com
www.myemma.com
www.infusionsoft.com​

If you already have a large list then you might like to look at Sendy (www.sendy.co) which utilises Amazons SES (Simple Email Service) to drastically reduce your costs if you send large volumes of email.

For a lot of people new to email marketing they start out with MailCheat(Chimp) because it is free or Aweber, as, though you pay after a short trial period, it is cost effective and more feature rich than MailCheat(Chimp).

Whatever method you choose to manage your list writing the emails is an art unto itself. I would suggest reading some good copy writing books such as Cashvertising and The Entrepreneur's Guide To Getting Your Shit Together for help and inspiration. The trick is keep your audience eager to open your emails by telling them a story, lead them on a journey and leave them on a cliffhanger so they look forward to the next instalment.

Looking for inspiration and information? Here are a few resources to get you started:

www.greatemailcopy.com
http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/email-marketing-examples-list
http://tinyurl.com/effective-email-subject-keywor
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Growing your list is a very important aspect to your online success. Don't overlook the power email marketing has in building a relationship with your customer base and providing opportunities to increase your sales.

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