Author: Pamela Swift

Article Contributed by David Gruttadaurio

Are you making this dreadful newsletter marketing mistake?
The typical client newsletter is one of the most mind-numbing, agonizingly boring pieces of mail ever sent to consumers.
The main reason is that most companies think what they do is incredibly fascinating to their clients. So based on this false assumption, their newsletters cheerfully discuss the latest equipment purchase or the new back office operation and how Mary Sue has moved from Payroll to Marketing. While this might be riveting stuff internally, I can assure you that your clients just don’t care.
If you’re making this newsletter marketing mistake, don’t worry. It’s not your fault. No one ever taught you the system, until now…
4 ‘Set in Stone’ Rules to Publishing a Winning Client Newsletter:
Rule #1: Never make your business or company the focus of your client newsletter. This concept is difficult for most business owners to wrap their minds around. Read my words: Our clients don’t care about how our business operates! The sooner we accept this fact, the sooner we will be sending them something that they actually want to read.
Rule #2: Focus on article content that people grab hold of and actually use in their lives. That means you must provide appealing and interesting content that is relevant, useful and engaging. The goal is to create involvement. The more time they spend with your newsletter, the more likely they’ll take action.
Rule # 3: Be consistent. If you tell your customers to expect a newsletter from you every month, you better do it. And ask yourself: How often do I want my customers and prospects to think of me? While daily would be wonderful, it’s not going to happen. Following a monthly newsletter schedule is perfect. They will expect to receive it just like they do their favorite magazines.
Rule #4: Never forget that a client newsletter is a marketing tool. Within your compelling content weave client testimonials and the names of people who have referred your company. Have contests that give away free services or gift cards to create further goodwill between you and your clients. And always, always, always have a compelling offer just for them.
Follow these rules and you will have a winning client newsletter that will get you more sales. But, you have to keep in mind that…
You Must Take a Long-term View on Using Newsletters as a Marketing and Customer Relations Tool.
Be aware that the results will not happen overnight. In fact, it will take several months for your customers to develop the ‘habit’ of looking for it.
But over time, your clients will come to expect getting your newsletter. And they will hound you if you missed sending them an issue! You will definitely see the desired results with the payoff being client retention and more purchases from you.
Client newsletters that include the four rules listed above will build relationships with your customers and create a sense of reliability and professionalism. You’ll be sending literature that your clients will look forward to reading every month.
And since your rivals don’t understand my newsletter success system, you will create a powerful marketing machine that will blow your competition out of the water.
About the Author
David Gruttadaurio was sick and tired of wasting money on marketing that didn’t work. So he searched for a profit-producing, client-retention & referral-generating tool until he found newsletter marketing! Now go to http://www.NewslettersMadeForYou.com & get his FREE “Profit Exploding Newsletter Secrets Report” that reveals how to reclaim tons of money that should be sitting in your bank account now simply with newsletters.

Article Contributed By Barry Plaskow
These are difficult economic times for almost everybody. Many people are looking to the Internet to find an easy way to build an information marketing business that will solve their problems.
Unfortunately, there are too many scams that are successful in luring people into joining opportunities that do not provide real value. However, many are unaware of any real alternatives.
But, because you’re reading this article you’ll be able to build a successful online business without spending thousands of dollars on little informational value.
3 Steps to Building an Information Marketing Business Online
Step# 1: Understand the World of Information Marketing
You can only be successful online when you understand what people are looking for on the Internet. People use search engines in order to look for information on a variety of topics. Ranging from a review of a specific product to details about a holiday resort, the Internet has become the source of information.
Many people are prepared to pay for this information for various reasons. Firstly there is a higher perceived value for paid material. Many potential customers will not even look at your free information, as it is perceived as being cheap and lacking. There is a large market that will only buy information that the author feels comfortable to charge for.
Here is the key: If you know what people are looking for then all you need to do is create a product and market it. Plain and simple. And, this is easier than it seems as long as you follow the next two steps.
Step 2: Learn only from real marketers
Real marketers are aware of which niches are profitable to go into and they are aware of the marketing strategies needed to succeed in those areas. You need a complete plan.
The problem is that there is so much fluff on the Internet today even in the real business world of information marketing. There are people who claim that they can make you rich if only you follow their systems.
They claim that they can teach you how to create a product and market it as well.
With experience, I can tell you that many of these “marketers” are not telling you the entire truth. Many of these systems are selling you the dream. But they lack real informational value. They merely want to take you to the next level of purchase. It often turns into a never-ending circle of buying.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that you should not buy e-Books and other products online. I’m just opening your eyes to the real truth and suggesting that you be careful before you buy. Do your homework and make sure the person or company you want to buy products from are real experts and NOT self-proclaimed experts.
Step #3 –Find out who the real marketers are
There are some great marketers out there. The problem is that in order to employ them you would be charged anywhere between $500-$2000/hour for their services. Most people starting on a small budget cannot afford such high prices.
Fortunately, a low budget alternative does exist. There are teleseminars available that offer advice from some of the best-known marketers often for free.
Teleseminars make sense for marketers as they get exposure to a wider audience. The audience wins because they receive some fantastic training from marketers who often reveal some of their best information.
If you want to succeed on line then you will need to receive an education from true marketers. Before buying any material, you will want to review what is being offered. One of the best ways of doing this is through a teleseminar.
If you follow these steps, you will build a successful information marketing business online. It’s how I’m growing my business and I’m a newbie. So, I’m learning just like you. But the difference is I’m following the above three steps and I’m learning from real experts.
Don’t you think it’s time for a change?
Although Barry Plaskow-is a relative newbie to internet marketing, he has succeeded in getting 12 of the world’s top Internet marketers including Jay Conrad Levinson, Kenneth A Macarthur and Dan Janal to appear on his teleseminar series. Now you can discover the tactics, strategies and secrets needed to create and sell products, build a huge list and generate a mountain of cash on the Internet at http://www.prleads.com/IM4Newbies

One of the most frustrating “facts of life: if you are trying to make money online: a significant percentage of visitors who sign up for your double opt-in newsletter will never confirm. (Of course this ignites the debate over single vs. double opt-in — but that’s a subject for another article.) It feels like you are leaving money on the table…or if you prefer, it’s the equivalent of meeting a nice guy at a bar and then having him never call.
There are always going to be people who won’t confirm; you’ll never approach a 100% confirmation rate. But there are definitely steps you can take to improve your ezine confirmation rate significantly. Here are the four steps I took to raise my own confirmation rate by 50% in just 8 months:
1. Your thank you page: tell your subscriber what they need to do next. They’ve taken the first step — filling in your subscription form. The very next thing they should see is your thank you page; use this real estate for three important messages:
A) Remind them of what they are signing up for, using most of the same language as on your signup page.
B) Remind them they have to click the confirmation link when they receive it in their inbox – otherwise they won’t receive the freebie they want (you are offering a freebie as incentive, right?)
C) Tell them how to make sure they receive the confirmation email by whitelisting; you can copy my whitelisting instructions if you like.
2. Use memorable language in the confirmation email. I’m not talking about clever wording or hype-y language; in fact, quite the opposite! You want the wording in the confirmation email to closely resemble the language on your signup and thank you pages, even lifting entire phrases word-for-word. This will mark the third time they’ve seen that language, making it much more likely that they will remember it and take action, i.e., click the link.
3. Deliver what you promise after they confirm. Once they click the link in your confirmation email, take them right to the page where they can access the freebie you promised. If your freebie is a downloadable ebook, for instance, put the download link right on the page, front and center; don’t make them wait to get a link in their email! Include download instructions; feel free to copy mine at the bottom of this page if you like. If your freebie is an audio or video, it’s a good idea to offer the option for them to listen or watch right from your webpage OR download for later use.
4. Tell them what you told them. On your post-confirmation thank you page, remind them one more time about your ezine title, frequency, etc., so they’ll recognize it when they get the next edition. Include a link to download or access the freebie, in case they didn’t see it on the thank you page or had trouble downloading. Include an email address where they can reach you if they need help or have a question. This is also a good place to remind them that they can unsubscribe from your newsletter anytime by clicking the link at the bottom (or top, depending on your newsletter design) of every mailing they receive from you.
Taking these steps is sure to improve your ezine confirmation rates (although your results may vary.) You may find that you don’t have to respond to as many “I didn’t get my ebook” complaints. And, you might even decrease the number of people who unsubscribe or mark your email as spam!

Terri Zwierzynski is a self-employed business strategist and marketing consultant to solo entrepreneurs, and a grassroots promoter of the solo entrepreneur lifestyle. She runs Solo-E.com, the resource website for the self-employed which attracts thousands of solo home business owners monthly from over 100 countries on six continents (and was recently named a finalist for “Website of the Year” in the 4th Annual Stevie® Awards for Women in Business). Terri is also the co-author of 136 Ways To Market Your Small or Solo Business.