Free Internet Marketing Newsletter for Small Businesses

Internet Marketing Newsletter for Small Businesses

Brought to you by idesignbusiness.com
http://www.idesignbusiness.com

Issue # 79
Wednesday, February 8, 2006

In this Issue:

ARTICLES:

Nobody Signing up for your Newsletter?

FREE RESOURCE:

Google Site Maps

Welcome to Issue # 79 of the Internet Marketing for Small Business Newsletter. I am excited to publish the fist issue of 2006 marking the 4th year of the newsletter! I wanted to get back to a very basic concept for this issue and focus on building an opt-in list for your website. It seems like the majority of websites today offer some type of newsletter or mailing list on their site but that doesn’t mean the majority of sites are promoting their list well. The article in this issue’s newsletters covers some opt-in list basics that may be worth re-visiting if you haven’t examined your mailing list lately. If you don’t have a mailing list on your website then get started now!!!

We would love to hear any questions, comments, or ideas for future articles, just email us at newsletters@idesignbusiness.com

New & Improved Small Business Forum - I am excited to announce that we have improved the idesignbusiness Small Business Forums to better facilitate communication and answer your questions. Be sure to check out the new format and post a question related to your business or an advertisement promoting your business.
Small Business Forums

Increase Your Link Popularity - Are you looking to increase your search engine rankings and traffic to your website? Visit LinkSource.info to share links with other websites related to your industry. Quality link exchanges will help you gain exposure for your website. FREE SERVICE! - LinkSource.info

Did you miss the last issue? You can always visit our idesignbusiness Internet Newsletter Archive and easily view and search all our past issues.

Neal St. Clair
idesignbusiness

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Make sure to mention you are a newsletter subscriber for discounted rates.

By Nicole Dean

Question: Why is nobody signing up for my newsletter? I know that’s where the money is, but I just can’t get anyone to sign up. What can I do? Signed - Yoo hoo... Anyone there?

Dear Yoo hoo... Anyone there?
Please don’t feel badly. I actually get this question a lot in my consulting business. It’s a very common problem and, fortunately, one that you can start improving today.

Here is the short version of the checklist I go through with clients when examining ways to fix this problem.

1. Where do I sign up?
The first thing I do when I’m helping a client is to play the game called "Where’s the signup box?" If it takes me more than half a second to find the newsletter signup form, then we’ve got work to do.

Your signup box should not be a challenge to find. If it is, it’s defeating the purpose. So, put it front and center in the top third of your page. It’s not even a bad thing if you have it on your page … gasp… twice.

Also, most people have pop-up blockers now, so don’t rely on a pop-up to get you a parade of traffic. Pop-ups and pop-unders are great, but they can’t be the only ways to get people on your list.

2. What am I signing up for?
The next thing I check is the copy in the signup box. If your best sales pitch is "Sign up for my mailing list" or "Sign up for our newsletter&uot; – then forget about it!

It used to be years ago that’s all you needed to say, but now people need a little more explanation and encouragement. Will you be providing tips, ideas, freebies, coupons, resources or advice? Let me know what I’m getting into before I’ll hand over my email address…. And it better be good.

3. Why should I sign up?
A little bribery can go a long ways. Will I get a bonus for signing up? Do you have a special report or a freebie for me? No? Well, get to work. There’s a lot of competition out there, so don’t be afraid to offer a little extra to your visitors.

4. How do I sign up?
The last item on my checklist is the sign-up procedure. If you’re using a service that makes me jump through too many hoops, then I’ll probably give up and move on to something else. Yes, double opt-in is good, but programs that make you join and jump too many times are just ridiculous.

Plus, if you’re asking for too much information (like my telephone number), I’ll likely pass. There’s no email list worth me getting phone calls during dinner. It doesn’t matter how good your mailing list is.

So, there you have it. Start with this quick checklist to see immediate improvement in your sign-ups. As far as getting traffic to your site to see your signup box – that’s another article in the making.

Nicole Dean is the owner of http://www.showmomthemoney.com/newsletter-advice.htm where you’ll find more tips to grow your mailing list, including ways to get more traffic to your site. . If you need enticements (bribes) to get people to your list, grab some free e-books here http://www.free-ebooksonline.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nicole_Dean

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Each issue of the Internet Marketing Newsletter for Small Businesses will include helpful free online resources to promote your websites.

Google Webmaster Tools - Google Site Map

Google now offers webmasters a quick and easy way to submit every webpage on your site to their index. Google Site Maps lets you create an XML file that includes links to every page on your website. You can submit this file to Google and they continually check your site for updates based on your site map. Google does a good jub of indexing websites to find all links and pages but the site map tool is a great resource to share pages with Google that may not be easy to find by Search Engine spiders.

In addition to indexing your pages for their results, they will also provide you stats about your site so you can find potential page errors that you may not have been aware of.

Google Site Maps

ABOUT idesignbusiness

idesignbusiness provides complete Internet services for small businesses including website design, website development, hosting and Internet marketing. Increase website traffic, build your customer base, and drive revenue using our cost-effective and result driven tools and services. Please visit http://www.idesignbusiness.com for more information.

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