Internet Marketing Can Help Businesses Grow

Every time a person visits your website and leaves without taking action, you have lost a prospect. The easiest way to capture that prospect and lead him or her into your sales funnel is through the effective use of e-mail marketing. Building an e-mail list through your website is a crucial element of keeping in touch with your prospects and increasing your sales.

Once visitors reach your website, they'll do one of three things.

They take action (make contact, signup or buy something), bookmark you or click away. If someone takes action, great! If they click away, there's not much you can do. And don't count on those bookmarking you to come back anytime soon.

Fortunately, with a smart e-mail marketing game plan and the right invitation, you've got your best shot for capturing their e-mail addresses. And that can only mean one thing: more business.

Step 1 is to use a professional online e-mail marketing service that provides the tools and support you need to be successful. There are several options depending on the size of your company, but I've been most happy with Aweber (www.aweber.com) during the past five years. If you have a webmaster, ask that person's preference. If you don't have a webmaster, go with Aweber for its simplicity and service. E-mail marketing services start at less than $20 per month.

Step 2 is to create the form (simple) at your e-mail marketing services website and paste the code for that form into your web pages. This is not as hard as it sounds. The e-mail marketing service will have a simple way to create the form, and you or your webmaster can just paste it right into your web site.

Step 3 is to create a compelling offer why a visitor should join your e-mail list. Best ideas include a special white paper or special report, a helpful top 10 list about your business or industry or even a coupon toward a visitor's first purchase. For the best shot of receiving those e-mail addresses, offer all three for signing up.

Step 4 is to create a thank you or autoresponder message. This is the e-mail your new subscribers will receive after they've signed up on your web site. This is a great place to introduce yourself, provide visitors what you offered in your invitation and let them know how you can help them any further.

Step 5 is to stay in touch with your subscribers every couple of weeks. What should you e-mail your list? Well, anything that would interest them as a potential customer.