DAY 8 -- Build Relationships... Deepen PREselling

SBI! Modules Used Today -- SiteBuilder, RSS/Blog It!, Socialize It!,
Form Build It!, Content 2.0, Videos, MailOut Manager, Infin It!

"We all prefer to do business with those we like and trust."

That simple truth has existed since prehistoric (wo)man traded mammoth-tusk carvings for new-model wheels. It's a shame so many business people forget or ignore this. In the faceless online world, this concept may seem as extinct as those mammoths. In fact, it is more valid than ever.

Your DAY 8 goal is to build a quality, long-term, repeat-exposure relationship with your visitors/customers so that they will happily return to your site frequently... and monetize!

You build your whole C  T  P  M site with the ultimate goal of Monetizing by causing your visitors to deliver your Most Wanted Response(s) ("MWR") (ex., click on an ad, complete a form to hire your service, buy a product, click on affiliate links, etc.). But be realistic...

Only a small percentage of visitors actually deliver your MWR during a visit. Those who do not, of course, simply leave.

Even those who liked what you deliver? Yes, most of them leave, too, without monetizing on the first visit. But if you provide these folks with a way to hear from you again, and a way to participate on your site, they will take it. (That is the power of strong, original content!)

And they'll be back. Then they'll monetize.

Think of it as C  T  P  M Redux.

Step 1 - Understand the value of Content through repeat exposure.

What's in the future for those who leave your site? Not you or your site, not unless you put it into their futures. And you will. Today.

The reality is, unless you provide "Backup Responses," they won't return to your site even if they like and bookmark it. It's nothing personal. It's simply a big Web out there... and they "might as well see something new!"

Think about it. How many sites have you ever bookmarked? Quite a few? Of those, how many have you ever revisited? Not many. Check your bookmark list and see for yourself. I'll wait right here...

...

See?

But what if you subscribed to their blogs or zines? Ah... Now you come back! And so will your visitors when you offer those (and other) opportunities.

Question: How do you reach them again and again after they leave?

Answer: Offer a Backup Response, one that delivers a free benefit to your visitor. That free benefit can be as simple as a periodic updating about new content on your site, or "inside information" for subscribers or even monthly free e-books... whatever fits your time and abilities and your audience.

This provides you with a repeat C  T  P  M opportunity. The repeat exposure presents new Content that drives repeat Traffic, which deepens the PREsold relationship. The likelihood of Monetizing grows.

Sooner or later, a healthy percentage of those who trigger your Backup Response will deliver your MWR and monetize, whether that's a sale or a contract or a lead, or merely a click on an ad. Why?

Because you're doing much more than increasing traffic through repeat visits. You are building a quality, long term, repeat-exposure, one-to-one relationship with your visitor/customer.

You are building your "Brand of One" by deepening the PREselling that your site had started. You are building like and trust. And...

"We all prefer to do business with those we like and trust."

Step 2 - Site-Blog... it's the perfect small business compromise.

Blogging is taking the world by storm. Or so it would seem if you've been reading anything from Newsweek to the most specialized online publications (and you should not be -- SBI! does that, so you can focus on business).

Here's the bottom lines on blogging. Most small business people don't have...

• the time
• the inclination
• the subject matter.

If you do, you will be able to incorporate a "full-blog" right into your SBI! site. More on that when you follow a link below.

While full-blogging is only right for some small businesses, blogging is "recognized" by more and more "regular" Web surfers. The "mass market" is subscribing to blogs. And...

Since your visitors like your content, they will want more of it. It's your pleasure to give it to them, as long as it does not require you to master a new technology and create more content than you are already doing now.

Right?

Right?

Right! So...

Build Relationships with RSS/Blog It!

Give your visitors the chance to subscribe to your blog. What's that? You don't have the time, inclination or subject matter to blog?

Ah, that's the beauty of site-blogging. All you have to do is click to set it up. There is no new content to create since SBI! will simply, automatically reformat your newest content into a blog!

Presto! You are site-blogging. And a whole lot of repeat C  T  P  M is about to head your way!

First, let's straighten out a misconception...

Don't confuse a blog with RSS. Your blog is the content. RSS is how you distribute your content. Think of it like your local newspaper. The blog is the newspaper. RSS is the paperboy.

But what exactly is RSS?...

RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication." And that is exactly what it is... a new way for you to distribute content. That content can be any electronic communication (i.e., Web pages, mp3s, video, etc.)

A comprehensive overview, including easy-to-understand, how-to instructions, is available at...

http://sbitips.sitesell.com/rss-intro.html

And for help, ideas, and strategies on how to get the most out of all this, don't miss the Blog It! forum...

http://forums.sitesell.com/viewforum.php?f=86

The following introductory post is especially important. It explains the three levels of "RSSing" and helps you decide which is best for you and your customers...

http://forums.sitesell.com/viewtopic.php?p=74849#74849

RSS/Blog It! converts your SBI! site into a blog. It turns your RSS feed into a perfectly formatted and visible TIER 2 Web page. Of course, that gets the attention of both your human and spider visitors!

And here's the fun part. Every time you create or modify a Web page, those changes are distributed through RSS to the world. It even automatically pings every major RSS/blog engine/directory, saving you the tedium of doing that every time you post.

And the combination of Site-Blogging and your XML Sitemap? (Both are automatically generated for you by SBI!.) Powerful, natural, honest, and easy distribution -- see this article from the TNT HQ about the effects on Google.

Visitors subscribe to your site, the way they subscribe to your e-zine! It's the best of both worlds. Publishing a site-blog is a fantastic, non-intrusive way to maintain contact with your visitors.

Your site blog lets them know "something's new." Since they like your material, they click to re-visit your site. Bingo! Re-start C  T  P  M.

For a more complete explanation of the concept of distributing your Web site through RSS, rather than spending additional time to create more new content "just to have a blog," review the "3 levels of RSSing" post above (you've done that by now, right?) and read...

http://sbitips.sitesell.com/using-rss-as-marketer.html

RSS/Blog It! is located in Site Central's BusinessCenter. Follow its concise help and you will be distributing your site blog within 30 minutes! Site-blogging is so easy, and such an effective way to build a following and build traffic faster, you should enable it within your first 10 pages.

Step 3 - Prime the Relationship Pump

Now that you have lots of great content and have your RSS feed and Site-Blog set up, it's time to start building on that foundation. Consider these four strategies...

• Add Socialize It! to all your pages, to make it easy for your visitors to share your pages on social bookmarking and social networking sites.
• Use Form Build It! to create a contact page, and to build an autoresponder series to provide valuable information and collect e-mail addresses.
• Use Content 2.0 to expand your relationships.
• Add videos to your site.

Add Socialize It! to your pages.

Socialize It! lets you easily add a button bar to all your pages (except certain ones). This button bar contains small buttons to the main social media marketing sites, including...

• the social networking sites Facebook and MySpace
• the social bookmarking services Delicious, StumbleUpon, Yahoo! Buzz and Google Bookmarks (part of the personalized Google home page)

Plus, your visitors can easily copy code that they can add to a Web page, blog post, forum thread, etc., giving you a deep link to your page.

These buttons let your visitors quickly bookmark and/or share the page with their friends on their favorite social media site. Reports in the forums indicate that Socialize It! is bringing traffic to SBI! sites from these social media sites!

For an overview of social media marketing, see...

http://sbitips.sitesell.com/socialize-it-overview.html

Use Form Build It! to offer quality information and a contact option.

Site-blogging (above) and e-zines (below) are two ways to deepen PREselling. Form Build It! is a powerful and flexible way not only to do more of this by providing more "Backup Response" options. It also provides ways to deliver, in some cases, your "Most Wanted Response" (ex., your "Hire Me" form!).

Forms are an easy way to communicate and interact with your visitors and customers. They take your PREselling efforts to the next relationship level. Whenever a visitor fills in a form, s/he is making a connection with you.

Forms are also a safe way to communicate. SPAM-bots can read e-mail addresses off your Web site, but are foiled by forms. Protect yourself from rampant spam...

Always use a Contact Form rather than an e-mail link on your pages. If you do this, and avoid signing up for spammy services (a common trick to lure your address), you can avoid 99.9999% of all SPAM!

SBI!'s integrated Form Build It! functionality enables you to create contact forms as well as...

• unlimited usage of single or sequential autoresponder messages
• custom forms
• surveys or polls
• registration and reservation forms.

The tool is receipt-enabled -- exactly what you need if you are using the finder's fee-referral monetization model. Forms are great lead generators.

Whether you want to generate a new income stream, conduct a survey, create a series of sequential Autoresponder messages, or simply collect feedback from your visitors, Form Build It! has an important role to play.

Note that Form Build It! is not for collecting e-mail addresses for your e-zine or newsletter. Use the MailOut Manager (discussed below, in Step 4) for that.

The Form Build It! tool is easy, flexible and powerful. To get started, log into Site Central and visit the Form Build It! Library via the Libraries section of SiteBuilder...

The Form Build It! Library contains all your forms. It is where you create or edit or deactivate or delete a form. You also edit any part of any of the three post-form-submission components (ex., the Thank You Page).

Use Form Build It! to quickly and easily make/edit a variety of forms. Start with a form to gather contact information for a Contact Us page...

Later, at any time, you can get all the data from all the forms submitted by visitors. Analyze the data and turn it into useful information, depending on each form's purpose, of course. All that data is never more than a click away on the Get Form Data button, also accessible via Site Central.

As always, follow the online instructions and Help & Strategies that are right at your fingertips. No fuss, no muss... just business-building results!

Use Content 2.0 to expand your relationships.

You set up your first invitation in DAY 7, to build traffic. Now use Content 2.0 to deepen a sense of community. For great ways to use C2 to build relationships, see The C2 Guide in the TNT HQ.

Remember to check the Content 2.0 forum periodically. Learn how other SBIers are engaging their visitors.

Add Videos to your site.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth a thousand pictures.

Videos make it very easy to connect with your visitors, whether they are how-to or general information/background videos. You can create your own, or find ones at Google Video or YouTube to add to your pages. You don't need many.

Add them where they will help explain a particular topic, or make a certain procedure easier to follow. If you have a travel site, use them to give your visitors a sense of what a location is like. Or make travelogues.

For more on creating videos for your site, or using existing videos, see the Video section of the TNT HQ.

Step 4 - Publish an e-zine.

A quality e-zine (i.e., an e-mailed newsletter) is another excellent Backup Response. An e-zine lets you revisit your visitors. It reminds them about you, and it gives them reasons to return to your site. Possibilities include e-zines that deliver one or more of the following...

• new info about your site (the easiest model to create/maintain)
• new product/service introductions/upgrade announcements
• brand new content exclusive to subscribers (the hardest model, since it involves creating new content, but it may make sense if subscribers are prospective clients for your high-priced services)
• the rest is, as they say, limited only by your imagination.

As always, it all starts with Content. Good information is the engine that drives C  T  P and allows you to lead into the M.

The goal of your newsletter is to deepen the P in C  T  P  M. Build likeability and trust. Nurture a great relationship with customers and prospects. Together with blogging, there's no better way to keep in touch with your customers (current and potential) on a regular basis.

Provide what your subscribers want to hear, not what you want to talk about. Make them look forward to receiving the next issue!

Selling a service? Your e-zine must contain excellent content.

If you are a Service Seller, an e-zine is a must. The better your e-zine, the more you impress people with your expertise and ability to deliver. You build credibility (yes, that's "PREselling").

No client hires a service provider on the first, second, or third contact. Repeat exposure is the effective repeat credibility-booster that you need to quietly-yet-powerfully convince your prospect that "you are the right person" to retain.

Never forget your ultimate goal... Monetize.

Some small business people become so delighted about the praise they receive for delivering all the good content, they forget or become shy about trying to monetize. Please remember...

You and your family can't eat "praise."

Yes, in order to get the MWR, you do first have to give great content.

"Give, then get."

But do not let your Backup Response become a one-way street, where you just give, give, give. Weave in reminders that you want their business, or they simply fall into the habit of taking great content for free. After a while, they just take, take, take. Heck, they don't even thank you anymore! So...

Always tie e-zine content back to your MWR. Provide excellent content, but let your reader conclude that the "best stuff" lies in your MWR.

Be "gentle." Be creative. But don't be shy. Do remember that C  T  P  M ends in "M."

If you are an infopreneur, this is not hard. You can simply "tease" readers back to your site with good headlines about each new page. Once they are on your site, clicks on ads or affiliate links monetize. But if you are selling a service, you have a fine line to walk. If your e-zine turns into a straight "sales pitch," you'll simply get unsubscribes.

On the other hand, don't be shy to do some "selling" to get the M. As I said, a profitable e-zine not only gives, it gets -- so get the MWR. Each issue should directly increase your chances of getting your MWR. As long as you "take" with class and subtlety, your reader/prospect won't object. If he does object, he'll never be a customer, in which case...

Nothing lost!

OK, with those preliminaries established...

Let's Prepare the Framework

Solid planning was critical for your site (DAYs 1-5). It is, too, for your zine. Luckily, this won't take 5 DAYs. Let's do it today...

Orientation

Before deciding upon what you'll write, decide for whom you will write, and why (i.e., the MWR).

Are you targeting a particular subset of visitors to your site, or everyone (ex., all visitors to anguilla-beaches.com vs. high net-worth individuals)? Do you just want them to revisit your site and click on an ad or do you want them to retain your services? Answering the "who" and the "why" forms the "what"...

What benefits will you deliver to your subscribers? Will you provide a tip of the day? Will you digest news in your field down to a small number of key snippets each week? Or will you write an original article with valuable info once per week, or once per month?

Research your competition's e-zines. Then develop your VPP (Valuable PREselling Proposition). It may be the same as your site's... or not. If your zine is taking a special direction, its VPP tells potential readers why your e-zine is the best/only choice over anything else in the same field.

That takes care of "who-why-what." Now... "when"?

Schedule

Put your zine up as soon as you see your first visitors arriving. A zine credentializes you as a serious Web site, one with the technology to do this, and the content to share.

Don't worry if your e-zine is not ready yet. Start building your subscriber list even while you are working on developing the format and content of your e-zine (below). Each visitor that subscribes will be a great motivation-booster for you to finish the job. One caveat though...

The longer you wait before providing your subscribers with that crucial first issue, the more likely they are to forget you... or forget that they had signed up... or forget what compelled them to subscribe in the first place. So don't wait more than two months (after your first subscriptions) to publish.

How often should you publish?

Don't attempt a weekly, not at first. An e-zine requires more of your time than you realize. A quarterly schedule, though, is just not often enough. So a monthly e-zine is a good frequency, to start. Adjust after you've had a chance to measure how much time it takes.

Balance the frequency of your mailouts carefully. Deliver your e-zine often enough to stay in your subscribers' minds. Do not publish so often that they grow tired of you, nor so rarely that they wonder who you are! Ideally, they should look forward to hearing from you.

Whatever the frequency, make it regular. Deliver on time, on the day they expect it, whether it's the first of the month or every Monday. Regular, timely delivery establishes credibility.

OK, now that we've covered "who-what-why-and-when," let's talk about the "how," everything from name and format to subscription forms and back issues...

Name That Zine!

Create the best name possible for your e-zine. It's your calling card that lands in your subscriber's mailbox at regular intervals. It is a direct reflection of you and your business, a strong branding tool.

Everything about your e-zine (including its name) must be top-notch. And that starts with its name. Make it...

• short and catchy
• descriptive, consistent with your site's theme
• relevant to the VPP, voice and content of the e-zine.

Let those creative juices flow. You want your e-zine to stand out from the crowd. Make the name unique and appealing!

Customize Your Subscription Thank You Web Page

SBI! provides a default subscription Thank You Web page for your site. This message informs your new subscribers that they will receive a confirmation e-mail, and advises them on what to do if they do not receive that message.

You can use the default message, or customize the text to meet your needs. You can also add a link to a free download or other incentive that you offered to entice visitors to sign up for your e-zine.

Customize Your Confirmation Thank You Web Page

You can use the default message here as well, or customize the text to meet your needs. Add a link to a free download or other incentive that you offered to entice visitors to complete the opt-in process for your e-zine.

Format

Lay out the e-zine for easy reading by your subscribers, and for easy development by you. Readers like familiarity and predictability. So develop a template, and stick with it. A template gives you a fast start with each issue.

Subscription Forms

Your e-zine's subscription form on your site is a personal invitation to potential readers to extend the C  T  P  M relationship. Of course...

You don't say that exactly. Your invitation merely makes them feel it. They should want to take advantage of your great (free!) e-zine.

And don't just place one form on your site. Provide your visitors with lots of opportunities. Otherwise, they may never see it. And even if they do see it (once), the impact is minimal. It may not even register on their minds. So...

No need to restrict yourself to a couple of sign-up forms. Give your visitors several opportunities. You just never know when they will react favorably!

Double ("Confirmed") Opt-in

To prevent spamming and to prevent abusive visitors from giving other people's names and addresses without consent, your visitor must confirm his or her subscription. This is known as the double (or "confirmed") opt-in approach. Here is how it works...

The potential subscriber receives a "Request for Confirmation" e-mail after subscribing through your form. That e-mail asks the subscriber to confirm by clicking on a specially coded link. That click officially adds that person to your Opt-In E-zine Address List. SBI! also notes whether to send the e-zine in text or HTML, depending on how your subscriber receives e-mail!

The price of SBI!? Cheap.

The price of the e-zine set of modules? All-included in SBI!.

The value of a qualified subscribers list? Priceless. No MasterCard can purchase a home-grown list of devoted subscribers!

Publicize

Let people know about your outstanding publication. There's a pleasant bonus when you market your e-zine. Not only do you build your e-publication's subscription list, you build more traffic to your site. Provide a link from your subscription page to your home page.

Back issues

Include back issues on your Web site (if appropriate). If your zine provides great, new content, it's an effortless way to PREsell your e-zine. And if the content is excellent, back issues can, ultimately, even increase traffic delivered by the Search Engines.

The Quick "How-To"

You now have a solid framework around which you can build your e-zine. It's off to Site Central we go!

Scroll down to the BusinessCenter in Site Central and click on the MailOut Manager (E-zines) ("MOM") button. You're on your way to MOM's MailBuilder tool. If you haven't yet named your e-zine, clicking on the MOM button in Site Central brings you to the Name Your E-zine(s) page. Name your e-zine to gain access to the MailOut Manager main control panel...

Next, customize the message on your two Thank You pages. First, click on the Customize Subscription Thank You Web Page button. Read the default message. You can continue using the default by clicking on the Site Central link at the top of the page to exit. Or you can create a new one (either completely customized, or a mix of some default text and your own).

Enter the text and HTML you want in your new message, and click on the Save Customized Subscription Web Page button. HTML can include styling (ex., bold and italic) and links to downloadable freebies or other incentives.

Review your new message for typos or problem HTML. If you need to correct anything, return to the customize page, make your fixes, and save the message again.

When you're satisfied, click on the Go to MailOut Manager button to return to the Control Panel.

To remove the customized message, return to this thank you page. Revert to the default message by clicking on the Use SBI! Default Subscription Web Page button.

Then click on the Customize Confirmation Thank You Web Page button. Read the default message. You can continue using the default by clicking on the Site Central link at the top of the page to exit. Or you can create a new one (either completely customized, or a mix of some default text and your own).

Enter the text and HTML you want in your new message, and click on the Save Customized Confirmation Web Page button. HTML can include styling (ex., bold and italic) and links to downloadable freebies or other incentives.

On the following page, review your new message for typos or problem HTML. If you need to correct anything, return to the customize page, make your fixes, and save the message again.

When you're satisfied, click on the Go to MailOut Manager button to return to the Control Panel.

To remove the customized message, return to this thank you page. Revert to the default message by clicking on the Use SBI! Default Confirmation Web Page button.

Next, click on the Send Mail to List button in the Send Mail section...

This takes you to the MailBuilder page. This is where you create your HTML e-zine (or other types of e-mail communication) for your subscribers/future customers (plain text format translation is automatic).

The MailBuilder process is similar to building a content page with SBI!'s block-by-block SiteBuilder. Putting together an e-zine involves four stages of construction...

1. Set the Basics.
2. Look & Feel of E-mail.
3. Check/Change Three Mail Settings.
4. Build Main Body of E-zine.

The key difference, though, is that you don't have to worry about properly optimizing "on-page criteria" for your e-zine page. A high ranking with the Search Engines is not part of the strategy for your e-zine. Why?

Your main goal is to deepen the PREselling (that has already started) by delivering valuable content to your subscribers. In other words, you have already been "found" -- you want to "take it to the next level."

Follow the online help to create your e-zine. Preview and test it and check it for typos and other errors. Once you're "good to go"...

Press the Send It! button to send your e-zine immediately. SBI! will queue your zine for mailout within minutes.

Congratulations! Your e-publication career is launched!

After the mailout is completed, SBI! will send you a confirmation e-mail. You can then check out the full stats (bounce-backs, unsubscribes, etc.) in the Stats and History and Archives sections of MailOut Manager.

Take some time to explore the MailOut Manager control panel, including its Help & Strategies, where all is explained. What you need is what you get (all in one location)...

1. Send Mail to an E-mail Address List
2. Add Subscribers to an E-mail Address List
3. Export an E-mail Address List
4. Customize (Subscription and Confirmation Thank You Web pages)
5. Change or Unsubscribe an E-mail Address
6. Get MailOut Stats
7. Get History and Archives
8. Re-name Your E-zines

The online help will guide you smoothly through the different functions. The MailOut Manager makes publishing and administering an e-zine a breeze!

Step 5 - Use the Power of Infin It! to reach out even farther.

Infin It! lets you add outside applications (such as a WordPress blog or a phpBB forum) as subdomains of your site (ex., blog.anguilla-beaches.com).

Once you have 30-50 pages and around 100 visitors per day, consider adding an application that will let you build a community around your site and your site concept.

Before we wrap up, please scan the PREselling section of the TNT HQ for more tips and ideas that might help you deepen your PREselling efforts.

OK, moving on...

DAY 8 is all about building relationships. Deepen the trust and credibility that your site's superb content first developed through C  T  P.

Once you achieve this, you become a knowledgeable friend making a recommendation.

Now it's time to analyze all those friends you are making...

Let's look at your traffic numbers!

Advance to DAY 9.