Why every successful marketer has this tool.
An autoresponder, also called a mailbot, is simply a computer program that answers e-mail automatically. It can be as simple as the setting in your e-mail that responds that you are away on vacation or more complex like the programs used by Network Marketers and large businesses to handle the volume of e-mail traffic they receive every day.
You have probably received several automatic e-mail messages and did not even realize it. When you sign up for something online or make a request to a company's website, the e-mail you receive as confirmation is often sent from an autoresponder. It's a simple way to automate your business.
One of the first things you need to do before setting up the tools you will be using to drive traffic to your web site is to set up your autoresponder. Having a welcome message and follow-up messages is imperative if you are serious about doing business online. The autoresponder allows you to send messages to those who opt in to your list automatically, at a set schedule.
Here's the scenario. Bob goes to your site and opts in to get more information. As soon as he hits the Submit button, the program sends out a welcome message. "Hi, Bob! Thanks for signing up for more info! Please click here to confirm." Once he confirms, he will receive your first real e-mail with the information he is looking for. Thereafter, Bob will receive periodic, pre-written e-mails on a schedule that you set up before he ever filled out the form on your landing page.
The main thing to remember is that your messages should not be a sales ad. Do that, and people will disengage faster than they signed on! Your purpose is to provide value, building trust as the reader gets to know more about you and your product, service or opportunity.
Your messages should be informative, exciting, and compelling. People want to read useful information, or their attention fades. If you do not sound excited (words have a tone, too!) how can you expect THEM to get excited about what you are telling them? There should be a call to action, causing them to make a decision, even if it is not right away. If you have done your job right with these e-mail messages, they will be making an Informed Decision in your favor.
There are four reasons why you need to utilize an autoresponder when building your home based business
*It is crucial to building your LIST, which is the lifeblood of your success.
*It helps keep your name, product, or service in the front of your list members. You want them to remember you, your product, or your service even if they think they have no need for you right now. By reminding your market periodically, they will remember you, like a radio jingle you cannot get out of your head!
*It serves as a reminder as to WHY they opted in to your message and/or bought your product/service in the first place. People have short-term memory, thanks to the bombardment of advertising they face every day. Remind them of what makes YOU different.
*It is like an assistant that helps close the sale. The longer they stay on your list, the more chances you have to sell either your products, business opportunity, or at the very least, the tools you use to run your business.
The long and short of autoresponders is this: If you are not frequently in touch, the interest of your prospect turns cold, and you lose money.
Bernadette Cooper
Monday, 16 November 2009
How to Find Products For Your eBay Business
If you are looking for a business opportunity why not consider an eBay store. You get a ready made shop front and all your advertising for only a few percent of your turnover. All you have to do is find something to sell. Seems like an ideal business to start. Finding a few products to sell on eBay is easy. Finding lots of products to keep selling over and over again is much more difficult. At the start, I hunted through my house and garage for items to sell and I am sure you have done the same. Then you will have listed them on eBay to make a bit of money. It is great fun and watching the end of an auction can be exciting. However, we are hoping to set up more than just a hobby business. It might only ever amount to a part time income or it may replace your day job. Either way, you are going to have to source a reliable ongoing supplier of whatever products you want to sell. So deciding what you want to sell is the first and biggest challenge.
Firstly I wanted to see if I could find items that could be processed easily for sending out by mail. I did not want to pack and cart bulky items to the post office in the next town several times a week, fighting with cardboard and tape. I wanted to slip the item into a small envelope, apply a pre-determined postage stamp and address sticker and pop them in the post box at the end of the road. Then I worked out if I could get say fifteen to twenty sales every day bringing a gross profit of about $10 each, I would make $50,000 every year. What could I sell that was small, neat, obtainable and was capable of generating $10 every sale? You can see how difficult it is! I tried a number of different products. First I looked at comics and graphic novels. They can be conveniently packed, and carrying a pile of twenty or so every day down to the post would be quick and easy. If I could find a regular source of rare comics I could get the level of profits, otherwise buying from a dealer would give too low a margin. So I looked at stamps and then coins. Again I met the same difficulty, rare items command substantial prices, but buying supplies at the right price is a problem for somebody without detailed knowledge of the product.
In fact you can see that with all three of these items it would be necessary to be an expert in the product and you would have to understand their values in order to obtain them from suppliers at the right price. If you have an expertise as a collector of something, then sourcing eBay supplies in your chosen field is a very good option. The next course of action might be to consider sourcing goods from a foreign supplier. If you import directly from manufacturing countries such as India or China it is possible to buy goods that you can mark up three, four, five or even more times.
This is achieved by buying in bulk direct from the manufacturer. Consider a widget that you buy for $3 at your local hardware store. It may only have cost 10 cents or so to manufacture, but the importer will have purchased in bulk and made a significant margin on the price before distributing it to the shop. But I did not want to import a container full of goods. 200,000 widgets would cost $20,000 and there was not enough room in my garage, spare bedroom and study combined to store them! So I tried fishing flies from Africa. I found a supplier that would send 500 dozen per shipment at $2 per dozen. Good quality artificial fishing flies go for around a dollar a piece, more for special patterns. This seemed like a good idea until the realization sunk in that I needed to spend hours every evening sorting and labeling hundreds of tiny items sometimes worth only a few cents each. It was not the route to riches. If you are successful in finding a good source of items to sell on eBay, your competitors will take note very quickly. As soon as they see you selling a lot they will try to copy you. As a result your sales numbers or selling price will soon drop resulting in lower revenue. Therefore, you must be continually adapting your merchandise for change, coming up with new ideas and sourcing new products.
I have an eBay shop that I operate under a pseudonym. I do not want to tell you exactly what I am selling, but it does fit the bill for a sustainable eBay business:
- It is small, light and packs easily
- It is sufficiently valuable to make each trade worth while
- There are lots of different versions (e.g. sizes, shapes and colors) to attract new customers
- I get a good price from the supplier (even if I do have to buy a lot)
- This product will be affected by competition but is such that I can keep adding to the range
Mark Jenner
Firstly I wanted to see if I could find items that could be processed easily for sending out by mail. I did not want to pack and cart bulky items to the post office in the next town several times a week, fighting with cardboard and tape. I wanted to slip the item into a small envelope, apply a pre-determined postage stamp and address sticker and pop them in the post box at the end of the road. Then I worked out if I could get say fifteen to twenty sales every day bringing a gross profit of about $10 each, I would make $50,000 every year. What could I sell that was small, neat, obtainable and was capable of generating $10 every sale? You can see how difficult it is! I tried a number of different products. First I looked at comics and graphic novels. They can be conveniently packed, and carrying a pile of twenty or so every day down to the post would be quick and easy. If I could find a regular source of rare comics I could get the level of profits, otherwise buying from a dealer would give too low a margin. So I looked at stamps and then coins. Again I met the same difficulty, rare items command substantial prices, but buying supplies at the right price is a problem for somebody without detailed knowledge of the product.
In fact you can see that with all three of these items it would be necessary to be an expert in the product and you would have to understand their values in order to obtain them from suppliers at the right price. If you have an expertise as a collector of something, then sourcing eBay supplies in your chosen field is a very good option. The next course of action might be to consider sourcing goods from a foreign supplier. If you import directly from manufacturing countries such as India or China it is possible to buy goods that you can mark up three, four, five or even more times.
This is achieved by buying in bulk direct from the manufacturer. Consider a widget that you buy for $3 at your local hardware store. It may only have cost 10 cents or so to manufacture, but the importer will have purchased in bulk and made a significant margin on the price before distributing it to the shop. But I did not want to import a container full of goods. 200,000 widgets would cost $20,000 and there was not enough room in my garage, spare bedroom and study combined to store them! So I tried fishing flies from Africa. I found a supplier that would send 500 dozen per shipment at $2 per dozen. Good quality artificial fishing flies go for around a dollar a piece, more for special patterns. This seemed like a good idea until the realization sunk in that I needed to spend hours every evening sorting and labeling hundreds of tiny items sometimes worth only a few cents each. It was not the route to riches. If you are successful in finding a good source of items to sell on eBay, your competitors will take note very quickly. As soon as they see you selling a lot they will try to copy you. As a result your sales numbers or selling price will soon drop resulting in lower revenue. Therefore, you must be continually adapting your merchandise for change, coming up with new ideas and sourcing new products.
I have an eBay shop that I operate under a pseudonym. I do not want to tell you exactly what I am selling, but it does fit the bill for a sustainable eBay business:
- It is small, light and packs easily
- It is sufficiently valuable to make each trade worth while
- There are lots of different versions (e.g. sizes, shapes and colors) to attract new customers
- I get a good price from the supplier (even if I do have to buy a lot)
- This product will be affected by competition but is such that I can keep adding to the range
Mark Jenner
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