Author : Rockford Tapscott

For many online business owners, the single biggest mistake they make is trying to sell a product or service on the prospects first visit to their site, and not building a list of future customers It's amazing that only a small percentage of business owners treat list building and email marketing with the urgency it requires

Most websites find that over 98% of people who visit for the first time will leave without buying anything By capturing your visitor's name and email address when they arrive, you will have a chance to build a long-term relationship with your readers, and you can potentially turn them into a long-term customers

Focus On Building A List Instead Of Getting A One-Time Sale

Instead of trying to make a one shot sale, focus your marketing efforts on getting your visitors to opt-in to receive a Free Report of some kind Ask them to give you their name and email address to access the information, and you'll multiply your profits over time Why? Because once you've got your interested pre-customer onto a list, you can continue to follow up regularly with quality, free information and offers related to your prospect's area of interest Using this two-step system will increase your chances of making sales to every one of your readers

All the best Internet marketers use tools such as mini courses, free eBooks or other forms of "ethical bribes" to encourage visitors to join a list You should be doing the same thing simply because it flat out works By building a list of prospects who are interested in your products or services, you are creating a long-term asset As smart marketers all know - the money is in the list Or more accurately, the real money is in the relationship you develop with the people on your list

Business Is Not About Products And Services - It's All About Relationships

Business has always been about building relationships with people one at a time, and then solving their problems with your products or services Build relationships and you will prosper - miss this critical distinction and you will never be as successful as you might have been In fact, marketing genius Dan Kennedy teaches that the only real asset a business has, and the asset that gives you virtually unlimited leverage, is your customer list The success of your business depends on having a loyal list of repeat customers - without this, your business is slowly dying

The hardest and most expensive sale you'll ever make will be that first sale to a new customer Buying from you is seen as a high risk proposition for people who have never dealt with you before And research shows that existing customers are at least 5 times easier to sell to than customers who have never met you Having a list of prospects and customers in an email autoresponder system so you can contact them easily is one of the surest ways of creating more income from your online business

Building A Customer Email List Should Be Your #1 Priority

If you haven't given list building the attention it deserves, I urge you to get started today By capturing your website and in-store visitors names and email address (and their physical address too if you can) you could double or triple your profits as you follow up with your customers and prospects And once your follow up sequence is set up, it works in the background to increase your sales automatically

You simply cannot invest time more effectively than by building a list of people who are interested in the products and services you offer It really is a no-brainer, and nurturing that list should be part of your core business strategy

Rocky Tapscott is a Site Build It mentor and mentor who works with small and medium sized business owners to quickly boost their sales and profits. He has developed a Free 27 page Report that teaches how to create autopilot income streams using a simple but deadly effective email marketing and follow up system - Grab your Free Report now.

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