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Section:: Web Articles < Archives > |
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How to Capture Email Addresses Your current website visitors are your best source of returning traffic. It is much easier to get somebody to come back to your website, when you already know they're interested in your content, than to convince somebody new to visit. Do you know who your visitors are? If not, you're losing them and the opportunity to learn how to serve them better. Even if your visitors are bookmarking your website, they may forget about you and never return despite your good content and constant updates. By capturing your visitors' addresses, you can remind them to return, ask them for improvement ideas or new content they would like to see on your website, and even poll them for information helpful in selling advertisement space. Direct email is the best way to attract traffic, and your previous visitors are most likely to give it to you! Does the idea of keeping track of so many visitors make you cringe? If you are unfamiliar with databases, or fear so many responses that it would take you hours to enter them all yourself, take heart! There are many new software programs and services out there to help you with the onerous task, and many of them are free. If you are feeling particularly lazy, try one of the free services, like ListBot. They'll add a little advertisement to the bottom of your email, and you won't be able to format your email with HTML, but they'll do all the work for you, including adding new subscribers, taking people off the list who unsubscribe, and dealing with bounced and automatic response email. If your web server supports cgi scripts, there are a number of email management scripts available for free. Setting it up could be a little work, especially if you are unfamiliar with cgi scripts, but the effort will be worth it: you'll have a new skill you can apply to adding interactivity all over your website. These scripts usually won't allow you to format your email with HTML, but they give you more control over your newsletter than free services and won't add any advertisements. If your server doesn't support cgi scripts, or you want to use your old familiar email program to send your newsletter, there are some software programs out there that can help. You can get a mail merge email program for free, or try Webmaster Multi Tool, which includes the function. You can also try something like GetResponse's autoresponders, which send preset email to people in your database on the dates (or after the time period) you specify. (AWeber will also keep a list of all the email addresses of people who emailed you, so you can send them a message manually, too.) What about spam? You're worried about sending spam? Oh, you're worried about upsetting people... Make sure they know what's going to happen. Have a separate form for them to fill out, or in the case of an autoresponder, make them send a blank email. On all your website's forms, you could include a little checkbox giving visitors the chance to subscribe to your newsletter or promotional email sequence. If you want more people to subscribe and aren't as worried about upsetting people, include a checked box subscribing them, allowing them to uncheck the box if they don't want more email. Now you have a place for people to give you their email address, but why should they? Few people will do it out of the kindness of their hearts, but you can offer a variety of incentives which will move even the most timid visitor: a feedback form, guestbook, free report, content-packed ezine, free sample of your product, contest, or other incentive can make email addresses flood in. A feedback form allows your visitor to tell you what they think about your website, your products, or ask you questions. Be sure to respond when visitors ask you questions, and it's a good idea to send a thank-you note if they send you a compliment or comment. My experience is that people don't use them much, but they appreciate being able to find one on your website. Guestbooks let people post their comments right on your website. This can be like having a testimonials section and email gathering instrument in one! If you have a personal website, I highly recommend them, but they are a little unprofessional for business sites. They can also look a bit sad if nobody signs them. If you have one, remember to check it often and respond to messages. Offering something for free, like a report, ezine, or sample, will get you more email addresses than feedback forms and guestbooks. If you don't mind offering something bigger, like a larger product or complete service, start a contest. If you market to webmasters, consider offering a website award program or a free ad on your website. Remember that your report, ezine, sample, or contest prize must all be valuable to your target guests. These items will upset people if they turn out to be just advertisements for your business or website. If you offer an award, make it mean something: create a list of winners on your website, write testimonials for them, create a cute graphic to go on winners' sites, and only offer it to the best websites you see. Now, what do you do with the addresses you've got? Send email when you have new content or products which may interest visitors in the form of an announcement or personal message. Start an electronic newsletter and include your website address and a reason to visit or buy your product in each issue (along with valuable articles). If you're still a little worried about what you should send, subscribe to other people's email newsletters and product announcements. Take notes about what works, then apply it to your own email. You can also take a free course in email marketing from Arial Software. Targeted email ads can be the best way to attract and maintain visitors to your website and build sales for your business. Use the medium wisely and watch your traffic grow. Have fun! About the Author Dawn Gray can help you drive more traffic to your website. For other great articles on website promotion and a free email newsletter, visit her website at http://www.busymarketing.com. All articles published on EthanCote.com are copyrighted by their respective author. They are not to be taken without the consent of the author. |
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