There’s one technique that helps more than anything else to do that… offering folks a free bonus that is somehow related to the topic of your website or business.

The PROBLEM, of course, is CREATING

1. A quality product

2. Attractive Artwork

3. Hosting your freebie

4. Updating the product if necessary

My friend Markus Allen is offering marketers access to a growing number of free offers they can use to build their own email lists.

Why is he doing this? Well, to build his own email list…

He figures that if you’re serious enough to be producing an ezine, then you’re serious enough to be interested in his other services and information.

You see, while you’re going after end users or various products, his market is serious marketers.

From everything I can tell about this, he’s just made about a zillion people’s online marketing programs much more likely to succeed!

Check it out.

Get your free bonuses here… Remember, there is NOTHING TO BUY, EVER.

At least for a search engine that is…

Bing tested their results and found that one color outperformed them all and they estimate the change was worth MILLIONS to them long term.

“Based on user feedback, the team estimated the best blue color could generate $80 million to $90 million in ad sales.”

The color: #0044CC. It’s a shade of cornflower with undertones of purple.

Read it all: MIX10: The Bing blue color that’s worth $80 million

… And one test was to see what exact hue of color gets the most clicks.

As a result, this particular color boosted revenues an extra $80 million.

What was that color?

Markus Allen will be discussing this on his weekly call in show!

Check out Stump Markus Live!

(Even if you don’t want to become a regular member, you can listen to a free teleseminar designed to benefit your business!)

They’re quickly replacing the “fine print” you never read anyway and – more than that- are becoming a way to make static posters, business cards, and even web ads interactive.

Smart phone users with QR Code readers are often “addicted” to seeing what pops up when they scan a QR code… that’s YOUR opportunity to give them more information in response to their inquiry.

Here’s an example I saw today (click to see full size):

Even though the QR code looked blurry to me, my QR code scanner picked it right up.

Here’s where it lead to: http://www.amitguptaneedsyou.com/

You can create QR codes for free all day online if you “google” “Free QR Code Generator”… you can have each QR code lead to specific landing pages or perform specific operations.. it’s amazing an pretty much free to make your static images suddenly (potentially) interactive!

I don’t “know these people from Adam” as the saying goes and can’t vouch for it. I’m just saying it LOOKS interesting.

If you want your Facebook fan page to actually do something USEFUL in interacting with potential clients, here’s a possible tool:

Lujure.com

It has a free plan and then month to month plans for professionals.

If you’re non-profit (and can prove it!) you get a 50% discount.

Here’s a video if you’d like to see more.

These are pretty good tips on being purposeful about it.

Anyone can just post random comments, but using social media like Facebook to build an inhouse contact list, etc. can really work well.

At least use these ideas to get started…

6 Ways Small Business Can Win With Social Media

If so, you’re not the first – though that is cold comfort indeed.

What do your fellow online marketers feel are the best CPA (Cost Per Action) networks?

Is it worth signing up with one or more?

You can see what others are saying about this topic (and rate your experience) at the Performance Marketing Insider Review page..

If you’re working to make money online, it’s worth checking out before you invest lots of effort working for an unscrupulous CPA company.

How do you interact with potential buyers and at least begin the process of developing a personal relationship with your potential buyers who would like your help?

First let’s look at what used to work well.  Email newsletters.

I’m not saying to forget about them but let’s recognize what’s going on with email newsletters today: most email communications don’t even get opened.

If opened, they may be effective, but even a 15,000 person email list may generate little revenue. If all the people expect is a sales pitch well AFTER their buying urgency ended, then the odds of a sale being made later  - if one hadn’t been made initally – decrease substantially.

That assumes, of course, someone even SUBSCRIBES to your newsletter. Personally I opt in for RSS if I want ongoing communications.

No, yesterday’s email address is probably NOT the first solution you should try, though you definitely want to keep it in your overall  ”bag of tricks”.

Instead, you should be seizing the opportunity to connect with your customer at the time of their visit. Fortunately this is getting easier than ever thanks to modern web chat software solutions.

Perhaps you’re wondering if your business website needs “chat”? You probably DO if you already have staff handling inbound phone orders and email inquiries at least part of the time… of if you’re on the verge of doing so.

If you’re working at home, you may wonder if web chat is important for you. Actually some form of it may be more important. I remember visiting a friend’s website. I’d tried to help him promote his business and I noticed he offered “live chat”. I contacted him with it and was pleasantly surprised to find him instantly available.  How many other potential customers like me would like to contact you personally if you were available?

And if you have something to sell them… why wouldn’t you want to offer your services instantly and speed up the sales process? I can see this being of special importance to “Virtual Assistants”… and consultants of every kind.

Here’s a sobering thought – even government agencies – not known for being “service oriented” – are waking up to the fact that the ability to interact with customers “real time” is critical as the article “Web Chat: Things to Think About When Considering Adding Live Support Software to Your Website” makes clear. In fact, this federal government article offers some basic ways to evaluate the potential effectiveness of direct contact with internet visitors.

For example, in the usa.gov article, their “cost” per interaction was $8.11.

Obviously your costs will vary, but if your cost is the same and your main service is your $97 per month service plan subscription that gives you $48.50 profit per month … is the “cost” worth the interruption? I’d say yes!

You will only know how much your business might benefit though if you understand your cost per transaction and the average immediate and lifetime values of your customers.  If that monthly subscriber tends to “stick around” for 2 years on average… you’d be insane not to pay the $8.11 acquisition cost for an immediate $48.50 value as well as the $1,164 “lifetime value”.

The issue is – do you know your numbers? Once you do, and you can profitably engage your customers directly online – your only question will be how to drive more customers.

In fact, once you notice how sales improve… you’ll likely recognize this medium’s value in solving many other customer service problems in a cost effective manner.

Thanks to LivePerson. com for sponsoring this post.

Here’s the idea… maybe you’re earning some good money once in a while selling your hand made goodies on Etsy.com or something. You sell nothing for 3 weeks and then get 15 orders. It’s hard to run, let alone, BUILD a business that way.

A “business” involves having customers who buy on a regular basis to generate regular income and profits for the business owner.

Network marketers call this “residual income”. But any subscription business is essentially the same idea… the more customers committed to buy monthly, the more predictable the income, and the more predictable the profits.

The idea is good and well established. Back before the “ebook” you remember all the “niche” book clubs for everything from history buffs to political junkies? You’d commit to buy a “book of the month”. You’d get a good discount and they’d have predictable new business.

Many businesses COULD do that from a home business making hand made goods for sale to – as you see on the Member.ly site – selling “teas of the month”.

The problem – technically – is setting up the subscription service, collecting the money, shipping the product, etc.

Member.ly  allows the entrepreneur with the CONCEPT for a subscription business to automate it.

For that reason, it’s worth checking out. If you can assemble the product and sell it at a profit and get customers through advertising, publicity, etc. this service automates the key ingredients of the fulfillment process.

Here’s an example from Member.ly: Steepster

• resources for sifting and finding the right sort of online publishers,
• tools and techniques for evaluating them, how to best approach and connect with them,
• and why outreach to niche online publishers and smaller audiences may reap the most dividends for you.