Creating Your Online Marketing Flow in 3 Simple Steps

Many business owners make the mistake of picking one or two online marketing strategies, trying them for a couple of weeks, deciding that they don't work because they're not bringing in new subscribers, and then moving on to the next hot online marketing strategy that they've heard about.

Don't make this same mistake!

There are many, many, different online marketing strategies you can implement to grow your business and attract new subscribers to your list, but the key to making any of them work is consistency and persistence. It simply isn't good enough to try one for a short time, decide it's not working, and then move on to the next.

You won't see the results you're hoping for.

This is exactly what I've seen some of my clients do. They come to me because they're struggling to attract new subscribers and want me to put in place a system for growing their list. They say they've tried article marketing, blogging, social networking, or one of the many other strategies, and none of them are working. The problem is they're not giving them time, and they haven't got their system set up so that their marketing plan flows.

Here is my three-step system for creating an online marketing system that flows, grows your list, and turns your prospects into paying clients.

Step One - drive traffic to your website.

In this step you will apply techniques such as article marketing, blogging, social networking, podcasting, hosting teleclasses, or any other technique and drive traffic back to your website. They key here is to be effective in your technique so that your target market knows that you are the person to help them solve their problem.

Pick three of the online marketing techniques that are most suited to you and your business and be consistent with them. Work at them on a weekly basis over a three-month period before deciding whether they're working or not. Don't just try it for a week ... and then decide you're not seeing results. You need to give it time.

At the end of the three-month period analyze your results to see which strategies were the most effective. Continue with the ones that are working, and then look at implementing a new technique to add to your online marketing toolkit.

Step Two - have a way to capture visitors to your website.

Now that you've decided on two or three techniques for driving traffic to your website you need to have a way for capturing visitors to your website, and getting them on your list.

To do this you will need to have a sign-up box on every page of your website, and offer a free taste, i.e. a report, audio, ecourse, tip sheet etc. that you can give your visitor in exchange for them giving you their name and email address.

And, most importantly, you need to make this process automated!

To do that you need to be using a list management service. The more popular ones amongst solopreneurs are:

* 1ShoppingCart

* Aweber

* Constant Contact

* iContact

Although there are many to choose from. By utilizing one of these services you will be able to add a customized sign-up box to your website, and visitors signing up to your list will automatically be added to your database, which is hosted with your list management service.

Don't let visitors leave your website without giving you their information - otherwise you'll have lost them for good and all your hard work implementing your techniques will have been in vain.

Step Three - stay in touch with the people on your list and turn them into paying clients.

Now that you've got your website visitors to sign up to your list it's crucial that you have a plan in place for staying in touch with them. The absolute best way of doing this is through publishing a regular newsletter (or ezine).

A basic format for your newsletter should look something like:

* A personal note from you

* Promotion of a product/event

* Feature article (the main part of your newsletter)

* About you section

* You Recommend Section and/or Market Place

A general rule of thumb is that your newsletter should follow the 80/20 guide, i.e. 80% should be useful content, and 20% promotion of your product/service/program.

Send your newsletter out on a regular basis in order to stay in touch with your list and turn your prospects into paying clients.

By following the three steps outlined above you will create a marketing plan that constantly brings in new subscribers, and turns those subscribers into paying clients.

(c) 2010 Tracey Lawton