Marketing Qi

JVs and Email Lists: Basic Definitions

After I sent out the *survey asking for questions about our upcoming course on using joint ventures to build your email list, there were a lot of readers who contacted me wanting some more information about the basics...they had questions like:

Just exactly what do you mean by an email list? and What is a joint venture?

These are fair questions and everyone who is starting out in internet marketing needs to be clear on what these terms mean, so I'll provide a couple of basic definitions:

Opt-in Email list: this is a list of names and emails of people who are interested in your products or services and who have chosen to give you their information. In other words, they have opted-in to your list and have given you permission to send them more information on your products or services. You will probably want to provide your list with useful content, in addition to telling them about your products. When you provide your list with value, you will develop a relationship with them. People are more likely to purchase from someone who they know, like and trust.

So, building your relationship with your email list by regularly providing them with value can help to create a good relationship. You should set up your list to comply with all the current laws regarding spam, including providing a link at the end of each email so that people can unsubscribe if they wish.

Joint Venture (or JV): in the internet marketing world, a JV is a partnership with another person (or persons) to create a win-win situation for all involved. There are all sorts of joint venture arrangements and most involve leveraging the joint venture partner's email list or contacts. Usually, no money is exchanged up front and profits from the venture are split according to the terms of the joint venture. JVs can be a great way for someone with no list to get exposure and build their own email list.

Many times, these JVs don't involve formal legal contracts, but are just discussed via email or over the phone. Once you build your initial list, getting more JVs becomes easier and eventually, others will seek you out and ask you to joint venture with them.

*Our super-short, two question survey will remain open for a few more days...you can still participate, and see a few more details on the course, if you hurry! Just go to: www.MarketingQi.com/questions 

Kung Fooey?

When it comes to advice about building your email list, I've gotten nothing but positive feedback on my Marketing Qi "conversations" format...well, almost all positive feedback...

one reader did want to know why I persisted in adhering to what was referred to as my "Kung Fu" type of style and asked why I didn't just put these points into a list of some kind...

well, yes I could have easily formatted my points into a list...and risked having them look and read just like everyone else's internet marketing reports on list building...

one of my reasons for doing this was to integrate my marketing reports* and writing into the somewhat playful theme that is already inherent in the Marketing Qi name. The unusual format adds to my branding and helps to differentiate me in the already crowded internet marketing marketplace...

how can YOU stand out in a crowded marketplace?

*(If you haven't picked up your FREE copy of Zen and the Art of Email Listbuilding, just click here.)

Further Conversation - Squeeze Pages

Since the release of Zen and the Art of Email List Building, many readers had further questions about squeeze pages. So, I have transcribed for you, in the form of the post below, some further conversation on squeeze pages, between the Master of Marketing Qi and the Student...

If you are reading this post without having first read Zen and the Art of Email List Building, I invite you to pick you your free copy by clicking here. 

Now let's join the conversation (below) already in progress...

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I don't mean to bother you again, but I just can't get my mind off this squeeze page thing. I know you told me about all the advantages, but tell me truthfully, does absolutely every webpage need a squeeze page in order to be profitable?

No.

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Oh, no...please don't do this to me again! I know...I know...if I ask yes or no questions, I can expect to get yes or no answers...

You are correct. Please try again!

Okay...Under what circumstances would a squeeze page NOT be advisable?

It depends.

On what?

Do you remember the Seventh Immutable Law?

Yes...that's the one that says that nothing is immutable, right.

Precisely...nothing is immutable; Marketing Qi's nature is to flow and bend. This nature must be honored.

All right...yes, I remember. But what does this have to do with squeeze pages?

Everything! The point here is never to be dogmatic. Every situation must be considered individually. As a general rule however, nearly every website could benefit from a squeeze page.

But what about a website of say...beautiful landscape photographs? Do you mean to tell me that people would have to sign in to be able to look at the pictures? This smacks of exclusivity to me.

Exclusivity is certainly not the point. The reason to have a squeeze page is to capture the names and emails of those who visit your site so you can continue to communicate with them and ultimately serve them better. If people are visiting your site and are buying your products and signing up for your newsletter at a rate that is satisfactory to you, then don't put up a squeeze page. But...you will never know how much better you could have done with one in place.

I would recommend this...if you are hesitant to put up a squeeze page, then build one and put it up at a slightly different web address, in addition to your regular homepage...then drive some traffic to both pages and test which one gets the most opt-ins to your email list. Most people don't seem to realize that most visitors to websites don't regularly come back....so much of the traffic that does make it's way to your website it totally wasted...the visitor takes a look around and then leaves...without ever buying your product or service and, in many cases, never even signing up for your newsletter.

For the most part, the only ones that ever come back are the ones on your  mailing list that receive a compelling email from you giving them a reason to return.

But I've been to sites that just have a sales letter? Why would you want to put up a squeeze page in front of that? It might discourage visitors from buying.

If you clearly outline the benefits of signing up on your squeeze page, then your visitors will gladly give you their names and email addresses in exchange. Then, after opting in, when they do see the sales page, some will buy and some won't. For those that don't buy, you can continue to communicate with them until they do buy or they drop off your list. Otherwise, you have lost them forever. And, as I have said before, if someone is unwilling to enter their name and email into your opt-in box, that person is not likely to give you their credit card information later.

My purpose here is not to force you to put up a squeeze page on your website...it's only to point out the advantages of doing so. Implementation of any advice is always up to you...and I always advise testing everything out for yourself. But please remember this...you are NOT your customer. As much as you would like to believe that you know perfectly well what your customers will like and will not like, only testing will tell you this. I realize that this is a hard thing to accept. Even after testing has proven that one page performs better than another, some people are still not willing to change their websites...and of course, that's entirely up to them.

The sad truth is this...most internet business owners will never put up a squeeze page and certainly will never do any testing of any kind. They will continue to complain about how internet marketing just doesn't work for them and off they go again to find yet another web designer who will make an even more beautiful page for them, convinced that this is the solution to their low sales. The good thing about all this is that those who are willing to test and to innovate will always have the advantage over those who refuse to do so.