On the whole, email marketing refers to process wherein email is the method of communication employed by companies and internet marketers in keeping in touch with prospects and clients. Email is used to notify customers and clients about the latest product releases, new promotion offers, and important business news. It is also used for the online newsletter issues. Like the TV infomercials, marketing emails are intended to quickly catch the consumers’ attention and keep them interested.

Why Should I Use It?

1.) You will save a lot on the advertising cost

The traditional methods for advertising such as putting up ads in magazines, newspapers, and TV infomercials are generally expensive. Advertising is a crucial part of your success as an internet marketer so you must not put it aside just because of its cost. However, thanks to email marketing, you no longer have to shell out a huge amount of capital for the advertising. Email services are free! Creating your own newsletter is simple and easy, while sending a promotional broadcast through email is extremely fast!

2.) You can connect with a large audience

Any company or internet marketer will benefit from all forms of promotion. May it be a marketing email ad, infomercial, newspaper ad, magazine ad, classified ad, or billboard ad, an advertising avenue is sure to be advantageous to your business as it greatly increases your reach to the consumer population.

3.) You can have more earnings

The basic concept here is that the more customers you reach, the more money you will make. This is exactly why most businesses employ internet marketing in their overall marketing plan. Not only is it inexpensive, it is also exceptionally effective.

Keystones in Selling Your Email Program’s Value

1.) Your homepage

By having a label that says “Register now to receive email updates” and a link to the registration page beneath it will not exactly tell the potential subscriber why he should provide his email address. They would not even have a clue on what these “updates” are going to be about.

Instead, you should have something like “Sign up now to join our site and get to receive email-only bargain offers, advance sale notifications and discounts.” This way, they will know what to expect in their mails and look forward to it. You must also have these invitation ads not just in your homepage but in every page of your website.

2.) Your signup page

This is the best location to let the potential subscribers know why they should register to receive emails, what kinds of email you will be sending, how often you will be sending these emails, and what will the emails be about. Many businesses do not give this much importance; they would just slap up a checkbox and next to it, a single sentence asking the potential subscriber to sign up. Such a setup is blatantly focused on the subscription purpose itself.

Here are the things which should be included in your registration page to effectively communicate the value of your email proposa

- privacy policy (assure them that you will keep their email addresses confidential)
- an impressive explanation of benefits (tell them what’s in it for them)
- images, links, and transactions (such as links for signing up, confirming the registration, and even unsubscribing)

- graphics (it should model the email template to assist the potential subscribers to identify it quickly)
- a thank-you page (it must appear instantly after a successful registration. If must include the acknowledgement of the subscription, restate the benefits of signing up, and provide detailed instructions on how to verify the subscription)

You must, however, do the aforementioned carefully because asking for too many details up front might make you seem like coming on too strong. Just get the necessary information to begin the relationship, and then slowly move on.

3.) Your welcome program

Do not just let them be reminded that they are subscribed by using a “You are subscribed” message. Whenever they log in, such a message will not remind the why they signed up in the first place and the value of your email will not be conveyed. Your welcome program must be one that would bring subscribers into the fold and assist them in getting up to speed immediately.

1. Convenience for your customers

• A visit to a conventional retail store requires travel and must take place during business hours which is not convenient for most working class people especially with the usual Lagos traffic these days. An online shop is available 24 hours a day without having to worry about the time the store closes
• Searching or browsing an online catalogue can be faster than browsing the aisles of a physical store.

1. 2.      Benefits to you (the shop owner)

• Automate your business: whilst you are having an evening off or even sleeping, your online shop can be generating brand awareness, generating leads, processing several orders and more importantly generating sales and revenue for your business.
• Attract more customers: you are not restricting your customers to local customers, by having an online shop, your buyers and visitors can be from any part of the country and any corner of the globe.
• Your online shop is a catalogue for your customers and also a standard website with regular pages e.g. About Us, Management, Contact us, etc
• Save money: If you’re a new business, you make a huge saving by opening your store online; you don’t need to rent high-street premises to reach your target market, or answer a lot of pre-sales queries.
• Receive payment more quickly: Customers can make online secure payments smoothly and quickly and even track their orders online.

Every shop owner wants more customers, more sales, more convenience and a favourable perception from satisfied customers. A professionally setup online shop will achieve all these and more.

Webshop from Zero-One is a fully-featured shopping cart solution that contains everything you need to succeed online.

What do you need for your business?…more profit, more customers, modern up-to-date marketing, more satisfied customers, more business, bigger market share, less cost of running business….I’m sure there’s no one who will disagree with these objectives. As a business owner, this is what we all want for our businesses.
All this objectives can be reached through your website; the purpose of this article is to help you understand how to put the web to work for your business and how to make your online business successful.

The Internet Revolution

The Internet has changed the way we buy and sell products and services and the way we obtain information…they way we communicate…even the way we are getting entertainedThe Internet and the number of people connecting are growing at a phenomenal rate. More and more people are getting on the Internet everyday. Over 1 billion people use the internet daily and over 20 million of them are Nigerians.

So, What exactly is a Website?

A website is a collection of ‘pages’ under one domain name.
For example, www.privateequitypartnership.com and www. dreamcontractsng.com can easily be accessed by anyone with a computer and internet connection from anywhere in the world.
As more people become familiar using the internet, the tendency is to search for everything on the web. How many times do you think a potential customer has tried to find your business on the Internet but were unable to locate you? How many times do you think they found a competitor’s website instead? How may times has someone tried to find a furniture company online….and found Dream Contracts.…but didn’t find yours.

The benefits of a website.

1. Be found. (get new customers) Millions of Consumers today search for products and services online before making purchases. Chances are that if someone is looking for a product or service they will search the internet. Being found on the Internet will give you an advantage over your competition when they call you instead of the competition.
2. Be Accessible 24/7: (get more business.) You are able to conduct business when it is convenient for your client whether it be during the day or in the middle of the night. You are never actually closed. Your website is the perfect employee, it will not sleep and it will work on weekends, it won’t even ask for a promotion. Prospective clients can visit and look at what you have to offer, at any time it is convenient for them, wherever they happen to be. If you choose an e-commerce website, your customers can shop with you 24 hours.
3. Provide Customer Service: (get More satisfied customers)
   Consumers can become educated about your business and get answers to many of their questions which will help to cut back on the number of phone calls you receive with simple enquiries.
   Your website can provide further support to existing customers by offering information such as troubleshooting procedures, product specification and parts list, how-to procedures, diagrams and special help lines. By having this help available 24 hours a day you will be able to decrease the number of customer service employees you have on staff.
4. Provide Information. (get more credibility) Consumers have more confidence in and prefer doing business with companies that they know something about. Inform visitors about the structure of your company, of your community involvement, the products and services you offer, awards and employment opportunities. In addition to being convenient, another reason people are increasingly turning to the Internet is that marketing is done by providing information, not by persuasion. More and more people prefer to do business and make decisions in this way
5. Save Money (get more profits)
   A website is very cost efficient when compared to other forms of marketing and advertising. For example, a web site is not constrained by size. You can only say so much in a newspaper ad, or a radio spot. You can supplement that limited information by including your web address in your ads. Then your potential client has almost unlimited information about your company available to them.
6. Sell Online (get even more profits) Why not? Thanks to companies like Interswitch you can receive payments directly into your bank accounts from your website…take orders online and have your customers fill out forms to speed things up.
7. Compete Locally
   Some of Your competitors already have a website what are you going to do? Even if you feel you don’t need a website, can you afford to let your competition gain an edge? There are competitions in every business. This is like going for a business exhibition on the internet. You can not stop competition in any business but at least make your identity so that your potential customers are given a chance of comparing and subsequently buying your products or engaging your services with the help of professional business website.
8. Compete Globally (Bigger market share):
   Having an online presence will enable you to compete with much larger and better companies. The Internet is the closest thing to a level playing field with bigger companies you can find. Websites have no certain place, no country; they are international. If you have a website, then you have something international that overcomes the limits between countries and long distances. A professionally designed website will give your business added credibility and visibility

Get Started TODAY!

The question you should be asking now is not “How much money will a website cost?” but “How much money am I losing without one?”

For those of you that have not created an online presence now is the time to start. It’s not really a choice anymore, but a necessity in today’s marketplace and culture. Start small if you have to, but understand the importance of at least starting.

Zero-One Communications Ltd has been helping several businesses succeed online since 1999…we are pioneers in this industry…we have the expertise…we have the experience…we have the technology…and we are here to give you value.