Basically, since the advent of the Internet, people started to flock this new medium of information without even knowing its fundamental principles, how it works, things that are needed to survive in it, etc. Many people literally bombarded the Internet thinking that life would be a lot easier if they will invest on online businesses.

Indeed, it is a well-known fact that you can find money online, but only for those who know their way around and employ the best marketing strategy there is online.

What people do not know is that online marketing does not have to be very complicated. It just needs the right stuff to keep you going.

Take for example the use of mailing list, particularly opt in list. Before, no one ever dare to use opt in list thinking that it will not do any good for their business. Most entrepreneurs think that building an opt in list is just a waste of time and money. What they do not know is that, according to the “golden rule of the Internet,” money is in the list.

It has probably been mentioned before, and is worth mentioning again, money is really in the list.

Why? Because with opt in lists, you get to keep your readers on the hook by providing them with information, promotion, and other campaigns in order to entice them to buy again from you.

Basically, opt in lists are lists of email addresses of customers with their consent. This means that after the customer had closed the transaction in a particular web site, there is an option on whether or not they wish to subscribe to the mailing list of the online business for any future promotions, newsletters, or campaigns that they would like to be informed of.

And because it is an option, the customers are not compelled to provide their email addresses to the web site. Plus, the web site owners will not be accused of spamming because emails that will be sent to the customers have the consent of the customer.

Creating an opt in list can be very beneficial to your site. In fact, it has been proven that in the two-step concept of selling, follow-ups are important to sustain the interest of the consumers. The other step is to obtain the interest of the buyer.

Hence, in order to sustain the interest of your buying public, it is best to create an opt in list so that you can always give your buyers the chance to remember your products, your business, and your services, in which they have been satisfied with.

To know more of the advantages of creating an opt in list for your business; here is a list that would tell you the reasons why it is beneficial.

1. Opt in lists are the business’ most valuable asset

If you were to ask the owners of some online business about their most valuable asset, they will tell you that it is their opt in list. This is because opt in lists are customers’ lists that can provide higher probability sales in a more consistent and stable condition. Because with opt in lists, all you have to do is to follow up orders or sales through promotions and ad campaigns.

2. It is always available

The best thing about opt in list is that it never grows old. As long as your customer needs something to survive, your contact with them will never grow old. This means that you can always have a fresh, new transaction wit them every time you inform them that you have new products or services. Every transaction is a new way of increasing your sales. Simply put, no opt in list = no sales (at the most).

3. Bigger opt in list would mean bigger profits

The more customer’s names and email addresses you have on your list, the more chances you have in increasing your online sales. Every name, every email address can be worth a hundred dollars that can be accumulated with each transaction

Hence, the bigger your list, the more money you will have.

Boiled down, opt in lists are not just ordinary mailing lists. It is the very core of an online business’ existence and survival. That is why for people who value most their businesses, they extend the same value they give to their opt in list. No wonder why most people regard it as the best partnership available online.

• Word-of-Mouth. In a survey, there are currently 14 million blogs with 80,000 more being added each day and about 30 percent of the 50 million users are blog readers. Imagine how much gain your company will have, if your products are advertised through blogs. With Internet, information spreads so quickly especially if an impressive write-up goes with your product. Soon your blogs will be passed on to hundreds of possible customers.

• Awareness and loyalty.  Open communication with your customers creates trust and loyalty among them. Being there to respond to their questions and comments make them all the more willing to try your products and services.

• Feedback. Blogs is good for product research and reviews. It would be easier to improve on your products if you observe your customers’ thinking and behavioral patterns. You can also take immediate action to your customers’ concerns.

• Community halo-effect. Bloggers are reasonable, friendly and helpful. They are more than willing to create blogosphere of comments regarding your product. The only thing you have to do is embrace and take active part in the culture and your product will surely be considered in their next stop to the supermarket.

For better marketing results, actively promote your business blogs by submitting your blogs to blog search sites and directories. Do not forget to paste in with your blogs, your URL. Be sure that your blogs contain exclusive information with value and are always updated to keep readers popping in, read up your blog, move on to the next and click on again for updates.

Blog is like a setup booth in the biggest trade show on earth everyday. Marketing possibilities are just around the corner waiting to strike your sale scales up.

The Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds are important too in conjunction with your blogs to get the best benefits. Use effective keyword phrases to generate high ranking status in the search engine traffic. In this way you have better chances of people finding your website leading to your blogs. More traffic means more potential sales.

For this to be successful, you can use RSS for news update feeds which can be read through RSS reader application. This is a very useful tool for business and internet marketers as well.

If you are already convinced with the potentials of business blogs for marketing and targeting sales increase, your company is now ready to start blogging. But first, you have to be in tune with your company’s business objectives and determine if blogging will really help you achieve your goal.

1.    Several blogs are dedicated to teaching people the do’s and don’ts of blogging, READ them! Include in your reading materials blogs that are consumer-based too to give you an idea.
2.    Setup several test blogs right away.

If your initial try out with blogs worked well, you can now start setting up your blogs.

1. Study blog design. Blog hosting services provide pre-designed templates. But if you opt for paid blog service, you can ask your artist to design and layout your blog site to match the company’s identity and needs.
2. Choose a topic. Its good to have a line-up of topics you want for your blogs but be sure they are in consonance with your business objectives. This would be a test of your flexibility and open-mindedness since results may be going against the set objectives.
3. Remember the following safety measures in blogging:
4. legal issues are sometimes involved in blogging; it is safer to include disclaimers and limitations of liabilities;
5. corporate communication and legal department are responsible in educating the senior management on how blogs might affect business;
6. create blogging policies; set limits on who gets to blog and what information are allowed to be made public;
7. avoid outright marketing blog or you will shy away your readers;
8. make content updated, relevant and fresh;
9. reinforce the company’s core values; and,
10. encourage employees to use it.
11. Start blogging and complete 20 posts before going to marketing.
12. Begin marketing.
13. Regularly monitor the coming ins and outs of readers and get updates. Then, measure your results.
14. Adjust if needed. You can always play with your designs in the blog site as long as it remains to match the company’s identity.
15. Strive to be consistent with your topic all the time.
16. Try to have unrelated topics with general and broad appeal.
17. Schedule updates regularly. Monday, Wednesday and Thursday would be best to update blogs.

Once you have done all these things, you can now ultimately enjoy the benefits of business blogging.

2. Blogging is authentic.  In this day and age where advertising saturate our lives, we question the credibility of promoters’ claims.  However, in blogs, real people share their real-life experiences, unscathed by paid advertising.  Reading blogs about first-hand product use is like talking to people about their first-hand experience.  You definitely want to buy a tried and tested product.

3. Blogging is free.  Because blogging is yet to be proven as a mainstream online advertising media, most sites see it as something to augment current marketing tools and thus offer it for free.   Any opportunity for free webtime is definitely a bonus especially to businesses that are starting up.  Needless to say, paid blog pages can generate more income for your seriously growing business.

4. Blogging builds credibility.  As you get more and more into writing your experiences on a particular product or industry, your readers come to realize that they can depend on your posts for their own information needs.  As such, you become an expert on it; as a consequence, more readers visit your site and more bloggers link to your blogs.  As companies and professional organizations notice the growth of your readership base, they may soon get in touch with you for advertising on your blog page, or make you an affiliate, which pays for every referral generated from your blog site.

5. Blogging builds your market.  Unless you are a Hollywood star, chances are, only your Mom reads your posts.  Mom has a lot of friends, so she lets her friends know how interesting your blog site is.  But you need not depend on Mom to increase your readership base.  Look into the following ways to build your market through blogging:

• By using your e-mail.  Today, blogging is overcoming the e-mail’s popularity in quickly and effectively reaching and expanding a market.  In this age of speed and quick access, logging in and downloading e-mail is simply taking longer than clicking into a blog site.  Let them explore your site by using a short e-mail message as teaser to your blog site.  If your e-mail is on an entirely different subject, use your e-mail signature to give a link to the site.

• By using subscription.  An easy way to get your readers e-mail is to give them an opportunity to subscribe to your blogsite.  Keep some exclusive information for your subscribers to entice readers to subscribe and give their e-mail address.  Just be responsible in using their e-mail address, as the last thing you want is a comment on your blog that you are a spammer.

• By understanding your readers.  Conduct a simple survey for your readers to understand their profile and advertising preferences.  Ask consumers to give you feedback on a post, an ad link, or a trial that you shared.  In this way, it is like interviewing your readers without the commitment and intrusion of a face-to-face interview.

• By joining a blog network –A network of blogs maybe a collection of blog sites that share the same industry, interest, readership base, payment mode, etc.  Consumers find credibility and convenience in clicking one link to several real bloggers about a single subject.  Clearly, more bloggers are better than one.

• By using RSS. RSS is the fastest growing technology on the Internet today.  As such, having RSS feeds to your blog is definitely another means of generating awareness for your readership base.  Having a variety of feeds can add interest to your blog site.

Give your business a boost by effectively using blogging as an Internet marketing tool.

2. Blogging is authentic.  In this day and age where advertising saturate our lives, we question the credibility of promoters’ claims.  However, in blogs, real people share their real-life experiences, unscathed by paid advertising.  Reading blogs about first-hand product use is like talking to people about their first-hand experience.  You definitely want to buy a tried and tested product.

3. Blogging is free.  Because blogging is yet to be proven as a mainstream online advertising media, most sites see it as something to augment current marketing tools and thus offer it for free.   Any opportunity for free webtime is definitely a bonus especially to businesses that are starting up.  Needless to say, paid blog pages can generate more income for your seriously growing business.

4. Blogging builds credibility.  As you get more and more into writing your experiences on a particular product or industry, your readers come to realize that they can depend on your posts for their own information needs.  As such, you become an expert on it; as a consequence, more readers visit your site and more bloggers link to your blogs.  As companies and professional organizations notice the growth of your readership base, they may soon get in touch with you for advertising on your blog page, or make you an affiliate, which pays for every referral generated from your blog site.

5. Blogging builds your market.  Unless you are a Hollywood star, chances are, only your Mom reads your posts.  Mom has a lot of friends, so she lets her friends know how interesting your blog site is.  But you need not depend on Mom to increase your readership base.  Look into the following ways to build your market through blogging:

-By using your e-mail.  Today, blogging is overcoming the e-mail’s popularity in quickly and effectively reaching and expanding a market.  In this age of speed and quick access, logging in and downloading e-mail is simply taking longer than clicking into a blog site.  Let them explore your site by using a short e-mail message as teaser to your blog site.  If your e-mail is on an entirely different subject, use your e-mail signature to give a link to the site.

-By using subscription.  An easy way to get your readers e-mail is to give them an opportunity to subscribe to your blogsite.  Keep some exclusive information for your subscribers to entice readers to subscribe and give their e-mail address.  Just be responsible in using their e-mail address, as the last thing you want is a comment on your blog that you are a spammer.

-By understanding your readers.  Conduct a simple survey for your readers to understand their profile and advertising preferences.  Ask consumers to give you feedback on a post, an ad link, or a trial that you shared.  In this way, it is like interviewing your readers without the commitment and intrusion of a face-to-face interview.

-By joining a blog network –A network of blogs maybe a collection of blog sites that share the same industry, interest, readership base, payment mode, etc.  Consumers find credibility and convenience in clicking one link to several real bloggers about a single subject.  Clearly, more bloggers are better than one.

-By using RSS. RSS is the fastest growing technology on the Internet today.  As such, having RSS feeds to your blog is definitely another means of generating awareness for your readership base.  Having a variety of feeds can add interest to your blog site.

Give your business a boost by effectively using blogging as an Internet marketing tool.

Email is actually a promoting tool that may be useful as long as you do not go too far.  Don’t spam anyone that has not asked for information from your business, particularly with a mass mailer that goes out every week.  What’s acceptable is to form a mailing list that your clients can decide to join and have the choice of leaving at any point.

Another completely acceptable way of using email as a marketing tool is to put information about your business in the signature portion of each message.  You won’t have room to assert too much, so the general public simply list their company, their website, and infrequently the address or telephone number.  This way, everybody you email gets a tiny reminder of your business in a non-obtrusive way.

If you’d like to define selling tools that reach more than those whom you continually email, you may think about message boards.  These online communities permit folk to debate diverse subjects and exchange ideas without being online at the same time.  Some of them have specific areas for posting about enterprises, contests, and so on.  Be sure to read the board rules before you post, though, or you might be banned for spamming.

Chatrooms are like message boards with the exception that the only people who see your message are the other people in the room.  Chat rooms are not the greatest place to market your web business since folk are often debating things that are not at all related to your site.  You can spam in BBs, of course, but again, you will probably get banned or just ignored.

Spam, as you can obviously tell, is not a great selling tool, and it’s one of the things you’ve got to be very careful about.  Most are on the guard against spam, or undesired messages, these days, and it’s pretty much impossible to get unblocked once you have made it onto somebody’s spam filter list.

To prevent that from happening, remember that the meaning of an internet selling tool is not a message that reaches as many folks as often as possible .  Never send unwanted e-mail to somebody, especially if you are just sending them information about your business.  It is alright to ask people if they’d like to be added to a mail list when they purchase items from you, though.

No matter which of these marketing tools you use, just be sure to always use them responsibly.  Think of how provoked you’d be if someone were to continually post about their web pharmacy on your message board about dogs or in your painting BB.  Define promoting tools for online businesses as only those messages you’d like to get and you can do very well.

Additional Resources:
Coen Mayes here… visit my blog for additional tips and strategies on building a massive business online.
And stop by for my exclusive Commission Payload Bonus package.

You might be thinking that press releases are reserved for huge companies and corporations to announce that they’ve bought out another company or merging with another. Truth is, you don’t have to be a big corporation or announcing anything like that. It doesn’t matter if you’re a work-at-home mom, small business or whatever. As long as your article is intriguing and content rich with quality keywords, you will get a lot of traffic from it.

If you haven’t started putting this to use, you are losing out on a lot of benefits. The use of press releases has proven to increase business, improve SEO and establish professionalism. Here’s a little insider secrets to my readers – there is a specific resource we use to rank on the first page after just 5 minutes. It’s not black hat! It’s simply submitting the press release. That’s how powerful it is!

Press releases have changed quite a bit over the years, especially on the Internet. It use to be difficult to get your press release accepted and sent out to the world. The press release had to be written a specific way and it was just so expensive. Just 2 years ago, we paid $1,000 for a press release to be written and submitted. $1,000? Not everyone can do that.

And now, you can write it up yourself and have it sent out for only $20… or even for free! This really evens the playing field for the small business owners and individuals that work from home.

Before, you had to think in terms of news-worthiness before writing and submitting a press release. Now, you can think in terms of providing quality content related to your business and targeting keywords that is most beneficial for your website. You don’t have to wait for any significant occurrences. Just find good reasons to write and write it well.

It can be a press release for a new product you’re selling, new service, new merchandise, you’re having a sale, you’re celebrating your 13 month anniversary of being open, whatever. Any time you think something is worth mentioning, then it’s probably a good opportunity to benefit from it with a press release.

Here’s a few places you can send press releases for free:

• http://www.theopenpress.com/
• http://www.prlog.org/
• http://www.free-press-release.com/
• http://www.clickpress.com/
• http://www.newswiretoday.com/

And here’s my number one recommended paid newsletter (spend just $20):

http://www.webwire.com/