Do you mean what you say?

When you decide Internet marketing is one of your ways to earn extra money do you always mean what you say?

Integrity is one of the key ways to earn extra money

Being an Internet marketer means you are entering a competitive market. With the growth of Facebook and Twitter everyone thinks of the Internet as one of the easier ways to earn extra money.

The truth is both ‘yes’ and ‘no’. We read of overnight successes caused by a YouTube video going ‘viral’. Going viral means your content gets seen by many people who then tell other people who tell other people etc. So traffic to your content grows at the rate of a virus.

That is the best way to market and what you should be aiming for. However there is another form of ‘virus’ in Internet marketing that is on the increase. It’s called the ‘daily email’. Now this can be in your Inbox or now just as frequently on your social network such as Facebook.

I have now taken a clear stand on this new virus. If I subscribe to a Blog or connect to someone on a Social Network I will count daily messages from them as unwanted ‘spam’. The fact I have accepted a request to become a Friend is no licence to ‘pester’ me on a daily basis. One message is week fine.

This ‘battering ram’ approach to Internet marketing is ultimately self defeating. The key to Internet marketing is knowing your target audience and providing solutions.

If you doubt the wisdom of my stance imagine this. You go into your favourite Grocery store and they ask you for say your phone number ‘just for promotional information’. You like the store and they have given you good service so you give your phone number. Then every day after that last visit you get a phone call from the store with ‘special offers’. I guarantee you will soon add that number to your ‘blocked callers’ no matter how good their product.

When people subscribe to your Ezine or connect with you on Facebook they expect you to treat that connection with integrity. This means no abuse of the information and their lifestyle.

So if you currently have daily emails set up or send a daily Ezine or event to people on Facebook do so very carefully. Be honest with people who go to your Fan Page and say you will be sending daily tips and events. Also give people the chance to opt out of daily messages yet still remain connected.

Remember when a person gives you their personal details this is your first test of your integrity. If you use an email autoresponder then your emails will automatically have an ‘unsubscribe’ option. Using the unsubscribe option only takes a mouse click and you have lost a potential client. Email and messages are a great way to develop a relationship with potential clients; they are also the easiest way to lose their trust.

Andrew Peel

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 17th, 2010 at 7:56 pm and is filed under Ways To Earn Extra Money. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

7 comments

  1. Simon
    August 22, 2010 at 9:36 am

    This article hits on one of my big issues with email marketing. It is not just the frequency of the emails but the fact that people try to just sell me something rather than providing me with some useful information or a link to their weekly/monthly newsletter. People who bombard me with selling emails very quickly find their way to my spam folder.

  2. Andrew Peel
    August 22, 2010 at 4:49 pm

    Simon

    Thanks for commenting and all I can say is I hope other marketers read and take note. I have finally worked my way around Facebook’s Provacy settings. There is a way wherby you Block someone they can still send you a message. A friend of a friend can actually send you a message. You have to set up Facebook to avoid receiving these messages.

    Andrew

  3. abhishek from relationship
    August 23, 2010 at 1:11 am

    Andrew,
    Bang on this one. I liked a blog because of its contents but then what happened is that I was getting more than 2 emails on a daily basis trying to sell me different e-books. That got me frustrated no end and i stopped going to that blog together as well as I didn’t recommend it to any.
    When one likes a blog or a product one should be really really careful how to manage the people. As they say getting a connection is one thing but maintaining is quite difficult. Hope this article of yours get those people to change there habit a bit :)
    GOD bless
    abhishek@relationship´s last [type] ..Indian Independence Day!!