Any business, whether it be online or offline, needs to stay in touch with its customers and prospects. In the offline world this usually requires a great deal of effort - writing letters, stuffing envelopes, mailing out, telephoning etc.

Thankfully, in the online world, this can be done 90% automatically. I say 90% because sometimes manual follow up is essential.

If leads, prospects and customers are the lifeblood of your business, then follow up must be the driving force behind it. To put it bluntly, if you did not have a way to regularly contact the people who come into contact with your web site, then the chances of your business staying afloat are virtually non-existent.

So how do we stay in touch?

Usually by email, though there are one or two other options too. Let's stay with email for the time being.

There are two ways to stay in touch with your contacts - manually through a mailing list, or automatically, using autoresponders. Both are important. Let's focus on autoresponders.

If you're feeling a little intimidated by all of this, then don't be. There really is nothing to it.

In fact, like most things you will do in order to develop your internet business, you need only apply yourself for a couple of hours and then once you have set it up, it will go on working for you automatically, day in day out, forever - or until you pull the plug on it.

It really is that straightforward - and powerful.

So how do we take advantage of this most powerful and convenient marketing method?

I'm going to assume that you have at least set up a free sequential autoresponder account with an online service or have downloaded and installed a free script and are now at the stage where all you have to do is add your messages.

let me give you a few little tips on what to put in each message:

* establish a reason for the follow ups. Is it to promote a specific product (like a paid upgrade to a free product the prospect has received from you) or is it to offer free gifts, bonuses, other products etc to existing customers, or is it a course of some kind?

* make sure you include a short header at the beginning of every message. It should read something like: "You are receiving this message because you joined my mailing list at http://www.yoursite.com. Removal instructions are at the end of this message."

* always include a link so that subscribers can unsubscribe if they wish

* always include your full contact details - name, home/office address, email, telephone

* always include a sentence to the effect that the message may contain material of a commercial nature (if you are promoting a paid product or service)

* always keep your message short and to the point. Long rambling emails are OUT, unless you are sending them a course or other tutorial type material.

* try not to overtly "sell" anything, but rather appear to "recommend" and include a live link to the page you are promoting

Keep to these guidelines and you will not go wrong (unless of course you happen to be promoting something that nobody wants to buy, but that is a different story!)

It may seem an impossible task if you have never done anything like this before. But even just a sentence or two would be better than not staying in touch with your prospects and customers. Believe me, this is the way to build your online business and take it to the next level.



About the author:
Bob Evans has been successfully marketing online since September 2000.
His highly acclaimed Marketing Action Plan includes an automated follow
up system you can personalise and "go live" with in a matter of minutes
http://www.market4profit.net/marketing-action-plan.php