I made this post to inform people, about a subject matter I read earlier today. A guy was posting on another forum saying that most important asset you have online is your website. The truth of the matter is, That Is Completely Wrong! When people start out in internet marketing, they believe that their website is their business. Other people, will say it is their product they have made, or are promoting, is their business. While both of these are important, it is not what makes up your business. I take it one step further, saying that the most important asset you have online, and what makes up your entire business is... Customers, which is another word for "Your List." When you really drill down into online marketing, what makes your business run, is your current prospects. It is not a website, and it is not a product! It is Customers. Few months ago a extremely good marketer, Kim Roach lost her website, which was earning her 6-7 figures a year! Luckily since the hacker only took her website, and not her list, she was able to rebuild her business in a couple of weeks. This was all due to the fact, that she still had her list of customers she engaged with, and sold items too. So as you start to create your online business, while having a website may not be a complete waste of time, always focus more on your list, and keeping it safe. This is where all your money will come from, if you treat your prospects well.
Very true. A lot of people set up a business website but get hardly any traffic. If you are going to do a website for your business, it is important to figure out a way to direct people to your site... otherwise it is just a waste of time.
The money is in the list. Forget the site and the other staff people worry about. You can have the best looking site in the world, if you do not have traffic to it, then you are wasting your time. There are million of sites out there that are not generating any cash. The life blood of any business is in the list (customers)
I need to say that I disagree with you! Having a website is very important! How can you build a list without building a website! There are a lot of blogs out there without selling any kind of product; yes they have email newsletter and they are building a list in that way, but they don't sell anything! Their sites are getting a huge amount of traffic, and monetization is made by putting banners on their sites (Google Adsense etc.). These webmasters focus on building content though blog posts. I mean hundreds of blog posts! In the end, if they want they can decide to sell their sites for really big money (hundreds of thousands of $). Sites are their virtual real estates! These are some proofs: http://dashburst.com/ http://geeklesstech.com/ http://alltop.com/ Don't get me wrong! I still think that building an email list is important and conversions are big factor, but in the same level as providing value on your site-blog through content marketing! Regarding security of your site! The most important is to have back up scheduling! There are even free WP plugins like Better WordPress Security for example. If you want you can always find paid service for that.
Why you think website is waste, however I do agree that traffic is very necessary. Once you have website, you need to figure out the constant traffic to it to make sure your business gets more benefit from your website. If you are in the list building, you can build that one too from your website, once your website has traffic, then you will be able to make interesting people subscribe to your list.
How did she lose her site? If she hosted it with a reputable company all she had to do is call them and they would return it to the latest backup. It sounds a bit like a hoax to further build a name for herself. Or maybe I am missing something.
I do not think a website is a waste -- I made that title to catch everyone's attention. I wanted to prove that if you had to choose between your website, and your email list, your list is 10 times more valuable. Here is a quote, from Kim Roach,she sent to her list -- the week it happened.
Just want to add something to earlier post! Email marketing is not so simple! You need to find out which titles work best (open rate); content of your email is also important (affects click-through rate), even the way you write your emails. If you're promoting too much paid products, subscriber can easily decide to unsubscribe (only one or two clicks is enough). If you make a mistake and promote product which has low value it can affect subscriber to unsubscribe also...
This is true... One way I have found to promote if you want to do paid products is sending emails like this: Free....Free+Paid Product...Free...Free...Free+Paid Product I realize that people want a bunch of free stuff, and if you have a bunch of ebooks, or whatever, just break that down into super small pieces. Give those small pieces away and then when you promote the free one again attach a paid one. Of course that having the list is the most important thing. Who am I going to sell to?
While this can be effective this is also very dangerous and can actually cause you to lose tons of money. The word "free" attracts people who are opportunity seekers. People who are more then likely not looking to work, but a magic button that will make them money online. Which we all know is not the case. My suggestion would be, in every email you send, make sure you are giving something of value away. Make it so when people see your emails -- they come away learning something that can help them with their problem. At the end of these emails, simply state in your PS -- if you enjoyed this content, then you may consider looking at this product. You are not being pushy, and you have already delivered valuable content to them. This will keep your readers engaged and happy, while at the same time make you money.
Yes, I totally agree. The reason I do the way I do with my list is because by giving some little free things here and there without promoting anything because I want to keep that relationship with them. I don't like my customers to feel that, "Oh this guy only wants to promote things all the time..." As someone who has bought from other marketers before, when seeing someone all the time giving me an email that's always a promotion, it gets old quick and they get unsubscribed. The ones that I stay subscribed to are people who just give stuff just to give stuff, and then when they promote something in the future, I tended to buy or become an affiliate. Guess that's just me. I was following what one guy that was pretty successful did, so I tried that as well. I'll try your suggested approach.. *DOH* Have something free with a little promotion towards the end. I'll see how that works out.
All of them are important. You won't move without any of them. For example, if you have list and you do not have any product to promote [including affiliate products]--you will fail! Website presence, is important to show your customer that you are serious about your niche. But, I really agree with this List is the heart. So build the list and keep it secured.
Yes to mkcookin! For anyone to have built a solid customer base and to have their domain taken away just like that, the list is definitely, definitely what will make or break you. A loyal following like that will take notice of the notice that you'll send out to them informing them of the unfortunate event, and will follow you to the next step you're going to take.
Conclusion to me is why do you have to choose which is more important? I say everything is important. A website, your list, your products, the way you communicate with your subscribers and the trust and relationships that you build + the constant traffic that you drive to your website are all important! Its like your body needs a heart, lungs, brain, liver, etc to survive and function properly. Can you really live properly without any of the above? Can you actually decide which is more important to you? So i think that all are important. It is because of all you did right, thats why you are making money. Everything is as important because each piece of the puzzle contributes in it's own way to add to your success.