If you do, you can't just focus on one aspect of Internet marketing. What I mean is, don't just think about ad copy or just about traffic generation. It takes an "all around" approach to succeed.
First, and foremost, you must get your website visitors' email addresses. Build your prospect list. Use not only a newsletter, but also use autoresponder ecourses, ebooks and reports. All should be given away; the only "payment" being their email address.
Put the signup forms for these ebooks, etc. on your navigation menu and on the content pages throughout your site. You never know which page your visitors will be seeing when they arrive.
Make each signup page a "sales" page. Why should they want the ebook or report? What are the benefits to them? Make it good.
Have great customer support. What? They're not customers? Well, not yet, but they could be. Treat each subscriber and contact as if he or she is the best customer in the world and that person will be more likely to remain your subscriber.
Provide some way for your website visitors to provide feedback. It could be a community blog, forum, or even just a contact form. Just make sure there is some way that your visitors can communicate with you. Make sure that the link to your contact form is on every page of your website.
These days, I don't recommend adding your actual email address to your site because of all the spam bots. They scour your site for your email and soon your inbox will fill up with junk.
Does your website look professional? If you just have a site full of blinking banners and ads, I don't believe you'll succeed in the long run. You need it to look nice - not fancy - just nice, and have valuable content for visitors. If you do, they'll come back.
What about popups? You can use popup windows, but don't go crazy with them. Personally, I do not stay on a site that has more than one popup. I have been on sites where so many windows appear that you can barely get away from the site. That is just plain rude in my book.
A word about promotion. In my opinion, the best way to promote your website is by writing articles. You need articles for your newsletter and to distribute to article directories and other publishers. This is how you get your "name" out in cyberspace...to the people who matter...the ones looking for good content for their own newsletters and websites.
And the most important key to success? Perseverance. Don't give up at the first problem, or even the second. Find a mentor. Ask questions. Do whatever you have to do...but hang in there! You WILL have your OWN success story!
