Email Marketing serves as a type of direct marketing tool which uses email messages directed to a specific list of people, in order to augment profits and/or client loyalty.

Starting out with email marketing is as easy as placing an “opt-in” form on your website or Blog. Still many people today ignore this one crucial step.

There are 3 key methods to effective email marketing for Business Owners.

1. Get Specific Permission To Email Someone

As most of us already know, SPAM is an email sent without authorization.

Penalties can and will be imposed on anyone found to be disobeying anti-spam regulations; you may even be blacklisted by ISPs.

In the event that you make a mistake and become known as a “spammer” in the eyes of your recipients, you will not be effective at email marketing.

So getting permission to email somebody is actually the crucial first action in starting a profitable email marketing program.

2. Recognize That Size Is Not The Most Crucial Element

Many people have a hard time believing that they should not obsess about the size of their Email List.

An integral aspect of successful email marketing is to focus on the quality of your List – not the size of it.

It’s a lot more important to have a list of 100 clients who will be interested in what you are promoting and will welcome your emails, than 1000 people who could not care less.

Naturally this suggests that in all likelihood, it will take some time to build your Email List.

But taking time to build a great Email List, will be well worth your time.

Your goal should be to build a quality list.

3. Use a Reliable Email Marketing Service

Aweber is an email marketing and autoresponder service that any business can use to build a list of “opt-in” subscribers. As most of us have heard – the “money is in the list”. So building a database of people that you can send emails regularly to is an extremely effective method of promoting products and services.

Additionally, by using the “follow-up” feature of Aweber, you can send newsletters, email courses, ebooks, special reports, and blog posts – in pre-determined intervals which you can edit at any time. It is like putting your email marketing campaign on auto-pilot.

The important thing to remember is that Email Marketing is about building solid customer relationships over time.

Successful email campaigns begin with acquiring permission to deliver future communications – followed by more emails which set up expectations of potential benefits.

After that, it’s your responsibility to make the sale.

Posting an ad on Craigslist is probably one of the easiest things you can do to promote your Business, Event or News for free online.

For those of you who don’t know it, Craigslist is an online network which features free online classified advertisements.

You can create your own free Craigslist advertisement and have it online in a matter of seconds. Simply create your ad, and then insert it into the ad form at Craigslist.

Is posting a free ad on CRAIGSLIST really easy?

Well, yes but…

You’ll have to create a CRAIGSLIST account first.

There have been recent changes to setting up a Craigslist account – with new security features in place for some categories.

But still, the process is very easy!

Here are 10 Easy Steps To Creating a Craigslist Account

1. First, go to craigslist.org. You’ll see columns of specific cities, states, and countries.

Just click on the specific location in which you want to post an advertisement.

2. Once you are on your location page, click “post to classifieds”.

3. You will be asked what type of posting you are making. In most cases, you’ll want to select “service offered”.

4. Under the “services” section, simply click the category which best fits your Business or Service.

You’ll be taken to a page that says: “you need to have a Craigslist account…”

5. Click the “Craigslist account” link. Then click “sign up for an account” (at the bottom of the page).

6. On the next page, enter the Email Address you want associated with your Craigslist account.

(It’s important to note that this email address is for Craigslist Administrators only. You will be given a completely anonymous email address to be used for your ads)!

Then enter the verification words you see in the Box. Click “create account”.

If this is done correctly, you’ll get a thank you – but you’re not finished yet!

7. Check your email for the link from CRAIGSLIST to activate your CRAIGSLIST account.

8. Click the link, enter your password, and submit it.

9. Read the CL Terms Of Use page and make sure you understand it.

You don’t want your ads to be flagged (deleted), and you certainly don’t want your account to be suspended.

If you are sure you want to continue with CRAIGSLIST, click “I accept”.

10. You are ready to post your first free CRAIGSLIST ad!

Click “go” and go for it!

Oh yes, it’s FREE.

I work frequently with small business owners who are scrambling for creative ways to keep their business visible and vibrant on a very limited budget.

Many of them are asking:

It is possible to remain competitive while spending less on marketing?

Answer: Yes!

What Kind Of Magic Is This?

Update Your Website and Change Your Hosting Plan

In a land of nearly non-existent human attention spans, it has become more important than ever to refresh your Website and make sure that it is concise, informative and relevant.

Since a website is one of the most cost-effective ways to disseminate core information about your business – keeping your site tidy and up-to-date is essential for your success.

Web Hosting (the storing of your site on “servers” that keep your site live) can be notoriously overpriced. I would suggest that you look carefully at your plan and see if you can save some money there.

If you think you are being overcharged for web hosting, contact us and we’ll take a look.

Start A Blog

If you want your Business to have it’s own voice on the Internet, then setting up a Blog is the fastest, easiest way to get started.

Even with no marketing budget at all, you can set up a free hosted Blog at Wordpress.com.

So, you are only making excuses for yourself if you are saying “I can’t afford to be on the Internet”.

You can’t afford FREE??

Evaluate Your Message

Surely every small business owner knows how important it is to stand out with memorable marketing messages.

But as things become even more competitive, you’ll need to step up quickly – and have something NEW to say today; preferably something relevant to the current economic climate.

Just remain focused on your customers, and adjust your advertising to address their current interests and needs.

Look at your core marketing message: what are you really saying to your clients and customers?

Get Some Social Media Buzz

Twitter, Facebook, Stumble, Digg…

There are seemingly endless varieties of social media networks that help get you some media buzz FAST.

If it is true that over half of the global internet population visits social networks, then why would you NOT use one of these free social media tools?

Network Like Crazy

Rather than complain about “how slow business is”, why not use any extra time to network with other small business owners in your area.

Reaching out and being helpful in these difficult times can generate a lot of positive feedback for your business.

Get it right the first time.

Build long-term relationships with your customers, and this will increase your sales while reducing your customer acquisition costs.

And what could be better than that!