Blitz Ezine #273 ~~ May 1, 2007

Maintaining a subscriber base, Toll free numbers.

The Blitz-Promotions News Letter
Issue no. 273, May 1, 2007

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Blitz Comments
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Every day or two we talk some about promotion (as well as fun things too on our blog)
http://smallbizpromo.blogspot.com/

One important note - we'll be taking a break from the newsletter this Summer as we enjoy our friends and family. We'll be back on Sept. 4th.

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In this Issue
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- Tips for maintaining your Subscriber base.
- Toll Free Numbers

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Food for thought
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No man is a failure who is enjoying life.
                                         -William Feather

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13 Tips to Maintaining and Growing a Feed Subscriber Base By Sharon Housley

You have an RSS feed and you have worked hard to get the word out. According to your logs you have subscribers! Now the hard part: how to retain the subscribers to your RSS feed. Follow these simple steps to insure that your subscriber base will grow.

1. Original Content
A consistent stream of original content will do well to earn subscribers loyalty. The best RSS feeds provide content that is compelling and unique. Do not rehash existing content, look for a unique angle or spin if you wish to cover something that is hot in the blogosphere.

2. Quality Over Frequency
A posts quality is far more important than a post's frequency. Readers will tire of rambling or nonsensical posts that contain no real value. Time is precious and there are plenty of feeds and blogs, in order to retain readers provide quality not quantity.

3. Get it Right
Syndication has the power to do damage; misquoting or just plain getting it wrong can affect your reputation and perpetuate incorrect information. Be sure to verify all your RSS feed and blogs information prior to posting.

4. Literate
Blog posts are not instant messages: you should always use proper grammar, correct spelling and punctuation. Your posts are a reflection of your knowledge; content presentation matters and will affect how you are viewed.

5. Griping
Do not constantly gripe, no one likes a whiner. If you are going to complain it is not enough to point out problems, you should offer a suggestion for improvement or specifics on how to solve a problem.

6. Balance
Titles of RSS Feed Items and Headlines of blog posts should relate to the contents of the actual post. There is nothing worse than just tempting readers with information and not following through. Use catchy titles but be sure to follow it with related content. In your actual posts, strike a balance be sure to provide enough information without overwhelming readers.

7. Focus
Regardless of your RSS feeds focus' stay on topic! Your feed or blog posts will generally revolve around a specific theme, don't stray too far or you might lose readers. If your RSS feed has a specific theme, stay true to that theme.

8. Length Matters
Not too long, not too short it is a difficult balance, but your post length does matter! If a post is excessively long consider breaking it up or partitioning it into easy to digest paragraphs or break it up into multiple posts. Post length should be consistent throughout your blog and feed. Try not to vary it too much.

9. Credibility
As a publisher, you want to be viewed as a credible source. Posting or reposting inaccurate information will reduce if not nullify any credibility that you have. Provide credentials when offering an opinion and be sure any factual information is accurate before posting.

10. Link
Include links to any related information in the description field of your RSS feed, this is a great way to supplement content. Outgoing links will also often result in links back to your blog or website.

11. Consistency
It is important to remain consistent, try not to vary too much in your daily posts. Stay true to your formula for content if it is working .

12. Listen to Your Audience
Readers will often communicate what they like and what they dislike about your content. It is important that you stay in tune with what your subscribers like and don't like and make the appropriate accommodations.

13. Advertisements
Do not clutter your RSS feed with advertisements. If you choose to include advertisements in your RSS feed be sure to strike a balance between advertisements and quality content.

Starting an RSS feed or is not difficult to attract readers, it is however difficult to retain readers. By following a few simple unwritten rules you will find your subscriber base swell.

About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for RecordForAll http://www.recordforall.com audio recording and editing software.

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Toll Free Numbers
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Much has been written about the value of "Toll Free" long distance numbers, commonly referred to as 800 numbers.
Basically, an 800 number is like having people call you collect, since you pay for the call instead of the caller. Does an 800 number increase the chances of making a sale? Let's explore this a bit.

OK - so the phone rings and immediately you have to make a decision. Is the caller a serious prospect, a bored teenager with nothing better to do, or what they refer to in the automotive trade as a "tire kicker?

Trying to determine if they are a serious prospect is a challenge. If they are, you might make the sale. If they aren't however, how do you gracefully end the conversation? Many small businesses are a "one horse" shop, without the staff, and equipment necessary to handle multiple calls. Every minute you are on the phone, with someone who is not a serious prospect, is not only wasting your time, but may cost you another customer, who can't get through because the line is busy.

Some people, who may have a slight interest, think that because it is a toll free number they don't have anything to lose, so they make the call. It doesn't cost them anything, so why not.
These are your "tire kickers", who are usually not serious prospects, and are wasting your resources.

How do you avoid these types of problems? Simple, don't have an 800 number. If a person has to spend their "nickel" for the call, they have already pre-qualified themselves as a serious prospect. You know that time spent with them will be productive.
Now the small entrepreneur must have a separate phone line for this.

If you are involved in several businesses, you should have a line for each one. That way, when the phone rings, depending on the number called, you can answer the phone in a businesslike manner.

We used 800 numbers with our businesses. As an experiment, we took the 800 number off our website, and put in a non-toll free number. Two things happened and they were both good. First, the number of calls received decreased by almost 80 percent. This of course concerned us at first. Secondly however, we saw our sales dramatically increase. Why? Because the prospects were pre-qualifying themselves, and we were not wasting our time, or losing calls due to lines being busy.

Do 800 numbers have a place in your business plan? Sure! If you are product oriented, a toll free order line is essential.
People may hesitate to pay a toll for a product they wish to order. If you are service oriented, it is a must for technical support. With long waiting times for help, it would be a real turn off if one wasn't available.

Long Distance costs however, have been coming down over the past few years, and many people today have unlimited calling plans.
An 800 number may not be as important as it was just a few short years ago.

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Did you know that subscribers to Bob Osgoodby's Free Ezine the "Tip of the Day" get a Free Ad for their Business at his Web Site? Great Business and Computer Tips - Monday. Wednesday. And Friday. Instructions on how to place an ad are in the Newsletter.
Subscribe at: http://adv-marketing.com/business/subscribe2.htm

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Links you can use -
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A good tool to help you optimize your site.

http://services.google.com/websiteoptimizer/

Some ideas for creating navigation for your site.

http://webdeveloper.econsultant.com/css-menus-navigation-tabs/

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Some Fun Links
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Make those big boxes into something you can use.
http://www.foldschool.com/_faq/faq_general.html

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Useful links
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Ezine Archives links to all our past issues (well most of them) in one place.

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Next Issues
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Our next issue will be Sept. 4, 2007

Tim and Lisa Hamblin
Tisa Enterprises
PO Box 221
Hazard KY 41702
http://www.blitzpromotions.com
http://www.crochetnmore.com
http://www.webpageplanner.com
http://www.ineedlinks.com