With every passing day, more real estate investing tips spring up on the internet. It seems like there are now more real estate “gurus” than regular people – and the number of blogs, forums and websites devoted to real estate investing are more numerous than the sands of the sea.
And – no surprise here – many things you’ll find online are at least confusing and sometimes downright dishonest. So with that in mind, we offer some thoughts about some available real estate investing resources. Note that we leave it to the reader to make their own judgments concerning the legitimacy of each resource:
(A short note – I have discovered at least one particlarly excellent real estate investing blog that appears to be legitimately free. When you get a second, have a look at it.)
* Bryan Ellis is an Atlanta-based internet marketing expert with a formidable background in real estate investing. Ellis is a little unique among most of the “gurus” because his blog is genuinely news oriented, with relevant political and economic commentary.
* Gerald Romine has an interesting software package for real estate investors that helps them calculate profit and loss and does a lot of paperwork for them automatically. His software sports a high price but has nice features.
These people are all known quite well among real estate investors who use the internet. But fame alone doesn’t mean a person or their products/services are worthwhile We encourage you to check these people out more closely.
In this article I’m going to talk strictly from a subscriber’s point of view. If you’re marketing online, what would you do to find out how people think so you can target your e-mail promotions or a newsletter better?
Well, here’s your opportunity.
Even though I’m running my own newsletter or a bulletin (what I call it) and have my own subscribers, I’m also subscribing to a number of newsletters myself. TSM Bulletin is located at http://tsmbulletin.ogdteam.com.
Today, I’m going to reveal why I open some newsletter e-mails or e-mail promotions more than the others. And also, why I always look forward to only a few of them. Yes, only a few.
The reason I’m subscribing to newsletters, ezines or what ever you want to call them, is because that’s the only way to learn from a marketer and find out what they’re up to, without having to buy all of their products. Clever, I must say.
Why are you subscribing to newsletters? To learn or …..???
But somehow, some of them have convinced me to buy some of their products even though I wasn’t planning on doing so. But how did they do it?
Let’s begin the journey.
At this very moment as I’m typing this article, I looked into the inbox and the bulk folder in 3 of my domain name e-mails that I receive the newsletters in. I had a total of 2037 unread e-mails.
WOW! I didn’t even know I had that many.
How do I know that these are all newsletters? Because I delete all spam and I open the personal e-mails immediately.
And the newsletters?
When I get a chance, if at all. That’s because I receive quite a few e-mails in one day and I don’t have any more time than anyone else. Only 24 hours in a day.
I’m subscribing to the top name guru’s newsletters, ezines, many marketers and names that I haven’t even heard of. It doesn’t really matter who is sending the e-mail, it’s a same story.
One may ask, why am I subscribed to so many of them?
Well, you never know what you may learn from any one of them.
OK! Here we go! The time for the confession.
When I subscribe to a new list, I get the usual welcome e-mail. That’s standard. But then, I wait for the first, second and possibly third e-mail from the marketer.
By then, I pretty much know the nature of his or her e-mails. Whether the e-mails are direct broadcasts or pre-scheduled e-mails from their autoresponders, it really doesn’t matter.
In my daily course of scanning my e-mail accounts, there are e-mails that I open immediately and there are e-mails that I just transfer to folders to open at a later date, if ever.
The e-mails that I already know contain a pure sales pitch or a promotion of some kind with included affiliate link, end up getting deleted or transferred to folders and maybe never opened.
I pretty much know which marketers send me these types of e-mails all the time.
Maybe not all of the subscribers act this way, but there are e-mails that I actually open, read and then transfer to folders.
And those are e-mails that contain a free content. Content such as articles, movie files, newsletters that deliver a free content instead of a pure sales pitch and such. Again, I pretty much know what marketers send me these types of e-mails.
Let’s be brutally honest.
What do surfers do when they search the ‘net? Do they search the Internet with their credit cards ready to buy or do they search for a free content?
When you open your e-mail, do you have your credit card ready to buy whatever promotions you might get hit by, or … why do you open your e-mails?
As marketers, we always want to sell, sell, sell. As surfers, people want to read without having to spend their hard earned money.
Let’s apply the same strategy again. Why do I open the personal e-mails immediately – e-mails from customers, business associates, friends, purchase receipts and such?
Or better yet, why do YOU open the e-mails sent to you from a friend or someone you know?
Because you know for sure that it doesn’t contain any sales pitch or a promotion.
And what about the e-mail promotions? What do those e-mails contain?
I don’t know about you but after about the 3rd e-mail following the sign-up to someone’s list, I pretty much ignore all the follow-up e-mails from marketers that I know for sure their e-mails deliver nothing but promotions. What’s your take on that?
However, as I said earlier, I almost always open the e-mails from marketers that send me a free content. Did I just say, “Almost Always?” What’s that all about?
There are quite a few e-mails, newsletters, ezines and such that provide a free content in forms of articles, reports, tips and so on. So then, which ones would be the ones that I always look forward to?
In other words, which ones are the e-mails (non personal e-mails) that I always open no matter what?
Have you ever thought about this? Which e-mails do you open and read most of the time and which e-mails go straight to the trash can?
Well, I currently have only 4. Only 4 e-mails that I actually can’t wait until the next issue. How about that?
By the way, I’m subscribed to quite a *few hundred* lists that I receive e-mails from. Yet, there are only 4 that I can’t wait until the next issue. I open and read those 4 even if I’m dead tired or busy over my head.
To make one thing clear, I’m talking about a free subscription. I’m not referring to the paid subscription to a newsletter. That comes with special benefits. I’m talking about an everyday marketing or a distribution list that we might end up on.
So, what’ so special about these 4?
The content they provide is articles, movie files or other forms that they write or create from their experience. They write what they actually do. At least for the most part.
They’re not providing articles that have been picked up from ezine directories, even though I enjoy reading those articles too as I spend countless hours browsing through those directories.
But these 4 marketers are unselfishly sharing what they actually do. And that comes with a free newsletter. Can’t beat that!
When I open their e-mails, I know that I will learn something that will benefit me. And I will not just learn how to …. whatever …. but I will learn from their … let me repeat that … from THEIR personal experience.
So the e-mails that deliver a free content from the sender’s personal experience will get my immediate attention. The e-mails that deliver a free content that will teach me something, but not necessarily from the sender’s personal experience, are being saved for the most part.
The pure promotion e-mails, well …. I do go through them …. sometimes …. when I’m looking for ideas …. but for the most part …. I’ve developed a tendency to ignore them. Shocking but true. Again, what’s your take on that?
On the other hand, the marketers who deliver the e-mails with a free content from their personal experience, innocently insert a promotion or two within their newsletter. After one, two, three or so e-mails, I would go:
“Hhhmmm! I wonder what is he or she going to teach me with the book that they’re selling? I mean, I’m learning quite a lot already but there’s gotta be more in these books that they’re selling or recommending.”
So, there goes my credit card. 
Don’t get me wrong. I invest all the time in products that will teach me something that I lack. But I’ve spontaneously bought a lot of products that I didn’t really need. And that was all due to the generosity of the marketer that was unselfishly teaching me already, something from his or her personal experience.
Put this to a test. Find out for yourself. Share your experience with the people, whether good or bad, and see the response. But if you’ve been spamming them with countless promotions already, it may take a little longer until they see *the new you.*
I’m carefully watching my hit count for each issue of my bulletin. This article was part of my third one. But my first one had a 57% response. My second one had a whopping 72% response. I can’t wait until I see the numbers for this issue.
TSM Bulletin is located at http://tsmbulletin.ogdteam.com.
Steve Dimeck is a publisher and author of several ebooks. “To receive more quality articles such as the one you’ve just read, subscribe free to my [TSM] Bulletin and receive one of my ebooks for free.” [TSM] Details:==> http://tsmbulletin.ogdteam.com/
An organically-grown subscriber list is one that’s been cultivated 100% naturally. Much like garden vegetables, your organically-grown subscriber list will at first be smaller than those whose growth was enhanced using artificial means. But the fruits of your labor, your subscribers, will also be sweeter and packed with “vital nutrients” to help your business thrive. Harvest a perfect crop of interested prospects, and weed out the feigned interest and fake number counts that make you look good but yield no real business!
Organically-grown subscriber lists are “truer” than ones that were bought or rapidly collected in mass quantities. The reason is because each subscriber is hand-selected and fresh-picked based on a high level of interest. Some subscribers may arrive on your list by chance and picked YOU out as their expert to learn from. Others, you may gather in your business dealings after networking with them any number of times. The important thing is not so much HOW you got them to click the “subscribe” button on your submission box, but the fact that they possessed a strong desire to do so.
Where to obtain organically-grown subscribers for your email newsletter?
1. Articles. By writing original articles and circulating them around the Web, you can attract fellow businesspeople who share your ideals and appreciate your ideas. Link your article to a landing page where your reader can learn more and include a newsletter sign-up box on the page.
2. Networking. Participating in online forums is the perfect way to get to know people slowly, in a no-pressure situation where folks can take their time in realizing ways you might help them to further growth.
3. Referrals. As you expand your circle of contacts, folks who walk away pleased with your services will likely recommend you to their friends and associates who may also have a need for what you offer.
4. Classified Advertising. Find a highly-trafficked, reputable site to post the news about your business, and wait for people to find you by way of their own searching. Take out an ad in the newspaper and do the same.
5. Sales Letters. Pursue a group of businesses who may find your offerings useful with an informative sales letter. In this letter, isolate their wants and needs and position yourself as having the solution. Keep the letter campaign going with follow-up mailings.
6. Volunteering. People will be less willing to pay your fees if they don’t know what to expect from your work. If you’re just starting out, offer up some of your time by helping someone for free. Sure, everybody wants to get paid, but you have to start somewhere and that’s by offering a sample of what you can do.
7. Your Website. To me, this goes without saying, but many internet marketers start off with no website, and that’s like having no home. Your business needs to take root and you must give people a place to go when they want to know more about you. Yes, your domain is literally your domain! Send people there at every opportunity, work on your search engine position, and soon you’ll be sowing the seeds of a well-tended business.
Copyright 2005 Dina Giolitto. All rights reserved.
Dina Giolitto is a copywriting consultant and ghostwriter with 10 years of experience writing corporate print materials and web content. Trust her with your next e-book, article series or web project, and make a lasting impression on your audience of information-hungry prospects. Visit http://www.wordfeeder.com for more information.
