In the U.S., I can't speak for abroad, most likely if \r your grocery store offers it, you've signed up for the \r "cash back" card, the little card they scan to "save you \r money." But what did that little card really accomplish \r for the store?

It gave them access to YOU! Now, whenever they have a \r special or send out coupons, etc., they are free to \r contact you via the postal service. What a great, silent\r business tool!

My good friend Raymond McNally of RTD Websolutions,\r http://www.mywizardads.com/RD/RTD.htm recently compared \r online marketing to visiting a grocery store. Forget\r what you came there to BUY, there's more at work here\r then meets the eye.

The "outside the box" world has been doing this a long \r time - collecting names, addresses, phone numbers for \r contacting, and then staying in contact with, their \r potential market.

So is online any different? No, it is not.

I'm still amazed when I visit many websites that the\r owner has no method in place to collect my name and \r email address. Hey, I'm stopping by, maybe not buying\r right now, but in a second I'll be gone. Shouldn't\r you make the attempt to see if I'll give you permission\r to contact me? Believe me, if you are letting those\r surfers slip out the door without even asking them for\r their permission, you are wasting traffic!

And it's so simple to set up! Just choose any free\r or paid autoresponder, my personal favorite is\r http://www.mywizardads.com/RD/PF.htm, follow the setup \r screens (see next paragraph), copy the code into your \r HTML webpage, upload it to your site, and presto! you're \r on your way to creating a mailing list of potential \r customers. And the autoresponder is virtually a self-\r maintaining program. Subscribes and unsubscribes process \r quickly and quietly, the work is done for you!

While in your autoresponder program, go to the "create \r your messages" portion and insert your follow-up series. \r Schedule your first mailing for the next day, and then \r a follow up to that one say 5 to 7 days after, etc., and \r send them your first quick, "Hi, thanks for dropping \r by my website! If you have any questions..." This also \r allows you free access to put into the follow-up some of \r those great program and product links you'd like them to \r purchase (the famous "backend" sale). Just don't forget\r to always include an unsubscribe link in every mailing.

Do take the time to create your own "grocery store scanner\r card." Get your visitor's information! See what creating\r a mailing list and following up on your visitors can\r do for you!

? Theresa Cahill - All Rights Reserved. Feel free to distribute this article. Please keep it intact and with the resource box included below.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Theresa Cahill, a two decade veteran of marketing, is the owner of http://www.mywizardads.com and invites you to take a look at the services of MWA and download fr.ee helpful information and more at http://www.mywizardads.com/sitemap.html