Also, I’ve built an Easy Digital Downloads – Drip integration for internal use which I’ve just released for free. If anyone’s interested: http://fatcatapps.com/edd-drip/

We offer site care plans, so when a client signs up for a package, we go through a sequence to get them set up and then drop their email into a special mailing list along with their name and web site url.

Adding an email to this list triggers an immediate follow-up email, letting them know their site is now in our system and we have completed security checks and created a full backup. We also explain that we will send an email just like this one out each time we do any updates on their site. We stress how important it is to read the emails each time so they know what was upgraded (WP security patches, etc.) and also so they can review their site to make sure we didn’t miss anything.

For each update, we create a humorous email with a related image and send it to the entire list. Example – when we updated to fix the recent WP vulnerability, we titled the email “Whew! That was close…” and had an image of a bomb in the body of the email. We then explained in non-techy terms that their site was now protected from that threat.

The name and web site adds a personalized touch to these emails and they can click right on the link in their email to see their site.

Now here’s where we market… we also use these emails to mention articles on our blog or new services we offer. We often get replies back on these emails (more than our regular opt in list) asking questions or generating additional business from an existing client.

I am still experimenting with email marketing. The best thing so far has been a sequence following up an ebook download which offers supplementary content and ideas to chapters in the book. That has worked well and opened up conversations.

A newsletter project seemed to be falling on deaf ears but, on the plus side, it didn’t cause a mass unsubscribing so perhaps it was just ‘ho-hum’.

I think about the emails I subscribe to and receive. A few I read straight away, some are filed for future reference, some go into the read when I have a moment file (and I rarely have that moment). For me, it’s how to be become a ‘read straight away’ for my clients as opposed to the ‘when I have a moment’. How to do that? But I think the answer was in the podcast – niche down and be the expert.

Thank you again for such an excellent interview and to Rob for being so honest about his own endeavours.

What I’m starting to implement in my business is refocusing everything so we can be “internet coachs” in that way I’m implementing a series of free “programs” that the visitors can opt-in in the home page, the copy is in spanish bu it’s something like this:

“Start working with one of our internet coaches, for free, and let him help your small business get more revenue”, then they can choose between 4 different programs.

Work with a coach in:

1: Your website

2: Email marketing

3: Social networks

And when they roll up, the emails nurturing campaigns start to go on: they are a series of topic oriented recommendations send by one of our coachs (me) about the topic they choose, and I encourage them to ask me questions and solve specific problems…

This has starting me to give some real relationships that’m really exited about!