In this edition of Web Enlightenment we'll be talking about the 3 keys to golden nuggets and the relationship they have with your email marketing efforts.

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Golden Nuggets - 3 Keys

Considering the title of this edition - are you wondering if I am about to talk about delicious pieces of fried chicken? Or maybe you had another idea in mind - the good folks at Wikipedia remind us that "Golden Nugget" can be a casino in Las Vegas, a breakfast cereal, a type of catfish, or even a hotel in Alaska.

But in Web Enlightenment we are - of course - talking about what geeks refer to as the "Golden Nugget" - a web site visitors' email address.

Internet Entrepreneurs often get so focused on conversion (the immediate sale) that they can forget how important this is.

Many site owners are proud of a 2% conversion rate, for some folks they aren't proud until they have 5% or maybe even 10% - but even sites that have a 10% conversion rate have 9 out of 10 visitors not buying today.

This means that the vast majority of people visiting your site are not doing what you want - but that doesn't mean all hope is lost.

As fans of my web strategy plans know I like to talk about "MDR" at websites, that stands for Most Desired Response. Almost always that is the direct sale or perhaps an inquiry - a person calling or emailing in that "ready to buy" mode.

But what if they aren't ready?

At even the best converting websites almost everyone is not ready to buy now - they pause, they think about it, they consider it, they ponder - and generally they succeed at frustrating the web site owner who just wants to sell them something.

This is when we need to think about SDR - secondary desired response - and what we want folks to do, who are - for whatever crazy reason - not ready to open their wallet right now.

When it comes to SDR all too often I see sites promoting their plain old "newsletter". Yawn.

To get site visitors to respond you need to give them a compelling reason to sign up - why should they care what you have to say? Are you going to help them? Are you going to give them free information they'll feel is worthwhile?

The first key to getting people to give you their golden nugget is to provide a very good reason for them to do so. This can come in the form of a free guide or tip sheet, a potential for discounts or deals, or a host of other reasons. While it can be difficult to do when you first get started a prominent link to your archives is often the best way to get people to sign up.

The second key to getting a golden nugget is formatting & safety. I so often see a plain text link that says something like "Sign Up for Newsletter". The difference between a text link and an actual sign up box is massive - the differential is often ten to twenty percent when we measure the rate at which visitors respond. The core reason for this is because people recognize a "box" as a place where they are supposed to put something in there, but a piece of text is often just not read.

The other key to your sign up box - not link, but box - is that you make your privacy policy clear. Literally a link to the words "Privacy Policy" is all that is required, if you are having trouble coming up with one for your site feel free to steal mine.

In the mid 1990's I participated in a fascinating experiment that involved the little "privacy policy" link - we found that the mere presence of the link was what caused visitors to sign up, it didn't matter what it said when clicking through. We tried policies that clearly stated that your name would be rented, traded, and sold daily. We even had a fun one that said something along the lines of "you'll regret signing up and there is no way to ever get off our list". It didn't matter, if that link was there they signed up in greater numbers.

The third key to golden nuggets is to not let them age. A few weeks ago I was speaking with an Entrepreneur who had been collecting email addresses from his customers for four years and he had just sent them all an email. He was upset because a good size bunch of them decided to report his message as spam and his email service bureau was understandably unhappy.

He seemed to really get the point when I asked if he would remember a company he gave his email address to two or more years ago, even folks he had bought something from. He had to admit he probably wouldn't - one of the biggest sources of false positives in spam reporting is the age of the email address. Anything more than 9 months old has significant problems.

The way to combat this is to send folks a simple welcome letter - most email service bureaus do this automatically. As soon as someone signs up they get a nice hello type email, what a wonderful chance to say howdy. The other important thing here is that you communicative with folks on a regular and ongoing basis - set a schedule and stick to it.

The Three Keys for Golden Nuggets:

• Provide a very good reason for people to give it to you
• Format Correctly with Safety in Mind
• Don't let the Nugget Age.

If you follow these three simple rules you'll dramatically improve the efficacy of your email marketing efforts.