Don’t Use The Default Page

Most list management systems include the ability to use their 'default' thank you page. Don't do it! You'll have much better luck with your own thank you page.

• You'll have the opportunity for company branding and have page look like the rest of your website.
• Subscribers won't leave your website.
• If you use the default page, you’ll leave them on the site provided by your list management company.
• You’ll have a whole page to introduce yourself, your products and services.

Using Confirmed Optin

In order to achieve the best confirmation rate, your thank you page needs to make it very clear to subscribers that they will receive an email from you shortly. But more importantly, they need to open the message and click on the confirmation link.

If you’re using confirmed optin, they will receive an email from the service you use right after they get to the thank you page. It may get lost in their spam bucket if you don’t head them off at the pass.

Sign up yourself and receive your confirmation email in your inbox. Create a snapshot of the email and ‘white out’ the information you don’t want them to see such as your personal info. Then include that image in your thank you page. You can even highlight the confirmation link and tell them to ‘click here to confirm your subscription’.

Be sure to explain why you’re using confirmed optin and why they have to do this extra step.

Whitelisting Instructions

Whitelisting means that your emails won’t get bumped into your readers spam pile. The simplest thing you can suggest is to suggest that they add you to their allowed senders list and address book. You might offer a list of various instructions, one for each major ISP.

Website Intro

Use your thank you page as an introduction to the rest of your website. Include links to the neglected pages that new users might overlook such as:

• Contact Us
• FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
• About Us
• News
• Programs, Products and Services
• Your Blog, Video or Podcast

Special Offers

Don’t waste the space you have. This is a perfect opportunity for a first offer.

Anne Holland, Marketing Sherpa’s President, says,

“Another interesting fact: the most popular offer on that page gets a 29% acceptance rate, which is fabulous, but not the whole 39%. That means giving folks a choice on that page has helped our overall offer conversions increase by 10 percentage points.”

You can give your readers a special offer that they can't get elsewhere on your website. Give them a coupon or a link to a discount on one of your products or services.

Are Employees Twitter Away Productivity via FastCompany.com

Never Mind What Twitter Costs – What's the Cost of Twitter via PatPhelan.net

If I Started Today via ChrisBrogan.com

A post on what he recommends you do if you want to jump on the social bandwagon for the first time

First off, why do you Twitter in the first place? A great article on Business Week by John A. Byrne on Why I Twitter.

5 Ways to Find More Friends on Twitter | via ReadWriteWeb.com

Show Everyone Why You're a Twitteraholic by Using TwitStamp

Get a Great Twitter Background at TwitterImage.com

Top 10 Uses of Twitter via TopRankBlog.com

Why I Embraced Twitter (3 Part Article) via SearchEngineGuide.com

How Twitter Made My Website Better (An older post, but worth it if you haven't read it yet) via Guy Kawasaki

After following them and then checking it out a bit more, you discover that they really aren't who they say they are. Rats, I knew Bill Gates didn't have the time to play with Twitter.

Seth Godin posted awhile back about the subject (via @Scobleizer on Twitter). It leads to another great post on Problogger.com about securing your names and brands on social sites before someone else does. TheLinkspiel has a similar post.

I can hear the grumbling now. I don't have time to blog, don't have time to Twitter, don't have time to… you fill in the blank. I do wonder how the heavy hitters find the time to do it all. When do they squeeze in sleeping?

(Happy 21st birthday to my birthday girl, Samantha. She just walked in the front door with a balloon and cake in hand from school. I can hardly believe she's 21 when it just seems like yesterday they handed me a tiny five pounder who wouldn't take any crap from anyone. The German nurse said I would have my hands full with her. She hasn't changed a bit. I'm so proud of her. She's a spitfire.)

12 Ways to use twitter to increase your productivity | via SimpleHelp.net

8 Ways Twitter is useful professionally | via WebWorkerDaily.com

A Late Adopters Productivity Experiment with Twitter | via MatthewCornwell.org

Twitter Productivity Tools | via The Blog of Rudy Amid

The Guide to Do Everything with Twitter | via Labnol.org

17 Ways You Can Use Twitter | via DoshDosh.com

Merlin, please, if you're going to take this approach, what all of us readers would like is for you to journalize it. Toss around your ideas on the site so we can learn with you. That's been the exciting part of watching your site grow and change. That goes for anyone who is going through a transition, let us learn your trials and tribulations as you change.

If you're restructuring your business, let us restructure ours with you. If you're becoming a public speaker, let us in on how you are doing it. Writing a book? We can learn to write one too, if you let us know the steps you've used and what you've learned along the way. We can offer one another encouragement, support, share in the headaches and successes. Isn't that what building a website community is all about?

I can blog from my Desktop

I can blog from my iPhone

I can blog from Microsoft Word

I can email to my blog in WordPress or Blogger

I can use Twitter to blog

I can 'automatically' post to my blog

1. Ensure you have a complete backup of both the files in your WordPress installation folder and a complete backup of the database.

2. Download the WordPress compressed files and uncompress it to a folder on your local system

3. Upload all of the file via FTP to your website in the WordPress installation folder. I would suggest that you upload the individual files first, then each directory and its contents.

4. Go to your standard WordPress login url. If you aren't redirected to the upgrade instructions, return to step 3 and make sure that you have uploaded all the files.

5. If you get the redirect to the upgrade page ok, click the upgrade link. You should sail smoothly through the upgrade process. If you get any errors, return to step 3, its likely that you haven't uploaded all the files correctly.

1. 52 Ways to Monetize Your Photos
2. 101 Ways to Monetize Your Blog – (Thanks to Amy @ insidecrm.com)
3. Monetize Your Feed
4. Monetize Your Video Downloads
5. Monetize Web 2.0
6. Monetize Your Body (Prostitution not involved)
   Monetize a Web Directory
7. 7 Ways to Monetize Your Equity