As a virtual assistant who runs an online business and probably uses e-mail marketing as part of his/her marketing strategy, using analytical tools is important because how else are you going to know if you are on track and meeting your marketing goals? Or how are you supposed to know if your e-mail campaigns are working?

Now I don’t think the average virtual assistant intentionally overlooks this necessary part of his or her business on purpose. I think you understand that it has to be done but perhaps you are unsure of what it is that is to be measured. Or perhaps you are measuring statistics but do not know what is considered to be a “good” statistic. For example, do you know what is an acceptable e-mail broadcast open rate and what is an exceptional open rate for this industry?

Whether it’s a newsletter or a simple broadcast e-mail, most of the autoresponder programs have a tracking feature so that you can see statistics of your e-mail campaigns. For this article, I’m going to explain a few marketing metrics using Aweber.

In Aweber, click on the Messages tab, then click on Broadcast. You will see all of the sent broadcasts. This one screen can tell you many things. First, you can see if your e-mails are bouncing (unable to be delivered due to software and/or hardware issues of the receiver), complaints, percentage of “Opens,” and number of “Clicks.”

Bounces

Bounces (and unsubscribes for that matter) are part and parcel of e-mail marketing and will occur even with the cleanest and most targeted lists. If the rate is too high, it is good to understand why these bounces are happening and to take steps to minimize the percentage rate.

There are two types of bounces: soft bounce and hard bounce. A soft bounce means that the address was found but the delivery attempt failed due to other factors. A soft bounce may include: inactive account, temporary domain failure, out of office reply, mailbox full, and e-mail limit has been exceeded.

A hard bounce is an attempt to send an e-mail to an address that has failed typically because of bad address syntax (missing the “@” or period), unknown user, unknown domain, or invalid address.

Just realize that soft bounces can occur for a variety of reasons: people move, change jobs, graduate college, change e-mail addresses, try out a new free e-mail service, change their ISPs, etc. and they don’t always remember to update their account information with their newsletter providers. In fact, statistics from the research marketing firm NFO WorldGroups show that there is a 31% turnover rate in e-mail addresses over a 12-month period.

An average bounce back rate for a list that is mailed regularly (at least once per month) can range from 2% – 5%. An average bounce back rate to a list that is mailed less regularly can range from 5% – 13%. My advice is to just monitor this statistic to make sure your e-mails are being delivered.

Opens

Opens refer to the percentage of people who were sent the e-mail actually opened the e-mail. Also, an open rate is only valid for people who receive HTML e-mails.

It is not as easy to provide “average” statistics for open rates because industry averages vary and because each list has its unique characteristics. However, industry metrics at least let you see if you’re way off with your numbers. If the average open rate in your sector is 40% and you’re getting 10%, you know you have a problem. If you’re getting 70%, you know you’re doing quite well.

According to Epsilon.com (October 2009), the average open rate is 22.2% across multiple industries. Here are stats from one e-mail broadcasting company showing that the e-mail open rate for the average freelancer is 32.95%. If your open rates are lower than the industry average, then here are some things you can look at:

1. Subject lines – In Aweber, you can do a “split test” using different subject lines to see how one performs against the other. It could be that your subscribers prefer personalization (adding a first name in the subject line), the subject lines are not motivating them to open the e-mail, or they may be too spammy.

2. Timing – I wouldn’t suggest that you all of a sudden change your newsletter delivery day as you may throw off subscribers, but you can always do a split test with the time of day you are sending your newsletters or e-mails. For example, in one split test noticed that when I sent an e-mail later in the afternoon, around 2-3 pm Eastern Time, I enjoyed a higher open rate (perhaps for the simple fact that I am not competing with the morning “spam” mails).

3. Try adding images – Try adding a little color or images if you are just sending out HTML e-mails that contain only texts and hyperlinks. Try adding your picture!

Aweber has a lot of good blog posts and articles about this topic, so just check your list manager’s knowledgebase for tips. To get started, get familiar with your program’s analytics and reporting features so that you can gauge the effectiveness of your e-mail broadcasts and campaigns. Just remember not to follow every single suggestion or you may break your readers’ expectations by changing a lot at once.

To your marketing success,

P.S. Learn more about marketing metrics, as well as measuring click-through rates and how to use Google Analytics, in my Quick Start Marketing Your Online Business training program. Sign up and get a free lesson!

Most of the other virtual assistants and online professionals that I know have small budgets when it comes to advertising or promotion. I know that I am always on the lookout for free or low-budget alternatives. How about you? Do you want to get a steady stream of traffic without paying exorbitant amounts of money in advertising? Then read on to learn how to build a high traffic website without spending a dime in ad money.

The #1 Secret to Free Traffic: Consistency

Many beginner virtual assistants want to build a successful business overnight. It just doesn’t happen that way.

The most important thing to getting steady (yet free) traffic is consistency. You won’t get a ton of readers by publishing one good article. You won’t get a ton of watchers by releasing just one video. You won’t rank highly in search engines overnight.

The key to consistently getting high traffic is putting out great content on a regular basis. This builds trust in the eyes of your clients, customers, and even the search engines.

The Most Instant Method: Article Marketing

Article marketing has been around for about five years now. The technique is simple: Write an informative article and publish it to an online article directory like EzineArticles.

The keywords you target are important. Try to pick out keywords with a small to medium amount of search volume with low competing keywords. You can search keywords and keyword phrases at http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com.

A Great Way to Build a Name: Video Marketing

Another great traffic source is video marketing. You can easily create a content video and distribute it to hundreds of websites – literally in just minutes.

Again, consistency is the name of the game. You probably won’t be able to get a flood of traffic by submitting one video. But if you establish yourself as a well-known expert through video marketing, you can easily build yourself a name, a ton of traffic, and a ton of backlinks.

Currently there are not a lot of virtual assistants who are using video marketing as a way of getting clients, so if this is your “thing,” then you don’t have a lot of competition. Also, if you want to specialize in this area as your specialty or niche, then you can showcase your expertise at the same time.

Search Engine Optimization

SEO is perhaps the most powerful method to get free traffic. It’s also the method that takes the most time, is the most competitive, and has a certain amount of randomness factor to it.

There are several key factors that play into getting your website highly ranked. Having great unique content is one. Having a ton of backlinks to your website is another. Finally, selecting the right niche, subniche, and keywords can make a world of difference.

If you have unique and innovative content, other people linking to your website consistently and you choose a market with not too much competition but enough traffic to make it worth your while, then you have a good chance of having your website make it to the top of the search engines when people search for your niche or services that you provide.

Social Media

Social media like Twitter, Facebook, Digg, StumbleUpon and many others are often overlooked by virtual assistants.

There are two types of social media: Media that will generate traffic, such as Digg or StumbleUpon, or media that will help you get people who are already interested to come back – Such as Facebook fan pages or Twitter accounts.

The key idea behind social media is becoming a part of the conversation of your target market. If you provide services to real estate professionals for example, your goal is to become well-known enough in that community that your name means something. All these social media outlets are tools to help you do that.

How Successful Can You Be With Free Traffic?

There are many examples on the internet of other virtual assistants building popular and sizable businesses online all without paying a dime in advertising.

The secret is producing consistent high quality content and marketing it well. If you apply even just one of the techniques above properly, you’ll get yourself a very nice stream of traffic.

You’ve been diligent about promoting your virtual assistant business and your passive income has been slowly but surely increasing as well from affiliate links to products and programs. But there are other ways you can bring people to your mini-site or sales page, you just have to get in the habit of being aware of them.

Offline Methods

If you’re thinking “expensive ads,” think again. There are several ways to reach your target market, offline as well as on.

For example, have you thought about simply including the link you want to drive them to on your business card, under your signature?

It takes seconds to put that link in your signature or resource box, press releases, or letters you send to local papers, too.

And don’t neglect your local store and community center bulletin board as a place to plant your flyers – with your product link in the tear-off tags, as well as the usual phone number.

The Hidden Market – In Plain Sight

But there’s one more way to get your name out and capture an offline lead. Local organizations are always looking for guest speakers. See if there’s a “business startup” program that’s partially government-funded, or one that’s provided by another agency.

Find out the name of the contact person – all you have to do is phone the agency, or drop in and ask. Approach them and offer to be a guest speaker on the subject of “marketing online” or “internet promotion.” Chances are, surprising as it may sound, they won’t have anyone in their number who can fulfill that function. They’ll most likely jump on your offer – especially if it’s free. I gave a few of these types of talks while in Toastmasters, before my business was even off the ground and trust me, people DO need speakers.

And all you do is hand out your business card at the end of your helpful seminar – with (you guessed it) your business URL link is below your signature.

Create Your Own Opportunities

That brings us to our last 2 offline promotion methods. Don’t waste the space on the back of that business card – fill it with a small ad for your business in the style of a direct response ad, getting right to the point.

And (especially if you live in a small town) be sure to phone your local radio station and offer to be a guest. Have a one-page promotional bio page ready to fax or email them, if they ask.

When you’re writing the bio page, just remember the purpose is to tell them why you would be an interesting guest for their readers – and cut out anything else (except credentials you’d like to include.)

You might think that it would be hard, getting a guest spot on a radio show, but the truth is, it’s more often not. People are always looking for interesting guests to fill up slots in a show, and they’re delighted when one who’s well-prepared walks through the door, for free.

But there’s one final tip about offline promotion that has served me better than any other. I take my motto from the Boy Scouts: “Always be prepared.” Always have those business cards tucked away in your pocket, wallet, or purse. Carry a few extra in the car – and be ready to make your pitch, when asked.

After all, there’s no point going to all that trouble to beef up your business cards if you forget to have them with you!