Interview With Internet Marketer Jinger Jarrett By Cort McCadden Aug 8, 2007

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Cort: Today I have the pleasure of interviewing a person that I have been following her advice for quite a while – Jinger Jarrett. I even found out Jinger lives in the Atlanta area where I use to live and have part ownership in a Special Events house that dated back before the American Civil War. And for those wondering what this house is about – no not the second oldest profession in the world – but a place for weddings, parties and even Mother's Day get-togethers!

I know that you are one of the "hotshots" in Internet Marketing; however I would like to know what you did before your Net involvement. When was this? What got you interested in the Net?

Jinger: I appreciate that you think that, but I just try to do a good job in teaching others marketing.

I've done quite a few different things from working in a Native American Indian casino to military journalist and newspaper reporter. My degree is in Journalism/English, and I love to write, so as I've developed on the Internet, my business has become more writing focused.

Customer service is very important to me, and I have a strong customer service background through many of the jobs I have done. I do my best to use those skills in my business now because the net is so impersonal.

I got interested in the Internet about 2001. I started a business selling merchant accounts, but I couldn't get it off the ground, and the support I received was awful. I kept looking. I sort of fell into Internet Marketing, but I found I was good at it. I also think it's fascinating. I write a lot about it. I consider myself a writer first, and then an Internet marketer.

Internet marketing is very powerful because it affects every aspect of the Internet. With Web 2.0, it's even stronger. There are thousands and thousands of blogs on marketing, as well as videos and other stuff on the video sites about marketing.

Cort: I live near the Cherokee casino in western North Carolina. Did you see the value of Email Marketing almost immediately after it appeared? What made you get involved with Email Marketing?

Jinger: I've listened to the hype about building lists for years. I even built a few of my own. To be honest, it was only recently that I've really seen the true value of list building.

I started paying more attention to it, added lead capture pages to the front of most of my sites. I've watched my lists explode, and my income has tripled. All from making one simple change.

What's key here is to offer really good information through your list. Make whatever you're giving your reader very valuable. Many of my readers write me, and I pay attention to what they're telling me because they're my customers too. Your readers can give you valuable insight into what they want and what they will buy if you listen.

Most of my readers say this one thing: that they really appreciate the amount of free information up front. Also, they appreciate that I do answer my email, and I take the time to let them know I care about them. They always seem surprised by this, but that's how I am. I'm not some impersonal help desk. I'm a real person. Run your business right, and you don't have a lot of email to answer, nor do you have a lot of complaints or problems.
The most important thing about building a lucrative list is to build a strong relationship with your readers. Don't be afraid to tell them who you are.

I had a reader write me back after I had written an email about my mom. My mom is one of my heros, and she's had two brain tumors. The whole point of the email was to tell everyone that instead of saying "Why me", say, "Why not me?". My mother taught me that. Also, you should say, "Why not me?" when it comes to success. Work hard, treat your customers right, and remember they are the lifeblood of your business. You'll find tremendous success.

Anyway, this reader told me that my email had a tremendous effect on him with his business. It changed the way he's doing business. He'll find great success.

Cort: Yes, my Mom was important to me. What are you doing to avoid the ever present spam filters from putting your email in spam folders? Are you considering using PDF files to send your ezine like I have started to do?

Jinger: I try not to send any more email than necessary. I find it irritating to get emails from the same people every day, so I send no more than two per week. My readers also get an email with my latest blog posts. This is so I can keep them informed without bombarding them with useless emails. They love this new feature.

I keep my emails short. I run it through a program to tell me what words are setting off the filters. I join my own lists so I can see what's going out to my readers. If there are problems, I fix them.

Cort: What are your feelings about Plain vs. HTML Email Marketing? What about the Audio and Visual Email?

Jinger: Readers used to prefer plain text. Things may have changed because the Internet has advanced so much. I get both, and either one is fine with me.

I think any kind of email you can use to connect with your readers is always a good thing whether it's audio, video, plain text, or email. Just keep it short and valuable, and remember your reader.

Avoid, weird fonts and colors. Black text on a white background that's easy to read is always optimal. When I get emails that are hard to read, I delete them. It's just too time consuming to read things that put a strain on your eyes, and you should apply this to your websites as well. Readers read 25 percent slower on-line.

Short words, short paragraphs, and short sentences work best.

Automate everything you can. Use good autoresponders and don't spam. Make it easy for readers to unsubscribe. If you take care of your readers, they'll stay on your list because they want to hear from you.

Cort: GREAT info, Jinger! So what have been your biggest successes in your business and why? Failures? What would you do differently if you could do things over?

Jinger: Understanding the Internet and how it works is absolutely crucial. Although the Internet is a great place to do business, it's also a content oriented medium. If you can create good content, whether it's articles, videos, audios, or anything else, you'll connect with your readers and see more success.

When I started writing articles several years ago, my business really took off, so I kept writing articles. I haven't written as many as I would like, or I need, to keep my name out there, but I've found writing articles to be extremely effective in my own business, and they're very viral. I still get traffic from articles I wrote years ago.

I use article writing, as well as linking on high traffic sites, to promote my business. Examples are Squidoo, My Space, and Craig's List. Anywhere I can build a presence and then leave it to market for me, I'll create a presence for.

What I've learned from my business is that, first, you need to stay focused. Before you start up your business, you need to find out what you need to learn to get it going. You need to look at your own strengths and weaknesses. This assessment is crucial because anything you hate doing won't get done.

Find out what you are interested in and then do your research. Find the right keywords that describe your business so others can find you. The better you are at targeting your market, the better your conversions will be and the more money you can make.

It's more important to pursue your passion than it is to choose something because it's a hot market. Passion will take you further because you'll want to eat, breathe, and sleep your business.

For me, I like systems I can set up and forget about. Squidoo lenses, ads on US Free Ads, writing books; anything automated. I do still write articles, and I blog. Those are two things I enjoy doing, and so I don't mind doing them over and over.

I use tools that speed up my work, like autoresponders and Article Marketer. I make a list every day of things I want to do to take me closer to my goals, and each thing that I add to the list has to answer one question before it goes on the list: "Will this task take me closer to my goal?" The answer has to be yes, or the task doesn't go on the list.

There will be things you have to do like read email, or do your business books. I try to set aside a little time each day to do this. No more than 30 minutes to an hour. I get it done and move on because these things, although they have to be done, don't contribute to my bottom line.

As for failures, when I first started, I was all over the place. I didn't really know what I wanted to do, or how to get it done. I've reinvented myself a few times. Some of these were successes and some of them weren't. To achieve true success, you have to create your plan and stick to it, even when you're being bombarded with offers that say "Buy me!"

Ask yourself if the offer will help you get closer to your goal. If not, don't buy it. Move on. You'll save a lot of time and money, and you'll get to your goal a lot faster.

I don't buy products by big name Internet marketers anymore because they really can't help me. Their businesses are different, and most of the time they outsource they're products. Buy products that tell you what you need to know. There's a lot you can do on-line for free.

Cort: See, what you have just shared is why I have more of your emails bookmarked or saved than any other one including those so-called gurus you just mentioned. What we did before the Internet was find what we were PASSIONATE about, FOCUS in that area, and keep repeating what WORKS! No different post Internet Marketing from pre- Internet Marketing days.

What would be your advice to Internet newbies concerning Email Marketing?

Jinger: List building is the bedrock of your business. If you truly want to succeed, you have to build a list. You have to market to your list over and over until they buy, and they will buy if you make them a good offer.

Don't be afraid to write to your list. Send them things you find valuable. Just don't bombard them with offers. Treat your readers the way you want to be treated. It might sound old fashioned, but it definitely works.

Don't be afraid to throw your name out there. Let people know who you are. The more people know you, the more likely they are to buy from you. If you can't handle criticism, don't start a business on-line or off-line. You will always have detractors, and people will try and shoot you down.

Blow it off and move on. Remember, they're reading you, not the other way around.

If you don't want to build a website, build lead capture pages. You can get my free lead capture page software at http://www.killermarketingarsenal.com/monthlyezine/

Cort: What would be your advice to Internet newbies concerning Internet Marketing in general?

Jinger: Do your homework. Don't just learn Internet Marketing. Learn which Internet Marketing techniques work for you, whether it's search engine optimization, article writing, free classifieds, or whatever.

You can read my e-book: "Internet Marketing for Free: THE GUIDE." It's available for free on my site: http://www.jingerjarrett.com. The book will be available on Amazon sometime in June, and it will include the audio, video, and tools to successfully market on the Internet.

Most importantly, maintain your focus. Know what you want to do and what result you want to get before you do it. If your goal is to earn $10,000 a month in passive income, then create a plan to do it. Choose products, affiliate programs, and gear your learning toward making that happen.

Know what you want first. Then take the steps to get it. There's no big mystery to making money on-line. It's easy. Just have a plan and don't quit until you get what you want.

Treat your customers as valuable because they are. Someone who buys from you once will buy from you again if you do your offers right, and it's easier to sell to someone who has already bought from you than it is to find a new customer.

My best wishes to all of you. Each of you has something inside of you that is valuable to someone else and worth paying money for. Just find out what that is, sell it, and you'll be a huge success on-line.

Jinger Jarrett
http://www.askjinger.com
http://www.jingerjarrett.com

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