Marketing on the Internet starts with understanding the principles behind subscription services. For accounting, cash flow, design and business planning purposes, almost all marketing tools available on the Internet, from e-mail programs to personal Web sites to consumer newsletters to school reports, are available for use by subscription. Subscriptions, just as they are for newspapers and magazines, are paid in advance by the subscriber for use for a particular length of time. The length of subscriptions can vary - monthly, quarterly, annually or longer, depending on the product and the vendor.

Acquiring marketing tools such as Web sites and other lead generation tools by subscriptions is the normal way business is done on the Web. Even when you buy a domain name, www.yourname.com, you are buying a subscription. In other words, you never own the domain name, you just own the rights to use it under a contract. Your subscription allows you to use the domain name for a length of time. One day, that time comes to an end, and you will be asked to renew. If you don't renew a domain name, for example, someone else can subscribe to it and you will have lost any rights to use that name.

Automation is a convenience for service providers and for customers. When you buy a subscription to any product, you will most likely agree to allow the service to renew automatically at the end of the subscription. Automated renewals are a common practice on the Internet and nothing to become alarmed about, because it saves costs to the service provider and to you in the long run. Some companies will notify you when your subscription is about to run out, but you'll find that most prefer to simply pop your credit card for another three months, six months or year until you say "Stop."

Subscriptions are sponsored

And now a word from our sponsor....

All marketing tools are sponsored, either by the service provider's advertisers or revenue partners, or by the subscriber. If a product is free to you as an agent, that means it is being paid for by someone else. The sponsor may be an organization that has secured bulk discounts for its members, or an advertiser who has bought the right to show you ads. If you don't want to use a product with ads or use content that comes from a certain organization, then you can pay to become your own sponsor, if the product offers that option.

When you are the sponsor, you are buying certain rights. Depending on the product, you might buy the right to use the product, post the product on your Web site, or to have customer leads sent to you by the service provider. You can also buy the right to the exclusive agent in a zip code or a neighborhood.

For example, you may sponsor a school report of some kind for several hundred dollars a year. Your sponsorship should give you the right to capture all the leads that are generated from that report, to the exclusion of other agents. When someone finds your Web site, or clicks on your sponsored school report on another site, you are paying to keep the visitor there and to contact you for more information.

Nothing is really free

If you are using a product free, expect that there will be something in it for the service provider. The best free deals offer something irresistible to the subscriber in exchange for the opportunity for a service provider, advertiser, or revenue partner to get in front of the agent with an agenda, usually another product that the agent can buy. This is not a bad thing because many of the products available on the Web for agents are well done and offer some very real value.

In giving away free products, the service provider may be attempting to build a database of agents so that the company can use the collective names in some way. Some sell the database of names to other service providers. Others deliver the names to revenue partners so that they may contact them to buy a product. Service providers may also use free products as enticements to upgrade you to an enhanced version, or to show you ads from the service provider's sponsors. As long as you are using a product free, you can expect that there will be offsite links that may lead you or your customers to other Web sites.

Free versions of products may also be offered as a trial at the end of which the subscriber may be asked to renew for a fee. This is a good opportunity in most cases to employ the product to its potential. Many agents sign up for free products without taking the time to do this, and then when they are asked to renew they may not feel the product is "worth it." The best thing to do is only sign up for free versions of products that you fully intend to take the time to explore and use. Then you'll be better educated when it comes time to share your credit card.

Published: April 2, 2001

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Blanche Evans is the award-winning senior editor of Realty Times, the Internet's leading independent real estate news service. She is featured daily on the Realty Times Video Network in the "Realty Viewpoint" segment. Blanche has been named one of the "25 Most Influential People In Real Estate" by REALTOR Magazine, and has been twice recognized as a "notable." In 2005, she was named "Top Reporter Covering the NAR" by Delahaye-Bacon's. Blanche is a renowned author of five real estate books. Her newest, Bubbles, Booms and Busts: Make Money In Any Real Estate Market, McGraw-Hill, was rave-reviewed by The New York Times. She was also selected from hundreds of real estate experts to contribute to Donald Trump's book, Trump: The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received: 100 Top Experts Share Their Strategies, Rutledge Hill Press, and is featured on page 68. Order Now Review - Honors In 2006, Blanche was selected among scores of candidates to author two consumer real estate guidebooks for the National Association of Realtors: The NAR Guide to Home Buying, and The NAR Guide to Home Selling, Wiley & Sons. She is currently planning two new books for the NAR and its members.       Known for her keen insight into real estate industry issues and for her ability to make complex subjects easy to understand, Blanche is a sought-after keynote and continuing education speaker. Real estate organizations from MLSs, to brokerages, to franchisors, to associations hire her to provide up-to-the-minute analysis of real estate industry news and advice on how to improve revenues. Her passionate delivery, peppered with stinging wit, is a huge hit with audiences and fans. Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors, Blanche Evans, Richard Courtney, president 2007, GRAR "The GNAR membership meeting last week featured Blanche Evans as the keynote speaker. Her comments and insights resonated extremely well with those in attendance and we have had many requests for copies of her PowerPoint Presentation. She was a terrific part of the membership meeting and convention program!" - Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors Coverage from WSMV, Nashville - 8-14-2007 That Interview Guy - Get Inside The Head Of Today's Generation 2007 AE Institute Session - To purchase 2006 AE Institute Session - Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 HouseValues Mastermind call - Parts 1 2 Blanche's fireside chat with Jeremy Conaway, HAR - Click here. To contact Blanche, email her at . For more articles by Blanche, click here.