Customers are the lifeblood of any business. Having a good relationship with them is paramount if you want to keep them coming back and have a successful business. Here are some creative ideas I want you to write down to make that possible. The focus of all these ideas is on giving to these people. Your focus has always got to be on giving first.

In all my articles, newsletters, blogs, teleseminars, products/services and everything else that I’m involved with online, I’m just constantly trying to give you as much valuable information as I can. I’m looking to build a relationship with you, and that’s got to be your focus, at all times.

So, how do you do that if you’re on a tight budget?

Number one, why don’t you create an on-line newsletter?

I used to have one myself that I published once a month called Insider Ideas. You could (and still can) sign up for it for absolute free and when you do, you’ll find in those newsletters I just share and give as much value as I can. Typically they’re 15 to 20 pages long. I pour everything I can in to those newsletters. They take a lot of time, but I am trying to constantly give as much value as I can. I always get testimonials from people expressing their gratification for how much I truly give in those newsletters.

Another easy one which is actually what I shifted my newsletter to is to develop a blog. For those of you who are unfamiliar with what a blog is, it’s basically like an on-line journal. But you can use it in a variety of different ways. You can use it, actually, as a platform for your on-line newsletter and this is exactly what I did. The great thing about blogs is that you can make the entries much shorter if you want and it is easier to correspond with your customer base much more often.

You can develop those for free by going to sites like Wordpress and Blogger. They are easy to set up and again, absolutely free. You can customize it, you can do all kinds of things with them.

If you would like to see an example of one of my blogs you can go to myideaguy.com and sign up for free.

It is a great example of developing an on-line blog or an on-line newsletter, and providing lots and lots of value.

Another way you can develop relationships with your customers is by providing teleseminars. But you’ve got to focus on one thing: providing high-value content that people can take away and get something from.

You’ve got to make it interesting and make it fun for people. Nobody wants to be on a call that’s boring and dull. Tonight, one of the things we’ve got are several contests.

On my teleseminars, quite often we’ve had testimonial contests, creative idea contests and even contests to name various products and services I’ve come out with. You’ve got to make it content-rich, and you’ve got to make it interesting, and you’ve got to make it fun. The focus again: Be of service and provide value.

So there you have it. These are a few great (not to mention cost effective) ways to develop a better relationship with your customers and potential customers.