Opt-in List Basics – Part 3

Building an opt-in list is more that just watching your total number of subscribers climb. Obviously you want to see a steady stream of new subscribers, but in order to accomplish that, you have to actually work at it because it doesn’t happen by itself.

One key tactic is to increase the perceived value of your freebie, or “ethical bribe”, by assigning a value to it. Take a hard look at what you are offering to entice prospects to subscribe to your list, and determine a value, whether it’s $10 or $300. Think to yourself, if you were to actually sell this as home study course or an e-book, how much would you sell it for? Once you have that figured out, be sure to add it to the copy on your sign up page.

Your e-mail list sign up page should sell the benefits of your list, just as a sales letter would sell the benefits of your product. So set it up the same way; use a headline, a subhead, and supporting text.

An essential point that shouldn’t be overlooked is having a way to take orders, because when you offer your products to your list, you need a way to collect the cash. There are many online companies that offer shopping carts to take orders, but to start out, PayPal is the easiest way to go.

Another key is to have reliable sources of traffic to build your opt-in list. Article marketing is the best way to start out, because it is easy to learn and it is free. There are tons of free sources online to learn about it. Once you have article marketing down, it’s time for another stream of traffic. One way is to use podcasting. The great thing about podcasting is that you don’t need to develop new content at all. All you need to do is read your articles into an audio program and you have a podcast. You can repeat this process for every article and have another stream of traffic with the same content. You can’t beat that for efficiency. YouTube can also be used in similar way by adding Power Point Slides or making a video of yourself reading the article.

In addition to knowing where your traffic comes from, you need to know what traffic source is converting into subscriptions the most. Once you determine which traffic source is giving you the best results, you need to focus more effort on that traffic source.

Growing a list also means you need a steady stream of permanent traffic. As you develop your traffic building skills watch your sign-ups and your business grow. Be sure the opt-in list you grow is targeted to the products and services that you’re selling and you’ll be well on your way to success.

Opt-in List Basics – Part 2

Let’s assume by this point you already have a quality autoresponder service. But if not, go out today and get an account at either Get Response or Aweber. These services are the most used by internet marketers because they are both reliable and flexible enough to meet your needs.

On average, across most niches or market segments, people say that a subscriber is worth about $1 in revenue each month. But in order for the revenue to be generated, there are some steps that you first have to take. But the good news here, with just with a basic level of math, you’ll see that it will only take about 20 active subscribers on your list for it to break-even. And it will take VERY LITTLE work on your part, to build your list to 20 in the first month.

Building a list from zero, means first having a free e-course, a free newsletter, or a free e-zine. In each of these three types of lists, your subscribers will get to know and trust you because you are emailing them on a regular basis.

How frequently you mail them will depend on your market, your base of subscribers, and even how much time you are able to commit to the development of your list. Ideally, your first set of messages should be at least three in the first week. If you wait too long, your subscribers may forget entirely who you are and why you are emailing them.

To be sure that doesn’t happen to you, simply remind them at the opening of your first few messages.

E-courses are typically seven to ten messages in length. Each message should be brief, but sould also teach something of value.

Remember that your subscribers are PEOPLE (just like you). So in order for them to see value in your emails, be sure to provide great content that they can use.

Growing a list also means you need traffic. So developing targeted traffic is also a skill that you need to build too.

There are hundreds of sources of free traffic available to you. But one of the best that can produce immediate traffic is article directories.

Ezine Articles for example, will place your article on their first page once it is approved. So you’ll be able to gain some instant exposure. The resource box is the block of text which follows the article, where you are able to state your expertise as well as present an offer for your free e-course, newsletter, or other online publication. Link back to a page on your site with minimal information … just enough to invite your visitors to sign up and start receiving your content.

Although having a opt-list of 10,000 or even 50,000 is a sustainable goal, the truth of the matter is that most marketers have a list that only ranges from 1,000 to 2,000 subscribers. So be encouraged with every new subscriber that you gain and set your subscription goals in small but achievable milestones.

Opt-In list Basics – Part 1

If growing an opt-in list is important to you, you should offer a free e-mail newsletter to build one effectively. You can make it attractive by having a catchy and compelling title, and needless to say – great content. With a newsletter you build brand identity and a relationship with your subscribers – both of which lead to greater profits in the long run. To get started you’ll need to determine your topic, get subscribers, and monetize. Let’s delve a little deeper into each of those topics.

First, you need a topic. To be successful, your topic has to have two crucial characteristics: (1) demand, and (2) quality content.

Demand

Determining interest and demand are essential. One of the most common mistake new marketers make is that they launch a product or business they are interested in without taking into account what the customer wants. In a nutshell, there is no demand for the topic. To avoid this fatal mistake, use keyword research tools such as the Google Adwords tool or WordTracker to make sure people are actually searching for the information you will be providing. Not having enough demand or a product is one of the primary reasons that over 80% of business failing the first two years. Don’t be statistic; do proper market research.

Quality Content

To develop great content, it really doesn’t matter whether your information is written or in a multi-media format, the process doesn’t change.

There are key questions to help with ideas. What problems is your market grappling with? What can you offer to help solve those problems? What is the pain they are experiencing? Put yourself in the shoes of someone in your market, and start answering these questions with the prospects needs in mind.

The ideal method is to always provide new content to your opt-in list that you either wrote yourself, or that you had ghost writer produce. But realistically speaking, to keep a newsletter jam-packed with content, it is a good idea on occasion to re-use existing content that other writers have written. If another writer has provided a truly useful piece of content, your subscribers will benefit from it if you offer it to them.

Article directions abound with this type of content, and it is encouraged to use it as long as you don’t change the content and give credit to the author. Be sure to proofread the material for grammar and spelling errors though. Your reputation is at stake, so present your information in the best light possible.

Get Subscribers

To gain subscribers, advertise your newsletter on your web site as well as on free eZine directories. Offer an incentive for signing up. Also, if you determine that the demand is there, translate your newsletter into other languages. This will extend your market reach and could even increase sales of your revenue-generating products and services.

Monetization

To monetize your newsletter, advertise your own products relevant to your market. Also, advertise affiliate programs that you belong to when they compliment the topic.

With any type of recurring communication to your opt-in list, you’ll benefit in a number of ways which includes more traffic to your site, as well as reminding your subscribers who you are and the great solutions you have to their problems.

Borrow Copy from Top Email Marketers

There is a very good chance that you get a lot of emails from various Internet marketers.  As a quick aside, I recommend that you start unsubscribing from lists that aren’t providing valuable information to you.  Too many top marketers sale without giving you useful content.  Give your email inbox a break and unsubscribe from their lists.  Now on to my point about email copy.

The main reason for this message is to convey the importance of paying close attention to and studying the autoresponder messages of effective email marketers.  What do they say in their email copy and how do they say it?  How much personality are they using?  Do they provide you with valuable content?  Pay attention to all of these key points.

The reason you should pay such close attention to these points is so you can use their messages as a foundation to write your own.  Do you think you have something to learn from someone who makes $30,000 just by sending a single email?  Probably.  As is common in the copy writing industry, a swipe file is something you should have.  But this swipe file will be of emails, not sales letters.  Look at the email copy that made you purchase a particular product or service and use that as a basic model for some of your products.

I’m not advocating wholesale confiscation of emails, unless of course you have have been given explicit rights to do so.  I’m talking about ideas to use as a foundation.

For me, a few email marketers stand out from the rest.  One of them is Michael Rasmussen.  When he sends an email recommending an affiliate product, he doesn’t just send a two line email saying in so many words- “Buy this.”  He gives a thorough rationale for why he is recommending a particular product.  And some of the stuff he gives away for free is pure gold.  So Michael is alright with me.

Another marketer who is quickly building a name for himself and who impresses me quite a bit is Jason Fladlien.  He’s an interesting guy.  And in email marketing, being interesting sells.  He’s also a top class copy writer, which helps tremendously in writing emails.  I recommend you check some of his stuff out.  He makes like 20 products a year it seems- if not more.

Frank Kern’s stuff is some of the most “borrowed” stuff out there- particularly his email subject lines, like “bad news”.  He is a trend starter, so he’s definitely one to pay attention to.  If he starts to do something, expect others to follow soon.

I think my point is clear.  Pay attention to the Internet marketers who actually provide value in their emails.  Pay attention to the marketers who draw you in with their autoresponders, the ones who make you feel like you are being somehow compelled to buy. Then use some of their ideas in your own email copy.

The Most Important Element of Email Marketing

In order to have a responsive list, you have to have a good relationship with your list.  Building trust and value are key ingredients that must be present in your email marketing strategy.  So while it is smart to recommend products to your list that you genuinely feel will be helpful, your efforts will be much more effective if you build trust with your list.  Trust is built by providing valuable information to your list- information they can use and get immediate results with.

So whether you provide an e-course, free reports, videos, coupons, audios, or whatever else, make sure you provide it with the intention of actually helping your list.  That should be the primary goal.  If you prove to them that you are a trustworthy source of valuable information, they will trust you, and they will want to purchase what you recommend, whether it is an affiliate product or a product of you own.

On the other hand, if you abuse their trust, they will not buy from you and they will unsubscribe from your list.  Some especially spiteful customers may even report you for spamming them (even if it is untrue) because they are frustrated that you are constantly pitching to them without providing anything of value.

So don’t be that person.  Be the other guy- the guy the customers look forward to getting messages from.  Remember, building trust and a relationship is the central email marketing strategy needed to have a responsive list that buys the things you offer.

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