Managing Your Mailing List

I subscribe to quite a few different email lists. I receive newsletters, links to ezine sites, special sales bulletins, articles on self improvement, and even regular updates on the progress of my favorite science fiction pictures. I’m a big fan of information, and thanks to electronic mail, I can receive loads of it on a daily basis.

It’s great to open my inbox and find an insightful article that helps me put a current dilemma into balanced perspective. It’s also pretty nice to find that software I’ve had my eye on being sold at half price to members of the company’s mailing list. A well managed mailing list is a valuable service that I’m happy to take advantage of.

On the other hand, I’m less than thrilled when I find a message about viagra from someone who told me their newsletter was going to include some great business tips. I’m also not entirely pleased to receive daily updates on the latest pre-launch hogwash from that guy who offered me the email marketing course. And why, someone tell me, do so many people insist on sending me the same articles by Corey Rudl or Yanik Silver? A poorly managed mailing list is a sad thing that puts me somewhere between irritation and sympathy.

I mean, someone obviously got my attention, and even convinced me to fill out a form to receive more information. They got off to a great start, and who knows where things could have gone.

If they had offered some legitimate communication instead of a bunch of garbage, I may not have unsubscribed from their list. In fact, if they had given me some quality info and worked to build a relationship with me, I may well have become their next loyal customer.

Your opt-in mailing list is arguably the most important asset you have as a network marketer. It is imperative that you manage this list in a professional, intelligent manner if you plan to build a successful operation.

Here a few things to keep in mind when working your opt-in leads.

1. Give them what you offered. If you promote a newsletter that focuses on retail skiing equipment, you are likely to agitate your readers by sending them adverts about big savings on fly fishing gear.

2. Be clear about your mailing intervals up front, and make a good effort to maintain this schedule. While additional mailings are sometimes appropriate, sending out “special” notices too often is going to devalue your credibility.

3. Always offer your prospects the option of contacting you directly. Let them know on a regular basis that you’d like to hear from them, and give them your personal email or phone number to open up the lines of communication. People will respond much better to someone who is accessible.

4. Keep your “pitches” realistic and grounded. An honest recommendation about a product you have used and benefited from is much better than the hyped up “best thing since sliced bread” copy you find in your affiliate program’s member area.

5. Be yourself! To build a proper relationship, you must be honest about who you are and what you want. Don’t worry about trying to impress your readers with rehashed “guru speak”.

Email marketing is a great way to build your business. If you apply sound judgement to the management of your opt-in list, you will be rewarded with new relationships and return customers.

3 Quick And Easy Ways To Build A Profitable Opt In List

You finally realize that you need a good opt-in list. After reading countless articles and sought expert advices and have read many success stories of people creating a small fortune with opt-in lists you finally decide to have one of your own. Then it happens, you think you have known everything there is to know about opt-in lists and have followed their advices to the T and you still weren’t able to make a profit.

In fact, you may be losing money. You maybe hiring writers to help you out, or there are some expenses incurred, even if you have a big list, but only a very small percentage actually buys from you, your still losing profit. You’ll realize that after a few months when you see your statistics and sales figures.

So what could have gone wrong? Why have others succeeded where you have failed? The most common mistake is that you dived straight right in. You chose a topic where you think could be quite popular and would earn you money. This just not the case. Just because you wrote people from the list doesn’t mean they are going to buy instantly.

Here I will offer more advice, for those who have started an opt-in list and have failed, you can rejuvenate your failed venture. For those who are starting, here are three quick and easy ways to build a profitable opt-in list.

1) Get your customers to trust you and your products first. Just launching your opt-in list would not make you an expert and a believable seller. Put many articles first before you start an opt-in list. Write about the topic you know and have started and used for your site. Try to put forums first to gain knowledge about your customers about their wants and needs and target those wants and needs.

Join forums from other sites as well. Provide expert advices and recommendations. When you feel that people trust you already, you will be able to start your own opt-in list. You can build a base as well with other forum users. You can ask them to join your list. Friends are always good customers. Put up a link to your site so that they may be able to see what you’re business is all about.

The certain truth is, the money will only come in when the consumers and subscribers believe and trust in you. They want a product or service that could be a good exchange for their money. People are not going to buy something out of your recommendation if they don’t know you.

2) Find a product or service that people want and need. Although it may not be your forte, if you provide a service and product that you have researched and learned about well, you can carry it on forward. Invest your time, effort and money that you could sell as well as the buyers or subscribers of your opt-in list can use.

While it is true that it is best to sell something that you have interest in, there are not many people who have the same interest as you if you decide to sell something that is not entirely popular or profitable. Do your research well and you would see the profits come in. Also provide your subscribers with promotional material that they could actually use and spread around.

3) Make friends with other opt-in list users. This is basically beneficial especially if it is someone who has already launched a successful opt-in list. These are people that have the experience in this venture and experience is still the best teacher. While there are many articles available for you in the internet to use, there is nothing like getting a first hand account from someone you trust.

Experienced opt-in list users will be able to tell you what to do and what not to do because they have gone through it. While different situations occur for different people, the general concept can still be very helpful. There are many things to avoid and these people will be able to tell you which ones.

Building a profitable opt-in list don’t just happen overnight. There are many preparations and effort to do. Opt-in lists are built from scratch, as your list grows, you should also maintain the quality of your list. Keep it organized and manageable. Get or hire help if need be, just make sure that your subscribers are happy and satisfied and they will be willing to buy from you.

Tracking Autoresponder Responses

As an Internet marketer, it is vitally important to know how well your advertising campaigns are doing. Advertising campaigns cost a lot of time and money, and campaigns that are not doing well need to either be changed or scraped. When using autoresponders for purposes of Internet marketing, you will be able to tell how well your autoresponder messages are doing by using response tracking.

Autoresponder response tracking is usually easily set up with the higher quality paid autoresponder services. Using the tracking set up tool, you simply enter the web site address that you want your readers to visit, and the software generates a brand new URL. This URL is used track the number of clicks that you have from the autoresponder message to the website that you are promoting.

When a person clicks on that special URL, the click is captured, and they are automatically redirected to the website that you intended them to arrive at. The visitor does not know that they have been redirected in most cases. You can monitor the results through the control panel of your autoresponder service account. The control panel will tell you how many messages were delivered, and how many clicks were received. Most quality autoresponders will even include a feature that allows you to track how many of the emails were opened. This is a great marketing research tool for mass email marketing.

Not all autoresponder services offer tracking abilities such as this. If tracking is important to you, you need to make sure that this is one of the features of the autoresponder service before you sign up. This feature gives you the ability to know whether the message you are sending out is effective, or if changes need to be made. It also allows you to see if the sales copy on your website is effective, in a ‘round-about’ way. For instance, if you are getting thousands of clicks from the autoresponder message, but very few clicks from the sales page to the order page, you know that the autoresponder message is working, but the sales copy is failing.

If you have never tracked your autoresponder responses before, you should definitely consider it. Again, this information allows you to find out what is working, and what is not working. It will essentially make your autoresponder marketing much more effective and profitable. You will most likely be very surprised at the results of the tracking!

Fishing & Lead Capture - Part Two of Three

In part one we skimmed over the basics of fishing for leads, and turning them into customers. Now let’s break that down and get into a little more detail.

Bait & Presentation

Traffic isn’t all that easy to get. You will have to either pay for, or work hard for traffic to your website. You don’t want to waste it, do you? Of course not.

When a visitor hits your page, you don’t want him to just look around and swim away, right? No. You want him to buy. However, that doesn’t happen often enough on just one visit. So, you need a way to stay in touch with your visitor so you can pull them back from time to time. Getting him to opt in to your mailing list is a great way to keep in touch.

But how do you get someone to give up their contact information to you when they don’t yet know and trust you?

Well, while your visitor is at your site… while the fish is in your pond - offer the right bait.

What type of fish are you after? …and what do they eat?

You know your niche better than I do.

What are YOUR visitors interested in?

What are their biggest problems?

What keeps them awake at night?

What do the want the most?

Find the right bait, then present it in the right way and I guarantee they will bite.

Through a joint venture, a little search time, or some desktop publishing, locate or create a product that your visitors will bite on.

…and setup a lead capture page using this product as your bait.

Fishermen know what bait to use for different fish because of experience, their own or someone else’s shared wisdom.

Take a look around. Someone else may be selling in your market. Who am I kidding? Someone else IS selling in your market. Find them. How are they fishing for new leads?

A little research will reveal what the fish are biting on at any given moment. Find or create it something similar, then bait YOUR hook and start fishing.

Good baits - Nearly anything related & free.

Viral software, articles and ebooks

Prizes (contests)

Product samples

Valuable tips

etc…

The right bait STILL must be presented in the right way. Portal sites, link & banner farms - they have their place, but the best way to present you bait when fishin’ for leads is with a simple lead capture page.

You’ve seen them many times already, I’m sure of it. A basic page with few graphics, some well written copy, bullet points and a subscription form … that’s about all it takes. You may have to experiment a bit with your presentation, but once they start biting - you know you’re on the right track. At this point, make only minor changes (one at a time) and test, test, test.

When they do start biting, you better learn to set the hook with a subscription confirmation to ensure your email gets delivered … and delivered only to those who actually want it.

Confirmation can and probably will lead to a few “big one that got away” stories, but your list will be better… more responsive.

On your ‘thank you’ page, remind your visitor to confirm their subscription. Nothing fancy, just a little something like this…

“In order for me to send your (bait)… please

remember to confirm your request.

The confirmation email should be in your inbox

very soon. This step, though a bit inconvenient,

protects us both from unwanted email issues.

Also - please white list my domain.com and

emailmydomain.com to ensure receipt of the

information you requested.”

Set that hook - get on your reader’s list of acceptable publishers, because you want your email to get through every time you send mail. You want ALL subscribers to receive ALL email. It’s not likely that it’s going to happen, but it’s still a great target.

It’s also a good idea to test your emails to ensure they won’t be eaten by filters.

You can use software for this, or one of the many autoresponder services that have spam testing features built right in.

Now … we’ve baited, presented and set the hook - and I am worn out.

Let’s rest up a bit and land that biggin’ in part three. Don’t miss it.

4 Ways To Get Your Opt In Subscribers To Trust You Quickly

While the rest of the world have developed many barriers and protections to keep their e-mail accounts spam-free, there are also those that subscribe to mails that promotes their products, services and their site. This is mainly because these subscribes wants to know more about what these sites are offering and can be beneficial for them. They expect to get be kept posted on what they are interested in and what are new in the market or field they have chosen.

Businesses would be so lucky to have these kinds of customers; the basic element needed to get these types of people is trust. When your customers trust you they will reward you with their loyalty. Many internet users have gone to great lengths in protecting their email accounts from spam mail. Some free-mail internet providers and internet service providers offer spam protection while there are also some internet based companies that screen your mails for you.

With an opt-in mail list, the mails you send containing your promotional materials such as newsletters, catalogs and marketing media will go through. Your intended recipient will be able to read and view what you have sent making it a successful transfer of information. To be able to be allowed to do so, you will need permission from your recipient, to get this permission; you need to be able to get their trust. With the great lack of disregard for privacy in the internet, getting the trust of an internet user you don’t personally know is a big achievement.

To build a good opt-in list you need people to trust you, for a faster and quicker build up, you need to get your opt-in subscribers to trust you quickly. The faster you build your opt-in list the faster word about your site and company gets to be spread. The bigger the scope of your opt-in list the more traffic you get spelling more profits. Its easy math if you thin about it. Getting the numbers is not that simple though, or maybe it is?

•Getting the trust of your clientele shouldn’t be so hard especially if you do have a legitimate business. Getting your customers trust should be based upon your expertise. People rely on other people who know what they are talking about. Garner all the knowledge and information about your business. Ell, frankly if you decide to go into a business most probably you have an interest in it. Like how many basketball payers become coaches, you don’t really venture into something you don’t have any interest in.

•Show your clients that you know what you are talking about. Provide them with helpful hints and guidelines that pertain to what you are selling. Talk about how to install a roof if your into hardware products or provide articles on insurance settlements if you’re a settlement lawyer. You don’t have to be a big corporation to make use of an opt-in list. If your customers see you as someone who knows what he is doing and saying, they will trust you quickly.

•Be true to your customers, if you want to hype up your products and services, provide guarantees. The more satisfied customers you get, the bigger probability there is that they will recommend you. Generally, people will trust someone they know, when that someone recommends you then you’re a shoo-in. They will go to your site and check it for themselves and be given a chance to experience what the other shave experienced from you, so make sure to be consistent in the service you provide.

•Another tip in getting a customer to trust you quickly is to provide them an escape hatch. Show them that you are not there to trap them. Keep a clean list that would enable them to unsubscribe anytime they want. Elaborate your web form by providing information on how to unsubscribe from the list. Guarantee them that they can let go of the service when ever they want to. Many are wary that they may be stuck for life and would have to abandon their email accounts when they get pestered with spam.

Remember that when you get the trust of your clients don’t lose that trust. Because if you do anything with their email addresses like sell them or give them out, you will lose many members of your list as ell as potential members. The true quickest way to gain the trust of your subscribers is when you are recommended by someone they trust.

A Successful List Means Profit Increase

It is a tough world out there, especially in the world of cyberspace. The internet has brought with it many technological innovations, yet with it came along an influx of websites. The opportunities to make money online are there, but the competition is tough. The best option for survival is to have a solid relationship with your subscribers.

Internet marketing is obviously different than offline marketing. In order for your website to stand a chance against all the million websites that are out there you need to know how to generate traffic. This may sound like an impossible mission but the answer clearly lies in opt-in list building.

It is understandable that most first time visitors on your website will not make a purchase. That is why you have to be willing to give them something that will make them want to fill in their email address. This in fact is the concept of an opt-in mailing list.

Many marketers have come to understand that a well built opt-in list is the key to profit margin increase. Clearly that is why so many people are using their freebies to increase their opt-in list. The key concept is that the more people that sign up for your free stuff, the more able you are to reach like minded people. It is a time tested marketing strategy that has great impact.

Opt-in list building is about getting your internet business the publicity it needs. It is clear that the word free does in fact allow people to let go of their precious email address. Therefore you do not have to opt for the illegal warped version of opt-list building - SPAM. List building is indeed a wonderful and perfectly legal way of website promotion.

An opt-in list is the evidently the most powerful tool that you can posses in order to make your internet marketing a serious success. It gives you the opportunity to make your subscribers aware of what your product can do for them without actually saying so.

Internet marketing through opt in list building is about building a relationship with your subscribers. You need to understand what it is that your subscriber wants and you have to be willing to part some of that information along.

This way you can give your subscribers what they want while at the same time wetting their appetites to what you have to offer. A more effective relationship is thereby built this way and your profits will start seeing their way to the sky.

Secrets Revealed: Triple Your Business With List Building

There are several things that you can do to really boost profits within your business but the real secret is collecting emails.

Several companies have already realized huge profit gains by simply adding one simple step to their business…collect your clients name and email address.

Doesn’t sound very profitable until you realize what you can do with that information. No I am not talking about spamming, I am talking about sending emails to your client that they can’t wait to receive.

One business that implemented this technique sells video games, hardware, ext. After walking up to the counter to pay for their merchandise the cashier simply asks for their information and includes the email address of the buyer. What better way to get someone back into your store than inviting them. So how do you send your clients an email without their getting angry and yelling spam?

Send them legitimate offers that make sense. If you just email your client to tell them to come back to your store then their is no real reason for that email. In fact the person who received it might think it to be junk mail. How about setting up your system to email a person 3 days after they purchase from you to let them know that when they come back, they have a 10% discount waiting for them. You let them know that all they need to do in bring in a special code that you give them or just let them know to mention the email.

There are several ways to profit from you list, especially if you run an online business. What you have read here is just the tip of the ice burg. What is written here is the very basics. The real aspects come with knowing how to multiply profits several times with other email techniques. Beware that when you start an email list you are going to run into several “road blocks”.

One such road block is managing your email list with the right server. Certain domain names get email delivered to your prospects much better than others. This is due to spam blocking my many of the major email companies. Another road block is timing your emails to go out at the right time. Send your email at the wrong time of day, or even the wrong day, and you may not get any responses. Another big problem is managing spam complaints. So what can you do to ensure that you do things right the first time?

There is a new website that is being released that does reveal many of these major marketing techniques. Many of the secrets revealed have more than doubled profits for several businesses…online and offline. If you are interested in finding out more about the website you will need to see the resource box of this article.

Earn Cash by Reading Internet Marketing Articles

The internet and technology has made it very easy for anyone to suceed online. The problem is people don’t know how to take advantage of all the technology and free tools that are available.

Let me give you an example. I read an article about how to post artcles to free article repositories. Then I did some searches on Google to find articles on what were the best Repositories. I also searched for articles on the best automatic article submission software. As You can see I am using tools I find on the internet to improve my internet marketing business. When you do a search for an article or you use automated software to submit articles to hundred of article directories, you are leveraging new technology to promote your online business.

Keep in mind the internet, search technology and all the different software that is out there are relatively new. It became mainstream during our lifetime and there will be many improvements in the future. It would be a shame not to use this technology to find articles and free tools that will improve your internet marketing business, but people are already taking this technology for granted.

My number one rule is to Google everything. You can learn just about anything reading articles on the internet. After reading an article and doing a search on Google from the information I read, I found free article submission software. It is a great free tool that I use to promote my business.

You don’t have to spend a lot of money to promote your business. Take advantage of all of the free articles and free tools to promote your business. If you look hard enough, read all the free niches articles and take advantage by doing a search on everything, you will reap the financial rewards that I have. Read free articles and do searches on the information you read. You will be amazed at the results.

One of the most popular sites you can go to for articles is .internet-marketing-mall.net . When you go to this site you can read about, internet marketing, online promotion, search engines, home business, network marketing, site promotion, web development, email marketing, web design, web hosting, domain names, investing, stocks, and and many other topics. These aticles are updated on a regular basis. The site also has live Google rss news feeds on each article topic, at the bottom of the page. You can’t get more current articles on niche topics from any other site.

Other sites that have good articles on niche topics are .adsense101.net. This site has pleanty of current articles on how to make money with Google Adsense.

If you are interested in search engine optimization I reccomend reading articles at .seo-101-info.net or .search-engine-optimization-101.net

If you are interested in investing opportunities you can read free articles at .investing-101.net

When you go to these sites you will see so many articles on niche topics you won’t know where to start. Make sure you take advantage of it.

Good Luck.

7 Ways To Make Money Using Nothing More Than Your List

An opt-in list can be quite crucial to any site or internet based company. Even for a small venture such as a niche profit site an opt-in list can make a world of difference and also add some extra income for your pocket. Rarely would you see an e-commerce site, big or small, that is without an opt-in list.

An opt-in list allows for a company to market their wares and site via an e-mail. With an opt-in list, a site and a subscriber consents to sending and receiving a newsletter from your company. Through this, you can keep your subscribers abreast of what is currently available in your site as well as whatever is coming out.

And because there is mutual consent between the two parties, any mail sent to the list is not considered as spam mail. There is a great number of successfully read promotional materials such as catalogs, newsletters and such that are sent because the subscribers themselves have signed up for them, meaning, they do want to be sent those items.

Building a list is crucial, only a small percentage actually subscribes for an opt-in list. Many people find promotional mails annoying but of you provide a good newsletter or promotional material, you will see your list build up and grow. You can also achieve this by having good content on your site. If people like what they see and read on your site, then they surely would want more. Newsletters would be a way to attract them back to your site. A little teaser or appetizer if you will.

But other than marketing your wares and your services, an opt-in list can also be used to earn extra profit. Not all lists can be used though. It would be good to first build a successful list with a huge number of subscribers. The more subscribers you have, the more money you can get. Here are seven ways to make money using nothing more than your list.

1) Place advertisements. There are many corporations who will be willing to pay to put their banners and ads on a list with many subscribers. Selling or renting out lists is not a good idea so rather than doing that, many companies would just rather place ads with lists that have a huge subscriber base. Your newsletter could be placed with many ads and each one spells money.

2) Have affiliations with other companies that have at least a semblance or relation to what your site is about. Here other companies will provide links and brief descriptions of what they offer, products and services. With every click made on the link that directs or leads a subscriber from your list to their site, the company will pay you. This P4P or pay for performance.

3) Make deals with other companies by asking for a small percentage of sales done through your list. With every sale done by customers that have come from your list and have gone there because of your newsletter, the other company will pay you a small percentage of your sales. The more people who buys from them, the more earnings you get.

4) You may also get products from other sites on a consignment basis and sell them to your list via your newsletter. Place descriptions, articles and photos of the product in your newsletter. There will be those who will buy from you and when that happens, you can order the product from the other site and sell it to your buyer.

5) Sell e-books or a compilation of your articles on your list. Manuals and how-to articles are in great demand. Many people will be willing to shell out money to gain knowledge about a certain topic and subject. With your existing list trusting your expertise in that area, an e-book could be offered and sold or used as an incentive.

6) Create a network out of your list. Get people to invite more people to view your site and subscribe to your list. The larger your list is, the more people will be able to click on your links and affiliate links as well as make your advertisement rates higher.

7) Subscribers are willing to pay for information if they know that it can be trusted and relied upon. Use your list to get more and more people to subscribe to you as well as browse your site. Lastly, you can use your list to earn money by making them your partners. Your list will be the bloodline of your growth and increase.

Fishing & Lead Capture - Part Three of Three

In parts one and two we overviewed fishing for leads, then went into detail on baiting, presenting and setting your hook on new leads for your business.

Of course, the purpose of your lead generation is to sell a product, service, or opportunity. That’s your number one priority - to make contacts and turn them into customers.

You’ve gotta land that fish.

Now that you have set the hook with subscription confirmation and delivered the bait you promised on your lead capture page …

How do you get him in without snapping the line?

Well, you have to get your emails read - or all the previous effort is wasted.

Consider the subject of each email as a headline. If it’s not interesting enough to be opened you will probably lose your fish.

Keep your (head)line tight. Short and sweet, and usually presenting a benefit - a darn good reason to open the email.

If you don’t keep the line tight he will throw the hook - and throw your email in the trash.

Some fish fight harder than others. Many potential customers are quite defensive. Why should they trust you? They don’t even know you. To earn their trust, and to have the best chance of landing your fish, use high quality line - VALUE.

Give of yourself. Give of your time. Give something of value to earn the respect and trust of your subscriber - and don’t allow any slack in your line.

You offered the right bait.

You set the hook with confirmation.

You keep your (head)line tight so they don’t throw the hook (in the trash).

You use strong line by providing valuable information.

…and you keep reeling up the slack.

You use your email to guide your customer to the sales page - and ultimately to the sale.

You can’t force it or something will break - the line (reads but no clicks), the hook (thrown in the trash) - something will go wrong and you will go hungry.

Guide, offer, help, inform, entice…

Closer and closer he gets until you finally grab the net. …and the net profit.

Above all, treat your lead with respect. There is a person behind that email address.

Do you prefer a mailbox full of ads? … or useful information and related links?

Do you prefer an honest review? … or a hard sales pitch?

When you DO offer a product, service or opportunity … offer something of value - not junk for easy money. Your reputation won’t stand up to it.

Treat your lead, your subscriber, your new friend like a person. Give them a good reason to do business with YOU.

… and stop treating them like fish.

Ok, so maybe fishing and lead capture don’t have THAT much in common after all.

Sorry. My bad.