Once you have an optin mailing list, you have access to your own private database of potential customers.
- Have you written a best-selling book or invented a ground-breaking piece of software? Send a mass email to all the people on your optin mailing list.
- Do you know of any popular membership websites that provide generous affiliate commissions? Send a mass email to all the people on your optin mailing list.
- Have you recently created a new website and need instant viewer traffic? Send a mass email to all the people on your optin mailing list.
Of course, the results will be better if the list is larger and more focused. More income is the end outcome you’re ultimately aiming for.
Note that you want to employ your opt-in email list as an ongoing, exclusive sales channel. That might prove fatal.
Maintaining a balance between excellent information and sales pitches is necessary.
You will lose the confidence and support of the people on your opt-in email list if you send out too many obvious “purchase this now” communications.
When you do ultimately pitch any kind of product to the people on your opt-in email list, you risk alienating them if you distribute too much free material over a lengthy period.
Balance becomes important in this situation. You must offer them free, high-quality guidance and information. But you also need to include advertising messages that are relevant to that data.
For Instance….
Let’s assume that the items and information you sell are based on SEO. You describe how to maximize the benefits of Google AdWords in one of your emails.
And among all that free knowledge and guidance, you let them know about this fantastic software tool that may raise their advertising profit margin… AdWords Analyzer.
Or perhaps your content is based on several strategies for driving visitors to websites. It would be the ideal time to bring up a product like the Traffic Equalizer at that point.
Overall, it’s much more beneficial to integrate your sales message into any free advice or information, either directly or indirectly. Most clients find the soft-sell strategy to be far less insulting.
But there will be many times when you’re just pushing something because the whole idea of having a private optin mailing list is to enjoy the advantage of delivering communications to an eager and receptive audience (and do it anytime you want). without providing any counsel or free information.
Gold is found there.
You can pretty much make all the decisions you want or need once you’ve built a strong and trustworthy relationship with the people on your list.
You’ll always have the ability to produce nearly instantaneous quantities of income as long as you have a comfortable balance between a sales pitch and extensive intervals with no marketing at all.
Of course, creating that opt email list should come first. Not just any optin mailing list, though. Only those people who fit into the following two categories are what you want and need.
- They are really interested in the niche or market that you are in.
- They are ready and eager to get marketing communications from you.
The first choice should be obvious. There is little to no chance you will ever convince someone on your list to make a purchase if they have little or no interest in the market or subject on which your small business is founded.
The second category is divided into two parts…
First and foremost, you need a fully and entirely opt-in list. In other words, everyone on your list has signed up purely out of a desire to be a part of it.
Second, you should make sure that everyone who joins your optin mailing list understands that they will get commercial letters in addition to the free advice and information they have asked for.
And before they join up, you want them to be aware of this. The number of dissatisfied list members will be reduced only by doing so, largely because they will be prepared from the beginning.
Nothing unexpected in the future.
It’s worth the expense to take all precautions you can to avoid someone accusing you of sending them spam.
Half of the criteria for obtaining a high-quality list will be met if you accurately describe your communications to prospective list members in all respects—fully, thoroughly, and honestly. The opt-in element makes up the other half.
It’s crucial to have someone affirm their choice to join your optin mailing list rather than just assuming they did. This drops the possibility that someone else entered their name and email address without their knowledge or consent.
Never forget…
There may be gold on the list. But that gold will be very difficult to get without the help of the best list members. Regardless of how many persuasive sales pitches or free information you send them.
You’ll have your own little virtual gold mine if you do it correctly the first time.
Building a Profitable Optin Mailing List
Profitable is the key word here. Owning an opt-in email list that doesn’t bring in money is ultimate of little use.
And using the right tools is the first step in creating a lucrative opt-in targeted email list. In this case, it would be the technique you would use to collect names and email addresses.
Let’s immediately do away with the standard bare-bones approach since we’re talking about lucrative lists.
That is how you would post a optin form asking visitors for their name and email address on your website. You manually add them to any software you choose to use to send messages after you manually add them after receiving their details by email notice.
Marketing automation is and will continue to be a key part of internet companies. You’ll have more time to devote to advertising and marketing the more chores you can automate.
Even additional advantages come from automating optin mailing lists. A competent system can manage and keep track of several separate lists, subscribe and unsubscribe names and email addresses, and deliver messages at predetermined intervals (aka autoresponder messages).
While you might be tempted, resist the urge to use a system that only records and handles names and email addresses. Whether you intend to use autoresponder messages from the beginning or not, it’s a crucial part of making money.
Without the ability to follow up, you’re losing out on a lot of possible sales. Not everyone will immediately make a purchase from you. Only a very small fraction of viewers will make a first-time purchase.
Having a database of people to whom you can send information and advertise deals is the entire point of collecting names and email addresses. Even additional advantage comes from being able to stay in touch with those same folks via autoresponder.
Therefore, be sure to pick a system that can manage all your optin mailing list demands and continuous maintenance simply and effectively. And that unrestricted autoresponder potential is unquestionably included.
Get Automated
You have two fundamental options for performing any part of automatic list management.
- On your server, you may install an autoresponder script.
- It is possible to register for an online autoresponder service.
Even while both options would offer a better way to manage your email opt-in lists, installing an autoresponder script has some clear drawbacks.
You will oversee managing an optin mailing list script once it is set up, for example. If something goes wrong, you or a skilled person must troubleshoot the issue and fix it as soon as possible.
Second, you’ll need to reinstall the application on your new server if you switch web providers. If you’ve already gathered thousands of names and email addresses, it may be quite an effort.
Not to mention the extra expense incurred if you need to contract with a third party to manage the re-installation.
Everything that must be done behind the scenes is handled by an online autoresponder service. You only need to worry about luring in new subscribers.
Additionally, there is no need to worry about ever having to transfer your small business because your list will be remotely housed on their server.
However, keep in mind that you must be confident in the autoresponder service you originally selected. All your autoresponder addresses will need to be updated if your services change in the future.
Therefore, any reports, e-courses, or communications that were previously sent automatically through the original service will no longer function. Your autoresponder emails may need to be changed in hundreds of different internet contexts.
But don’t be alarmed. There is a way you can use that will make updating your autoresponder email addresses quite easy even if the unimaginable occurs and you are forced to switch autoresponder providers in the middle of a campaign.
Remember that this only applies to uncreated autoresponders. There is no way to get addresses back if they are already in the public domain.
Setting up your autoresponder service and creating one or more autoresponder addresses should come first.
Let’s use the following autoresponders as an illustration.
- eMarketing. This one is used for your generic optin mailing list signups.
- Marketing course. This one is used to send a free marketing course.
- Product-info. This one is used to send information about a specific product you’re selling.
- FAQ. This one is used to send a list of your often asked questions.
The email addresses you generated in your web hosting account are the ones you really use (in your sign-up opt-in forms and published on your web sites, in eBooks, in adverts, on forums, and so on).
If you have a system like this in place, you’ll never have to be concerned about orphan addresses if you ever need to switch online autoresponder services. Simply log into your web hosting account and change the forwarding addresses if that occurs.
The Best Ways to Grow your Email List
Method #1
Including a subscription form on your website is the most obvious way to grow your email list. The following are the main criteria:
- So that you can customize the messages you send, ask for at least their first name in addition to their email address.
- It should be “mandatory” that the email address and name fields be filled in before the form can be submitted.
- Place the subscription form clearly accessible at or near the top of the website.
- Include the subscription form on every page of the website that is accessible, not just the home page.
- Put the subscription form in the same location on every page, if possible. If not, position the form as near as you can.
- Include a “further information” link and a short explanation of your optin mailing list or email newsletter.
- The “further information” link needs to take the user to a different page that details what they may expect when they subscribe to your optin mailing list or email newsletter.
- Make it obvious that you won’t rent, distribute, or share their information with any other parties in both the quick and detailed explanations.
Method #2
Using a pop-up window to collect signups is the most common strategy. The only issue is that pop-up blockers are being used more and more often as well. The number of people who will even notice your pop-up window has significantly decreased in recent years.
Fly-in advertisements are a good substitute because they can’t be stopped as pop-up windows can. Furthermore, they don’t irritate the spectator nearly as much.
Fly-in advertisements may be personalized, much like pop-ups. Even better, you may schedule the ad to appear at a specific time. For instance, you may plan for it to appear about 30 seconds after the page has finished loading.
Impact Popup is one of the greatest and most cutting-edge fly-in advertising solutions. You may read the entire article at Impactpopup.net
Method #3
Writing articles and putting a link to your subscription sign-up in the author’s resource box is the most durable way to get email subscribers.
The resource box may simply have this one link, or it may also hold more significant URLs (such as your website’s main page, your affiliate link for a product you’re pushing, etc.). That depends on the kind of publicity you need or want to receive because of publishing a certain article.
Don’t just direct them to a standard page on your website. They should be taken immediately to the “more information” page, where you elaborate on the purpose of your optin mailing list or email newsletter. Of course, this is also the location of the subscription form.
Once an article has been posted on your website, be sure to submit it to article directory websites so that other website and ezine owners may easily and immediately access it. You’ll immediately start getting backlinks and more website traffic if you do it that way.
Naturally, you’ll get a greater advantage if you can share more articles and if they are found and published in more locations. Getting more traffic will help you, first and foremost, by increasing the number of members and paying customers you eventually attract.
But keep in mind that articles must have worthwhile material in order to be of the most use. Owners of websites and ezines won’t be interested in publishing them if they don’t.
Gaining the respect and approval of the audience is the other goal you are aiming for. You’re constrained if you use content in your own email newsletter or on your own web pages.
You’ll build a considerably greater following of devoted readers if you can issue those pieces over the whole internet.
Anyone who genuinely loves your posts and appreciates the insightful knowledge they offer will be more than happy to subscribe on a regular basis. They’ll be eager for whatever more you have to offer, to put it simply.
This strategy for growing your optin mailing list is successful. Therefore…
Hiring someone to write the articles for you is a good idea if you can’t do it yourself. At websites like Elance, there are many competent writers to choose from. Just make sure the candidate you hire has solid English language abilities.
Method #4
Offering readers something for free is the most popular strategy for boosting the number of people who join your optin mailing list. a report, an eBook, an online course, a software script, etc.
You won’t have any trouble at all persuading individuals to part up their name and email address in exchange for that “gift” if the report, eBook, eCourse, or program has significant value.
The good news is that. There is bad news.
- People who exchange their name and email address for a gift may be considerably less likely to make a purchase.
- Once they’ve received their freebie, many consumers immediately unsubscribe.
- Freebies are another popular tactic used by optin mailing list managers to boost signups.
Even so, this approach continues to be one of the greatest methods to quickly and efficiently generate a sizable list (or expand an existing list).
Method #5
Here’s a fantastic concept that not many people use. Get your work published in someone else’s magazine to spread the news about your own. Your outcomes will be better the more subscribers they have.
As an illustration, most newsletters have an editor’s area where the owner may add their own thoughts and remarks. However, most of them lack a column offering counsel.
You can syndicate that content if you can develop one that is focused on a certain market or subject.
Simply get in touch with other magazines and provide them with a sample of the kind of weekly, biweekly, or monthly column you’ll be writing. whatever conditions that you and the other publisher decide upon.
Another possibility is to conduct surveys and then translate the findings into one or more textual paragraphs.
You might also create reviews. Products, software, publications, or even eateries in and around your neighborhood might be included. anything that falls under your specialized field.
Website and ezine publishers are always seeking material. And most of them require filler, a particular kind of material. Many of them would be delighted to use it in their own publications if you could provide them with that. either routinely or beforehand.
But regardless of what you’ve come up with—survey findings, a column of advice, product evaluations, or anything else—your name and URL address will be featured, directing more people to your website and/or subscription sign-up page.
Perhaps you’re just getting started. However, other authors and website owners are already well-established and benefit from a sizable audience of niche users and engaged subscribers. Why not make the most of it?
Techniques You Should Implement
There are more strategies you may employ in addition to the fundamental ones just discussed to improve signups.
The first is to pick a title for your mailings that is distinctive and appealing. And you do not have to run a conventional newsletter. Your communications instantly qualify as publications only since you communicate with your readers often.
Therefore, whether you call it a newsletter, ezine, or opt-in mailing list, give it a strong name that not only accurately describes the market you serve but also draws in both publishers and potential subscribers.
If you do create a newsletter, make earlier editions available to readers. Give them simple access to the articles and other worthwhile materials you’ve included in earlier mailings if you don’t publish a newsletter.
They will be able to see firsthand the caliber of the content they will obtain once they join your list this manner.
Make sure that any signup advertising or email campaign you do stands out from the competition. Keep in mind that several other list owners are competing for the engaged subscribers.
Anything you can do to make your offer stand out from the competition is unquestionably helpful.
Do not only show a signup form if you are employing a pop-up or fly-in advertisement. Add some dynamite sales copy that begins with a head-turning headline.
Produce (or hire someone to create) a professional cover picture that symbolizes your magazine if you don’t already have one. Then put it on display with your sales copy.
Encourage your present subscribers to forward your email articles to a friend or acquaintance as another smart strategy. You should make use of the usual “inform a friend” or “send this page to a friend” script for any back issues, articles, or other content that is published on your website.
Your subscriber base will grow more quickly the more straightforward it is for people to share the word.
Additionally, you should submit your article to the Ezine directories. But be sure to provide a genuine and truthful description rather than a glitzy advertisement. Getting subscribers who aren’t really interested in the kind of knowledge you must provide, and eventually, the things you sell are of little use.
Like most things that result in long-term gain, quality rather than quantity is what matters most.
Effectively Using Autoresponders
The ability of high-quality autoresponders to deliver an infinite number of follow-up messages is their true benefit. The system is more helpful because you can pre-program the messages.
Naturally, there may be times when you simply need to send one message. Most of the time, though, you’ll want to send out a series of messages based on the first action.
For instance, if they enrolled in your marketing e-course, they may get a series of seven to ten courses spread out over the same number of days.
You should follow up with them if they bought something from you by sending them messages every few days or so.
The first one may be a simple thank you, the second could inquire as to whether they have used the product, the third could inquire as to whether they have any queries about the product, and so on.
The idea is that it’s crucial to deliver follow-up communications regardless of the first action taken by the viewer.
One reason is that you never want to lose contact with someone who has subscribed. Once they’re on your list, be sure to keep giving them helpful advice, support, and anything else you think they might need or desire.
Here are a few tips on how to make the best use of your autoresponders.
Publish Your Newsletter
The main issue with newsletters for most editors is having to publish one every week. And for that reason, many webmasters either decide not to post one at all or opt to only publish one or two times every month.
Using an autoresponder, you may preload many issues at once and schedule the delivery of each one for a specified day each week. Whether you’re on vacation on a cruise ship deck or occupied with other webmaster duties, the publications will be sent out on time.
Affiliate Training
Sending your affiliates useful marketing and promotion advice every week is a great approach to help them increase their earnings.
Once more, just preload every message and choose the intervals at which you want to deliver it. The autoresponder system works on your behalf for several months after you generate all the content.
Mini Ecourse
One of the most well-liked and successful applications for autoresponders is this. You may arrange for each lesson or informational piece to be delivered to the subscriber one day at a time.
The ability of these short courses to keep students’ interest throughout all the messaging is a crucial part. Because of this, you should always conclude each lesson or section each day with a compelling hook that suggests what they will study next.
You may even point the subscriber to yet another Ecourse or free report on the final day of the course. Delivered once more through an autoresponder. Alternatively, you could provide them with a unique discount or limited time offer that is exclusively extended to subscribers.
eBook Sample
You may use an autoresponder to send out sample chapters or selected extracts from your own eBook if you’re selling it.
You may also just compile a report using some of the information in the eBook. Inform the reader at the conclusion of the report that the material shown so far is only a small part of what they will discover if they buy the complete eBook.
Of course, after that, they will make a sale about the eBook.
Product Information
This one may be delivered before someone makes a purchase, if they simply want more information on a certain product, or it can provide advice on how to use the product once it has been bought.
For instance, if you sold the customer a piece of software, you may send them a series of letters outlining several implementation options. Or maybe strategies that customers used earlier and that helped them succeed or make more money.
Notifications
To inform folks, use an autoresponder. This may include new versions of your software or eBooks, changes to your website, recent blog posts, or the trending subjects being discussed on your forum.
These are only a handful of efficient uses for autoresponders. You may put one, two, or all of them into practice. Even more imaginative uses for autoresponders may occur to you.
It’s important to put them into practice whenever you can. Automation will enable you to stay in continual contact with one of your most precious assets—your optin mailing list subscribers—while also saving a significant amount of time and manual labor.