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Building a relationship with the members of your list isn’t easy. The chances are good that you are competing with several other marketers who have a list in your niche, and you need to come out on top to win.

That means building a relationship, gaining their trust, and really standing out. Yes, you probably want to make as much money as possible with your list, but that often means having them trust you first.

This is your “give,” while the monetary gains they will eventually receive is your “take.”

Keep The Long-Term Results In Your Mind

If you’ve been a member of other lists you might have noticed that they seem to “use” their list members. This can really make you feel sick and used.

The same thing can happen with members who join your list. Before you send your message, always think about the long-term effects that message could have. If you’re just trying to make a quick buck, and you’re not promoting quality, it will come back to bite you in the end.

That means if you’re an affiliate you should review the products that you’re promoting to make sure they are high quality. Don’t promote something just because there is a high commission for you! The same thing applies if you sell physical products. Make sure that everything you do and the products that you promote are in the best interest of those who have subscribed.

Showcase Yourself As An Expert

The people who have signed up for your list have probably done so because they want to learn more about what you have to say. They would not sign up if they weren’t sure they could learn valuable information or gain some insights for doing so.

That’s why you should present yourself as an expert at all times. That doesn’t mean being “cocky” or giving out false information. It simply means relaying information you deem important, and knowing that the advice you’re giving is in the best interest for the members of your list.

People trust and look up to experts. Your relationship with your list will grow stronger than ever as you share your expert strategies, tips, and tricks to help your list members.

Show Your Members Real Results or Data

If you run a business that can offer case studies or data; you will get the best results by sharing these things with your list members.

For example, if you are an expert at selling items on eBay, you can show real-life case studies from your sales last week. Show people how you write your copy, price your items, and got the most out of each sale.

This works across many different types of businesses. The point is that people like to see real-time results, and they are often impressed by and respond to them.

This works very well if you are eventually going to promote a product that you have used. So, as an eBay seller, you might have read some books that helped you get to the point you’re at now.

You can recommend the same books to other people, and earn commission from them if you don’t have your own product.

Show Your Readers That You Care

One thing that should be at the top of your agenda at all times is showing your list members that you care about them. This is especially true in some niches where people are going through a difficult period in their lives. It doesn’t matter which niche you’re in, however, people are more likely to be responsive if they know that you care about their needs, wants, and desires.

By simply empathizing with them and showing that you know exactly what they are going through, you will appear as more trustworthy. It should be easy for you to do as you are an expert in the topic and you know a lot about the people in your niche. If you’re not quite sure about what they’re going through, you can always visit niche forums and read posts written by people in the niche.

For instance, if your niche is pregnancy fitness, then visit pregnancy message boards and search for “exercise” to see what questions, comments, and concerns your potential readers may have.

Ask For Their Feedback

Just because you have an auto-responder sequence set up does not mean it has to be a one-sided conversation. You can get a lot of valuable information simply by surveying your list members every so often and asking for input.

Give them some sort of incentive for filling out a survey for you (free report, audio, video, discount coupon, or free service), and you’ll gain access to what they really need and want from your list. This helps build your relationship with your readers because they feel like they are valued and that you really care about them and their needs.

How do you set up a survey?

You can simply have them reply to your e-mail messages, or you can set up a more formal poll or survey. There are many popular options out there, with one of the well known ones being SurveyMonkey.com.

Building a positive long-term relationship with your list will result in long-term profits for your business.

Having a series of money-making autoresponder messages is a very important part of the process, obviously. If your autoresponder copy is dull and ineffective, it doesn’t matter how big your list is because you’re not going to make any sales. That’s why it’s very important that you understand how to write good copy before you get started.

After you sign up for your autoresponder account, you will want to load it with messages that will gain people’s trust and help you make sales.

Understand The Difference Between Follow-Up and Broadcast Messages

If you are completely new to list building, you may not know the difference between a follow-up message and a broadcast message.

Followup message:

Your follow-up messages are what the members of your list receive no matter when they sign up. These will usually be in a sequence that is delivered at a predetermined rate.

So, if Sally signs up on Tuesday she will receive follow-up message #1 on Tuesday. If Tom signs up on Friday, he will receive follow-up message #1 on Friday.

That means that your autoresponder sequences are your little relationship builders and salespeople 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

Broadcast messages:

These types of messages are sent out to your entire list so that they receive them at the same time (also referred to as an “email blast”). This is a good option if you have something to share that is not a normal part of the sequence. It might be a special announcement or a time-sensitive or limited-time-offer special deal.

Use both types of messages in your business for best results.

Think About How Often You Should Send Messages

At first, you might be nervous about mailing to your list because you’re not sure how many messages you should send and how often. Unfortunately, there is not one correct answer to this question. The answer depends on your niche, the relationship you have with your members, and what kind of information you share.

If your messages offer a lot of value, people will probably want to receive them more often. If your list messages are more focused on making sales, people may expect them (and want them) less often.

Still, the balance is individual, so you should test what is best for you. A good autoresponder will show you the number of people who click on your message when you send it. If the number stays high with more frequent messages, your unsubscribe rate doesn’t increase, and sales tend to remain high, then your list may want to be contacted more frequently.

What some marketers suggest is having one autoresponder message scheduled per week, with perhaps a broadcast message in between if you need to have a special mailing. Yes, at times the messages might land on the same day to certain readers, but that’s no reason to avoid sending broadcast mailings to your followup message recipients.

Carefully Craft Your First Message

First impressions count. That’s why you need to carefully write your first autoresponder message. It is the first impression your list members will have of you. Even if they really liked what your website had to say, they will unsubscribe very quickly if they don’t think your list will offer them a lot of value.

Your first message should almost never contain a sales pitch. This is your chance to prove that they will want to remain on your list. You want to be warm, open, and friendly. You should also consider offering a special bonus or surprise for free. This will immediately help set a positive association with your messages. This can increase the open rates on your e-mails, put your relationship on the right path, and help you make more sales later on.

Decide When To Make Your First Sales Pitch

Some marketers are focused on making the sale right away. However, you may want to consider holding off until you are at least a few messages into email sequence.

Now, this rule doesn’t apply if people sign up to get a coupon or special product offer. Then they would expect that they are going to be sold to right away.

However if your list members signed up to get some valuable information, they may not take too kindly to getting pitched to right away. This is something you may want to test, but you need to think about the relationship first and the money later in most cases.

Split Test For The Perfect Balance

As your list grows, you will want to split test your messages. You might find that the way you set things up in the beginning was not the optimal way. We all want to improve our results and split testing makes that achievable. By tweaking a few things here and there you can increase your open rate and the desired responses your list makes.

If you have a good autoresponder company, the chances are good that they will provide you with the information and tools you need to split test. Companies like Aweber will automatically send half of your list one message and the other half a different message. They will then track the results so you can compare them and make changes.

Consider The 3-to-1 Formula

A popular formula that some of the top marketers use is sending 3 relationship building e-mails to every 1 sales e-mail. This is especially important in the beginning stages, and will set the tone for later e-mails.

What you might want to do is have the first e-mail be entirely focused on offering quality information and building a relationship, the second e-mail making a very soft pitch, the third e-mail selling a little harder, and finally the fourth e-mail blatantly promoting a product.

If it makes you feel more comfortable having a system to work with, then this is a sequence that you may wish to follow.

Study The Basics Of Copyrighting Before Getting Started

You may not think of yourself as a copywriter, but I recommend that you study the basics of copy to make the most of your list.

Elements such as the AIDA formula will certainly improve the responsiveness of
your list.

AIDA stands for:
Attention
Interest
Desire
Action

This means capturing their attention, interest, desire, and finally having them perform the desired action.

No, I’m certainly not recommending that you hold off on starting a list or growing your list until you’re a highly skilled copywriter, but I do recommend that you continue to study copywriting to continually improve your results.

Focus On The Subject Line

While all elements of the e-mail are important, you will want to focus on the subject line.

If people don’t like what they see and are not enticed to click, they simply will not open your message. On the other hand, if your headline is attention-grabbing, they can’t help but click on your message to see it. Once they’ve opened your e-mail, it’s going to be that much easier to build your relationship and make sales.

Study Autoresponder E-mails That You’ve Responded To

As a marketer, the chances are good that you’re receiving emails from several other lists. Do you notice that you open some marketers e-mails more than others? You can learn a lot from this.

Save the e-mails that really grab your attention and make you respond, either by “labeling” them if you’re using Gmail.com or sorting those messages into a folder marked “Hot Copy”.

You can “swipe” certain copy ideas (not the subject lines themselves, but the ideas used) for use in your own e-mails to make them more attention-grabbing and response-inducing.

Consider The Length Of Your E-mails

There are some people who hate writing so much that their e-mails are only ever a paragraph or so long. There are others who are so prolific that their e-mails go on for pages. It’s probably best to find something in between.

If you are a writer who tends to go on and on, you have to remember that people are very busy. They often don’t have time to read long e-mails. On the other hand, you’re probably not providing much value or making enough of an effort if your emails are too short.

Find a happy medium, and your response rates will likely improve.

Do you want to improve your email marketing skills? If so then register for the free webinars below.

Free, Live Email Marketing Webinars ~ Become an Email Marketing Master

Recommendations:
aWeber Autoresponders - Quickly create and run your campaigns with powerful, easy-to-use email marketing tools.
Go Daddy – Where I purchase all my domain names.
Hostgator – Very reliable and low cost hosting service which I have been using for about ten years.

It’s important to set up your list right from the start.

Since you want the best possible relationship with your list members, let’s focus on planning ahead and using the right tools so that your efforts will be rewarded.

Choose A Good Domain Name

Choosing a domain name might seem way too basic for a guide on list building. However, if you don’t have a trustworthy domain name it can affect your list building abilities in a negative way.

Your domain is important because you’re going to place your list’s opt-in form in several different places. Having a good domain will ensure that people visit your site in the first place, and see your opt-in form.

Some tips. Choose a domain that…

1. Ends with .com or .org (not .biz or .info)
2. Has no numbers, if possible.
3. Is easy to spell.
4. Is short.
5. Is not hyphenated.

You can purchase domain names at GoDaddy.com.

Get Reliable Hosting

Another important piece of the puzzle is having reliable hosting. If you are using a free service provider or one that is not reliable, your website will look unprofessional (if it’s even up and working).

In fact, the free service providers often have their own advertisements in place on YOUR website (which are distracting), or just do not look professional.

If your host is too cheap and not reliable, your website might not even be there for people when they want to sign up. Having reliable hosting is a very important first step if you want to build a massive list. If you need reliable web hosting, you might check out HostGator.

Sign Up With A Good Autoresponder Company

Having a good autoresponder company is absolutely essential to online business success. An autoresponder allows you to store your e-mail leads, gives you your opt-in form code, sends your autoresponder messages, and tracks how many of your readers opened and read the emails. It is an essential business tool, and, yes, all of the gurus use autoresponders.

Just like your hosting company needs to be reliable, so does your autoresponder company. The good news is that it isn’t expensive to get an account. I use and recommend Aweber.

I do NOT recommend hosting your own autoresponder on your server. The SPAM laws make it very easy for your IP to get blacklisted as a spammer – which means that your leads and customers will not receive your emails. Professional services like Aweber, on the other hand, work tirelessly around the clock to stay on top of all industry updates and ensure a high level of email deliverability.

Always Get Permission

This tip goes along with the one above dealing with spam. As an e-mail marketer you need to make sure that you have permission to send people e-mails. This means that they must opt-in to your list rather than you e-mailing them out of the blue.

You have two options for creating an autoresponder list:

1. Single Opt-in: Your reader signs up on your website and is automatically added to your list.
2. Double Opt-in: Your reader signs up on your website and is sent a confirmation email that contains a link that must be clicked before adding him/her to your mailing list.

Many marketers choose a double opt-in. Why?

The second step reminds people that they have, in fact, signed up to receive messages from you. This can cut down on many of the complaints that might otherwise occur. It also prevents spammers from submitting fake emails to your autoresponder and clogging up your account.

Make List Building A Priority

Building your list should not be an afterthought. If it is, it’s never going to be as large or responsive as you want it to be. Building your list needs to be at at the top of your mind as you build or expand your business. Making it a priority means studying the tips defined in this document, as well as tweaking and testing your own findings.

Do you want to improve your email marketing skills? If so then register for the free webinars below.

Free, Live Email Marketing Webinars ~ Become an Email Marketing Master