Now that you know the basics of list building, it’s time to take it to the next level. The tips that follow will help ensure that your list is kept fresh and exciting, and that your profits increase over time.

Plan Ahead So Writing Does Not Get Cumbersome

One of the most common things that happens when someone builds a list is that they get tired of running it. When you start out you think it will be easy to keep up with the messages since they are on autoresponder. Unfortunately, there comes a time where it all becomes too much to handle and your messages start to become fewer and far between. When this happens people forget about you.

A solution to this problem is to plan your autoresponder messages ahead of time. Even if you don’t write them right then and there at least you’ll know what you’re going to say. Many people put off writing the messages because they are not sure what the next one should discuss, so this will help you avoid that problem.

Consider Outsourcing Your Messages

After you have gotten a flow to your messages and you know exactly where you want them to head, you may consider outsourcing them to a writer. This will make things even more hands off for you. It’s even better if you get a writer who is well-versed in writing autoresponder copy.

There are many writers available who are willing to do this for a very reasonable fee. Keep in mind that low prices do not always equal the best deal, and high prices do not always equal the best quality. You want to examine the person’s writing samples and give them some small work at first before you hand over the job on a long-term basis.

Run Contests to Excite Your List Members

It can sometimes get boring to open the same kinds of emails from the same person over and over again. That’s why you need to keep things exciting and fresh. A fun way to do this is to host contests. People absolutely love to win things, and this can help you get a lot of interaction.

Contests are even more exciting to your readers when the prize is valuable. You may consider investing in a physical product that you will ship to the winners – or cash! This is more exciting than providing digital gifts to your list members.

Try to Include Frequent Special Offers

Your list members are not going to get very excited about the offers you send them if they are not getting a special deal. If they see that you’re consistently pitching them a product at regular price, they will be less inclined to buy from you.

However, if they see that you are constantly negotiating special deals or giving them special bargains on your own product, they will be a lot more likely to buy. This will put you on their “favorites” list since people really do love to get a bargain.

Build More Specialized Lists

After you are well-versed in building lists, you will want to make them even more specialized. This means breaking them down into people who have purchased from you and people who have not, etc. You’ll find that you want to treat these groups of people differently, and even word things differently in your messages. It’s not to say that one group of people is more important than the other, just that they need different handling.

Examine your autoresponder company’s documentation to discover how you can separate your lists so that it makes more sense for your marketing.

Ask For More Feedback

It can’t be said enough that one of the best ways to make sure you’re delivering value to your list members is to ask them what they value.

Guessing  just doesn’t work.

Is gold valuable?

Not to someone who is drowning. I think they’d much prefer a life vest.

Is a glass of water valuable?

It certainly is if you’re stranded in a desert. The guy in the example above, though.. probably would pass.

It doesn’t matter what YOU think is valuable. It matters what your list members do.

Too many people consistently send messages that they aren’t sure their list members can even benefit from. By serving your members and asking them to tell you what they want to learn about, and what kind of offers they want to see, they’ll be a lot more likely to trust you and to buy from you.

Re-Examine Your Opt-In Box Positioning 

Hopefully you have been testing different positions for your opt-in form to see what works best. Keep in mind that the more boxes you have (within reason) the better. Once you start getting a high level of traffic, small changes can make a huge difference.

This goes hand-in-hand with testing your headlines and your copy.

Create Products on the Backend

Hopefully you have been doing well with some of the products you have been pitching to your list members. If you have your own products you want to make sure that you have a backend offering as well. This can be either an upsell or downsell that you offer once they purchase from you. This is a great way to increase your profits from the same customer.

Send Personalized Emails

This step might be difficult to implement depending on how large your list has grown. Still, when somebody joins your list or purchases from you it really helps to send personalized email. This shows that you are there ready to help them in any way you can. You can even hire this portion out, but the results will be well worth the effort. This will greatly cut down on unsubscribes and greatly increase your profits.

If you’re using a service like Aweber – it’s easy to do.

Create More Products

Many people who have a list get complacent with selling the products that they already have. However, after you have had a list for a while the chances are good that you have a feel for what your members want. You can create both smaller and larger products that encompass these needs and wants.

Your list members will love you for providing these things, and you will generate more income as a result.

Always Do What’s Best For Your List Members

If you always keep in your mind that you should do what is best for your list members, you will see rewards. Your relationship with your list will grow, they will trust you, and they will respect what you have to say.

You will be their “go to expert” who they love to buy from. This, of course, will increase your profits substantially and make your list very lucrative for you. It also just feels better to do what is best for your list members rather than using them as a “cash machine”.

That’s not to say that it’s not a cool thing to be able to send out a simple email and receive great profits and return!

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.

While we would all like to think that building our list will go as smoothly as possible, it does not always happen that way. Sometimes things do go wrong, but you can minimize the problems as much as possible by being prepared.

Getting Spam Complaints Even Though You’re Not Spamming

One of the most frustrating things that marketers have to deal with is getting spam complaints. There are just some people out there that do not realize they will receive emails, even though they have signed up for an email list. This might sound facetious, but it’s very true. People might think that they are simply going to get the one special offer or freebie email and not continue to receive them. If they do receive additional emails and they are not sure why, they might hit the spam button. Some people also hit the spam button rather than hitting the delete button.

The best way to decrease the spam complaints you receive is to make sure people know what they are signing up for. Clearly outline that you will send messages regularly to help them. Making this clear may prevent some potential problems.

Also, make sure every email you send your list is in their best interest. If you keep sending them offers that are not in their best interest you will get spam complaints.

If you heed this advice and you still get a few spam complaints here and there, don’t worry. There will always be people who just do not understand. Your autoresponder provider will provide you with some guidelines to watch out for to make sure your spam complaints are not too high.

People Not Confirming Their Opt-In

Many autoresponder providers will recommend that you require a double opt-in procedure. That means that people not only have to sign up for your list in the first place, but they also have to click a link in their email that confirms they want to receive messages from you.

While this might seem like a hassle, it certainly does prevent complaints and other problems for you. On the other hand, sometimes these confirmation emails get lost in the shuffle or people do not understand what they are or what to do with them.

Make sure that people understand what they are supposed to do with the confirmation email by providing simple, clear instructions after they sign up. You may also wish to provide screenshots or video right after they sign up. This simple step can greatly increase your double opt-in subscribers.

Minimize The Number of People Who Unsubscribe

It’s hard not to take it personally when someone unsubscribes from your list. The fact is that there are many reasons this could happen. For one thing, some people are overwhelmed with the email they already receive. That means they might unsubscribe from your list just to cut down on the things that come into their inbox. Depending on how your list handles email address changes, you may also see unsubscribes whenever a person changes their email address. Some autoresponders require your readers to unsubscribe and sign up again if they need to update their contact info.

On the other hand, it might be something that you are doing wrong. One thing you might try is asking people what you could change in the future. This is certainly not a mandatory thing you must do, but some people will be more than happy to give you a reason.

Surveying your list and getting a feel for what your list members want is another way to cut down on unsubscribes. Knowing that you are providing quality content at all times is key. It’s also important to know the offers you send your list are targeted directly to them, and that they are enjoying the content that you provide.

Minimize E-mail Filter Problems

Dealing with email filters is a huge hassle if you are not prepared. Unfortunately, no matter how much someone wants to read your email, if their email automatically filters your messages out, you’re not going to be able to reach them!

The best way to avoid this problem is to make it very clear to your subscribers that they need to “white list” your email address. This will tell their email filter that messages from you are okay to receive. This is one of the things that you will want to include in the directions after people sign up. You may also want to include some instructions for the different platforms like Hotmail or Gmail accounts. AOL and Yahoo are known as being particularly picky.

Make Sure Your Messages Come Through Clearly

There are some people who have email accounts that cannot handle HTML. Still others do not wrap the text very well. You want to make sure you work with your autoresponder company’s tools to ensure that your emails are able to reach as many people as possible.

This often means including an HTML version and a text version of every email you send. You should also realize that some spam filters will give you spam marks against HTML. That is why some marketers stick with strictly text.

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.

After you have your autoresponder set up, your opt-in forms in the right locations, and some promotional strategies that work, you want to do everything you can to increase your conversions. Your goal is to get as many people as possible who visit your web site to sign up for your list. It’s not uncommon at all to see a good conversion rate such as 30 to 50% on an established marketer’s squeeze page.

It’s in your best interest to tweak things as much you can until you reach that point.

Offer Opt-In Incentives

You can definitely increase your conversions if you offer the right incentives for people to sign up. This might be in the form of discounts, ebooks, sneak previews, or an e-course. You want to make the incentive to sign up so good that they don’t mind handing over their email address at all. Many people are wary of giving people their email address, so they have to be really enticed to do so.

You also have to keep in mind that there are other marketers who are trying to get people to opt-in to their own list. Making the best offer you can will help increase your conversions and put you ahead of the others.

Stand Apart From the Crowd

As was mentioned in the last step, there are many other marketers vying for people’s attention. If you want to get as many opt-ins as possible, make sure that you are standing out from the crowd.

Doing something different and creating a different offer than everyone else has will increase people’s interest and increase your conversions. If your offer is boring and just like everyone else’s, you’ll have a more difficult time enticing people to sign up.

Focus on the Benefits

It can’t be said enough that if you want to increase your conversions you need to focus on the benefits of your offer. It’s not enough to tell people that your course will help them, you need to concentrate on their emotions and dig deep into what the benefits are. Too many marketers focus on the features, which are wonderful but don’t really have those emotional hot points.

The old copyrighting adage is that people don’t want to buy the drill, they want to buy the holes. You need to be selling the holes, instead of the drill. Or another way to look at it is that people don’t want to buy the rake – they just want the nice yard.

Tell People What to Do

Having a call to action will increase your conversion rate. You’ll want to test to find the right call to action. Simply saying “sign up for my list,” might work… but it’s probably not be the best way to phrase things to increase your sign up rate.

Instead, you should encourage people to sign up for your list because of the benefits they will receive.

Make People Feel Safe

People will not sign up for your list if they don’t feel safe. There are scam artists all over the net, and many of these people you are targeting have been burned before. Make sure you include some text that guarantees that you will not sell or rent their email list, and that the information is absolutely secure.

Adding a privacy policy is also standard operating procedure and highly recommended.

Use a Picture of Yourself

If you want to increase conversions make sure that people know who you are so they can trust you. A great way to do this is to include a picture of yourself. It doesn’t matter whether you’re camera shy or not, having a picture can increase the number of people who sign up. People want to know who they are giving their email address to.

Make sure you look professional in your photograph so that you come across as an expert that people can trust. This is also a huge part of branding yourself, which is a great thing for long-term profits.

A smile wouldn’t hurt, either.

Include audio

Have you considered adding an audio message to your squeeze page?

Adding an audio message to your squeeze page allows you to add another level of personality and trust. Not everyone who visits your page will listen to your audio, but those who enjoy audio will certainly be more inclined to sign up as a result.

You don’t have to make your audio intrusive. In fact, you can simply include a very small area where it’s obvious that audio is available if people want.

You may not want to have the audio play automatically, because some people may be startled. Others may open your website in a place where they are not able to listen to it at that point in time – like at work.

Obviously it wouldn’t help your conversion rate to have people clicking away from your site before the boss catches them!

Try Including Video

Sometimes you might be able to get your message across more clearly if you include video rather than audio. You can buy an inexpensive camcorder to record yourself, use your WebCam, or create a screencapture video with free software. This type of personalized message also shows people who they are dealing with, which can definitely increase conversions!

In fact, you can kind of “kill two birds with one stone” by uploading the video to YouTube as well. That way you will get views on YouTube, and it will help increase conversions on your own web site as well.

Show People What They Can Expect

Depending on your niche, people may not have signed up for many lists before. If they don’t know what they can expect, you may get spam complaints or people simply will not confirm their address. After they sign up with their name and email address you might want to direct them to a page that outlines what will happen next.

You can either do a video or screenshots of the confirmation email that will arrive in their inbox. Some people have reported that this has increased their confirmed opt-ins substantially!

Consider Including Testimonials

One thing you might want to test is including testimonials on your squeeze page. While many marketers use testimonials on their sales pages, very few use them on the opt-in pages themselves. Remember — social proof is a very important aspect of making sales. Social proof can also show people that it is very helpful to be a member of your e-mail list. They are likely to feel more comfortable seeing someone that is “like them.”

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.

If you sell physical products or have a storefront, this blog post is definitely for you. Even if you consider your business to be strictly online, there are a few golden nuggets here that you’ll want to pay close attention to.

Off-line promotion is something that many online marketers forget about and neglect. The truth is that there are many people out there who would enjoy being on your list, and who will be very responsive to doing so. However, if you never take the time to reach them — you won’t!

Include Opt-In Forms with Shipments

As you ship packages you should include a postcard or form that makes it easy for your customers to join your list. They can send this form back to you, and you can enter their email address manually. Another option is to explain the advantages of being on your list and direct them to a web site where they can go sign up themselves.

This is a great strategy because you know that the people who are receiving a shipment are proven customers. That means there are a lot more likely to be responsive.

Of course a better alternative would be to invest in a shopping cart that has an autoresponder built in. That way your customers can automatically be added to your email lists.

Visit Tradeshows

The chances are good that there are tradeshows related to your niche in your area. If you go to these you can find people who would be interested in joining your list. People are more likely to trust a face-to-face interaction than an online one. These contacts can turn into lifetime customers for you.

In fact, this tip works well whether you have physical products or you focus your energies strictly online.

Advertise in Magazines

Many people are surprised to find how inexpensive it is to advertise in targeted magazines. You can often pay a lot less than the advertised price in the magazine. All you need to do is ask the ad team what kind of special deal they can give you.

It’s often easiest to find smaller magazines that have a very targeted audience. Write your ad copy to explain that you’re giving something away for free, or talk about a special promotion you’re having. Once again, it doesn’t matter whether you focus your energies online or off-line, this strategy can work for you.

Send Postcards

This strategy is not quite as targeted as including an opt-in form on postcards with shipments, but it can still work. You can send postcards to lists of people that you have purchased, or in targeted geographic areas. These postcards should focus on the benefits of signing up for your list and visiting your web site. This can be a very time-consuming and costly experience, so make sure you’re going to see a return on your investment by doing a small test first.

Display Your Domain Everywhere You Can

This is a great strategy that can really help to brand yourself. You want to include your domain and logo on every package, letter, flier, etc. The more people see your domain name, the more likely they are to visit. As you know, the more people you get to visit, the more sign ups you’ll get.

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.

Promoting your list is one of the most important pieces of the list-profit puzzle. If no one knows about your list, no one will be able to sign up. That’s why promoting your list on your web site is essential and it’s why I will keep repeating it until I’m sure that you’ve done it.

In fact, even if you get everything else on this list right but don’t have the traffic, you are never going to have the profitable list that you want.

The other steps are important, but once your list is created and ready you really need to focus on your promotional strategies to grow your list to bigger sizes!

Add Your Site to Directories

One of the best ways you can make sure you generate lots of traffic and recognition in your niche is to add your site to directories. There are some directories that are niche specific, and others that are more general. The point is that the more places that contain a link to your web site where your opt-in forms are, the better.

Another benefit to submitting to directories is that you’ll get more back links to your web site. This will help your search engine rankings for sure!

If you’d like to outsource this, here’s an excellent service:
RentaCoder

Use Article Marketing

Another excellent way to promote your web site and get more people to your web site (and therefore onto your mailing list) is to write articles and submit them to article directories.

In case the idea of article marketing is new to you, it works like this.

1. You write an article.
2. You publish it at an article directory and give others permission to use it.
3. Web site owners go to the article directory, grab your article & publish it on their web sites, blogs, or in their ezines.
4. Every time they publish your article, they must include your author resource bio (similar to your advertisement) along with it.

Your article should contain valuable information, but not so much that people feel like they’ve gotten everything they can out of the topic. If you leave out some key information in end, they will be more inclined to visit your website to get that information and sign-up for your list.

Here’s the place to submit your articles, if you’re busy and only have time to submit to one directory: EzineArticles.com

Encourage List Members to Send The Link to Their Friends

Usually your list members will have friends that have similar interests. So, why not encourage your readers to send the link to your opt-in form to their friends? You might give them some kind of incentive to do so, as this can dramatically increase the response.

This is another example of social proof at work. Because the recipient is getting a recommendation from their friend, you’ll be a lot more likely to get the sign up.

You can simply put some text in your messages that encourages them to pass your newsletter or opt-in address along. There are even web site scripts out there, such as the “tell a friend” script that will allow them to easily enter their friend’s e-mail address on the spot.

Search Engine Optimize Your Web site

One of the best ways to get traffic is to search engine optimize your web site. When people want to find something, they generally go to the search engines to find relevant web sites. If your web site is at the top of the search engines for certain keywords, you’ll be able to get a lot of targeted traffic and help your list grow in the process.

There are many different aspects to search engine optimization that you need to pay attention to. The first thing to do is research keywords that are related to your niche. It is ideal if these keywords are highly searched and have low competition in the search engine results.

Then, create content based around these keywords that will help you rank more highly in the search engines. You should also work on getting backlinks to your web site, to boost your credibility in the eyes of the search engines. Backlinks are nothing more than getting OTHER web sites to link to yours, preferably ones that are established, quality web sites.

Pay For PPC Traffic

While we all want to rank at the top of the search engines, it often takes a while.

But, there is a way that you can zoom your site to the top of the search engines in minutes. The trick is to invest money into Pay Per Click traffic. You simply bid on keywords, create a small ad, and send people to your squeeze page.

Your ad copy should be compelling, and give people a reason to visit. You might even spell out that you’re giving something away for free. Then, all people have to do is sign up for your list to get their free item. It is then up to your autoresponder messages to take over, build a relationship and help you make sales.

Of course, pay per click, like any advertising should be tested before spending too much money to ensure that you’re getting a good return.

Create a Blog

Creating a blog can be another effective way to get search engine traffic.

That is because blogs contain RSS feeds that the search engines absolutely love. If you update your blog consistently, you’ll have a lot more content that can help you rank in the search engines.

People also love to follow blogs, and will bookmark your blog as well as subscribe to your RSS feed (if they like what you have to offer!). This gives them repeated exposure to you and to your expertise. Sooner or later, they will hopefully be compelled to sign up to your list. Your blog is yet another place to put your opt-in form.

Consider Co-Registration

Co-registration is not for everyone, but in some niches it can work quite well. Basically, you find partners in your niche who will place your opt-in box on their think you page, and you will put their opt-in box on your thank you page.

This can work well since these are proven customers in the niche, but you do have to be careful. It has to be done in a way that is not tricky to anyone so that people know what they are really signing up for. You’ll gain a lot more trust if people realize that they are signing up for your list.

Get JV Partners

Getting JV partners to promote your list gives you access to their list of subscribers. This strategy also helps you to come across as an expert since someone else is recommending you.

You can find JV partners on forums, by contacting them through their website, as well as a variety of other methods. It is often best to contact someone who has a product or website that complements rather than competes with yours. They’ll be a lot more likely to promote the product of a person who is not directly competing with them.

Keep in mind that you will often be asked to promote something for them in return, either now or in the future. Make sure you’re comfortable with everything they are doing before you agree to promote them back.

It becomes infinitely easier to attract JV’s once you have an affiliate program. Obviously, you’ll need your own product in order to do this, but once you do it’s easy to get JV partners. Basically what you get from this is traffic to your offers and opt-in box without doing additional work yourself.

As your affiliates drive traffic to your web site, you can capture people’s addresses before and after the sale. You’ll not only make money by having the affiliates promote for you, you’ll gain long-term subscribers as well.

Exchange Newsletter “Plugs”

Another thing you can do with JV partners is agree to mention each other in your respective newsletters. This does not have to be a hard sell, rather a way to show that you recommend each other’s products.

If the people on the other person’s list know and trust that person and have a good relationship with them, they are likely to immediately trust you as well since you come so highly recommended.

Hot Tip!If you have an affiliate program, offer a lopsided offer, which can really get people interested in a mail swap.

• Offer to send their offer to your list.
• Let them send your offer to their list THROUGH their affiliate link.

This accomplishes two things …

1. It gets your foot in the door.

2. Once the sales come in, that JV partner will likely want to continue to promote your product.

Post a Link to Your Squeeze Page In Forums

Forum marketing is an excellent way to grow your list.

1. Search for forums in your niche.
2. Make sure the forum allows you to put a link in your signature.
3. Join those that do.

After you join some forums, begin answering people’s questions and presenting yourself as the expert you are. People will be a lot more receptive to the things you have to say in this case. Your hope is that you become a very respected member so that you get a lot of clicks to your website and then a lot of sign-ups!

Use Social Bookmarking

Social bookmarking is an excellent way to get traffic to your squeeze page and sign-ups to your list. There are many different social bookmarking websites out there, like Digg, Delicious, and Stumble Upon.

You’ll not only get a backlinks to your web site by bookmarking, but you also get the benefit of people in your niche clicking through when they find your info.

Keep in mind that the traffic from these web sites is not always super- targeted, but it is well worth it to sign up for accounts. Bookmarking doesn’t have to be a daily task. Simply bookmark your best content every once in a while. It can increase your opt-ins a variety of different ways.

Check them out:
www.StumbleUpon.com
www.Digg.com
www.Reddit.com

Comment on Blogs

Commenting on blogs is a strategy that is well worth your time. You’ll want to find a few of the top blogs in your niche and leave regular comments on them. You will get a backlink to your web site, but just as importantly, you’ll get visitors when people click on your web site link.

This is great because it can help you get the attention of an authority that is already in the niche (the blog owner), and you may gain some of their traffic, which is highly targeted.

Use Yahoo Answers

Yahoo Answers is yet another way that you can get traffic to your website. People ask questions on this site on a variety of different topics – and you can provide answers. Yahoo Answers also tends to rank highly in search engines like Google, and people who need answers can search all the old topics as well as start new ones!

This is great for you when you leave an expert answer with a link to your website. Keep in mind that Yahoo Answers strives to keep the spam away, so make sure that the page you have linked to is actually helpful and relevant.

Use Linkbait

Link bait works best if you have a blog and are in a niche that has a lot of other bloggers. Linkbait is simply a way of talking about something controversial or having a controversial opinion. When other bloggers and webmasters notice your post they may link to you because they want to share their opinion as well. You’ll likely get a lot of comments from readers agreeing and disagreeing with you.

Keep in mind that not everyone is going to like what you have to say, and you might get some flak. As long as you can back up what you’re saying, you’ll probably gain respect from both those who agree and those who disagree. At the same time, you may see an increase in your sign-ups!

Write a Press Release

Press releases are a time-honored strategy of announcing new information to generate interest.

There’s nothing new about press releases and the internet. Here’s how it works.

1. Do something eventful or plan something interesting.
2. Write a press release about it.
3. Submit your release to the press release sites like PRWeb.com, including a link to your web site.

There are some free and inexpensive press release distribution web sites. Just search Google.com and you’ll find them.

What you might want to do is announce the opening of your blog or web site, or your new product, or anything else that people would find interesting.

Have your press release link to your web site where your opt-in list is featured. Remember, you’ll get more opt-ins if you have some sort of incentive there — especially during the period where your press release is active. If you make your press release interesting enough it might get picked up by news channels.

Send Articles to E-zine Publishers

There are many electronic magazines out there that have a very large subscriber base. Better yet, they are often looking for authors. You can use this to your advantage and send an article (after inquiring, of course). After your article is accepted, you will be able to include a link back to your website or squeeze page. If people find your article interesting and compelling, they are likely visit to sign up for your list!

Remember, you don’t have to stick to just one e-zine. The more you submit to over a period of time, the more likely you are to be seen by as many people in your niche as possible. Getting your name out there and branding yourself is half the battle.

If you’re looking for ezines that accept articles, you might check out the www.directoryofezines.com

Submit Videos

Yet another great way to get traffic to your opt-in page and your web site is to submit videos to sites like YouTube. There are many people who browse for videos on a variety of different topics. The description area of your video can contain a link back to your web site. If your video is compelling enough, people will likely click over to visit.

One thing that many people forget to do is put a call to action at the end of the video. This is a great way to increase responses to get people to visit your web site. You can even make it clear that there is something available for free if they do visit.

Write Guest Posts

Writing guest posts on other people’s blogs or web sites that are already established will showcase your own credibility. Browse around on Google for the top authority web sites in your niche, and present an offer to the web site owner to write an article for them.

Many blog owners would love the chance to take a break, and many readers enjoy reading guest posts. Make sure you provide high quality content, and you’ll get a lot more visitors to your own web site with the link you’ll be allowed to put there. This will increase your exposure with people who are regular readers of the other website — your hope is that they want to bookmark your web site as well and join your list.

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

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Hostgator – Very reliable and low cost hosting service which I have been using for about ten years.

In addition to adding an opt-in box on most of the pages of your web site, you will also want to create a squeeze page. A squeeze page is simply a dedicated page to gather up leads to your list.

You’ve seen them before, I’m sure, but if you’d like to see one in action, go to http://awebbiz.com

Understand Your Purpose

Many marketers get this wrong. They think that they can add tons of offers, Adsense, and other things to their squeeze pages. This is very damaging to your goal, which is getting people to sign up for your list.

People should be asked to do one thing and one thing only when they visit your squeeze page. Put some compelling copy, along with an opt-in box that clearly spells out what they’ll get and how to sign up — and that’s it.

Examine Other Squeeze Pages in Your Niche

One of the best ways to make sure you got a good handle on what a squeeze page should look like is to visit other marketer’s squeeze pages. You can see what kind of headlines they used, what their copy looks like, and whether they used opt-in box graphics. That way you can just put a spin on things that are already working.

You can also take note of what you think is harming their conversions and improve things for your own squeeze page.

Create Compelling Squeeze Page Copy

While you might create long sales letters for your products, shorter copy is ok for your squeeze page. (Half a page to one page of text.) Make sure that you have a compelling headline that grabs attention, as well as bullet points that point out the benefits of joining your list.

Make your opt-in box visible above the fold. You might even consider putting the box both above the fold and below the fold to make sure people can easily sign up.

They are some niches that do well with graphics and other added features on the squeeze page. There are others that do better with very simple, no-frills design. The best thing for you to do is to split test different designs to see which increases your opt-in rates.

You may be surprised at how much a simple change (like a change in color) can increase or decrease opt-ins. While testing might be time consuming, you’ll get results that will add money to your pocket.

Offer an Incentive

While you might think that you’ve made the benefits of signing up to your list very clear, you’ll find that you can increase conversions if you offer some kind of incentive to sign up. This might be in the form of a sneak preview of a premium product, a free white paper, e-books, or an e-course.

The important thing is that you make an offer they can’t refuse — something free in exchange for a simple e-mail address.

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.

Now that you have the actual writing elements down, and all the technical aspects are set up, it’s important to know exactly where you should put your opt-in form. This is how people will sign up to your list, so it needs to be compelling and easy to find.

Make The Signup Form Clearly Visible

Many people who are new to list building put their opt-in form on just one tiny area on their web page and wonder why no one is signing up. If your opt-in form is not clearly visible and without priority placement, you’re going to get very few sign-ups.

It is a much better idea to make it very visible and “above the fold.” That means that as soon as someone lands on your webpage they should be able to see your opt-in form without having to scroll down at all.

You should also make sure that your form is large enough to read and and uses contrasting colors from the rest of your site so that people’s eyes are drawn to it. Experiment with different priority placements to determine whether the form should be on the left side, right side, or front and center.

Consider Using A Pop-Up or Pop-In

There are a lot of differing opinions on using pop-ups or pop-ins with opt-in forms. If you have a pop-up on your web page, a box will come onto the screen with your opt-in form when someone visits. Some of these even darken the rest of the web page that the only thing people can really see is the opt-in form.

Keep in mind that some potential customers will find this annoying and will simply leave your page. Still, many marketers have found that it greatly increased their opt-in rates. This is something you will have to test.

Put An Opt-In Box On Every Page Of Your Site

Many people also make the mistake of only including an opt-in box on one or two pages of their web site. If list building is a large part of your business plan (and after reading this, it had better be), you need to make sure your opt-in form is on every single page of your site.

If someone lands on a page of your web site that does not contain an opt-in form, you’ve lost a potential lifetime customer.

By placing an opt-in box on every page of your site you know that everyone that lands there will have a chance to sign up. Making this simple change can dramatically increase your signups!

Put An Opt-In Box on Your Thank You Pages

If you have an information product for sale, the chances are good that some people will buy your product even if they have not already signed up to your list.

Since you don’t want to lose contact with these customers, you should make sure there is an opt-in box on your thank you (or product download) pages.

Some people force their customers to opt-in before they get their product. This is not recommended most of the time as it can really irritate people who have bought your product and just want access to it. What you might do instead is include an extra bonus for signing up – make it an offer they cannot refuse.

Offer Free Products and Put an Opt-In Box on Those Pages

One method is to offer free products that people can download in exchange for opting in. Place your opt-in form on the download page itself, or even as a requirement before they get their free product.

People absolutely love to get free items that are high quality. This will start your list out right as people will be interested in what you have to say since you gave them such great value for free.

Participate in Giveaways

There are many niches where marketers hold giveaway events. This is pretty much a one-stop shop where people in your niche can grab free offers that they are interested in. People will sign up for your list in return for getting your free product.

Putting your opt-in box on one of these giveaway websites is another way to get increased exposure to those who might not have otherwise seen what you have to offer.

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.

Now that you thought about the basics of creating autoresponder messages, building relationships, and making money, it’s time to consider advanced copywriting techniques. While you’re not writing full-length sales letters, a lot of the techniques still apply.

Applying these time-proven methods can increase your profits substantially. These are very powerful, so make sure you always use these techniques ethically and responsible.

Create Scarcity

One of the ways to make money as quickly as possible is to create scarcity when you present an offer. People have very busy lives and will put off making a purchase until later — often forgetting in the process. If you create a sense of scarcity, they will be a lot more likely to make a purchase immediately rather than waiting.

There are many different ways do this.

Only allow a certain number of a product to be sold.

If you’re an affiliate, you can limit the number of bonuses that you are presenting with that offer.

Offer a product at a very low price to begin with, with the price rising at a point in the near future.

People don’t like to feel like they are missing out, so scarcity tactics work very well. Be sure you are always truthful about this scarcity, though. If you aren’t, it can make you look dishonest.

Give a Reason

Studies show that responses increase if you give a reason for taking a certain action. It doesn’t matter whether the reason for buying is a good one or not, as long as you give a reason for people to do so.

Psychology expert Cialdini notes a study where there was a line at an office where everyone was waiting for the copy machine. The researcher asked to cut ahead. The response was not very good.

However, when the researcher asked to cut ahead “because I have to make a copy” response increased substantially, simply because a reason was given.

The same thing can be applied to your copywriting. If you give a reason for people to make their purchase now, they will be a lot more likely to do so.

Use Reciprocity

If you do something nice for people, it is natural for them to want to do something nice back to you. This is one of the reasons why creating a relationship with your list can be very lucrative for you in the long run.

If you give someone a gift, they feel a sense of obligation to help you out too. In this case, it might be buying a product.

Offer Social Proof

Social proof is another amazing way to boost your sales. Nobody really likes to make the first move, in case we make the wrong one. The same can be said when people are buying an offer. They don’t want to take the risk of it being a bad buying decision.

If they see that other people have already purchased and have enjoyed the product, they will be a lot more likely to buy it themselves.

Some ways to incorporate social proof are…

• Include actual numbers when talking about results.
• Include case studies or before and after videos or pictures.
• Include some testimonials and even a picture of people who have used the product you are promoting.

You don’t have to do this within the e-mail copy itself, but you want to do it in the copy that you link to. You can even give some sales figures if you think that will boost their confidence.

Focus On Their Emotions

Many people make their purchases based on their emotions. If you feel very strongly about something, the chances are that you’ll make a purchase, right? That is why niches based on hobbies, desperate situations, and passions are so easy to make money in.

Step into your customer’s shoes to see what their emotions are, and how you can showcase your product so they feel that it will take care of their needs or fulfill their desires.

Hitting those emotional hot buttons is often what makes people purchase quickly. If you can incorporate some honest and real emotions into your emails, you’ll stand apart from the competition.

Use Contrasting Prices

People are very cost-conscious. If you are able to show a contrast in price between your product and another you can often make yours seem far more appealing.

For example, if you are  selling a strategy used to eliminate stress from your life, you can compare the cost of your information product to going to a doctor to get expensive medicines.

You often put things in a different (better) light when you present them in this way.

Give People a Reason To Trust You

On of the most important things you can do is make sure people know that they can trust you — and give them a reason why they should trust you. People are very skeptical so be sure to clearly spell out why they should listen to you by telling a compelling and true story.

Your ultimate goal is to help people, but you also want to increase your bottom line. Learning how to make money with your list is essential — it’s also important that you don’t make mistakes that could cut into your profits.

Promote Affiliate Products

One way to make money with your list is to promote affiliate products. The chances are good that no matter which niche you’re in, you can find relevant products that people will respond to. These might be information products, physical products, or even services. The important thing is that you check the product yourself for quality to make sure it’s something that you will feel good about putting your stamp of approval on.

Many list owners make the mistake of simply choosing offers based upon their commission without checking to make sure it’s something that their readers can actually use. By hand-selecting what you promote, you’ll gain the trust of your list members and they will be more likely to buy from you in the future.

In doubt? Don’t promote.

Promote Your Own Products

What many list owners end up doing is creating their own products (if they don’t have them already).

This gives you ultimate control over what you’re offering to your list, as you are the one who decides what goes into the product. This is amazing, because after a while you will have gotten a feel for what the members of your list really need. This allows you to zero in on their wishes and hand-deliver them a product you know they’ll be happy to pay for.

It can also be more beneficial to promote your own products, since you don’t have to split the commission as an affiliate. This can be more lucrative in the end. Having your own product can also brand you as an expert. As soon as people see your name on a book or other product, they know that you are a serious person in your field.

Presell The Product

No matter whether you’re promoting an affiliate product or you’re providing your own, you need to make sure you presell the product.

Preselling means to warm up your reader BEFORE he/she is sent to the sales page.

That means using good copywriting skills right within your e-mail that will show people that the product that you’re recommending is one that they actually need. Empathize with the reader, and show that this is a product that can do exactly what they need it to do.

That doesn’t mean you’re going to hype the product at all or lie. You can certainly make a lot of sales without making false claims about anything. It will be easier than you think to presell to your customers if you are promoting a product that you truly believe in.

Create Special Offers

Creating special incentives and offers can help you to make sales. Your list members will be thrilled to get discounts just by being a member of your list. This strategy also makes being a member of your list special and exclusive – something they can’t get from the competition.

Here are some ideas…

Negotiate a special discount with a product owner if you’re an affiliate. Ask the owner for a percentage off, a free trial, or even an added bonus – just for your readers.

Create and offer an added bonus yourself. Provide it only to those readers who buy a product through your affiliate link. For instance, an extra report, audio, or maybe even your notes that you took when YOU went through the same course.

Drop your price just for your list members on a product that you own.

Offer Resale Rights or PLR rights to your own product – only to your list.

Bundle up other people’s Resale Rights products into a package and offer it at a steal.

Offer personal coaching only to your list members.

No matter what you decide to do, keep in mind that you need to treat your list members like gold, which means giving them offers that nobody else has access to.

If you make these offers truly special, you’ll get customers for life!

Don’t Be Afraid To Change Out Products Over Time

It can be very tempting to just leave everything as it is after you’re done setting up different products to promote in your autoresponder series. The truth is that some offers may not convert as well as you thought they would. You need to check your stats and periodically clean things out. Test different offers to make sure the needs of your list members are being met — and that you’re earning as much money as possible.

That may mean trying different affiliate offers or taking note of your list member’s feedback and creating products based around that. Even though your autoresponder series can be “set and forget,” that’s not always the best case scenario.

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.

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.

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.