Email marketing can be profitable for any business, no matter what kind of product or service you are selling. It is significantly cheaper than other advertising methods and it helps build credibility with your subscribers. As a result, you can generate more sales and profits.
The foundation for successful email marketing is a targeted, responsive and permission-based email list. If you have a list of subscribers that trust you and consider you an expert, you’ve completed the first step and are on your way!
Below you will find several list-building ideas that will help you make the most of your email marketing efforts:
- Provide useful, relevant and unique content. Your visitors will not give you their email addresses just because they can subscribe to your newsletter free of charge. You have to provide unique and valuable information that will be useful to your subscribers.
- Add a subscription form to every page of your website. Make sure it stands out so it is easy to find. If appropriate, you can also include it in more than one place. For instance, your opt-in form might always appear in the top-right corner of your site, while you also include an opt-in at the bottom of some of your popular articles.
- Make it easy for your reader to sign up. The more information you request, the fewer people will opt-in. In most cases, a name and an email address should suffice. If it’s not necessary, don’t include it here. (Note: If you don’t have a Privacy Policy, put the words “privacy policy generator” into a search engine and you should be able to find a suitable form for your readers to review.
- Publish a Privacy Policy. Let your readers know that they can be confident you will not share their information with others. The easiest way to do this is to set up a Privacy Policy web page and provide the link to it below your opt-in form.
- Show your first issue or other sample to your visitors. This lets potential subscribers review your newsletter before they sign up to determine if it is something they’d be interested in.
- Archive past newsletter issues. A “library” of past newsletters is both appealing and useful to visitors and builds your credibility as an authority. In addition, if your articles are written with good SEO techniques in mind, they can send additional traffic to your web site through good search engine positioning.
- Contact other newsletter publishers. Introduce yourself and explore ways you may be able to help each other. Perhaps you can introduce other publisher’s newsletters or print articles they have written to your list, with a link to sign up. When you contact them, be sure to tell them why you think THEIR readers would like what you have to offer and why YOUR readers would benefit from their newsletters. This is a win-win scenario; both of you will build your lists faster!
- Give away bonuses subscribers can use. Create an opt-in bonus for joining your subscriber list. You can write an ebook or PDF report, or even hire a programmer to create downloadable or web-based software. But don’t limit yourself to only a gift for new opt-ins. Remind your readers that the next bonus is coming soon. People hate to miss out on things. If you systematically pass on “goodies” throughout the year, your subscribers are unlikely to leave.
- Ask your subscribers to pass it on. Word of mouth is a powerful viral technique that works great with email marketing. If your subscribers find the content you share with them to be informative, they will pass your newsletter on to their friends. This can be a good source of new subscribers.
- Let others reprint your newsletter as long as the content is not modified. Many webmasters and newsletter publishers are actively looking for high-quality content and, if they reprint your newsletter, you will get new subscribers, traffic and links pointing to your site.
- Include a “Sign Up” button in the newsletter. If you are using plain text instead of HTML, provide a text link to your subscription page. You may feel that this is not required because the subscriber is already on your list, but remember that readers will forward your newsletters to others, or reprint it online. You want to make it easy for them to subscribe.
- Add a squeeze page. A squeeze page has one goal − to get an opt-in and build your list. Think of it like a mini-sales letter for your subscription or opt-in bonus. It features a powerful headline and a couple of very important benefits that should make subscribers salivate to sign up to your list. Once created, use a service such as WordTracker to find hundreds of targeted keywords, and advertise there using pay-per-click advertising from Google, MSN and Yahoo.
- Include testimonials on your squeeze page. This is crucial. Put 1 or 2 strong testimonials from satisfied subscribers on your squeeze page. This can be in any format, but you may find that multimedia (audio or video social proof) is more “believable”. To increase that believability, include full names, locations and/or urls; don’t use “Bob K, FL” as a testimonial name.
- Blog religiously. Blogging is a great way to communicate with your potential customers, and it creates a nice synergy with your email marketing. Be sure to include your newsletter sign-up form on each page of your blog. You can start a free blog at Blogger or WordPress.
- Post on other blogs. Post great comments and information on similar blogs with a link to your squeeze or opt-in page. Also comment on others’ blogs through trackbacks. In most cases, your comments will be posted on their blogs with a link back to your site. This is an easy way to generate new traffic and subscribers.
Posted in Blogging, Internet, Online Marketing
Tags Blog, E-mail Marketing, Internet, marketing funnel, Subscribers
14 Comments
Posts by Kary Rogney
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14 Comments and Pings on Top 15 Ways to Build Your Subscriber List
Hey Kary, I've learned a lot from you the last few weeks. I enjoyed connecting with you on the phone. Thanks for taking the time to drop some knowledge and experience. I don't know how you do it, and still have time to dedicate to your wife and kids. Great stuff.
Nick! Buddy! You rock! And thanks for all of your support and help on so many things as I've learned and evolved as an entrepreneur. Love your site and content, bro!
Good post Kary. Now that we (both) have and use ICP, you might alert your readers that they can easily add a opt-in capture form on each and every page using the new ICP platform and highlight the fact that NO coding is required. I've not used my AWeber autoresponder so much with ICP – have you? I'm excited to see how v2.0 adds to my conversion rate, especially since we can leverage the Twitter Carrot to motivate visitors to opt-in.
Thanks J. Neil! Really appreciate you taking the time to comment. You make some great points about the versatility of the Instant Capture Page tool. Yes, like you, I'm ready to give version 2 a workout and get some new ideas up and running! Keep in touch and let me know how your strategies are working for you…
Hey Kary!
Great share my friend. It’s all
in the list…. and keeping a relationship
with them.
Thanks for the VALUE:)
Eric Goldstein´s last blog ..Be Happy With Where You Are…
Hi Kary,
thank your for this wealth of useful tips for list building. I embrace especially the hints to viral exposure of the produced content. Keep up your great work.
Take care
Oliver
Oliver Tausend´s last blog ..What is the best MLM Network opportunity ? Revelation of an Anti-Secret VI
Hey Oliver!
You’re very welcome and it’s great getting to know you as well.
Look forward to great things…
Kary
Hey Kary!
Great tips you share here! Building your list is of utmost importance in Internet marketing. Thanks for giving me some new ideas!
Keep rockin!
Amanda
Amanda´s last blog ..An Offbeat Strategy For Getting Highly Targeted, Free Traffic WHILE Increasing Your Own Value
Hi Amanda!
You keep rockin’! Love your friendship and energy!
Thanks for stopping by!
We’ll chat again soon,
Kar
Thank you for this list. I am going to bookmark this and read it again. There’s so much here to think about and implement.
Awesome Kimberly! Glad you liked it. Lists like this sure help me to not
miss the obvious with items that I could easily overlook…
Keep in touch,
Kary
Hey Kary,
Number 3 is very important – A lot of people make it really hard for visitors to get more information either about them, about their business or to join their email list..
Having a clear call to action, and an opt-in box where it’s visible to everyone is the best way to capture leads..
thanks for this great post
talk soon
Hector Cuevas
Hector Cuevas´s last blog ..The 2 BIG Secrets To My Eye Popping 0.74% Exit Rate!
Hey Hector!
It’s all about keeping it simple for you and the visitor! You make some great points…
Stay in touch,
Kary
Great post. I was starting to panic about the size of my list. I’d almost forgotten the most obvious and important – to have posts that readers appreciate – as I became fixated with the technical aspects of building the list.
Thanks Kary!
Lou
This entry was posted on Monday, August 10th, 2009 at 12:06 am and is filed under Blogging, Internet, Online Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.