Email List Building

Build An Email Mailing List To Explode Your Online Sales

The Money is in the list! It's a well worn phrase but if you're not actively building an email mailing list for your web site, then you're literally throwing money away. If you run a topical site that's rich in content, why not give people the opportunity to join your ezine or newsletter to benefit from your knowledge on a regular basis?

Clearly email marketing has been badly affected by spammers (those who send junk, unsolicited email) but done correctly, it can still be an enjoyable and profitable way of developing a loyal subscriber base.

Establishing A List

1. Work Out How You're Going To Manage Your List

Do you manage it locally, i.e. have software installed on your PC, remotely, i.e. with a hosted solution or use an autoresponder service such as AWeber?

Personally, I use a combination of local and autoresponder solutions. The thing to bear in mind is that you can have a free solution (carrying third party adverts) or pay for it, normally on an annual or monthly subscription.

2. Don't Forget To Ask!

You need to make it as easy as possible for people to join your mailing list and that normally means putting a simple form (see right) on your web pages. Place it on as many pages as you can and consider using pop ups/pop unders in moderation on your most visited pages to ensure you get your visitors attention.

3. Get Confirmation

This is just my opinion, but in this day and age of SPAM and SPAM complaints, I always go for a double opt-in approach. That means your visitor fills in a form and then gets an email sent automatically to confirm the subscription; only when they click on the link in the email are they confirmed and join your list. This helps prevent SPAM robots and protects you from any possible SPAM complaints in the future.

4. Get Help!

If your site isn't yet getting the thousands of visitors you would like consider using a co-registration service. These are sites that include a sign up form on their site that includes a check box, or similar, for users to also subscribe to your newsletter. My experience with these is that the quality of the subscriber is questionable but if you have a budget and want to build a list quickly, is worth considering.

Five Quick Ways To Increase Your Newsletter's Subscriber Base

1. Give Incentives

Give people an incentive to subscribe to your newsletter. Offer them a freebie if they subscribe. It could be a free e-book, free report, free advertising, etc. Make sure the freebie will attract your target audience.

2. Joint Venture

Joint venture with a similar newsletter. Combine your subscriber bases together and publish one newsletter. Edit and publish each issue together. You both will be promoting the newsletter which means more subscribers.

3. Allow Archiving

Allow your subscribers to archive back issues of your newsletter on their web site. They may need content for their web site. If people visit their web site and like your newsletter, they will subscribe.

4. Form a Newsletter Ring

Form an newsletter ring. Team up with 4 to 10 similar newsletters. All the publishers would agree to list each others newsletter name and subscribing information in every issue. You could call this section "Other Free newsletters You Might Enjoy"

5. Ask Subscribers

Ask subscribers to forward your newsletter to close friends, family, or associates. If they enjoy your newsletter, they will subscribe. It's almost like your subscribers are endorsing your newsletter.