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 several list-building ideas that will help you make the most of your email marketing efforts:
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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.
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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-left corner of your site, while you also
include an opt-in at the bottom of some of your popular articles.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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!
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
What follow up method really works?
Following up with each lead individually, multiple times, but at set
intervals, and with pre-written messages, will dramatically increase
sales! Others who use this same technique confirm that they have all at
least doubled the sales of various products! In order to set this
system up, though, you need to do some planning.
First, you’ll need to develop your follow up messages. If you’ve
been marketing on the Internet for any length of time, then you should
already have a first informative letter. Your second letter marks the
beginning of the follow up process, and should go into more detail than
the first letter. Fill this letter with details that you didn’t have
the space to add to the first letter. Stress the BENEFITS of your
products or services!
Your next 2-3 follow up messages should be rather short. Include
lists of the benefits and potential uses of your products and services.
Write each letter so that your prospects can skim the contents, and
still see the full force of your message.
The next couple of follow up messages should create a sense of
urgency in your prospect’s mind. Make a special offer, giving him a
reason to order NOW instead of waiting any longer. After reading these
follow up messages, your prospect should want to order immediately!
Phrase each of your final 1 or 2 follow up messages in the form of a
question. Ask your prospect why he hasn’t yet placed an order? Try to
get him to actually respond. Ask if the price is to high, the product
isn’t the right color or doesn’t have the right features, or if he is
looking for something else entirely. (By this time, it’s unlikely that
this person will order from you. However, his feedback can help you
modify your follow up letters or products, so that other prospects will order from you.)
The timing of your follow up letters is just as important as their
content. You don’t want one prospect to receive a follow up the day
after he gets your initial informative letter, while another prospect
waits weeks for a follow up!
Always send an initial, informative letter as soon as it is
requested, and send the first follow up 24 hours afterwards. You want
your hot prospects to have information quickly, so that they can make
informed buying decisions!
Send the next 2-3 follow up messages between 1 and 3 days apart.
Your prospect is still hot, and is probably still shopping around! Tell
him about the benefits of your products and services, as opposed to
your competitors’. You will make the sale!
Send the final follow up messages later on. You certainly don’t want
to annoy your prospect! Make sure that these last letters are at least
4 days apart.
Following up effectively seems complicated, but it doesn’t have to
be! So many potential customers are lost because of poor follow up –
don’t you want to be one of the few to get it right?
