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List Building, How to Build a eMail List

I am always surprised at how many business owners who have already developed a website are missing an important element to their websites.  This element can mean the difference between experiencing strong sales and leads of their products and services from your internet marketing efforts and not ever getting a website visitor to come back to your website.

If you are serious about using your website to create sales and leads for your business, an even more importantly, repeat sales and referrals from your website, this element is worth it’s weight in gold!  The money is in the list!

What is the element I’m talking about?  It’s a lead capturing system commonly referred to as an opt-in box!

An opt-in box allows you to capture the information you need from your website visitors (leads) in order to add them to an email list.  An email marketing list gives you the ability to stay at the top of your visitors minds by sending them useful information, specials, and offers, through autoresponder messages.

Every opt-in box gives you the ability to create an offer and a call to action.  A good offer and a strong call to action will entice visitors to sign up for your newsletter, special offer, report, or some other free offer that they are interested in and offers “value” to them.

There are many ways to build a mailing list and we are going to give you some ideas here on our blog over the next couple of weeks.

Some of these ideas will work better for one kind of business and other ideas will work for others.  As you read through these ideas, consider how you might customize the idea to work with your specific business.  Remember to target your offer to your specific audience when choosing your list building techniques.  You can test a couple of offers and see which one works best for you.

Todays ideas are about creating a sense of urgency for potential subscribers to sign up now.  Limited time offers work like this:

  • Give your potential subscribers a “specific date” to subscribe by.  Let them know that the special bonus offer won’t be available after a specified date or that it ends at a specific time.  A call to action such as “Sign up before midnight tonight to get this ____.”
  • Give them only so many minutes to subscribe.  You can have a count down timer running in place of an image for your offer.  You can be certain that if your offer is good enough and they want the offer, they’ll sign up before time runs out.
  • Give potential subscribers a preview of what’s coming.  Tell them what kind of information they will find in coming articles on your site.  They will sign up right away so as not to miss the information that they want.
  • Tell them that you are only allowing “X” number of subscribers for your offer.  After that, they’ll have to get on your waiting list for the next time you will make the offer available again.
  • Tell your potential subscribers that you are considering a membership fee for your free product.  If they sign up now, they will continue to receive the information free even if you start charging for the information.  People will want to subscribe quickly to avoid any potential future charges.
  • Make a special or additional offer available to “the next 100 subscribers”.  They will quickly subscribe to make sure they get the special offer.

You may be asking yourself “But What should you offer?”  A good source of ideas can be found from taking a  look at your competitors websites or others in your industry that are not local to your area and see what they are offering.

If you need more ideas, or you are interested in learning how you can create a lead generating system for your website, call us today and see how easy and affordable it is to add this important element to your website.  In the Charleston area, call 843-647-0489 and outside the Charleston area you can reach us toll free at 866-945-9707.

Happy list building!

P.S.  If you are interested in learning more about developing or improving the online presence of your small business, help is available.  We specialize in internet marketing consulting.  We can help you with the tools and techniques that will help you attract online customers and keep them coming back.  For more information, contact us today.

Email Marketing for Business | Getting Subscribers

Photo Courtesy of Salvatore Vuono and freedigitalphotos.net

Email marketing in your business is a good idea in your overall marketing strategy.  In fact, if you are not using email as a marketing strategy you are missing out on an an untold and untapped fortune!  It’s so powerful that email marketing should be among the top stategies of your list of priorities in developing your sales strategy.  Used alone, an email campaign targeted directly to your permission based customers can increase your bottom line by 10%!  Used in conjunction with other marketing efforts there would be an even greater result in that percentage.

So why isn’t everyone doing it?  That is an excellent question!  Quite honestly, I think it’s just like lots of things in business, business owners just don’t know how and feel that they don’t have the time it takes to learn how to do it effectively.

The top objections (excuses) I hear from my clients as to why they haven’t gotten started yet are…

#1.  I don’t have the time or the staff it takes to implement a list marketing campaign.

For those small business owners who simply don’t have the time or the staff to implement such a program, we are here to help.  We offer both direct mail and direct email marketing services at affordable prices.

#2.  I don’t have anyone to mail to.  I haven’t started collecting email addresses.

Today, collecting email addresses from your customers is widely accepted and is as common as asking for their telephone number.  If you haven’t yet started doing it, there is no time like NOW to get started.

#3.  My customers don’t want to receive a bunch of SPAM!

I’m not talking about SPAM.  I’m talking about permission based messages sent out using an autoresponder to add value to what your customer has already asked about or purchased from you.  The idea is not just to “sell” something to your customers, but too offer something of value to them.  For example, if you sell red widgets, and you know someone is looking for a new red widget or just purchased a new red widget, offer them reviews of different red widgets, offer them information on how to care for their red widget.  Send them reminders for an annual check up for their red widget, or offer them something else they might like that would compliment with their red widget.

By using a double opt in confirmation from your customers, they have the option of whether they want to receive mail from you.  The can “opt out” anytime they want to stop receiving your emails.  For me, this only serves to motivate me to provide good content and value to my customers.

5 Tips for Getting More Subscribers

Remember, as your subscriber list grows you’ll begin to see how powerful these techniques can be.  Be patient, it takes time to get a large list of subscribers.  It won’t happen overnight but if you commit to using these ideas for just 30 minutes every day, you will be amazed at at your results.

That’s why these 5 tips for getting more subscribers are almost as good as money in the bank…

1.  Include a call to action at the end of your blog posts or other posts you place on the internet.

Let your visitors know that if they like your posts, they’ll love your newsletter content.  Tell them you’ve saved some of your best tips and tricks for subscribers.  Invite them to subscribe to your newsletter.

To get more subscribers, include a link to something you have on your site or other page at the bottom of your posts, along with a reason to click on the link.

Example:  Discover 10 ways to get the most from your red widget.  Free tips!  Click here.

2.  Encourage a viral effect.

You can get more subscribers simply by including a note at the bottom of every newsletter where you encourage your existing subscribers to forward your email to their friends, family and co-workers who might benefit from the information.

Example: “Do you know someone else who could benefit from these red widget tips?  Please forward this email to them, they will thank you for it.”

3. Use your forum signatures file to get new subscribers.

If you’re visiting forums, include an ad and a call to action in your forum signature.

Example: “Free report.  Red Widgets and what you need to know before you buy one!  Click here to clain your copy now…”

4.  Point your Twitter followers to a free report.

You can use Twitter.com as well as other social media sites like FaceBook.com to grow your list.  Simply point your fans and followers toward your squeeze page to pick up a free report.  Include this link on your profile page as well as in some of your posts, and tweets.

5.  Embed your links in your products.

If you have digital products for sale, sometimes people share your digital products with their friends.  Other times they give away or sell pirated copies of your product.  In either case, you can benefit from this if you include links to your squeeze page in your paid products.

You can use each of these five methods to get dozens, hundreds or even thousands of new subscribers.  The important thing is to choose one method and do it over and over again.  Then, move on to the next technique.  This will help you make each of these methods a habit.  Just imagine how big your list will be once you apply all of the methods to everything you do online!

Remember, when using these techniques, always keep your reader in mind.  Don’t send email for the sake of sending email.  You will have a high rate of unsubscribers if you do that.  Think of your emails from your own perspective.  Would you appreciate getting the information you are about to send?  Also, make sure that your campaign is targeted to your customers.  Those with red widgets won’t be interested in learning how to care for a blue widget and vise-versa.

If you need help with getting an email marketing program started or if you’d like to learn more contact us and we’ll be glad to help.  We offer training for you and your staff as well as full service management of your email marketing campaigns.

Happy email Marketing!

Leigha

P.S. Get a free email marketing by submitting the form below.    We’ll send out your step-by-step course right away.

 

Want More $ales? Get Our Free Email Marketing Course & learn how to create an irresistable offer. 

 


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