Myths and false information abound around the Internet on building an opt-in list. It’s much harder to do now than when I first started around 10 years ago. Back then, you built a site and put a ‘subscribe to my newsletter’ link and people signed up.

These days, its much more complicated and that method will no longer work. Allt he time I see these 3 false statements pushed around the Internet, so let me clear them up.

FALLACY: PEOPLE DON’T WANT MORE EMAILS.

Not true. Email marketing is still one of the most effective methods of marketing because it is efficient. The Internet is where people go to get information. If you have information that they want and you’re offering quality content by email, they will give you their email address and join your opt-in list.

FALLACY: EMAIL MARKETING CAMPAIGNS OFFEND SUBSCRIBERS.

Permission based advertising is a fact of life for anyone with an Internet connection. If you’re sending out quality information to your subscribers and it’s what they want, they will not be offended if you offer them products that will help them solve a problem they have. BUT, it will offend your opt-in subscribers if you send truckloads of email to them in a very short time and you’ll find your list churn to be your new problem.

FALLACY: THE MONEY IS IN THE LIST.

(This isn’t completely false, but a list of 10,000 doesn’t automatically assure you of making money from your list.)

The fallacy is that you need a really big list to make money. What is true is that there IS money in the list and it can be very good money. It’s not the SIZE of the list that gets the money, it’s the QUALITY of the list. If your subscribers are genuinely interested in the information you are sending them, and everything you send is kept laser targeted and the products you offer your are focused on helping them, your money is in your opt-in list, big or small.

THE REAL DEAL WITH BUILDING OPT-IN LIST

After you’ve dealt with the false statements regarding email marketing and opt-in lists, you can benefit fromt he power of creating an email marketing campaign by building a focused, targeted list of people who are hungry for the information on the topic you cover.

BUILDING AN OPT-IN LIST

As I stated at the beginning of this article, offering a newsletter isn’t enough. You’ve got to offer something of perceived value to your site visitor in order for her to pass over her private property – her email address to you. She’s as reluctant to give you this as she is to give you cash. This is where a good giveaway (bribe) comes in useful.

• Offer something for free, a chapter out of your new ebook, or an ebook on the same topic. Give your visitor a reason to want to know more.
• Offer an ecourse on a particular subject.
• Try a coupon for a discount.
• Think of something that your business has or does that has high perceived value and offer this in exchange for the email. For example, offer a free  5 minute consultation, or to send out a free prospectus or booklet in the snail mail for high value items.
• Promote your free offer everywhere you can.
• Consider taking out paid advertising in other ezines of a complimentary nature. It can be relatively inexpensive. Make your free offer and get their email address, don’t ask for a sale from the ad.
• Think of your current marketing materials. Can you add your free offer to it?
• Don’t forget print advertising, TV and radio advertising if your budget can afford it.
• Giveaway offers or entries on sweepstakes are great for opt-in to volunteer their contact details.
• Offer your visitors extra bonuses for filling in a tell a friend script. Under no circumstances do you ever send anything to those friends until they join your opt-in list for themselves. That is spamming.
• If you’re in the bricks and mortar world of business, make sure your customer service team knows all about your promotion. Make sure they ask customers to fill in a form with their email address at the checkout. Why not create a special members club, where your members get special discounts only by signing up to your emails?

Remember the purpose of collecting the email is a two way street. You must provide your subscriber with something of real value in return for their email address.

TRACKING YOUR RESULTS

Watch your list and keep it clean of junk emails. Use a quality autoresponder service to send out your opt-in email campaigns and you can put tracking codes in them, to see how many are opened, clicked etc.

Now that you have some ideas on creating an opt-in list, you can go ahead and start building. To get more information on this subject, get your free 5 day course ‘30 Profit Generating Secrets For Turning Visitors Into  Buyers‘ and receive $300 in bonus software and ebooks.

Rebecca Habel
Rebecca’s Resource

http://www.rebeccasresource.com

Keywords: email campaign, opt-in list building, list building, opt-in list