Sunday, December 7, 2008

Make Money Online, But First Build Your List... You'll Make More

By Daniel Hatcher

The value of a large opt-in list is usually grossly understated. It is never good enough to simply be making sales from your affiliate products. Failing to compile a fresh mailing list will result in lack luster or stagnant sales.

Obtaining a list allows you to keep in contact with your visitors and build a relationship with them. If properly done, this can convert a high percentage of your prospects into customers. So what does it take to build a great list quickly and easily? Here are some useful tips:

* Offer an incentive to get people to give you their email address and name. This is one of the best ways to encourage people to sign up for your list. I like to offer a special report, free Internet marketing course, or anything else that my visitors find useful. It is essential to give them something for signing up for your list. This tip alone can easily double the number of opt-ins you receive.

I see so many people trying to build list with no offering of any kind for opting in. This is a big mistake. Incentives are to easy to create. It just doesn't make sense not to offer one. Anything with a high perceived value that you offer free will help boost opt-ins by 100% or more. I've tried many ways of list building and I can assure you that offering incentives will give you a far superior result.

* Include a privacy policy. Many people do not opt-in is because they are afraid they will be spammed. Everyone abhors spam. Give your website visitor a guarantee that you will not share or sell their email address with anyone. This will make a huge difference in he number of opt-ins you receive.

* Create many tightly targeted lists. Few people understand the power of a targeted list. By offering different lists on one site you dramatically increase the chance for people opting into your list. One of the lists could be for periodic updates, another could include a tips letter that your market would find helpful, while another could be for a newsletter. No matter what they choose, you get their email address.

Think about what lists your market might be interested in, then offer those options on your site. A website visitor may have no interest in your generic mailing list but have a much greater interest in your newsletter. If you had not provided multiple options that person would have signed up for nothing. Usually three options are enough. If your visitors have not found something that interests them after three choices they are generally not worth going after.

* Make all your lists double opt-in. Double opt-in allows people to first sign up on your site, and then activate their subscription via a confirmation email. There are plenty of good reasons to have the double opt-in format. Number one, it will take away any chance of being labeled a spammer and secondly, you can show proof that people actually did request your emails.

Additionally, double opt-in will give your a significantly higher quality list of readers, as opposed to those from the singe opt-in method. The reason is because since these people are interested in your offer enough to verify with the confirmation email, they tend to be much more serious about what you offer. If that is the case, they will be much more responsive to your offers compared to those who sign up for your list on a whim. A high quality list is critical to making sales.

By putting the above tips into use you will be able to build a massive, high quality list in the shortest amount of time possible. I have personally tested all of these methods and they work marvelously. They will work for you too.

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