Note: Before you begin, if you're NOT 100% serious about getting the most from your website, don't read another word. Only read on if you plan to put into action, everything I will be teaching you. It's best to print each lesson off on your printer, highlight areas and take notes as you learn the exact steps needed for boosting your sales by up to 400%!

Ok, on to lesson 1...

If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably heard it a thousand times before, stored it in the back of your memory bank, and haven’t had the desire to go back there to get it.  Well, now’s the time to start acting on what I like to call “The Undiscovered Gold Mine.”   What I’m talking about is the marketing power of an opt-in email list.  To most recognized internet marketers, it’s really not an “undiscovered secret” at all, but to those of you who have not been practicing this powerful marketing campaign, you’ll be astonished by the capabilities this tool will provide you.  Trust me, you will discover a whole new realm of profit once you maximize your loyal opt-ins and present your offer properly.

You may be skeptical about asking your potential customers for their email addresses.  It’s very understandable.  I was the same way.  Like you, I didn’t want my visitors to think that I was snooping into their privacy.  And these days, people are becoming increasingly wary about handing over their email addresses to just anyone.  But there's a gold mine of opportunity in those e-mail addresses, and many marketers don't take the time to look for it.  In this first lesson, I’ll show you why an opt-in email list is so important to your business, and I’ll hand over the most compelling opt-in offers that will have your visitors instantly signing up.

So many unsuccessful websites simply do not mess with creating an email list.  And you know what?  This is why tons and tons of websites fail.  It’s sad to hear about a business owner who spent a small fortune driving traffic to their websites but the sales just didn’t come like expected.

It’s a fact that hardly anyone ever buys anything the first time they visit a web site.  In fact, studies have determined that it takes a typical Internet customer about seven visits to a single website before they buy anything.  If you’re just depending on hits alone, you’re in trouble.

The number one reason for collecting e-mail addresses — and using them — is for establishing an electronic, permission-based, relationship with loyal visitors and customers.  It would seem that the practical benefit of collecting e-mail addresses is obvious. Yet conversations with novice marketers indicate that many not only do not collect them but hardly use them even when they do. That's a shame.

Collecting e-mail addresses should be a no-brainer in an Internet-enabled market.  E-mail is so commonplace and pervasive that its existence and use are many times taken for granted.

Did you know that…

§ “69 percent of U.S. e-mail users have made purchases online after receiving permission-based e-mail marketing, 59 percent have purchased in retail stores, 39 percent have purchased through catalogs, 34 percent through call centers and 20 percent through postal mail."

§ And, "78 percent of those surveyed say they want to receive e-mail from their favorite online merchants." –

*Source: Doubleclick.com

If you’re not actively collecting opt-in e-mail addresses — and using them for marketing purposes — you are missing out on important relationship building, credibility enhancing, and advertisement improving possibilities that could translate into more sales!  This is your chance to turn one-time visitors into your best customers.  If you're not providing a way for customers and visitors to express interest in hearing from you in the future, you’ve just lost a potential sale. 

Remember, your opt-ins are loyal visitors to your site.  They have willingly asked you to send them newsletters, ezines, eCourses, promotions, special offers, and other free information.  They want what you have to offer them!   So why not take advantage of this extremely powerful operation?

The first thing you need to do is sign up for an autoresponder service. There are online services and few software programs out there that can allow you to store and retrieve email addresses, and I'm sure that your webhost also provides this feature. However, I always recommend using the online services as opposed to using a software program or your webhost. You can find much better services through an online autoresponder without all of the hassle that you'll get from the latter services above.

I'm not going to go into all of the details about each autoresponder service on the 'Net, but I would like to give you a list a few services that I find to be very user-friendly and exceptionally effective. In fact, I currently use one of them right now for all of my lists.

Online Autoresponder Services

• Aweber.com - this is my favorite and the one I'm using now. This is by far the easiest and most effective autoresponder service on the 'Net. And the best part is that they have an unlimited follow up autoresponder service and offer an unlimited number of lists. Not all autoresponders can boast this.
  
  
• GetResponse.com - another great service. This one offers a free service as well as a "Pro Service". The free service is very limited, but if you upgrade to "Pro Service", I assure you that you'll be happy.
  
  
• FreeAutoBot.com - this service is free to use, but remember, "most things are never truly free". With this service, your emails will include small ads from freeautobot.com

The more people you have on your list, the more potential customers you have.  It’s been reported that up to 10% of subscribers to a newsletter will be converted into a sale.  And these people are truly interested in what you have to say.  When done correctly email marketing can become your most powerful way to generate sales.

Your email list should only contain addresses for which people have willingly given you their contact info (i.e. “opt-in subscribers”) – anything else is deemed ‘spam’.  Most email addresses are submitted to lists via a form on a web-site. You can convince people to subscribe to your list in a variety ways, some more successful than others.  In the next few lessons, I will supply you with the most powerful means of increasing your opt-in subscribers.  But for now, I want to fill you in on the most persuasive and enticing incentives to offer your future opt-ins. 

The Most Compelling Opt-In Offers --visitors will be signing p left and right!--

	Offer a Free Newsletter. I know, you’re thinking, “Free?”  Yes…this has been proven to be THE best way to collect opt-in email addresses.  If you offer to provide potential subscribers with information they need (and don’t have to pay for) – information that they are actively looking for – they’ll be glad to subscribe to your newsletter.   These people WANT to know more about what you have to say!  These are the people who are most likely to be open to future offers from you – once you have established a credible relationship with them.  It has been reported through rigorous research that up to 50% in sales can be generated from newsletter auto-responder follow-ups!  It’s also been shown that offering free newsletters is the single, best way to increase your opt-in e-mail list.
	Give away a free eBook.  It’s a great way of getting more subscribers and growing your online business.  You need to make sure that the eBook is of quality information or you will lose ALL credibility with your subscriber.  Your customer will see right through you if you give them a free ebook full of unattractive information.  You don’t want to lose these customers just because you were too lazy to write something of quality.  Remember, these people are truly interested in what you have to offer them, so you don’t want to lose their interest right from the get-go.  If you do this properly, you’ll see return visits from these loyal subscribers.  And you know what that means….more sales for you!
	Offer a free article about a subject related to your product or service.  This is a very powerful list-building tactic.  Subscribers gained from articles are more predisposed to what you have to offer because they practically opt-in pre-sold.  Plus, your credibility as an expert in your field has already been established.  By offering information, which your visitors will find useful for free, you can get them to sign-up to your list (i.e. "Enter your email address here to receive your Free Guide").
	Give away a series of Free Reports.  If you offer to teach your visitors about something they are interested in, at no charge to them, you will not only be able to build your list quickly, but you’ll also boost your credibility as an expert in your subject.  The best way to distribute free reports are via an auto-responder delivery system.  You can set it up so your visitors will receive their reports on specified days of the week/month.  You should also offer your visitors the entire series of reports in exchange for their email address (or some other fair trade).
	Give away a Free Download.  You can’t beat a free download of a “trial version” of software.  If you’re selling software, this is the ideal incentive for your future opt-in.  Of course, since you collected their e-mail address when they downloaded the product, you’ll be able to offer them any special discounts on the ‘full version’ of your software just before the trial version expires.

There are no hard and fast rules about how you should hold or store your email list (though online auto-responder services are great tools) but it must contain the ability for people to unsubscribe (i.e. people must be able to request not to receive any further emails from you).  Providing this ability shows you operate a respectable list and you are far less likely to be accused of spamming.

Without a doubt, the hands-down best, and most compelling opt-in offer is a Free Newsletter.  You will not only get a truck-load of opt-ins, but you will also be able to expose them to your company and your offer many times over the course of a few months! 

When done correctly, email marketing can become your most powerful way to generate sales.  Your opt-in incentive needs to entice potential subscribers with a benefit that is strong enough to overcome the common objections of not wanting to share their personal contact information.  But once you have their email address, you must design the proper strategy of promoting your product if you want to boost your sales from your opt-in list.  These devoted subscribers are sitting there waiting for your offer – so make sure you know how to present it in a way that will entice your ‘new best friend’.

That wraps up lesson 1 – “Why YOU Need an Opt-In E-mail List.”

Hold on to your hats because tomorrow's lesson is a doozy!

Lesson #2 is titled:

“The Golden Rule Goes A Long Way - Even With Email Marketing"

All the best,

John C Vincent

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