The Opt-In Magic System!
John Vincent says: "The Real Power is in Your Opt In List. BUILD IT!!!
List Building, Made Simple!
Building Your List
An Opt-in List Sounds like a Great Idea, but How Do You Start Building One?
There are many websites that tell you how important it is to build your mailing list. Even a few websites will take the time to explain in detail exactly what a mailing list is, and how you can benefit from having one.
But how many websites actually walk you through the step-by-step process of building your own opt-in list? Not many, and that’s why we have created the Optin Master Course. Not only will we tell you exactly how to start a mailing list, we will teach you a variety of proven methods that will help you generate loads of subscribers who actually look forward to your emails.
So let’s get started on building your profitable list. Obviously, the first step is to get someone to give you their email address, and permission to mail to them.
There are two main ways of going about this.
- You can direct a prospect to send you an email requesting more information.
- You can place a simple form onto one or more of your web pages, and ask your visitors to input their name and email address into this form so you can contact them at a later time.
Both of these methods will be touched on later in this ebook, but the primary approach covered in this course will be the use of an opt-in form to capture email subscribers as they browse your site. Just in case you’re totally new to all this, here is how an opt-in form works.
- A surfer sees your email form, and reads a bit of copy that says something like “Want more information about how my favorite program can make your life better? Just fill out the form below to receive a three part e-course on how to make (insert opportunity name) work for you!”
- Your visitor fills out the form with their name, email address, and any other info required.
- This contact info is then submitted to mailing list management software, and a confirmation email is sent to the email address your prospect placed into the opt-in form.
- The confirmation email arrives in your prospect’s inbox, asking them to click a tracking link, which verifies their desire to receive emails from you.
- Your new subscriber clicks on this validation link. Their click is recorded as proof that they have requested email communication from you, and they will now be able to receive any messages you have prepared for them.
Quick and easy, right? Not exactly.
Let’s be realistic - you don't just fill out every form that you see on the web, do you? If you were to just go ahead and submit your contact info for every offer, it wouldn’t take long at all for your inbox to fill up. So obviously, just throwing up an email form and sending traffic to it isn’t enough; you have to put a little bit of thought and creativity into this project.
Did you just hear that? I’m talking about the sound of hundreds of people clicking away from this ebook the second they read about putting some thought and creativity into the building of an opt-in list.
That sounds a little bit like work, doesn’t it? And if there is one thing most people who dare to call themselves Internet marketers hate, it’s the idea of work.
But look at you. You’re still reading along even after I started all this crazy talk about putting a little work into this thing.
Good for you! Not being scared to roll up your sleeves and put forth some effort has already set you apart from the huge majority of people looking to make money on the World Wide Web.
But let’s get back to the subject of list building. As I was saying, just because you have an email form on your website, there is no guarantee anyone is going to input their name and email address.
Think about how you got to this book. Someone offered you a free course on how to build an opt-in list, which was something that interested you, so you placed your information in the box to get access to it. And I bet you were more than likely interested because whoever offered you this course let you have it for FREE.
Everyone loves FREE. So, the first thing that you will need is something to give to your potential prospect that is FREE.
This is just the beginning though. FREE is good, but the free item must have a perceived value. If you don't see any value, why would you even want the item? Even though everyone likes free things, they like free things that have value. If you offer junk, or something not as it is advertised, you will have lost your potential prospect before even getting started.
So, what are some free, yet valuable, things you can offer to get people to fill out an email form to join your mailing list? Here are just a handful of examples:
A Free E-Course on any subject you have some real knowledge about. Of course, this e-course should somehow tie into the product or service you are promoting.
For instance, if you retail video games from your website, you might offer a free e-course on how to succeed with a particular multi-player strategy game. By requiring people to fill out your opt-in form so they can receive the course via email, you will be adding targeted prospects to your mailing list.
A Free Ebook that will help people solve a problem, or teach them how to make more money, is a great incentive to sign up for a mailing list. It is not uncommon for people to pay $50 or more for a quality ebook, so most people will jump at the chance to get a good one for free.
Access to a Money Making Opportunity is one of the best freebies you can offer as a reward for opting into your list. Everyone wants to make more money, so this is a given. Even if your subscribers will eventually be asked to pay for resell rights, or to buy an upgrade of some sort, a free introduction to a product or system that will make them money is still a great offer.
Your Lead Capture Device
Now that you have an item of value that you can give away for free, you will need to find a way to let people know that you will give them this item in exchange for the opportunity to send them emails. You need to get a web page up to let people know about your offer.
Of course, you will need to get people to visit the page so that you can find out if they are interested in your offer. Getting traffic to your page can be done in a variety of ways and we will discuss this in depth later on in this book.
First thing’s first. You need to get what we call a capture page published to the web so you can start collecting subscribers.
A capture page, also called a splash or squeeze page, is a very simple web page that is designed solely for the purpose of enticing surfers to fill out your opt-in form and join your mailing list. In essence, this type of page uses a powerful headline, an eye catching graphic or two, and some quick, sharp ad copy to capture your prospect’s interest and get them to fill out an opt-in form to request more information via email.
Click here for an example capture page.
There is a variety of ways to use a well-made capture page. Some marketers use them as pop-under windows that catch surfers leaving their site. Other people set up float in windows that get their visitor’s attention as soon as they arrive. These methods can be effective, but Optin Master Course recommends promoting your capture page as a stand-alone front end if you are promoting in the Internet marketing arena. The float in or an email capture on the right hand side of your web site works well for outside product site. (Example – Your site sells cell phones, contact lenses, candles etc. A real product rather than a marketing site,)
In other words, we suggest driving traffic directly to your list building page, and making the collection of opt-in subscribers your first priority. Without a good list, you aren’t going to make very much money in this business. This does not mean that you should not use a pop up or pop under on your main web page. It is just that building your list should be your first priority.
There are two ways you can go about setting up your lead capture page. You can build your own, or you can let Optin Master Course give you one. If you rebrand this ebook you will have access to three lead capture pages that will be personalized with your information.
Option One - Building Your Own Capture Page:
Obviously, to publish a page of your own to the web, you will first need a domain name and a good web host. A domain name is your site address (for example: http://www.OptInMagic.net), and a host is the machine that stores the files and pages that make up your website.
Registering a domain will cost you only $9 per year through GoDaddy. This is one of the most affordable registrars available, and they are well known for solid and responsive customer service.
If you don’t already have hosting, Optin Master Course highly recommends Kiosk for this purpose. This is an absolutely incredible company that offers top of the line service, amazing customer support, and loads of member benefits with a very reasonable price tag. These guys even offer an exclusive web authoring tool that will help you get your first site up and running. You can try the entire Kiosk system right now for only $1.
Option Two - Letting Optin Master Course do it for You:
Maybe you don’t have the time to build your own pages, or maybe you just don’t know how. No worries, because the Optin Master Course will provide you with not one, not two, but three fully functional lead capture pages you can use to build your own opt-in mailing list.
These pages have been professionally designed, and laid out in a format that has proven time and again to get real results. We know how to build effective capture pages, and we are willing to hand you three ready made, lead pulling pages to use for the purpose of building your opt-in list.
The Most Important Tool for Your
Opt-in List - the Autoresponder.
Once you have received a request to be added to your list, either as a direct email or as a result of someone filling out an opt-in form at your site, you will need an effective method of responding to this request, and of keeping track of all future communications. You could just send out a reply message through your regular email program. Then you could try to keep track manually of when you last sent to that person, and what message they should receive from you next. This would work out pretty well if you had only 5 or 10 prospects. But what if you have 100 people on your list? Do you really want to spend all of your time trying to follow up with each one, and hoping you don’t get confused as to who has already received your first follow-up message, who is ready for message number two, and so on?
I DON”T THINK SO.
If you are like most marketers, you are a very busy person. In fact, you probably have more to do in a single day than you can possibly hope to finish. It just doesn’t make any sense trying to handle hundreds of emails the old fashioned way, when the technology exists to make your life much easier.
The technology I’m talking about is called an autoresponder. This is a program or service that will automatically send out your message to each person that asks for it. You set it up once and it will automatically do all of the tedious things like keeping track of which messages each person has received, when they are due for the next message, whether they have decided they don't want to hear from you again, and myriad other things.
In simplest terms, here is how an autoresponder program works:
- Someone who wants to be on your mailing list either sends an email to your autoresponder address, or fills out an opt-in form that activates your autoresponder.
- The autoresponder places the name, email address, and any other info that you ask for into a database, and sends a confirmation email to your prospect to make sure they are willing to receive email from you.
- Your prospect clicks on the validation link within the confirmation email, thus proving their intention to participate in your mailing list. The autoresponder system records this confirmation, so you will be protected from any false spam complaints in the future.
- Next, the autoresponder sends out the first bit of information your prospect has requested. This could be an email welcoming them to your newsletter, a message with the download link to a free product you are giving away, part one of a five day e-course, etc.
- If you have set up a complete series of messages for each person who subscribes to your list, such as a multi-part training course, or a well planned sequence of follow up sales letters, your autoresponder will send all of these emails out for you in chronological order. In other words, you can use an autoresponder to send a welcome email, then as many follow up emails as you like at any intervals you choose.
- A good autoresponder system will also allow you to send unscheduled messages to your list at any time by simply logging in, composing an email, and clicking send.
- Finally, your autoresponder system will allow any prospect who no longer wishes to receive email from you to opt-out of your mailing list automatically by clicking a simple link at the bottom of each outgoing message. Again, this will help protect you from any false spam complaints, and will insure that your list consists only of people who honestly want to hear from you.
As you can see, these wonderful tools will do much of the legwork for you. This allows you to just work on getting the prospects and composing your message copy instead of worrying about the mechanics of sending each person an email at a specified time.
Autoresponders can be divided into two basic categories; third party services and server side utilities. A third party service is a membership site that charges a monthly fee for the use of their mailing software. A server side utility is a script you install and run on your own domain. It is strongly recommended that you avoid using a platform that operates from your own domain, and go instead with a reputable third party provider.
There are a few different reasons for this:
- By using a reliable third party service, you are not straining your own server resources with the task of storing data and sending email. This is especially important when considering the workload that bounced email can put on your web host. Bounced email refers to messages that, for a variety of reasons, are returned to your mail server due to failed delivery. Many web hosts will cancel your account as a result of too many bounced messages.
- When using a third party provider, there is less worry about the spam factor, since the service provider has all double opt-in records, and will be able to rectify any false spam complaints in short order. This is a HUGE advantage. Once an ISP places your domain on a blacklist due to a false spam complaint, it can be extremely difficult to convince them to start accepting your emails again. However, a well known autoresponder service will have the leverage required to get you back on an ISPs whitelist, and probably without your ever knowing there was a problem in the first place.
- Email delivery is another key issue to consider when managing a mailing list. In an age of increased spam traffic, many ISPs have introduced highly aggressive filtering systems to weed out spam emails. While this is an understandable reaction to the onslaught of unsolicited garbage being sent via email, up to 54% of all legitimate emails are now being blocked and/or filtered as spam by ISPs. A good third party service will have the programming and technical knowledge to work around these well meaning, but often frustrating, barriers.
Lets take a few minutes to look more closely at the issue of email delivery. To get your emails delivered you have to get by various spam filters, and keep your domain off the black lists from ISPs; all this before your email even arrives, much less gets delivered.
Understand that the ISPs are interested in keeping their customers happy. The customers complain more and more about spam, and in return the ISPs take sometimes draconian measures to eliminate the spam before it reaches their customers. This has brought about the dreaded black lists.
Now if the ISP blacklists your server they will no longer deliver your email to their customers until you are removed from the black list. While it’s not impossible to get off a blacklist, you have to know how to get it done, and you have to constantly stay on top of things to make sure it doesn’t happen to you again.
Even if you have done nothing wrong but your email address is on a shared server, you can be blacklisted because of something someone else has done and that may be impossible for you to resolve. Most web hosting accounts are on a shared server. This can drastically hurt your delivery rate, and your delivery rate can seriously affect your income.
On a small list it is not as dramatic but just as lethal. Obviously, you don't already have a list of 10,000 + or you wouldn't be reading this. Lets take an example of a mailing that gets a 1% response rate and each response makes you $10. If you list is 500 people you will make $50 on that mailing- 5 sales at $10. now if only 60% of your emails got delivered and the rest bounced because of blacklisting or other factors instead of making $50 you will only make $30 because 2 of the people that are on your list and would have bought never received your email.
When your list gets bigger, and is 10 times that size the money you will lose for each mailing gets progressively larger too. If you mail once a week to your list even at 500 people, the losses incurred by failed delivery can amount to much more than the monthly cost of a first class autoresponder service.
Overall, going with a web based service for your primary list management needs involves far fewer headaches. There are a variety of autoresponder services available today, but Optin Victory Course uses and recommends TrafficWave.
There are many reasons for this endorsement, but the biggest one is the owner, Brian Rooney. Brian has a very large email list and makes an excellent living from it. He uses his TrafficWave service to manage his own mailing list of over 600,000 prospects, and has a delivery rate of about 98%. We have met Brian in person, and can tell you that getting his emails delivered is of prime importance to him.
In addition to an awesome track record of successful delivery, TrafficWave offers the following benefits:
- You can manage multiple mailing lists from one control panel.
- Each campaign can handle a very large number of subscribers.
- You can add your own custom fields to the opt-in forms.
- You can import existing leads.
- You can cycle prospects through all your different campaigns.
- You can use a simple tracking code to see which capture pages work best.
It’s not difficult to waste hundreds of dollars looking for the perfect list management service. So you can take your chances poking around the web on your own, or you can do the smart thing and take the advice of two marketers who know how to make money with opt-in list building.
Driving Traffic to Your Opt-in Form
A Variety of Ways to Advertise Your Capture Page
So now you have an autoresponder, a capture page, and a valuable free offer. The next step is to promote your capture page and start collecting subscribers.
There are many different ways to drive traffic to your opt-in form. Of course, by utilizing as many methods as possible, you will be able to grow your list far more quickly than if you rely only on one or two options.
The subject of traffic generation could easily fill several books many times the size of this one. The information presented in this chapter covers only the basic concepts of a few highly effective traffic resources.
However, Optin Victory Course does offer in-depth training on each form of promotion discussed hereafter. At the end of each section, you will be invited to access a comprehensive series of email lessons about that particular advertising medium.
Remember that a little work is required to produce results with any of these traffic generators (yes that darn 4-letter word again). Furthermore, results are never guaranteed with any type of advertisement. In the end, the amount of time and creativity you put into your promotions will determine the type of return you receive for your efforts.
At the same time, be careful not to overwhelm yourself. Trying to absorb too much information at once will leave you confused and frustrated.
Read through each section below, and request the detailed lessons for each resource you wish to use. Take your time and carefully study one lesson at a time. After you have learned to make one type of traffic generator work, move to the next one.
What works well for one person may not work at all for someone else, but we felt strongly about offering you a large assortment of options for driving traffic to your capture page and building your list.
The more avenues of promotion you choose to explore, the better your results are likely to be. But again, be careful not to get overwhelmed and end up just sitting there, too confused to do anything.
Track Your Results
Traffic is very important but traffic always has a cost. Even if you are using “free” methods of traffic generation (the primary types we will cover) you are expending your time, which has value. If you don't think your time has value please contact us as we have a position for you (at no salary of course). This is why tracking your results will be so important to you.
Tracking will allow you to see exactly which methods and programs are generating the signups to your mailing list. If you run an advertisement in three different ezines and get 20 signups tracking will let you know that ezine A delivered 15 of those 20. Next time you can cut your costs by a third and just use the ezine that worked the best and try that against 2 others. Each time you collect data from an advertising campaign, you will be able to use this information to increase the effectiveness of your next promotion.
Of course, you will also want to test different subject lines, and various types of ad copy to see which approach works best for you. By using a quality tracking service, you can easily determine which of your ads are pulling results, and which ones need to be tweaked or discarded.
Opt-in Victory Course recommends Hits Connect for all your tracking needs. This program provides detailed tracking right through to your sign up page, and gives you the ability to split test your ads with a tracking rotator system so you can constantly improve your promotions.
Furthermore, after negotiation with the owner of the service, we are able to offer a 30% discount for anyone who signs up through this e-course. You may also rebrand this link and offer the 30% discount to everyone that you give this course to.
List-Builders and Co-Registration Programs
What is a List-Builder?
A list-builder is a referral program that helps you grow your mailing list more quickly by working with other people. Essentially, you refer people to the list-builder so that you are able to send them your emails. At the same time, the people you refer to the list-builder will be referring others so they can have people to send their emails to. Since list-builders function on a multi-level platform, you will be able to email several levels of your downline, which could amount to hundreds of people.
Some list-builders even allow you to send email to people who are outside of your referral group. For instance, if you have a downline of 200, you may be permitted to email 200 different people each week, thus gaining greater exposure for your emails.
Most people use these programs to try to sell things to their referral list. While this might work occasionally, the vast majority of people will not be interested in buying through this kind of list, because there is no familiarity or trust being established.
People tend to buy from those they know, or at least have some type of friendly relationship with. This concept will be discussed in greater detail a bit later.
The best way to leverage a list-builder is to use your regular mailings as an opportunity to offer something for free that would be of interest to your referrals. As you already know, using a free offer is a great way to encourage folks to sign-up for your personal opt-in list. The ebook you are reading right now is a great example of something you can give away for free as a reward for opting-in to your mailing list.
So the objective with list-builder marketing is to get your referrals to opt-in to your autoresponder service. Move them from your list builder downline to your personal mailing list.
Kind of ironic, huh? I mean, who would have thought you could use a list-builder to, well, build your list?
Only when you have an individual on your personal list, and you work hard to establish trust with this person by providing them with useful information, can you condition them to buy from you. People who know you and look forward to receiving your emails are the ideal targets for your sales letters.
We have listed some of our favorite list-building programs below.
Each has its own twist but basically they work in a similar manner. You refer someone to the program and can then email them through the program on a variable schedule that is based on whether or not you upgrade.
In order to benefit from these programs, you have to refer other people. This isn’t always easy, but if you decide to rebrand this book, you can give it away with your links inside of it. This will allow you to give a prospect something of value and also grow your downlines in the list builders at the same time.
Remember, the good thing about list builders is the fact that your referrals will be working hard to bring in their own downline, all of whom you will be able to email. This will give you access to more people that you can add to your personal list by promoting your capture page through your list builder mailings.
The people who have joined a list builder are prime candidates for wanting this course and in turn joining your list because you already know that they have an interest in list building.
Your Lucky List – A new list builder from Gary Ambrose with a twist. This one allows you to mail to others outside of your matrix each week once you have referred 5 people.
Triple Your List – Works in a similar fashion as Your Lucky List without the twist of mailing outside of your matrix. Both of these programs allow upgraded members to have all referrals automatically added to their autoresponder. Triple Your List also will add in random members to your list each time that you cycle through. The more you refer the faster you cycle.
Listdotcom.com – This is one from Mike Filsaime that is doing quite well. You can upgrade and email 5000 members or use it for free.
We will be doing regular conferences on using these programs and all of the programs in this ebook. You can sign up to be notified of these conferences here.
Co-Registrations
Co-Registrations are a great way to increase the number of people on your list. These programs are very simple, and they will automatically expand your list with just a one-time set up.
Here’s how it works:
Whenever someone submits their information to your opt-in form, they are taken to a thank you page. People use thank you pages for different purposes, from pitching an upsell, to offering instructions on how to confirm an email address after sign up. When you use a co-registration service, you are given a special URL to set as your thank you page.
This thank you page will display short bits of ad copy, which promote other mailing lists that are similar to yours. Each of these lists is owned by other members of the co-registration service. Anyone who is sent to this page needs only to check a box next to the lists he/she is interested in, then click a submit button to sign up for these lists. As your prospects have just subscribed to your list, they will be quite responsive to the suggestion of joining another list on the same topic.
Each time this special thank you page is shown to someone who subscribes to your list, you are given credit by the co-registration service. Your mailing list is in turn promoted on the thank you pages shown by other members of the service.
The frequency with which your list is displayed on other member’s thank you pages will depend on the program that you use, and whether or not you have upgraded your account. Naturally, paying members will receive priority placement.
Optin Victory Course highly recommends Advertising Know How as your primary co-registration service. Furthermore, we suggest upgrading to pro status with this program.
An upgraded member of Advertising Know How will have their list promoted six times for each subscriber they send to the to the co-registration thank you URL. Free members get a 3 to 1 ratio.
I have personally gotten about a 20% return from using Advertising Know How as an upgraded member. Just think about that for a minute. One extra person added to your list for every five people you send to a special thank you page. No extra work involved. Just keep building your list, and the co-registration service will multiply your efforts for you. Of course, the quality of the ad copy that you enter to promote your list on the co-registration page will affect your response rate.
Traffic Exchange Programs
Traffic exchanges are advertising programs based on the premise that I look at your web site and you look at mine. This exchange takes place as members surf through a rotation of sites that are owned by other members. Surfers are required to view each website in this rotation for a minimum time frame (usually 10 to 30 seconds) before moving on to the next site. For each site viewed, a surfer is awarded a certain amount of credit. These credits are then “spent” on exposures for their own site within the surf rotation. Obviously, you are promoting to advertisers that are more interested in gaining views for their sites than in what you have to offer.
To overcome this apparent drawback, you need to use a splash page to catch the attention of other members as they surf. A splash page is a capture page designed especially for traffic exchange promotion. Long web pages don't work in this medium, as you only have a few seconds to get the viewer’s attention before they click on to the next site. An effective splash page consists of an eye-catching graphic, a short list of W.I.I.F.T. (What’s In It For Them), then a call for action followed by your opt-in form.
Click here for an example of a well-designed splash page. As you can see, this page is short, concise, and compelling. This is exactly what you need to produce subscribers through your traffic exchange campaigns.
Since almost everyone surfing on a traffic exchange is a marketer, there is an excellent chance most surfers will be interested in learning how to build a profitable mailing list. This means using a capture page that offers this ebook as an incentive for joining your list is a great way to collect subscribers through traffic exchange promotion.
The thing is, everyone and their brother tells you to build your list. But most people tend to omit the instructions for how to actually go about doing it.
This can work to your advantage, because when you offer this ebook to your subscribers, you are giving them something of extreme value that very few other websites offer. By choosing to rebrand this book, you will get access to a collection of powerful, pre-made, customizable splash pages that are perfect for use in the traffic exchanges.
Most traffic exchanges will give you free credits for the surfing done by those that you refer to the program. So by using special referral links to send other marketers to your favorite exchanges, you can literally enjoy thousands of free hits to your capture page every month! This is an awesome way to leverage traffic exchange systems and maximize your exposure.
However, it can take forever to build those downlines large enough to be of any benefit to you if you try to refer people to one exchange at a time. This is why Opt-in Master Course has added a list of our favorite top-performing exchanges here. The links below can be rebranded, so when you give this book to other people, they will be able to join these traffic exchanges through your referral URLs!
This list is by no means all-inclusive, but the programs found here are very solid, and have performed well for us over time.
This list is subject to change at any time based on the effectiveness of the selected exchanges. When such changes are made, those individuals that are subscribed to our traffic tips course will be notified.
Opt in Master Course also recommends Hit Exchange News to any marketer who is serious about succeeding with traffic exchange promotion. This weekly publication has been rightly dubbed the pulse of the exchange industry, and is essential reading for anyone who uses these programs.
Also, we would like to re-emphasize the importance of tracking your own results when advertising with traffic exchanges. Individual results may vary a great deal form one exchange to the next, and the value of knowing where your time is best spent simply cannot be overstated.
Hits Connect is the recommended tracking resource for traffic exchange marketing. This system allows you to monitor the raw number of hits you receive, the unique visitor percentage, and will even tell you which programs are producing sign-ups for you.
For those who want to put a little extra punch into their traffic exchange campaigns, Opt in Master Course suggests the Doctor Traffic co-op. This program will deliver loads of traffic to your capture page from a wide assortment of exchanges for a very nominal fee. Doctor Traffic is the longest running traffic exchange co-op on the web, and has proven effective for us over the years.
Credit-Based Safelists
In simplest terms, a safelist is a club of web marketers who exchange emails with one another in an effort to promote their products, services, and opportunities. When you join a safelist, you agree to receive email adverts from the other list members, and in turn are allowed to send your ads out on a regular basis. Used correctly, these resources can be a very productive form of advertisement.
All safelist programs require you to register two different email accounts. One of these accounts will be your contact email, and will be used to communicate with the owner of the safelist. The other will be your list email, and will be used to receive all the adverts sent by other members of the safelist. Often, you will be required to confirm both email addresses before using the safelist.
Effectively using safelists to generate opt-in subscribers comes down to three basic steps.
Create a Powerful Subject Line: Without a strong subject line, your email will not likely be opened. Producing effective headlines for your ads is the foundation on which you will build success or failure with safelist promotion.
Short, Effective Ad Copy: Keep your ad copy short and to the point. Quickly illustrate what your reader will gain from what you are offering (remember W.I.I.F.T.). One to three paragraphs are all you need.
Call to Action: Your ad should end with a compelling call to action that firmly directs the reader to click your link and visit your site. Naturally, your ad will be linked to your capture page.
Optin Victory Course recommends using only credit-based safelists. These programs require members to accumulate and spend credits, or points, in order to send their adverts to the list.
And what is the primary method of earning credits?
Reading the emails sent to your list address by other members and clicking on special credit links contained in these messages. Clearly, this model provides a much larger possibility for positive response than the traditional safelist.
And what are all safelist users looking for? People that they can mail to and this is a perfect product to use to tempt them on to your list.
The following lists have been thoroughly tested, and have proven responsive. We encourage you to join and use each of them.
Ad Tactics The oldest credit based safelist with a large responsive membership.
AdsolutionLine This is a very large safelist that delivers amazing results.
Actual Visitors The members of this program are extremely active and highly responsive.
Muscle Mail Safelist Only spend credits when your ad is actually read; a very nice touch.
Guaranteed Results 4u Another very responsive list. Also offers solo ad packages.
Viking Safelist Newer than the other programs listed here, but off to a great start so far.
Article Submissions
Writing your own articles, then submitting them to directories and ezines, is an excellent way to get prospects to your list. This is especially true if you are trying to build a list within a niche topic.
A niche is tightly focused area of interest within a larger market. For instance, water gardening is a niche topic within the horticulture industry.
There are tons of people looking for quality content for their newsletters, niche websites, and blogs. These folks will be more than happy to print your 500-700 word article in their publication, and will often scour the directory sites looking for content they believe their readers will enjoy.
When your article is selected from a directory or submission service by a publisher, it is often placed in a featured spot within their ezine (or blog). People reading the ezine may skip the ads, but they will read the actual content of the publication. After all, they subscribed to the newsletter in the first place because of the articles the editor offers. What you get in return for the use of your content is a resource box that tells about you as the author.
A resource box is an extremely valuable piece of real estate on someone’s web-page or newsletter. If you read an article in the XYZ newsletter that gives you good information you are quite likely to click the link in the resource box to find out more about the author.
There are two things that can make your article extremely effective for getting you subscribers.
- Give good quality information that whets the appetite of the reader and offer an email series for the “rest of the story”.
- Set up your resource box to encourage readers to request more information. Example: “For more information, be sure to visit my site at xyz.com and sign up for my free newsletter.”
One of the best places for easy submission that we have found and recommend is isnare.com. They have one of the cheapest submission services and get you out to a large data base of article sites and newsletter publishers for a price of $2 an article.
Ezine Ads
Ezine ads can be a great way to build your mailing list. Think about it. The people you are promoting to are already subscribed to at least one ezine, so they are quite likely to be interested in yours as well, providing you offer content similar to the publication you are advertising in.
This type of promotion will take a bit of research. It’s a good idea to subscribe to any ezine you are thinking about buying ad space with, and actually read a couple of back issues. You want to be sure that what you have to offer is along the same lines of what the ezine subscriber base is interested in.
A poorly targeted ad is just a waste of money. Imagine reading a newsletter about, say, science-fiction movies, and finding an advert for an ezine about fly-fishing gear. What do you think your reaction might be? It is very important to seek out the right kind of publication to promote your capture page in.
The quality of your ad copy will have a big effect on the kind of response you receive through ezine advertisement. Don’t just throw an ad together on the fly. Be prepared to spend some time composing an effective teaser, and don’t forget to apply W.I.I.F.T. (What’s In It For Them) when encouraging readers to register for your opt-in list.
Of course, a good headline is crucial to the success of your ezine campaigns. This is especially true if your ad is going to be displayed with numerous other ads.
For best results, you should strive to format your ad in a way that blends smoothly with the layout of the ezine. Of course you want to grab the reader’s attention, but not in such a way that makes them regard your advert as tacky and unprofessional.
Two Bucks an Ad is an ezine submission service that allows you to place ads with a large variety of ezines for, you guessed it, only $2. This is an affordable alternative, as many high circulation publications charge upwards of $50 per advert.
Managing Your Mailing List
You Have a Few Subscribers, Now What?
If you have made it this far you have a pretty good idea of how to start collecting opt-in subscribers. You have learned the basics of driving traffic to your capture page, and you understand the importance of a compelling free offer to entice people to fill out your opt-in form. Now comes the real work.
All the effort you have put forth up to this point can be totally wasted if you don't take the time to properly manage your mailing list. You can’t just collect subscribers, then start blasting them right away with cookie-cutter sales letters. If you intend to profit from your list, and after all that’s the whole point of building one, you need to approach your opt-in marketing campaign in an intelligent fashion.
The three primary facets of good list management are:
- Building a Relationship with Your Subscribers
- Conditioning Your List to Expect Your Emails
- Staying Consistent with Your Communications
Building the Relationship
Building a relationship with your new subscribers is paramount. You want these people to see you as a friend, and a source of good information, and not as somebody who just wants to sell them something.
Think about some of the products and services you spend money on. You probably have a favorite grocery store, where many of the cashiers recognize you. You may have a favorite gas station, or a mechanic that you use on a regular basis to maintain your car. Perhaps you get your hair cut at the same place each month. If you have pets, you probably take them to a vet you feel comfortable with. It’s a safe bet that you spend most of your money with people who have treated you well and worked hard to satisfy your needs.
Most people prefer to buy from individuals and/or businesses they feel comfortable with. This type of relationship is built over time.
A free e-course is a great way to start the process of relationship building with your opt-in subscribers. As long as you are offering quality information, your readers will appreciate the fact that you are teaching them something for free.
Always give first, and ask later. Don’t try to sell your readers anything until you have provided them with plenty of solid, useful information, and maybe even a couple of nice freebies.
Let your subscribers know who you are, and how they can get in touch with you. People are not going to respond well to a “webmaster” or to some silly username like marketman2005. Always use your real name (first and last) as the “from” name when you send emails to your list. Also, you should include your personal email address and phone number in the signature of each email. It’s very important that your subscribers see you as a real, approachable person, and not as some anonymous figure hiding behind a website.
And perhaps most importantly, you have to let your personality take over. Be yourself, and have fun with it! Your subscribers have to relate to you before they are ever going to buy from you.
Of course not all of your readers are going to like you. You’ll have people that unsubscribe from your list, and guess what? That is a GOOD THING.
I can hear you now saying are these guys absolutely nuts. Unsubscribes are a good thing???
Yes they are.
Okay before you call for the men in the white coats, let us explain.
Not everyone is going to like you, just as there are people that, for whatever reason, you don't like. The purpose of building your list and building a relationship with your list is to get people that like you and want to hear from you so that they WILL buy from you. You are building this list so you can eventually sell your products and services to them, right? What is the point of having people on your list that really don't care for you and will never buy from you? Culling those people out is a good thing, so please don’t be discouraged by a few unsubscribes.
Condition Your Subscribers
We recommend sending valuable information to your list on a regular basis. Then, when you have an offer for them, they’re already looking for your name in their inboxes. Let your subscribers know up front that you plan to contact them often. The idea here is to get your list used to the idea of receiving messages from you.
Also, when the time comes to pitch a product or service to your subscribers, do so with confidence. Avoid using an apologetic tone in your endorsements. You need to present your offers with authority, and make it clear that your readers will benefit from following your recommendation. Again, the idea is to get your list used to the idea of receiving your recommendations in good faith.
However, the burden is on you to do your due diligence before endorsing a product or service to your readers. Nothing will destroy your credibility more quickly than recommending a program that turns out to be garbage.
Most of us have a few favorite subscriptions. You know, the emails you look forward to getting and are happy to read as soon as you find them.
We are more likely to buy from these lists, because we feel like we have gotten to know and can trust the publishers. Do you think that they occasionally make money from us purchasing their offers?
Of course they do. But what’s wrong with that?
They have proven themselves to be a valuable resource by providing solid information. Maybe they have helped us make money or save time, or perhaps they have just shared some entertaining stories with us about a subject we enjoy.
Whatever the case, a relationship has been built, and we have been conditioned to expect emails from these people. More importantly, we have been conditioned to trust the recommendations of these list owners, which makes us more likely to buy from them.
Be Consistent
Once you have your subscriber’s conditioned to expect your emails, stay on track. Some type of regular mailing schedule is important.
For instance, if you are loading subscribers into an autoresponder series, be sure to set the follow-up messages at regular intervals. Or, if your mailing list is based on the premise of a weekly update, make every effort to send out on the same day each week.
Additional communications are fine, as long each message contains something of value. But the most important thing is not to fall behind on your mailings, thus allowing your readers to lose the connection you have worked so hard to build with them.
Also, be sure you are giving your readers what you promised them on your capture page. If you invited them to subscribe to a newsletter about affiliate marketing tips, don’t send them adverts about discount pharmaceuticals. Sending something a little different from time to time might work if you have built a very strong relationship with your readers, but the general rule is to stay focused on the topic you promised your subscribers when they opted-in.
To summarize this section:
Give good information and let your personality come through. Don't sweat the unsubscribes, and keep in touch with your list on a regular basis.
Follow this simple formula for successful list management, and you will be surprised how your business will grow.
Making Your Emails Sell
Be Yourself
Now we’re getting to the fun stuff. You have built a list, cultivated a relationship with your subscribers, and conditioned them to the point where they actually look forward to your emails. Now it is time to write an email that sells.
Right off the bat, there is one golden rule you need to understand...
DON'T SEND CANNED EMAIL.
By canned email, we are referring to the pre-written sales letters you find in the back office of your favorite affiliate programs. These email templates might give you a few good ideas, and that’s great, but you should never just copy and paste these emails into a broadcast message to your personal mailing list.
Take a minute to think about this. You just spent a good deal of time and effort (and maybe even some ad dollars) to get subscribers. You then put even more time and effort into building a relationship with them and working to let your personality come through in your communications. Why would you want to send them a canned pitch from Derek Gehl, Marlon Sanders, or any of the other big name affiliate program managers? Yes these guys write great copy and test it all over the market, and all of those things but they are not you.
You can take advantage of the pre-written emails you find in your affiliate back office by copying their structure, and using some of the power words they include. But it’s crucial that you change the message to reflect your own writing style, and that you put your personality into it.
I know it seems really easy to just copy and paste as we are all extremely busy and looking for shortcuts. But think about what you have seen in the past when a new product has launched.
How many of the same emails have you gotten about a new product with only the name of the sender changed? Doesn't that just piss you off when you get the same identical email from 10 different people? Most of the time even the headline is the same! After the first two you are just deleting them and thinking to yourself “Good Lord, does everybody have to follow the herd?”
If you have used canned sales letters in the past, what kind of results did you get? Be honest now.
Maybe you haven't been doing this for long, and therefore don't have data for what your list will produce if used properly. Trust us on this one:
Taking time to craft your own sales copy, in your own writing style, will bring you far, far better results than trying to pitch your list some cookie-cutter ad that every amateur marketer on the web will be using. Remember, your personality is what makes your mailing list unique, so use it to maximum advantage each time you compose an email.
Keep it Real
We previously mentioned the need for due diligence in determining what to promote to your list. This point is worth emphasizing again.
It is not recommended that you send your subscribers an endorsement for every new program that comes down the pipe. Be picky about what you promote, and take the time to be sure that everything you recommend is of legitimate value.
Also, and this is a bold statement these days, be HONEST when making an endorsement to your mailing list! Nothing will turn your subscribers away more quickly than a blatant attempt to fill them full of hot air just so you can make a few quick bucks.
A prime example of less-than-honest email marketing came with the launch of Neil Shearing's “Automated Income Secrets”. That very day I got emails from at least 20 people telling me how great this new product had been for them. Well as I had bought the product from Neil already and actually read it, I knew that no one had made anything with it at that time unless they had somehow bought it two months before the launch. How much credibility did some of those people lose with me?
Lots.
Remember that as you are building and culling your list it will be taking on your personality and style. If people aren't on the same wave length as you they won't be open to your offers so promote the things that excite you. Honest enthusiasm will always come through in your offers.
Structuring your Offer –
The Nuts and Bolts of Good Sales Copy
How many haphazard sales pitches have you received via email in the past 30 days alone? I’m talking about those emails that appear to have been thrown together totally on-the-fly and hastily sent out without even being checked for poor grammar. How likely are you to spend money on an offer that consists of three poorly composed lines of text and an affiliate link?
We’re all busy. But if we expect to see any kind of profit from opt-in marketing, it is absolutely imperative that we take the time to compose a quality offer.
The basic anatomy of an effective offer is as follows:
- Your Full Name (first and last) in the From Name Field. This goes back to building a relationship with your readers. Let these people know exactly who you are, and keep your name in front of their faces with every email you send.
- Powerful, Compelling Subject Line. Your message headline needs to create a sense of urgency that will cause your recipients to want to open your email NOW.
- Personalized Greeting. A good autoresponder service will allow you to use personalization tags in your emails so you can call your subscribers by their first name. This is a very powerful tactic that you need to take advantage of.
- Opening. You have about half a second to convince your reader that this email is worth their time. This means your first three lines have to be very concise, and intriguing enough to pull them into the rest of the message.
- Main Body. The meat of your offer should work to satisfy the curiosity you created with your subject line and opening lines. Work to build a desire within your reader. Don’t ramble. Keep your copy focused and lead them by the hand to your closing pitch.
- Close. This is your call to action. Direct your reader with confidence to click on the link and visit the action page (the sales page, referral page, etc that you are using the email to promote. Be very clear about how important it is for them to click that link and take further action. Only give the reader one option here.
- Signature. Again, use your full name and be sure to include personal contact information. This will help you continue to build trust with your readers.
- P.S. A short P.S. type note is a great way to draw those readers who have strayed from your call to action back into your offer.
Write Story Copy Instead of Ad Copy
Right away, put the notion of writing “ad copy” out of your mind. People don’t want to read advertisements; they want to read interesting stories.
It’s true. Most people are likely to relate to a good story, while they are prone to distrust any effort to sell them on something.
A good story engages the imagination, and relaxes the part of our brains that control the critical thinking process. We are much more likely to be drawn in by a good story than by an obvious advertisement.
Here is an example of a well-composed story email.
Let’s say your mailing list is built around the subject of herb gardens. Your audience is most likely very health conscious, and doesn’t care for the use of heavy pesticides and other gardening chemicals.
- Start with a Real Life Experience Your Readers can Relate to: Aphids are ruining your Oregano plants. This is an herb you cook with on a regular basis, and the loss is very inconvenient for you.
- Create a Subject Line that Captures this Theme: “Tim, My Lasagna Just Won’t Be the Same This Summer!”
- Open with a Very Personal and Vivid Account of Your Problem: “Tim, I just couldn’t believe my eyes when I walked out into the garden last week to collect some Oregano for my lasagna. Two of my five Oregano plants had been chewed down to the stem by those darn aphids. How on earth can something so small eat so much in such a short amount of time?!”
- Present the Issue as Something Your Reader Has Been or Could be Faced With Themselves: “As someone who loves their herb garden, I’m sure you know what it’s like to lose your precious plants to an insect infestation. Of course you don’t want to use dangerous pesticides on your herbs, but you don’t want to just sit there and watch your garden be ruined either! In the springtime, I can count on the lady bugs to cull the aphid population. But as you know, lady bugs are less active in hotter weather, and it just seems like there are more aphids this summer than there have been in previous years.”
- Introduce the Solution: “I spent a couple of hours searching the web for an effective, safe treatment, and I came across a site that sells a predator insect called a green lacewing. According to the website, the green lacewing is highly active in hot weather. A large batch of eggs was inexpensive, and shipped the same day I made the purchase. All I had to do was use a paperclip to attach the green lacewing egg sacks to my Oregano stalks and wait a few days for them to hatch.”
- Give Them the Proof: “Within just three days, the lacewings had hatched. These little guys must have been hungry right out of the egg, because I was thrilled to find my last few Oregano plants were untouched by the aphids! I’m not even sure there is a single aphid left in my entire herb garden.”
- Call to Action – Tell Them How to get the Solution for Themselves: This is a fantastic time to try the green lacewing in your own herb garden, because the site I told you about is having a big sale. Here’s the link so you can have a look for yourself (insert affiliate link)”
- Close – Keeping it Personal to the End: “So it turns out my world famous lasagna is saved! (ok maybe not world famous but my family sure loves it) I just wanted to share this with you Tim, because I know how important your herbs are to you, and I understand that you are interested in environmentally-friendly solutions to these kinds of problems. (insert signature)”
- P.S. Note: If you want to get your hands on some of these great lacewing eggs, you should follow the link above right now. I believe there are only a limited number of these egg sacks left, and once they’re gone, that’s it until next season.
As you can see, the above email carries a product recommendation, but is not likely to be seen as a blatant attempt to sell, because the premise of the message is the sharing of a personal experience. The fact that a soft pitch is being made does not arouse distrust, because the endorsement has been woven into the other elements of the story.
Effective email copy is another one of those topics that could easily fill a 1,000-page hard-back manual. There are numerous styles of writing, and just as many valid approaches to writing a successful sales letter.
Developing the ability to create profitable offers is an ongoing process. Be sure to sign-up for our seminar list so you can continue your training on this crucial aspect of email marketing.
Some Basic Formatting Tips for Your Email Offers
Here are a few more things to consider when formatting your offers.
Use Plain Text Instead of HTML: HTML messages are a nice touch for safelist marketing, but are not advised for use with your personal opt-in list. This is simply because an HTML email scream “sales letter”.
Remember, you want to build a relationship with your subscribers, and ultimately allow them to view you as a friend. When was the last time one of your buddies took the time to compose a personal message to you in HTML format?
Enough said.
Appropriate Message Length: A message that is too short will often be seen as a cheap attempt to make a fast buck off your readers. At the same time, sending your subscribers a ten page letter is probably going to bore them silly and cause them to close your message before they reach the call to action. Your goal should be to provide a real communication with each mailing, but do so in a concise, economical fashion.
Linking to Web-Based Content: Remember, you can always post your offer details on your blog, then send out a short, friendly email with a link directly to this post. Of course, the standard rules of good email copy still apply to the short message.
The drawback here is that you are asking your readers to do a little extra work (following a link to your blog) before they see your full offer. However, this approach is a sure way to beat the spam filters, and once a reader reaches your blog, they might spend a few minutes looking around and come across a couple more of your affiliate links in the process.
We will discuss the use of blogs in more detail in the advanced techniques section.
What is a Swipe File and Who Needs One?
A swipe file is a collection of good copy material that you can refer to when you are looking for new ideas or composing new sales letters. This collection typically consists of emails, sales letters, headlines, catch phrases, etc. that have caught your attention and compelled you to read more.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with collecting pieces of ad copy written by other people, and referring to this collection when you sit down to produce your own sales material. In fact, most successful copywriters have at least one swipe file in their arsenal.
In fact, as marketers there are some mailing lists that are worth subscribing to, not because we like the personality and writing style, or even the information being presented, but because the list owners have a knack for writing good pitches for their offers. Maybe we don’t buy from these people because they have never taken the time to build a relationship with us, but they do write great copy and their work can be used as a model for improving our own offers.
Important Clarification: Opt-in Master Course does not endorse the idea of ripping off other copywriters! There is a big difference in using another marketer’s work as a model, and copying someone else’s material word-for-word.
The idea is to take the basic structure, and maybe some of the “angles” being played, and add your own writing style and personality. Ultimately, you should end up with a completely new piece of copy, and not just a flimsily disguised rehash of somebody else’s hard work.
Advanced Techniques
Using a Blog
Blogs have become quite the hot topic over the last year. A Blog is the short term for a Web Log, which is really nothing more than a web site with dynamic content.
Due to the availability of various content management software, a blog site can be easily updated with new content through a handy back office interface. Most blog software can be set to automatically notify various search and directory services each time content is updated.
This automatic update is called a ping. Because a blog pings the major search sites each time you insert new content, it is not difficult to achieve favorable search engine ranking with a blog site.
There are free services like Blogger that will allow you to create a blog almost effortlessly. This type of service is a great place to start if you are interested in setting up your own web log.
Blogs can be used very effectively in your email marketing campaigns. You can use them in a couple of different ways.
First, as a way to work around the spam filters, you can actually put your sales letter up on a blog. Then, instead of sending your email with your sales pitch and trying to get it past the spam filters you can just send a teaser email with a link to the blog which will have your complete newsletter on it. There are advantages and disadvantages to using this technique.
On the down side, your readers will have to click the link in your email to get to your actual sales pitch. This is where putting the proper little teaser in your email will make or break your promotions.
But on the positive side:
- Your email is much more likely to get into their inbox and not their spam folder where they have to go look for it.
- Also, the search engines love blogs and you may actually benefit from people who are not subscribers finding your sales offer while searching for a topic on Google, Yahoo, et al.
- Because of the availability of RSS feed through most blog software, your opt-in readers (and anyone else that finds your blog) can choose to be notified of the changes to your blog via RSS publishing even before you send out an email.
RSS feeds will only continue to grow in popularity and we are seeing more and more marketers adopt this highly effective technique. Blogs and RSS publishing will be topics for our ongoing seminars. If you have not signed up for our seminar list you can do so by clicking here.
Pay-per-Click Advertising
Pay-per-Click promotion is another method that can be used for building your list. Google Ad Words and Overture are probably the best known of the PPC services. This form of advertisement is not recommended for everybody but we do feel that at least a mention is needed to make this book complete.
PPC is pretty straightforward in that you place a text ad within a paid search service based on the keywords that you are targeting and bid a set amount of money to have your ad shown. Your ad will then be listed based on the strength of your bid compared to the bid rates of your competitors. In essence, the higher you bid, the better your search ranking will be. Each time someone clicks on your ad and is sent to your page you pay the price that you have bid.
This is not for someone just starting to build their list.
The reason for this is very simple. Until you have built a list and used it to see what kind of response your offers are getting it is impossible to figure out what the value of a subscriber is to you.
Now if you already have a list of 1000 people and know that you send 2 offers a month and average a 1% response rate on each offer, with each sale bringing an average of $20, you can figure out the value of each subscriber on your list. It is just a matter of crunching the numbers.
In the above example the monthly return per subscriber can be figured as follows – 1000 x 1% =10 sales x $20 per sale = $200 x twice a month = $400 a month divided by 1000 subscribers = $0.40 per month per subscriber. If your average commission was higher or your response better the numbers would change accordingly.
You will then have to test a variety of ads and see what your conversion cost is to get a subscriber. In the above example if you can get a subscriber for $1 each you will start to make a profit on them in 2-1/2 months. Each person will need to decide what kind of return they will be looking for and how quickly they want that subscriber to be profitable for them.
Once you know your average return per subscriber, you can figure out exactly what you are willing to pay for each new opt-in. The more profitable your list is per subscriber the more you can afford to pay to get new subscribers. Obviously the numbers above are just examples but if you don't have a track record on what you can actually make with your list it is impossible to figure out what you can afford to pay to get a new subscriber.
Pay-per-Click advertising is best suited for those that make a high return per subscriber. Take a look at the minimum bids to be listed favorably through Google Ad Words and Overture and you will understand why we say this
As stated before this is not a technique that is recommended for new list builders. But it is another option for you to consider as your income increases and you learn to mine your list.
Gary Ambrose in his May, 2005 newsletter has a different viewpoint on how you can actually make money while getting subscribers through a pay per click promotion. It is a neat twist and well worth the time to read it. Check it out here and we do recommend that you sign up for his newsletter. After reading this we are sure you will see why.
This course courtesy of Jon Olson
Home Page http://www.hitexchange101.com http://www.optinmastercourse.com
