Without question, one of the best ways to make money online is to build a list of targetted prospects. Why??? Because these people have already proved that they are interested in what you have to offer by subscribing to your optin list.

Any professional internet marketer will confirm that the majority of their (sometimes huge) income is earned via list building. These are people that the marketer has built a relationship with. Helping them by providing quality content without expecting anything in return. Eventually, a trusting relationship is developed and subscribers actually become willing to the products promoted. You see, it’s much easier to sell to a person you have already fostered a relationship with. It’s kind of like calling previous customers compared to cold calling. Cold calling involves calling people who may or may not have any interest in what you are selling, many of them are actually irritated at receiving a sales call. Calling past customers means that they already know and trust you, so the story is completely different.

Consider this, how many times do you need to see an offer on the internet before you act on it? Did you know that most people must see an offer 4-7 times before they act on it? So how are you going to get your message in front of them that many times so that it is your offer that they act on? The answer is to build a list!

So how do you build a list?

Some people seem to think that all they need to do is say, ‘Hey, subscribe to my newsletter to receive information about whatever.’ Then they wonder why they don’t have any signups.

The best way to build a list and generate signups is to offer something with a high perceived value as an incentive to sign up. One of the most successful list building campaigns I ever ran was the time I added all subscribers into a draw to receive a free clip on mp3 player (not even an Ipod shuffle). The item cost me US$25 including postage… but for that price I received 500 subscribers in only 3 months. And because unsubscribing immediately forfeited the entry in the draw I had very few unsubscribe requests. Meanwhile, I was earning from that list by sending fortnightly newsletters and individual broadcasts promoting related products.

Other incentives you can offer when you want to build a list are; Free email courses, software programs that you have giveaway rights to, special reports, discount coupons or even a one of discount on a product you sell. Say for example you sell a software program for $37, you could offer a $10 discount to subscribers. If they are genuinely interested they will take the offer and the first autoresponder email they receive could include a link to a special page where they receive the product for $10 off. To reduce unsubscribe requests you can also send them a 10 part tutorial email course on how to use the program

While list building is relatively easy, when you build a list you need to be careful in your management of it. Make sure you only promote products that are appropriate to the list niche and do not inundate subscribers inboxes with promotional emails. One of the biggest mistakes online marketers make is constantly sending out promotional emails (4-5 per week) and promoting products that have nothing to do with their niche. This behaviour irritates subscribers and is the single largest cause of unsubscribe requests. So make sure you only promote products that are tightly targetted to the list a prospect has joined. And NEVER send out more than two emails per week. In fact, it is preferable to maintain one regular email per week. That way it is frequent enough for subscribers to remember who you are without being a nuisance. I generally aim for one message per week or fortnight with an occasional promotional message sent in between.

This doesn’t include automatically generated followup messages from an autoresponder. For example, if you have a 10 part email course it is perfectly acceptable to send one part every 2-3 days (so the whole course is delivered within 20-30 days).

Good luck with your list building efforts… Here is to having a profitable online business.

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If you are serious about internet marketing, one of the most important decisions you need to make is whether to have a mailing list of subscribers that you can market your products and services to. I’m sure you’ve heard the expression The money is in the list! This is very true. Maintaining a list allows you to build a relationship with subscribers who are specifically interested in what you are offering.

Sure, you can rely on adwords or organic search visitors for your income, but the amount of effort required lowers your ROI (return on investment). It’s much better to maintain a list of subscribers who are interested in what you have to offer than to perform the online version of ‘cold calling’! That pre-existing relationship inspires trust and therefore increases the likelihood that those people will purchase your products and services.

So, you’ve made the smart decision that you need a mailing list! CONGRATULATIONS!!! How are you going to build and maintain that list? What autoresponder company or organisation will you trust your livelihood to? In the internet marketing arena there are only TWO autoresponder companies for serious marketers. Those two companies are Aweber and Getresponse.

Certainly you could use a free autoresponder service like freeautobot.com or one attached to your hosting account, but as the saying goes… You get what you pay for! Lack of features and reliability end up costing more than the potential earnings. Thankfully, Aweber and Getresponse both offer FREE trial versions for people who want to try before they buy!

So which service is the the most reliable email marketing service? Which one is the most affordable email marketing service?

The first of these questions is totally up for debate. As mentioned before, there are only two viable autoresponder services. Aweber is popular with professional internet marketers, they have the better reputation… just barely. Both services claim top notch email deliverability. These days however, you’ll notice an increasing number of marketers are using Getresponse email marketing services. Possibly because in the current economic climate people are tightening their belts and Getresponse offers the most affordable email marketing services. On July 6, 2009 Getresponse introduced a brand new interface and pricing structure along with some new and exciting features including the ability to create subscriber surveys. Check the table below for a cost comparison between the two services.

Note: The prices above are monthly subscription costs. Significant savings are available by subscribing for longer periods. For example a 12 month subscription with Aweber costs US$190 for up to 500 subscribers (save $38), GetResponse costs US$177 for 12 months for up to 500 subscribers (save $38). Once again, Getresponse has the upper hand on price since they allow you to pre-pay for up to 1 year for larger lists. Unlike Aweber who only allow you to pre-pay for up to 500 subscribers. Take a look at the table below for the yearly costs for each size list.

As you can see, using Getresponse for email marketing needs is considerably cheaper. For this reason I recommend Getresponse for less experienced marketers because… well, because personally I don’t believe in spending more money than I have to! Admittedly, Aweber is reputed to be the Rolls Royce of autoresponders… but why buy a Rolls Royce when a Chevy will do the job?

Ultimately, it is your choice which email marketing service you use. I hope this post has helped clarify the options available to you.

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Whether you have been marketing online for years or just weeks. You’ve most likely heard the expression that ‘the money is in the list’.

This expression is very true. If you don’t have a list then you are seriously missing out on one of the most effective means of earning a residual online income.

The problem is that most people have no idea how to go about email marketing.

So how do you build an email marketing list?

Building an email marketing list is actually fairly easy. To build a list all you need to do is offer something of value as an incentive for people to join your list. One of the most successful list building prizes I ever had was a quarterly draw for a 2gb mp3 player similar to an Ipod Shuffle that was only costing me about US$25 delivered (got the player through an online wholesaler at dhgate.com). My subscription rate for that promotion was around 20% of all unique visitors… NICE!!! Even nicer was the fact that subscribers had to remain a part of my list to qualify when the draw came around, if they unsubbed they weren’t part of it. Great way to minimize subscribers who sign up for a freebie then unsub to avoid sales messages.

Okay, so now you know how to build an email marketing list. But what do you do when you have built one? How do you communice to that list? How do encourage them to take whatever action you want them to take? Whether you want them to sign up for a list, buy a product or whatever.

This all comes down to the matter of pre-selling

Here are five tips on how to effectively pre-sell to your subscribers via email marketing.

1.      When sending list email, explain WHY you are sending it!  Say for example you have a weight loss blog. You could email your list and say something like… Still trying to lose those extra pounds? Sick of starving yourself?. I’ve just discovered an amazing food that allows you to eat as much as you like and STILL lose weight. Use an email subject line like ‘FREE superfood makes you lose weight without starvation!” (the word FREE is a VERY powerful word).

2.      Tell them WHERE the information is available! I created a video about it and posted it on my blog so you can see it for yourself.

3.      Explain what it will DO for them!  Eg.  In this video you’ll not only discover this miracle food for yourself  but I’ll reveal three secret places that you can get it for FREE!

4.      Explain why they need to click now!  Be sure to watch this video right now before the rest of the world sees it.  Because once the news gets out I believe there will be a shortage of this food within two weeks. So find out where to get it right now so you can stock up before it’s too late!

5.      Explain what they need to do when they get to the blog page! After you’ve viewed the video be sure to sign up for the free report on seven other foods that keep you super healthy.

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