Welcome to my blog – Internet Marketing Crossroads

My goal is to bring together the different aspects of Internet marketing, talk about the latest tactics, tools, and strategies, and most importantly to provide the how to’s of setting up and running your campaigns.

Marketing used to be a dreaded word, providing success only to the “big guy’s”. But the Information Highway has changed all that. There are many strategies that are literally cost free and fairly easy to do - so that absolutely anyone can put together successful and profitable campaigns.

Your part in this is to provide comments, sharing your views and experiences. Tell me I’m right (I like that!), tell me I’m wrong (nicely, of course) and between us we’ll provide insight and help to others who may be struggling with their marketing strategies.

To your Internet marketing success!

Monday, March 19, 2007

How To Build A Highly-targeted Opt-in List

If you haven’t achieved the success level you imagined at this point in your Internet business experience perhaps you simply haven’t figured out the right way to succeed in Internet Marketing.

Having a website isn’t enough. Having a great website isn’t enough! If your using SEO techniques good for you! But that still won’t be enough. You’ve got some good traffic to your site by now, but it’s a slow process. No, I’m not going to tell you about some great product that will have you re-mortgaging your home…

I’m going to tell you about a not very well kept secret – The money is in the list! Sound familiar? Any expert Internet marketer will tell you that building a highly targeted opt-in list is the most effective and important tool in Internet marketing. And they are right on the money!

If you have an ezine or newsletter keep up the good work. If you haven’t started one yet, please do so. This article will show you how to build a highly targeted subscriber list that will love buying your products and services!

So what is an “opt-in” list? Simply put, it’s a list of email addresses of people who have agreed to receive your newsletters, brochures or promotions. In other words, a group of people who are ready and willing to receive your recommendations, products and information.

By creating an opt-in list, you can maintain solid contact with your target market and develop a trusting relationship with your subscribers – which is worth its weight in gold!

The key to using your opt-in list is to develop a large subscriber base. Without a massive list you are losing hundreds (or thousands) of dollars each week.

If you’re building your list with only subscription boxes on your website, it will take years to build a massive list. There is so much competition today that you really need to give potential subscribers a reason to subscribe.

No, don’t take down your website subscription boxes. But consider adding some of these ideas to speed up your list building process:

Co-Registration

Co-Registrations are one of the best and fastest ways to build large opt-in email lists in a very short time. It's a fast, easy, and Free "secret weapon" used by the famous Internet marketers to rapidly grow their large opt-in (permission based) email lists!

Co-registration refers to the practice of referring leads, subscriptions, or memberships concurrent with another registration process.

This might happen when visitors signing up for a free subscription or other service are offered the chance to opt-in to other offers on the "thank-you page" that appears after the initial registration.

In other words you would partner with one or more sites similar to your own, but not necessarily competitive.

You can get an idea of how the joint venture works by taking a look at this page. http://www.advertisingknowhow.com/jv/index.php

Incentives

Providing an incentive is a highly effective method of obtaining new subscribers. Of course, your incentive must be worthy of your target audience.

Here are some examples:

- eBooks that provide valuable information or solve a problem relative to your target audience.

- Reports providing exclusive and detailed information regarding a specific topic.

If you create these products yourself, along with obtaining subscribers you’ll have a viral tool that will bring in extra cash and build your credibility as an expert. By all means put a link to your sign-up page in these books and reports as well.

If your not comfortable developing these products yourself, you can find free ebooks all over the web. If you can obtain brandable ebooks to giveaway you’ll be able to earn some money as well.

- eCourses are another excellent choice and they provide a unique opportunity to show your expertise and gain credibility with your subscribers over a period of days.

Joint Venture Giveaway’s

Becoming a JV partner in a Giveaway is another highly effective way to get a massive number of subscribers. If you have a product of your own for inclusion your all set. Simply make sure that your product reflects the target audience your looking for.

If you don’t have your own product create one! Put together a package of other people’s products (that are licensed to be given away). You can’t claim ownership of the individual products, but you can claim ownership to the package you put together. Simply make sure that you understand the rights given with each product in your package.

Just remember when you set up your product to include an opt-in email. In cases such as a giveaway it’s easy to forget that you signed up for a newsletter as well as a product, so you’ll want to protect yourself from those lapses of memory.

Popup Windows

Popup windows, although annoying to many, are a very effective method of obtaining new subscribers. When combined with an incentive you can literally double your subscriptions instantly.

Rather than using a standard window that opens on page load, consider a first visit popup window to keep visitor annoyance at a minimum. This type of popup window only loads on the first visit and won’t pop up each time they visit.

Get a script here: http://www.web-source.net/javascript_codes.htm

Your window should contain information about your publication and incentive.

Make sure your auto-responder is set up to request verification of new subscribers.

In conclusion, no matter how many new subscribers you acquire, the key to a successful list is keeping them. The relationship you build with your subscribers will ultimately determine your success.

To keep those hard won subscribers from un-subscribing make sure you provide quality content, products and services. From the time you begin your publication, be yourself, be truthful, and develop a trusting relationship with your readers.

Whatever you offer or recommend should only be products and services that you truly believe in. Your reputation depends on it – and so does your list!

To Your Internet Marketing Success!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

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