List Building - How to Structure Your Email Campaign

By Sean Mize

List building is such a wonderful way to make money online, and I have so much fun doing it. Maybe you are list building, too, and you have asked this question, as many of my students have done: how do you structure your email campaign?

Well, I have a different opinion of structuring an email campaign than I think that a lot of folks have online today.

You see, I think that most of the current literature on list building and writing your email campaign tells you to send out like 5 or 7 content emails in the first 5 or 7 emails and build a relationship with them, then start to send out sales stuff.

I disagree. Now, I have to admit that almost all of my subscribers come to me after they have read one or more of my articles, and so they already trust me a little more. And that makes my list members a tad faster to respond, I would imagine.

But I still disagree. And here is why. When someone is looking for information online, it is because they have a need. Today. They have a need today, or they wouldn’t be looking today. OK, sure, they might not need the actual product until next week, but today is the day they want to solve their problem.

Think about it this way. Imagine that you are going to go on a trip to Tahiti, and you need a swimsuit. You are leaving in 10 days, so you need the swimsuit delivered to your house within 10 days, actually if you are like me, you will want it within like 8 days.

So you go online to buy a swimsuit. In your journeys online, you come to a squeeze page for a free ebook and ecourse on how to buy a swimsuit online (give me some leeway here, I just thought of swimsuits because I was thinking of my upcoming summer vacation) – but it could be any product in this example, so just follow with me here.

So you download the free ebook, and you get on the list and you get like 5 to 7 emails with lots of good content about how to buy a good swimsuit. In the 8th email, you get a sales page for a swimsuit. What just happened?

If I were the swimsuit company, I have done a great job of building a quality relationship with you, but I missed the sale. You see, you needed the swimsuit fast, not after I built a relationship with you. And likely you bought from someone else online, someone that was more aggressive and to whom it was less important to build this long term relationship.

So you have to do both: build relationship – but go for the sale fast, when they have a need.

Here is one of the ways I structure my campaigns:

1) Opt in page redirects to a sales page after opt in occurs (free ebook comes in a separate emai).

2) First email contains download link to free ebook.

3) Second email – content and link to my site

4) Third email – free gift, link to my site (or redirect to sales page after free gift).

5) Fourth email – sales pitch

6) Free gift, link to my site (or redirect on free gift)

Do you see what I have done? I am building a relationship – but at the same time, I am going for the sale.

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article marketing success, ‘Your Article Writing and Promotion Guide‘

Download it free here: Secrets of Article Promotion

Do you want to learn how to build a massive list fast? Click here: Email List Building

Sean Mize is a full time internet marketer who has written over 800 articles in print and 9 published ebooks.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sean_Mize

List Building - Your First Autoresponder Message

By Tellman Knudson

So, you've got your squeeze page up and you're almost ready to start list building, right? You've chosen an autoresponder, and now you have to load messages into it. What should they say?

Let's take a "list building" newsletter, for instance. (Which really isn't a great topic if you're just starting out, because you're still learning. How can you tell other people how to build a list? Right? But let's just use it as an example.) The first message should say

"Thanks for joining my list building newsletter, mailing list, etc. I'll be sending you tips/issues each week/every day about great list building strategies."

Then, give them their first issue or first tip about list building. In your P. S., remind them to pick up a copy of whatever it is you're selling that pertains to list building, be it yours or someone else's. And then, tell them it will really help them a lot.

Two caveats here:

Number one, try the product you want to sell people. Sign up, buy it, and then use it to see if it works well. If not, why would you try to pawn it off on someone else, just to make money? It's not ethical! Instead, find a product that you can solidly stand behind and let the people on your list know that you've used it and think it's awesome.

Number two, make sure the product is pertinent to the list. If you're writing to them about list building, an information product about Internet Marketing would be appropriate. But think about this, if you're writing about golf and try to sell those people a product about Internet Marketing, they'll think you're looney and you'll lose their trust. Only golfing products to golfers. See?

So, if you're writing about list building, choose a few list building products to promote.

The most important asset you have is your list. Never make the mistake of just sending product offers every single day, just random things that you haven't tried. If you do, you'll regret it and get tons of unsubscribes. What's worse is that you'll never get those people to trust you again.

If they buy your product great! Then, be sure to send them a thank you letter. And in that, you can always offer something else. Put them into a special autoresponder account for people who bought from you. Send them the same list of tips as you'd send to other list members, only offer them progressively more expensive products. If they trust you, they'll buy more than one.

But remember, don't treat your list members like ATMs. They're people. Only offer them things you're sure that will help them. You aren't forcing them to buy, but you are bringing great things to their attention that they might never have found on their own. When it's time to go to bed at night, you'll sleep well knowing that you're not just making money, but you're helping other people to succeed, too.

Tellman Knudson is CEO of OvercomeEverything, Inc. Learn how to build a powerful and responsive list quickly through his premiere list-building course, MyFirstList.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tellman_Knudson

List Building Coaching

By Sean Mize

List Building Coaching

List building is such a lucrative area online today, and of course it seems to be growing everyday. It seems like everyday there are new people breaking into the scene online, who want to build a list. And of course the reason they are doing it is that they haave heard that it is lucrative, or that it will help them keep in touch with their buyers or readers or whatever- or maybe they have some other goal in list building.

So where does list building coaching come into play? List building coaching comes into play when you don’t know what to do to make things happen in your list building efforts.

You see, you do everything you can to try to learn, you buy all the latest books and read them, but just can’t figure it out.

Look, it is a lot like learning to swim by reading a book – sure you might get the basic motions down – you might look kind of funny doing it, your form won’t be right – but you are able to get some semblance of the basics.

But when you want to go fast, like if you are at the beach and you want to outswim a shark, you run into trouble. You see, you work harder and harder, but you really don’t swim much faster. But if you had a swimming coach to tell you exactly how to adjust things, your legs, your arms, whatever, then you would be able to all of a sudden swim faster, because know you know exactly how to do it, and you learned from a swimmer who knows what he is doing, and is able to show you.

List building coaching is much the same. You might be able to figure out the basics on your own, but you need a coach to teach you the finer stuff. To look at your squeeze pages and tell you what you are doing wrong. To look at your list and tell you why they don’t buy more. To teach you the finer stuff.

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article marketing success, ‘Your Article Writing and Promotion Guide‘

Download it free here: Secrets of Article Promotion

Do you want to learn how to build a massive list fast? Click here: Email List Building

Sean Mize is a full time internet marketer who has written over 800 articles in print and 9 published ebooks.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sean_Mize

List Building and Social Networking

By Sean Ray

List building and social networking – can you really build a list from people in a social network? I think that you can – in fact, some statistics are showing really crazy things about the social networks – things about huge levels of traffic, things about how involved the people are in social networks.

Think about it – people that belong to social networks and are actively social networking, are more likely to open and read emails – and hence are great candidates for list building.

They tend to become very involved – and I have seen some things that indicate that social networking improves a web sites’ traffic and retention rate on repeat traffic. Why? Some people love to be involved – and social networking allows you to meet exactly those people who are more social – and likewise might tend to open their emails.

At this point, the opportunity to list build within the social networks is wide open – you simply have to go in, become a member of the community, put a squeeze element on your social page, and start getting local social network traffic to that squeeze page or social network page with a squeeze element.

Just be sure and follow all the rules of the particular social network to which you belong, and do not spam anybody – send unsolicited invitations to come to your page.

Treat working in a social network environment much as you would a new forum environment. Just go in and start making friends – and over time, as though relationships develop, you should see that more and more people in the social network are visiting your social network web site.

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article marketing success, ‘Your Article Writing and Promotion Guide‘

Download it free here: Secrets of Article Promotion

Do you want to learn how to build a massive list fast? Click here: Email List Building

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sean_Ray

Top Tips for Growing YOUR E-Mail Marketing List

By Caroline Melberg

Part of internet marketing involves promoting your business. E-Zine lists are a great way to start marketing your business. But first you need to get people interested in signing up for your e-zine. Using your small business customer list to build your e-zine list is a great place to start.

E-mail your current customers to let them know you are launching your first e-zine. Keep it simple, a couple of paragraphs are fine. Don’t over sell yourself, but do let them know why they should sign up for your e-zine.

Spike their interest by enticing them with "Something for them" or "how unique" your e-zine is and what makes it so different from other e-zines. You might even want to include a sample of your first issue or simply include the entire issue as a special promotion introducing your first e-zine.

Make sure you give specific directions on how to sign up for future e-zines. You can tempt your readers with what they will be missing if they don’t sign up. Include a link in your e-mail that takes them to a sign-up form for your e-zine. The easier it is for your customers to sign up, the more likely they will.

Offer free and useful stuff that you know your audience needs and wants that you give them when they sign up. You can make it a free report, e-book, helpful tips, or other important resources you think your reader might be interested in.

Let's say you own a Dog Grooming and Supplies business, and you want to launch your new e-zine. You might offer a free e-book on dog nutrition or dog safety (what's "ok" for your dog to eat if he does so accidentally, and what you should rush him to the emergency vet for). By giving your customers something of value to them, they will gladly give you their e-mail address to receive more of your valuable tips in your weekly e-zine.

Not everyone will sign up for your e-zine the very first time they see it, so it is important that you provide other ways for them sign up if they want to. You can do this by providing your website address on your business cards with the e-zine information.

Make sure every page on your website has a link or a sign-up box that takes them to a form where they can sign up for your e-zine.

Design a page on your website devoted specifically for your e-zine.

Have a sign-up sheet that you carry with you so that when you are talking to your customers about your e-zine you can sign them up then and there. Or, have them give you one of their business cards and write "e-zine" on the back of it. Then you can sign them up when you get back to your office.

Promote your e-zine in your e-mails with a signature file (small text file) that can be automatically attached to the end of e-mail messages you send and place a link in your e-mails that takes them directly to your sign-up form.

Write articles related to your industry and publish them in article directories. Give other people approval to use your article as long as they give you credit for writing the article by including a link to your e-zine sign-up form.

Submit your e-zine to websites with databases for articles and e-zines.

Exchange your e-zine with customers who also have e-zines by being a featured guest author in their e-zine.

If you belong to other groups that have newsletters, be sure to mention your e-zine and why it is valuable.

Include a free subscription to your e-zine for current customers.

One of the most challenging tasks in building your business is marketing. With a little persistence, consistency, and by using your small business customer list to build your e-zine list, you will be off to a great start to building a steady stream of new customers.

The greatest thing about publishing an e-zine is watching how your customers will forward it to their friends and associates – people you would never have contacted. When they sign up for your newsletter, and forward it to THEIR friends and associates, you will start to see the power that writing a weekly e-zine has to increase your customer base and grow your sales as a result!

Entrepreneur and outdoor photography adventurer Caroline Melberg is President and CEO of Small Business Mavericks, a division of Melberg Marketing. She has over 20 years of experience creating marketing communications materials and writing copy for some of the largest and most successful companies in the world. Her small business columns are syndicated online, and she publishes the popular eZine, "Small Business Maverick Secrets." Learn insider Maverick Marketing secrets you can use immediately to find new customers and increase your sales. When you subscribe, you'll also get a FREE copy of her e-Book, "Local Small Business Internet Marketing Secrets" - learn insider secrets to marketing your local small business on the Web today! Get your FREE subscription at http://www.SmallBusinessMavericks.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Caroline_Melberg