One of the keys to a successful online business is the publisher's ability to build an effective list. A list is the people you have received permission from to e-mail them information on your products. You must first obtain permission from the people on your list to send them information because new laws are in place that consider sending marketing e-mails with permission spam. This will be discussed imore detail in future posts but for now I want to give you 10 ways to build an effective list.
1. Do Ad Swaps with other people in your industry
If you haven’t heard of ad swaps before, the concept is quite intuitive: in
exchange for incorporating someone’s ad into your mailing, they agree to do the
same for you. Typically, this is either done with someone in the same industry or
in a related, but non-competing industry.
If done correctly, ad swaps can be both easy and profitable. You can initiate one
by first looking for high traffic sites in your niche and in related niches. As you
find them, start signing up for their respective newsletters. Monitor the content
and decide whether or not it would be a good idea for your idea.
Once you have made the call, contact the list owner and initiate the swap. Let
him or her know that you’re a subscriber on his/her list; and then tell him/her all
about your own list and your proposed idea.
Use this technique every 2-3 weeks and you should see your subscriptions climb
rapidly over time.
2. Join Safelists networks
A safelist is a list of email addresses of individuals who have agreed to receive
emails from other individuals on the list. By joining safelists, you can gain access
to a large group of individuals who may be interested in joining your list.
Of course,as with any other marketing technique, when a particular medium is
saturated with ads, the responsiveness to any one of those adds will fall. For this
reason, expect your pitches to get relatively small responses.
With that said, if you join enough relevant lists and make your pitches periodically
(to avoid the appearance of being a spammer), then you should have no problem
picking up quite a few good leads from this strategy.
3. Place an opt-in form on your blog
Another good way to get subscribers is to simply put an opt-in form on your blog.
If people like reading your content and find themselves coming back to read
more, they may decide to opt-in to your newsletter, too. After all, why not put
yourself on a list to get more of the content you’re seeking out on a daily basis?
4. Create a Facebook fanpage
If you’re a Facebook user, you’ve no doubt seen countless “fanpages” for various
businesses. Virtually all businesses that wish to have a social media presence
one. This is a practice you should adopt, too, if you want to develop a social
media presence and use it to generate list subscribers.
In short, setting up a Facebook fanpage is not very different from setting up a
profile. Just remember to incorporate all of the relevant information about your
business on the page, along with links to your list and to various freebies. Also,
consider giving people who “like” your fanpage discounts or coupons for various
products.
5. Use banner advertising (list some banner networks)
Banner advertising has long been a mainstay of webmasters. While it is difficult
for newcomers, it can be very rewarding if you spend the time to 1) create a good
banner; and 2) find the right networks.
6. Create videos
When it comes to enticing people to join your mailing list, another good avenue
you can take is to create video content and use it to promote your site. For
example, you can create a series of instructional videos for something related to
your niche and include them as content that will be available to newsletter
subscribers. Furthermore, you can build up the value of this offer further by
providing a couple free examples of these videos on YouTube and elsewhere.
7. Host teleseminars/webinars
Seminars are yet another promising way in which you can generate list
subscribers. All you have to do is pick a date for a conference call (ideally, in the
evening, when people will be free) to discuss your area of expertise. You might
find this intimidating at first, but after you do it for a while, it will come naturally.
Of course, before you do the call, you should spend some time to plan out the
content. Make sure that you know what you’re going to say and how you’re going
to say it. During the call and at the end of the call, make explicit pitches for
people to join your mailing list (and explain how it is even free to start with).
While you might think that hosting teleseminars is the slow path to gaining
subscribers, keep in mind that these new subscribers are much more likely to be
active than your others. They will feel a personal connection with you—having
talked to you (or at least heard your voice) over the phone. This can easily
translate into much more sales per person that your average prospect.
8. Use joint ventures
Another great way in which you can generate list subscribers is to setup joint
ventures (JVs). A JV involves the creation of a working partnership between two
business owners. In your case, you’ll be making some sort of exchange related
to list building. For instance, you might consider creating a product for which you
will share the revenues; and your partner may in turn agree to do all of the
relevant list-building activities.
9. Generate opt-ins through affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing, while often used for direct sales, can also be used as a tool
for list-building. That is, you can create a product, cleverly links within that
product that suggest that readers sign-up for your list, and then allow affiliates to
sell it for a nice commission. They’ll make money; and you’ll get subscribers.
10. Pay for referrals
Rather than indirectly using affiliate sales to generate subscriptions, you could
also consider paying directly for referrals. You can do this by either purchasing
leads formally; or by seeking out webmasters who are willing to divert traffic to
your site.
Of course, if you wish to do the latter, you will have to setup a transparent
system, so that your offer appears believable. In particular, you will have to setup
an easy-to-check traffic counter that allows your referrers to check how much
traffic you received from them. You will also need to pay an attractive
commission on referrals.
No comments:
Post a Comment