7 Easy-To-Do Action Steps For Attracting Hundreds Of New Subscribers And
Growing Your Opt-in E-mail List by Corey Rudl
I think it really goes without saying that a newsletter is a POWERFUL MARKETING
TOOL. Any promotions that you send to your customers and subscribers in the
future will be that much more successful because with your newsletter, you will
have...
- established your credibility, - developed a reputation as an industry expert,
- cultivated a relationship with your subscribers, - inspired customer loyalty,
- and maintained regular contact.
Regularly give your subscribers useful or entertaining information that they
will benefit from, and they will come to trust you, respect you, AND BUY FROM
YOU!
Sounds great, right?
But now you're probably left wondering, "How do I get people to subscribe?"
After all, you can write hundreds of newsletters, but if you only have a
handful of subscribers, it can be a lot of work for little reward.
The BIG MISTAKE I see a lot of e-business owners making is thinking that simply
posting a "subscribe today" box on their web sites -- and then forgetting about
it -- is going to attract subscribers by the thousands.
Even if your web site is highly trafficked, this is going to produce
disappointing results.
You need to be prepared to ACTIVELY PROMOTE YOUR NEWSLETTER, much the same way
you would promote any other product or service online.
STEP #1: Promote Your Newsletter On Your Web Site!
Yes. Definitely promote your newsletter on your web site. But the keyword here
is "promote."
How motivating is it for a visitor to give you his or her name and e-mail
address when presented with a subscribe box titled, "Subscribe to my free
newsletter"?
Why? Why should I subscribe? How will I benefit from subscribing? What am I
going to get?
Just because your newsletter is "free," doesn't mean I want it. There are
plenty of free newsletters out there I could subscribe to. What makes yours
different or special?
You really need to "sell" your free newsletter to potential subscribers. In one
or two short, exciting sentences CLEARLY STATE THE BENEFITS OF SUBSCRIBING to
your newsletter. For example, if your web site was golf related, you might say
something like,
"Subscribe to the FREE 'Golf Tips' Newsletter and receive monthly tips and
advice from Pro Golfers. Improve your swing, hear about world renowned golf
courses, learn which clubs the experts prefer, PLUS MUCH MORE!"
It sounds a lot more interesting than "Subscribe to my free newsletter," don't
you think? Visitors to your web site will think so, too!
The other tip I'd like to share is about WHERE you should place your newsletter
subscription box on your web site.
First of all, DON'T HIDE IT! Your goal should be to make sure that everyone who
visits your web site is offered the opportunity to subscribe to your newsletter
at least once, if not twice.
Your newsletter subscription box should appear "above the fold" (i.e., it
should be immediately visible on the first screen) of your homepage. This is
where you'll GET THE BEST RESPONSE -- and the most subscribers!
STEP #2: Offer Existing Customers A Subscription
Have you offered your existing customers a subscription to your newsletter? If
you haven't, you should e-mail them an offer like this as soon as possible!
This is an easy way to GET A FLOOD OF NEW SUBSCRIPTIONS.
And be sure to add a subscription offer to your "thank you for ordering" page
or e-mail. If someone is interested enough in your product or service to
purchase it, you can be sure they'll want to subscribe to your newsletter.
Don't miss this opportunity to MAINTAIN CONTACT WITH EXISTING CUSTOMERS!
If you've offered a free subscription to your customers but received a poor
response, consider making things a little more interesting by offering them a
"special gift" like a free article or eBook when they subscribe.
This EXTRA INCENTIVE should dramatically boost the number of new subscriptions
you receive.
STEP #3: Promote Your Newsletter In Your E-mail Signatures
An electronic signature -- also referred to as a "sig file" -- is a three to
six line footer that you can attach to the bottom of your e-mail messages and
public forum postings. And it's a PRIME SPOT to advertise your newsletter!
Unlike a lot of other blatant advertisements, a sig file is universally
accepted, so take advantage of this perfect opportunity to plug your
newsletter! Anyone who receives an e-mail from you will also receive your
invitation to subscribe to your newsletter.
Chances are, if you're e-mailing them, they already have a DIRECT INTEREST in
your industry or niche, so take advantage of this and offer them a free
subscription right at the bottom of any e-mail you send!
STEP #4: Ad Swap With Other Newsletters & E-zines
A great trick for increasing your subscriber base involves contacting other
newsletters that relate to your target market and offering to swap ads with
them.
Tell the newsletter owners that you'll promote their newsletter to your
subscriber base if they'll return the favor. This is a great way for both of
you to INCREASE YOUR READERSHIP!
Subscribers will appreciate the recommendation of another source of QUALITY
INFORMATION, and as long as the sites you swap with are complementary and not
competitive, it's not going to hurt your business at all.
STEP #5: Promote Your Newsletter In Newsgroups, Discussion Lists, and Forum
Postings
Another good place to promote your newsletter and locate targeted potential
subscribers is in newsgroups, discussion lists, and forums that relate directly
to your industry or niche. Simply post a brief description of your newsletter
and a link to your subscription page.
STEP #6: Offer Subscribers The Opportunity To Give Gift Subscriptions
Offer or announce "gift subscriptions" in your newsletter that encourage your
current subscribers to send gift subscriptions to friends.
You can automate your web site to send the gift subscription with a little
blurb stating whom the gift is from and what they will be receiving (and the
opportunity to unsubscribe, of course!).
A friend of mine has built most of his mailing list doing this alone. He went
from 5,000 subscribers to over 16,000 subscribers in less than a year just
using this one technique.
STEP #7: Renting Opt-in E-mail Lists
Renting e-mail addresses from third-party list providers is a route that some
new newsletter owners choose because you are given QUICK ACCESS to a list of
hundreds, if not thousands, of people who have "opted" to receive e-mail on
topics that interest them.
You can usually expect to be charged 5 to 20 cents per deliverable message, and
you should expect any e-mail addresses that are "bad" or that "bounce" to be
replaced by addresses that are current.
If you decide to use a service like this, it's ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL that you
find out how the e-mail addresses were obtained.
You want e-mail addresses that have been collected ethically and responsibly,
and this means that you want the e-mail addresses of people who:
a) are directly interested in your product, industry, or field of expertise,
and b) have given their permission and "opted-in" to the list.
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you buy lists of e-mail addresses that have been "harvested"
from newsgroups, classified ad sites, online services, etc., you'll be accused
of spamming!
These people have NOT given you permission to contact them, and you can get
into a LOT of trouble this way. Again, I can't overstate the importance of
making sure that the e-mail addresses you rent have been collected ethically
and responsibly!
A few reputable third-party list providers who offer targeted opt-in e-mail
lists are:
Postmaster Direct http://www.postmasterdirect.com
YesMail http://www.yesmail.com E-Target
http://www.e-target.com Targ-it http://www.targ-it.com
Focalex http://www.focalex.com TargitMail
http://www.targitmail.com
Buying or renting e-mail addresses this way can get very expensive, so you need
to be sure that your entire sales process (i.e., your web site, your sales
copy, your ordering system) has been tested and tweaked before you roll out an
e-mail campaign like this in full force.
Do some tests using a few thousand addresses and you should get a fairly
accurate picture of how successful you're going to be.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Ultimately, your goal should be to develop a relationship with your subscribers
through quality articles in your newsletter before you even *consider* trying
to sell them anything.
Give them quality information that they will benefit from in order to establish
your credibility and develop a rapport with them.
Remember that the true value lies in the RELATIONSHIP that you develop with the
person who owns the e-mail address -- not in the e-mail address itself.
It will be the relationship that you develop with your subscribers that will
result in big sales both now and in the future -- an important point to keep in
mind no matter how many new subscribers you attract.
About the Author
Corey Rudl is the owner of four highly successful online businesses that attract
more than 6,000,000 visitors and generate over $5.2 million each year. So if
you're looking for unconventional tips, tricks, and techniques with examples
that will show you the fastest, most efficient way to make money on the
Internet, then I'd highly recommend visiting
http://www.marketingtips.com/XXXXXX
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