Weve all heard those who have Internet business-success stories proclaim, Nothing will make you as much money as building a responsive list! The trouble is, most people wont let you in on their secrets for building these goldmines. In reality, it isnt all that hard to do.
Ill be the first to break the silence. Below youll find the proven techniques you need for building a responsive list. In step-by-step format, youll see exactly what actions to take - and in which order - to develop a subscriber base you can generate revenue from for years to come!
STEP ONE - Find Out What Your Subscribers Want
One of the biggest mistakes I see people make when trying to build a list is to not understand their subscribers. Once youve decided what topic your newsletter will revolve around, take time to interact with your prospective subscribers.
Ask them what they want to read about. Find out where they are struggling. Research their needs diligently. This is the only way youll be sure to provide what your subscribers really want.
One great idea is to use www.surveymonkey.com to conduct a survey. Ask several questions in order to find out as much as you can about your subscribers (or future subscribers). These questions might include:
1) Are you male or female
2) What is your occupation
3) How long have you [been in business, owned a pet, designed stained glass windows, or whatever relates to the topic of your ezine]
4) What are the three areas you struggle most with in regard to [the topic of your ezine]
5) What information have you been searching for, but been unable to find
6) What article topics would you like to see in [name of your ezine]
And any others you can think of.
STEP TWO - Have Something Of Value To Offer
Once youve gotten the information you need from your subscribers, dont waste it! Use the information to offer something of value.
Did you find from your survey that most of your subscribers are professional women with children who are interested in timesaving tips Then give them tips! Not worn out, everyday, ordinary tips. Take the time to create or research innovative tips designed specifically to help professional women with children live more productive and stress-free lives.
If you deliver a newsletter thats disappointing in the eyes of your readers, youll soon find your subscriber base will dwindle down to nothing, so go all out!
STEP THREE - Promote, Promote, Promote!
Yes, youll want to put subscription boxes throughout your own website to drive subscribers to your list. But dont stop there. There are virtually TONS of ezine directories and ezine announcement lists online that can dramatically increase your number of subscribers.
Heres a short list. You can quickly search any search engine to find more ezine directories.
http://www.ezinelocater.com
http://www.ezinehub.com/add.html
http://www.lifestylespub.com
http://www.ezinesplus.com
http://www.e-zinez.com
http://www.inkpot.com/zines/
http://www.ideamarketers.com
http://www.list-a-day.com
http://www.zinos.com
STEP FOUR - Be A Dependable Resource
Word of mouth spreads quickly about newsletters and ezines that actually offer solid, dependable content and resources. Make sure you are one of them!
With each issue, take time to do your best work yet. Offer original articles or new reprints (not articles that are months old) plus resources that you have checked out yourself and approve of. Your subscribers will soon develop a sense of trust and loyalty and will repay you for your time by buying from you.
A FINAL WORD OF CAUTION: DONT endorse every new ebook, software product, or affiliate program that comes down the pike. Be selective. Remember, once your subscribers realize what an honest and true publisher you are, theyll gladly trust your opinions, purchase those products you selectively recommend, and refer your ezine to others they know.
Copyright 2005 Diane Hughe
Diane C. Hughes *
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The internet seems to be full of hyped up business opportunities. What evidence there is to support the feasibility of a business opportunity is often anecdotal or we may be asked to take the word of a well known internet guru when he tells us that this is the next big thing. Sometimes he/she will be right of course (thats how they get to be gurus).
And make no mistake about it we are equally to blame for this hyped up culture. Lets face it, its so much easier to read or listen to a well presented collection of projected possibilities than it is to do even a little spade work and unearth a few hard facts.
In the first place, we can all be a little lazy. In the second place, its nice to close our eyes and dream of the ongoing passive income such a nice visual picture isnt it
And finally, hard facts can be a little bit difficult to come by. Sometimes for genuine reasons startups often dont have much more than the reputation of the key players and a business plan and sometimes for more worrying reasons.
One of the enduring mantras which you will almost certainly have heard is that the moneys in the list. All the key players not only say this but appear to demonstrate it by the simple fact that they all own and operate large opt-in lists. It would seem reasonable to assume that these list make a significant contribution to their profits.
But lets see if we can put a little flesh on the bones. First of all we have an assertion sourced from www.ultimatefour.com which is as follows:
a well run list can generate $1/month in revenue for each contact on your list.
It does seem reasonable, but it is still an assertion rather than a fact and it is qualified by both a well run list and can generate. Even if it isnt a hard and fast rule, it certainly provides food for thought.
If you build your list up to 3,000 to 5,000 members then you will have a nice income each month. Get to 10,000 members and above and you will be doing very well indeed.
That may sound like a lot to many people but it should be achievable. Which brings us to a piece of information which can be considered to be a hard fact sourced this time from AWeber.
12,561 subscribers in an average customer opt-in newsletter list.
Presumably this is based on AWebers own user base but it seems valid to accept this as a legitimate fact.
The implication would seem to be that if you can build your own opt-in list to an average level that you can profit to the tune of $12,561 each month. The assumptions are that you will run your list well (by providing constant updates and interesting information to your subscribers) and that you will make $1/month per subscriber.
Even if the $1/month figure is wrong or if you run your list a little less efficiently than normal you might still reasonably expect to make a 4 figure sum each month.
So its true - the money is in the list. How much depends on the size of the list and how well you run it but the money is there.
One key thing to watch out for is that your list should be your list the email addresses must be yours and not the property of whichever company your working with. That way you can promote as many different products and services as you like.
Of course, it takes time and effort to build your list but it can be done. You can pick up half a dozen new subscribers every day very easily by using nothing other than free techniques. That would take you to over $2000 a month in less than a year. Consider using some paid advertising and your list will grow at a much faster rate and so will your income.
Whichever method(s) you elect to use in order to build your list the sooner you start the sooner youll start earning. So get cracking.
Hamish Hayward
Discover the key criteria you must evaluate to ensure business success. Now available in free e-book format.