If the money is in the list, how do you get that list? How do you build that list? The only way that you can maximize your marketing value and make money is by building a list, Period.
Let me explain, when you have an email list, it is like having traffic on demand to any new blog post you write, any product you develop or even any affiliate product you want to offer. Having a list also gives you another place that you can connect and build a relationship with your subscribers…
But remember it is never just about growing your list. It’s about building a relationship with the people on your list and who will eventually subscribe to your list.
The money isn’t in the list as much as it is in the relationship(s) that you have with people on your list. You don’t just build a list and leave it. You build a list and cultivate it with high-value emails, exclusive offers, rich information and a personal tone.
It’s no secret and no mystery that you want to make money in your online business. Even those online business owners that tell you it’s not about the money because it’s for a higher purpose know and understand that it will take money to achieve that higher purpose. So, the goal in any business is to absolutely make money.
And if we realize that the money is in the list, then we know we absolutely must build a list. But how do you build a list? What if you’re starting from ground zero — no email list whatsoever?
Well I strongly suggest you grow your list organically and avoid purchasing email addresses from outside sources. You can capture email addresses through a variety of traffic sources including solo ads.
The following is an 8 step-by-step process broken into 2-parts that you can follow if you have absolutely no email list and need to start one ASAP.
Let me start with four Email Marketing basics
1- Email Deliverability
Deliverability is getting the email into your subscribers’ inbox. Simple right? It should be but don’t panic if your deliverability is not close to 100% as new subscribers will use fake or inactive email addresses just to view or get your offer. You should have no problem reaching a deliverability rate above 75%. Your email list service will be able to provide statistics for you.
2- Email Open Rate
Obviously, you want people to open your emails. Email open rates can be deceiving and are not the best stat to look at to see if your email campaign is producing for you. Many email services have preview panels so people can read your entire email without opening anything. Leaving no email open rate counted. With that said you really want folks to read your emails otherwise what’s the purpose?
3- Email Click-Through Rate
Your email click-through rate (CTR) is tracked by using a redirect to the ESP server. That redirect passes information that the ESP can then track who clicked on an email and what link was clicked.
Email Click-Through Rate (CTR) is a MUCH better indicator of email campaign success because it is a more reliable tracking method. Once you learn how to build an email list, CTR is what you will focus on most to see how well your email marketing is performing.
4- Email Subject Lines
People these days get hundreds of emails so I would say your subject line is the MOST important part of any email campaign. The subject line is the first thing someone sees when they receive your email, so it needs to Stand Out. No matter how great the content your email has, if your subject line doesn’t motivate them to open and read your email then it is just a waste.
You can’t create an email list if you don’t have a few other things in place first. At a minimum, here are the resources that you should have before you start creating your email list.
5. You must understand your audience
Who are you targeting? Before you begin building an email list, it’s helpful to have an idea of who these people are. What this means is if you are going to be an affiliate marketer for example then your target audience will be people who want to make money online or start an online business or maybe start a home business. You get the idea.
6. You must have a website
Next, you need a place where you can capture your potential customers or list members email address so basically you need a website.
Creating a website can be a big scary step but don’t panic, let me explain how to make this as easy as possible and believe me this is fairly easy.
You don’t need a huge or fancy website in order to create an email list. In fact, all you really need is a capture page — a single-page website that contains an email opt-in form.
You can create a beautiful capture page in just a few minutes using any one of many services out there. Many services are inexpensive and many autoresponders include a large selection of effective capture pages you can use. At some point you will need an autoresponder (see the next step).
Most services have capture pages or landing pages that have a key features, such as images, a headline section, and bullet points already included so there really isn’t anything technical about creating a capture page.
7. You need an autoresponder
In order to communicate with your new email list, you’re going to need an email marketing platform otherwise known as an autoresponder.
There are plenty of autoresponders to choose from. You can start simple and inexpensive with a service like GetResponse or TrafficWave. Both offer 30 day free trials.
8. You need an Eye-Catching offer
Whatever you’re offering, selling, building, creating, or asking, people need a reason to join your list.
Think about it. If you came across a capture page that asked for your email address, you wouldn’t want to do it unless you were going to get something in exchange.
What does your target audience want? Often, the best offers are valuable resources that you offer totally free. You can give them access to something instructional, software, a how to report, an ebook, or something else that your new subscriber sees as real value to them.
One final step that I didn’t intentionally leave out is you will need traffic to your newly built capture page. Now generating traffic is totally another topic/article but I will leave you with a couple of links below that you can use to start generating traffic to your capture page for free. Hint: Traffic Source #1 also includes an autoresponder and capture pages you can use. Just click on the links below and enjoy…
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