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Why Aren’t You Building a List Yet?If you asked 200 wealthy internet marketers if they have a list, more thanlikely you’d get a resounding “Hell yeah!” from almost every single one ofthem, if not the entire group.Anyone who’s been trying to succeed online for more than a couple of dayshas probably already heard the phrase, “The money’s in the list”. Or maybeone of the variations to that phrase; “The money’s in the relationship withthe list” or “If you don’t have a list, you’re leaving money on the table.”The general consensus is that if you really want to make money online,you’ll be able to do it faster and easier *with* a list than without one.So why don’t more beginning marketers start building lists as soon as theystart building their business, instead of letting so much time and so manymissed opportunities go by? Wellll.they say things like.“I don’t have anything to give away”“I don’t have an autoresponder, I can’t afford it”“I don’t know what to say in the follow-up sequence”“Why would anybody listen to what I have to say?”“I have an opt in form on my blog, no one ever signs up”“I have 12 people on my list, what do I do with them?”“I can’t figure out how to put an opt in form on my site”“I don’t know how.”“I can’t.”“I’m not able to.”::Sigh:: So much helplessness and hopelessness from grown adults whodon’t seem to realize they already have everything they could possibly needat their fingertips.
A simple Google search can provide them with something to give away, freeautoresponders that are available, innumerable blogs with free advice abouthow to do email marketing, how to increase sign ups, how to put an opt inform on a website.it’s all right here, online.In doing some research for this report, I ran across a site with the followinginfographic. I thought it was very interesting and thought you might find ithelpful too. Clicking on the image will take you to a page where you canenlarge it for easier reading. (It’s worth the click.) Go ahead, I’ll wait.
Wasn’t that cool?! Now, if you liked that, you’ll want to go back later on andread the full explanation of each of the points in the infographic. It’s one ofthe informative sites I mentioned earlier, giving away loads of awesome,free advice about email marketing.But I digress.The purpose of this report is to eliminate whatever reason you gave in yourmind to the question “Why aren’t you building a list yet?” You see, it doesn’treally matter what the reason is.I’m gonna go out on a limb here and sayit’s probably somehow related to fear.I just want to take that fear away and show you how easy it can be to beginbuilding a list.So let’s get started.I’m going to assume you have a page on which to insert an opt-in box. Itcan be a very simple squeeze page like this one.a regular website like thisone about how to start a food truck business or a blog, like this one onaffiliate marketing.The point being, all you need is a place to put a form and it doesn’t reallymatter what kind of site you have.Next, you need an autoresponder. You’ll hear Aweber recommended a LOT,and there’s good reason for that.Aweber is great! Their customer service isoutstanding, their delivery rate is awesome, they have excellent tutorialvideos about how to do almost everything and you can get started for just 1 for your first month. After that, it’s 19 a month.But for some folks, even 19 a month can be too much. If you’re in thatcamp, it doesn’t mean you can’t start building a list. You do have options.1. Listwire – Free – Created by Gary Ambrose (member of the WarriorForum) – English only2. Mad Mimi – Free – Up to 2500 contacts but you get no support – Basicplan with support starts at 10 per month3. Vertical Response – Free – Up to 1000 contacts, 4000 emails per month –Basic plan starts at 17.60 per month
4. Wordpress Autoresponder Plugin - Free5. Email Aces – 2.95 for one month, then starts at 8.95 – Limited to onlyone autoresponder at that price6. Get Response – Free for one month - 15 for up to 1000 subscribers7. Icontact – Free for one month – Basic plan starts at 10 per month for upto 250 contactsYou may run across Mailchimp as a recommended free autoresponder. Itseems to do well for small brick and mortar businesses, but becauseMailchimp doesn’t allow affiliate marketing, I didn’t include them here.I’m sure you can find other autoresponders, both free and paid. Myrecommendation, if you can afford it, is to use Aweber, as they are the goldstandard to which all other email services are compared.If you opt to start off with a free service, any of the first 3 listed above willprobably meet your needs starting off. If you’re very new to Internetmarketing, you may not want to go with Mad Mimi, simply because there’sno support offered at the free level.So.where are we now? You have a page on which you can put an opt-inbox. You now have an autoresponder. What’s next?Well, you’ll want to give them a very good reason to give you their emailaddress. And not just some throwaway email address they’ll never checkagain.you want their best email address.The only way you’ll get that is by offering something of TRUE value to them.And this is where so many marketers get it wrong.Remember this? “I don’t have anything to give away”Not only do most beginning marketers not have anything to give away,many don’t have a clue as to what that giveaway should be.It’s not enough to ask someone to give up their name and email address sothey can receive a newsletter. Or to be notified whenever a new post ismade on your blog. It’s too early for that.
Later on, when you’ve established yourself more, that’s acceptable. But ifsomeone coming to your site for the first time doesn’t know, like or trust youyet, they may leave without signing up for your newsletter or anything else.So what can you offer them?I’m not going to limit you to what you can offer.it canbe a PDF, a short report, a brief video, a minicourse.or something else entirely. Click the image tothe right to see some other suggestions.The important thing to remember in choosing whatyou’ll offer your subscribers is that it MUST be relevantto the reason they came to your site in the first place.I’ve said it a thousand times and I’ll say it a thousandmore.you MUST put yourself in your customer’sshoes.even better.become your customer. Getfamiliar with what you’d find most valuable if *you*were your ideal customer.If you have a parenting site, for example, what couldyou offer a parent that would be so tempting they’d findit impossible to turn away from it?What could you offer to gardeners that would makethem eager to give their email to you?A lot depends on how tightly you’ve focused your niche.It’s hard to know what a parent or a gardening buffwould find helpful if you don’t know where they are inthat experience.Are you marketing to new parents or parents with teenagers? Maybe evenparents who have adult children who are living at home again?Is your ideal gardening customer just getting started? Are they interested inorganic gardening or do they live in an apartment and want to know aboutcontainer gardening? Or maybe they want to learn about hydroponics oraquaponics.
It’s imperative that you know who your customer is in order to give themwhat they want.Once you’ve identified your target market, only then can you find out whatyou can give them that would offer the most help.And where can you find that kind of information?It’s found wherever those people are hanging out online.a good place tostart is in forums.Let’s say you’re promoting a Clickbank information product about aparticular cat behavior, like peeing or spraying everywhere.If you wanted to find something togive away so these folks wouldhappily give you their emailaddress, first we go to Googleand type in cat lover forum. Youcould also try cat lovers forum orcat owner/s forum to see if youget different results.The image to the right is just halfof the first page of Google. Thereare PLENTY of places for you todo all the research about cats youcould ever want.So I clicked on the first result,just to see if it was current andup to date with lots of recentactivity.It was.As you’ll see, at the time ofwriting this report, there were 84 people in the Cat Health forum, and 49 inthe Behavior forum. In the right-hand column, it shows the most recent
post, and every single one of them were posted today. That lets me knowit’s a current, active forum.The next thing I want to look at are the posts inside the forum. So I clickedon Cat Health. This is just a screen shot of a group of topics within the CatHealth forum. The one that caught my eye was the first one. Over 10Kviews!
Clearly there’s something about Atopica that is of interest to a huge numberof cat owners. So you could write up a report, or go to Odesk.com orFiverr.com or iwriter.com and have one written for you for a reallyreasonable price.It’s possible you can find something worthy of giving to your subscribers at arespectable private label site such as IDPLR, where they have over 7600items you can download and use any way you want. They offer a freemembership as well as a paid one. You’ll want to bookmark this site, as it’s avaluable resource for when you get ready to create your own product to sellto your list.Your report doesn’t have to be award winning.it justneeds to provide some valuable information forcat owners about Atopica. (Turns out it’s aprescription drug for dogs AND cats foratopic dermatitis, a skin allergy.) Youcan probably provide a lot of informationabout firsthand experiences by visitingmore than one forum to see what’sbeing said.By reading the actual thread, you can find out whattheir biggest concerns are about Atopica (or the allergy itself) and createyour report around them. (I hope you didn’t miss the fact that you could usethe same report for dog owners just by changing a few words.)Other topics that you could use to create a report around include RegularVet vs Holistic Vet or Euthanasia. You could also pick a few to do a littlemore research on, like other frequently prescribed medications, what toexpect after neutering, signs and symptoms of kidney failure in cats or whatcauses vomiting in cats.Any of these topics would provide a tremendous amount of value to a catowner, and that’s just from skimming over a few threads in only ONEforum.You can use this same method to find problems or heavily talked aboutissues in just about any niche you can think of. With this knowledge, you cancreate something your visitors will definitely want and they’ll gladly andwillingly hand over their email address to get it.
The last thing I want to say about this particular forum is this.it would beeven more ideal if there were more responses, but the fact that the viewsare high is still a good indication there is significant interest in the topic.It’s common to see many people visit forums and read the threads withouttaking the time and effort to post a response.So you have your page all set up, visitors are coming to your site, giving youtheir email address and you have an amazing report to give them. Nowwhat?Before we move on to follow up messages, I want to be sure to point outthat you don’t have to give away a report. If you’d rather, you can putvirtually the same information into video form and give them access to thevideo in exchange for their email address.You don’t need a lot of experience to put a video together. It can be donewithout shelling out the money for Camtasia or some other pricey screencapture software, and you don’t have to show your face or use your voice ifyou don’t want to.There are several options for creating videos and you can find instructionsfor most of them by doing a quick Google search:1. Use Animoto – free or paid service (starts at 5/month) that uses yourimages to create a professional looking video – here are some samples doneby 4th graders.you can do this.2. Turn a Power Point presentation into a video3. Use one of the Top 5 Free Slide Show Makers4. Use one of the Free Alternatives to Camtasia5. Use FiverrSo you see, even making videos needn’t be as intimidating as some peopleseem to believe. If you run across something you don’t know how to do, Ican promise you are not the first one nor the only one who doesn’t knowhow. I can also promise the answer can be found fairly quickly and easilywith a Google search, and in many cases, you can find a tutorial video onYouTube. Use these resources to your advantage!
One other important thing to keep in mind.what you say at the point ofopting in is as important as the headline of a sales letter or the subject lineof an email. It needs to be a strong call to action.Take a look at some of the opt ins I found.think about which one comesclosest to convincing you to sign up.1.2.3.
The first one is the most basic of opt-ins you’ll ever see. It basically just saysfollow us and provides a space for an email address. There’s no reasongiven, so there’s nothing exciting to entice you to give up your emailaddress.I left all three of these at their original size, so you can see how easy it is toignore or overlook a small box. Partly because of this, the second one is alittle better. It’s also set at an angle, so it’s more eye-catching. And on thepage, it’s positioned right in the middle of the page above the fold. If no onesigns up for her free email updates, it won’t be because they couldn’t findthe opt-in box!The third one is a pop-up message that shows up after you’ve been on thesite a certain number of seconds. It shades the page you’re on so you’reforced to take some sort of action before you can continue reading. Somepeople may find it annoying, but it’s definitely attention getting.Another important thing to remember when creating your opt-in box is tomake your call to action strong and exciting. Like example #3 above thatvirtually shouts at you.WAIT! And then gives you an awesomereason.download 500 products free!So to give you an example, using our cat owner’s report. You might say “5Things You Need to Know about Allergic Dermatitis in Your Cat – Enter youremail address below” or “Don’t Give Your Cat Atopica Without Reading ThisReport – Put your email address in the box below.”I hope you’re getting the idea.obviously those are not earth shattering callsto action, but they’re certainly better than “Sign up below for updates”. Justbe sure to try to include a great benefit to them if they give you their emailaddress. You may also want to include something to ease their mind a bit byreassuring them you won’t share their informationwith anyone else.Now we’ve reached the point where your visitors arein love with you because you’ve given them such aWONDERFUL gift full of VALUABLE information andthey’re hungry for more.It’s time for your follow-up sequence.
The best advice I can give you about creating yourfollow-up emails is to write them like you would writea letter to a good friend. Even when you havehundreds of readers, remember that your email isread by one person at a time. Your subscribers shouldfeel like you’re sitting across the table talking to them.They don’t have to be lengthy; you just want to stay intouch with your subscribers. In fact, I recently read that 80% of email isbeing checked and read on smart phones, so you may find that shorter isbetter in most cases.The key to having a successful email relationship with your list is that oneword.relationship. Don’t be afraid to ask your subscribers for their opinions,suggestions or feedback.in fact, encourage them to do so!A couple of things to keep in mind when you’re creating your emailsequence: You may have many people who will be reading your email, butnever forget they’re being read by one person at a time.Be liberal with your use of “you” and “your”, as if you were actually talkingto just one person.because you are. Most, if not all, autoresponders outthere enable you to automatically add the subscriber’s name to the email,wherever you want to insert it.Another thing that helps get your emails opened and read is to rememberthat people like to feel special. They like to know that they really matter.They want to know that you appreciate them.Make your emails as personal as you can, by using their name just like youwould if you were in a conversation with them.because you are.You can use the following suggestions or feel free to add your own uniquetwist.Email #1 – This is your only chance to make a good first impression. Losethem here and you lose them for good. This first email should make themfeel welcome, special and appreciated. Be sure to thank them for trustingyou enough to give you their email address, and assure them you won’t doanything to violate that trust. And then DON’T.
Give them the link to download their report or access the video, or whatever you’regiving them.Tell them what they can expect from your emails.and go ahead and tell them howthey can easily unsubscribe, should they change their mind at some point. Don’t beafraid to do this part. This actually instills trust in you, because you’re being soopen and transparent about how they can stop receiving your emails.Tell them how they can reach you (or your support team.even if right now that’sjust you too) and encourage them to reach out if they have any questions orencounter any challenges. (Some folks, especially if they’re very new, may noteven know how to complete a simple download.)Finally, tell them again how much you appreciate them and leave them with a littleteaser about what’s coming next.Just to give you an idea about how to put all that together, here’s an example.Hi Felicity,Thank you so much for taking advantage of my free offer for the Atopica report. It was alarming for me to discoverhow many side effects can be caused from this medication. It can be very helpful to relieve the itching caused bythe dermatitis, but it’s important for cat owners to know what to look for in terms of side effects.You can download your report here: http://iheartcats.com/wp/reportIt’s important that you know I will not bombard your inbox, nor will I ever share your email address with anyoneelse. You are far too important to me to ever jeopardize the trust you’ve given me.But Felicity, I want you to also know that if you have any questions about issues with your cat or suggestions abouta topic you’d like to see covered in a future newsletter, please feel free to let me know. From time to time, as Icome across a product or an ebook I think you might be interested in, I’ll be sending you some information about itin case you want to check it out.You can reach me at Jamie@iheartcats.com. I try to answer all emails personally within 2 business days and wouldlove to hear from you!If you should decide you no longer want to receive emails from me, all you have to do is click on the unsubscribelink at the bottom of any email, or send me an email with “Unsubscribe” as the subject and I’ll take care of it foryou, no problem.Of course, I hope you’ll stick around for a good long time, because I’ve got some fun and exciting thingsplanned.we’ll be having a cat photo contest soon, with some great prizes for the winning kitty!In the next email, I want to talk to you about another issue that seems to concern a lot of cat owners.and somesuggestions about how you can avoid it for your precious feline!Don’t forget to download your report: http://iheartcats.com/wp/report(And let me know what you think about it.just reply to this email!)Till next time.Jamiejamie@iheartcats.com
You’ll want to send out a second email fairly close to the first one.within acouple of days. How often you send email follow-ups after that is really up toyou. There are some marketers who recommend every day for the first weekor two, so that you stay in front of your list often enough for them to get toknow and remember who you are.Others say 2 or 3 times a week.and still others reco
4. Wordpress Autoresponder Plugin - Free 5. Email Aces – 2.95 for one month, then starts at 8.95 – Limited to only one autoresponder at that price 6. Get Response – Free for one month - 15 for up to 1000 subscribers 7. Icontact – Free for o
