You might be working hard to grow your email list, but what are you doing with your list to get more sales?

With the new year just around the corner this might be a good thing to improve upon this year, so here are 4 ways to get more sales from your email list naturally using targeted opt in email marketing that’s not pushy and offers a few strategies that will boost your sales potential.

1. Connect with your Subscribers

If you find yourself writing to your subscribers like they’re strangers,  step back and think of them as friends instead.

Even something as simple as using your reader’s first name in the opening and closing of  your emails works well.  People love to see their name in writing, especially in emails.

Add a touch of your personal life when writing.  For instance, if your niche is pet care, mention your pet now and then.  The idea is to help your reader relate their life to yours.

If you know who your target reader is, for example their wants, likes and dislikes, it’s easy to connect with them on a personal as well as a business level.

Remember, you’re job is not to sell them something in your emails; yes, ultimately you want to get them to buy from you, but that’s not going to happen until they can ultimately trust you and also see that you have similar interests, likes and even experiences they have.

When your subscribers can say to themselves, “Yes, that’s exactly the same thing that happens to me”, that’s when they’ll begin to connect and ultimately trust you.

2. Be Patient with Your Email List

People need time to trust you, and getting them on your list is a way for you to do that.  Your subscribers need time to be sure you’re honest, genuine and not out to simply make a buck off them.

Sometimes they just need a few good reasons to buy or they just need help making the buying decision, whatever it is, help them, don’t push them.   If you can accomplish #1  your readers will start to trust you because they’ll feel you understand them.

Not everyone loves social marketing on the web, but it’s a great way to get in front of your readers more often.

Here’s what to do.  In every email that you write encourage your subscriber  to follow you on Twitter and/or Facebook.  The more you are in front of them and the more familiar they are with you, no matter how long it takes, the better your chance is that they’ll look to you when it’s time to actually buy.

3. Solicit From and Listen to Your Subscribers

If you’re asking yourself what do your subscribers and readers want to know, then simply ask them.  Never be afraid to ask. It shows interest and people like that.

There are a few ways you can do this:

Create an email that asks your readers what they want to know. I recommend putting this question in an email autoresponder so that at some point every subscriber gets a chance to offer information on what they want to know.

Create a survey.  Create a survey.  Surveymonkey is a totally free service that lets you create a survey of 10 multiple choice and essay questions.  Once you’ve created  your survey, post the survey link in an email that your readers can go to and respond to.  The information you receive back can be invaluable.

Create a Contact Form on your website.   Create a page on your website or blog that contains a contact form.  Then send an email to your subscribers that points them to your contact page so they can ask a question or make a comment.

If you use Aweber and WordPress, Aweber has a WordPress plugin called ‘Aweber Web Forms’ that will create a form for you to use on WordPress.  WordPress also has their own contact form you can used called WordPress Contact form 7.

4. Teach Your Subscribers & Encourage Interaction for Getting More Sales

Don’t use email to promote and sell.  That’s a sure way to lose subscribers.  Unless you have special offers or discounts that you want to let your readers know about,  your emails should be teaching and advising your readers.

A strategy I like and use is to send your subscribers a free guide, course or tips.   You hear a lot about this method to lure subscribers to subscribe, but this is also something that you can offer subscribers at any time.

Start your email with a few welcoming words and then introduce them to your free guide including the link where they can download the guide.  At the bottom of the email include another link that says “You can also read more on the subject here“  and include a link back to your website that has a related article or blog post.

This strategy does a couple of things for you.  It will get your subscribers back to your website, but you’ll also get more sales because the web page you direct your readers to might have affiliate products on them or ads that you can make money from.

In Summary….

From my experience, learning how to create your own opt in email list isn’t the hard part,  it’s hanging on to your subscribers and getting more sales from them that’s key.    But if you can develop a relationship with your subscribers,  connect with them often and teach them a few things, you’ll increase not only your reputation but your sales as well.

Do you ever get frustrated with how to turn your email subscribers into buyers?

As an internet marketer myself I’ve had good luck with email marketing, but I’ve also paid close attention to the things that make email marketing work.

In other words there are “givens” when it comes to turning your email  subscribers into buyers and these are 6 things that can make a difference, regardless if you have 10 subscribers or 10,000.

1. Create A Long Term relationship First

Once you get a new subscriber it’s exciting and it’s natural to feel compelled to start pitching sales offers right away, but from my experience that’s a sure way to lose subscribers faster than you got them.

I always go for developing a relationship first.  It takes a bit more time but it’s worth it in the long run.

Start them out with giving them great content.  That could be in the form of a free guide, some valuable tips  or a specific ‘how to’ guide that they’ll love.  I’d suggest creating the content yourself, it’s not as hard as you may think.

A helpful resource for writing reports, even ebooks, is  Jonathon Ledger’s ‘Write That Report’.  I’ve used this as a guideline for years when writing my guides, books and reports.  For $7 it’s an awesome tool to have on hand for creating reports quickly.

In all your follow up emails, continue to share personal advice and tips before making any sales pitches.

Sales are ultimately made from trust and relationships, so pitching a sale before that relationship has a chance to grow, pretty much pushes your chances of any sale out the window.

Just as with your friends, it’s not hard to establish trust with your subscribers but it’s not likely to happen immediately, however once they do trust you, they’ll be ready to buy from you.

#2 Be Responsive, Be Genuine

Be open to questions and feedback from your readers and respond to them quickly with a friendly attitude.

Don’t respond to your readers in sales speak, answer questions as if you’re talking to an old friend. Make your responses easy for them to understand.  If you have a product or service recommendation, you can mention it but say it in a way that isn’t pushy or salesy, instead be suggestive and mention how the product has helped you.

If you don’t have an answer for someone, take the time to find one.  People respect and appreciate that.

If you offer a money back guarantee and someone wants a refund, cheerfully honor that as well.

I’ve ordered many products that I’ve returned, but I’ve gone back to order other products simply because I know them, I know their character and returns are never a problem.

Not everyone will be kind to you but my motto is to rise above that and kill them with kindness.

#3 Create Useful Content

I am one of those people who will immediately unsubscribe from a list if all they can do is bombard me with promotional emails.

It’s a selfish notion but as a subscriber it’s all about me and what information I can glean from you.

If you’ve made it a habit of sending me useful ideas, advice, you’ve made my life easier in some way and you’re friendly, I’m going to be a lot more open to suggestions you have on buying a product or service.

Quality content is essential for conversions. It builds your reputation and your demonstrates your expertise. It helps your prospects trust you and it establishes your credibility.

Those are essential buying triggers so use them to your full advantage.

#4 Use Your Personality

Share your personality, quirks and all   with your readers.  Share your successes, your personal stories and experiences too.

If you have photos and videos, share those too.   I’m not a big video person and even though video is an awesome way to help others get to know you,  you can do just as good a job with audio and photos too.

People relate so much better to people they know are real and come to like versus the unknown behind the screen

#5  Proudly Include A Call to Action

Embarrassingly enough, this is something I sometimes forget myself and subconsciously, maybe even consciously,  we all a  little afraid that the call to action will turn readers off.

I’ve learned to overcome that.   I’ve learned that if you want a reader to click on a link, read your post, sign up for a contest, whatever it is, you have to proudly present it.  If they opt out, they probably shouldn’t be on your list in the first place.

As long as you consistently offer good content, ideas and sound advice and your readers like you, they’ll happily take your call to action.  If they’re not, they won’t, simple as that.

Your call to action can be embedded links in your text or they could be a link that says “Click here”.  You may find that one works better for you than the other.   It may depend on your niche or business.   I’ve had luck with both, it just depends on my audience, so test and track to see what your audience responds to.

#6 Special Treatment

Your subscribers should get special treatment. This could be a promotional offer that isn’t available to anyone else, if you do that make sure you tell them that.  Let them know they’re getting special treatment.

But don’t offer incentives for no reason.  Things like “Sign up and Win a Free Ipod Touch!”  isn’t what I’m referring to.  This is almost a sure unsubscribe when someone doesn’t win.

Incentives are a good thing but they work better for short term promotions, they’re not so good for building long long-term relationships.    While it is good to run competitions and promotions, save them for the subscribers you’ve had for awhile and have built relationships with.

By the way, keep track of those subscribers that buy from you or your long running subscribers by developing separate lists.  My Aweber autoresponder makes it easy for me to segregate lists so that I can cater to those that show the most interest.  It’s a good practice to follow for increasing sales

Converting subscribers to customers requires the same basic steps as many other marketing strategies. Create a goal, and a plan to achieve that goal. Then implement the plan,  and of course test and track your results so that you know where to concentrate your efforts.

What are some of the things you do to establish trust with your subscriber?

Anyone can create an email list, really,  it’s not that hard.

The key is to create a targeted email list.

Of all the email lists I’ve created, the targeted lists are what bring me the most sales.

In fact I’d much rather have an email list of 50 targeted subscribers than a list of 1000 subscribers that aren’t quite sure what they’re looking.

This is about finding the people searching with a purpose .

So How Do You Create a Targeted Email List Verses a Non-Targeted List?

1.  Be Niche Focused Yourself

If your business or topic is too broad you’ll be covering such a broad range of things that it will be hard for you to appeal to all your readers.

I have a skin care website that covers about 7 topics of skincare.  The person with acne that subscribes to my newsletter will probably opt-out once I start sending information on anti-aging skincare.  Yep, it’s one of my earlier sites where I made the mistake most newbie marketers make :-\

If I”m not focused and my reader’s not targeted, I’m out a subscriber.

Start by being niche focused yourself.

2. Know Who Your Audience Is

You have to know who your audience is and get in front of them in their Environment.

So let’s start with who your audience is?

Before you can attract the people you want to attract you have to know who they are, right?

Who is the perfect customer to buy your product?  What is their age, sex, income, etc.?  What problems do people have that your service or product can solve, and finally what is your target customer looking for from your product or service.

For example,  if I’m selling strollers, who’s likely to buy them?  Moms right?  Specifically moms in their 20′s and early 30′s.

So how do you talk to a 20 year old mom?  How do you appeal to her, what does she like, dislike and need?  Those are questions you need to answer in order to connect with her so she’ll buy.

Answer these questions and you will know how to appeal to your audience in a way they’ll be compelled to buy.

If you’re not clear on how to really know who your target market is here’s a target market free guide that will clear it all up for you.

3. Next, Get in front of your target market in their environment

I have two favorite ways of getting in front of my target market that helps build my email list:

- Do an email list exchange with other sites in your niche.

For example, let’s say you had a free guide on how to market articles.  Start by researching the web for other internet marketing sites and ask them if they’d be interested in offering your free guide to their email list.  In return you can offer a valued resource that they have to your list.

Don’t look for sites that are in direct competition with you, instead look for sites in your general niche that would have subscribers that may be interested in your free resource.

Not every webmaster will take you up on your offer, so don’t let that discourage you, but those that are interested will help you expand your reach considerably.

- Do Guest Blogging

Guest posting on blogs is another one of my favorite ways to create as well as expand my email list.

Most bloggers love getting good guest posts.  It saves them from writing a post themselves and it gives their blog a little different flavor having someone else write for them from time to time.

If I can get just one guest blogging opportunity a week I can expand my reach considerably for the month.  Especially if the blog owner does a good job of social networking their blog posts.

In the byline of your guest post don’t include a link to your home page, instead write a resource box that encourages the reader to sign up for your email list, so refer the reader to your opt-in or email sign-up page.

Here are some article resource box examples that will double as guest posts resource boxes.

As I mentioned before,  getting subscribers on your list isn’t the tough part, it’s getting the most qualified subscribers, the ones directly targeted to what you have to offer.

That means being niche focused yourself, knowing who your audience really is and then getting in front of them in their environment.

Several years ago when I began working online, I asked a marketing mentor of mine about email marketing, is it still effective?

Her answer was always the same:

“You MUST build an opt-in mailing list or else you are leaving money on the table!”

I hated those words because to me email marketing represented sales pitches and worthless spam.  But in reality, I didn’t want to leave money on the table either.

Today,  email is a valuable part of my marketing efforts.  Is it still effective?  You betcha!

Email marketing is about delivering your message to interested, targeted people in a way that benefits both the marketer and the recipient.

It’s the second half of that statement that’s most important.  It has to benefit the reader.

For most novice email marketers that doesn’t come naturally.  Many beginners take the approach of , I’ve got something to sell, here it is, I hope you buy it.

Who’s that email benefiting?  Not the people on your email list, but it’s not benefiting you either

So how do we use email marketing so that it’s effective for both parties involved? What are the methods?

1. Have a targeted focus

You first have to find your target market.  Who are the people you are trying to sell to?

Your emails have to reach the people most interested in what you have to offer.  Sending emails to your email list about how to do rose gardening when they have daisies won’t get much response.

2. Connect with the reader

This is where you have a chance to gain your reader’s trust.  Help your reader become familiar with who you are and what you do.  Prove to them that you’re about what you can do for them, not what they can do for you.

3. Bring your visitors back to your website

Email gives you the opportunity to bring your readers back to your website. News you have about new products or new information you place on your website is a reason to email your list and ask them to pay your site another visit.  It’s OK to direct them where you want them to go but make it worth their while. Provide good information first, create a sense of need and add a call to action.

The Real Benefits of Email Marketing

OK Liz, I still don’t buy it, I’m going to need some solid benefits for using email marketing.

That’s what I said in the beginning too, but here’s what I finally realized…

Email marketing is cheap

Notice I said cheap, not free. But it’s not expensive either.

In order to create, organize and deliver your emails and collect your email addresses, you need an email autoresponder service.

Autoresponder services are not expensive.  Some services are even free, however if you’ll be running a business I don’t recommend a free service. You run the risk of spam as many ISP’s don’t approve of free autoresponder services. Also your emails will have advertising in them which is not a professional look.

One of the industry’s favorites is Aweber, which is what I also use.  Aweber is a remote autroresponder service that costs me about $20 a month.   I prefer a service as opposed to downloading a software product to my own server.

A quality autoresponder will let you create and send emails regularly and automatically as an affordable way to stretch your marketing budget. There are no production costs, materials or postage expenses. Gotta love that

Email Marketing gives you the opportunity to build trust and Offer Value

Getting in front of your visitors and customers on a regular basis isn’t simply about promoting your stuff.

Yes, email marketing is a promotional tool but how you promote is key. You have to first build trust before you can expect to sell anything,  and that’s where marketers often get it wrong.

How To Implement an Effective Email Marketing Strategy

Here’s how to get started Creating an email list and building trust with Your Subscribers

Build your own Opt-in List

Don’t buy email lists. 99% of the time you’re getting a list of people that aren’t targeted to what you are selling or the email addresses are no longer valid.  Free lists are a waste of money.

Building your own list is how you will create a targeted email list.

The good news is it’s not hard if you follow these steps…

- 1. Give something away for free

The process starts with offering something of value to your readers that is free;  a free guide or a simple how to course or a tips and tricks guide.  This gives your reader the opportunity to taste what you are about and should demonstrate your authority and experience in whatever your niche topic is.

I prefer to create simple ‘how to’ guides loaded with tips and ideas. You can easily create a 10-12 page guide in just a couple of days.

If your are a dog trainer for example, offer a free guide with some of your best tips for how to train you dog.

• How to Lose 10 pounds in 2 weeks
• Easy recipes that take 5 minutes
• Whiter teeth in 3 days

2. Create an opt-in in box

An opt-in box is basically a sign up form that you place on each page of your website or blog, similar to the one I’ve created on the right. Within this signup box you will place an ad, if you will, for your free guide or tips. Below is the request for your reader’s email address.

3. Use an Autoresponder service

In order to capture names and email addresses from your opt-in box, you need a service to do it for you. That’s where email autoresponders come in.

Using a quality email autoresponder will allow you to send unlimited emails, unlimited campaigns, automatically collect email addresses for you and send immediate welcome messages, it will include reporting, guard you against SPAM complaints and tons more all for just a few dollars a month.

Also a good email autoresponder will have a tool that will create an opt-in box for you and give you step-by-step instructions for how to set it up on your website or blog.

Let me caution you on using a free email autoresponder, it’s simply not worth it. The last time I used a free autoresponder it was exceptionally unreliable.  Some of my emails went out,some did not.

I had no idea my emails were not going out until I switched to a reliable autoresponder like Aweber, which was my actually my first choice. After I began using Aweber my email recipients were actually responding to my emails, questions came in, people were thanking me for my emails; it was great.

Free autoresponders also attached free advertising to my emails, because of that other email servers labeled my email as SPAM , not to mention it’s simply unprofessional to send email with advertising splashed all over the top and bottom of my emails.

3. Don’t Spam your list

You may not think you’re spamming but you could be.  For instance if you have a website about how to train your dog and you send your list emails about dog grooming you could be labeled a spammer. It’s off topic and it’s a sure way to get them to opt out.

Emailing your list is about offering useful tips and strategies, delivering news about your niche, time sensitive specials or savings is certainly acceptable.  If you’ve written a great post or article you may want to let your readers know that as well.

The idea is to not be overwhelming with it.  Too many notifications can be annoying and subscribers will opt out.

Test and test some more

Use your email autoresponders reporting features. Watch for how many of your emails get opened. If too many go unnoticed this might indicate that your email subject line is weak.

Split testing is a great way to measure this.  For example, create 2 or 3 subject lines and test them.

For instance, if you have 100 people on your list, you can split test by sending only 10 people an email with one subject line and send ten more with another subject line. The title that gets the most opens would be the one you use to send to the remaining 80 people on your list.

Additionally other forms of testing can help you learn what day and time to send your emails, what topics, promotions and offers get the most clicks.

A Few Last Words…

I hear all the time that email is dying marketing method.  That is simply not true.  In case you’re still in doubt I challenge you to  give this a try:

Next time you are surfing the web take a look at the websites and blogs that have email opt-in boxes.  There are a lot aren’t there?

With all those sites using email marketing I think you can safely say that it’s a strategy that marketers find effective.

What about you?  What are your thoughts about email marketing, is it effective for you or not?  What email methods, strategies or tips do you recommend or don’t recommend…

My guest post today is an outstanding article written by Jimmy D. Brown about how to write the best email subject lines so you’ll get your email messages read.

Email marketing is an extremely powerful strategy for developing followers and making sales, but if you can’t get your emails don’t get read it’s a wasted effort. Here’s what Jimmy has to say:

3 Incredibly Simple, but Outrageously Powerful Keys To Guaranteeing Your Email Messages Are Read
by Jimmy D. Brown

Nothing else can boost your business like a good email list and an understanding of how to use it.

You can *literally* send a mailing in the morning and earn several thousand dollars by the end of the day with email marketing.

What I want to share with you in today’s lesson is how to increase your email marketing leads, sales and profits.  So, let’s get at it…

–> Develop an attention-grabbing subject line.

Russell Crowe would have never won an Academy Award for Gladiator if no one had watched the movie.  Britney Spears wouldn’t have gone quadruple platinum with her latest CD if no one listened to her music.

You’re not going to earn a single penny in profits from your email marketing if folks don’t read the message you send.

It’s one thing to send an email out to 30,000 prospects, it’s another thing to get any of them to read it.

There are three keys to writing catchy subject lines that are so compelling that the reader is practically forced to click and open your email.

1. Personal. There is something both attention-grabbing and exciting about seeing your name in the subject line of an email.

For one thing, we just love to see our own names.  Nothing grabs our attention quicker than something that is specifically about us or for us.

And, for another, personalization *typically* means it isn’t SPAM.  While some spammers do have access to databases with our names, for the most part their lists are built by harvesting emails.

So, when we see our name in the subject line, we immediately are drawn to it…

“Jimmy, here is the information you requested”
“Jimmy, I’d like to give you a free copy”
“Jimmy, did you forget about this?”

Almost every good autoresponder or email distribution system will have a “personalization” feature that will allow you to automatically insert your prospect’s name into your email messages when sending your mailings.  It works like this.

A. Person joins your list through a subscription form, which captures their name and email address.

B. You insert a predetermined code (like  ) that your autoresponder or mailing system provides you, into the email message.

C. The system automatically converts that tag into the actual recipient’s name before delivering the email.

That’s it, you’ve now got personalized emails.  You can generally use these personalization features in both your SUBJECT line of the email and the BODY of the actual email message itself.

An additional attention grabbing feature to the subject line is to TARGET your audience.   Of course, you’ll always want to send your emails to a targeted audience.  For example,  don’t send your Wrestling email to a homemakers’ list.

For example:  I recently sent a mailing out to a smaller list I have of folks who are interested in reprint rights to products.  I had made reprint rights available to my new product, and I wanted to let them know about the licenses.  Here are some sample subject lines that I might have used.

“New reprint rights released today.”
“Reprint rights are available.”
“Sell this new product and keep every penny”

You may receive 500 emails a day, but if you are interested in reprint rights (and you would be, or you wouldn’t be on that list) then this particular subject line is going to stand out when you download your emails.

When you combine personalization AND targeted audience, then you have a very compelling subject line…

“Jimmy, new reprint rights released today…”
“Jimmy, reprint rights are available…”
“Jimmy, sell this new product and keep every penny”

That’s an email I’ll read every time. )

2. Powerful. Another key to writing an email subject line that entices the reader to take a look at your message is to use “power words.”

A “power word” is a word that appeals to the senses.  It’s been shown over and over that we do not buy based on logic, but rather on emotion.  Email marketing works on that same premise.

A few “power words” include:  Free, New, Exclusive, Amazing, Fast, Results, Guaranteed, Unlimited, Step-by-Step, Overnight, etc.

Etc. means “and so on.”  Don’t put “etc.” in your subject line. That’s not a power word. )

“Power words” are strong motivators for reading further.  Why?  Because they trigger our emotions.  They create curiosity.  They are compelling.

So, use them.

— Sidebar —

Since I’ve mentioned something you SHOULD include in your subject line, let me also mention something that you SHOULD NOT use.

Avoid two things like you avoid an angry rattlesnake… hype and in-your-face symbols.

Don’t make outlandish claims like “Earn $50,000 overnight.”  If it isn’t believable, then folks will simply delete your email without ever reading it.

And for goodness sake, don’t use “in-your-face” symbols!!!!!!! No one reads *****URGENT******* or (((((Read Now))))) or
@@@Newsflash@@@

Kind of gets the same response as that obnoxious alarm clock at five in the morning.

In other words, it’s a turn off! )

— End of Sidebar —

Another “type” of power words is a DEADLINE:  24 hours only, next 3 days, only 5 will be accepted, the first 10, etc.

Power words, especially the word “FREE” are particularly effective in getting people to read your email.  Combine a power word with a deadline and you’ve got a winner.

3. Promising. The third key is to present a desirable result.  Your subject line must make a promise.  It must inform the reader, in that split-second that they view it, that there is something that awaits them if they read your email.

And that something must be desirable.  It must be something that the reader does not want to miss out on.  It must appeal to the emotions and pull the reader to the edge of their seat like they were waiting for the climax of a really good movie.

Your subject line should create expectation.

Understand this:  folks don’t buy products because they want your product… they buy products because they want the result of your product.  We buy exercise equipment because we want to look good. We buy candy bars because we like the taste.  And we visit the dentist because we ate too many candy bars. )

We revolve around results.  We work because we want the paycheck.  We drive our vehicles because we want to get somewhere.  We play golf because we enjoy it.  We are a results-driven society.

By creating an email subject line that promises results you create expectation.  Look at the difference between these two subject lines…

“Free 7-day e-Course released today…”
“Free 7-day e-Course you can obtain in 5 minutes…”

Both have a power word.  Both are fairly interesting. But.

.which one creates expectation?  The second one makes a promise… I can have it in 5 minutes!

This is one of the biggest keys in email marketing, and yet is often overlooked. It amazes me how many ezine publishers, for example, have this subject line…

“Bob’s Newsletter, Issue 212″

Whew, hold me back.  I can’t wait to read that. )

Sure, some folks will read it anyway — especially if you have a loyal readership who knows your stuff is first rate.

But, I don’t care WHO you are, you will ALWAYS have better results with a subject line that creates expectation.

You can apply these three keys, “Personal, Powerful and Promising” to any form of email marketing you use… autoresponders, newsletters, free reports, solo mailings, joint venture offers, virtually anything to do with email marketing.

Get this right and it will be time to start working on the ‘ol Academy Awards acceptance speech for your Best Email Oscar. )

If your sales are in a dip and you need a boost in business, here are 8 ways an opt-in email marketing list can boost business by helping you attract more targeted traffic, build customer confidence, increase sales and so much more.

1. You’ll Be Connecting with a Targeted Market

People won’t sign up for something if they’re not interested.  Anyone that opts in to your email list is an interested visitor and and interested visitors are targeted visitors.

This is the most valuable visitor you can have because they are interested in what you have to offer, meaning they are more likely to buy.  In fact a targeted opt-in email list of 50 subscribers is much more valuable than the same number of  non targeted visitors.

2. Your list will bring people back to your site over and over again

When a visitor comes to your website they are not likely to return if you don’t capture their email.  That’s a lost potential customer.

If you can create your own opt-in email list by capturing their email address and communicate with them on a consistent basis you have the opportunity to bring them back to your website each and every time.   That’s more return traffic for you and more opportunity to make a sale.

3. Email is Cheaper

It’s a lot less expensive to create your own opt-in list list than it is to buy or rent one and it’s a lot safer.  Additionally Email is a relatively inexpensive. You can send messages to a large number of recipients at the same time  which is far cheaper than postal rates or even advertising.

4. You’ll attract more joint venture partners

When looking for a joint venture partner, one of the things they will ask you is how big is your opt-in list.

With email marketing it’s not necessarily how big your list is, it’s how you use your list, but in the eyes of someone that’s looking to partner with you, bigger can sometimes be better.  Although a smart joint venture partner will realize a small targeted list can be better than a huge non-targeted list.

5. You’ll be building Strong  Customer Confidence

Your opt-in list gives you the opportunity to connect with your readers and build rapport. This creates buyer trust and confidence which is what encourages people to buy from you.

6. You’ll have a list of those who already purchased from you

Anyone who has purchased from you already is much more likely to purchase from you again.  Keeping a consistent flow of useful and helpful communications to your list keeps them advised of new product announcements, news and opportunities.

7.You Stand to Make More Sales

You may have heard that it takes about 5-7 communications with a prospect before they buy.

That means if you can create a targeted email list that you  follow up with on a regular basis, you will experience higher conversion rates and a higher percentage of referrals.

That’s a big advantage over marketers that don’t have a list they can communicate with on a regular basis.

Also by Personalizing the emails you send to your list you have the opportunity to drive up sales conversion rates even more, in fact you can increase your conversion rates to more than 25% if you can get more of your emails opened.

8. Keeps you out of trouble with the canned spam law

Buying lists and sending unsolicited emails can shut down your online business.   By creating your own opt-in email list you increase your chances of staying out of the SPAM box and out of trouble with the spam police.

As long as you use a reputable anti-spam email autoresonder, and you follow the guidelines set up by your autoresponder, you shouldn’t have trouble.

Start increasing your sales and building quality, targeted traffic today by creating an opt-in email marketing list that will help you connect and build trust with your most valued site visitors.

It doesn’t cost me a thing to build my email list and there hasn’t been one single thing that’s brought me more sales, including paying for them, than having my own an opt-in email list.

But what’s even better is I’ve never paid a penny for any of my email subscribers and I don’t suggest that you do either.

Start by learning how to create a targeted email list and then use these 6 tips to drive subscribers:

Tip # 1 If you want subscribers, ask for them!

Put an opt-in form on every page of your website and/or blog. Make it easy to find, preferably in the top right or left hand corner of your web page. Make it easy to fill out, requesting name and email only.  Requesting more information lessens the chance for sign up, so keep it simple.

Tip # 2 Offer an incentive encouraging sign-up

People hesitate to sign up for email lists because they already have overloaded in boxes so it’s a smart move to offer an irresistible incentive such as a free e-course, MP3 tips, teleseminar or free membership.  Whatever it is, make it super useful. This lets them know that you consider their email valuable enough to be worth something in exchange.

Tip # 3 Develop an email signature Line

Never send an email, business or personal, without including your signature, never.

Your signature should contain your name with a link directly below it to your email sign-up page.

As mentioned above each page of your website should contain an email opt-in box, but when using an email signature setting up a full web page dedicated to your opt-in creates a direct, targeted link devoted specifically to your opt-in information and you’ll need it for the following tips.

Tip # 4 Use Forums

Forums are my favorite way to get subscribers, I like participating and it’s a great way to build rapport.

A good forum will allow you to create a signature line in your profile, that means each time you make a comment or a post to the forum it will automatically include your signature line.

Don’t however don’t subscribe to a bunch of forums, make a few comments and never go back.  I like to look for about 4 or 5 forums that I feel comfortable commenting on and I spend about 15 minutes 3 or 4 times a week replying to new comments or questions.

If you become a regular contributor and freely offer useful input people will soon come to recognize and appreciate your helpful tips and ideas and will be glad to sign up for your opt-in hoping to learn more.

I assure you with regular participation you will boost your optin rate in just a few weeks.

Tip # 5 Use Social Media

Social media websites like Twitter and Facebook allow you to make friends and build relationships.  Be sure to complete the profile pages on these sites and include your email opt-in page link.

Use these sites to post useful snippets that will inspire followers to find out more about you. Invite and encourage new followers to join your email list.

Tip #6 Write Articles

Last, but certainly not least – write articles.  This is another method we hear about a lot but if your articles are good your opt-in list will grow.

You’re not likely to gain subscribers directly form these article directories but other informational sites use these directories for placing content on their sites.  If your article is informative, well written and engages the reader, your articles will get picked up. It’s from those sites that you will generate sign-ups.

Submit your article to the top article directories only.  I suggest:

ezinearticles.com
articlebase.com
Goarticles.com
Isare.com
Webpronews.com
Articledashboard.com

…In summary

Get into the habit of sending traffic to your opt-in page instead of sales pages or even your home page.  This list is your best chance for building relationships with your potential buyers which is where your sales efforts should really begin.

It’s been my experience there’s no better way to provide steady, genuine, from the heart communications that through an opt-in email list

For help with creating your opt-in email list grab my free email marketing tips at Simple Ways to profit.

Are your email subject lines getting the attention of your readers?  In other words are you writing catchy email subject lines that compel a click?

If your email open rates are low, chances are your email subject lines just aren’t catchy enough.

Your subject lines need to compel your readers to open your email.  If they’re not compelling, it’s probably because they lack that little bit of the extra pizzazz they need to compel your readers to open them.

Here’s what I do to help create catchy email subject lines that will grab attention and compel the click.

1. Catchy Email Subject Lines Include a Benefit

When trying to understand how to write the best email subject lines, or any subject line for that matter, you have to focus on the benefit of a specific result.

For example, let’s look at the title”

“How to lose ten pounds in 5 days”.

What’s the one specific thing that really captures your attention?  Losing ten pounds is an attention getter but the real clincher is doing it in 5 days.  That’s the benefit.

Being specific in your title is how to capture your reader’s curiosity and attention, but the benefit is what makes it irresistible.

Sending an email with a subject line  that says ‘how to write an article’ might capture some attention but by writing:

‘How to write a compelling sales article in 20 minutes’

makes it hard to resist.

Here are a few examples that would follow this pattern:

• Speed read 20 pages in 1 hour
• Potty train your dog in 3 days
• Get washboard abs in 2 weeks
• Cut your wedding costs in half
• How to lose 10 pound in 5 days without breaking a sweat

2. Be Personal With Your Email Subject Lines

Use your subscribers name in your subject line. People like to see their name in print and when they see it they are immediately drawn to it.  I also like to use it once in the body of the email and depending on the email I will often use it int the closing.

Personalizing your emails this way allows you to single out your reader, they get a feeling that what you are writing is about them and for them.  That’s a powerful attraction for readers and they are drawn to that.

A good, state of the art, email autoresponder will have a “personalization” feature that includes a way to insert your prospect’s name into your subject line, email messages or where ever you feel appropriate.

In fact a really good autoresponder like Aweber for example, will even twitterize your email subject lines, help you create dynamic subject lines, show you how to test your subject lines and help you build urgency into your emails.  All powerful strategies for not only creating catchy email subject lines but creating great emails period.

3. Catchy Email Subject Lines Use Power Words

Power words can compel your reader to take a look at your message. Using power words appeals to our senses as well as our emotions.

Power words like New, Easy Free, Exclusive, Powerful, Fast, Results, Guaranteed, Unlimited, Step-by-Step, Amazing, Secret, Uncovered, Shocking and others can be hypnotic and are strong motivators for getting people to read on. They trigger our emotions, create curiosity and they’re compelling.

One thing to watch out for is the temptation to sound hypey.  In other words don’t make unrealistic claims like:

“Earn $100,000 in 24 hours.”

That’s not realistic and your email will simply get deleted without it ever being read.

Another powerful strategy is to add a deadline to your subject line, for example:

“For the next  24 hours only, next 3 days, only 10 will be accepted, for the first 25″

Power words, especially the words ‘free’ or ‘easy’ are particularly effective in getting people to read your email.

Combine a power word with a deadline and you’ll get the attention of your reader almost every time.

4. A Catchy Email Subject Line Makes a Promise

Use your email subject line to let the reader know that there’s something that awaits them if they read your email.  Be sure that something is desirable. It must be something that the reader does not want to miss out on.

It has to appeal to their emotions so that it pulls the reader in so they won’t be able to resist taking a look.  This is how you create an expectation.

Think of it this way, people don’t buy products because they want the product, they want the result of  the product.

I didn’t buy my treadmill because I wanted a treadmill, I bought it because it’s going to help me look great and have more energy.

We work because we want a paycheck.  We buy food because we love to eat.  We watch movies  because we enjoy them, etc.

By creating an email subject line that promises results you create expectation.

The Basics for Writing Email Subject Lines that Get Attention

- Keep your email subject line under 50 characters.  That’s the recommendation because subject lines with 50 or fewer characters have open rates that are about 12% higher than for those with more than 50 characters.

- Be specific. A subject line like “Internet Marketing Tips” is much less catchy than something that says:

“Powerful Internet Marketing Tips that Increase Sales”.

- View the 1 FULL HOUR of free video tutorials that show you step by step how create every aspect of a powerful emails, from writing catchy email  subject lines all the way to the closing and the P.S.