email marketing tips

3 Things To Avoid When Emailing Your List

When you decide to start building your email list, it isn’t just a matter of sending your subscribers your promotional newsletters or bombarding them with affiliate links. There are many things to consider to help avoid upsetting your subscribers and to keep them opening your emails.

While there are many ways you can encourage people to subscribe to your list, there are also some things you must do to keep them on your list once you have them there!!

Apart from that, you also want to avoid any problems with the law and your internet service provider or ISP. There are now many laws and rules that are applied to help protect the privacy of the internet users from spamming and unwanted mails.

And this is especially important with the introduction of GDPR if you are collecting subscribers from the EU.

Email has always been a popular medium for marketing because of the low cost, and because of this, many companies have seized the opportunity and have flooded their subscribers email inboxes with promotional mail that offers very little in value to the reader.

This is a very big problem in the Internet Marketing and Make Money Online niches in particular.

The thing is, if people opt-in to your list it’s because something about you resonated with them and they want to receive your newsletters and promotional materials, just not to be bombarded with offer after offer.

They have consented to being on your list by signing up and giving you their valuable email address; just don’t forget to put an unsubscribe option in every email to make it easy for them to leave if they want to do so.

There may be times when an email account was provided when the real owner didn’t want to subscribe, such as if the email account was hacked; it may be rare, but it does happen.

One thing to remember is that it is essential that you keep your list clean and manageable. You can do this by using the many tools and technologies available within your autoresponder. For a great autoresponder, check out Active Campaign or Aweber.

Do not worry; your investment in any email marketing strategy is well worth it with all the coverage you will get which will likely be converted into sales and profit. Plus, if you treat your subscribers well, they can become customers for life.

Keep yourself and your business out of trouble and potential run-ins with the law and the internet service providers. Keep your operation legit and clean.

Your reputation as a legitimate businessman and a legitimate site depends on your being a straight and true marketing strategist. To help guide you through all of this, here are three things to avoid when emailing your list.

1: Take Notice Of Your Bounce Rate

These are e-mails that are basically undeliverable and for whatever reason, were not successfully received by the intended recipient.

There are bounces that happen or occur because the server was busy at the time they were sent but these can still be delivered later, and you should be able to resend any email via your autoresponder service.

There may also be bounces because the inbox of the recipient is full at the time.

Then there are those messages that will never be delivered. This could be because the subscriber has used an invalid email address, a misspelled email address, or a dummy email address that was probably used just to try to get a freebie that you may have been giving away.

Manage your list by making a note on those email addresses that bounce. Remove these email addresses from your list regularly so that you have accurate statistics and records as to how many are actually receiving your mail.

You may also want to check the spellings of your email addresses in your list. One common mistake is when an N instead of an M is placed in the .com area.

Your bounce rate may affect your deliverability too, so it is doubly important to remove email addresses that are bouncing to ensure that your other emails aren’t being affected.

2: Make It Easy To Unsubscribe

Always provide an unsubscribe link in all of your mails. This is a legal requirement, especially nowadays with increased data protection laws. When someone in your list files a request to be unsubscribed, always take that request seriously.

If you don’t take them off your list and keep sending them your e-mails, you are now sending them spam mail.

When you are reported as a spammer, you and your business can get into a lot of trouble. You can be reported to the authorities and maybe blacklisted by many internet service providers.

You could also lose a lot of subscribers this way and if you earn a reputation as a spammer, this will definitely affect future potential subscribers as your name will get around the internet via social media etc. so always act with integrity and have your readers best interest at heart.

3: Keep It Clean

Do not provide pornographic or shocking and disturbing content in your newsletters. You probably have no idea of the real age of the recipient and you could get many complaints from this.

Of course, if you are in this type of niche, you would need to have safeguarding measures in place to ensure that anyone who does subscribe to this type of material is of a suitable age.

This is why personally I would avoid these types of niches because they are very difficult to police from your end and if you are found to be sending age-inappropriate content, you could end up in a lot of trouble.

Controversial issues should also be avoided by your business unless it is relevant to the nature of your business. Perhaps something controversial has happened in the news that you can use in an email, but this should definitely be the exception and not the norm.

If you keep these tips in mind, you should be able to maintain a healthy relationship with your subscribers. Always remember that you are there to serve your readers; they have come to you for your advice and guidance so don’t exploit them. It’s fine to promote offers to them, but it shouldn’t be the entire focus of your email marketing strategy.

Just think; “Would I be happy to receive this email in my inbox?”

If the answer is yes, then you are on the right track…

If you want to know more about nurturing your list after they have opted in, check out the featured resource below where you can get a free report about simple list building to expand your knowledge further. If you do download it, please read it and take action and good luck 😊

How To Get Visitors To Your Opt-In Page

Despite the recent growth of various online marketing strategies such as social media, email marketing still remains to be the most effective marketing tool for websites. A mailing list is therefore one of the greatest assets a business can possess.

Building this list however is not an easy task. Some websites have even resorted to buying lists in a desperate attempt to increase their subscribers but in the end this proves useless and even damaging.

A good mailing list is one which a website has developed naturally. Such a list contains individuals who have a high potential of becoming loyal customers. To build a good mailing list you need an equally good, high conversion opt in page.

The first step in creating a successful opt in page is increasing the traffic to it. Without people visiting the page, you have no chance of building your list. Below are some helpful strategies through which you can boost the number of visitors visiting your opt in page.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

To get as many people as possible to visit the opt in page, you need to put your website in front of as many eyes as possible. The best way of doing this is through search engine optimization.

The proper use of certain rich keywords and key phrases and providing value to your visitors through the content on the website are all effective SEO methods.

With an increased ranking, more web users will see your website and possibly visit it.

Paid Advertising

If you are just beginning to build your mailing list, getting the traffic you need naturally can take time. To jumpstart the list, make use of paid advertising. You can advertise using Google, Bing or Facebook ads among others.

The advantage of paid advertising is that the traffic that you receive is still beneficial since the people who will click on the ad are those who are interested in what you have to offer.

Ensure that you have crafted your ads, especially those on Facebook, well enough so as to attract as many people as possible.

Social Media

Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus are some of the best social media websites that you can use to triple the traffic being received on the opt in or squeeze page. Facebook is especially effective at this.

All you need to do is create a fan page and then get people to join it.

You can even use Facebook ads to get more fans. Frequently invite your fans to sign up for something and place the opt in page url where they can easily see it.

Be careful however not to spam your fans. Instead, strive to provide value and make offers that they cannot refuse.

Solo Ads

This is another popular method of jumpstarting your list although you will have to pay for it. It involves using someone else’s list to market your website and create your own subscribers.

For instance, if your website is in the health niche, you can find a well-developed almost similar health website and then pay the site owner to email your content or offer to his list.

Of course, you can only use solo ads with other related websites. For those in marketing and business niches, a form of solo ads is Safe Swaps – http://safe-swaps.com

A word of warning though; not all solo ad vendors are made equal and there are a lot of poor providers out there so this is NOT for the novice marketer as you can lose a lot of money quickly. In all honesty, paid advertising via the likes of Google, Bing and Facebook are more reliable.

Forums

Many websites owners do not realize the potential that forums hold in getting more people to visit an opt in page and subscribe to emails. You can easily build a list with hundreds of subscribers simply by using forums.

Just find a popular forum in your niche, sign up and then become an active participant. Answer and ask questions and contribute to discussions.

As you build your authority on a forum, more people will be curious to find out what you are offering.

Article Marketing

Article marketing has long been said that it no longer works. However, it should still be part of your traffic generation strategy, as you’ll still get traffic from those searching for information around a particular topic.

This involves creating short articles, between 300 to 700 words and then posting them on various article directories. At the bottom of each article, you include a url to your opt in page.

To increase the number of people who follow the url ensure that the article contains helpful and informative content and use more than one article directory.

Even better, post the articles to directories in a certain niche rather than general directories. Here’s an article directory where you can submit your articles: http://ezinearticles.com

Press Releases

Media releases are particularly effective at getting people to check out what you are offering.

To increase the effectiveness of press releases, create them regularly and submit them to different news websites.

Guest Blogging

Get in touch with popular bloggers and ask whether you can submit a blog post.

Although you may not get paid for the post, you may be allowed to place a link to your website at the end of the article.

This tactic is all about exposure and you are borrowing the site owners expertise. The more popular the blog, the more traffic you will get.

Contests

People love winning things, and a contest of any kind will receive a lot of attention.

Start a contest on your website and publicize it on social media and ask your fans to share it with their friends.

Ensure that the reward for the winner is appealing enough for people to want to participate.

YouTube

YouTube is the most popular video hosting website. Take advantage of the millions of visitors who visit it every day to boost traffic to your opt in page.

Learn how to create a viral video that is both helpful and interesting. In the video and description, provide a link to the opt in page. You can also encourage people to share their video on their websites for more visibility.

In your effort to get people to visit your website, make sure that they are people who are likely to sign up. Hence your efforts need to be directed towards a specific target group. As you work within your niche, you attract relevant visitors who in the future can easily turn into paying customers.

After you have attained considerable traffic increases, remember that there is also the work of getting people to actually join your mailing list. But once you have established a steady stream of reliable traffic, you have tackled this major first step in email marketing.

If you want to know more about building your list after they have opted in, check out the featured resource below where you can get a free report about simple list building to expand your knowledge further.

5 Ways To Make Your Email List Know, Like And Trust You

There is absolutely no doubt that having a huge email list can be very profitable, but building a list of subscribers is not the be-all and end-all of email marketing. In fact, if you do not establish a relationship with your list or make them feel like they have an intangible connection with you, your list will become unresponsive and die off.

You’ll notice that your emails get less opens and your unsubscribes will start increasing. Most marketers have no clue why this happens and usually there is only one reason. The people on the list just don’t like them or trust them.

It’s really just human nature at work here. If you get a phone call from someone you like, you immediately answer it. What happens if it’s someone you don’t care much for? In most cases, you’ll ignore the call and in some cases, you’ll even block the number.

That’s exactly what happens with emails too. People quickly and eagerly open emails that come from marketers whom they like… and for those they don’t…. it’s off to the trash or spam folder.

Your job as an online marketer is to make your list like and trust you. They’ll then look forward to your emails and be loyal subscribers. This article will give you 5 ways to achieve this goal. Adopt them and you’ll see a marked improvement in the response from your list.

Infotainment

People love to be entertained. Even if you’re in a niche that’s serious like diabetes, you can always include interesting stories in your emails to keep your readers hooked.

Too many marketers focus on conversions instead of rapport. They keep their emails brief with a call to action so that readers will click on the link and buy what they’re promoting. While this may work now and then, over time, your subscribers will get tired of your salesy emails and it’ll turn them off.

This is especially true if you’re in the make money online niche. Most list subscribers in this niche are inundated with emails and overwhelmed to the point where they just stop opening the emails.

You need to be entertaining and keep your emails helpful but lighthearted so that it’s not all about the selling.

Get Personal

It is a fact that the most visited page on most blogs is the ‘About Me’ page. The reason for this is that people are curious to know who the person behind the blog is. The same applies to your list. Your subscribers want to know who you are.

Share with them a few personal stories or incidents that may have happened to you. Do not worry about seeming irrelevant. You want to become a ‘friend’ to your subscribers… and people know personal stuff about their friends.

So, bring down your wall and be human. Share what makes you laugh and what annoys you… and whatever you think may be interesting.

Be Truthful

Above all else, be truthful to your list. Do not lie or resort to leaving out pertinent details just to get sales.

This is rampant in the online marketing industry today. Marketers recommend and praise products that they don’t have a clue about.

By making a mediocre product look like the next best thing since sliced bread, you may get the sale. However, once your subscriber purchases the product and sees what a letdown it is, they will not trust you in future.

Polarize

It is a fact that you cannot please everyone. No matter how good you are, there will be people on your list who ‘just don’t get you.’ Many marketers try to be politically correct and toe the line just so that their subscribers don’t leave.

This is wrong and it’s better to just be yourself and let your subscribers like you for who you really are. Say what you want to say without worry. Those who like you will stay on and those who don’t, will leave.

At the end of it all, what you will have is a list of people who truly want to be on your list. This is a ‘tribe’… and over time, there will be immense loyalty and you will truly enjoy interacting with your list.

Do note that it’s best to avoid discussing politics and religion unless you’re really good at being impartial in your writing… and even then, it’s a gamble. Anything else is fair game.

Be Generous

Generosity is so rare these days and it’s especially rare among marketers. The majority of marketers only send emails promoting products with very little else to go along with their promotions.

People like to buy but they don’t like being sold to. Most people join your list for information and value. They want information that helps them. They didn’t join your list to keep buying products so that you make sales and commissions.

So, provide value to your list often. Be generous and give them tools, tips and your time if you can. Answer all emails that come from your people on your list. Go out of your way to help them.

When you do this well, just intimating that you have a great product on offer will be enough to get their attention and they’ll buy what you recommend. You will not need to send 10 emails a day or hard sell them the product.

You attract flies with honey and not vinegar. Use these 5 tips and make your list like you like a friend they’ve always known.

How Often Should You Email Your Subscribers?

All marketers will know that building an email list should be your number one priority when starting out in any kind of online business. If you ask any marketer what they would do if they had to start again, most will invariably say that they would start to build their list from day one and wish they would’ve done this the first time around.

This is because an email list is an asset you own, unlike the many social media platforms that you may be on who can shut you down without any notice at all.

So, after you have started to build your list what then? Well, you email them on a regular basis with useful help, tips and advice. You should also try to entertain them and open up to them and show them the real you rather than a business persona.

This opening up builds the know, like and trust factor that will make them more likely to buy from you again and again.

The key is to be yourself and don’t try to fake it. They want to know about you and your perspective on things or they wouldn’t have signed up.

You can also send them offers that you may think they will be interested in but the key here is not to promote everything under the sun (especially poor quality products that you haven’t personally invested in).

They want to know that you have their best interests at heart and that you don’t just think of them as a commission on a sale!

So, now you have an email list and have started to write to them; great.

The next question is, “How often should you email your list?”

Believe it or not, this is one of the most commonly asked questions regarding email marketing. Some marketers say that you should mail daily so that your list can get to know you.

You’ll be creating a habit where they look forward to your emails. This is true and there are several marketers who mail their list several times a day and make six figure earnings from email marketing.

On the other hand, many other marketers feel that you shouldn’t swamp your list with emails or they’ll get fed up and unsubscribe. So, they mail less often… but they make good money too.

So who is right? How often do you mail out?

The truth is that there is no right or wrong answer to this question. It depends on several factors ranging from the people on your list to the type of marketer that you want to be. We’ll look at a few tips below and they’ll shed light on how frequently you should mail.

The Golden Rule

The golden rule is that you should do unto others as you’d want others to do unto you. If you do not mind receiving several emails from marketers promoting products every single day, you’d probably have no qualms mailing your list daily or even several times a day.

However, if you prefer getting one email every 3 or 4 days from a marketer and daily emails seem like too much for you, you can choose to email every 3 or 4 days.

You’ll feel better about yourself… and this will reflect in your emails.

You’ll also attract subscribers who prefer fewer but better emails. It’s of vital importance that you do what’s right for you and your list.

If several people on your list tell you that they prefer fewer emails, then mail less frequently. You must have a ‘feel’ for your list.

What Type Of Marketer Do You Want To Be

There are two types of marketers when it comes to email marketing. One type follows the ‘Churn and Burn’ method of email marketing.

Basically, they release products constantly and use traffic generation methods such as solo ads and paid ads to build their list.

They then hammer this list with emails promoting offer after offer after offer. This can be very effective and they may make thousands of dollars doing it.

However, they’ll burn out their list quick and this explains why they keep having to add new subscribers to the list.

The second type of marketer sends fewer emails to the list and he or she is more concerned about building a relationship and rapport with the list. The focus is on repeat customers and the long term value of the customer.

Their goal here is to build a business and not sacrifice long term profits for short term rewards.

Providing value and helping their list is put ahead of short term profits. They treat their subscribers as people and not cash cows.

Both methods are just as profitable… and ultimately, you should choose one that you’re comfortable with.

Do You Have Something To Sell?

If you feel like you have something to sell to your subscriber that will be of value to them, cast aside your hesitation and mail away. Just make sure you exercise due diligence and check the product out first.

Never make the mistake of blindly promoting a product that you don’t have a clue about. Like they say, trust takes years to earn and seconds to break.

A good practice to follow will be to always have a link to something a subscriber can buy. Even when you’re sharing information and providing value to your list, there should always be one link in your email that will take them to your store or a product that they could buy.

Curious subscribers will click on the links and you will make sales. So, even if your emails are purely helpful content, do find a way to add a link or two subtly within the email that could lead to sales. After all, you are a marketer and you do need an income to keep your business going.

At the end of the day, the best way to know how often you should email your list is to self-reflect on your business goals and to do what is comfortable for you. Monitor your email open rates, click through rates and unsubscribes. With these stats you’ll have all the information you need to figure out just how often your list wants to hear from you.