One of the reasons so many website owners fail to make money online is that they don’t understand the value of using their website to build an email marketing list. Even if they are building a list, the process is usually very slow and they couldn’t make any money from it.
I’ll use the rest of this article to explain why building an email marketing list should be every business website owner’s first priority, and offer some tips for monetizing that list.
If you ask any internet marketing expert what their most valuable resource for making money is, they will almost universally tell you it’s their subscriber list. They will tell you that every time they need to make some extra money, they contact their list with a compelling offer and sit back and watch the money flow.
Of course, your email marketing wasn’t built overnight. List building takes time and effort, but once you’ve got the basics down, it pretty much runs on autopilot.
The first thing you’ll need to do is sign up for a professional autoresponder service like. An autoresponder is one of the most important resources in an internet marketer’s arsenal, so it’s not something you want to be stingy about. The best autoresponders are reasonably priced for the services they provide you.
Once you’ve set up your autoresponder, you can create a series of campaigns for your various products or niche markets. When you set up a campaign, you’ll be prompted to write or pre-fill a series of emails. These are the messages your subscribers will receive at intervals of your choosing.
What should you say in your posts?
This is where you build a relationship with your subscribers. That’s why it’s important to adopt a friendly, cheerful style and write everything from your subscribers’ point of view. The more you provide them with the information they need (and you may have to educate them on what they need), the more you’ll be seen as an expert in your field. Don’t just try to sell them your products before you’ve provided them with a valuable service in the form of helpful information, tips, product reviews, and other advice.
Invite your subscribers to reply to your messages and submit your questions or comments. Or offer them some additional free reports if they email you a line. By engaging your readers, you will build a stronger relationship with them.
From time to time recommend your affiliate product or products to them. You will do this from a position of trust and familiarity, since your readers already know that you provide them with valuable information. This makes it more likely that they will respond to your offers.
The first sale is always the hardest, and most people don’t buy a product the first time they see it advertised. That’s why you need to follow up with repeat shipments over time. But once you’ve made that first sale, it’s likely that a reasonable proportion of your first customers will respond to your follow-up offers. This is how internet marketing experts make their money.
Now how do you get people to join your list? This is where your website comes into play. Your autoresponder allows you to set up subscription forms, which you can place on your website. Be sure to place your signup form prominently above the fold near the top of your website. Use colorful and eye-catching titles to attract the attention and interest of your visitors. Offer them a free, one-time report as an incentive to sign up for your list. While most people who come to a website for the first time are not ready to buy, a good number of them will be willing to accept your free offer and join your list.
You now have a systematic method of building an email marketing list, so now it’s up to you to drive targeted traffic to your website and build a relationship with those who join your list. Do that and your business will start to grow.