Month: October 2013

It’s great to be told that you need to build a list which you can send emails to.

The problem is that once you have all the technical stuff set up, you don’t always know what to put in your emails.

One big question that I often get asked is how often to email a list. This can be a difficult question to answer.

First it will depend on how you train your list from the beginning. If you only send out rare emails your list is likely to forget who you are. So when you do send out an email it will probably go unnoticed. On the flipside if you always send out regular emails from the start, you are training your subscribers to expect an email from you every few days. Some marketers successfully email their lists several times a day! From our experience we find that most people don’t mind 3 or 4 emails each week. This is as long as you provide great content that is helpful and informative.

So what type of content can you offer?

This is the next problem that marketers have. Sending out the first few emails is easy and you have lots to say. But as the weeks go on you don’t always know what to say, and this is when you start to email less frequently.

Here’s some great ways to find content. One of the easiest ways is to set up a Google Alert in your business or niche. Then you simply talk about the latest news in this area. The same can be done with an RSS feed, set up a RSS Reader and each morning check it for updates. Other ideas for content include talking about business related news and news about your local area. You may support a charity or organization and this gives you something to talk about. Maybe you are into a certain sports team or have hobby that you do regularly. You can also send links to things on your Facebook page that you like as well as your blog posts. When you start looking for things to write about you will be amazed at how many ideas come to you. By talking about other things in your emails you are presenting yourself as a ‘real’ person. This is so important as you want your list to know who you are and what is happening in your life. When you do this you may just be surprised at how many of your subscribers start sending you emails.

If you are familiar with any aspect of list building you may have heard of list segmentation, but you may not really understand what it is. List segmentation is what its name suggests, a way of dividing a large list into a smaller one.

Your next question should be ‘Why?’

The main reason to divide your list is so that you can send out more targeted emails to them. For example if you sent an email to your list about self publishing a book on Kindle you can track who opens and reads your email.

Each autoresponder deals with this in a different way but you should have the ability to check on your email stats. The following applies to anyone who has an Aweber account.

To find out who is interested in your email you click on the title and then go to a tab that says Opened and Unopened. You then have the ability to create a segment that you can save.

So following our example you would find out how many people opened your email about self publishing. You can then save them into a new list called Self Publishing. Next time you want to promote a product or give out information on this topic, you know you have a list of interested people.

Using this method is going to help your open rates go up and it will increase your income.

You can even subdivide this segment even more and find people who specifically like Kindle products or who want to learn more about using CreateSpace. When you send more targeted emails you are engaging your list and they are going to love you for it.

It depends how far you want to divide your lists. But if you are currently not seeing great results with emailing your list, you should try this step.

Yes, this step is going to take time and effort to put into place, the effort can really be worth your while. List segmentation is perfect if you tend to offer lots of different products. You can easily create smaller lists for different areas, you could end up with lists like those below.

• Losing Weight
• Car Repair
• Blogging
• Writing a Book
• Creating Apps

Using list segments can be really beneficial to any serious marketer who is looking to provide their list with quality content.

When it comes to building an email list you really need to start thinking outside the box. What methods can you use to build your list that make you stand out from the crowd?

While most people are offering reports and eBooks as a gift for subscribing to a list why not offer them something different? Let’s look at some methods which aren’t used as frequently.

These ways include making use of webinars, videos and using Google+ Hangouts on Air. All of these methods provide exposure to you and provide you with a unique way of getting people onto your list.

With webinars you can provide people with a registration form. Then you simply provide great information on a certain topic for no charge. People will be thrilled with what they have learnt and will be happy to recommend you to their friends.

With videos you can leave a link at the end of your video for people to join your list. Offer them more information in the form of a free report of PDF. When you use this method make sure you add your squeeze page info into the description area.

Google+ Hangouts on Air are perfect for small webinars or you can use them to make a recorded webinar. Simply run the hangout without any attendees and then keep the link private. Share with people who register for it only.

Hangouts are the perfect opportunity for live interviews and using as a question and answer session. You could invite current list members to participate and let them ask questions about something they are struggling with. Then you can use this completed hangout session as your gift to new subscribers. This video would technically become your FAQ section on your website or blog.

If you are nervous about making a video a great way to start is by using power point slides instead of you being on camera. Just remember to create a slide with a call to action such as:

• Click the link below for more information
• Sign up to my free newsletter

You need to tell people what action you want them to take once the video or webinar has finished. Make sure your link is large and easy to read and always post it in the description box as well.

Try this method out for yourself today and see if you can’t increase the size of your email list quickly.