Opt in Lists - Don't people know you are basically advertising to them?

I think most people know that they are being marketed to. The key here is to ensure that they see value in what you are offering.

They need to see that you are not just someone with a product to sell but instead someone that is going to address their needs. Our end result is to sell to these prospects. But before selling to them, sell yourself first. Offer them some good free tips in your emails. You don't need to induce them to buy something every time you send an email out.

You want to build a relationship with them so they will be less inclined to unsubscribe from your emails. If you only send them emails that scream BUY THIS...BUY THIS....and never offer them free tidbits in between, they may be more likely to stop accepting your emails.

And many successful emails sent out can be 'soft sells'. You provide them with some good free info and at the end say something like....'And by the way, I use this product XYZ. I have found if very usefult...blah blah..... and then put your link there.

As for how often you can send out emails - it all depends. You will have to test this for your niche. You may find that once per day is great or you may find that your list tolerated an email twice a week. It is something you will have to test.

Personally, I don't like to send out more than one per day at most. But again - you will need to test your lists tolerance for frequency of sending out emails.

Hi Anton,

You may send them good content , not only offers. When sending offers it is a good idea to cloack your links. Also is good to add an affiliate disclosure at the end of your emails where you mention that you receive an affiliate commission when people invest through your link.

Regards,

John Timmins

it depends on what you provide them when you ask them to subscribe to your newsletter.

if you provide them with exceptional high quality info, they'll probably go ahead and subscribe without second thought. and also convince them that you'll only send them free resources and information.

Yes, most people will know that you are going to try to market to them. That's why you have to build that relationship with them and provide a lot of free, useful information such as tools, how to do things.

When something comes up that they really need they will possibly try the free version and then upgrade later to a paid version.

Hope this helps,
Patti

Most squeeze pages won't tell subscribers that they will be sent promotion e-mails, and only tell them that they will receive a free gift when they subscribe.

But I think it will be better if we tell them what they will get in the future. as well as the free gift.

In fact, as above said, most subscribers know that they will receive promotion e-mails from you.

It's really all in the way you go about the relationship. "You have not, because you ask not" is not just a principle in the bible. If you want them to give you an e-mail adress, you have to ask. Hopefully you're providing enough value for them to believe in your ability to help them.

-Travis

I think that yes people are smart enough to realize that they might get promoted to in the future when they insert their email addresses into that opt-in form.

And most people, especially those of us who are internet marketers ourselves, do know that we will be promoted to, and actually don't mind being promoted to.

But...

What we don't like, or at least most of us don't like is having our inboxes FLOODED with promotions.

There is a HUGE difference between being promoted to, and being spammed. (and I am not using the legal or technical definition of spam here)

This could depend on a bunch of things

how relevant your emails are to what they (the subscriber) is looking for.
how many times you actually send an email out to them
if they are happy with you or not
if your emails are even getting past their spam filters
how good your email headlines are

etc, etc, etc.

Yes that is usually how it works

I will tell you something that a teacher once told me.

Asking questions is NEVER dumb!

What's dumb is staying quiet and pretending you don't need help when you do.

So ask away!

Doesn't really matter. Some people will buy from you whether you sell alot to them or not.

Those who dont buy from you from some good marketing on your behalf... probably wasn't going to buy in the first place. Another freebie seeker. Dont worry about it.

Yeah, they know you will be marketing to them.... And for many people, that is just fine, because they want to buy from someone who's recommendations they trust...

So teach 'em to trust you, then market to them, because they expect you to do so and want you to do so.

I think this is why I am hesitant to really give list building a good go. I'm just not sure that I'll feel good about it.

You don't have to try to keep the fact that you will be marketing to them a secret. I signed up for several different internet marketing email lists and in most of them the marketers directly tell me that they will market products to me and earn a commission fee. I don't mind because I am interested in internet marketing and I believe that the people I signed up for have a good sense of judgement and will only market products they believe are useful.

People don't mind being advertised to as long as you make it clear that you will only provide them with quality products. Also, don't try to sell stuff to your list everyday, send out some freebies or just articles before you sell anything.

Well a lot of companies nowadays will already have the newsletter box ticked and you need to untick it if you wish to opt out of their mailings.

Believe it or not people don't always hate being sold to. When someone first starts playing golf they usually want to see and buy everything they can. That sort of person would love to be on a list that tells them about the latest golfing gadgets and tools.

Yes, it can. That doesn't necessarily matter. You don't have to have a "box" like that, to build a list, anyway.

It depends on how much of a continuity-process you establish and on what you send them as the "freebie" in exchange for their email address, and whether it's something that's specifically designed and created to maximize your open-rate for the email series. This is the "Big Secret" (as far as there is "one Big Secret"!) of successful list-building.

The important thing is to avoid trying to build "as big a list as possible" and to appreciate at the start that only a high-quality list of people who will expect, open and read your emails is worth anything. As with most important issues in internet marketing, quality and relevance are what matter: if you instinctively look at it as "a numbers game", then it's probably all gone wrong (as it does for so many people who end up with a 25% open-rate) before you've even started.

I suggest starting with this thread, then: http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post6123982

its a numbers game.. at the end of the day there are other factors that affect the reach in your email marketing efforts:
1. for example - not all emails are delivered 100% - there are bounced
2. of those delivered - only a certain percent get to the inbox vs junk
3. of those in the inbox - only a few subs have the time to give attention to your email
4. of those who open - only a few proceed to click a link and view your offer
5. Again on those who opened.. some are your competitors spying on how you are approaching the market

Say people subscribe to an opt in list through my site, can the emails I send out be free information around my site's core theme and then on occasional emails, perhaps include an affiliate offer.

Should the information I send out be new articles posted on the site or some other interesting information (non posts) that falls within the scope of what the site covers?

Thanks Alex. I am getting a better understanding now.

What I intend to do is get people to opt in through my main site (a health site) with significant daily traffic from the search engines but also a good amount of returning traffic.

Maybe I should have the subscriber box at the end of the articles or in the sidebar where I allow people to tick the different type of info they would like to opt in for. Since I already have a pretty well trafficked site, maybe its best to do it through that and occasionally send out info of good health deals (affiliate products of any kind) maybe once every two weeks. Overall, I I'd probably send out an email every 5th day maybe. So, every third email I'll blend in one or two affilliate links.

What kind of health site are you running?

Way I get people to Opt in to my list is I offer a FREE Gift to them at the very start!

This helps build trust and a relationship from the very get go. I am not selling anything but offering a free video course or eBook that they can read FREE of charge.

Once they are added to my list I give valuable information that can help them - and sprinkle my affiliate links in them.

This way I am building a relationship with them, and they know every time they open my emails - it will not be another sales page.

Marketing study after study have demonstrated that people that are looking for specific information don't mind being marketed to. When someone is looking to improve their golf swing, as an example, they want to improve their golf game.

So if they come across a website that gives them some free, useful information on how to do that, they're going to be happy. They are now more prone to take a look at a product (or service) that will help them achieve what they want (improve their golf swing) which increases the likelihood of them making the purchase.

When marketing is done properly and effectively, the person seeking the information will forget they're being marketed too because they will be focused on getting what they want.

RoD

It depends on the niche too. I would imagine in Internet Marketing everyone is an affiliate marketer on the list of another marketer and more likely to look out for freebies. The newbies are willing to blindly purchase but eventually get jaded.

If you're in other niches you can market more easily. You can recommend a product with your affiliate link and people aren't automatically suspect of your intentions. If you've helped them and built trust they will either buy from you or appreciate you taking the time to author the review.

Subscribe to some of the lists of big affiliates (outside of IM/MMO) on ClickBank and take a look at how they are marketing to their list.

You have to build up a lot of trust and goodwill between yourself and your list members.

- Links to articles that are helpful with subtle pitches - on the side you'll see a banner ad or in the content you'll see an affiliate link carefully linking to a sales page.

- Free helpful content - no pitches

- Obvious pitches

If the subscriber sees enough value they don't mind seeing the ads (subtle or not).

What you want to do is keep giving people stuff that helps them enough that they want to STAY on the list.

I think the best example of this is Terry Kyle - I happily subscribe to Terry Kyle's internet marketing/SEO list because every Sunday I can learn something new.

And I'd happily buy something he recommends because he's built up so much trust in my eyes with all the "free" advice he's been giving. His next product is an obvious purchase for me.

The one thing I can share with you all is that list building is much better then trying to send people directly to an offer without taking up their email and name.

Those who think that you are only selling to them and will not want to buy, these are the same people that want something for nothing and always are looking for free stuff. They know that their wallet will always stay in their pocket.

People don't mind being marketed to but they will appreciate you more if you give them some little bit of free stuff too. When you write your emails, try to give them some free knowledge or content right before you hit them with your affiliate link.

One more thing:

No matter how many times you market to someone, there is a number of people who will never ever buy from you.

It is all a NUMBERS game.