Close to 5,000 subscriber, I earn nothing from them.

Well, you can go about this one of two ways. You can either send them to affiliate webpages and earn money off of them in those affiliate sales, or you can create a product and sell it to them. You could make a course, and have them pay $20 a month to have access to this course.

If even 200 people sign up, that's a $4000 a month income stream for a good few months, not bad for this one list, right?

So, either send them to your affiliate links, to products you'd recommend, or make your own product/course. Those are possibly the best ways to do it.

Any other ideas guys?

-Sean

One thing I would suggest is to have your content edited by someone for whom English is their primary language. I'm certain that your command of English is better than my command of your language, but I'd still find it distracting to read your emails if they're at the same level as that post.

I don't mean that as any kind of insult. Just a real issue you should consider.


Paul

Don't let them forget you, a stagnant list will not be responsive down the road, send genuine useful information weekly, dig deep, find news or info they have not already seen elsewhere.

Is it OK sending them 1promotional emails:10 content emails? Will they still feel comfortable with this strategy?

Steve, Yep.

I only speak and write one language, so I have a lot of respect for the many people here who manage to do business in a second language. Many of them use English more fluently than a lot of native speakers.

The challenge for less skilled ESL writers isn't that their ideas or suggestions are bad. It's that the work of extracting the correct meaning from the message distracts the reader. It colors their responses.

The best suggestion I can make for this is to read more in English. For this, almost any type of reading will work, but modern fiction tends to be most helpful. More conversations in it, so you get a feel for how people speak with each other.

There are tons of strategies and techniques for developing response from a list, but none of them will work if the people in your group don't get your message clearly.


Paul

1st question: Where are these subscribers coming from? What's the traffic source?

I've had to ditch one list in the past because I'd made a mistake in choosing a traffic source and I had to realize that I'd just never get anything beyond a few pennies out of it.

A different way of asking this: Are these people buyers of IM products? Would they be buying, if they were on someone else's list?
And do they expect to receive promotions from you? Do they know why they should pay attention, when you promote something?

2nd: Forget about the ratio between promotional and non-promotional content. It's not like you have to find the "magic" combination and they'll all suddenly convert.

The question is: Do they engage with you at all? More specifically, if you send them an e-mail with a link (any link, doesn't have to be a promotion), how many of them click that link, on average?
Here's what I'd do: Send them a link to a blog post or video and ask them to leave a comment. You can look at the amount of clicks and amount of comments you get to get a good idea of how engaged your contacts are.

If they aren't clicking and aren't commenting, then clearly, they won't buy either.

To engage you subscribers, you need to give them a very clear reason to pay attention to you. I.e. why should they open your e-mails, among all the e-mails they get? I think, especially in the IM market, it's becoming more and more important to stand out from the crowd, as an e-mail marketer.

I think it's a very good amount of list.

You should start sending them affiliate program, and make some money..

It's better to seek affiliate program that's very useful for them (Giving Value). And you may want to set it up email campaign containing scheduled 3-5 email promoting ONE affiliate program.

Hope this help,

-Lemy

The decision to delete my list take a 1 year break from IM and then focus on another method was the best decision I made and is when I began making money.

Just because nearly everyone swears by a list, doesnt mean its best for everyone or really that easy.

There are countless ways to make money, and with a list of 5000 and no $$ you are doing something very wrong.

Perhaps trying something else may be a good idea? (or at least I'd make a new list in a targetted niche)

I'd take a break ,reevaluate things, set up a a new plan and focus on a new niche (not the make money niche).

Go back to basics and try and earn $1 from a method and scale it up.

You can always build a list later.

My opinion is if you did so well to get such a number in a list, then maybe you can also find out how to manage the list and make the best out of it than anyone here can tell you.

You know these people they are in YOUR list so I think you and only you can find out what will turn them on!!

First and most importantly - stop being afraid of your subscribers.

You had no connection to them before they opted in, and so if they get irritated and unsubscribe, you haven't lost much. As you said, you can build a list, so losing a few people is not a serious consideration.

Now - send 'em some relevant information. This can be pure content, a review of a product related to their interest, or a soft sell setup (a post that starts out as regular content, but shifts at the end to a gentle pitch for a related product that solves the problem you've been discussing).

In my experience, I usually get about the same number of unsubscribes with pure content as I do with a well targeted sales pitch. And sometimes I'll get MORE unsubscribes with content alone. Go figure.

So first of, stop being intimidated by the thought that you might displease some of those subscribers. Fear is a poor place to be selling from.

And second, send them information they said they're interested in. You didn't say what niche you're working, but if they're targeted subscribers, some of them will be interested.

This is a business, so stop trying to avoid displeasing anyone. Just do the things that your business requires (this means inform and sell). On any given day some of your subscribers will like what you send, some won't care and a few will be having a bad day. You could send an email offering them a million dollars free in a paper sack, and one or two will just be too stressed out by other things to respond logically.

In other words, you're going to have unsubscribes no matter what you do. So get used to it, and just keep sending them emails that relate to what they want.

Now, there are a few niches where you may never make any money from the list. I recall a friend who had a daily joke list. Everybody just wanted the free jokes and didn't spend anything with him. So he finally just closed it. If that's the case with your list, just move on. But do test it first. Send them the content and the offers for a while. Then decide.

Cheers from warm and smiling Thailand,
Charles

I think your main problem is you probably haven't tried to sell anything to your list...how many emails have you sent them promoting a product? You have to ask for the sale to
Make money

I have had your problem of an unresponsive list. And it can be fixed, the first and foremost thing you have to consider is not what they can do for you, but rather what you can do for them, not to them. A responsive list is a group of people that have grown to trust and like you over the course of your correspondence with them. They are going to look at you as someone that is an expert and will give good content and good recommendations.

So what you have to do is give them lots of good information to help them with their marketing efforts and recommend some tools or services that would help them achieve their goals. This is how you can turn lead into gold.

YEAH! LET'S MOVE IT , THX FOR THE MOTIVATION GUYS!

Warm up and pre-selling your clients is really important when it comes to email marketing. If your email subscribers are from IM niche then they must be looking good solid info in different sub-niches of IM.

This is where you can create an impact by creating JVs with other experienced marketers and can work on providing great quality products to your subscribers with the help of your JV partner's products.

If you can create your own product then that's great but is should be of high quality and should solve a particular problems of your subscribers. The list goes on when it comes to converting the email subscribers to pure buyers.

I recommend you keep working on providing great value through your newsletter and keep promoting quality products side by side.

Send them a survey and determine what their
needs are. Once you've done that you can put
into place what many have shared... Affiliate
marketing.

Scoop out affiliate products to what their needs
are and email them! BAM!

Much success,
C.F. Jackson

Hi!

I Think it is great that you have a list of 5000 subscribers!! in agreement with many other warriors here, the key is knowing where their interest lie, that way you know what to sell to them. Do a survey, it helps a lot.

As I subscriber myself of many IM lists, I'm perfectly open to promotion.

In many cases I prefer to buy something rather than be given content, even when that content is free.

Its quite simple really,

1) tell me why what you're promoting will help me

2) i don't need your life story, features and benefits will do it.

For example:
_____________________________________

Hey Gavin,

I found this great product on link building, its something pretty powerful that you may not have known.

Check it out :

It lets you build links for free and really quickly that help heaps with your rankings, definitely a time and money saver.

let me know what you think

Regards,

Marketer

____________________________________


I will buy in seconds if a marketer doesn't insult my intelligence, and gets right to the point.

Give it a whirl

Gavin

I'm apparantly on several of these lists and get e-v-e-r-y day advise what product can skyrocket my site. Result: I don't open them because I think they just want to sell me something. One person sends out every day of the week an email to me. Opened it the first few times but after that ignored them completely.