Kicking Google To The Curb

So a push button system does exist after all.

Well not quite ... but it's damn close

Unfortunately, what a lot of people do is entice people to join their list with what sounds like a great freebie and then do nothing but try to sell to them over and over and over, multiples times a week with little value. And then they wonder why people don't respond and unsubscribe as fast as they can.

I've been following one individual for years who does it the right way. He sends one eMail a week with a great tip - always something to think about, or inspiration, or encouragement. Always tons of value. And puts it at the beginning of his eMail.

Then it's followed by a short "shameless marketing section". And I mean short. 5-10 lines max where he talks about something coming up that he things his list might be interested in.

Then he follows it with about 3-4 affiliate products - again, no more than 1-2 lines per product and always just why he recommends it.

Then it's followed by a humor section.

So I always read his eMails. I know when they're coming and I look forward to them. They're useful, interesting, fun and full of value. If I'm thinking about purchasing something, I check to see if he has it first.

His eMails make it clear he's thinking about and cares about his readers. It also tells me he cares about what he's doing. Money is not his bottom line. As a result, he does extremely well. Because I trust him, and clearly, so does the rest of his subscribers.

He's not an internet marketer, but is definitely someone IMers should emulate.

As I said at the top, I've been on his list for over 10 years and would never consider unsubscribing. Unlike most IMers who bombard me with the latest and greatest with no value or content remotely related to the free guide I signed up for. And who don't get to keep me on their list for more than a week.

I think it comes down to - do you care about what you're doing? Do you care about that niche? Do you care about that topic? Because I can guarantee you, that if you don't, neither will your subscribers care about your eMails. Because they can see right through the hype. It might take a few weeks before they realize that all the eMails subsequent to the initial guide are just one big "Buy this now!" crap after another. But they will get it eventually and then they're gone.

Thanks Guys for all the helpful information - just in the process of learning to do the emails for the list and your comments are all real helpful. So its a matter of doing it carefully but you dont want to be at it all the time.

I know a lot of emails I have had just unsubscribed. Annoyed if they dont have an unsubscribe link and you get one from them twice a day and then next 3 days. TOO MUCH
Mind you have brought from emails also. Balance isnt it.

Hahah. I agree. It's true. Without a list you don't have much to go off of. You need one for instant traffic.

Amazing isn't it? Attract like minded people and say, this is really a great product and it will help you a lot with ______... Yea, the money is in the list, treat them well though.

You're right on, there's a reason why the experts will tell you "the money is in the list".

Well-groomed little niche lists are the same as little ATMs.

Thought I'd chip in with the reasons why I never built a list despite having "the money is in the list" drummed in to me over the years.

My main reason for inaction was wondering what the heck I would write, and the second would be the possible negative reactions to what I have written.

It's only after reading Eric Louvier's disclosure journal that I realised that I need to step outside of my comfort zone and start building that list.

Nobody likes criticism, but let's face it you can't keep everybody happy, and why worry about negative comments - perhaps I should look forward to the first email thanking me for the great information I've given

So I am planning my list now, and setting myself a few ground rules to ensure that I run the type of list that I would want to be subscribed to.

1. If i do promote something I will only promote something that I use and love.

2. I won't worry about sales pitch to useful information ratio. I will provide useful information and if there is a product that enhances that information that I use myself then I will mention it. I will also mention any low cost or free alternatives if there are any. I want the information to be usable even if someone doesn't buy a product.

3. I won't view someone signing up to my list as permission to send them an email every day with my new best friends brand new product. I unsubscribe from every email marketer that does this.

4. I won't view my list in terms of earnings per subscriber. Yes I will figure out this metric, and may use it to try and figure better ways of monetising my list, but never at the expense of the quality of the information I provide.

5. I will cherish my subscribers.

I'm sure there will be big list owners that are smirking at my naievety, knowing that I would be leaving so much money on the table by my approach, but it's the only one I'm going to be comfortable with.

Another thing I have noticed lately is that google seems to be on the war path against affiliate sites. My adwords account was temporarily suspended because they considered the site I was buying traffic for seemed to be sales page. Anyway after a few emails and a telephone call things were rectified and I removed my the ad.

Funny thing is they had to go at least one level down to get to my hoplink. Anyway these troubles do not exist if you are building lists!

double post hate that

I still struggle with the whole list thing. There some niches where I just cant any ideas for list building but I am trying!

Considering how bad my SEO is , I've had a fair share of successes from affiliate marketing.

Did I have a list? no not exactly.

Do I earn enough with affiliate marketing to pull my own weight? No. But things are getting better.

I didn't mention it in the OP here, but another great thing from a traffic and sales perspective when you focus more on your list is the residual effect. If you mail on a regular basis and you always include a link to somewhere (your own blog, your squeeze page, an affiliate offer, whatever), you not only get that initial surge in traffic and results, but it often drags out over several days or even a week.

Just today I made over $50 profit from residual traffic from mailings I sent out days ago. People don't always open their emails right away, so if you mail regularly and consistently and always include a link to somewhere, the traffic builds up over time from this effect.

YOU GOTTA BUILD THAT LIST!!!

More and more people are getting the clue that Google may not be the best thing to base your future on...theirs yes, yours no.

Something I often do when emailing my list is to put a little blurb at the bottom that says something like "If you know anyone that you think would enjoy this info or find it valuable, please forward it to them"

It does help maximize the exposure, and I've gotten new visitors to my site and sales because of it, although I've yet to have one of them go super-viral like I've hoped for.

You have to always supply a ton of value that works for your readers for this to work, and it is another incentive to overdeliver.

I did notice after building up a decent size list, I no longer cared if people came from Google or not. This is absolutely true!