List Building = Sales!

40 replies
Guys, is it stupid to think that I should be making $500/month with my list of 500 subscribers.

It's really disheatening, I've been doing this for about 28 days and have only made 2 sales...

...my list is in the IM niche and about 90% of it is through paid traffic such as solo ads

Please help guys - I don't know what to do

I am providing value and soft selling (every email) and hard selling (once a month)

Should I change my niche? Should I hard-sell more to my list? What should I do?
#building #list #sales
  • Profile picture of the author Scouser101
    Anyone got an idea?
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    • Profile picture of the author ttcbird
      I'm no expert by any means.

      I would suggest building you list with some article marketing and answering yahoo answers.

      How is your open rates? Are your subscribers opening their emails?
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  • Profile picture of the author David Keith
    the im niche is a vast place with lots of mini niches in it. some of those are much less profitable than others.

    next you have the idea, that you are in a niche attempting to pitch yourself as an expert at IM when it seems clear you are not.

    its highly likely your subscribers are not in fact idiots and have noticed some things in your efforts that are not quite right.

    as far as you generating your list via paid traffic. thats sort of true except that while you paid for the solo ad, i am just about 100% certain you got them on your list by offering them a free gift.

    next, you probably choose one of the lower cost solo ad providers which often sell those solos to lots of others like you. so your subscribers are very likely on lots of other mailing lists similar to yours.

    are you starting to see the picture of why you are indeed not making money in the IM niche?

    also, there are probably 100+ other issues as to why you are struggling, but at the core of your trouble is the fact that you are not an expert in IM and it very likely shows.

    the truth hurts. but by being honest, i hope you see where i am coming from.
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    • Profile picture of the author Scouser101
      Originally Posted by owslaw123 View Post

      the im niche is a vast place with lots of mini niches in it. some of those are much less profitable than others.

      next you have the idea, that you are in a niche attempting to pitch yourself as an expert at IM when it seems clear you are not.

      its highly likely your subscribers are not in fact idiots and have noticed some things in your efforts that are not quite right.

      as far as you generating your list via paid traffic. thats sort of true except that while you paid for the solo ad, i am just about 100% certain you got them on your list by offering them a free gift.

      next, you probably choose one of the lower cost solo ad providers which often sell those solos to lots of others like you. so your subscribers are very likely on lots of other mailing lists similar to yours.

      are you starting to see the picture of why you are indeed not making money in the IM niche?

      also, there are probably 100+ other issues as to why you are struggling, but at the core of your trouble is the fact that you are not an expert in IM and it very likely shows.

      the truth hurts. but by being honest, i hope you see where i am coming from.
      Appreciate your honesty... but mate, you can't assume things you don't know..

      You don't know how I am pitching myself you just assumed that - secondly I have paid for solo ads through people I know and trust so you can't assume that either..

      I am teaching guys in the industry how to create websites which is what I have been doing for sometime and I am in fact an expert in that area, like you said there are a lot of mini niches

      Ask questions before you assume things you don't know mate
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      • Profile picture of the author David Keith
        Originally Posted by Scouser101 View Post

        Appreciate your honesty... but mate, you can't assume things you don't know..

        You don't know how I am pitching myself you just assumed that - secondly I have paid for solo ads through people I know and trust so you can't assume that either..

        I am teaching guys in the industry how to create websites which is what I have been doing for sometime and I am in fact an expert in that area, like you said there are a lot of mini niches

        Ask questions before you assume things you don't know mate
        good luck.

        so your list is not build from giving a freebie away as i assumed.

        and those you bought the solo ads from are not selling them to others as i assumed? you trusting them has nothing to do with the fact that they dilute the value of the subscribers they send to you and others buy selling solos repeatedly and thus putting those people on countless lists.

        you may not see your problem yet, but i have faith that you will. hopefully before you give up.
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        • Profile picture of the author Scouser101
          Originally Posted by owslaw123 View Post

          good luck.

          so your list is not build from giving a freebie away as i assumed.

          and those you bought the solo ads from are not selling them to others as i assumed? you trusting them has nothing to do with the fact that they dilute the value of the subscribers they send to you and others buy selling solos repeatedly and thus putting those people on countless lists.

          you may not see your problem yet, but i have faith that you will. hopefully before you give up.
          Yes I am offering a lead magnet.. a video course in exchance for emails as you assumed.

          I bought solo ads from mates I have gone to school with and know personally, no they don't send solo ads for anyone else but me.

          And you assumed wrong about everything else.

          Stop wasting me time mate
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          • Profile picture of the author E. Brian Rose
            Originally Posted by Scouser101 View Post


            Stop wasting me time mate
            That was a rather rude reply to somebody that was just trying to help you.

            I did not find any real details about the types of products that you are trying to sell or the types of emails that you are sending... but I will try to help anyway.

            1. You cannot expect to get $1 per subscriber per month unless you have a) a good reputation for reccomending quality and b) a good relationship already established with your list.

            2. I can only assume that when you say that you are in the IM niche that you mean the make money online niche. That is the hardest niche to make money in. Customers in this niche are studying to be marketers and therefor have seen every marketing trick known to man. They are a tough crowd. You are just starting out, so you may consider building a list in a niche that is easier to make money in, which would be just about any other niche. Besides, there is something entirely wrong about somebody teaching how to make money online that doesn't know how to make money online.
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            Founder of JVZoo. All around good guy :)

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  • Profile picture of the author Vimal Gobin
    You issue is very broad.. It's really hard to identify what the problem is here. Might be your offers, positioning, not targeted enough etc etc.

    Hard to help, but I'll try.

    You say "IM niche". Are your leads beginners or experienced? If you are promoting magic buttons to experiences guys, chances are you won't profit much. Similarly, if you are promoting DLGuard to complete newbies, they are not very likely to buy.

    That's one of the many possibilities..
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    • Profile picture of the author Scouser101
      Originally Posted by Vimal Gobin View Post

      You issue is very broad.. It's really hard to identify what the problem is here. Might be your offers, positioning, not targeted enough etc etc.

      Hard to help, but I'll try.

      You say "IM niche". Are your leads beginners or experienced? If you are promoting magic buttons to experiences guys, chances are you won't profit much. Similarly, if you are promoting DLGuard to complete newbies, they are not very likely to buy.

      That's one of the many possibilities..
      Mediocre and newbies... I am promoting stuff I have used and found useful
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  • Profile picture of the author adrwcav
    Sometimes things don't work so easily. Your list of buyers may just not match up to the products or offers you are trying to pitch them. Here's a BIG tip for you. Really think about WHY your list opted in in the first place, then go from there..
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    • Profile picture of the author VinnyBock
      Originally Posted by adrwcav View Post

      Sometimes things don't work so easily. Your list of buyers may just not match up to the products or offers you are trying to pitch them. Here's a BIG tip for you. Really think about WHY your list opted in in the first place, then go from there..
      ^^^ Great advice...

      Are you trying to sell affiliate products, resell stuff, or your own stuff?
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  • Profile picture of the author jasonthewebmaster
    Banned
    Is your list buyers or are they freebie seekers?

    I am no expert at list building by any means, in fact have only just now the past year started actually building a list.

    BUT, what I have decided after a bit of advice from those more experienced is that I will be building a list of ONLY buyers, those who have purchase my products/services before.. or purchased someone else's.

    I have heard a list of freebie seekers is pretty worthless as far as open rates, CTR, and conversions.

    Now, also I am not sure, but I think only 500 people on your list is too little to expect to make $500 per month.

    I know people say each subscriber is worth $1 per month, but I would think you should have at least 5 thousand subscribed to start really seeing bigger profits.

    I would also guess around 50K or 100K is when people actually start seeing an "AVERAGE' return of $1-2 per subscriber.

    Basically, You probably just need to increase the quality and quantity of your list, and you will see more profit.

    Again this is my very limited experience talking, and also not knowing anything about the campaigns you are sending etc

    Hope it helps!
    Cheers
    Jason
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  • Profile picture of the author Scouser101
    I am getting about 60 - 70 opens and 55 - 65 clicks per email sent every 3 and 4 days
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  • Profile picture of the author Peggy Baron
    These comments have given you some good ideas of what you need to try and test. I would like to point out that you've only been at it 28 days. This is not very long in the grand scheme. Have patience! These things do take some time.

    Encourage feedback, reach out to connect and build a relationship. Find out what they want most, and find or create that product.

    Best wishes.
    Peggy
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  • Profile picture of the author JamesGw
    My suggestion is to get out of the IM niche if you're having a hard time email marketing. (not to mention the IM niche just sucks overall.)

    That is all.
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  • Profile picture of the author Darren Hodgson
    Is your lead magnet related to the products you're offering. If you're offering a video course on e-mail marketing and the products you're attempting to sell is on how to make a cool website then you're not going to appeal to the audience who signed up for your lead magnet.

    Make sure your lead magnet is on a broad and market products to your list in that broad market.

    Just a thought, there's not much info to go on in this thread to make any better, more informed feedback.
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  • Profile picture of the author Hostpany
    Keep building your list, just stick with it. Don't ever give up.
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  • Profile picture of the author jenbob207
    Keep building your list....that's what i am concentrating on.
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    • Profile picture of the author cobwab
      Hey Scouser101,

      I am trying to build a list, too.

      According to cPanel AWStats I get 35 uniques a day, but in over 10 days I have only one optin so I am trying to determine why and have added a Google Analytic to my blog which I hope will tell me something about the traffic I am getting.
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  • QUESTIONS:

    Are you providing value, or simply pitching offer over the emails?

    Do your subscribers know of you in any other way or form other than occasional email broadcasts? We all receive dozens of almost-anonymous emails every day pitching products, why should they buy from you instead of someone else?
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  • Profile picture of the author ColinChia
    Provide value and make it clear that your an expert in your field...

    It's breaking down that trust barrier because, they don't know you and in a way need to prove to them you are a 'cool guy'.

    ...and, keep building your list!

    Keep up the good work, this is only the beginning

    Hope this helps,

    Colin
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  • Profile picture of the author warrich
    Increase your activities to see if there is any positive change but make sure that you don't overdo it. Ask someone with SEO knowledge if there is something you are missing out on something.
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    • Profile picture of the author jasonl70
      In my experience, getting $1 per month per subscriber isn't realiastic.
      I know some guys make that cliam, but they are big time pro's, with serious experience as well as continuity programs, big ticket items, a lot of credibility with their cusotmers, etc.


      That being said, you should have made a more sales than just 2.. but there are so many variables and unknows, it's tough to say "there - that's the problem".

      You could be promoting to people that are already getting hammered.. the product may not line up with they are interested in... the sales pitch for the product may suck.. the landing page they click through to may be bad... the sales letter may be bad... etc
      Signature

      -Jason

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      • Profile picture of the author netnutmike
        As mentioned already, don't give up. I would suggest reading some of the post on this forum on squeeze page and sales page design and copyrighting. Try different things and see what works and what does not.

        One other thought, you are promoting web design to the Im niche. The folks in that niche are generally pretty tech savvy and use things like Wordpress and other easy to use tools for creating web pages. With what you are selling (web design) you may do better targeting other markets other than Internet marketers.
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        Mike Myers
        mikemyers.me
        iDavi - The Digital Products Marketplace

        Get great addons for Rapid Action Profits at rap-tools.com

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        • Profile picture of the author friendclk
          An email is worth more than $1 to an expert!

          Why?

          CPA Networks pay more than $1 for all kinds of email submits.
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  • Profile picture of the author genhorrall
    First off you are talking about getting leads from solo ads. What is in your solo ads? Are you making sure that you are offering the value that you promised in your adds. I mean to say that you have a list of 500 is great, but if they are not on your list for the reasons that you think they are, then you are more than likely offering them the wrong products.

    Also are you lead from these adds qualified opt in leads. It does make a difference. What I am asking here is do you send them to your capture page or website and then they sign up, or do they just end up on your list by clicking on your ad that you have paid for?
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  • Profile picture of the author drmani
    Originally Posted by Scouser101 View Post

    Guys, is it stupid to think that I should be making $500/month with my list of 500 subscribers.

    Please help guys - I don't know what to do
    Some questions for you:

    1. Can you (and do you) deliver value in that niche?

    2. Does your audience trust you?

    3. Are you giving them an overwhelming reason why they should buy from you?

    4. Have you asked your list (or do you know for a fact) what they want?

    5. Do you have a 'product funnel' or back-end income sources?

    All these questions have a bearing on the one you asked - whether or not
    you can make $1 per subscriber per month.

    It's really disheatening, I've been doing this for about 28 days and have only made 2 sales...

    ...my list is in the IM niche and about 90% of it is through paid traffic such as solo ads
    For perspective, I've been doing this for 15 years and 90%
    of my list growth comes through referrals and organic SEO
    (both of which are essentially 'free').

    And in the IM niche, I *am* your 'competition'

    I am providing value and soft selling (every email) and hard selling (once a month)

    Should I change my niche?
    Probably not without testing a little more, and trying some
    tweaks. Because, let's face it, you're probably not going to
    be successful in a shorter time in any other niche - so if
    you're seeking that "instant success" pot of gold, you're
    unlikely to find it in ANY niche.

    So my suggestion would be to be a bit more patient, be a bit
    more curious, be a bit more innovative - and you'll soon hit
    the sweet spot with your email audience.

    That point, when it arrives, is worth working for

    All success
    Dr.Mani
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  • Profile picture of the author murtuza
    here's what you can do to improve your results...

    1. Go to sites like safe swaps where you can get comments on the solo ads that people have placed in different lists.

    2. Increase your product line, atleast have 10 to 20 products in your funnel and have 6 emails per product, 3 content and 3 sales pitches or recommendation emails per product, so you will have atleast 60 emails for 10 products.

    Have upsells for every product in the funnel. Also setup backend offers after purchase and before the download page such as in the squeeze page thanks page and confirm thanks page before the download page. Also place product offers in the download page of your product.

    3. Every 15 days ask your subscribers what are their problems and give them helpful advise by replying back, this is tedious but will build solid relationship.

    4. Test everything, squeeze page conversion rate, product sales conversion rate, email open rates and click thru rates and finally tweak your campaign based on that for increasing the profits.

    5. Have a one time offer right after someone signs up to your squeeze page, this should atleast recover back your ad cost.

    6. Have a viral marketing system in place right after someone signs up to your squeeze page. Use viral friend generator script and viral pdf software to setup a 2 way viral system. This should atleast double or triple your existing subscribers.

    7. What niche are you focussing on? Tighten your niche by narrowing down your approach. If you are in IM niche try and get into list building niche or probably IM for newbies only or article marketing or forum marketing niche. If you narrow down your niche you will not only get targeted traffic from specific ad sources but also you will boost your conversion rates.

    8. Look at your free gift, is it a crap. What about your email content, is it crap. Make them solid content. Because if your initial free content is crap people will be hesitant to buy your paid offers.

    9. Do a free teleseminar or a webinar to boost your relationship with your list of subscribers. Give your free video to boost trust.

    10. Probably a video on your squeeze page or sales pages will boost your conversion rates.

    11. Add high ticket products, membership sites with recurring revenue and also a coaching program in your funnel. The bulk of your income will come from these 3 sources rather than dirt cheap $27 ebooks ( these are there just to break even your ad costs )

    Hope this helps...
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    • Originally Posted by murtuza View Post

      here's what you can do to improve your results...


      6. Have a viral marketing system in place right after someone signs up to your squeeze page. Use viral friend generator script and viral pdf software to setup a 2 way viral system. This should atleast double or triple your existing subscribers.
      Hey Murtuza, I googled viral friend generator and came up with this sales page Viral Friend generator - Tell A Friend Software - Viral Marketing Software $97 product - is this the product you're talking about? Is it really doubling your opt-ins?
      Signature
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  • Profile picture of the author Ian Jackson
    Originally Posted by Scouser101 View Post

    Guys, is it stupid to think that I should be making $500/month with my list of 500 subscribers.

    It's really disheatening, I've been doing this for about 28 days and have only made 2 sales...

    ...my list is in the IM niche and about 90% of it is through paid traffic such as solo ads

    Please help guys - I don't know what to do

    I am providing value and soft selling (every email) and hard selling (once a month)

    Should I change my niche? Should I hard-sell more to my list? What should I do?
    There are echoes of impatience and impetuousness in this, and maybe these traits are evident in your list emails too, even if you don't think they are, and your subscribers will pick-up on them.

    28 days for a list build is nothing, 500 subscribers and the stats that accompany them is potentially pretty meaningless really. Starts aside, what do you know about the demographics of your subscribers? Have you had a mentor analyze your content? Such people can shed much light.
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  • Profile picture of the author Big Al
    First off don't assume that everyone in every niche makes $1 per subscriber per month.

    I've heard much less from well respected marketers who also tend to work out their subscriber value per year (not per month).

    Secondly you've got results and made sales seriously fast considering lots of people make zero money after months and sometimes years. You simply have to keep working, tweak and improve your process.

    IMHO:

    Learn more about the people on your list to find out who they are, what they want and how you can help them.

    Learn to build a relationship with your list.

    Learn to leverage your existing list to build your list and funnel buyers into a separate list through your own product too.

    Learn to do your own thing and be different.

    Whatever you do - don't change niche or try a totally - because you're already SO MANY STEPS down the road to getting things right.
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  • Profile picture of the author Eduard Stinga
    Scouser101,

    I think you should really listen to what people have said in this thread, a lot of the posts here really shed some light on your situation. It's clear, to be successful in the IM niche, you need to be (or at least to seem that you are) an expert, and let's face it, coming here asking about e-mail marketing, really proves that you're not (yet).
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  • Profile picture of the author megalinktraffic
    hi
    Repetition is the KEY..
    experts say that your idea
    reaches the consumer as you
    followup atleast 7 times..its
    where the product meets the
    expectation of the user.. you
    need to set up your autoresponder
    with suitable no fluff messages and
    reminder to the user about your
    product and you can see the results..

    be the best..
    rueben
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    • Profile picture of the author Scouser101
      Just got another two sales today and yesterday...

      A residual and a one time offer :-)
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  • Profile picture of the author maxmed
    Just don't give keep building your list and search around the forum for more tips and keep working !
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    • Profile picture of the author jasonl70
      Originally Posted by friendclk View Post

      An email is worth more than $1 to an expert!

      Why?

      CPA Networks pay more than $1 for all kinds of email submits.
      he's looking for $1 per month... that's a lot harder. And the folks running the email submit offers have their system ironed out.

      Originally Posted by murtuza View Post

      5. Have a one time offer right after someone signs up to your squeeze page, this should atleast recover back your ad cost.
      while his list was full of great suggestions, I thought I would make a quick comment on this one. This one step alone made several unprofitable endeavors of mine turn to profit (a big issue when you pay for traffic!).
      Signature

      -Jason

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      • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
        Originally Posted by Scouser101 View Post

        Appreciate your honesty... but mate, you can't assume things you don't know..

        You don't know how I am pitching myself you just assumed that - secondly I have paid for solo ads through people I know and trust so you can't assume that either..

        I am teaching guys in the industry how to create websites which is what I have been doing for sometime and I am in fact an expert in that area, like you said there are a lot of mini niches

        Ask questions before you assume things you don't know mate
        Mate, before you start sniping at people offering you free help, consider that he had to make some assumptions since you didn't volunteer the information in your OP.

        If you don't want people making assumptions, put the relevant information in your original post.

        Originally Posted by Scouser101 View Post

        Yes I am offering a lead magnet.. a video course in exchance for emails as you assumed.

        I bought solo ads from mates I have gone to school with and know personally, no they don't send solo ads for anyone else but me.

        And you assumed wrong about everything else.

        Stop wasting me time mate
        Who wasted whose time here? That attitude isn't making it easy to want to help you...

        That said, people who proclaim that $1/month/subscriber statistic tend to fall into two groups. People who are selling 'how to get rich with a list' systems and the people who bought those systems.

        It's just not realistic to say 'I have 500 people on a list, so why am I not making $500 per month after almost a month?'

        For a list built this way, your opens and clicks aren't all that bad. You have a base to test against to improve them.

        I'm going to make an educated guess and say that you are fairly young, either still in school or just out, and that you are fairly impatient. Neither of those are terminal, but they do need adjusting.

        (My guess is based on your statement that you bought ads from your mates at school, and the fact that you bumped your own thread after only 17 minutes - poor etiquette, by the way.)

        Oh, and when you ask for help on an open forum, and someone takes the time to give you a thoughtful response, the proper response is "thank you", not "quit wasting my time"...
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        • Profile picture of the author Snow_Predator
          Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

          Mate, before you start sniping at people offering you free help, consider that he had to make some assumptions since you didn't volunteer the information in your OP.

          If you don't want people making assumptions, put the relevant information in your original post.



          Who wasted whose time here? That attitude isn't making it easy to want to help you...

          That said, people who proclaim that $1/month/subscriber statistic tend to fall into two groups. People who are selling 'how to get rich with a list' systems and the people who bought those systems.

          It's just not realistic to say 'I have 500 people on a list, so why am I not making $500 per month after almost a month?'

          For a list built this way, your opens and clicks aren't all that bad. You have a base to test against to improve them.

          I'm going to make an educated guess and say that you are fairly young, either still in school or just out, and that you are fairly impatient. Neither of those are terminal, but they do need adjusting.

          (My guess is based on your statement that you bought ads from your mates at school, and the fact that you bumped your own thread after only 17 minutes - poor etiquette, by the way.)

          Oh, and when you ask for help on an open forum, and someone takes the time to give you a thoughtful response, the proper response is "thank you", not "quit wasting my time"...
          Nice one John.

          My advice to you kid (OP). How about you learn how to do some internet marketing yourself before you go trying to teach others how to IM? Go change your niche.
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          • Profile picture of the author Scouser101
            Thanks to some of the people that have actually helped me...

            ...the rest of you are time wasters
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  • Profile picture of the author alex900
    Remember that with list building you need to build relationship with your list. So you should provide as much good content as possible and monetize your list in an appropriate manner.
    If you do your best to provide as much free, and quality content to your subscribers, you will get them opening more emails and your conversions will increase
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