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665 Subscribers What a joke

by bloggerd
51 replies
Hi well as the title says i have built a list of 600+ subscribers which is great.

The bad part is that i may aswell have no list, max click any mail i send is about 8 Clicks if that
most opens around 11-15
and out of the tiny amount of clicks 0 sales

so i don't know if most my emails are going into there spam folder or what

the list has been built using solo ads bought on here an couple on safe-swaps that had good feedback

When i have mailed any affiliate offers i have tried the product owners swipe and my own

so now im just thinking of scrapping my aweber account and jacking in the listbuilding idea

Any advice on what i could try before i scrap it
#665 #joke #susbribers
  • Profile picture of the author Danielle Lynn
    It'd be hard for anyone to give you advice without more information.
    • What sort of list?
    • What sort of things do you send them?
    • Are you building rapport or sending useful content, or just spamming them with offers?

    You have to train your list to click your emails and respond.

    Think about your own email reading habits. If there's a marketer who gets you excited about reading his/her email, study what they do - and do it.

    Remember, your list isn't there just to make you money.

    You have to provide them with real value. Scratch their back, they'll scratch yours.
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  • Profile picture of the author mark healy
    stick with the process and offer great content to them.Think long term, not short term thinking. Think how you can improve your open rates and CTR's and keep improving your numbers. Also check your subject lines are they inticing enough?
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  • Profile picture of the author talfighel
    If no one is opening your emails or buying, I would delete them all from your account and start getting new fresh leads from your own advertising sources. Create your own squeeze page and start from there.

    If you want to increase your sales, show them that you are a real person first and also add value to them. Don't hard sell them in every email.
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  • Profile picture of the author bloggerd
    Hi my list is in the IM Niche was sending a newsletter that came with wso I bought but took it off as was getting a lot of unsubs and wasn't even sending offers when they first started.
    So decided to take it of.

    Thing is I'm not getting many unsubs either when I do send an offer

    So I'm wondering if all my emails are going in spam folder is there any way to reduce the amount going in spam?
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    • Profile picture of the author jamescanz
      There's tons of variables that could be affecting the situation.

      It could also be the quality of traffic you have gotten.

      It seems like they are very unresponsive, and the little amount of clicks you are getting might be related to the solos you have gotten.

      Also some subs might have been in junk mails and simply never even open their inbox at all ... it happens.

      Lastly, are you using Aweber, they have a number that shows you the 'probability' of your messages landing in a spam box.
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      • Profile picture of the author bloggerd
        The solos i purchased where ment to IM Niche,but with the results im having im thinking that alot could be from any niche.

        Yep i use aweber i know what you mean by the spam count mine is always 1.5

        Thanks
        Ian
        Originally Posted by jamescanz View Post

        There's tons of variables that could be affecting the situation.

        It could also be the quality of traffic you have gotten.

        It seems like they are very unresponsive, and the little amount of clicks you are getting might be related to the solos you have gotten.

        Also some subs might have been in junk mails and simply never even open their inbox at all ... it happens.

        Lastly, are you using Aweber, they have a number that shows you the 'probability' of your messages landing in a spam box.
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        • Profile picture of the author tpw
          Originally Posted by bloggerd View Post

          Yep i use aweber i know what you mean by the spam count mine is always 1.5

          When you get a spam count in aweber of 1.5 that usually indicates you did a HTML mail but not a text copy of the same email.
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by bloggerd View Post

      I'm wondering if all my emails are going in spam folder
      That's probably not your problem, Ian.

      Originally Posted by bloggerd View Post

      my list is in the IM Niche was sending a newsletter that came with wso I bought
      That's probably your problem.

      It's far easier to give birth than to raise the dead. Future open-rates depend on things you do immediately before, while, and immediately after people opt in, and are more or less determined by that stage. I think reading this thread carefully will probably help you a lot: http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post6123982

      This post might, too: http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post7647187

      Originally Posted by bloggerd View Post

      im going to start from scratch agin
      Could be a very good move. Stay away from the IM niches! Starting off there is almost undoubtedly the single commonest mistake that beginning marketers make, and the single biggest overall reason for people not succeeding.
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      • Profile picture of the author bloggerd
        Thank you for your reply Alexa.
        Just Had quick look at the thread you mentioned, going to have good read through now.
        Do you mind me asking what kind of niches you started of in when you first begun building your list ETC?


        Regards
        Ian



        Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

        That's probably not your problem, Ian.



        That's probably your problem.

        It's far easier to give birth than to raise the dead. Future open-rates depend on things you do immediately before, while, and immediately after people opt in, and are more or less determined by that stage. I think reading this thread carefully will probably help you a lot: http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post6123982

        This post might, too: http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post7647187



        Could be a very good move. Stay away from the IM niches! Starting off there is almost undoubtedly the single commonest mistake that beginning marketers make, and the single biggest overall reason for people not succeeding.
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        • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
          Banned
          Originally Posted by bloggerd View Post

          Do you mind me asking what kind of niches you started of in when you first begun building your list ETC?
          With apologies (really!) I don't disclose my niches at all, Ian - sorry.

          I avoided highly competitive niches, including "MMO", "IM", dating, fitness and weight-loss. (And I still do, actually).

          It's worth bearing in mind that some of most lucrative and popular niches are the ones in which - for many/most people - it's going to be the hardest for them to become successful.

          The "average beginning marketer's" chances of earning some real, steady money are much higher in hydroponic gardening, home decoration, wine-making/tasting or learning Japanese (whichever one he knows about and likes!) than they are in "making money online" or anything else in which his potential customers are themselves predominantly internet marketers.

          That's not to say that all "highly competitive niches" are necessarily a bad place to start: that depends on many, complicated factors. But a competitive niche is only going to be promising for the "average beginner" who has a really non-competitive way of attracting traffic, for all the obvious reasons.
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          • Profile picture of the author bloggerd
            No worries Alexa totaly understand and think i am going to start concentrating on some less competative niches outside of IM,weight loss etc
            Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

            With apologies (really!) I don't disclose my niches at all, Ian - sorry.

            I avoided highly competitive niches, including "MMO", "IM", dating, fitness and weight-loss. (And I still do, actually).

            It's worth bearing in mind that some of most lucrative and popular niches are the ones in which - for many/most people - it's going to be the hardest for them to become successful.

            The "average beginning marketer's" chances of earning some real, steady money are much higher in hydroponic gardening, home decoration, wine-making/tasting or learning Japanese (whichever one he knows about and likes!) than they are in "making money online" or anything else in which his potential customers are themselves predominantly internet marketers.

            That's not to say that all "highly competitive niches" are necessarily a bad place to start: that depends on many, complicated factors. But a competitive niche is only going to be promising for the "average beginner" who has a really non-competitive way of attracting traffic, for all the obvious reasons.
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          • Profile picture of the author Joe Mobley
            Gold here!

            Joe Mobley


            Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post


            It's worth bearing in mind that some of most lucrative and popular niches are the ones in which - for many/most people - it's going to be the hardest for them to become successful.

            The "average beginning marketer's" chances of earning some real, steady money are much higher in hydroponic gardening, home decoration, wine-making/tasting or learning Japanese (whichever one he knows about and likes!) than they are in "making money online" or anything else in which his potential customers are themselves predominantly internet marketers.

            That's not to say that all "highly competitive niches" are necessarily a bad place to start: that depends on many, complicated factors. But a competitive niche is only going to be promising for the "average beginner" who has a really non-competitive way of attracting traffic, for all the obvious reasons.
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  • Profile picture of the author karlmay1980
    Your right to think something has gone wrong here, that is a poor quality list at this stage for some reason or another.

    How targeted were the offer in the solos to what you are offering as affiliate products, if they were totally aligned then you should be getting interest.

    If they are and you are not getting interest or clicks then maybe the problem is the original offer, maybe it just didnt produce what it promised, if this is the case then you need to change it or up the value you give in it.

    You will also need to keep giving value to the list so they keep opening, so don't just send affiliate offers, only once or twice a month should you do that but offer free value in the mean time, this will build your reputation and relationship with your list.

    You also need to be strategic in maximising what you get from the list.

    By this I dont mean getting them to buy but also let them help you build your list further by encouraging sharing, commenting using Facebook comments, alll of which will bring potential viral traffic.

    Encourage new optins to white list your email so they will not end up in their spam or junk folder, point out the value and frequency that you will be giving and that it would be bad to miss out.

    Obviously you do need to give value and over deliver on any promise you have ever made, this is what will keep you growing automatically and maximising each optins value to you.

    Back to the offer and products you send out as affiliate offers.

    If they are not aligned then you are rarely going to get interest from a list of that size and if you do it may just be a stroke of luck>

    The thing to remember is people hate their time to be wasted, so they wont just open everything that comes in to their inbox, they will only take a look at what peaks their interest.

    Taking this into account think are the offers really aligned?

    You may of sent an offer of something to do with getting started with internet marketing as the original to gain optins, but then offered a product to do specifically with SEO or Facebook marketing etc, thinking that they fall in the internet marketing niche, but because it is such a big space to market to, without educating them that these other forms of marketing online are important then many may not be looking out for these things, so it comes back to the value you have been sending them and how this has taught them what they need.

    If you do this then you can find products to back up what you have taught and which compliment the information you have distributed and people will be more willing to buy.

    This is all pretty basic stuff to building a decent list that will be productive, its not about having a few different elements of it but having the full process and it is quite easy when you understand why these are needed to maximise success.
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    • Profile picture of the author bloggerd
      Hi thanks for your reply

      Some great adivice here and im going to start from scratch agin, create a product/report to offer and work through implementing some the advice you & everyone else have given here and see if that improves my listbuiding results
      before i think of scrapping it

      Cheers
      Ian



      Originally Posted by karlmay1980 View Post

      Your right to think something has gone wrong here, that is a poor quality list at this stage for some reason or another.

      How targeted were the offer in the solos to what you are offering as affiliate products, if they were totally aligned then you should be getting interest.

      If they are and you are not getting interest or clicks then maybe the problem is the original offer, maybe it just didnt produce what it promised, if this is the case then you need to change it or up the value you give in it.

      You will also need to keep giving value to the list so they keep opening, so don't just send affiliate offers, only once or twice a month should you do that but offer free value in the mean time, this will build your reputation and relationship with your list.

      You also need to be strategic in maximising what you get from the list.

      By this I dont mean getting them to buy but also let them help you build your list further by encouraging sharing, commenting using Facebook comments, alll of which will bring potential viral traffic.

      Encourage new optins to white list your email so they will not end up in their spam or junk folder, point out the value and frequency that you will be giving and that it would be bad to miss out.

      Obviously you do need to give value and over deliver on any promise you have ever made, this is what will keep you growing automatically and maximising each optins value to you.

      Back to the offer and products you send out as affiliate offers.

      If they are not aligned then you are rarely going to get interest from a list of that size and if you do it may just be a stroke of luck>

      The thing to remember is people hate their time to be wasted, so they wont just open everything that comes in to their inbox, they will only take a look at what peaks their interest.

      Taking this into account think are the offers really aligned?

      You may of sent an offer of something to do with getting started with internet marketing as the original to gain optins, but then offered a product to do specifically with SEO or Facebook marketing etc, thinking that they fall in the internet marketing niche, but because it is such a big space to market to, without educating them that these other forms of marketing online are important then many may not be looking out for these things, so it comes back to the value you have been sending them and how this has taught them what they need.

      If you do this then you can find products to back up what you have taught and which compliment the information you have distributed and people will be more willing to buy.

      This is all pretty basic stuff to building a decent list that will be productive, its not about having a few different elements of it but having the full process and it is quite easy when you understand why these are needed to maximise success.
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  • Profile picture of the author rmolina88
    How often do you email your list? How do you divide your advice/promos/freebies emails? Are you providing value in the emails or just hard selling? What kind of leads are your solo ad providers selling?

    Also, 600+ subs is still relatively small. You may not get real results until you hit 2000+ subs.
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  • Profile picture of the author automedix1
    Lots of factors -
    1) what autoresponder are you using?
    2) what percentage of people are opening your broadcasts? On average I get 1-2%
    3) Are you trying to sell them right away? If so, you might as well stop building your list right now or change your habits. Your list needs to be nurtured from a little list to a big one. My List is only at 1500 subs, but I am at the point that I can sell 50 click & 100 click solos to other IM'ers.

    If you are dedicated and want to make a kick butt list, then you will hang in there. If you want a list of 10000 or more today - It ain't gonna happen!

    Persistence pays off.

    p.s - Just an afterthought. Have you started swapping yet? If you haven't, you need to. I have 2 suggestions here. #1 - join safe swaps. The quality of swap is not the best, but it will help grow your list. Book a swap everyday!! #2 - Look me up on Skype @ automedix1 - I can get you into a couple of rooms for small swappers(10-20 clicks).
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    • Profile picture of the author neilshearing
      Goodness, don't just send a swipe email from a merchant!

      You need to persuade people to buy in your own voice... do a video review explaining how the product helps them, add your own quality bonus, get an "exclusive" bonus from the merchant and generally show you're going the extra yard for your subscribers.

      As long as you do it ethically, add a time deadline or limit the number of claims for your bonus.
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  • Profile picture of the author JHandy
    What I find in marketing is that you have to pay serious dividends of INTEREST in THEM first before they will pay any interest in you. You haven't given them a reason to want to click on your email links, because more than likely the focus has been to drive them back to your sales page. They gotta get to know you first. They want to know that you have something for them that is of value and can help solve their problem FIRST, before they ever entertain the idea of buying from you. Now it's possible that a few might purchase on the first go round, but it's a slim chance.

    Think marathon when it comes to marketing, not a quick sprint. Think giver FIRST, not taker. Once you have these actions in place, you've just turned the table and you're on your way. Hope this helps.

    P.S.-Sometimes I think some solo ads are people who get paid to click on links and sign up to email list. Seriously, I've experienced that before where just about all of them had the same email client (yahoo) I think and they were VERY UNRESPONSIVE.
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  • Profile picture of the author Robert Michael
    In my opinion, maybe the people with these lists who all they do is sell solo ads, PROBABLY do so because the list is garbage. Meaning it does not bring conversions when they send an offer.

    So when they can't monetize the list with products, they try to monetize it by selling solo ads to people who don't know any better..

    I could be wrong, but I doubt it.

    One of my mailings in the past had an open rate of 180% - People were opening it, reading it, coming back 20 minutes later, opening it, reading it again & again..

    That mailing brought in a fairly large amount of sales in just a few minutes flat.

    However that was a list of previous buyers - People who had to spend some cash to even get on my list in the first place.

    NOT from buying solo ads to build my subs or something like that.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dennisknows
    Originally Posted by bloggerd View Post

    Hi well as the title says i have built a list of 600+ subscribers which is great.

    The bad part is that i may aswell have no list, max click any mail i send is about 8 Clicks if that
    most opens around 11-15
    and out of the tiny amount of clicks 0 sales

    so i don't know if most my emails are going into there spam folder or what

    the list has been built using solo ads bought on here an couple on safe-swaps that had good feedback

    When i have mailed any affiliate offers i have tried the product owners swipe and my own

    so now im just thinking of scrapping my aweber account and jacking in the listbuilding idea

    Any advice on what i could try before i scrap it
    How did you build a relationship with them? Are you only sending them affiliate offers?

    That's the same thing I did. I would build a list and immediately send them to an offer. Never made a sale like that...

    But when i provided value for the first few emails, I saw more sales. So now I just offer value up front and sell to them later. Signup to lists of other people in your niche and see how they promote products...

    that's a way to learn a lot
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  • Profile picture of the author brit16
    I can understand how you are feeling with an unresponsive list (although I have a little more response than you do, I still wasn't happy with the results.). I recently asked a similar response and got some decent responses, here it is incase it can help.... Aweber List Help

    Good luck to you, I have found that breaking emails up into parts helps some. Like sending out half of a good article (relavant to your readers), then the second half a few days later.
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    • Profile picture of the author bloggerd
      Hi brit thankyou for your reply and thanks for the link to some good advice you got on there.
      I think i'm going to follow Alexa's Advice earlier and bail out of the IM Niche and concentrate on finding less competative niches to target.

      But like your idea of breaking up a good article and sending it in 2 parts and would work for any niche

      Thanks Agin

      Originally Posted by brit16 View Post

      I can understand how you are feeling with an unresponsive list (although I have a little more response than you do, I still wasn't happy with the results.). I recently asked a similar response and got some decent responses, here it is incase it can help.... Aweber List Help

      Good luck to you, I have found that breaking emails up into parts helps some. Like sending out half of a good article (relavant to your readers), then the second half a few days later.
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  • Profile picture of the author jasonl70
    Alexa touched on nearly everything that came to my mind..

    Don't give up on building a list.. it obviously works, and works well, for a lot of people.

    maybe you just need to reconsider how you're building it.. I haven't tried solo's, so I'm talking out of my butt here - but it seems those subscribers are going to be flooded with offers every day.. you'd have to really work to stand out above the noise.
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    • Profile picture of the author bloggerd
      Totaly agree with you they will be flooded with emails daily, don't think i will be using any more solo's and will have to start building it myself that way there is more chance that they are targeted to my niche and more likley to open my email's

      Thanks
      Ian
      Originally Posted by jasonl70 View Post

      Alexa touched on nearly everything that came to my mind..

      Don't give up on building a list.. it obviously works, and works well, for a lot of people.

      maybe you just need to reconsider how you're building it.. I haven't tried solo's, so I'm talking out of my butt here - but it seems those subscribers are going to be flooded with offers every day.. you'd have to really work to stand out above the noise.
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      • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
        Ian, it sounds like you're going to be heading in the right direction, so I'm not going to repeat advice you've already decided to take...

        What I do want you to be aware of is repeating a mistake you made in starting this list. You aimed it at "the IM niche". IM is not a niche. It's a collection of dozens, maybe hundreds, of smaller niches. For example, I market products and services on the Internet, which, by definition, makes me part of the IM market. But 90%+ of the offers that typically go out would hold no interest for me and would go into the trash folder unopened.

        On the other hand, newsletters (real newsletters, not ads with a newsletter header at the top) and even offer lists (if I know they are offer lists up front) will be opened if they happen to address areas I'm interested in.

        So you want to find a smaller slice of a market (a 'niche') to gain a toehold. Let's take cooking, for example.

        'Baking' is a very broad area under cooking. 'Baking if you don't have a conventional oven' is a smaller subniche where you might stand a good chance to gain a toehold. Once you get your head wrapped around the desires of the people in this subniche, you can offer them content they look forward to getting, as well as products ranging from cheap Kindle cookbooks to commercial tabletop convection ovens...
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        • Profile picture of the author Lucian Lada
          Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

          'Baking' is a very broad area under cooking. 'Baking if you don't have a conventional oven' is a smaller subniche where you might stand a good chance to gain a toehold. Once you get your head wrapped around the desires of the people in this subniche, you can offer them content they look forward to getting, as well as products ranging from cheap Kindle cookbooks to commercial tabletop convection ovens...
          Regarding article syndication and niches, isn't it easier to appeal to a broader audience than a smaller one? Take for example "baking if you don't have a conventional oven": isn't it harder to find syndication outlets that will publish your articles periodically? I understand that a cooking website might publish once in a while such an article, but will they agree to do it on a regular basis?
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          • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
            Originally Posted by Lucian Lada View Post

            Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

            'Baking' is a very broad area under cooking. 'Baking if you don't have a conventional oven' is a smaller subniche where you might stand a good chance to gain a toehold. Once you get your head wrapped around the desires of the people in this subniche, you can offer them content they look forward to getting, as well as products ranging from cheap Kindle cookbooks to commercial tabletop convection ovens...
            Regarding article syndication and niches, isn't it easier to appeal to a broader audience than a smaller one? Take for example "baking if you don't have a conventional oven": isn't it harder to find syndication outlets that will publish your articles periodically? I understand that a cooking website might publish once in a while such an article, but will they agree to do it on a regular basis?
            You're right about casting a wider net when seeking to syndicate articles. My comments were more about establishing a web presence and finding/creating a product to sell/promote. The OP was originally trying to build a list in the "IM niche", and I said that was much too wide.

            'Baking without a conventional oven', on thinking about it, is actually a pretty good niche if someone wanted to tackle it. There are several possible target groups, from college dorm residents to seniors in apartments or condos with just cooktops, to RV/yacht users to just plain people who don't want to fire up the oven. There are also many ways to attack the niche. From baking in a toaster oven or tabletop convection oven to solar ovens outdoors to campfire baking in a dutch oven, etc.

            The syndication possibilities are there also. Cooking sites might take anything you could send them. Think combining a recipe or two with a good story or some historical background and some tips. 'Lifestyle' sites, like those for people who live in the RV or on their boat are another possibility. Even sites for expats living in countries where conventional ovens are not common (like much of Asia, if memory serves).

            Obviously, not everyone you approach will use everything you send (or any, for that matter). But even if they don't, all you've lost is a few minutes and the energy to send a contact email.

            I'm going to quit here so I don't derail Ian's thread...
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  • Profile picture of the author nicholasb
    have you tried sending them great helpful content, or do you just hit them with offers and no content all the time.

    You have to realize if you bought traffic from a solo they see little to no value and are getting hammered with offers non stop.

    You have to separate yourself from the crowd and create great free and helpful content, and it's not just about the content.

    While I do send a ton of awesome content to my list (which I do use solo's from time to time) it's all about creating an experience for your audience. Do something different, invite them in, let them see you engage with them.

    I more than doubled my conversion rates, and cut my refund rates in half, the day I started creating an experience for people.

    I don't just send offers, I engage with them, give them something different, and really roll out the red carpet. You cant just hammer them with offers non stop.

    Here's a good thing to do, go opt in to every single list you can find, (from a email just for that purpose of course) See what everyone else is doing and do the opposite.
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  • Profile picture of the author Coby
    600 folks - especially "freebie seekers" (non-confirmed buyers) is not nearly enough to start stressing out...

    When building a list of "prospects" you shouldn't expect too much from the list until you have around 5000 folks.

    Granted your opens and clicks are low - but 600 folks in not nearly enough to do anything with.

    Now if you had a list of 600 buyers that would be a different story...

    So - I have two suggestions...

    1) Keep building your "prospects" lists
    2) Start building buyers lists

    You'll soon see that a buyers list is worth about 10x more than a "prospect" list - now that doesn't mean the "prospects" have no value - just that you can expect more from a buyer's list.

    So, why build a "prospect" list when a buyer list is so much more valuable?

    Well, prospects still have value - especially when you are first getting started. The "prospect" list will allow you to "test" stuff before showing your buyers. It will allow you to work on "converting them to buyers" and it will give you a list you can leverage to build your list faster (like adswaps, banner swaps, etc).

    Don't give up just yet!

    Good luck

    Cheers,
    Coby
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  • Profile picture of the author MartinPlatt
    If you're getting low open rates then that's down to the attention grabbing subject line. You need to stand out from the rest.

    It's harder and harder to get people to open your e-mails, so when you communicate with your list, it's probably a good idea to tell them to look for your next e-mail and what it might contain (in the P.S. for example)

    Without knowing what your subject lines are, it's hard to say what the problem is.
    If you opted your subscribers into the list for some other niche, or the niche is too broad, and you're not appealing to the lists' goals, wants and needs then this could also happen.

    If the subscribers are all opted in from a free offer - then you have to work on them in a different way. You need to understand them. These people probably don't have much money to invest, and probably are looking for something that is so good value (free is harder to beat) As free is hard to beat, you need to offer amazing value, so that the cost becomes insignificant.

    Promoting other people's products - are they related to the offer that opted the subscribers in? Is it a high value, quality product? Has that product got very high gravity - if so it has probably been seen before, and will get ignored.

    Using the affiliate swipes is less likely to work, than coming up with your own ideas. Nothing worse than getting an inbox full of the same e-mail message from multiple people.


    Don't give up - if you can keep testing why it is that this is happening, you will learn. If you give up - well you wasted the amount of time it took you to get where you are. And you won't get that time back.

    There are so many different aspects of your list building that can cause you to fail to achieve the results that you should achieve, and you need to eliminate each, until you find that success.
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    Martin Platt
    martin-platt.com

    Stuck with earning commissions online? Get this get this uncensored affiliate marketing guide for free (sold as coaching for $4,997)

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  • Profile picture of the author Alex Blades
    the list has been built using solo ads bought on here an couple on safe-swaps that had good feedback
    You have to be careful where you buy your solo ads or swaps, too many of them are nothing more than freebie seekers. A buyers list would never be rented or swapped IMO.
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    " I knew that if I failed, I wouldn't regret that.
    But I knew the one thing I might regret is not ever having tried. "

    ~ Jeff Bezos

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  • Profile picture of the author prosper948
    For what it's worth... the reason I open and click one email vs. another is because the person replied to me personally- several times. I know there is a "real person" behind those emails. YES- I know he's sending emails hoping that I'll click through and purchase whatever he is sending me that day- normally I don't but I like to see what he's promoting that day and on occasion something piques my interest and I'll purchase it.

    But all the other IM emails I get- and I get tons after everything I've signed up for trying to figure this IM puzzle out- I delete without even looking at a subject line or opening it up. On an average day I get 200 emails to my inbox and about 300 to my spam. I go through and just click to delete everything that isn't from someone I know personally or from the one IMer that personally answered my questions & has sent a few follow up emails to see how I was doing in my journey.
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  • Profile picture of the author Grace Li
    Where and from who did you buy solo ads? And how much did you spend in total to get 650 subs? Please tell me i need some statisitics :rolleyes: , also can you show me your squeeze page?
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  • Profile picture of the author Mormo
    I signed up to a lot of lists when I decided to make money online. I bought a few offers. Soon I decided I was wasting my time reading all the email and it was better to put into in action what I've learned. I only read one gurus emails now and that's Travis with Bum Marketing. He's funny and gives away a lot of free info.
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  • Profile picture of the author createyouwealth
    Just don't give up on list building. It won't become an overnight sensation. Keep building your list and offering value. But it also has to deal with what market your promoting in aswell as to how you approach your list.
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    • Profile picture of the author vMartin
      Ian,

      Since you purchased solo-ads from me, I decided to chip in with some advice. I always sign-up to the offer I am blasting so I have a bit more inside information on what you are sending to the list.

      First of all, do not avoid the "MMO" or any of the bigger more lucrative niches in general. You are on the right track by building a list in this niche.

      There is a reason why these niches are so crowded, big and easy money. I started with the dating niche 6 months ago and it was probably the easiest cash I have ever made. Big demand, endless angles to go with and a very high range of offers to earn with.

      The volume of traffic to go with and the endless amount of offers, products, biz-opps etc make this niche very easy to work with.

      Going with a much smaller less competitive niches has a lot of cons that people seem to forget.

      For example: Hydroponic Gardening
      • How many angles can you go with here? Not a lot right?
      • You probably have a dozen good offers to choose from, which your entire competition is using as well.
      • The volume is limited and everyone is taking their traffic from the same angles and often the same sources.

      Someone that absolutely loves Hydroponic Gardening will probably also want to make a ton of money online right?

      Someone that wants to make money online is probably not interested in Hydroponic Gardening right?

      This same person that loves Hydroponic Gardening is probably more likely to start dating online then the other way around.

      The reason I am saying this is that the "MMO" niche or the dating niche is in fact much easier and way more lucrative to make money online with. People that say otherwise probably never tried or never had much success.

      You can get people on your make money online list from hydroponic forums but you won't find leads on a make money online forum for your hydroponic list (Well, you never know; maybe 1?).

      This pretty much means that you could use the same methods of generating traffic for any small niche for the MMO niche.

      And the amount of angles and offers you can work with in the MMO niche are pretty much endless.

      You can lurk your traffic in with a FREE method to make money with Youtube videos and sell them a more advance guide, then sell them views and likes for their videos, then sell them automated software to help their campaigns then teach them about building a list with their traffic and sell them auto-responders as affiliate, then sell them a hundred different guides for more traffic.

      After that you can take them through the entire make money with survey niche if they A: want to make more money or B: If videos is not for them.

      Then the entire cycle above starts again.

      Free guide on how to make money with surveys, Link them to different survey products for commission, provide them with more survey type offers (CPA for example), then again teach them how to build a list and sell them auto responders as affiliate, sell them newsletter templates they can work with, sell them hosting etc

      You really need to work with angles.

      If you are going to promote them just about anything without knowing which level they are on you are going to have a hard time converting them or even getting them to open the emails.

      In one of your emails you are promoting list building tactics... Most of yours leads will have no clue what you are talking about. They won't open that because it sounds like a different language to them.

      You can't just swipe offers to them without building it up first. Start with a very simple free guide on how to make money with something stupid simple and ask them for feedback and tell them you are open for questions.

      Based on the response of your list you will understand them better, what they want and what offers they would probably buy.

      You also blasted some WSO's to your list which is a clear no go, if you haven't got a clue on what level these leads are. If you where just starting out with making money online would you understand the whole concept of a forum like this? I would not.

      if you provided them a guide and information regarding this forum and how it works and how good of a resource it is to help them make money online they would probably be much more interested in the WSO you are blasting.

      Start with stupid simple then slowly build from there and earn a ton of cash on the way.

      Every new lead on your list should also experience the entire start to finish first.

      If however your leads are coming from a product you created or a more advance product you are giving away then you can already indicate the level they are on.

      If your leads signup for free landing pages then you know the survey type products are not going to convert, but if they signup for Make big bucks online right now they probably will.

      In your case, you are promoting a offer that claims that you can make unlimited internet income from scratch, and someone that is already list building and internet savvy probably would not of became your lead.

      The first email you sent was perfect, a free guide to build their trust but the title you used was not so good. You are using "advance titles" that are not very appealing to your lead.

      Hope you don't mind me listing it here but:

      "Affiliate Revoultion - Miracle Copmmissions Download"

      Most of them have probably thought... WTF is this? and It's misspelled as well.

      To get back on stupid simple, here we go:

      Download Your FREE Guide To Internet Income!

      This would appeal to so much more of your leads, and your open rate will probably skyrocket. They know it's free and they know they can download it by opening your email.

      Then the second email you are sending contains this line:

      "If you're looking for the fastest, easiest way to get more high ranking sites online then you're not alone."

      Rankings? Building Websites?

      Hell no! if they signed up for creating internet income from scratch I doubt they even know the word rankings as Internet marketing term.

      I could keep going with this and tell you exactly why your open rates stink, but I will leave it at this. You can aways pm me for Skype and I can help you out, but remember that building a list requires just as much work, testing and tweaking as any other Internet Marketing angle.

      Don't give up so fast buddy!
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  • Profile picture of the author JohnV88
    Hi,
    Could you please tell me more about your list & niche ?
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    For Only Real Facebook Likes, Youtube Views & Twitter Followers
    www.SocialKings.info
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  • Profile picture of the author Patho
    Safe swap lists are mostly trash and misleading...

    Network with trusted marketeers and try to swap or buy solo ads from them
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  • Profile picture of the author jgant
    Unless you can show you're making decent money (mid 4 figures to 5 figues per month) in a non MMO niche, you're going to have a very hard time building an audience of keen readers. I ignore pretty much everyone in MMO who can't show me they make really good money in non MMO niches.

    However, for the few MMO people I do follow, who do have lucrative non MMO online businesses, I'm a very good customer as long as they deliver the goods.

    Without a reputation as someone who kills it online in a non MMO niche you're going to have a hard time establishing rappart with readers.

    If you really want to get into the MMO niche, the best thing you can do is go and make $5K a month in a non MMO niche and document the process. Then, you can build a great readership very quickly who will gobble up every word you utter. Besides, you'll actually have something to say and teach.

    Also, in my limited email marketing experience, and this is from my experience in 3 non MMO niches, subscribers who have been exposed to your content and like it and then subscribe will be very responsive. This means viewers of your videos, readers of your articles. Where those videos / articles are published doesn't matter as long as they end up on your list and recognize your emails as the author of the materials they read/viewed before signing up. For me, this content is generally on my blog, but for one niche I attract a lot of subscribers via my YouTube channel where I created dozens of tutorials that actually teach stuff.

    Think of it this way. Determine which email lists you open and read. In fact, pinpoint the few lists you actually save and eagerly open and read. Then analyze why you like the author and follow the author. I suspect, if it's an MMO niche, it's because they prove to you that they kill it online in non MMO niches and offer great info. If it's in a non-MMO niche, it's likely because you found their website and loved their work and really appreciated the freebie incentive they provided you to opt in.
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    How I hit $10,000+ per month very fast w/ 1 niche blog - Click Here to learn more (no opt-in).
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      Originally Posted by jgant View Post

      Unless you can show you're making decent money (mid 4 figures to 5 figues per month) in a non MMO niche, you're going to have a very hard time building an audience of keen readers. I ignore pretty much everyone in MMO who can't show me they make really good money in non MMO niches.
      There's a tiny flaw in your logic. How do you want that someone to show you they make money in a non-MMO niche? Screen shots? Easily faked. Video of their accounts? Also easily faked or manipulated. Pictures posed with their McMansion, red sports car and hot girlfriend? Really easy to fake.

      If someone is really good at that con, 'skeptics' like you are their ideal customer. If they can get behind your defenses, they know you'll just keep buying...

      [Nothing personal...]
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  • Profile picture of the author thailanddave
    To add to what other have said,
    1. Build value - this was hard for me to understand at first. After you give them something free to get on your list, instead of trying to sell them something else, de-construct another free product (pick something very good) and turn it into an email series of "how to do" something. That way they keep opening your next email
    2. Re-read your emails before sending them out. look at your title line - would you open the email yourself if it was sent to you?
    3. Build suspense - at the end of each email, give them a preview of what the next one will be so they will look forward to it. "Today we talked about xxxx, in the next lesson we will be discussing xxxx"
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  • Profile picture of the author John Romaine
    Originally Posted by bloggerd View Post

    the list has been built using solo ads bought on here an couple on safe-swaps that had good feedback
    Urrghh :rolleyes:
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    BS free SEO services, training and advice - SEO Point

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  • Profile picture of the author gcbmark20
    Hi Bloggerd,

    Try creating your 1st product at least.

    This will give YOU some much needed "EXPERT STATUS" in your
    chosen niche.

    When people join your list they are generally looking for someone
    to help them, guide them and coach them to becoming successful or
    achieving something they have in their minds.

    They may want you to show them how they can make their first $100
    online.

    They may want you to show them how to build a list from scratch.

    And so on and so forth.

    Do you have a blog where you can send out emails with links that
    point to new blog posts that has great information on there?

    Do you intend to just promote and not give anything?

    I know it's all too tempting just to blast out emails 5, 10 times
    a week and hope for the best.

    Do you open emails from other well seasoned marketers every
    single time they send YOU an email?

    If so, you have some fantastic examples of how email marketing
    should be done in terms of creating interest, creating a buzz and
    making people want to hear from you.

    Once you are at this stage it is far easier to be yourself, relax and
    create relationships with your new subscribers.

    I am thinking you just may need to make a little shift in your mind set
    and your game plan for how often and what you can add to your emails
    for you to become noticed as a marketer who is well respected but
    can make sales at the same time.

    There is nothing wrong with selling!

    That's why were in business right?

    But I now am a true believer that you must add some real juicy
    content in those emails at least a couple of times a week.

    Plus even when you are sending a promo email...

    ...You must create them in a way that gets your readers excited
    and curious enough to want to open them and read more.

    Don't give up my friend you haven't failed you have just
    found another way that doesn't work.

    You are now one more step closer to victory!

    All the best.

    Regards
    Gavin
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  • Profile picture of the author owais211
    Banned
    you haven't mention anything on what type of list you have and what kind of niche...also on the info. you keep sending them?
    Maybe a rework on the list and getting to know what they would like to listen to could work a great deal.
    Good luck!
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  • Profile picture of the author flovin
    An open rate of 2% is the norm from my experience.
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    • Profile picture of the author thailanddave
      Originally Posted by flovin View Post

      An open rate of 2% is the norm from my experience.
      Really? I'm new at list building but Im getting 7-9% on most lists for daily emails. I get 10-14% on lists I built from Craigslist help-wanted ads. Im not trying to brag or dispute, I don't know what normal is or should be.

      Any others care to give avg open rates?
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      • Profile picture of the author Willie Crawford
        Originally Posted by thailanddave View Post

        Really? I'm new at list building but Im getting 7-9% on most lists for daily emails. I get 10-14% on lists I built from Craigslist help-wanted ads. Im not trying to brag or dispute, I don't know what normal is or should be.

        Any others care to give avg open rates?

        I've seen open rates all over the map... depending upon things like
        how abused the list is

        I've purchased solo ads that got less than a 1% open rate for example...
        and I'm a fairly decent copywriter.... subscribers had simply tuned out
        those ezines. Those ads were just ads the ezine rather than buying
        a given number of clicks.

        With you open rates, you have probably at least spent some time
        building a relationship with the list.

        I do think that a list of 600 won't give you very meaningful numbers,
        but it sounds like list-quality and relationship with the list is the
        main problems.

        Willie
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        • Profile picture of the author tpw
          Originally Posted by Willie Crawford View Post

          I've seen open rates all over the map... depending upon things like how abused the list is

          With you open rates, you have probably at least spent some time
          building a relationship with the list.

          I do think that a list of 600 won't give you very meaningful numbers,
          but it sounds like list-quality and relationship with the list is the
          main problems.

          Willie

          Agree.

          I tend to see open rates of 10% to 14% on the first mailing and 8% to 10% on the second mailing.
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          Bill Platt, Oklahoma USA, PlattPublishing.com
          Publish Coloring Books for Profit (WSOTD 7-30-2015)
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  • Profile picture of the author arkina
    Offer a couple of freebies and see if people open and click for that. Then you will know if they are getting the mail but just weren't interested. If they open for a freebie (could even be a free ebook or a free calendar or chart you make that can be useful to them), then you know if you give them better content they will open your mails. Give them some really useful info in your mail and then work in what you are selling to that.
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  • Profile picture of the author Thriftypreneur
    Originally Posted by bloggerd View Post


    the list has been built using solo ads
    You already identified the problem. On top of that, you're in the IM niche.

    So, here's what you have:

    1. You're marketing to internet savvy people who are notorious for having throw-away email addresses specifically for newsletters and freebie seeking.

    2. In spite of #1, you still decided to build your list through solo ads.

    Considering those two things, I think your stats sound about right.
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