How to Build and Maintain a Profitable Opt-In List Part 1

You’ve no doubt heard the phrase “The money is in the list.” This phrase has gained in popularity as more business owners realize the value of an opt-in list. Your website subscribers are people who have expressed an interest in receiving your information. They’re practically asking to buy your products or service. They just need a little more convincing. That’s where your email messages come into play.

Grow your list, grow your business. Here’s how to build and maintain a profitable opt-in list.

1: Create a compelling offer

The very first secret to building a profitable opt-in list is to create a compelling offer. Now a compelling offer might be a brand-new television. However, if you’re marketing to pet owners, then you’re not targeting them with the right offer. A compelling offer needs to be related specifically to your targeted niche, or area of interest or focus that you want to sell to (read more about niches by clicking on the link on the right if you need more details).

You want your compelling offer to be something that appeals specifically to them, not to everyone in the world.

A compelling offer also has to be valuable and unique. If you’re marketing to pet owners, then it might be something like an e-book or report on “How to choose the right veterinarian for your pet.” It must offer value and quality information. In this way you will position yourself as an expert worth listening to, and someone who can help make their lives easier by solving their problems.

2-: Market your offer

Once you’ve decided on your offer and have created your product or giveaway, it’s time to market that offer. You can market any number of ways. The goal, however, is to drive targeted traffic to your opt-in form or offer page, also commonly referred to as a ”squeeze page”.

To drive traffic, you can use a number of different strategies, including:

* Article marketing
* Social networking
* Co-registration
* Advertising

* Pay Per Click

* Blogging

Whichever strategies you use, make sure they are suited to your niche. Go where they go. Listen to what they have to say. Then target their main issues.  Also make sure your marketing efforts support each other. Create a comprehensive marketing strategy and send each prospect to your opt-in offer page.

3-Make it simple. We do suggest you use a double opt in to make sure you are not accused of being a spammer, but otherwise, keep your whole ‘sales funnel’ clean and simple, without a ton of extra links on the page. List the benefits of your offer and give them a registration coupon and stated privacy policy. Make sure you TEST the order flow to be sure it works, namely, that they get their free download and first couple of editions of the newsletter they are registering for (you will want to follow up with them on a regular basis, so this is the easiest way to get permission to do so).

Now that you are building your opt in list, it is time to maintain it. We will look at that in part 2 of this article.


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Author: jm

Joan Mullally has been doing business online for more than 20 years and is a pioneer in the fields of online publishing, marketing, and ecommerce. She is the author of more than 200 guides and courses designed to help beginner and intermediate marketers make the most of the opportunities the Internet offers for running a successful business. A student and later teacher trainee of Frank McCourt’s, she has always appreciated the power of the word, and has used her knowledge for successful SEO and PPC campaigns, and powerful marketing copy. One computer science class at NYU was enough to spark her fascination with all things digital. In her spare time, she works with adult literacy, animal fostering and rescue, and teaching computer skills to women.