Tips Guides Resources

You know you need to stay in touch with the people on your list, but you’re in two minds about starting a newsletter. Will it take up too much of your time? What if you run out of things to say? Can you maintain quality over a period of time? How long should your newsletter be?

Your first aim should be to offer useful or interesting information. (If you don’t do that, you won’t have subscribers for long!) Your second aim should be to keep your newsletter short. Remember that people are inundated with email these days - they actually prefer something they can skim quickly and then put to use.

Spend some time thinking about the best format. You need a model that will be easy to reproduce week after week, month after month. Any one of the following five ideas will make your job easier. Choose one and keep it as a regular format, or combine several of them (for example, you could use the “Tip of the Week” format for weeks 1-3 each month, and offer a checklist every fourth newsletter).

1. Tip of the Week

This one speaks for itself. You can easily brainstorm enough content for six months of weekly newsletters (you need to come up with 24 tips, which you will present weekly). Anyone with a degree of expertise on a given topic should be able to do this without any trouble. A handy way to organize this is to (a) explain the problem then (b) offer the tip which will solve it. Length? Anything from 150 - 500 words.

2. Top Ten

This is a tried and true format, and easy to create. Example: if you are an expert on finance, you could offer advice on the Top Ten Ideas for Getting Out of Debt, or the Top Ten Ways to Save Money on Car Expenses, or the Top Ten Tips to Pay Off Your Mortgage in Ten Years. Make sure you keep a tight rein on word length - just offer a couple of sentences for each tip, not half a page.

3. Three Ways to…

Sometimes it can be a bit of a challenge to come up with ten ways to do things, whereas just three ideas is a cinch. You can also explore three ideas in more detail. Alternatively, you can alternate the “Top Ten” format with “Three Ways to…” the two of them will work together nicely.

4. Before and After

Who doesn’t like makeovers? This works in a similar way to ‘Tip of the Week’ in that you show the problem and then provide a solution, but the ‘before and after’ approach lends itself better to case studies. This is a good way to interact with your clients - invite them to send in details of whatever needs a makeover: an article, a website page, their wardrobe etc, then present your solutions. Alternatively, you can ask for ‘before and after’ examples from readers who have managed to do this themselves, then showcase it for the rest of your customers. (If you don’t use HTML for your newsletters, you can add a link to a website page for the accompanying photos.) This works particularly well if you have a health and fitness related newsletter - your readers will be motivated by seeing the changes others have made through diet, exercise and weight training.

5. Checklists

When you’re learning to do something new, there’s nothing like a checklist to make sure you don’t leave out a crucial step. Checklists can save a lot of time, and your readers will be delighted to get one. Write a brief introductory paragraph, present the checklist, and then follow it with a few final tips. You can either base your entire newsletter on the checklist format, or present one at regular intervals as a change from the standard article format.

Final tip: set up an address at yahoo or gmail just for newsletters. Spend a few hours checking out sites related to your own interests, and sign up for any free newsletters. Every so often, check your new email account and browse, looking specifically to see what approach other editors use for layout and articles. When you see a format you like, print it out and put it in an ‘ideas’ folder. Unsubscribe from any that are constantly filled with junk or endless sales pitches.

Kevin Sinclair is the publisher and editor of besuccessfulnews.com, a site that provides information and articles on how to succeed in your own home or small business.

You probably have been trying every means and ways to get more traffic and visitors to your website so that they can sign up for your ezine.

However, with more traffic comes conversion as it will be useless if the conversion rate is mediocre. Your ezine subscribes will be very little as compared to your huge traffic.

Thus you will need to increase your traffic conversion rate of your ezine through some strategies. But the most obvious changes that you should make are actually located near your opt-in box itself. And now I will touch on the little known tricks to instantly boost your opt-in rates and build you a bigger list.

1) Make your opt-in box obvious for your ezine.

First and foremost, when visitors go to your site, they will most probably want to search for more information in your site.

However, when they cannot find the relevant information that they need, they will want to go back to their search results and continue searching until they find it.

But before they leave, you still have a last chance to get their email address into your opt in list or ezine where you can provide more tips to them.

You will have to make your ezine opt in box very obvious to them so that they will recognize that it is an opt-in box and not anything else.

By doing so will ensure that the visitors know where to opt in for more information and when your description of your newsletter information are what they need.

They will most definitely want to opt in to your list. Thus, you will be able to instantly capture a subscriber who was originally going to leave your site after unable to find the relevant information.

2) Include related photos with your ezine

If you have photos or any graphics relating to your ezine, you can include them in your site. As your graphics will be able to capture the visitors’ attention thus they will stay longer around your site.

With the added graphics, you may also want to project a professional look of your ezine cover so that it can even look like those of “Times” or “Forbes” magazine.

What you want to create is an impression on your visitor that your ezine is tangible and have that great information which is comparable to popular offline magazines.

Therefore, you will create a more lasting impression of your ezine and your business than your competitors and capture more subscribers to your list as a result of that.

3) Experiment with size of your ezine opt in box

You might want to experiment with the size of your ezine opt in box as some people may like your opt in box to be obvious and big, while others may be attracted to small ones.

But the main point here is to test out whether your subscriber opt in rate will increase if your size of your opt in box changes.

So you might want to take some time to test out the sizing of your ezine opt in box to get the maximum opt in rates possible with your current website design.

Therefore, with these minor “tweaks” in your opt in page, I’m sure that you will be able to get more email addresses into your opt-in list of your ezine immediately after implementing these list building strategies.

Brian Lam is an online marketer with experience ranging from affiliate marketing, traffic generation to viral list building. Discover how Brian Lam is going to show you how you can boost your opt-in list by up to 1133% immediately with his proven techniques. Now at Email Marketing Solutions.

Every online business provides great service to generate satisfaction among their customers. As each and every customer receives satisfaction over their products or the services they get, there is a great chance that they will become a return customer and buy again. Better yet, they will recommend you to other people that could generate more business for you and your site.

As more traffic is driven to your site, you can entice many of them to subscribe to your mailing list or opt-in list. This is a list where in website visitors agree to be sent promotional materials such as newsletters, catalogs and such that could keep them updated about your site or the niche of your site. These promotional materials are sent via e-mail to the members of the list in different time intervals.

When using e-mail as the media of your marketing and advertisements, you eliminate the need for high costs. Email is free and if you can manage to make your own promotional advertisements you can also save a bundle there. With an opt-in subscribers list, you are pretty sure that what you are sending out is received, viewed and read by the subscribers and not simply being deleted. They have signed up for service and have consented in receiving it.

This means that there are constant reminders to your subscribers about all your products, new products and services as well as any promotions and special deals you are having.

There is also the chance that they can be forwarded to other potential customers as they tell their friends and families about you and your site.

Of course you should be also aware that a subscriber may unsubscribe when they feel that they are not getting what they want or expected. Make sure that they are satisfied with your opt-in marketing strategies and keep them excited in receiving your newsletters and catalogs. Here are some tips that can help you build a list of eager subscribers.

Make your promotional materials interesting and fun. Try to use a little creativity but not too over artsy. Build around what your product or service is about. For example; if you are selling car parts, put some pictures of what is new in the auto parts world, a new wing door possibly that can fit any car and make it look like a Lamborghini.

Try to research what people are looking for, these way, you stay one step ahead of them all the time and you will be their bearer of new tidings. They will be eager to receive what you are sending them because they new you always have fresh and new things to share with them.

Write good articles that can be very informational but light at the same time. If your subscribers enjoy your articles, they will go to your site by clicking the links that you will be putting on your newsletter to read some more. You can provide articles that can connect to many people. Be diverse in your articles. Put something humorous, then put something informational, then put something that has both.

Are you wary about this because you don’t like writing? No problem, there are many professional and experienced article writers that can do the job for you for minimal fees. They know what they are doing and can provide the need that you have for your newsletters, the money that you pay for your articles are going to be met by the many sign-ups and the potential profit from the sales that you will get.

Create and send an E-book to your customers about anything that is related to your business or site. Use your knowledge and expertise in the field you have chosen to help other people who are similarly interested. Offer this e-book for free. You can write about anything informational and helpful to your subscribers. For example; you can do manuals and guides in so many things. This e-book could be used as a reference for many people.

Share this e-book with everyone, even other sites; just make sure that they don’t change the links in the e-book that will lead people to your site. If you want, you can always get some people to write it for you just like your articles. Your investment once again will be covered by the great marketing this will generate.

Add e-coupons in your newsletters that will help them avail to special discounts. Put a control number in your e-coupon so that they can only be used once. When people get discounts that can be found in your newsletters, they will be eager to receive your newsletter in anticipation of what you are promoting next.

If your subscribers can get benefits from your newsletters, they will be very eager to receive them. Just don’t flood your mailing list with mails so that you don’t annoy your subscribers.

Pj Germain
Affiliate-Success.Org - The Last Membership You’ll ever need!

Email marketing is not just all about unsolicited emails with advertisements making outrageous claims. Unfortunately the abundance of spam which inundates Internet users each day has caused many to formulate a negative opinion about email marketing but savvy Internet marketers who understand how to market successful enjoy an advantage over the competition by turning to e-newsletters to reach more potential customers. This article will discuss e-newsletters and how they can be used effectively as part of an email marketing campaign.

An e-newsletter is very similar to newsletters which are printed and distributed via mail or other avenues. The most significant distance is the method of distribution. While traditional newsletters are typically mailed to the recipients or distributed in person, e-newsletters are distributed exclusively online. These e-newsletters may be either emailed in the body of an email message or may be included as a link in an email which directs the recipient to the website for the e-newsletter. In either case the recipient can read the e-newsletter while online and print it out or save it to their hard drive for future use.

The contents of an e-newsletter may vary somewhat drastically depending on the business the e-newsletter is promoting, the purpose of the e-newsletter and even the personal preferences of the business owner and the employees producing the e-newsletter. However, the general format for an e-newsletter is to include useful information in the form of full length feature articles or shorter pieces offering useful tips. The e-newsletter should also contain at least some subtle advertising for the products and services offered by the producer of the e-newsletter. These pieces of advertising should not be blatant and should allow readers of the e-newsletter to formulate their own opinions regarding the products or services.

The content of an e-newsletter should make up the bulk of the document. This may include full length feature articles which provide information for the readers. It may also include shorter pieces which may offer tips, review products or offer advice to the reader. The key to providing high quality content in these e-newsletters is to have them written by a capable writer who is knowledgeable about the subject matter. The writer may have an understanding of the subject matter or may simply be able to research the subject and learn enough to write accurate and informative articles on the topic. In either case the distributor of the e-newsletter should carefully review the content for both quality and accuracy before publishing the e-newsletter.

Distributors of e-newsletters should also consider including graphical elements into their e-newsletters. This may include product pictures or any other relevant graphics which provide meaning to the text of the e-newsletter. A graphic designer can assist you with this endeavor by helping you to create graphics, crop them appropriately and place them in a prime location on the layout of the e-newsletter.

Finally, distributors of e-newsletters should carefully consider their audience before using email for marketing purposes. The primary consideration should be whether or not the target audience is likely to be receptive to marketing in the form of emails or an e-newsletter. If they are likely to respond to this type of marketing it is worthwhile to pursue an email marketing campaign. However, care should be taken to ensure the emails sent to the target audience are designed specifically to appeal to these potential customers. This type of specialization should include the type of language used in the copy, the layout of the email or e-newsletter and the graphics used in the email or e-newsletter.

Additionally, the copy should be filed with information which will be useful to the recipients. Another factor to consider is to whom to send the emails. Sending these emails to a large group of recipients who have not requested information from you and have no interest in your products and services is a waste of time. It is a better idea to ask customers and potential customers if they are interested in receiving more information and having them join an email distribution list if they wish to receive more information. Sending your emails to this distribution list ensures the majority of recipients will have an interest in your products or services and are not likely to automatically delete your emails as spam.

Learn how to write profitable mails, newsletters and articles that sell using the unique Profit Writing System: http://www.profitwritingsystem.com

The first one that we will look at is to become a freelance writer. This is a very good way for you to make money if you need some part-time income but it is not as something that you can do on a full-time basis. It is often hard because there are so many writers out there that the amount of money one can make off of freelancing might not be enough to pay the bills. This can be a great way to start and get your feet wet working online because you’ll have several different opportunities to learn about different areas of the Internet.

Many authors have been given the opportunity to write and learn about different subjects such as writing for e-zines and other online opportunities. This can make you more savvy about the Internet and how you could further create a home-based online business opportunity through your talent and insights from your freelancing experience.

If you are interested in learning more about freelance writing, you should look into directfreelance or freelanceworkexchange.

I would highly recommend looking at freelanceworkexchange because if you join for a week, you can see a variety of jobs that they have to offer as well as be able to download an in-depth ebook on how to make good money freelancing. This e-book is very valuable and gives you some good ideas to make extra money freelancing or how to market yourself adequately as a freelancer.

Another way you can work in creating a home-based online business opportunity is to work on building a website built around a particular theme or niche. This does not take a great deal of money and if you work at this, it can build up into a very nice part-time or full-time income for you.

You may not see instantaneous results but if you take time every day to work on developing your website you’ll be pleased with the end result. If you want to find some underserved niches that are in need of a good website to be built around this, take a look at the following website: findhotniches. This website will give you particular information on how to build a website and a niche as well as particular niches that need some development. You are given all the tools and you have to take your time and develop a website.

Hopefully this article today on creating a home-based online business opportunity is giving you some food for thought. We only looked into a couple of possible suggestions but if you take the lessons learned here and search the Internet and keep an open mind, you can find anything that can possibly interest you.

If you look the website www.clickbank.com and look around at the different products, you may find an affiliate program that you may want to market as well. What is great about this particular website is that everything is already set up as far as products are related and all you have to do is figure out how to sell the product.

This will go back to you learning more about Internet marketing and about the different strategies that you can do for this.

Ronald Piper is an online researcher who publishes new information on specialized topics. He provides daily, relevant information and updated content on your favorite interests. To view more articles related to this particular subject, please visit his website at:ronaldpiper.com

Your prospects are on your list because you once impressed them enough to get the nod into their inbox. Now that they’re there, you need to keep them reading so they don’t forget you. Never is it more important to keep their attention than with the first six or seven emails you send. You want to be sure they’re good, you want to be sure they’re quick and you want to be sure they’re consistent. You’ve made a good first impression, but you’re not going to make a sale unless they’re still engaged after, on average, 7 to 10 emails.

Whatever method you use to carry your prospects’ interest through the first seven emails, there are some basic ground rules that should be followed for you to enhance their loyalty to you, and keep them reading. Remember, just because they don’t unsubscribe doesn’t mean your emails aren’t going unread. If you follow these rules you’ll increase your readability:

1. Write as if you’re talking only to one person. Use the firstname field if your autoresponder allows (it should) and make your emails read like you talk. Don’t overuse the first name though or you’ll do more harm than good. Use it only as much as you would use someone’s name in conversation. Make your mails chatty, humorous if you can, and make them sound like you’re just having a one-to-one conversation. If you write like you’re talking to an audience you’re not engaging the reader and they’ll switch off.

2. Show empathy to your prospects. If possible, illustrate how you recognize what position they’re in while you show them what you can do to improve it. If you only show them what you can teach them without showing them why they need it, you will lose interest. This is a classic sales tactic. Its about showing your prospects you care about them (as you should) and want to help them individually with the service you’re offering. Before you send something out, read what you’ve written and ask yourself, if you were them, would you really like to hear what you’re saying?

3. Check all your links work before you send any emails. This may sound obvious, but its scary how many times I’ve been sold to with an email that builds my interest only to dash it again because I can’t get through to the webpage its promoting. All your hard work will be ruined if your prospects can’t follow your links. Check them, check them and check them again. You’ll not make a sale without them.

4. Above all, be honest. Whatever you want from your prospects, and whatever you think they want from you, write from the heart. Don’t say something works if it doesn’t, or that a service is good just so you get paid. Speak from the heart and let them know that you are giving your true feelings. There will be times when products you recommend don’t perform as well as expected, but at least if they know you’re honest in general, they’ll have more time for you if they trust your judgment than if they think you only recommended it to earn a quick buck.

5. Reply to queries fast, efficiently and always show concern. Simple as that.

These are the rules I’ve followed while building The Freedom List. I make good money, receive good testimonials and I’m sure a lot of it is to do with following these rules.

Something to remember when building a web business is that the value of the business relates directly to the size of your list and the relationship you have with them. Whatever your online business, and however clever it is technically, its your list that determines its real value.

Build on your relationship with your list and you will build your profit.

I wish you luck with your list building.

Tim Brocklehurst is a master list-builder. He has fast become a noted expert in list-building and is renowned for being able to apply his techniques for success in any niche. For more information, see the 15 second free video at http://www.listlever.com