One of the strongest tools in an Internet marketer’s arsenal is email – and with good reason. Getting a big list of targeted prospects together is a tremendous asset to have. Yet, many people stumble when trying to put together their lists because they don’t know the right way to get started. Just how does one start getting people to opt-in?
The first thing to keep in mind is that people are getting more and more used to marketers asking them to fill in their name and email address. Thus, it’s simply not enough to merely put up your opt-in form and hope for the best. You truly need to “sell” the opt-in, and one of the top ways to do it is with an ethical “bribe” or giveaway. Put together a free downloadable report around your niche topic and give it away to everyone that fills in their name and email address. This is a great way to persuade them to take the time to fill in your opt-in form.
Your bribe doesn’t have to be a report. It can be a video, an audio interview with someone respected in your industry, or maybe even exclusive access to some protected part of your website. Whatever it is, the key is to ensure that your giveaway brings value to the user. This does two things:
- The user will start to form trust with you, which means that promotions and recommendations are more likely to be accepted.
- If the content is good enough, there’s a good chance that the user will help you spread the word by telling their friends about it.
In most cases, this giveaway constitutes a first impression of sorts, and as we all know, first impressions are critical. Basically, ensure that your giveaway is makes a good impression and provides real value to your subscribers.
The second point may seem obvious, but you would be surprised how many people don’t do this. Make sure that your opt-in box is in a highly visible location above the fold. Above the fold means the portion of the screen that is visible before you have to scroll downwards. Studies show that people are more likely to notice your opt-in box if they don’t have to scroll down to see it. To make your opt-in box more visible, try a color that stands out from the rest of your website. You can also try to add arrows or other graphics to draw eyeballs to the opt-in box. Of course, be sure to show the visitor your fabulous giveaway for signing up.
Finally, in your opt-in box, always remember to summarize or point to your privacy policy. SPAM (or junk email) is a huge issue, and many people are turned off from email marketing in fear of having their email addresses sold or distributed.In order to get people to opt-in, you need to be able to show them that you are worthy of trust and that you will not sell their email without express permission. By doing this, your opt-in rate will noticeably increase, so always try to ease the fears of your users.
As long as email exists, email marketing is not going away. By putting these techniques to use, you too can start building a targeted list of subscribers that are responsive to your own promotions.
Email marketing works especially well if you can make a list targeted around a particular niche. Alex Goad, a legend of email and niche marketing, instructs you how it’s done with his revolutionary Conquest Authority system. This program, originally known as Google Conquest, debuted in December of 2008, and has been generating cash for members behind closed doors. But on June 16th, Alex is unlocking the gates once again and accepting new members for a very limited time. Conquest Authority is essentially Google Conquest 2.0 – a complete Internet marketing system for churning out huge profits online. Discover how to get involved with this Conquest Authority review and incredible Conquest Authority bonus package.
