Day 2

Email Marketing Procedure - Line Up Your Promos

A task that you want to include on day 2 is to line up what you’re going to promote in the upcoming days. Type up a spreadsheet of products you plan to offer your subscribers. These don’t have to be posted on your blog, but are emailed directly to your subscribers instead.

You’re going to have to do some research to see what new products are about to hit the market. The best way to find this out is to check various places online that offer these products.

Some of them will offer digital items (like plugins or other tools) and others will offer things like courses. Look around for deals for your audience so that way you can offer them a discount when they buy the product.

This might be a simple launch period or a coupon code you’ve secured for them. Get everything organized so that you know what you’re going to be sharing. It can be tempting to talk about all the great deals that are releasing, but you don’t want to that because you can cause overwhelm with your subscribers.

Instead, schedule your promotions throughout the week to highlight the best ones you feel will meet their needs. There are many affiliates who promote anything and everything just to make money, but they lose the trust of their audience.......

Creating an Opt In Offer They Can’t Refuse

Gone are the days when you could merely offer notifications and updates to future subscribers. Consumers have learned their lesson after receiving a flood of spam over the years with no real value.

Now, they expect something more in exchange for their name and email address - and rightly so. When you have a landing page or opt in box, you need to have something more than the promise to notify them of future blog posts.

You want to give them something free in exchange for their contact information. The first thing you might consider is a free report or eBook that teaches them something they wish to know.

This can be anything from a simple five page report to a full guide sent in PDF format. Page count isn’t as important as the information contained inside. You can also promise a multimedia course that includes both the text version and video files.

Some people offer some sort of tool or software in exchange for the right to communicate with a visitor at a later date. It could be something as simple as a checklist or template that they download if you don’t have the skill to create your own software. 

You can give your potential subscribers access to one of your previous paid courses if you like. Just make sure that it’s up-to-date and that your offer doesn’t promise something they won’t be receiving.

Depending on your niche market, you may want to offer some sort of plan that they can download or access. For example, if you’re in the fitness niche, then you might offer a 30 day diet or exercise plan.

Some people will even subscribe for a perk - such as a discount or coupon that they can use with your products. For example, if you run a PLR site, then you might offer an introductory discount coupon of 50% off for those who subscribe to your list.

Don’t forget to use a multimedia approach with your free offers whenever possible. Not everyone will enjoy digesting text or audio or video the same way. The more options you have to offer them, the better.

One thing you may also want to consider is including an unexpected subscriber gift in the very first email. In addition to the offer that they specifically signed up for, you can go above and beyond and wow your customer with an extra freebie they weren’t expecting.

Recruiting New Subscribers Based on Your Reputation to Serve

Once you start a list, it will be your job to grow the number of subscribers that you have over time. While it may seem meager at first, with subscribers only trickling in, it will pick up steam when you put more effort into it.

Word-of-mouth is a powerful indicator of who to follow and who is trustworthy in any niche online. When you can generate positive word-of-mouth and recommendations as a niche leader, you will see your subscriber numbers soar.

You do this by maintaining your ethics and showcasing a true desire to step up and help people. There are many of your competitors who are only in it for the money, and when you can set yourself apart from them as someone who truly cares, you will find that people naturally flock to you.

You want to be open and honest about your own journey in the niche. Whether it’s online success or weight loss, telling the story of how you overcame obstacles and succeeded will resonate with your readers. They will want to share your stories with the people they care about - such as friends and family members.

Some people try to position themselves as guru marketers who have never made a mistake. And while these individuals do develop a following of like-minded people, it’s more ethical and honest to be transparent about your journey.

If you want to develop a reputation as someone who consistently shows up to serve your audience, then you’ll want to invite people to contact you. You can have a contact form or give out your direct email address.

Make sure you respond to emails and contact in a timely fashion. If your audience grows to a level where you can’t handle all of the communication on your own, then you might want to host a webinar where your people can frequently interact with you or hire a virtual assistant to help you maintain communication flawlessly.

While many marketers focus on their responsibility to provide good information to their audience, keep in mind that it’s also your responsibility to protect your followers from bad information.

When you turn down opportunities to make fast cash by only recommending quality products as opposed to anything and everything, word will spread of your morals and subscriber numbers will increase.

Make sure you’re strategic about growing your subscriber base. Whether you participate in giveaway events, create valuable content to be shared by others, or simply develop friendships with competitors who will sing your praises, you can’t rest on your laurels and expect people to flock to you for no reason.

What to Look for in an Email Autoresponder System

An email autoresponder is one of the first tools that you’ll need to buy as an online marketer. Most newcomers mistakenly wait until they have a large following, but building a list is something that you should do from day one.

So which email autoresponder tool should you invest in? Many people start with free. There are free tools that allow you to build a list, but they aren’t always what’s in your best interest.

In exchange for allowing you to build a list, they often insert advertisements into your emails. Not only that, but you are limited in the number of subscribers that you can have.

Whenever possible, it’s always best to start off with a paid email autoresponder that you can afford. The first thing you want to look for is reliability. You want to make sure that all of your emails go out in a timely fashion.

Whether you’re emailing about your own offer or as an affiliate for someone else, it’s important that you be able to compete on schedule whenever you need to. You don’t want to set an email to go out at 11 AM EST only to see it delayed for several hours.

You also want an email autoresponder that doesn’t have a reputation of having their emails go straight to spam folders. You want your messages to get through to the recipient who has signed up for your list.

Some of the best companies that will help your messages get delivered are Aweber and Get Response. Whichever company you choose for your email autoresponder, they should have a good support system in place for your needs as a customer.

That means they have help available at all hours, along with in-depth tutorials that teach you how to use the system. While free email autoresponders may not be the best option, you don’t have to pay more than necessary for good service.

You want pricing that’s just right for your budget. You can find tools that charge a fee based on the number of subscribers you have. That means someone who only has a list of 5,000 subscribers would pay less than someone with a list of 25,000 subscribers.

That way, you will hopefully be recouping some of your investment through your subscribers and offers as you level up to a higher price point. Many of the autoresponders have a free trial so that you can see whether or not the system is easy for you to use, so make sure you take advantage of that. 

Being Strategic with Your Opt in Box Placement

Just because you have an email autoresponder in place doesn’t mean you will acquire subscribers. You have to make sure that your opt in box is strategically placed where visitors to your site can see it and clearly see how to sign up.

Many marketers start out with a single landing page. This is a page that is light on content and merely conveys the free offer that usually accompanies a sign-up situation. But if this is all you’re using, then you’re missing out on some important list building opportunities. 

For example, if you run a blog, then you want to have the opt in box in the sidebar of your blog. That way, regardless of which post the person came to read on your site, they will see the opt in opportunity on every page.

You can format the opt in box to fit any size sidebar. Another place you can strategically place an opt in box for your email autoresponder is below each post that you create. All you have to do is insert the raw HTML code that you generate within your email autoresponder system and it can capture the names and email addresses of visitors after they have consumed your valuable information.

This is a good place to position an opt in box because if your post is long, the visitor may have scrolled down past the sidebar opt in box. Make sure you encourage people at the end of each blog post to get on your list.

You always want to encourage sign-ups to your list everywhere you go. That includes social media posts, Within PDFs that you release online, in videos that you create, on podcast audio files, and within products and bonuses.

Your opt in box should have a clean aesthetic appeal and blend in to your site nicely. However, you also want it to stand out to some degree. You can do that with an image or icon that draws their eye to the offer. Make sure your offer includes a call to action that tells them exactly what you want them to do.

You may want to split test a variety of opt in boxes and offers to see which method or style your niche responds to best. It may be something as simple as a color combination or headline that tips the scales in your favor for more subscribers.

Choosing a Voice that Resonates with Your Subscribers

When you start a list and people join it, it’s the beginning of a bond that can last for years. This connection between yourself and a subscriber will be a two-way street. You will provide value for them and they, in turn, will purchase products from you or through your link.

But many marketers feel intimidated about the concept of communicating with their list. They’re not sure what to say or how to say it. You want to choose a voice that represents you well and that is well received by your readers.

However, keep in mind that you won’t be able to make everyone happy all of the time. There will always be someone who doesn’t like the way you communicate. And that’s okay.

You yourself probably don’t like everyone’s personality online. That’s why we get to pick and choose who we learn from. One voice that you may choose to use with your subscribers is educational and informative.

This is akin to a news broadcaster or teacher who educates their audience with facts and data. It’s a little sterile, but in some niches, it’s perfectly acceptable and almost preferred.

Some marketers choose a tone that is motivational or inspirational in nature. Think of a personality such as Tony Robbins. You will provide them with life lessons and the nurturing tone that leads them to make positive changes in their life.

Another tone that you may choose to use in your communication is that of a butt kicker. This is someone who helps eliminate excuses that often overwhelm and prevent a subscriber from achieving their goals.

Not everyone will enjoy this type of tone, but there are many who do. Humor is another way that you can connect with your audience. You’re still providing value and insight, but it’s done with a lighter touch that is relatable and enjoyable by many.

Don’t worry if you’re not a stand up comedian. Humor can be expressed in a variety of ways. You can choose one or a many of these voices for your audience. Just as you don’t have the exact same personality at all times, every day, you can choose to mix it up with your subscribers, too.

The most important thing is that you weave a little of yourself and your personality into the mix. For your own personal satisfaction, you want to be able to express yourself in a way that is natural to you. Plus, it comes off more genuine when you do it this way.