Introduction
There was a time where if someone wanted to do business with you they had to try to get your attention through direct mail, telemarketing or a face-to-face meeting.
The problem?
Most of the time these marketing methods were completely unsolicited, they were “push,” as marketers pushed information to consumers. As a result, we often refer to these solicitations in a negative way and respond angrily. We use terms like: 'Junk Mail' ‘Harassment’ 'Snake Oil’
So how is email marketing different?
The major difference between email marketing and the other marketing methods is that people opt-in or choose to interact with you, It's less evasive, and people can choose when and how much time to spend on whatever you have to say.
But!!..., for me, the most important factor is building a relationship with your contacts. Building trust and engaging with people, coverts them into loyal customers.
Then let’s talk about where to start. In this report you're going to learn everything you need to know about starting your first email list with one of the most them popular and best email software programs on the internet, Aweber.
You want people to receive your marketing message. This is GOLDEN. It’s like an open-door invitation to share your information and expertise with your customers. That, my friend, is something you just can't pay for.
Convinced it's time to pay attention to email marketing?
Then let’s talk about where to start. In this report you're going to learn everything you need to know about starting your first email list. You want people to receive your marketing message. This is GOLDEN. It’s like an open-door invitation to share your information and expertise with your customers. That, my friend, is something you just can't pay for.
What Is Email Marketing?
We've touched a little on the concept of email marketing and how it can be a highly effective way to build your business. Now let’s dig a little deeper into the concept of what email marketing is.
Let's start with some definitions:
Email List: An email list is simply a collection of email addresses. Most marketers will also collect the person's first name with the email address so that the email can be personalized through automation software. ie. Instead of just saying “Hi”, you can say “Hi, Tom!” in the emails. It's also possible to collect information such as location or phone numbers so you can further segment your list and market to them based on certain criteria.
Opt-In Form/Squeeze Page:
An opt-in form or squeeze page is an online form where visitors to your website or blog fill in their contact information to join your email list.
With services like Aweber, that information is automatically added to your email list with no action on your part – automation is great!
Subscriber:
Someone who has joined your email list, typically by filling out an opt-in form. They are now part of your “list,” and you can contact them via email with offers, information, updates, and more.
Email Service Provider (ESP):
A company that provides the email software you can use to send out emails. In this report we're talking about Aweber, the top-ranked online ESP.
Autoresponder:
A list of email messages that goes out in sequence, automatically. For autoresponders, it doesn't matter how many people sign up to your list or when they sign up. They'll get message #1 automatically, then message #2 a set time later, message #3 a set time later again, etc. It's a great way to automate parts of your business.
Broadcast:
A broadcast email goes out at a specific date and time. It's different from an autoresponder as it's a one-time deal. Everyone on your list receives this broadcast message at the same time, regardless of when they joined your list. These are often used for sales notifications, special offers, time-sensitive announcements, and the like.
Like any specialty, email marketing has its own vocabulary. Knowing the basic terms will help you understand what people are talking about – including in this report!
How Do You Get Email Subscribers?
Having a “list” with a fantastic series of autoresponders and broadcasts that you update regularly is great, but if there’s no one on your list, you’re not going to be building a relationship or making many sales. You need to build your list – and list-building is a specialty in and of itself.
Ultimately email marketing is a way to market your product or service through email. You can build your email list in a number of ways.
Here are just a few:
Opt-In Forms.
The most common way to build a list is by placing an opt-in form on a website or sales page and having people fill it out. Whenever someone visits your blog or website, there should be a clear place for them to subscribe to receive more information from you.
Customer Lists.
Many shopping carts, such as eJunkie and 1ShoppingCart, have automatic processes for adding purchasers to your email contact list. This is something you’ll definitely want to integrate, because customers are already a step above mere “prospects.” By buying something from you – even a purchase of R100 or less – they’ve proven that they want what you’re offering, they know how to purchase on the internet and are comfortable doing so, and they have money to spend.
Forwards.
At the bottom of every email you send, Aweber has an option for others to subscribe. You can add a PS or signature line that says, “Did you like this email? Forward it to a friend!” Then when that friend receives your email from someone they know and trust, they can directly subscribe to your list by clicking on the enclosed link. Just another reason to love Aweber!
What about buying a lists?
It is possible to buy email lists from others. Even though this sounds like a great shortcut, I recommend against this practice, particularly when you’re just starting out. Many times, lists are extremely expensive, the names and contact information are outdated, the people aren’t targeted to what you’re offering, and they may see contact from you as spam.
You’re much better off doing things with a little elbow grease and creating your own list from scratch of people who know, like, and trust you.
Getting people on your email list may seem difficult in the beginning. There are strategies for making it more compelling for people to give you their email address, such as by providing an opt-in bonus of some sort. We'll talk more about getting targeted and interested subscribers further in this report. For now it's important that you understand you need to offer high value to potential subscribers.
Now, let's talk about why building an email list might be one of the smartest investments of your time.
Why Build an Email List?
Some people start email lists, get a few people and then give up. They get discouraged because they don't really understand the true benefits of building a large, responsive email list.
Here are seven reasons why you need an email list:
1 Automatically Follow-Up – An email list allows you to multiply your time in a way that would require a cloning machine! With autoresponders you can have a follow-up system in place that builds relationships and/or makes sales for you twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
2 Constantly Build Your Business – New prospects can be signing up to your email list automatically, every day, without your help or involvement. This is a way to be constantly building your business, automatically.
3 Capture Visitors – You’ve put tons of work into your website. If you’re not capturing visitors, they’re coming and going, possibly never to return again. If you capture their information, you can keep in contact with them and build the relationship.
4 Stay on Their Minds – Most of your potential customers or clients won't be ready to buy from you right now. Through email marketing, you can stay on their minds through your email autoresponders and broadcast messages. Then, when they are ready or in need, they'll look back for your emails or remember your website and they'll order from you.
5 Save Yourself Time – Instead of sharing your message one on one, over and over again, you can now reach one to many. This is going to not only save yourself time but also leverage your time into long-term profits.
6 Be Super-Human – It's simply not humanly possible to connect one-on-one with all your prospects and customers the way you can with an email system. The great thing is, if you set it up right your message can SEEM very customized and personal even when they ARE completely automated.
7 Increase Your Sales – Of course the goal here isn't just to be awesome (though that's a good goal in itself). What you're really looking for in an increase in sales and profits. An email list can deliver you an increase in sales.
The challenge is that if you give up too soon, you’ll never see these benefits. Yes, email marketing starts out slow, but don't give up! Every marketer – even those with hundreds of thousands on their lists – started with one subscriber, then two, then ten.
Yes it takes time and yes it can be frustrating waiting for the rewards but be patient and diligent, and you will see your efforts pay off over time.
Why Would You Use Aweber?
Some people will start building an email list in their email account, such as Outlook. This is OK if you have only 15 or 20 people to email but when you start getting more and more prospects this can be a big problem.
For one, if you try to email hundreds of people from your own email account you'll most likely get flagged as a spammer. And secondly, with most Countries Can-Spam laws you must have a way for people to unsubscribe from your emails at the bottom of every email.
There are plenty of email service providers out there in the cyberspace, but my choice is Aweber. Here’s why:
1 High Deliverability – One of the most important factors you need to consider is whether or not your emails are getting to their targeted inboxes. If they're not, all your efforts are for nothing. Aweber provides top-deliverability to its customers. They are constantly working hard to establish relationships with internet service providers so emails from Aweber will be delivered, not diverted to the Junk Folder. Aweber has one of the highest deliverability rates in the industry.
2 Pricing – Aweber is competitive in terms of pricing. You may be able to find less expensive options, but that lower price comes at a sacrifice in terms of deliverability, options, and support. At the same time, Aweber is very affordable. You can start with a $1 trial and then continue at just $19 per month for up to 500 subscribers. With this plan you can send an unlimited number of emails per month.
3 Emails – In Aweber you have a number of features and options when it comes to sending emails. Most email software programs allow you to send both autoresponders and broadcasts but not many have a blog broadcast feature. Blog broadcasts makes are a way to send your latest blog updates directly – and automatically – to your subscribers. Aweber is also up to date in terms of social media functions, allowing you to automatically and instantly post your emails to Twitter and/or Facebook.
4 Templates – If you're not a programmer (and most of us are not!) then it's not easy to create great-looking opt-in forms or newsletters. Aweber has a very large selection of both that you can use as-is or easily customize to fit your business.
5 Customer Support –Aweber's customer support is top notch, offering phone support, live online chat, email, webinars, a free e-course, tutorials, and more. When you start to use the program there is even a set-up walk-through. If you’ve got problems or questions, there are a number of different ways to get help.
6. Subscriber Statistics – Understanding how many new subscribers you have, where they come from, what they click on and when they unsubscribe is important to your business. Aweber does an excellent job of subscriber management. One of the best features here is that you can send out emails to your lists separately or all at once. Even if your subscribers and on multiple lists they will only ever get one email – a great feature to save your subscribers the frustration of deleting multiple emails from multiple lists. You can also view detailed reports or even have them mailed to you.
Choosing an email service provider is an important decision. It can literally be the backbone of your business so you'll want to choose wisely. The best thing to do is write down all the features YOU need for your business and then search for a program that fits those needs.
In most cases it will probably be Aweber, but no matter what you choose make sure you do it and start building your email list as soon as possible. Then you'll be able to say what just about every profitable email list owner says at some point... “I wish I'd started building my list sooner!”
HTML or Text Messages or Both?
When creating email lists and messages, you may wonder whether to use HTML messages, text messages or both in your autoresponders and broadcasts. Let's start with some information about the difference:
HTML – You know those emails you get that are colorful, include pictures and fancy text? Those are created with HTML code. Newsletters or 'Ezines' are often created with HTML messages.
Text – Text messages are simply, text. There is no formatting, or colour, images, graphics, bolding, italics or other accents.
So... what to choose? Let's start by comparing the advantages and disadvantages of each format.
HTML emails have a lot of advantages:
Can be branded to the business look and image, conveying an overall congruity in marketing message.
Allow for easier hiding of link tracking, allowing you to see what customers click on while still making the links look user-friendly. Formatting of text using bullets, bolding, italics, headings and other effects can increase readability of your emails.
HTML emails also have just about as many disadvantages, including:
You must create or customize HTML. This takes longer than doing plain text.
Some email providers block the HTML formatting and images, leaving you with just text anyway.
If you're looking to build personal relationships with your customers, HTML is probably not the way to go because it doesn't look like a regular personal email.
Text emails also have advantages, including:
Less likely to get filtered or blocked.
Looks the same no matter what email program it's viewed in.
Quick and easy to create and send.
Have a much more personal feel than HTML emails.
Text emails also have disadvantages, including:
No formatting, images, or branding.
Can't use hyperlinks for affiliate links or other long, ugly links.
Something worth noting here is that if you do choose to use HTML then you'll also need to use text. There are a couple of reasons for this:
1 Some email programs will not display HTML. If you provide a text version you can get your messages through to the people using these settings.
2 Spammers use HTML messages. If you don't add a text version of your HTML page you increase your risk of getting blocked by the spam filters on a regular email account.
Ultimately what you choose is going to depend on your business needs. There is no right or wrong answer. Aweber however, lets you do both, so you cover all the angles.
Many people will use their broadcasts often but not take advantage of the abilities of autoresponders.
Here's a quick tip:
Send your broadcasts out, then ask yourself if the content is 'evergreen',’ meaning it never expires or becomes out of date. If so, add that evergreen content right into your autoresponder, allowing it to do double-duty for you. That way, you'll receive the benefits of the instant message AND the long-term benefits of an autoresponder.
The ways to build your list are only limited by your own imagination. You will be the best person to determine how to get the most qualified subscribers onto your list.
Think about where the people you want to reach hang out. Do they visit chat forums to talk about their topic, read a certain kind of blog, visit certain news website, etc.? Your common sense and knowledge of your industry is going to lead you to the best ways. Keep trying new methods, testing the results and moving forward.
I'm truly excited for you. You now have the opportunity to use the latest technology to connect with your market in a way that just wasn't even possible twenty years ago.
One of the most revolutionary things about your email list is its ability to give you very detailed statistics and reports. Aweber is an industry leader in analytics at just about every step of the way in your email marketing process.
Let's review some of the most useful features for your business:
Email Opens & Click Tracking
Want to know how many people opened your email?
Want to know WHO opened your email?
Better yet, want to know what they clicked on after they opened it? Maybe you'd like to know what they clicked once they got to your website?
Or maybe you'd like to know if a sale resulted from that click.
This is all possible with Aweber's Email Opens & Click Tracking system.
get more details about:
Opens
Clicks
Sales (if you set this tracking up)
Web Hits (again, needs to be set up)
Unsubscribes
Domains
Email Split Testing
Not sure which subject line will work best? Want to send your subscribers to two different salespages to see which converts better?Then you need split testing!
Aweber handles this for you. As long as you have at least 100 subscribers you can split test your emails. This means your email can be divided up two to four ways between your subscribers. What you do is select what percentage goes out to each section.
Give People Value!
Send people free valuable information regulary in your emails. Give away great value, ... that leads to more value, it's then really not a difficult sell to them, they feel connected to you as you are enriching them.
The Information can come in many forms, including:
free ecourses
free reports (Pdf's) – How to/The Best Product to.. ect.
free webinars or teleseminars
free tools & templates
Remember, there are going to be people on your email list who are ready to buy right away. They are looking for a solution to a specific problem and if your product fits the bill, they will buy it.
Do this right, and you will reap the rewards!
You can check out AWEBER >click here<
To your Success!