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I mentioned over the last few days about how I have built 85 or so websites and most of them are not making much money.

I have also mentioned that I am going to open up about what I am doing and how to try to show how I am going to make 100,000 dollars in 2008 (the number is still looking really big to me).

Well here is a live example of exactly how I built a new site yesterday.

http://stop-smoking.fitnesstipsforlife.com

I have been building subdomains to my main domains for at least a couple of years and did this again yesterday. I got an email that I could buy some non smoking articles for $4.95. Now I know that $4.95 for 26 articles sounds cheap but this seemed to be a good niche to go after and was related to the whole fitness tips site in a way and it is getting close to new years eve. Read the rest of this entry »

I think it really goes without saying that a newsletter is a powerful marketing tool. Any promotions that you send to your customers and subscribers in the future will be that much more successful because with your newsletter you will have…

• established your credibility,
• developed a reputation as an industry expert,
• cultivated a relationship with your subscribers,
• inspired customer loyalty,
• and maintained regular contact.

Regularly give your subscribers useful or entertaining information that they will benefit from, and they will come to trust you, respect you, and buy from you.

Sounds great, right? But now you’re probably left wondering, “How do I get people to subscribe?” After all, you can write hundreds of newsletters, but if you only have a handful of subscribers, it can be a lot of work for little reward.

The big mistake I see a lot of e-business owners making is thinking that simply posting a “subscribe today” box on their web sites — and then forgetting about it — is going to attract subscribers by the thousands. Even if your web site is highly trafficked, this is going to produce disappointing results.

You need to be prepared to actively promote your newsletter, much the same way you would promote any other product or service online.

Step #1:    Promote Your Newsletter On Your Web Site!
Yes. Definitely promote your newsletter on your web site. But the keyword here is “promote.” How motivating is it for a visitor to give you his or her name and e-mail address when presented with a subscribe box titled, “Subscribe to my free newsletter”?

Why? Why should I subscribe? How will I benefit from subscribing? What am I going to get? Just because your newsletter is “free,” doesn’t mean I want it. There are plenty of free newsletters out there I could subscribe to. What makes yours different or special?

You really need to “sell” your free newsletter to potential subscribers. In one or two short, exciting sentences clearly state the benefits of subscribing to your newsletter. For example, if your web site was golf related, you might say something like, “Subscribe to the Free ‘Golf Tips’ Newsletter and receive monthly tips and advice from Pro Golfers. Improve your swing, hear about world renowned golf courses, learn which clubs the experts prefer, plus much more!”
It sounds a lot more interesting than “Subscribe to my free newsletter,” don’t you think? Visitors to your web site will think so, too!

The other tip I’d like to share is about where you should place your newsletter subscription box on your web site. First of all, don’t hide it. Your goal should be to make sure that everyone who visits your web site is offered the opportunity to subscribe to your newsletter at least once, if not twice.

Your newsletter subscription box should appear “above the fold” (i.e., it should be immediately visible on the first screen) of your homepage. This is where you’ll get the best response — and the most subscribers!

Step #2:    Offer Existing Customers A Subscription
Have you offered your existing customers a subscription to your newsletter? If you haven’t, you should e-mail them an offer like this as soon as possible! This is an easy way to get a flood of new subscriptions.

And be sure to add a subscription offer to your “thank you for ordering” page or e-mail. If someone is interested enough in your product or service to purchase it, you can be sure they’ll want to subscribe to your newsletter. Don’t miss this opportunity to maintain contact with existing customers!

If you’ve offered a free subscription to your customers but received a poor response, consider making things a little more interesting by offering them a “special gift” like a free article or eBook when they subscribe. This extra incentive should dramatically boost the number of new subscriptions you receive.

Step #3:     Promote Your Newsletter In Your E-mail Signatures
An electronic signature – also referred to as a “sig file” – is a three to six line footer that you can attach to the bottom of your e-mail messages and public forum postings. And it’s a prime spot to advertise your newsletter!

Unlike a lot of other blatant advertisements, a sig file is universally accepted, so take advantage of this perfect opportunity to plug your newsletter! Anyone who receives an e-mail from you will also receive your invitation to subscribe to your newsletter.

Chances are, if you’re e-mailing them, they already have a direct interest in your industry or niche, so take advantage of this and offer them a free subscription right at the bottom of any e-mail you send!

Step #4:    Ad Swap With Other Newsletters & E-zines
A great trick for increasing your subscriber base involves contacting other newsletters that relate to your target market and offering to swap ads with them. Tell the newsletter owners that you’ll promote their newsletter to your subscriber base if they’ll return the favor. This is a great way for both of you to increase your readership!

Subscribers will appreciate the recommendation of another source of quality information, and as long as the sites you swap with are complementary and not competitive, it’s not going to hurt your business at all.

Step #5:    Promote Your Newsletter In Newsgroups, Discussion Lists, and Forum Postings
Another good place to promote your newsletter and locate targeted potential subscribers is in newsgroups, discussion lists, and forums that relate directly to your industry or niche. Simply post a brief description of your newsletter and a link to your subscription page.

Step #6:    Offer Subscribers The Opportunity To Give Gift Subscriptions
Offer or announce “gift subscriptions” in your newsletter that encourage your current subscribers to send gift subscriptions to friends. You can automate your web site to send the gift subscription with a little blurb stating whom the gift is from and what they will be receiving (and the opportunity to unsubscribe, of course!).

A friend of mine has built most of his mailing list doing this alone. He went from 5,000 subscribers to over 16,000 subscribers in less than a year just using this one technique.

Step #7:     Renting Opt-in E-mail Lists
Renting e-mail addresses from third-party list providers is a route that some new newsletter owners choose because you are given quick access to a list of hundreds, if not thousands, of people who have “opted” to receive e-mail on topics that interest them.

You can usually expect to be charged 5 to 20 cents per deliverable message, and you should expect any e-mail addresses that are “bad” or that “bounce” to be replaced by addresses that are current.

If you decide to use a service like this, it’s absolutely critical that you find out how the e-mail addresses were obtained. You want e-mail addresses that have been collected ethically and responsibly, and this means that you want the e-mail addresses of people who (a) are directly interested in your product, industry, or field of expertise, and (b) have given their permission and “opted-in” to the list.

Important Note: If you buy lists of e-mail addresses that have been “harvested” from newsgroups, classified ad sites, online services, etc., you’ll be accused of spamming! These people have NOT given you permission to contact them, and you can get into a LOT of trouble this way. Again, I can’t overstate the importance of making sure that the e-mail addresses you rent have been collected ethically and responsibly!

Buying or renting e-mail addresses this way can get very expensive, so you need to be sure that your entire sales process (i.e., your web site, your sales copy, your ordering system) has been tested and tweaked before you roll out an e-mail campaign like this in full force. Do some tests using a few thousand addresses and you should get a fairly accurate picture of how successful you’re going to be.

Final Thoughts:
Ultimately, your goal should be to develop a relationship with your subscribers through quality articles in your newsletter before you even consider trying to sell them anything. Give them quality information that they will benefit from to establish your credibility and develop a rapport with them.
Remember that the true value lies in the relationship that you develop with the person who owns the e-mail address… not in the e-mail address itself. It will be the relationship that you develop with your subscribers that will result in big sales both now and in the future — an important point to keep in mind no matter how many new subscribers you attract.

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.

Building a list is always seen as an important part of an online buisiness but while most people look at an optin page and how they want to structure their offer they are not looking close enough at those little parts and processes on their website to make it a trustworthy place for people to want to give up their email address to.

Opt-in marketing requires the permission of a willing customer to subscribe to your marketing materials, materials that take form in newsletters, catalogs and promotional mailings via e-mail. The more opt-in marketing mail is sent, the more chances there is to bag sales and more sales. To do this, you must build a list of all those who wants to subscribe to your opt-in marketing list.

From your list, you will get your targeted customer, this is a good list since they already have shown interest in what you have to show and sell since they have willingly signed in for your list. These are the people who have liked what they have seen in your site and have decided they want to see more and maybe even purchase what ever product or service your company and site has to offer.

Many people would think that building their lists would take hard work and a lot of time to build and collect names and addresses. This is not so, it takes a bit of patience and some strategies but in doing this list, you open your site and your business to a whole new world of target market. Take the effort to take your business to a new level, if traffic increase and good profits are what you want, an opt-in list will do wonders for your business venture.

There are many sources and articles in the internet available for everyone to read and follow in building a list. Sometimes they may be confusing because there are so many and there different ways. Different groups of people would have different approaches in building an opt-in list, but no matter how diverse many methods are, there are always some crucial things to do to build your list. Here are four of them.

1) Put up a good web form in your site that immediately follows the end of your content. While some may say this is too soon to subscribe for a website visitors application, try to remember that your homepage should provide a quick good impression. If somehow a website visitor finds something that he or she doesn’t like and turns them off, they may just forget about signing up.

A good web form for subscribing to an opt-in list is not hard to do. Just write a simple short statement about how they would like to see more and get updated about the site. Then there should be an area where they could put in their names and e-mail address. This web form will automatically save and send you the data’s inputted. As more people sign in, your list will be growing.

2) As mentioned in the first tip, make your homepage very, very impressive. You need to have well written articles and descriptions of your site. Depending on what your site is all about, you need to capture your website visitor’s fancy. Make your site useful and very easy to use. Do not expect everyone to be tech savvy. Invest in having good programming in your site, make your graphics beautiful but don’t over do it.

Don’t waste your time making the homepage too overly large megabyte wise. Not all people have dedicated T1 connections, the faster your site gets loaded, the better. Go for a look that borders between simplicity and sophisticated knowledge.

3) Provide good service and products. A return customer is more likely to bring in more business. Even then and now, a satisfied customer will recommend a business always. Word of mouth and recommendations alone can rake in more business than an expensive ad. As your clientele roster grows so shall your list. With more members on the list, the more people will get to know about what you have new to offer.

4) Keep a clean and private list. Never lose the trust your customers have entrusted you. If you provide e-mails to others and they get spammed, many will probably unsubscribe to you. Remember, a good reputation will drive in more traffic and subscribers as well as strengthen the loyalty of your customers.