Email Marketing - Get More Subscribers and Keep Them

All successful online marketers have one thing in common; they all have an email list. The larger the list, the more money you can make. Makes sense but sounds a little simplified doesn't it?

After all, you need to get people onto your list in the first place AND you need to keep them there AND make sure that they click the links you want them to click.

So how do you accomplish all of this?

Getting People On Your List

In order to get people to sign up for your list you must offer them something of value. This "value" can be something free such as a free report, a free e-book, a free trial version of some software...whatever the case is, you must offer them something.

After all, no one signs up to an email list without knowing what benefit it is to them.

Next, use a pop-over form to get them to subscribe to your list. There are many ways you can add your opt-in form to your page; either within the sidebar of your website or embedded within a single web page. However, according to a test performed by MarketingSherpa.com, they were able to increase their subscriber rate by 1,000% simply by using a pop-over opt-in form.

Use social proof. Aweber, a well-known auto-responder company noted that using social proof; that is, showing potential new subscribers how many people were already subscribed to the newsletter, boosted a landing page's conversion rate by 32.4%. This is accomplished by showing a "subscriber count chicklet" provided by Aweber.

Getting People to Open Your Email

People are bombarded with emails all day long so you must make yours stand out from the crowd.

First, within the "from" line of your email, add in some special characters around your name. For instance, if you send your information from "How to Tie Your Shoes", use dashes, dots or spaces in front of and behind that name. For example; "-- How to Tie Your Shoes --", or "...How to Tie Your Shoes..." or even "___How to Tie Your Shoes___". This will differentiate your email from the dozens of others that people receive.

Next, make the headline compelling. Instead of just sending out promotional emails like everyone else, put a twist on the topic. One way to do this is to suggest how they might use the product you're promoting.

Keep it short and use "power words". These are words such as "Surprising, Unexpected, Ultimate, and Crazy."

Getting People to Perform an Action

Instead of making people read all the way down your page to get to a link, make it easy for them by placing this link towards the top of the email. Additionally, use alternatives to plain links; these would be things such as buttons that they could click on or even a click-able image.

Don't forget too that you can also incorporate a video link into your emails. You can do this by choosing the video you want to promote, taking a screenshot of that video and adding that as an image to your email and then making it a link that goes directly to the video.

Whatever you do, don't forget to test, test, test. Each person's email list is different and you never know how well your list will respond to a different version of your email; without testing you could be missing out on a double-digit increase in subscriber rates.

Next, get some great advice from recent [http://howtovideos.kristinewirth.com/newsletters/Aweber.html]Aweber blog posts chock full of tips you can use for your own email marketing campaign. Or just simply visit [http://howtovideos.kristinewirth.com/newsletters/Aweber.html]http://howtovideos.kristinewirth.com/newsletters/Aweber.html.

Kristine Wirth is a full-time Internet Marketer who began her career creating websites in 1996.

She has helped thousands of people understand how to create websites, use social media tools, and get their head around difficult concepts such as affiliate marketing and SEO so that they can grow a successful online business.

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Email-Marketing---Get-More-Subscribers-and-Keep-Them&id=4735978] Email Marketing - Get More Subscribers and Keep Them

How Not to Create an Online Business

As a web company we are in contact with many embryonic web businesses. Some have been in existence for a while, others still have the wrapping on them. One common theme we find, and it's a real issue, is business owners don't think about web traffic until it's too late.

It's not uncommon for them to build a website, buy stock and get all their ducks in a row, then wonder about how they will tell people about their website. Obviously you can't send traffic to a website that doesn't exist but you should be thinking about web traffic approximately 3 seconds after you've had your eureka moment for a new business that's going to transform your life.

In fact, if you are looking at business ideas I'd suggest on-line research (keyword research, competition analysis etc) should be top of your list of priorities.

Here's a common email we receive.

"We've created an on-line shop and we NEEEEEEEEEEED to be on page one of Google when people search for 'blue widgets'"

You know, it's a bit like building a bricks and mortar shop in the middle of nowhere, filling it with stock and then trying to work out how you are going to attract customers from the nearest city 80 miles away! You just wouldn't do it!!

The thing is, attracting those people from 80 miles away might be easier than securing a page one Google position for a specific high value search phrase, people, it's a big bad world out there, wise up and consider web traffic early.

There are of course some easy ways of promoting your business if you have the funds to do it. For example you can use Pay Per Click advertising. It's simple, it works and it generates instant traffic. Mind you, using our bricks and mortar analogy if you divert the traffic to your new shop and don't give them what they want you might as well flush your folding down can. Get PPC wrong and you'll become poor quite quickly.

There are also some funky ways of promoting your site off-line. For example White Van Ads (search for it) will promote your business to 1000's of people a day using mobile adverts carried on white vans, and a campaign won't break the bank.

Whatever you do don't leave website promotion as an after thought. All your hard work and investment creating your website, renting an office and buying stock will be wasted if people can't find your site and making sure they can isn't easy. To help you here's a handy check list to creating a successful on-line business.

1. Have a great idea for an on-line business
2. Establish what people who will buy from you search for
3. Establish how hard it will be to rank your website in the search engines
4. If 2 & 3 stack up proceed, if not go back to step 1!

Of course you may need to secure the services of a company who can help you understand the on-line landscape (steps 2 & 3) but it's better to spend a little early than lose your life savings.

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?How-Not-to-Create-an-Online-Business&id=4250217] How Not to Create an Online Business