Internet Marketing with Doug Champigny. » Blog Archive

Building Targeted Opt-In Lists

Are You an Opt-In List Building Hero?

Do You Build Your Opt-In List at every opportunity?

Do you use a combination of Paid & Free List-Building Tools to build your opt-in list non-stop?

Are you Building Your Opt-In List every single day, whether you’re at your computer or not?

Why not?

There are only three possible answers -

â€¢ You don’t understand that a targeted opt-in list is the single most-powerful tool you have online.

â€¢â€¢ You’re not serious about making money online - sure you read a lot of Internet marketing e-zines, visit the Internet marketing forums, buy Internet marketing e-books and even read some of them… But if you’re not taking regular, concentrated ACTION and being pro-active in your online biz on a very regular basis, then you’re kidding yourself if you think you’re serious. DOERS make money online; DABBLERS die off - plain and simple.

â€¢â€¢â€¢ You’re new to Internet marketing and to making money online, know you need to build your targeted opt-in lists but don’t really know how to go about it.

If you don’t constantly build your opt-in lists for reason one, bookmark this page - you’ll want to come back to it as soon as you can once you ‘get’ Internet marketing and making money online. If reason two fits you, go away - don’t waste your time and my bandwidth.

But if you fit reason #3, and are prepared to put in the time and money to build your trageted opt-in lists as quickly and as large as you intelligently and ethically can, then this article is for you - you might even want to print it out so that you can refer back to it regularly to be sure you’re doing all you can to build your targeted opt-in lists non-stop.

The first step is to set up your professional autoresponders, so that you have a list to build, complete with double-opt-in technology to protect you against spam complaints and a simple interface to send out both broadcast messages to your entire opt-in mailing list and to set up e-courses that your opt-in lists get at predetermined intervals.

I’m not going to go much into that part, because if you’ve been in Internet Marketing for more than a few weeks you probably already know that www.Hosting4Marketers.com is the best choice. Why build your main opt-in lists anywhere else when H4M gives you website hosting for up to 11 sites, unlimited pro autoresponders and your own affiliate program for just $20 a month? So as far as where to get your autoresponders for building targeted opt-in lists, ’nuff said, ok?

Free Ways to Build Targeted Opt-In Lists

Building an opt-in list for free is great - because it works, it’s powerful, everyone can afford it and it can easily be set to go viral with others building your opt-in lists for you!

And this is where the beauty of Hosting4Marketers.com really shines through. Since you get hosting for up to 11 sites along with your pro autoresponders, you can set up four or five list-building websites each with their own domain name, or one master site you use for building your double-opt-in lists.

The concept to list-building sites is simple - you offer a related incentive as a gift to other Internet marketers, affiliate marketers or niche marketers for subscribing to your e-zine or e-course. Usually this list-building gift is an e-book or software that should also be of interest to your target market - people won’t join your opt-in lists unless they value your gift, and if the gift doesn’t target the same people you want on your list, you’ll end up with a useless list - a bunch of people who aren’t interested in what you’re presenting them with in your e-zine.

The page you give the gift away from, called a ’squeeze page’, is fairly simple and straightforward - it shows them the gift you’re going to give them, tells them a bit about it, and tells them about the content they’ll receive when they join your opt-in list. It should also prepare them for the fact that it’s a double-opt-in list, so they know they have to hit the confirmation link in the first e-mail to get both the gift and the e-zine. Finish it up with the opt-in list signup form (provided by your autoresponder provider) and you’re set.

Here are a few sample squeeze pages we use to build our own opt-in lists 24/7:

â€¢ The Champigny Guide to Teleseminars & Webinars - Teleseminars-and-Webinars.com/report/

â€¢ The Champigny Guide to AdSense - MakingSenseOfAdSense.com/report/

â€¢ The Champigny Guide to E-Mail Marketing - Optin-List-Building.com/report/

â€¢ Becoming A Super-Blogger - Super-Bloggers.com

As you look at each of those four squeeze pages, there are three very important list-building points to note:

1) Each gift matches the subject of the opt-in list it’s for, and the content on that particular site. That’s heavy targeting, making sure only those interested in my e-zine have any reason to join those opt-in lists. Further, all four are targeted to important areas of Internet Marketing, which is my overall target market as an Internet marketing writer, blogger, speaker and mentor. So while each report very tightly targets one aspect of Internet marketing, all four stream in double opt-ins to my Internet Marketing opt-in lists on a non-stop basis.

2) Each of the four reports is set up for viral opt-in list building - the visitor can also get a copy of the same squeeze page to give the list-building reports away from, thereby building their own opt-in lists using these powerful and proven tools. (After all, if these list-building squeeze pages didn’t convert well, you wouldn’t be downloading the free reports in the first place, right?) But the terms prohibit that person from giving away the squeeze page with the report - to get those, their readers have to visit our site and join our opt-in list to download their own copy of the squeeze page before giving it away themselves. A true win-win situation - each person gets a professionally-designed, tested & tweaked squeeze page with a great free report to use to build their opt-in lists - and it builds our opt-in lists at the same time as those who take action come to get THEIR copy of the squeeze page.

3) Each of the four reports is written by me, Doug Champigny. If you’re already an expert in your field - especially a well-known recognized expert - be sure to write your own reports for these opt-in list builders. That way you have complete control over what’s in the report, can place backend links to your products and opportunities at strategic points in them, and give your readers a quick overview or frame of reference to the subject your e-zine or e-course will be covering. Furthermore, the more vital information you give them in that report the more easily they’ll recognize your expertise in that area of operation, and the better your e-zine will be received by your opt-in lists. We ALL want more information from those we know to be experts, right?

Online Resources for Free Opt-In List Building

As well as hosting your own opt-in list building squeeze pages, there are free list building tools and resources online you should be making regualr use of too. These range from the free online list list-builders to services that help you build your own in-house lists. First we’ll look at the sites that let you build double opt-in lists on THEIR sites…

While there are a number of such sites, we use what we believe to be the 5 most powerful online list builders - ListDotCom, Your Lucky List, List Bandit, List Machine and List Explode. At each of these, you can set up a free account to start your list, and the people you refer to those lists go under you. Then, as the people under you refer people to the site, those people end up under you too, like a pyramid - and if you’ve got motivated people in your downlines at the list-builders you can end up with a lot of people to e-mail through them. With a free account the depth is somewhat limited and you can mail to those people once per week at each site.

The trick to these list-building services is to remember it’s all a numbers game at first. Experience shows us only one in ten you refer will actually refer anyone else, so you need to put a lot of effort into referring new people for the first while - say til you have your first 200 or 300 people directly under you - people you personally have referred to the service. That gives you maybe 15 - 30 people who will use the service properly and build their lists - and yours - through the service. Hopefully from that point on your list will grow on it’s own there, but keep feeding in more referals when you can, just to be sure you get as many double-opt-in subscribers as possible at each list builder.

Don’t make this your main list-building focus though - if one of the sites disappears, so does the list you had there. But don’t let that stop you from benefitting from their systems in the meantime - just be sure to put more effort into building your own in-house lists. We use the paid version of all five of these sites ourselves, and truly value the services they provide - and the money we’ve made through them!

Keep in mind that these aren’t exclusively your subscribers - others are e-mailing them through the lists too. In tracking our results using them, we find them to give about 1/10th the response an in-house list does - so 5000 on your list there should bring you the same return that 500 direct opt-ins on your own in-house list would. Since you don’t build a relationship with your readers there like the people on your in-house list this is natural - especially since over time it’s not even YOU who refered the people to your list, but those below you.

Here’s a powerful tip very few users of the services have caught on to - at least once every 6-8 weeks, use your mailings at the list-builders to offer the readers one of the free reports from the last section. This gives you a simple way to convert droves of people to your own in-house lists where you CAN develop a more helpful & more profitable relationship with them. You make money with your normal mailings to those online lists, and build your own opt-in list with the gifts you offer from time to time.

Teri & I have also taken this a step farther, combining the gift idea above with the power of the list-builders - we give away a page people can use to build their list at all five services. They sign up for your in-house list to get the page and join the 5 list-builders under you, then use a copy of that same page to get people in under them. Fortunately, the people coming in under them also end up on your online lists, as do the people they refer - you’re building your in-house and online lists by helping people build THEIR in-house and online lists - another win-win solution!

Download You Free List-Building Page & Build Your Lists 6 Ways at Once.

It does take time to build your lists at these services, but it’s well worth it. Alternatively, you can upgrade to the paid version and e-mail more people starting immediately - as many as 5,000 people you can e-mail immediately at some of them. Naturally I recommend upgrading to the paid version if you can - I use the paid version of all 5 myself and am quite happy with the results I get. More on that in the Paid List-Building Services section below…

Also on that page is your link to free list-building services that help build your in-house lists, like Triple Your List and List Inferno, so be sure to download yours today…

I’m sure all of this seems like a lot of work - and it is, especially to set up initially. But nothing, repeat nothing, will make you more money online or make you money more consistantly than your opt-in lists - so be sure to put the effort in every day. I’ve been working online full-time for over ten years now, make a 6-figure income from the net each year, and still spend a good portion of my time looking for and designing new ways to build my lists and help my ‘online family’ to build theirs.

Your own double-opt-in e-mail lists are money in the bank, and the closest thing we have in this biz to a guarantee of future income! DON’T NEGLECT YOURS!

Paid List-Building Tools & Resources

In the section above I detailed everything you need to know about the free list-building resources online, and mentioned that I use the paid version of each of the free list-building services. Why upgrade when they offer free services?

Numbers. At the paid level I can mail out more often to my lists there - in most cases, every three days, but every other day at List Dot Com. So I double or triple the number of messages I can send there each year by using the paid-level services. And upgrading brings you instant downlines to mail to - as many as 5,000 double opt-ins you can send to, starting the day you upgrade. That lets you forward your list-building by months - YEARS if you don’t already have a good sized list to refer to the services in the first place.

Think of it - instead of waiting while you slowly build your opt-in lists there, you can be e-mailing as many as 10 - 12 THOUSAND people today by upgrading at all five serivces. Not hard to see how that could help you make a profit sooner, eh? And best of all, you’re not mailing the same people every time - most of the services let the paid members choose to send to RANDOM members instead, meaning that while some will get two or three of your notes in a row, most will not.

The hidden power here is you try different e-mails to those lists til you find the product and gift e-mails they respond best to, then simply rotate those two e-mails each time until one or the other slows down - if the response slows down at all. Two factors come into play - some will buy on first exposure, some not til the tenth or twelfth, with the majority being in the 4th-9th time. Secondly, new members join these opt-in list builders every day, so it’s not hard to see you could be reaching people for the first time, even though it’s the 15th or 20th time you’ve sent that same e-mail.

In closing, let me offer one more ‘Big Dog Power Tip’: Most Internet marketers leave way too much money on the table by sending out for any given product or opportunity just once. First, don’t ever be so egotistical as to believe your list will drop whatever they’re doing to read your e-zine every issue -or even that they’ll be on the computer that day. Second, people usually need time to think about a purchase, conciously or unconciously. And even if they get your e-mail today, they may not be in the mood, may not have the time or may be short of funds - all of which could change by the second or third note about the product or service. Or perhaps something has happened in the meantime that makes them value that link more - we’ve all had times when we needed something and went ‘Oh, what was that link? Who sent that to me?’ Help them out - remind them at least twice after that first note.

With your own list, don’t send the same note two or three times - but maybe introduce it as a PS to one of your notes, give it a solo mailing for your next issue, then once or twice over the next couple of weeks use it as a PS again. The better the response to any offer, the more times to present it to your list, since THEY’VE told you it’s an important one by voting with their wallets. And a smart marketer NEVER ignores their prospects’ wallets!

There you have it, kiddies - grab all those freebies above and put them to work building YOUR opt-in lists starting today - both your own in-house mailing lists and your new online double-opt-in lists!

Waiting for you at the top…

Doug Champigny,
author, The Champigny Guides To Internet Marketing.

New - search our 70+ sites from one easy interface at The Champigny Web - www.ChampignyWeb.com .

Technorati Tags: opt-in list building, building opt-in lists, list building, opt-in lists, e-zines, e-courses, making money online, Internet marketing, affiliate marketing, niche marketing, ListDotCom, Your Lucky List, The List Machine, List Bandit, List Explode, free downloads, free tools, free list-building tools, Doug Champigny, Doug Champigny e-books, double opt-in lists, online tools, online resources, squeeze pages.

Tags: affiliate marketing, Doug Champigny, Internet Marketing

====================
Please Add The Internet Marketing Blog To Your Technorati Favorites!
Internet Marketing with Doug Champigny at Technorati

Please Stumble Our Internet Marketing Blog:
Internet Marketing with Doug Champigny at StumbleUpon

Please Add The Internet Marketing Blog To Your MyBlogLog Favorites:
Internet Marketing with Doug Champigny at MyBlogLog
====================