Build an Effective Opt-In List or Die as an Internet Marketer

How To Improve Your Opt-in List Building

If you have been an Internet Marketer for more than a few days, you have without a doubt already seen a ton of articles telling you about the value of building your opt-in list. What most of the ‘experts’ don’t tell you is that building an EFFECTIVE and profitable opt-in list takes time and effort.

You can have a very long opt-in list with hundreds of names and email addresses and still not be making any sales. There are opt-in lists and then there are EFFECTIVE opt-in lists.

Now don’t misunderstand what is being said here. You will never sell your front-end product or service to every single person that is on your opt-in list. That would be an Internet marketer’s dream come true but it just isn’t going to happen.

The first trick is, of course, getting an opt-in list. Turning it into an effective opt-in list comes second.

In order to get your website visitors to join your opt-in list, you will need to make it worth their while to do so. You will need to give them something that is related to the topic of your website and to the product or service that you are selling. It needs to have value to a potential customer – something that truly helps them.

In recent years this has come to known as a “Lead Magnet”. There are various other terms to describe your “free” offer such as “ethical bribe”, “freebie”, etc.

For example; if you are selling accounting software, you might give them free access to an e-book that gives them information about little-known business tax deductions in exchange for their name and e-mail address. You will capture names and email addresses of those who are the most likely to be interested in buying what you are selling and you are starting to build more than just an opt-in list – you are starting to build an effective opt-in list.

That brings me to the next area of debate which surrounds whether it is prudent to request your subscribers confirm their subscription to your list or not. For many years the standard practice was to utilize what is commonly referred to as a “double-optin”.

When a visitor joined your list, they would receive a message stating that they needed to click a link to confirm their joining your list. The benefit of the added step protected the list owner from potential “CAN-SPAM-ACT” violations if at some point in the future the subscriber made a claim that they were added to your list without their permission.

Nowadays, more and more marketers are not requiring this step. And probably for good reason as more of the public is aware to list building tactics and any kind of friction in the process tends to reduce optin rates.

Also, you will probably notice that fewer optin forms require a subscribers name and only ask for their email address.

Your own results may vary and only through testing (A/B Split Testing) will you determine the best course of action for you as you build your list.

In my own experience, I’ve come to rely more and more on testing as market conditions change. What worked a few months ago may not be as effective today.

Building a an effective opt-in list requires more than just great squeeze pages and an auto-responder service. You will need to learn what works with your target audience and then how to communicate with your subscribers to build trust and authority.

You turn that opt-in list into an effective opt-in list by regular communication. You stay in contact with those who did opt-in and you continue to provide them with related information and incentives to buy your front-end product or service or one or more of your back-end products. To keep them interested and keep your name in the front of their mind, be sure you keep in touch with your list at least weekly, if not more often.

There are those who will tell you that building an opt-in list is quick, easy and absolutely painless. Don’t you believe one word of it! Building opt-in lists that will actually produce sales take a lot of time, effort and energy. If you don’t believe me, go ask one of the top marketers how long it took them to build their massive lists. Every one of them will tell you that they spent years building up those opt-in lists.

Below you can download my guide that walks you step by step through the process. It’s free, just follow the instructions below.

[wpsharely id=”2576″]Click here to download your free guide! [/wpsharely]