38.  Create an autoresponder course on a hot topic.

No one can resist learning about a topic that they’re already interested in… so why not create an autoresponder course on the subject.

Creating an autoresponder course is really easy.  All you have to do is write a report and then break it down into pieces.  Set your autoresponder up to mail out each piece to subscribers one at a time. Read the rest of this entry

22.  Become a guest author on another website.

If you’re a pretty good writer and can commit to a regular schedule of articles, then becoming a guest author or columnist is a really great opportunity.  You get free publicity and the website you write for gets free content from you… Another win/win!

If you’re really feeling good about your writing, why not extend this idea and ask to become a guest columnist/writer for a print publication?  All they can say is no. Read the rest of this entry

I often hear online business and marketing types talk about how important it is to have a good subscriber list.  In many cases, having a reasonable sized list of responsive subscribers can make the difference in whether your online business succeeds or dies a slow painful death.

You’re heard it before, “The money is in the list.”

What exactly is a list?

Simply put, a “list” is generally a database of subscribers that you contact regularly.  Your form of contact could be direct mail, email, phone, fax, or any other technology available.  For purposes of this discussion, we’re talking about how to successfully build an email list, but many of the strategies below could also apply to other kinds of list building.

Most online businesses create newsletters or ezines to send to their subscriber lists (a method I highly recommend), you can also create email lists in order to disseminate other types of information like website updates, ebooks, email courses, reports, blog posts, etc.  As long as subscribers know in advance what kind of information they’re signing up for, the sky’s the limit. Read the rest of this entry

No matter what kind of email you send — promotions, follow ups, newsletters, etc. — You only have a few seconds to catch your reader’s attention and get them to open your email, read it, and click through on your email links.

The most difficult obstacle in email marketing is to get people to actually open your messages.

After all, you can’t provide value to your prospects, develop rapport, or establish yourself as an expert in your industry if they won’t open the skinkin’ email!

So let’s talk about the most important factors in getting people to open your email and increase your email open rates.

There are two things that you’ve got to focus on, you’re email subject line and the “from” field of the email.  Let’s do “from” first. Read the rest of this entry

Yesterday I worked on setting up a new email marketing campaign and realized that Aweber, my autoresponder service, made some MAJOR improvements to their service that will help everyone who uses autoresponders.

Aweber added a new form generator that will make your subscription forms look ultra-professional without having to do any fancy coding yourself.  The web form generator now has templates to give your form that professional edge.

Check out the video below to see what I mean: Read the rest of this entry

Increase your sales — That’s the one sure way to increase your overall income and many online businesses struggle with the whole idea of increasing sales. That’s why I’ve put together a quick and dirty list of some top notch strategies to increase your sales. Read the rest of this entry

This is #3 in series of posts on subscriber expectations. Previous articles here: Part 1, Part 2.

As discussed recently, properly setting expectations for subscribers before they sign up and immediately after they do so helps you deliver the kind of better experience that leads to more responsive, more deliverable email marketing campaigns.

But that subscriber experience doesn’t occur in just a single moment. And expectations can change over time.

How do you make sure the expectations you worked so hard to set in your opt-in form and on your thank you page don’t fade after subscribers have been on your list for a while?

Read More