Answering your questions

October 30, 2008

With my last post, I seem to have struck a chord with a lot of people.  I do believe this is because a lot of the people reading this blog are new(er) to Internet Marketing and are looking for direction on where to go.

If you got anything out of the last article — it needs to be that you should be and have to be building your own list!  (My recommended method is using AWeber for list management and autoresponder messages, then using SplashPageMaker or InstantSqueezePageGenerator to make your marketing materials - and YES, those are my affiliate links ;))  Then you need to be networking.  Then you need to be consistent.  Well, there really is no order.  You need all three at the same time to be successful (and successful is NOT filthy rich (though it may eventually lead to be), successful would be turning a profit from your efforts).

So I’m writing this blog post to answer some of the great comments you guys left.

Question:

Than One can use aweber (or similar) service to send emails to list. And then there is a problem. One cannot send a lot of emails without substance (something that make list happy).If one try that (sending no substance emails, or affiliate link emails), very fast one will receive a lot of unsubscribe messages. So, doing a business is not so easy. In marketing books, everything start with product. SO new enterpreneur MUST ,first, develop his business structure (what are You doing?

I found this to be a great question.  How does a list builder continually send emails with substance to keep in contact with his or her list and make money?

I realize I don’t have all of the greatest answers so I asked some other marketers as well.

My Answer

If you can provide emails that your subscribers will enjoy reading and be able to help them while you are helping yourself, then they will not unsubscribe.  No matter what niche you’re in, your subscribers will be able to see through you if you are just out to help yourself.  So instead of just posting affiliate links, explain to them how they can benefit from what you’re offering.  (Think about it - my affiliate links are everywhere in this blog.  Do you mind looking at them and using them if they can help your business?)  Offer bonuses as well.

Paul Kinder (my buddy, mentor, and owner of Traffic-Splash.com)

“Through education and research. It’s easy to promote everything that moves but, as a list owner, your prime responsibility is to act as a filter so that you only recommend quality products targeted to the style of list you are managing.

So, a new list owner needs to invest in their own education first so that they can identify good products and bad and justify their role as “filter”.”

Tony Tezak (A non-program-owner list builder.  One of the (if not THE) most successful surfers of all time)

“I find material for my emails by reading others’ blogs, emails, forum posting and while attending online seminars conferences. Everyone ought to attend the weekly SWAT and Affiliate Funnel conferences. You can get valuable information from experts in the internet marketing world.

Also many programs have suggested emails in the members area. Put them in your own words and use them. They work.

In every email to your list you have opportunities to expand your business. For example if you want to give away an ebook or report, why not give away those where you can rebrand them and your affiliate links appear in the ebook/report. Instead of just giving them the ebook, send them to a download page. On the download page give them the link to the ebook and add an advertisement for something else. Here is an example of this that I learned from Soren Jordansen of DragonSurf:
http://tonytezak.com/dailyniche/download.html

Do not forget to use the signature file and the ‘PS’ feature in emails. Two more chances to get them into something else. Here are a couple of examples I am currently using:

P.S. Earn GREAT Residual Income - On AutoPilot!
Discover the ideas, tools and tips to help you on
the road to SUCCESS!

P.S. It’s good to stand out in the crowd,
as long as you look good doing it. Get your own
attention grabbing graphics for free at

Do not wait until the list is bigger, start using the info above from day one.

Cheers!

Tony Tezak
http://www.tonytezak.com “

With those answers there is no solid absolute answers (though Tony does provide a few examples).  My general consensus is that you will have to come into your own to develop your style.  Then tweak it.  Learn through trial and error.

And here’s another great question that came about:

Question

“I would like to get my hands on some great info to help with what to do with a list after it is built or while being built as it scares so many newbies wondering what to send and how to create great letters for an autoresponder.”

Basically, what do you do after you have a decent sized list?

My Answer

Keep building.  There’s no limit to the number of subscribers you can have.  I would say AFTER you have a decent sized list, make a free membership site that has upgrades and offers available.  Promote this to your list so you can earn from your list and from the free membership site.  Start to create multiple streams of income.  Now you can concentrate on building your list and offer your free membership site to everyone that subscribes (perhaps in an autoresponder message).  Now you have created yourself more validity and more substance (and a great “filter”, as Paul says!).

Paul Kinder

“Well, same answer, educate yourself. Learn more so that you can identify the best products that will benefit your subscribers. The key to success in IM is self-education just the same as any other business or occupation, it’s not difficult to “fake it” for a little while but it doesn’t take long to get found out. The really successful marketers actually have a good grounding, and really understand what they are doing.”

So again, it seems that there is no concrete answer.  I love how Paul mentions educating yourself.  That really is absolutely necessary.  If you don’t know what you’re talking about.. how can others believe what you’re saying?

In conclusion, be a sponge and soak up all the information you can, implement it, and find out what works!  And that’s not all, here’s what Soren Jordansen had to say about the two questions above, which leaves a few pondering points!

The question itself is flawed because it assumes
that content is good and pitching is bad.

It does not work that way - the only sane reason
for providing content is to increase the conversion
on you pitches.

Go read the “Follow up email series” chapter in my
IMSF ebook and pay special attention to the 3C’s
of marketing blog post it links to.

… and if you have a medium list the obvious next
step would be to build a large list