In this post I discuss the process of building an email list for affiliate marketing purposes and how to do this the right way.
There are a number of very convincing reasons to build an email list in a niche market, the main reasons I’ve listed below. I also realize that not all niches markets lean well towards email marketing, but I must say the ones that do tend to be the ones I do best in.
4 Benefits of Building an Email List
- You have more opportunity to make the initial sale
- You have the chance of making repeat sales from each subscriber
- You can build up a reputation with your subscribers
- By sending your list back to your site it helps with SEO
Most of the above points should be quite obvious to you, however to briefly summarize, if you don’t capture the email then you have only one chance to get the person to take the action you want them to take on your site, and you can’t build a reputation with them as easily, unless they bookmark your site and come back later.
As far as helping with your SEO, by this I mean, search engines like Google can tell if someone comes back to your site, and by having a list you can send them back to your site on a regular basis, as you’ll notice I do with this blog. By doing this you increase your chances of your sites content getting shared on the social sites like Facebook and Twitter, and also it increases the chances of people viewing more content on your domain, which again looks good in the eyes of Google as they’ll view your domain as being high quality.
Tips for Building Your Email List
Now that we’ve discussed the benefits of building an email list, let’s now focus on some ways to gain more leads from your sites.
I like to make sure that my sites are optimized for the opt in. You will notice on this site my home page has a section at the top dedicated to the opt in, so it’s very prominent. I also use a popover to collect emails when the site loads. Some of you might think these popovers are annoying and don’t work. However I tested it on this site and it does increase the opt in rate. I’ve added a screen shot below to demonstrate number of opt ins I get, which I track by using a goal conversion in Google Analytics. The blue arrow is where I added the popover. The opt in rate for the site is currently 4.67% which is not too bad really.
Another place on the site to provide the opportunity to opt in is on the side bar, which I have on all the inner posts of this site, and most sites I own for that matter. Again this is very easy to see, however one thing I will say to critique myself is that I really should have a picture in the opt in box like I do for the home page, as this looks more appealing, so shame on me!!
Yet another place on the site for the opt in is at the end of the post, which you can see if you scroll down. I added this recently, when I realized I was wasting prime real estate at the end of the posts, which is where people look once they’ve finished reading my articles. Some of you might wonder how to do something like that, but be encouraged as it’s not hard to find someone who can do this easily and fast. All I did was hire a WordPress coder over at ODesk.com and he whipped it up in a few hours or less!
Marketing to Your List
Once you’re gaining leads and building up your email list, you obviously want to consider how you’ll be monetizing the leads, well actually you should have that planned before start! The key thing to keep in mind is that you want to provide great free advice for people as much as you possibly can. This can be done in a number of ways, through the emails themselves, or by creating videos for your subscribers to watch on your site. I personally prefer to send my leads back to my sites as much as I can, as I want to train them to go back to my site, as they’ll find more great content on the site which will help them.
In order to collect and manage the emails you send out, you first need an email marketing tool, I use Aweber for my affiliate sites and Mail Chimp for my E-commerce store. There are other alternatives out there, such as Get Response and others, but I have not used them myself.
Ideally you should have at least 12 emails lined up in your auto-responder sequence that will go out to new subscribers automatically upon sign up. Of course they don’t all go out at the same time, instead you stagger them over a period of weeks.
When it comes to the content they you want to send out to the list, I suggest researching the niche so that you can get in the mindset of a typical subscriber, this way you’ll have more of an idea of what they would consider helpful information. Once easy way to do this is to opt in to as many other email lists in the niche already and see what they’re doing. Best to set up a new email for this, subscribe to half a dozen, then after you’ve received a decent amount of emails from them spend some time analyzing their content….(click the link below to continue to part two).
Related articles
Matt,
Another great article as always.
Do you mind telling us what popover script you use?
cheers
Anton
Matt Carter Reply:
September 3rd, 2012 at 12:34 pm
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Hi Anton, sure its popup domination
Matt
A very informative post about email marketing. 🙂
To add to this post, split testing the landing page and optin places like, header, sidebar, popup and optin box below the post is very important. I have as much as doubled my conversion rates by split testing the optin boxes.
Using a ribbon kind of graphic draws more attention and always improves the optin rates.
For split testing I recommend visual website optimizer and/or optin skin.
Matt Carter Reply:
September 3rd, 2012 at 1:19 pm
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Thanks for adding these tips Deepak!
Matt
Thanks for this Matt, I have had no luck at all with email building a list I will try your suggestions
Cheers Linda
Good article. Timely for me too. I have neglected building a list partly because I had mostly Amazon sites and didn’t think it would work in my niches and partly because I get so much crap in my inbox I felt like it was being over done and didn’t want to add to the mess. But I realized I am leaving a ton of money on the table by not building a list.so I am gearing up. Thanks for the info.
Steve
Matt Carter Reply:
September 3rd, 2012 at 3:40 pm
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Hi Steve
Great to hear from you, and yeah it does leave money on the table for sure!
Matt
Matt, Thank you for the tips. I have been building my list for some time and just recently I was going through my emails and I needed some help. This post helped me a lot!
Elizabeth
Matt Carter Reply:
September 3rd, 2012 at 3:40 pm
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Hi Elizabeth
Thanks for commenting and glad you found the post helpful
Matt
One thing that has effected email marketing this year, is those spam emails going around asking for people to click links in the email etc for cheap cameras, friends photos and other stuff.
I feel it is effecting the conversion of people actually clicking the aweber link to verify their email address right at the start of the process.
Hey Matt,
How are you doing that 2 part system for your blog posts? I assumed it was two separate pages but now I see the same comments on both pages. It is a wp plugin you are using?
I myself in the past have been in the “too frighten” bracket to send stuff to my list, stuff for sale. Even when providing great content to them. But I always tell myself to think of it, as if I am emailing just one person and not tens of thousands of people.
Matt Carter Reply:
September 3rd, 2012 at 3:38 pm
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Hi Ross,
Yeah its a plugin, pagination plugin I think
Matt
John Hoff Reply:
September 4th, 2012 at 1:13 am
Awesome, I’ll check it out. I’ve been creating a table of contents by hand coding it, but it doesn’t move the comments over.
I’d like to suggest one plugin for this blog, however.
It’s the “Subscribe to Comments Reloaded” plugin. It allow us who comment to tick a box so that we are notified whenever a reply in this comment section has happened.
Useful as ever Matt thanks
An easy way to set up a Opt in box is to use Shane Melaugh’s new WordPress plugin called Hybrid Connect. It is being upgraded at the moment so is not available, but should be again soon.
I would recommend it to your subscribers Matt. One to keep in mind when it is up and running again. You have to pay for it but it is pretty cheap.
BTW all – this is not an affiliate link. Just sharing good stuff.
http://hybrid-connect.com/
Hi Matt.
Thanks for another great post. You hit the nail right on the head by saying “Teach your list”, you have conditioned me so well that as soon as I spot a “Matt Carter” email I ignore all the clutter and open yours straight away.
One trend I recently found in my Spam is that some Marketers do include an unsubscribe link but the link only open a page with a screenshot of an unsubscribe confirmation image, so you are never deleted from their list. Maybe that is the reason the email landed up in the spam folder.
Matt Carter Reply:
September 3rd, 2012 at 6:32 pm
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Hi Hennie
Yeah its amazing what some people will do!
Matt
Hey Matt,
Your tip about open rate is GOLDEN. I don’t think many people really understand the significance of what you wrote.
I realized the reality of it when I noticed that I opened emails based more on who they are from than the subject line itself. I asked some other marketers I know about this and many agreed with me.
As such, I honestly believe your reputation (as a value provider) in your list’s eyes is the most important factor in determining open rates. So, when a person starts his/her “relationship” with you as a member of your list, that relationship needs to be established on the right foot.
Meaning, that opt-in incentive you offered to get people to sign up has to blow your prospects’ mind. When a person signs up to your list, you need to stand out… you need to be remembered.
Matt Carter Reply:
September 4th, 2012 at 6:20 am
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Totally agree with you Andy!
Matt
I started two years ago with my list building and I can say that this is the most successful way to built a good business online. All the other methods are built to support the opt in pages.
By the way I’m still using Rapid Rewriter and it is a fantastic tool to add content to our sites.
I’m looking forward to hear from you.
Haim
Matt Carter Reply:
September 4th, 2012 at 6:20 am
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Hi Haim
Thanks for the comment, and yeah I agree list building is key.
Matt
Matt,
I really like what you did with placing your pic inside the opt-in box! I have not seen much of that (if any) out there at all.
Just getting a list building campaign off the ground (for the first time) seems so overwhelming. With your suggestions and this post specifically, I can see some light to hopefully make this task more doable. Thanks for sharing!
Matt Carter Reply:
September 4th, 2012 at 6:17 am
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Hi Wesley
Yeah building a list does take time, but stick with it as it will pay off for you,
Regards
Matt
Hi Matt. One thing which I’d like to know is when have you found is the best time (day and time) to send out your autoresponder emails?
Any insights there?
Matt Carter Reply:
September 4th, 2012 at 6:16 am
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Hi John
To be honest with you, I no longer bother about that, I just send them when I am ready, because if you do a great job and your list likes your emails they are doing to open and read them when they get to them.
Matt
Hey Matt,
Great post as usual! Do you find it more effective to always show your popup or set the frequency? Also, I normally delay the display by 15 seconds. Do you feel there is any benefit to doing this?
Your e-mails are also the ones I make sure I read so I guess I’m trained too 🙂
Matt Carter Reply:
September 4th, 2012 at 6:15 am
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Hi Joan
Yeah I set it to load once every 24 hrs per visit and I think a 15 second delay is about right,
Thanks for your comment too!
Matt
John Hoff Reply:
September 4th, 2012 at 10:15 am
I used the Popup Domination plugin for a pop up kind of like what you have now Matt, but I noticed that my bounce rates jumped to like 90% for new visitors.
I assume you’re not experiencing that since it’s still live on your site. Have you run any tests like that?
Matt Carter Reply:
September 4th, 2012 at 3:25 pm
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I am running tests on bounce now, and I will look at this as its a good point.
Matt
Hi Matt
Another very informative post. I am not at the moment in any markets that I could really use email marketing but its nice to know how it should be done.
Your emails are always welcome because I know that they will always contain valuable information and even when you promote a product I know it will be a good product and not the usual junk that is pedalled even by some of the top names in internet marketing.
One of these top marketers was emailing me twice a day and every time promoting rubbish stuff, Needless to say but I unsubsidised from his list.
Thank s again
Regards
Owen
Matt Carter Reply:
September 4th, 2012 at 6:14 am
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WOW thanks Owen, I appreciate the great feedback,
Thanks so much
Matt
Not only was the post an excellent post but the comments from some
of your subscribers was very good too.
I have never bought a product from you, as of this time, but I am sure
in the future I will because you are one of the very few who knows how to do this marketing correctly. Over a period of time you have
gained my trust, that you are not only interested in yourself but those of us who subscribe to a man who can really be trusted.
Paul
Matt Carter Reply:
September 4th, 2012 at 6:13 am
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Hi Paul,
Very kind words, I really appreciate that,
Matt
Hi Matt,
As an Internet rookie I have no idea how to get email list,. but I am going to start today because I’ve always value your advice. By the way , is it a plugin or a software?
Thanks
Matt:
Good point on using the email list to have people return to the site to enhance SEO. I hadn’t thought of using email lists for that purpose. That would no doubt help increase the returning visitors stat as well as help with social media sharing. Good point!
Matt,
Nice article but I’m unclear on one point you made. You wrote, “One easy way to do this is to opt in to as many other email lists in the niche already and see what they’re doing.” Could you explain more please? I’m a recruiter and my niche is product development executives in the asset management industry. Are you suggesting I sign up for my competitor’s email address or something different?
Thanks!
Matt Carter Reply:
September 5th, 2012 at 10:29 am
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Yes sign up to your competitors list
Hi Matt,
I finally got around to adding a opt-in form to my website, but the opt-in rate has been slow from the start. I’ve added it to the right column, but perhaps I need to also add a pop up as well like you haver done.
Dan
I am always pleased with Matt Carter Email.Especially because I have a lot to learn.
Thanx for that
groetjes Willem
Great article, thanks Matt! It’s only half the struggle building a list though, it can be a real chore to scrape together some messages to send out. Recently I started outsourcing my email message content – it’s paid off big time.
Hi Matt
I can see how this can work would a news letter work for this as well. I can see when you giving out free advise how folks would want to come back. Which I do here always. But how would it work best with an e commerce site
Scott
Matt Carter Reply:
September 6th, 2012 at 4:44 pm
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I do the same model for my ecommerce site and it works well. You can have a blog on your ecommerce store
Hi Matt,
Thanks for the great article. You’ve given us all some great advice.
I use Mail Chimp for my autoresponder too and http://www.istaffsource.com for my staff outsourcing, they are so much better than Odesk. Their staff are mostly Uni Graduates with years of experience at a fraction of the price.
Hey Matt,
This is a little off topic for this post, but I am interested in using youtube more often. Do you still recommend your “Video Comission Forumla Course”? Or is that outdated with all of the Penguin/Panda algorithm changes?
Thanks,
Ryan
Matt Carter Reply:
September 12th, 2012 at 7:31 am
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As far as I can tell from my videos they are not affected by Google updates.
Thank you for the article Matt, really useful info. I’m gonna have to come back later for part 2 though. I do not wanna miss any important points.
Regards
I totally agree with that point on not to be agressive with the selling to your subscribers. I myself get turned off by marketers whose emails consist of nothing but sales pitches.
Thanks Matt!
Great info. I started off a while ago with drop shipping. The biggest challenge was to find an honest dropshipper who is willing to dropship for any one outside the US.
Some of them offer you a price list and then retail the goods on a different website or on amazon and ebay. This means that you can not make any profits. So compare your price list with the products offered on the net before you work hard making an ecommerce store for any supplier.
Hi Matt,
You’re article is such a great one. It really helps a lot on those engage in business. Specially nowadays email marketing has been popular for businesses because it can build relationships, reputation and specially sales. Making an email list for me makes life of marketers easy and productive. Great.!
Very informative post.
I’ve been using email marketing for many years now, and yet, I still learnt some things from your post.
And indeed people who aren’t already using email marketing aren’t setting up a business online. They are just working on a 9 to 5 job.
So thank you for your very good post. I definitely learnt something here.
Thanks… Just by adding a call to action at the bottom of all my blogs increased my sign up rate…
I think you should sell in every email, BUT it doesn’t have to always be a hard sale. You can still add massive value and don’t be afraid to ask for the sale… you don’t ask you won’t get it and someone else will