=======================================
WHY YOU ABSOLUTELY MUST HAVE
YOUR OWN OPT-IN E-MAIL LIST

By Joe Beaven

© Joe Beaven - All Rights Reserved =======================================

Probably the number one marketing tool at a web marketer’s
disposal is the opt-in e-mail list. This is something that the
majority of people struggling with their search engine position,
submitting to directories and bidding on pay-per-click search
engines have yet to learn (or choose to ignore).

Running a regular newsletter seems like a lot of work. You need
to write articles, find advertisers, come up with a witty
introduction, create some more compelling content for the second
half. It’s all just far too much effort, right?

Actually, if you work it out, you’ll probably find that the time
you spend on search engines, directories and pay-per-click
search engines, far outweighs the time it would take to run and
promote your ezine. And yet, running your own ezine would prove
far more profitable.

Now, I’m not saying that these other methods are a waste of
time. It’s important to use them in moderation, but if you’re
basing you whole marketing campaign on them, then this is
probably why you’re not making the kind of income you’re looking
for.

A lot of people will tell you that search engines are the main
way that people find information on the Internet and therefore
are the most important marketing tool to concentrate on.

Yes, most people do go to search engines when they’re trying to
find information, but this does not make it the best marketing
method.

Mark Joyner, one of the most successful Internet marketers ever,
reports that he gets about 15% of his traffic from search
engines. This is fairly typical for an Internet only business.

Even then, the conversion rate is not that great as these are
first time visitors who probably know nothing about your
business. Another problem is in optimizing your site for the
search engines.

You could easily pay a search engine professional $500 to
optimize your website and submit to the search engines. You may
well be delighted when you hit the number 4 spot in Google for
your targeted search term and the traffic starts pouring in…

But how delighted will you be a week later when Google have
completed changed their ranking formulas, and yours is in 167th
position and getting zero traffic? This sort of thing happens
all the time. Make sure it doesn’t happen to you!

Directories and pay-per-click search engines generate similar
problems. People will be less inclined to buy on their first
visit when they don’t know who you are. Plus these methods are
getting expensive.

Almost all directories now charge fees to be accepted, and for
the major ones this can be a large amount of money. The only
directory that counts and is still f*ree is ‘The Open Directory
Project’, located at http://www.dmoz.org.

This is an important one and being listed can boost your search
engine ranking quite a bit, but they do tend to be quite picky
about whom they let in and a sales only site may well not make
it.

Pay-per-click search engines are also expensive. If you’re
paying $2.50 per visitor for a top, popular search term ranking,
you’d better make sure you’re making enough money per visitor to
cover it. It’s very easy to lose a lot of money on PPC search
engines, if you’re not sure what you’re doing.

eZines have all kinds of benefits over search engines/directories:

a) It keeps you in regular contact with your customers. It
reminds them that you exist and that you provide great services
or products.

b) It is an excellent source of income. When you recommend a
product to your list, you can be sure that a fair percentage of
them will purchase it.

Occasionally, you’ll be able to send a one off e-mail that is
just a recommendation of a product. When you’ve managed to
build up a large list, this can amount to a lot of money.

c) It builds trust with your potential customers. Who would you
feel more comfortable buying from: someone you’ve only just
heard of, or someone who sends you valuable information every
month for f*ree, and who clearly knows what they’re talking
about?

You can build a sense of trust with your customers by proving to
them that you are both knowledgeable and reliable. They will be
far more susceptible to any offer you send them.

The most important thing to remember with ezines, is that they
must be ‘opt-in’. Subscribers must give you their name and
e-mail address willingly.

If you simply buy a list of e-mail addresses and send spam
messages to thousands of people, you will destroy your
reputation as a trustworthy seller and probably lose your ISP.

As I said earlier, the time it takes to run and promote an ezine
is probably far less than you would spend struggling with search
engines and directories. I run two successful monthly ezines and
I can get an issue done in less than a day, probably 5 or 6 hours.

Many people give the excuse that they don’t know how to write or
they don’t know enough about a subject to produce anything
useful. Firstly, you don’t need a University degree to be able
to write an ezine…

In fact, it may help if you haven’t. You certainly don’t want to
write an academic essay. eZines should generally convey a
friendly tone that reads as you would speak.

Of course, you will need to adjust your tone a little depending
on your audience, but if you’re creating an ezine about
something, you’ve probably read enough about it yourself to know
the appropriate style of writing.

I’m sure you’ll find that you know a lot more than you think you
do. Plus you can always use other people’s articles for
inspiration. Now, I’m certainly not suggesting you copy someone
else’s article and put your name on it, but if you can find a
few articles along the theme of yours, and borrow ideas from
each one, then you’re well on the way…

What’s more, you won’t just be teaching your readers about the
subject, but you’ll be learning a lot more about it yourself.
For an excellent ebook all about profiting from writing
articles, take a look at ‘Turn Words into Profit’ by Jim
Edwards – http://www.successgold.com/turnwords.htm.