How to Build Your Opt-In Mailing List

As the top marketers like to say, "the gold is in the list." When you have a targeted, responsive opt-in mailing list, you can contact those folks periodically with updates, tips and information about your products. Once people come to know and trust you as a provider of quality information or entertainment, they are much more likely to buy your products and services.

The most effective way to build an opt-in list is to offer people something of value in exchange for their email address. Authors and publishers usually give away items such as ebooks, special reports, sample book chapters, instructional videos, teleseminars or mini-courses via email.

One of the quickest ways to build your list is to partner with others who offer products and services to your target markets. That way you can expand your reach to people that might not have found you otherwise and add a lot of new names in a short time.

Recently I ran across an interesting example of a joint venture promotion, where a number of marketers are joining together to give away a collection of self-help ebooks and other bonuses.
See this page for the marketing copy that is used to invite marketers to participate in this joint venture. On this page, you'll find powerful marketing copy motivating consumers to sign up to be notified when the giveaway begins.

One key to success in a joint venture is that everyone who contributes a giveaway product must actively promote the giveaway. In this promotion, the sponsors are using tracking tools to ensure that no one freeloads by offering a giveaway but not promoting the event.

See these articles for more tips on building and using opt-in mailing lists:

Promote Your Book with an Opt-In Subscriber List

Build a Money Making Opt-In Subscriber List with One Simple Idea by Kathleen Gage

How Often Should You Email Your List?

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Comments

[Monique Davis]

Very Nice!

[Vikram Narayan]

Hi Dana. Nice post. I just wanted to take a quick moment to add to your points. When you give away something using a one shot approach ("sign-up to get this free gift"), the person signing up does not expect to receive monthly email newsletters. Hence, it is important to mention that this is a monthly newsletter that they are signing-up for. Else, you risk putting some people off. I've been through a number of websites where I signed up for the freebie and then got surprised by periodic emails from the site owner.

Cheers,

Vikram Narayan

[Dana Lynn Smith]

Excellent point Vikram - it's important to point out that a newsletter subscription is included. When advertising my free ebook, I say "You'll also get a subscription to The Savvy Book Marketer Newsletter."