Optin Email Marketing

An optin email list is the most important thing to have in your sales armoury, according to many wise online marketers. The people on your list have given you permission to email them from time to time with your offers. They are targeted prospects (otherwise they would not have been interested in opting in to your list), and you need to cultivate their trust.

Always deal honestly and fairly with them, and don't be afraid of offering freebies to sweeten the deal when you are making your sales pitch. Once people in your list get to know you, they are much more inclined to buy from you than if you were just anybody sending off your ad to a purchased list.

The people know that they are on your list, and they are on it because they are interested in what you have to offer. Being your own optin list, you are able to send repeated offers. If you were sending a one-off offer to a list that you paid to send to, you would only have one opportunity to sell your product, but if you are dealing with your own optin list, then you have the luxury of being able to send follow-up emails reinforcing the message that your product is a great product, and that the customer will be better off purchasing it.

Once you have built up your list you are able to promote your affiliate programs, enter into joint venture arrangements, and you can even use your new asset to make money charging for advertising.

So the obvious question is "How do you get yourself an optin email list?"

When someone visits your website, they are more than likely to leave without purchasing anything. What you need to do is get them to subscribe to your newsletter or ezine, or to simply agree to optin to your email list. The first thing you need to do is offer them an incentive. There is any number of free ebooks, software packages or reports that you can readily access on the Internet to offer in return for their subscription.

Make sure that what you are offering will be of value to your potential customers.

Another effective method of recruiting people for your optin list is advertising in ezines. Pick ezines that are relevant to your particular product or products, and send out solo ads to the list.

One of the most effective methods of all is to write an article that is relevant to the subject of the ezine (and your product), and send it to as many ezines as possible so that they can publish it for free. Of course the article will have your contact details attached, so that readers can subscribe to your list.

Starting your own newsletter is the next essential step in maintaining your list. Make sure that your newsletter is always informative, and your subscribers will maintain their subscription, which  enables you to keep them constantly informed of new products and services which you have to offer them.