I am sure that almost every Internet marketer makes the same mistakes when they are just starting up. Building a list is a slow and sensitive process, we tend to be impatient and too harsh, pushy or give up early.
Now, if I had been eating honesty-berries during the last week, I would confess that I too made at least half of these mistakes detailed below.
I would really like you to spare you from the disappointments and frustration I went through, so here’s the scoop:
1. Not targeting properly.
When you are starting to build a list you would give anything for that first person to sign up. But if you make people sign up for your offer they are not really interested in, they will end up
unsubscribing anyway. There is no use of subscribers who are interested in free Movie downloads only, and you want to sell them a yearly Blockbusters membership.
2. Not building a buyers’ list.
A profitable list has buyers on. If you are promoting your list with a freebie, that’s fine, but try some low-cost products as well, (you can find some great products and capture pages if you check out the resource box to promote and test your niche. But people who already bought from you before are much more likely to purchase a more expensive product next time than “freebie hunters”.
3. Not branding yourself.
If you don’t have a product, that’s OK. You are still you and not the GURU whose product you are trying to sell others. Let your subscibers know you. Send them links to your latest website, blog page, articles, or anything that is ABOUT YOU. Promoting affiliate links is important, but believe me: people will buy the product from the guy they like most.
4. No content, just ads.
My opinion is that the right balance is about 60-75% free content and 25-40% sales letters. If you keep on selling people they will notice that they are being sold to, and get so scared that will unsubscribe in no time. Remember, why did they trust you with their personal details, and act accordingly.
5. Flashy, Spammy and desperate headlines
If you don’t test your list emails on at least 5 ISPs before sending them, there is a chance that they will never hit an inbox. Spam filters have recently got very picky, so be careful. Don’t try to put the whole email in the headline, or subject line, ideally subject lines shouldn’t belonger than 8 words.
6. Using HTML
If you are using HTML emails, you have to be extra sure that your subscribers have definitely whitelisted your email address. You can actually send a split campaign, HTML for subscribers who can accept it and plain text for the ones who opted for plain text. (at Mailchimp you can do this free with 2 easy clicks.)
7. Emails are too long
I understand that you just wrote an article or e-book about your favorite topic and would like to share it. Although email is not the best way to do that. You can send a summary of about 20 lines about the new resource/article/training/product you found or want to share (like a teaser copy) and link right to the article or resource.
Don’t expect your subscribers to read your novel in email, they will usually decide after reading the subject line and the first line if they are interested or not.
Good luck with your list building.
For more info please check out the resource box for training.
- Lurn.com Inbox Blueprint
- Affiliate Traffic Lab
- Affiliate Bootcamp – free
Alternatively, check out our membership offers.