Free Marketing Online Using Email Lists - Marketing to a Targeted Audience

There are many forms of free marketing online, and it's important to not only know what they are, but to know HOW to use each one effectively. There are certain points that can make the difference between success and failure - and if you know buy email list what you're doing, you can make sure you're in the success category! Free marketing online - using email lists for  marketing products to a mass audience You're sure to have received more than your share of spam emails, so you probably know how much damage that can do, and I'm sure you'd never deliberately spam anyone. However, it's very easy when starting off in free marketing online, to fall into the trap of unintentional spamming. Unless you use a good email opt-in system, it is possible to be accused of spamming even if your intentions were good. You need the prospect to acknowledge that they've agreed to receive emails from you. Never buy email lists - the chances are, at the very least many of the emails will be inactive, and at worst, you'll be opening yourself up to spam complaints. Creating an opt-in email system You could do this manually using your own email account, but it would be very risky. I advise either using a well-established reliable paid-for service like Aweber, or you could do a search for "free opt in email". Although I've done a lot of free marketing online, I've never used a free opt-in email service, so I don't know how reliable they are - make sure you check them out thoroughly before using them. However, I've used Aweber for years, and can highly recommend it. Building email lists marketing appropriate products The most reliable way to build a good, well-targeted email list is to create a "squeeze page". A squeeze page is a web page that has an opt-in form on it. A visitor to the page can fill in the form - usually with just their name and email address - and by doing that, they're agreeing to receive email from you. Of course, you need to offer them something for doing this - you could offer free information, an e-book or report. The safest method of building email lists marketing products this way is using "double opt in" - this means that when the prospect has filled in your web form, he'll receive an automated response asking if he has indeed agreed to receive emails from you. He'll be required to click on a link in the email to confirm his consent. Once he's done this, he'll receive the information he requested, and will be added to your email list. Creating an Opt-in Web Form If you're using an opt-in email service, they should provide you with the facility to create the form for your squeeze page. If you've chosen to manage the list yourself, you may be able to create a form using your website editing software, but if not, do a search for "free web form" - there are various sites that allow you to create a form and then copy and paste the html code into your webpage. What to write in your emails It's important not to use your emails as virtual fliers. Although an email list is an effective method of free marketing online, it won't work if you provide junk mail. Make sure you include valuable information that is of interest to the type of person who signed up, and that your product link is either only in your signature, or that you include it in the information as an extra resource, not as something you're trying to sell. Here's an example: Let's say your product is a recipe book for people who hate vegetables. Here's how you would set up your email marketing. 1. Create a "squeeze page" with an opt-in form that offers a free set of 4 vegetable-haters' recipes. 2. When someone fills in the form and accepts the opt-in, he receives the free recipes and is added to your list. 3. You set a series of emails to be sent by auto responder (or by yourself, if you're doing it all manually). The first email may be all about which celebrities also hate vegetables, and it could have the link to your recipe book at the end, with this text: "Click here for 101 vegetable-haters' recipes". 4. Your next email may be about which foods contain similar nutrients to various vegetables, and can therefore substitute for them. In this email, you could suggest the recipe book as a source for meals that include these particular foods. 5. Another email could be a list of responses to use for those vegetable-haters who are invited to dinner by vegetarians - using some humor in your emails will encourage people to keep reading them.:) And so you can continue, including any news on the topic, and any other products you may have or may be an affiliate for, that would fit in with the niche. As you can see from my absurd made-up example, no matter how obscure the subject, you can still use email lists marketing a product to great effect - it is one of the most effective methods of free marketing online, if you do it right. Have fun with it!

Email Addresses Without Buying Email Lists

Brick and mortar business owners and managers who decide to buy email list make email marketing part of their overall advertising strategy have to ask themselves, "How do we get email addresses, especially from

 customers, rather than buying email lists?" If it's you asking the question, here's your solution: First, like any marketing program, this requires creativity, so let your imagination go and have fun. Spam laws put many restrictions on email marketing. One is that you must get permission from your customers and prospective customers before sending emails. You can either have them write their email address down for you, have them send you an email, or have them register themselves at your Capture Site, a site designed to get their contact information- including that precious email address. If your customers or patients already fill out any kind of form or questionnaire, just add a line asking for the email address. If you want to increase the percentage of people who do write down their email address, you can review that form and ask them for it whenever you find the email address was omitted. To ease their anxiety you may also want to include some verbiage explaining that your policy is to never allow outside access to their email information by any third party. If you don't use any type of form or questionnaire, consider creating one. If you offer any service that requires your customers to email you, for reservations, to confirm appointments, to pre-order products for pick-up, to check availability of items, or for any reason at all, you then can add that email address to your data base. If you don't currently do anything like this, ask yourself how you might add a request for your customers' emails. Look for something that will enhance the services you offer. Once you do get their email address you can go to your capture site or autoresponder provider where you can input their information yourself. If you have a computer terminal available at your place of business where a customer can input their information, you can leave your capture site up as your "home page" and suggest they register before they leave. Just like anything you sell, your customer must clearly see the value they will get from what you offer. Exchange value for their email address. Consider composing a flyer that tells them why they will benefit by being on your subscriber list. If they see themselves benefitting and don't see any down side- they'll register. Remember, you can buy email addresses depending on the type of business you run. List brokers are everywhere just waiting to take your money. But be careful if you go this way. Government rules regarding spam are very restrictive. And all lists are not good lists, most are not. Plus, why pay for names when you have customers who can be persuaded to register? It is far better to get your email list from your customer registrations rather than buying any email list.