The Ramblings Of An Internet Marketing Genius

Introduction

This article series is all about helping you make more money from lists.

Whether it's your list or someone else's list, whether you are sending a newsletter or a solo mailing ... doesn't really matter.

You're about to read through some of the "best" ideas for increasing your profits when you do mailings of any kind to any list.

Some of these tips deal with getting more people to open your email; others with getting more people to read your email and still other tips refer to getting more people to take action.
All of them are included for one reason: to help you make more money from lists.

"Know Your Audience"

One of the biggest mistakes that people make with lists is that they fail to really get to KNOW their subscribers.

They may think they know them, and they may know *some* things about them ... but, oftentimes that's not enough.

If you really want to get the most clicks and the most sales, then you simply must know what your audience really wants.

When was the last time you polled your list? Seriously. When was the last time you asked them their opinion? Do you realize the enormous value in asking your list members for their wants, ideas, feedback, suggestions, needs, etc?

When they give it to you, they have just handed you a list of things they are interested in buying. If they think "generating traffic" is the most important thing to them, then you hunt down traffic generation products and services to offer them.

If they hate the way you do some particular thing, then you stop doing it. If they love one particular segment of your newsletter, then use it as your primary advertising space.

One of the most important things you can do to get better responses from your offers is to know your list. Know what they want, know what they respond to, know what they like.

And plan your mailings strategically, centered around the specific things you know about how your list thinks, acts and responds.

Idea Number 02: "Build Sublists"

Don't "waste" your main list by keeping the subscribers only on that list. Offer them an ecourse. Offer them a special report. Offer them a highly specialized "players only" list where they are prequalified for some kind of high-ticket offer.

For example: we offer the full unlimited licence version of LFM for free to subscribers here http://themembershipscript.com because we want to find out which of our new subs are interested in membership site ownership.

And that allows us to recommend new plugins that create our income from the site.

You are guaranteed to make more money by using this strategy.

Idea Number 03: "Help Them Consume"

It's one thing for folks to join your newsletter list or request your ecourse, it's another thing for them to actually read your mailings.

One of the ways that you can help them "consume" (I.E. READ your mailings) is to highlight important points of each particular mailing.

For example: at the top of your newsletter issue – even before your masthead – the absolute first thing they see when they open the email – is to include a quick "preview".

Dear name,

In today's issue I'm going to share with you the one thing that I always do to lose 5 pounds anytime I've gotten a bit "pudgy." It works every time and I'm excited about you trying this one yourself.

Best regards,

Do you think people will "consume" this issue now? Of course! You've got a great preview that gets them excited enough to read more. If you're on this list – which, presumably is about fitness and probably about weight loss – and you read that a single way to lose 5 pounds is forthcoming that "works every time", you'll definitely read on.

And notice how the "preview" INVOLVES the reader... "I'm excited about you trying this one yourself."

Yeah, they'll read on.

Idea Number 04: "Identify Yourself"

In testing, here's a very simple thing you can do that can get as much as 43% more subscribers to read your email. And that is simply to "identify yourself" in the first paragraph of your mailing.

Instead of "Announcing my special ‘2 For 1' advertising rates", try "This is Robert Puddy here with a special announcement about ‘2 For 1' advertising."

Simple, but very effective. This has been tested over and over again and it almost always out-pulls the non-personal version.

Why? Probably because people see that it's PERSONAL. This is YOU talking. It's from someone they have grown to know, like and trust.

Try it in your next mailing and track the results.

Idea Number 05: "Mention Benefit Early"

We just looked at "identify yourself," now it's time to "identify your reader."

Yes, you can do this by using PERSONALIZATION features of most mailing programs to automatically insert the recipient's name (I.E. "Dear Ralph"), but there is another technique that is just as powerful (maybe even more powerful since everyone is now using the "Dear Ralph" approach) and that is what I call a "personalization benefit."

To create a "personalization benefit", you simply take the theme of your list and blend it with the theme of your mailing.

How about an example?

Let's suppose your list consists of moms interested in getting in shape or staying in shape. In other words a women's fitness list. And, let's also suppose (woohoo, we're in the land of make-believe) that you are wanting to promote a new piece of exercise equipment that makes toning up a breeze.

Here's the traditional opening...

Dear Sally,

Here's the opening with the "personalization benefit"

Breakthrough Fitness Solution for Busy Moms
Dear Sally,

Now, what do we have here? We have the exact same benefit of the regular personalization, because the reader continues to immediately see their name (I.E. "Dear Sally") but, more than that, we have a major benefit expressed before we even begin. (Breakthrough Fitness Solution for Busy Moms)

What mom isn't busy? So, this specifically targets SALLY.

What subscriber on this list isn't looking for better fitness? Again, this focuses in on SALLY.

What person isn't looking for something "new" (I.E. "breakthrough") and something that will solve their fitness problems (I.E. "solution") Yep, this one's for SALLY.
Do you see how powerful a punch we've thrown before we even say "hello."? It's not a long sentence. It's a short, benefit-laden, personal headline.

It blends the theme of the list with the theme of the offer.

And you better believe that the Sally's on this list are going to read on.

In part two of this series were going to look at something that I struggled with for a long time.

I made this mistake over and over and over again. And I cannot tell you how many thousands of dollars I threw out the window over the years because of this blunder.