Why You Need an Opt-in List and How to Get One Fast

By Donna Knight

If you want to expose as many people as possible to your products or services, you need traffic. But sometimes traffic alone is not enough. A visitor may not choose to buy from you today. Once a visitor leaves your site, however, chances are they’ll be gone for good. End of story. But wait…what if you could get them to purchase your goods or hire your services tomorrow?

That is exactly why you need an opt-in list. An opt-in list is a way to capture leads so that you can follow up with visitors who otherwise would never come back. If you follow up enough times, some of those who opt in will buy from you eventually.

First, let’s discuss what an opt-in list is. It is the online equivalent of a mailing list. It is a database of names and email addresses of website visitors who have chosen or opted to subscribe to your list so that they may receive emails from you, the mailing list owner.

To grow a sizeable opt-in list, you need to entice people to sign up by offering them something they want or need. Examples of what you can offer include:
• A highly informative ezine or newsletter that you publish regularly, for example, weekly, biweekly or monthly.
• A free downloadable digital product like an eBook, a special report, templates, or a software program.
• A free service such as email accounts, web hosting or an email reminder service.

Among these free offers, an ezine is by far the most popular among subscribers, and the most effective for the business owner. With an ezine, the business owner can continuously do follow-ups offering educational content mixed with sales messages. Your newsletter can have ads that you sell other advertisers, ads for your own products or affiliate links to products that you earn commissions for.

Permission from the subscriber is essential for an opt-in list. This ensures that the subscriber won’t delete your emails immediately as spam.

Here are some steps to help you build an opt-in list in the shortest amount of time:

• Choose your target market and know what they want like the back of your hand. Opt-in lists are vehicles mostly for follow-ups. Following up won’t do you any good if you don’t know how to connect with your prospects so that you can address their problems in a way that’s most profitable for them and ultimately you. Remember, the ultimate goal is to sell them something. You can’t continuously sell prospects if you know nothing about them and what they want.

• Send personalized emails. Referring to your subscribers by their name goes a long way in building their trust.

• Build traffic to your website. You can’t get subscribers if you have no visitors. The traffic must be a sufficient volume since not every visitor will become a subscriber.

Here are some ways to get more visitors which will lead to more subscribers:

1. Using search engine optimization tactics like selecting keywords corresponding to what your prospects are searching for, incorporating these keywords into your website, frequently updating your website code, and, if necessary, using Pay Per Click (PPC) search engine campaigns.

2. Article marketing, by writing some articles relevant to the subject of your business, submitting them to free articles directories on the web, and including a resource box that contains a link to your site.

3. Link exchanges and ad exchanges

4. Advertising methods often overlooked, including forum marketing, buying ads in other ezines, and even offline advertising.

• Make your opt-in offer irresistible. It’s hard to be objective, but when crafting your offer, ask yourself, is this something I would sign up for as a consumer. Look at newsletters you’ve joined and figure what made you want to sign up.

• Co-opt lists. There are services that let you exchange leads with other webmasters. The result is an increase in subscribers to all newsletters involved.

• Build relationships. Though follow-ups are usually done through pre-set autoresponder email messages, you should send some individualized emails occasionally. This will make subscribers feel special because it gives them the impression that you’re sincere in your desire to cater to their needs.

If you ask many successful online businesses what contributed the most to their success, most will tell you their opt-in list. Therefore, if you want your business to be sustainable online, you must have an opt-in list. It doesn’t matter if you’re selling your own product or services, or making money with resale rights or affiliate programs; an opt-in list will boost your business. Now that you’ve read this article, you know exactly what you need to do to get started.
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Donna Knight is a Computer Trainer and Website Promotion Specialist. She has built over 200 websites and helps new site owners promote their site cheaply. For tips that will help you save money and save time when marketing online, visit her Internet Marketing Tools and Reviews blog at http://www.DonnaKnight.com
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Copyright (C) 2005 Donna Knight. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted to post this article in newsletters, free ebooks or websites as long as the article and resource box remain intact.