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Establish yourself as a trusted expert. People search online for information and will look to you, as a subject matter expert, to provide it to them. Every week (or whatever schedule works) provides an opportunity to build on this, while reinforcing your brand. Build a relationship with the people on your list. It's common knowledge that people like to buy from people they like. By using ezines to connect with readers in their homes, you can develop a relationship of familiarity and trust. Be sure to share a little about yourself or your company in every issue, whether it is an anecdote, event, or employee spotlight. Keep in touch with prospects and clients. Consideration should be given to eventually developing two ezines: one for prospects and one for clients, as each require different information. This is a great way to notify your readers of weekly specials or upcoming product launches, offer new articles or customer stories, and provide links (or urls) to updated FAQs, blogs and splash pages. Drive traffic to your website or blog. As noted in #3, remember to call attention to new blog posts or other changes to your website with links directly to those pages. Remind readers of your online newsletter archives. Promote special sales (maybe with discount coupon codes only for subscribers) with a link to the sales page. Use links to turn your ezines and newsletters into 'silent salespersons'– driving traffic to your website and building your lists around the clock. Build content on your website. Make a habit to adding your ezines and newsletters to your website in an archive area. This serves a several important purposes: Visitors can read an issue or two to determine if your ezine will be of interest to them, which could help to increase sign-ups and potential sales. If you optimize your article placements, you will not only make your website 'meatier', but you'll also bring new traffic from the search engines. Get feedback from your readers. Make it easy for you to stay in touch with prospects and customers and vice versa. Ask them to take action and comment on your articles and offers. Conduct polls and surveys. Start a 'Letters to the Editor' column in your ezine. Feedback allows you to fine tune your messages, target your marketing, and expand your product line. It's also great for relationship building! Develop an information product. If you deliver your newsletter once a week and include two articles, at the end of a year you'll have 104 well-researched articles in your portfolio! Pick the best-of-the-best and turn them into a bonus ebook for opting-in to your list, submit to download sites to build your list, or sell in PDF-format! Grow your mailing list. Let your ezine subscribers work for you. Be sure to remind your readers that it's okay to forward your newsletter to anyone they'd like. In addition, it's important to include sign-up instructions for those who received your ezine from viral marketing methods. A simple line titled, 'Get Your Own Copy of XXXXXX', with a link to your squeeze or opt-in page is all it takes! Gather demographic data. By offering surveys, feedback forms, and niche reports, you'll be able to get valuable information about your prospects and customers. Learn what makes your readers tick, how to better serve them, and how to give them what they want. Make sure they become repeat customers! Save money! All of the above benefits of publishing an ezine are free or almost free. The small cost of a top-rated ezine publishing system is nothing compared to the cost of brochures, business cards, advertising, direct mail, pay-per-click or other means of promotion. Not only that, but someone has to manage that production! Because your newsletter is delivered online, you can grow your list to be as large as you want without worrying about the expense. Bottom line − it's proven that email marketing is the most cost-effective marketing solution for companies just like yours!

A list of engaged subscribers is one of the most effective and reliable marketing resources. A good list so valuable that it can’t be bought. Why? Because when subscribers sign up for your list, they’re signing up to hear from you and your company. Subscribers have to be earned. What are the best ways to build a list? We’ve collected the top 15 to share with you today. The permission model allows you to fill your audience with people who are genuinely interested in your brand and what you have to say With information collected during sign-up (or later), you can precisely segment your list and design your email communication to suit your reader's preferences. As you attract qualified leads, you’ll be able to guide them through the decision-making process by aligning content to specific buying cycle stages. Take a look at the 15 tips we’ve collected to help you build your email marketing list: Offer quality content. Nobody gives up their email address for free. If you want to build a valuable relationship and engage your audience, you need to provide content that is worthwhile and interesting. Put sign-up forms on every web page. Your sign-up form should be everywhere your potential subscribers are. Make sure it’s visible and easy to fill out. Use social media to collect email addresses. Integrate your sign-up forms with social media platforms. Driving traffic from multiple sources allows you to build a strong email marketing list much faster. Design your sign-up form carefully. Ask only for information you plan to use. A good rule of thumb is that less is more — the shorter the sign-up form, the higher the conversion rate. Show your privacy policy. Inform your readers that you will not share their personal information with third parties. A clear privacy policy helps you build trust and convince visitors that it’s safe to subscribe. Show samples of your content. Let your subscribers know what they are signing up for. Use your older content samples to “sell” the email sign-up. Include a call to action. Put a call to action in your submit button, e.g. Sign me up! This makes the sign-up process more engaging and improves the conversion ratio. Give away freebies. Think of a relevant incentive for your audience (e-book, infographic, whitepaper) and provide it for free. Ask subscribers to share. Take the time to prepare valuable, shareable content. Remember that putting the social share buttons is not enough; you still need to ask your subscribers to use them. Build a content distribution strategy. Producing great content is only half the battle. Make sure it’s visible to the right audience. Define who your ideal audience is and find out where they like to congregate online. Then choose communication channels accordingly. Publish landing pages. Create a squeeze page where visitors can download premium content in exchange for their email address. A dedicated web page helps users focus on the call to action and increases conversions. Include testimonials on your landing page. Social proof helps build trust toward a brand and its products. Use testimonials from satisfied customers to help visitors make a decision. Blog regularly. Great content brings more traffic. Develop a realistic content publishing schedule and stick to it. Guest post on popular blogs. Publishing your content on other blogs is a great way to build relationships with other bloggers in your industry and introduce yourself to new people. Include a backlink to your blog, and your blog’s search rankings will go up. Collect email addresses at offline events. Be ready to collect email addresses at trade shows and conferences. Ask for business cards or use the Forms on the Go app to instantly add people to your list. It’s time to get started. Now you know a handful of great ways to build one of the most effective marketing assets — your email marketing list. Want more? Check out the new GetResponse List Building Program, available free to anyone with a GetResponse account — even a 30-Day Free Trial account.

Great post John and true quality advice.