Online Marketing

I’ve discussed email marketing before as a way to promote your goods or services. To be able to run a successful email campaign, you must first, of course, have a list of email addresses to send your newsletters to. In many web master forums, selling email lists is rampant. While I don’t care much if people do buy and sell email addresses, I don’t recommend the practice. Many buyers find themselves being cheated by scammers and frankly, I find it unethical. The best way to get email addresses for newsletters, of course, is to get opt-in email addresses. There are various ways to encourage people to give you their email addresses. Here are a few:

1. Offer Free Downloads

If you have free ebooks you’re giving away or free articles, free software, free templates or anything similar in nature, give the people the benefit of a free download. The more unique your freebie is, the better. For example. It’s best if you distribute something you’ve made or written yourself so those who’re interested have no choice but to give you their email addresses since they can’t get what you offer elsewhere.

2. Offer Free Courses or Tutorials

I am now part of a mailing list because I signed-up a few days ago for a podcast on freelance writing. This would be more effective if you’re already an authority in your niche though with proper promotion, it could be effective for anyone.

3. Offer Privileges

If you have a members-only forum or resource center, people are bound to sign-up to gain privilege to enter your domains. You can also offer continuous privilege like a weekly free lecture or a weekly download.

These are only a few of the ways to collect opt-in emails. With a bit of imagination and experience in the field, you’ll be able to think of more ways to collect emails.

Filed under: email marketing