The Lazy Way To Build An Optlist
If you're operating a work at home business or a small business then your already aware of how important the Internet is to your success. However, the most valuable commodity in most small businesses is time.
No small business owner has the time to spend unlimited hours each week promoting, writing, and managing email publications so they can build their opt-in list. Well, you don't need to. Here is a relatively unheard of strategy that will nurture a list of prospective buyers, build their trust, and have them hanging on your expertise. All without facing the daunting task of writing a newsletter every week instead of generating income.
It's simple, you use an autoresponder to store a pre-written newsletter. Where does the newsletter come from? You can hire a freelance writer for less than $10 - $20 an issue. No one will write your newsletter for this much, but they will add free content to your site. The trick is to keep the focus of the newsletter on you.
The business owner can have a freelancer to make 5 to 10 newsletters at once, and the autoresponders will deliver them at the proper time. Even if the business owner continues to write their own newsletters, it is much quicker to write 5 - 10 newsletters in one day, than it is to write one a week.
Another cool tool is the RSS feed and blog. This lets you send out a notification that the newsletter is ready. Your users click into your blog and read all the newsletters, past and present. Most of today's blogs will also publish a blog post at a later date. The RSS feed lets you post your content on web pages, without needing to create a dozen static pages. It also lets other people past your newsletter on their website.
This brings up the next issue. Every newsletter should include links back to different pages of your website - never to the homepage. The newsletter is a pre-sell tool. It should bring people to the website, but not to the buy now page. Instead, the newsletter should lead users to a 'landing page.' This landing page should focus on the visitor's needs, not the product - but it should direct the visitor to the 'buy now' page.
The blog platform is an easier way to build a newsletter because you do not need to worry about formatting email lists, or worrying about having them bumped by spam bots, because they have too much code, or too many attachments.
Another added feature is the 'reply' box. This is a fantastic way to build testimonials for your business without looking like you are patting yourself on the back, or without making your satisfied buyers sound patronizing, or worse, paid for their testimonial!
Another often overlooked time saver is to use all your free content/promotion articles in your newsletter first, a few weeks before you list them on the free content sites. This kills 2 birds with one stone.
Remember, despite what the companies that have mailing list services to sell, there are no golden rules to mailing lists and newsletters. Do what works best for your business and let the gurus argue about the rules of opt-in-list management among themselves.
About the Author: Mark Walters is a third generationentrepreneur and author. He offers free training andinvesting videos designed to speed you towards financial independence at http://www.CashFlowInstitute.com/videosignup.htm
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - The Lazy Way To Build An Optlist