I believe that everyone has what it takes to be creatively happy in life and work.
To do something great requires a labor of love. This coming weekend we celebrate those who dedicate their lives to such labors. Happy Labor Day Weekend!
Most people are lured by the prospects of making money on the Internet – and often get persuaded by flashy Internet Marketers who themselves have very little practical knowledge in the subject.
Now don’t get me wrong, Internet Marketing is a great skill to have.
But imagine using this skill to sell what you enjoy doing. Maybe you like to make Guitars, teach musical instruments, airbrushing, astronomy, blacksmithing, and a hundred different things. [List of 300+ not so boring things]
Wouldn’t it be just awesome if we could do what we are born to do?
To get inspired take a look at 9 people doing extraordinary things:
1. Matt Madeiro raised $43,870 and bought a school bus for kids in Nepal to celebrate his 25th birthday.
2. James Greig cycled a hundred miles to meet his first customer.
3. Shane Koyczan delivers a powerful, artful message about bullying.
4. Shannon O’Donnell tells you exactly how much it costs to travel around the world for a year, visiting fifteen different countries.
5. Maria Brilaki helps you produce better online video.
6. Danny and Annie’s love story will make you cry.
7. Kevin Richardson walks with lions.
8. Caroline Leon wrote a 50,000 word novel in 9 days.
9. John Bardos has been living abroad for more than 16 years and has given up everything to change careers and countries, twice. He’s now on a mission to spread the Unconforence for Social Good around the world.
These wonderful people are doing work done for the interest in the work itself, rather than for payment — which is Labor of Love!
To celebrate Labor Day, I am offering a sweet deal on Webtraffic21.com a targeted traffic network. We have already been helping literally hundreds of website owners drive a steady stream of traffic.
All you have to do is use this Promo Code (CHK25) to save up to 45% off all traffic packages.
So you’ve made it across the first hurdle – you’ve managed to build a list for email marketing and now you are getting ready to…what, start counting the cash?
Hold your horses.
While list-building is an important first step in this entire process it’s definitely not a done deal that will magically turn into a money-making machine.
Your lists or rather, potential customers on those lists, have to be ‘primed’ so to speak.
There’s little worse than spending all that time building a subscriber base just to get no interactions, no love from your list.
So what constitutes a good list?
It’s fairly obvious: response rates, open rates, and clicks.
Building a responsive list is not easy but here are some tips I found to be working in 2016.
A combination of some of these might just do the trick for you and help you engage your subscribers on a level that will allow you to substantially increase your affiliate marketing revenue.
Build up your brand
Affiliate marketers were not big on this in the past – they didn’t need it.
Today, you can’t make a dent without relating to people and telling them what makes you different.
It hinges on two things:
Your ability to tell a believable story about who you are
Your willingness to share a problem that you were able to overcome
Both points are completely understandable. Let’s say you walk into a brick and mortar shop and you want to buy shoes.
The salesperson comes to you with a pair of shoes and exclaims: ‘Buy these, they’re $ 199 and they’re great!’
I would turn around on my heel and walk out.
Now imagine you walk into a different store. You’re browsing when a salesperson comes to you and starts weaving a story:
‘Listen friend, I noticed you’re checking out those price shoes over there.
Some of my customers complain they are a bit hard on the feet.
If you end up buying those I’d recommend buying a pair of shoe stretchers too so you don’t get blisters and calluses.
But I’d recommend these here – they’re $ 50 cheaper and more comfortable, in my opinion.
In fact, I’m wearing them right now. I’ve been working here for 8 years and I spend a lot of time standing up so I know what I’m talking about.
Who would you buy from – the pushy guy or the one who was able to inject a bit of personality into his pitch and even went the extra mile to give you a solid piece of advice completely free of charge?
The second guy reinforced his offer with credentials and a personal testimonial on why he uses the shoes himself.
This guy has a couple of minutes though; you have a lot more time at your disposal when you’re reaching out to your lists.
Use that time to establish yourself as the expert in the field and to build credibility.
Content / Offer Ratio
People don’t like to be sold to at every turn.
They’ve subscribed to your list not because you have the best deals out there but because they think you can answer their questions and offer solutions to problems they didn’t even know they have.
Don’t let them down.
My personal favorite is 3 to 1 – that means three helpful articles or blog posts followed by one offer.
It might be different for your niche, however.
I’ve once gotten a dozen of emails from a company before they even hinted at what they were selling.
It’s going to depend, but don’t go for the offer overkill – it’s the surest way to lose subscribers.
One more piece of advice: make sure to send them to your blog to read posts and articles – that way they’ll have a chance to take a peek at your past content and offers as well.
Diversify Your Content
In-depth guides like this one are great but they are not really everyone’s favorite format.
Make sure you diversify your content delivery and send out an occasional video to your audience.
It can be a recorded testimonial or a walk-through on how to use a particular product you’re promoting.
This approach will show significant results, especially if you’re reaching out to a younger audience.
In addition to videos, you have e-books, case studies, white papers, podcasts, and a whole bunch of other things at your disposal.
See what you can work in at minimal cost and incorporate it into your strategy.
Segment The Lists
I’m very careful with what I subscribe to personally but even with that I sometimes get a completely unrelated offer in my inbox.
Just the other day I got a great written pitch for a natural childbirth book.
It was a laugh because I usually get very on-point online course offers from that site.
My guess is that they’ve added a new product and simply ran it to their entire list.
Now, one time won’t really bother me – or anyone on your list for that matter – but multiple off-mark offers will get me to hit that unsubscribe button fast.
Collect as much data as you can without alienating your list and send out content that is specifically tailored to particular segments.
If you’re offering a toddler product, don’t send it out to mothers with preschool children and vice versa – they won’t have any use for it.
Connect With Them on Social Media
Make sure that all the posts that you send out to your list prominently feature social media buttons for platforms where you can be reached.
The purpose is two-fold:
You can connect with people there and possibly engage them in a conversation and build a stronger bond. This is great for personal brand-building as well.
People can share your content with others easily. More eyeballs might translate into more subscribers, especially if your squeeze page and opt-in form are good.
Keep a Schedule – Don’t Let Your Lists Run Cold
Have a rhythm to your emails.
Sending them out every day might not be a good idea unless you have killer content or you’re running a freebie email course.
People will get tired of fluff content laced with offers.
On the other hand, letting your lists run cold is also a huge mistake.
What do you do when you get an email from a company that you didn’t hear from in a year?
You delete it because you probably have no idea who they are and what they do.
You put a lot of effort into building a list so use it.
Email out 3 times a week – Monday, Wednesday, and Friday – preferably at the same time.
These affiliate marketing list building tricks worked for me pretty well in 2016 – at least up to now.
Do you have any aces up your sleeve you’d be willing to share?
Drop down by the comments section; I would love to hear from you!
As an affiliate marketer you’ve probably heard that one hundreds of times.
And it’s true – but not if you’re doing it wrong!
It should read ‘Money is in the lists only if you know what you’re doing’.
If you’re taking a stab at it, though, chances are that you’re doing it wrong and you’re costing yourself cold, hard cash.
On a list of affiliate marketing mistakes, messing up your list building reigns supreme.
Botch that one and everything you do after will have a significantly diminished impact.
It’s like trying to run a marathon with a 50-pound weight strapped to your ankle.
You’ll get to the finish line, eventually, but you’ll probably get there last and with a mangled leg.
Save yourself some time and brush up on list building mistakes to avoid.
Not building a list!
I really don’t want to waste too much time on this one.
Bottom line – if you’re not building a list, you are doing it wrong. End of discussion.
With it, you will be able to reach more people, warm them up to your offers, build a natural relationship with people on it, and more.
The average return on every dollar you spend on email marketing is $44.25!
Pass it up at your own peril.
Build it, expand it, and nurture it and they will come. Sales, I mean.
Not Managing Your Lists The Right Way
You really can’t do much without one these days. You will be sending out hundreds of emails to your lists and you need the reliability that autoresponder services provide.
Deliverability – a good autoresponder service makes sure that your email lands in the inbox instead of being singled out and tossed in the junk folder.
Insurance – you can back up your lists regularly and make sure that they are protected in case something goes belly up or your data gets corrupted.
Autopilot – simply schedule your emails to go out to certain segments of your list at a predetermined date and time.
There are more benefits to working with a professional autoresponder service but these ones will give the biggest boost to your overall marketing efforts.
As for specific services, you might want to try out.
ListStream (a service that we provide) – Designed by email marketers for email marketers!
Aweber – Aweber currently boasts the best deliverability rates so if that’s you primary concern make sure to test it out
MailChimp – MailChimp is user friendly and gives you the added benefit of managing your smaller lists (up to 500 in size) without charge. If you’re just starting out you will want to give it a try.
ConvertKit – This service has been growing in popularity in 2015 and is expected to do so this year as well. One of its strongest points is the superb segmentation feature.
Asking something for nothing
Imagine I knocked on your door and asked for $10.
Would you give them to me? Or slam the door to my face?
Same applies when you’re asking people for their email address.
It’s a game of tit for tat – you have to offer something of substantial value to your audience in order to get them to subscribe.
They are well-aware of the fact that you will use their email to try and sell them something and they are reluctant to give it for free.
In-depth guides
E-books
Whitepapers
Case studies
Exclusive videos
These are just several types of content you can use to get people to relinquish their precious email address to your keeping.
Leverage the power of lead magnets and you will soon see a ton of opt-ins.
A poorly designed squeeze page
A squeeze page in affiliate marketing list building should be about one thing and one thing only: getting people to subscribe.
Regardless of whether it’s an opt-in page you drive people to or a pop-up opt-in page they get served right before their click the X button, it should be void of all distractions and frills.
A lot of times I see a lot of frivolous copy on there and even more distracting images but what’s lacking is substance, a hook, and a clear call to action.
Make sure your squeeze page is nice and clean and tells people what they’re going to get in exchange for leaving their email address with you.
PRO TIP: Test everything! Every once in a while pick one element on your squeeze page and fiddle with it.
Change the action word from ‘TRY THIS’ to ‘GET THIS’, change the color of your call to action button, play with the copy, or try a different freebie – shake things up and see what gets the best results.
The point is to keep tweaking everything until you get it just right.
Poor opt-in form design and placement
If you have a blog than making sure that your opt-in form is visible and gets attention is crucial.
Otherwise, you’re failing to transform casual readers into dedicated subscribers.
First, you will want to keep your opt-in form at the top of the page.
Clean design and a clear call to action will go a long way in getting people to notice it.
Also, you will want to keep it light when it comes to information you’re collecting.
Getting their name is great but people are lazy.
If you see that your opt-in form is not performing as it should, try to reduce its elements to bare essentials – ask for their email only and collect their name with an offer of exclusive content once you start emailing them.
PRO TIP: If one of your posts goes viral, jump at the opportunity to make use of it.
I got lucky a couple of times – I got a ton of links to several of my posts and managed to grow my lists substantially just by adding my opt-in form to the bottom of every post, right before the comments sections.
These were great popular posts that people appreciated so they were not hesitant to leave their email with me in the hopes of getting some quality content in the future.
However, I made the decision easier for them by adding the opt-in for right after content.
When it comes to list building, make sure you’re learning from other people’s mistakes and you will save both time and money.
The sooner you get your lists up and running, the sooner they will start generating income.
Mess things up and all that revenue is a passed opportunity, you’re never getting it back.
Did you struggle with list building, too? Drop down by the comments section and share your story – let’s help each other out!
Just like everything else in life, good marketing takes time. This is actually a bummer because I’m quite tight with time as I’m sure you are.
Time is money as they say, and so if you’re wasting time you might as well be burning hundred dollar bills. Luckily, email autoresponders help you whittle down on time you spend managing your lists and subscribers.
Autoresponders are sequenced email marketing messages that your subscribers get in the order that you want to send them and as frequently as you want to send them. Autoresponders don’t whine, moan, take a day off, or criticize your sales copy. They work in the background.
Thanks to them, you get to go on a vacation knowing that it’s business as usual back home. They free you up and you finally get that time you’ve always wanted. I know I sure did!
Set It Up Before You Do Anything Else
Most of us make the same mistake when venturing out to sell our products or services online. If you’re like me you developed your product or service, launched a website, and started blogging and creating content expecting to see people flocking to it.
Of course, nothing is free today, traffic included. I definitely recommend building an autoresponder series beforehand- even before you start blogging or doing any social media marketing.
This is because you need to start nurturing your leads right from the start. The ball is in your court. You have to prove that they didn’t make a mistake by subscribing and there is no better way than delivering quality content on a regular basis.
So if you’ve been slacking off so far, set up your autoresponder series now! I’ll wait – it might take a couple of minutes.
Types of Automated Messages
There is a number of different types of emails you can send out using an autoresponder series. Some you already use, some you don’t – same as me. Here is a quick and dirty list of some of them.
Welcome emails
Upsell and cross-promotional
Behavior-triggered
Date-triggered
Reengagement
Newsletters
Event countdown
Transactional
Activation
Post-purchase
Cart abandonment
Thank you emails
Welcome Email Templates You Need To Try Out
I’d like to focus a bit on welcome emails for now. If you have an autoresponder set up, this will probably be your best-performing email. Research shows that they get opened 50% of the time.
I’ve decided to put together a couple of welcome emails that you can modify and use if you think the ones you’re sending out are not doing the trick.
Of course, these are only the copy; you will have to ‘work’ them, adding images and CTA’s you feel are appropriate. Feel free to snatch these up – I won’t mind, I promise.
Welcome mail #1
Hi there, FIRST NAME!
You’ve landed on our list!
Don’t worry, we promise to take great care of you. To demonstrate that we are a benevolent overlord, we are happy to give you a 25% discount on your first purchase.
Discount code: XXXX
Check out our bestsellers here and get ready for the best purchase experience of your life.
We run a bunch of giveaways on a regular basis so make sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter so you don’t miss out on some great stuff!
We’ll be in touch, and soon!
PS: If you got this email by mistake you can unsubscribe here but remember, you will be sorely missed!
Welcome mail #2
Hi Abe, thanks for tuning in!
I just wanted to give you a quick heads up on what you can expect from us in the following couple of days.
We are excited to share some of the best things we’ve created over the years with everyone, but especially our new friends – and we count you as one now!
Tomorrow we will be sending you the first in our series of seven emails on ‘ENTER SUBJECT HERE’. We will focus on the specifics of the ‘SOMETHING’ and give you a detailed rundown on how you can get started in mere 10 minutes!
In the meantime, check out our latest blog post here.
To make sure you get all the goodies we constantly send out, make sure to add as a contact or whitelist us.
Stay tuned,
Mike and the XYZ Team
PS: Like us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter and spread the word!
PPS: We’d hate to see you go, but if you have no idea who we are and don’t want to continue receiving our emails, click here.
Welcome mail #3
Welcome and thanks for subscribing!
You’re almost ready to get started!
First thing’s first
The best way to start using our services is to download our app!
Set up your account
Click here to watch a short introductory video – you will be ready to go in 2 minutes!
Check out the tutorials – it will help you avoid the most common pitfalls!
We are here to help
That’s actually the only reason we are here! If you need any assistance don’t hesitate to send us a mail or chat with us HERE.
We will contact you periodically with product updates, special deals, and more so stay connected!
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I hope you can get some use out of these templates. If you have your favorite welcome emails, make sure to share them in the comments section. Next time I’ll be back with tips on how to use other types of automated messages. Don’t worry – I’ll add some templates to that as well!
Let me ask you a question: What do you think is the most prevalent fear email marketers face today? Not being able to get people to subscribe? Or maybe that they are boring people to death with their emails?
For me, it is the fear that I’m putting in all this hard work into something that people ignore. I’m talking about open email rates here. I spend hours or days writing up something I feel excited about only to find it not connecting with my list.
My stomach drops every time I notice a significant decrease in people I’ve managed to engage with my latest email. I’m sure you get the same gut-wrenching feeling when that happens, too.
It used to be a lot worse. My lists were sloppy, at best, and I didn’t do much in terms of managing them. If you’re the same, it pains me to inform you that you are leaving money on the table.
The reason is two-fold:
– Not managing your email list can lead to a bad reputation with the ISPs. A lot of non-opens result in a lower reputation score, and when you hit rock-bottom your emails go straight to the junk folder – or as I like to call it, email marketing suicide folder.
-Some of those inactives can be re-engaged and brought back to the fold. A carefully thought out strategy can yield great success but your approach has to be somewhat tweaked if you want it to pay off.
Now, the usual course of action is simply to purge your lists and delete all inactive subscribers. Marketers usually do this after six to twelve months, depending on their email frequency:
-High-frequency senders delete after six months – the offer is not seasonal
-Low-frequency senders delete after twelve to thirteen months – seasonal offer in question
While this is a prudent course of action, it only takes care of problem number one – you’re safeguarding your reputation with the ISPs but can lose a good chunk of your list in the process.
But what about the money you’re leaving on the table? I’d like to propose a different approach, one that resulted in higher revenues in my case. It takes a bit more effort – not much, I swear! – but it pays off nicely.
Inactives Have Your Money
Well, some of them do. And they are willing to spend it with you. Your first step is to categorize those inactives so you get a better picture of what you’re dealing with. This is how I’ve tackled this issue.
1. They were never active in the first place
Ditch them. They signed up by mistake or someone used their email address to sign up.
It can also be that they use this as a secondary or tertiary email and they’ve simply forgotten about it or they opted in while you were running a giveaway and never gave it another thought.
Whatever the reason, it’s going to take too long to investigate and you can regard these subscribers as a high-risk-low-gain type so it’s best not to lose any sleep over them.
2. Past customers
These are the subscribers that made a purchase at one point in time but have since gone inactive, both as subscribers and as customers.
Since they did need your product or service at one point in time you can consider them moderate-risk-moderate gain. Put them on a separate mailing list titled ‘re-engagement’ and devise a plan on how to get through to them again.
I recommend sending a very honest email to check out why they’ve stopped converting or otherwise engaging with you. Write a clear subject line, something in the lines of ‘Hey, we miss you and want you back!’ – of course, feel free to get more creative with that.
I usually send an incentive to make them more inclined to stay in and to give them a good reason to buy again. Offer a discount on your service or product, free shipping, or an e-book they can download that has a lot of great information they’ve shown interest in in the past.
Also, offer a visible unsubscribe button to those who are willing to opt-out right away. It’s important to keep this list as clean as possible because you want to move all those addresses back to your ‘active subscriber’ list eventually.
3. Current customers
These are subscribers that you know are converting right now. They are low-risk-high-gain and it is advisable to stick with them always. Usually, this means that they only need a quick reminder to give you their money and sometimes an unread message from you in their inbox is all that is necessary.
However, if they are converting without reading your emails, imagine what you could accomplish for your brand if you managed to turn them into evangelists for your cause.
I recommend moving them to a third list titled ‘converting inactives’. They obviously don’t need any coaxing to buy from you but you can still upsell or cross-sell them with ease if you put your mind to it.
Send them targeted content that is relevant to their purchase. If they bought your product or service, send them tips on how to use it, or something titled ‘I Bet You Didn’t Know You Can Use Product X for this!’
It might be wise to offer them an incentive to spread the word. After all, they have a mailing list of their own and friends that might be interested in what you are selling. If you can offer them a discount for referrals then an email titled ‘Get 20% Off Your Next Purchase!’ That will get them to interact with your email and might land you an extra customer or two.
With a bit of effort and planning, a lot of those inactives will move back to the original lists they came from.
It’s been a few months since I’ve transitioned to this approach and I have to tell you, the results are there. First off, my main lists are showing better results – actually, they are showing accurate results, give or take 5 %, and I worry a lot less now.
Also, it’s now easier to pinpoint where I need to make an extra effort in an attempt to re-engage with my inactive subscribers and what approach to take.
It takes a bit more work, but I guarantee that you will be seeing more activity and conversions if you try this out. Are you willing to give it a go? Or do you have a system of your own in place? Make sure to drop by the comments section and let me know.
