Top 15 Ways to Build Your Subscriber List

Top 15 Ways to Build Your Subscriber List

Email marketing can be profitable for any business, no matter what kind of product or service you offer. It is significantly cheaper than other advertising methods and, if done right, helps build loyalty and trust with customers. As a result, you generate more sales and more profits!

The foundation for successful email marketing is a targeted, permission-based email list. Marketers call contact lists their 'goldmine' because it can generate much of their sales revenue. If you've built up a list of opt-in subscribers that are qualified and interested in what you have to offer, then you've completed the first step and are on your way. Now it's time to 'mine' for gold!

Below you'll find several list-building and retention ideas that will help you get the best results from all your email marketing activities:

1. Provide useful, relevant content. Your visitors will not give you their email addresses just because they can subscribe to your newsletter free of charge. You have to provide unique and valuable information that will be of interest or use to them.
2. Add a subscription form to every page on your website. Make sure it stands out so it is easy to find. If it doesn't look cluttered, you may want to include more than one on some pages. For instance, if your opt-in form always appears in the top-left corner of your site, you may want to add one at the end of your most popular articles.
3. Add subscription forms to your social media pages. Make sure that you don't waste this valuable source of revenue opportunities. Integrate your sign-up forms with Facebook and more!
4. Make it easy for readers to sign up. The more information you request, the fewer people will opt-in. In most cases, a name and an email address should suffice. If it's not necessary, don't include it here. You can always survey them once they're customers! We do recommend that you provide a link to your Privacy Policy however.
5. Publish a Privacy Policy. Let your readers know that they can be confident you will not share their information with others. The easiest way to do this is to set up a Privacy Policy web page and provide the link to it below your opt-in form. (Note: If you don't have one, put the words 'privacy policy generator' into a search engine and you should be able to find a suitable form to use.)
6. Provide samples of your newsletters and Ezines. This lets potential subscribers review your materials before they sign up to determine if it's something they'd be interested in.
7. Archive past newsletters and articles. An online library of past newsletters and articles is both appealing and useful to visitors and builds your credibility as an authority. In addition, if your articles are written with good SEO techniques in mind, they can increase traffic to your website through enhanced search engine positioning.
8. Give gifts subscribers can actually use. Offer an opt-in bonus for joining your subscriber list! Write an ebook or provide a PDF business report, or even hire a programmer to create downloadable or web-based software. But don't limit yourself to offering gifts to opt-ins. Give them out when your readers fill out a survey, provide a testimonial, success story, or a great product idea. Let them know when they can expect the next gift offer. Everyone likes to get something for free! And if you pass out 'goodies' throughout the year, your subscribers will feel truly appreciated − and that's good for business!
9. Ask your subscribers to pass it on. Word of mouth is a powerful viral technique that works great with email marketing. If your subscribers find your content interesting, amusing or informative, they'll probably share it with their friends. This can be a great source of new customers, so make sure to remind them to 'pass it on'.
10. Let others reprint your newsletter as long as the content is not modified. If you're happy to share your content with the universe, then why not! Many webmasters and newsletter publishers are actively looking for high-quality content and, if they reprint your newsletter, you'll get new subscribers, and more traffic and links pointing to your site.
11. Include a 'Sign Up' button in your newsletter. If you're using plain text instead of HTML, be sure to provide a text link to your subscription page. You may feel that this is not required because the subscriber is already on your list, but remember that readers will forward your newsletters to others, or reprint them online. Make it easy for them to subscribe!
12. Add a squeeze page. A squeeze page has one goal − to acquire opt-ins and build your list. Think of it as a mini-sales letter to go along with your subscription or opt-in gift. It should feature a strong headline and a couple of powerful benefits that should make subscribers salivate to sign up! Once created, use a service such as WordTracker to find hundreds of targeted keywords, and promote your offer using pay-per-click advertising from Google, MSN and Yahoo. Now that should make a splash!
13. Include testimonials on your squeeze page. This is crucial. Put one or two strong testimonials from satisfied customers on your squeeze page. This can be in any format, but you may find that multimedia (audio or video) is more 'believable' and inspires more people to action. To further enhance believability, get permission to use actual customer names, locations and/or urls (Don't use 'Bob K, FL'). Add a note inviting others to participate. After all, it's free publicity!
14. Blog religiously. Blogging is a great way to communicate with prospects and potential customers, and creates a nice synergy with your email marketing. Be sure to include your newsletter sign-up form on each page of your blog. You can start a free blog at Blogger or WordPress.
15. Post on other blogs. Post thoughtful comments and information on similar blogs with a link to your squeeze or opt-in pages. Also comment on others' blogs through trackbacks. In most cases, your comments will be posted on their blogs with a link back to your site. This is an easy way to generate new traffic and subscribers, and get your brand out there!

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How About 54% More Leads?

Fast fact:  Practicing inbound marketing results in 54% more leads than outbound marketing, according to HubSpot. But what exactly is inbound marketing, and how does it differ from the way most small businesses market themselves?

If you’ve ever been to one of those networking events where small business owners mingle and make contacts, you’ll probably know this guy: the “pusher.” The pusher shoves his business card in your hand, makes idle small talk that somehow revolves entirely about him, and disappears only when he detects a new victim he can push his card to.

Luckily, this type of event also happens to be the natural habitat of the “puller,” the one who earns your attention by taking an actual interest in your business. She offers tips and advice to overcome your challenges, and volunteers to send you some useful info if you give her your email address.

Those two characters, ladies and gentlemen, are the best examples of outbound marketing and inbound marketing. The first refers to traditional marketing that’s based on pushing and “interrupting” consumers via cold calling, flyers, and emails (as well as billboards and TV/radio spots for big companies). Problem is, studies show that consumers are becoming more and more resilient to that type of marketing: They throw away flyers, ignore mails, and even worse, don’t even see banners anymore, let alone click them.

So what does affect consumers these days? Well, according to a study published last year, 81% of customers go online and read before they make purchases. That’s where inbound marketing comes into play.

Inbound is all about pulling (instead of pushing) current and prospective customers with valuable online content they are already on the lookout for. This content could be text-based like a blog post, or visual like a video or infographic. The basic goals you’ll want to keep in mind are providing quality info to the consumer and finding the right way to connect to your product through that content.

For example, when you think about marketing ideas for restaurants, coupons and print ads usually come to mind. But why not use the best types of content these businesses can offer? For instance, recipes are some of the most popular online attractions, so it’s only natural for a restaurant owner to open a blog with unique recipes—and then use that blog to encourage readers to visit their restaurant. A beauty salon owner, on the other hand, can easily create helpful videos that teach viewers how to create certain hairstyles. That way, when a potential customer searches online for a specific look, they are more likely to discover the video star’s beauty salon—especially if the video is particularly popular.

Of course, if you have a mobile app, inbound marketing is a great way to get people to download it. When consumers read your useful content and then want to stay in touch, it can help to suggest that they download your app to access even more quality content. You can also add content channels like a newsfeed, Facebook, and Instagram to practice inbound marketing within your app.

Now that you understand the value and meaning of inbound marketing, here are eight simple steps you can take to start off on the right foot:

  DEFINE 
As many successful entrepreneurs will tell you, the key to success in life starts with defining what you want to achieve. Answer the following questions:

• “What is my goal? Do I want to raise sales, get more app downloads, or get more reviews?”
• “Who is my target audience? What are their age, gender, and hobbies?”
• “What types of content are they looking for online? What content will bring them actual value?”
• “What sort of content can I provide to offer that information to them? Should I write a guide, shoot a short video, or publish a blog post?”

Have a pen handy? Go ahead and write your answers to all those questions now!

  CREATEOnce you’ve defined your goals, your audience, and the topics they’ll be interested in, you can start producing valuable content! A great way to start is by creating your own blog, as blogs are often considered to be at the heart of inbound marketing. You may want to use WordPress, a free do-it-yourself tool that allows you to create a blog, embed it in your existing website, and even get stats and data about your blog readers. If you don’t feel you have the skills to pull off strong written content, consider alternatives that show your expertise, such as instructional videos and product reviews.

  SHOWIf you choose blogging as a core part of your inbound strategy, keep in mind that too much text could become tiresome for the average consumer. Use interesting and relevant images to spice up your post and make it much more attractive. If you’re a good photographer, you can use images you took yourself, but you can also use free images from sites like Wikimedia Commons (just remember to give credit where needed).

  CONNECTOne of the biggest challenges businesses face is not creating the inbound content itself, but figuring out how to convert readers into paying customers. The key is offering an effective call to action (CTA)—that short sentence that directs your readers to click, sign up, purchase, or otherwise act on the content they’ve just read. To make your CTA successful, keep these two factors in mind:

• Style: Your CTA should be actionable and answer the consumer’s eternal question: “What’s in it for me?” For instance, if you’re writing a product review and your goal is to increase your app downloads, you could end with a message like, “For more professional product reviews that save you time and money, click and download our app,” followed by a hyperlink.

• Position: Your CTA should be placed in a logical place within your content. For example, let’s take a health food shop owner who set out to increase orders through his website. He decides to write a post about the best types of food for energy throughout the day, including relevant products from his shop. At the end of the post, after reviewing the products, it’s only natural for him to close with, “For all the products listed here and many more that’ll give you an energy boost, click here.”

  SPREAD
Now that you’ve created your content, your major mission is to spread it to your customers.Remember your social media channels? Now is the perfect time to post your content on Facebook and Twitter. Not only will you reach your fans directly, but you’ll also supply them with valuable information they long for, the stuff social media marketing gold is made off. Make sure to ask your fans to share the content posted in your updates and tweets.

Got a newsletter or a mailing list? Take this opportunity to grab your customers’ interest by offering them useful content in their inboxes!

  NURTUREInbound marketing is a lot like parenting: It takes time, care, and learning from mistakes to make the best of it. Just like a parent wouldn’t expect their child to start running in their first month, you shouldn’t expect to see significant results immediately. Sure, some of the customers will click your CTA, but most customers will come, read, and go—and that’s OK. Inbound marketing is about creating long-term relationships. Even if they haven’t bought your product on their first visit, if they now know you supply quality content, ultimately they will be more inclined to read your next piece. Provide useful content, and you are bound to see the results on your platform’s statistics page.

  PERSISTInstead of getting discouraged if the statistics say certain types of content do not click with your customers, take it as a learning experience and continue to experiment. Choose a different topic, place the images in another location, or make subtle changes in the CTA. In the end, you’ll find the perfect formula that suits your clients.

  COMBINEInbound marketing is an amazing tool, but that doesn’t mean you should rely solely on it. Instead, combine outbound and inbound techniques to create a killer strategy that customers won’t be able to resist. For instance, send an email with a free how-to blog post and a promotional discount to help drive sales. The key is to always offer actual value and then top it off with a tempting promotion.

If the past couple of years are any indication (and I think they are), inbound is only going to become a more powerful force in online marketing—increasing profits, boosting app downloads, and creating customer relationships. For those businesses still living in the outbound-dominated past, now is the time to start using inbound techniques to better reach customers.

What are your inbound marketing tips? Share them—or any questions—in the comments below

Mobile Apps are Exploding & Australian SME's Rubbing their hands together

The mobile commerce sector in Australia is booming, with monthly sales for December growing by a massive 448% in just three years, according to an ACMA report.

The research snapshot, which uses data sourced from Roy Morgan, shows 3.4 million Australians used a mobile commerce service during December of 2013, significantly up from just 620,000 for the same month in 2010.

The figures measure the number of consumers banking, paying bills, or buying goods and services online using their smartphones.

According to the report, the local smartphone market is still growing, with 12.07 million Australians owning a smartphone as of May 2014, up 8% from a year earlier.

Overall, 59% of Australians now own a smartphone, a penetration rate that’s higher than either the US (56%) or the UK (51%).

The growth of smartphones led to the number of Australians using the internet on their mobiles to grow to 8.3 million during December 2013, up 196% from 2.8 million during the same month in 2010.

Not surprisingly, younger consumers leading the charge, with people aged 25 to 34 being 33% more likely that average to use mobile commerce, whereas use of those same services was 58% less likely than average among consumers aged 65 and older.

In terms of mobile shopping transactions, 33% of Australians over 18 participated in online auctions through their phones, 33% used an online mobile payment system and 21% paid for purchases using a credit card.

Meanwhile, a massive 77% of adults transfer funds using their mobiles, while 46% use them to pay bills, suggesting there’s still significant further room for growth in mobile shopping.

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ARE YOU LOOKING FOR CAPITAL GROWTH?

We find that nearly all people we meet with that have investment properties are not maximising the benefits of owning an investment property.

If we can provide a simple scenario whereas a couple purchase an investment property and we ask why? generally it will be 1) to create wealth, 2) provide a solution for the next generation 3), to help pay off debt 4) reduce tax being paid

Out of the 4 points above - nothing is more important to your financial prosperity than reducing the amount of tax you are paying and arranging to receive any tax relief via a tax variation authority (TVA).

Regardless of the pro's and cons of a TVA, what you need to understand is that there is no magic silver bullet. It becomes a pretty simple equation. The first thing anyone needs to do to become financially free is pay off any debt outstanding.

To pay off mortgage debt, there is one major factor that will help you achieve this - CASH - FLOW

When investing in property we tend to focus way too much on capital growth. Sure you do not want to buy an asset that reduces in value, however relying on growth is like picking the x lotto numbers - who knows what is going to happen.

If you own that property freehold and it gives you an income that is fixed by term leases, does it really matter what the price of that property is today?

Capital Growth should be seen as the cream of your investment and should not be included in future return projections.

I have spoken to hundreds of people who have sold their investment properties as they were not seeing any growth in the value and it was costing them financially to hold the property.

A simple Tax Variation Authority aligned with a strategic offset mortgage structure would have made all the difference to these people.

Once you get your head around debt, cash flow and freehold ownership you will see rapid improvement in your finances.



Buying an investment that is going to work for you requires a lot of knowledge, skill and time.

Before rushing off and making a mistake that could cost you hundreds of thousands - find someone to help that isn't going to see you as a one off purchase. If you can find someone who is experienced in rapid debt reduction through investing that can assist, coach and mentor you any costs associated will pay for themselves 100 fold.

Where do you find these people?

Well of course I could say ring me...... 

Network and talk to successful people, don't wait until you are ready to invest start looking for that person now.

They may be your accountant, a real estate salesperson, a property manager, a mortgage broker or a financial planner. What you are looking for is someone who looks holistically at your finances, not just an expert in their field.

All the Best & Happy Debt Reducing.

PS - Self EDUCATION isn't a bad place to start

Purchasing this book from Amazon for under $30.00 wouldn't be a bad option either.

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STARTING OR CURRENTLY RUNNING A SMALL RETAIL BUSINESS - Is it worthwhile??

Nearly everyone who has ever started a business has underestimated the costs, and then faced the danger of running with inadequate capital reserves. We are told regularly that the key to  avoiding this pitfall is to adopt a rigorous approach to your research and planning prior to committing to even go in to business.


Begin by estimating expenses.  What will it cost you to get your business up and running?  The key to accuracy here is attention to detail. For each category of expense, draw up a list of everything you will need to purchase. This will include both tangible assets (for example, equipment, inventory) and services (for example, remodeling, insurance). Then determine where you might purchase these goods or services. Research more than one vendor; i.e.: comparison shop.  Do not look at price alone; terms of payment, delivery, reliability, and service are also important.

Contingencies

Add a reserve for contingencies.  Be sure to explain in your narrative how you decided on the amount you are putting into this reserve.


Working Capital

You cannot open with an empty bank account. You need a cash cushion to meet expenses while the business gets going. Eventually you should do a 12-month cash flow projection. This is where you will work out your estimate of working capital needs. For now, either leave this line blank or put in your best rough guess. After you have done your cash flow, you can come back and enter the carefully researched figure.


Sources

Now that you have estimated how much capital will be needed to start, you should turn your attention to how you intend to fund your new business. What amount you will put in yourself, how much will be injected by partners or investors, and how much will be supplied by borrowing.


Collateral

If you're going to a bank to request a loan for a new small business, just make sure you take enough collateral to cover at least 80% of the loan. Unfortunately most banks want residential property that is owned by you and does not involve third parties. You have to understand that it seems that most recently, the Australian banks are the most astute at assessing risk, therefore you should take heed at their requests for so much collateral which is nothing more than saying "sure take the cash, good luck and don't forget don't pay and we've got your home in our sight". No wonder small business is so daunting.

As an employee if I make a bad decision ultimately, albeit maybe painful, my employer should not be put in a position of personal bankruptcy & liquidation of their personal assets. However, as a new small business owner, even a small incidental decision can have dire consequences not only you financially but also emotionally for you and those close to you.

Start ups are a massive risk and return on investment proposal. No matter how good the idea or product is, if you can not produce the product and distribute through channels that leave a profit large enough to allow reinvestment in infrastructure and systems then a business based on a good idea is going to suck your resources dry by the pulling at the bit growth the good idea is demanding.

 The above can be, and usually is far more detrimental in the event of a collapse than the little guy who brought a heap of stock and sat in a shop that no one visited.

So a god idea or concept is nowhere near enough of a reason to o in to business.

There are millions of poor people with good ideas and millions of people who have made money with little knowledge or expertise in a particular industry selling products that have been around in the same form for hundreds of years.

What it comes down to is accepting business as a science, sure there are the unknown and unexpected, however fundamentally it all evolves around a simple equation, revenue in - expenses = Gross Profit - interest and tax =  Nett Profit.

An interesting point to divert on here is what the owners does in terms of the day to day operations of a business. Although very broad and vague, generally a business (especially small business) is based on the amount of return received by the owner multiplied by a factor that relates to barrier of entry and longevity of leased premises etc.

Let's look at a small cafe. Owned by a husband and wife who both work full time in the business supported by a few casual staff over peak periods.

The businesses lets say returns $100,000 p/a to the owners who are quite happy with this amount.

Now they place the business on the market and after some research and deliberation decide to value the business based on a factor of 2.5 times there annual profit. After a quick smile at each other they decide to offer the business for sale at $225,000 just to get a quick sale.

Now fast forward 12 months and this couple are still working in their coffee shop. Although they have had numerous parties show various levels of interest nothing has eventuated further than a few visits by possible purchasers. They both look at each other, shrug their shoulders and blame the economic downturn scaring purchasers away.

However let's step away and look at things from a simple investment strategy.

Ok, quite simply the obvious problem here is the business generates a profit of $100,000 p/a based on two owners working full time. If I;m buying a business as an investment the fact I am completing a job in that business should be irrelevant. The duties I perform need to be done by someone in order to achieve the revenue taken, therefore the duties the owner performs should be looked at as a deductible expenses not profit.

Take the owners out of the above business and there would be at least another 80 hours per week in labour to replace them. At $25.00 ph there is $2000 that would then be paid to the employee, on top of that would be workcover and other charges relating to employing some one.

So now as an investor this business may be worth 2.5 times what it makes as it makes nothing.

This couple have brought themselves a job that doesn't provide annual leave, is far from  flexible, has tons of responsibility and unless something dramatically changes is going to provide little if any capital growth. There is also a good chance that within a certain period they will face increased competition and most likely shrinking margins.

Hardly the stuff dreams are made off.

If you're in business or contemplating going in to business don't be a job buying sucker, get some good advice on how to be self employed as an investor, who may or may not work in the business.

Good luck & Happy Entrepreneuring