How to create a Profitable Opt-in Site

By Trevor Rive
Posted Monday, September 6, 2004

When I became interested in internet marketing I thought like many others, if I created a sizeable opt-in-list, I would soon become wealthy. In three months my list grew to over 13,000. The bigger the list meant more customers,which meant more money, or so I thought.

Not so ! On posting advertisements to the list, results shocked me! Zero,zilch! nothing! Paying over $90 per month for a list building news letter hosting program, for three months and getting no
response was just too much. I believed, in my ignorance, I could not run a business like that. I gave up disappointed.

However I knew there were men and women out there making good money with opt-in-lists. I did some further research. I looked at people who I knew were successful- men like Shaun Casey,Yanik Silverand Gary Carson.

Slowly the penny dropped ! I could see my problem. I had the wrong end of the stick completely."It's all in the list." I heard said many times. Well, that's a half truth. The importance of the list
comes more from its quality.

My remedy-to start with I targeted information (not sales promotion) to members needs. With my first approach, I could not expect a response from my members. Why? Because they know rogues and scammers lurk out there on the internet. How would they know where I fitted in?
To them I was a complete stranger trying to take their hard earned money off them. How could I possibly expect them to buy straight from me?- I needed to see things from their point of view.

Establishing a relationship, one that built trust became my first goal. Forgetting about making money for a while I concentrated on developing in the minds of the members a sense of honesty and integrity on my part. My members needed to know me as a consistent and reliable news-letter editor.
So I packed the news-letter with useful information. I created a news-letter they would look forward to receiving on a regular basis. I let my list members become familiar with it. I needed some participation,some involvement on their part ,so I invited them to tell me what they would like me to write about.

Giving away the odd freebie that is relevant to their needs also lets them see that I am not out to fleece them. Frequent contacts help to build trust.

So foster a warm relationship by being in touch regularly with members of your list This takes time.Patience is called for. Don't give up as I did.

You need to know to whom you are writing your news-letter. In my case I write to people who are new to the internet marketing scene, who are wanting to start a profitable business, but can't get started. Perhaps like me, their goal is to build a second income for when they retire, using their computer at home.

No one expects a building apprentice to build a house in his first year in the trade. Why should we expect to build a business overnight just because it is on the internet? It seldom happens.
It is possible however for the little man to get into business without outlay, or delay, providing you are not too greedy.
(1) become an affiliate (a rep. if you like) to a few established, trustworthy, firms. Sign up with them and receive commission, which is often up to 50% of the price of the product.
(2) Join some opt-in list building programs that build your own lists for you. Used wisely you can avoid scamming complaints.

A cultivated list is the most valuable asset in your business arsenal-more valuable than gold
literally. It can be the means of you becoming prosperous on the 'net, beyond your wildest dreams.

To sum up:Patiently build trust. " It wont happen overnight, but it will happen!" In due course you will receive offers for joint ventures and people will want to place advertisements in your newsletter.
By the way that is what an ezine is-just an electronic news letter,not a blatent advertising sheet.

Don't wait another minute!When your list is cultivated, a steady growing income can be expected.

About the Author
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Trevor Rive,author of this article,is a retired teacher/
businessman and has been a Dale Carnegie Instructor.
He has an intimate knowledge of Internet Marketing.
Go see his helpful site at (http://tinyurl.com/rju6)
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