A Baker's Dozen

By Darlene Styers
Posted Friday, November 12, 2004

How many times have you been told "The Money Is In The List"? Let's talk a bit deeper today and discover just how to build a list. It goes without saying that the larger the list, the more potential. Everyone wants their list to grow as quickly as possible. But even more important than subscribing is retention of your subscribers. And perhaps the most challenging. Let's discuss 13 (a Baker's dozen) ways to maintain your list.

ONE: Place a Subscription Form on every page of your site. It does not have to cost an arm and a leg to have a website. The total cost involved in the site we use is $6 per month including hosting. No HTML knowledge is required. If you can type you can build a site. This is probably one of the most important things you will do.

TWO: How do you feel about the subscription forms that ask for your life history? Actually all you need is their email address so don't ask for more. Do you always give your true name when filling out one of those long subscription forms?

THREE:Your Welcome Letter as well as your Subscribe page should give lots of information about your publication. How often do you publish? Just what's in this subscription for the reader?

FOUR:Do you offer free advertisements or subscriber bonuses? Tell them about it. You may want to, at least, offer advertisements for new subscribers. However, there are many who are simply looking for free advertisements and nothing else. You never know when someone interested only in free advertisements may just become interested in your Newsletter. Be sure to make it obvious there is no cost involved in subscribing to your list, and that their information will never be shared with others.

FIVE:Search for websites that invite Link Exchanges. If you have your link on a dozen websites and you gain only one per week from each link, this could bring you as many as 600 subscribers per year. Link Exchange pages also require that you place their link on your site.

SIX:If you are to retain your subscribers, content of the Newsletter is important. Make it interesting, informative and perhaps even entertaining. There are many Article Directories that provide free content for your newsletter. HYPE is a big turn off so be careful about sounding unreasonable. Helpful tips make the publication interesting. Inspirational Quotes can be motivational.

SEVEN:Suggest to your readers that they pass along your Newsletter to others. Include your subscribe address in every Edition of your Newsletter.

EIGHT: You may want to consider advertising your Newsletter in other ezines. From $10 to $20 per solo ad in reputable Newsletters can usually gain you several subscribers.

NINE: Ad Coops are an excellent way to gain new subscribers if you are willing to publish their ads. A few coops will enter the subscribers automatically into your list if you are using an autoresponder that permits. The retention rate can be rather satisfying if your Newsletter is interesting.

TEN:Writing Articles and passing them along to other publishers can create a viral effect for you. There are many directories just for this purpose. You might choose to use a software program that automatically submits to directories.

ELEVEN:Submit your Newsletter to Directories. Many search the directories for just the Newsletter that pleases them. This is an excellent source of new subscribers.

TWELVE:Are you using a Signature Link? Every email you send out can have a Signature Link to your Subscriber Address.

THIRTEEN: Watch for websites that include Testimonials. And submit your testimonial. Let's say you have your testimonial on 10 websites and you receive 1 subscriber per week from each testimonial. That's 520 new subscribers per year from this source only.

One of the enjoyable parts of publishing is finding new ways to maintain subscribers. HAVE FUN!

About the Author
Darlene Styers is Publisher of iNetProfitz Marketing Newsletter. You may subscribe or contact Darlene (http://www.inetprofitz.net) If you have questions regarding this article, Darlene will be happy to hear from you. Darlene will also be happy to assist you if you are ready to publish a Newsletter.