Email Marketing

Making a profit with affiliate marketing is not as easy as it may sound. One way to increase those profits is by utilizing e-mail marketing. This is also true if you have your own product. I'm sure that you've heard it more than once, but -- the money IS in the list.

In order to build your own subscriber list, you must have your own website. And, it is best to have your own domain name to build branding to your newsletter. Your newsletter subscriber box should be visible right away when your website is opened. That means it should be located above the fold or, in other words, on the top third of your web page.

You will need to have an autoresponder script or service in place. I have found that an autoresponder service is more reliable. Most web hosting companies do not allow mailing scripts to be run on their servers.

Your subscriber e-mail addresses need to be captured using a double opt-in method. This ensures that they are aware that they are being subscribed to your newsletter. In a double opt-in subscription, the first opt-in occurs when your subscriber fills out the subscriber form. An immediate e-mail is sent to the subscriber requesting that they confirm their subscription. This is a double opt-in.

You must provide a link at the bottom of each e-mail message that you send out that gives your subscriber the option to unsubscribe. If you do not provide this link, you will be in violation of the Can Spam Laws. This can cause your IP to be banned or even your website to be shut down.

So, how do you get people to sign up for your newsletter? The answer is to give them something for free. Create or find a PLR report that you can give away. It doesn't have to be a 100 page manuscript. Ten to fifteen pages will be adequate. But, make sure that it has information that is really usable.

You will get more sign-ups if you have a graphic representation or ecover for your report. These days, you can hire someone to do this for you very reasonably. With a graphical ecover, people are more likely to think that they are getting something more substantial.

Make sure that your free report has links to the affiliate programs that you are promoting, or to your own product if you have one. Just like on a web page, it works best if you tie the affiliate program to the content of the page. For instance, if your report is about wild birds, don't have an affiliate program promoting skiing.

The last step in creating your report is to compile it into a PDF format. Most people will not download something that is in a text or Microsoft Word format. PDF software is becoming more and more available at reasonable prices all the time. Go to Google.com and type in PDF compiler to find one that is in your price range.

Using e-mail marketing to promote your affiliate programs can be very profitable. Just be sure that you use common sense and that you do not violate any spam laws.