Many of my clients are delving into internet marketing or email marketing as a way to supplement their income. It’s a good business venture really, if you know what you’re doing.

If you are starting out in this type of online business venture, I thought I could give you some free advice on how to build up your subscriber base.

(1) GIVE A FREEBIE AWAY
It’s hard to pass up on a free offer. Who does not love getting free stuff? I know I do! Many people out there enjoy getting things for free! Why do you think companies, dealerships, and stores have giveaways? Because it attracts a lot of people, and the business gets something in return!

You can give away many things for free in exchange for joining your mailing list: ebooks, articles, videos, online courses… the list goes on. The trick is to give away something that your visitor will find valuable.

(2) UTILIZE HEADLINES ON YOUR LANDING/SQUEEZE PAGES
Place an attention-grabbing headline on the top of your landing page, where it can be seen right away — not in the bottom of the page. Allow your visitor to focus on your message. Make them desire to find out more about your product or service, with a headline that makes them want to act!

(3) KEEP COMMUNICATION OPEN, BUT DON’T OVERDO IT!
One or 2 emails a week is good enough to keep in touch with your subscribers. Don’t send too many emails! It can get very annoying, and they might end up unsubscribing from your list if you fill up their inbox with all your stuff. Contact them enough times so that they will look forward to your next email — not dreading the fact that you will send them another “junk” mail in the next few hours.

(4) PROVIDE VALUABLE CONTENT
Don’t just send email messages solely promoting your affiliate links and products. Offer them some advice or something they can use. Give them something that can help them solve problems or issues. You can then promote your products in between.

(5) GET QUALITY TRAFFIC
There are several methods you can use to find quality traffic that can turn to regular subscribers. Quality means that they went to your site because it pertains to them and they were really interested in taking a look. How do you get quality traffic?

One method is to start a blog. You can them place your capture or optin form on the side bar or some other place in the blog. Do you want me to install a blog on your server? Just contact me and I’ll give you a quote. I install WordPress blogs on a regular basis for clients. I can do the same for you. If you need a custom WordPress blog design, or if you want a blog design that matches your current website, just keep me posted with your requirements. I can do those for you too! Just take a look at my blog that you’re reading from now. It matches the layout of my current website!

Another method is to join forums associated with your niche and include your “signature” with each post. Most forums allow you to put links and text ads in what they call a “signature”. This will appear every time you make a post or reply to a thread in a forum. It’s a great way to advertise discretely. By the way, don’t just join any forum. There are many types of forums on the internet — find those that closely match your industry or niche and register with those. For example, I joined the Freelance Forum at FreelanceVenue.com because the site is geared towards freelancers — which is what I am. Don’t join a kite-building forum to advertise your candle home business opportunity. You won’t receive quality traffic there! They’re not related at all!

(6) CHOOSE A RELIABLE MAILING LIST PROVIDER
There’s no use having a huge mailing list when your messages don’t get delivered! You need a reliable mailing list or autoresponder provider. Many of my clients, as well as established internet marketers, use Aweber to manage their lists. So far, I have not heard any complaints! Aweber has statistics and tracking methods to ensure your email marketing efforts are working optimally. Give their services a try. I think they might have a trial period, if I am not mistaken. If that’s the case, then it certainly won’t hurt to try them and see if Aweber works out for you.

Hope the above has helped you in some way as you plan to build your mailing list. Good luck in your internet ventures! If you need anything — design, copywriting, installing, etc — just let me know. I am your ultimate “go-to” guy!