Opt-In Newsletter

This is where folks often start. That's great. I'll repeat what everyone else has already said. You need to have an opt-in newsletter. You need to have signup box prominently displayed on your site and you need to publish a helpful newsletter about topic of your market often (preferably weekly). This will help you build long-term return traffic to your site. It will also build a sense of community with your visitors. You will eventually cease to be just a website and become a person that your visitors respect and get to know.

Yes; it is discouraging when you only have a handful of subscribers at end of your first month. Hang in there. It's all worth it. Do you think it takes too much time to write articles for your newsletter? Use articles submitted by others. More on that later...

Customers

Is it OK to email your customers? Absolutely. Is it OK to email them your newsletter? No; not without permission. Is it OK to email them an advertisement for your latest product/service. Yes; it probably is... But hold on just a minute. You have a relationship with this customer. It's far better if you recognize and respect that relationship. They purchased something from you. Why not drop them a personal note every once in awhile and ask them about your product/service. Ask them if they are happy with what they received. Ask them if there is any way you can improve your product/service. Go ahead and let them know about your newsletter. It's OK to mention your product/service. Tell them where they can find more information if you think it might help them.

These are your customers. Treat them with respect they deserve and they will likely become repeat customers. Blast email advertisements at them and they might or might not buy that product, but you will have missed a chance to build a relationship with them.

Inquiries/Prospects

You need to have contact information on your site. This needs to include either an email address or a form to submit questions and other inquiries. People who email you are prospects. Is it OK to email your prospects? Absolutely. In fact, I recommend that you email them a response IMMEDIATELY upon receiving their inquiry. I always return prospect email same day.

Is it OK to sign them up for an auto-responder that blasts product information at them for next several weeks. Yes; it probably is... But I think you are really blowing another opportunity if you do. Instead, why don't you spend some time and honestly answer their question. Once again, you have removed illusion of faceless website and replaced it with a one-on-one discussion.

Feel free to send them a follow-up email in a couple of day if you don't receive an order or another question from them. Ask them if they have any other questions. It's OK to send them yet another email in a week or two. Be helpful and shoot for solving their problem or answering their question.

Link Requests

Having a resource directory of sites in your market is a great idea. It's a great way to build traffic (by trading links with other sites in your market) and a great way to provide a free resource to your own visitors. If you have a link directory, you need to have a simple form to request a listing in your link directory. That form should have an email address.

You can have a checkbox on your form to signup for your newsletter. This will increase your opt-in subscribers. You should also promptly add listing and send them an email to tell them about it. Is it OK to try to sell your product/service in your email? Probably; but I don't recommend it. You have so many more valuable things to talk about. This is a webmaster in your topic area. They may or may not be interested in your product. They WILL be interested in their listing in your directory. Remind them of URL to your links page. They may also be interested in your affiliate program. Feel free to tell them about that.

The ideal way to use email to develop your business is by creating a double opt-in list on either YahooGroups, Topica.com, SmartGroups.com or FreeLists.org.

I have dozens of these lists in existence myself. Basically each opt-in list provides a specific talking point or advertising point that people are interested in. (Examples: I have a dozen lists for free-reprint articles, 2 lists for ezine ad swaps, 2 small lists talking about online business, one for computer help. I also have a couple for advertising ezines to public. I have tried safe-lists but hosting companies keep deleting those.)

Additionally, I have at times past had up to 5 ezines, but right now only one. Each of five ezines were on various topics --- including computer software, online marketing and general entertainment --- and all were double opt-in.

Each of hosting companies allow you to place an ad in each mailing delivered to your group. With YahooGroups, you can only place one ad at bottom of email. With Topica, you can place your ads top and bottom. I cannot tell you much about FreeLists.org since I just learned about them this past weekend.

The trick to any opt-in list is providing something based on a niche interest. Provided your list delivers something of value to subscribers, people will sign up to receive them.

With ezine, you would try to provide some type of valuable information of interest to your target market. By consistently providing valuable information to your readers, you will be building relationships with people who will likely buy from you in future.

Let me say one thing here. Do not let an ezine distract you from your real purpose. Any ezine you develop is a tool to help you grow your business. Don't fall into common trap of starting an ezine to promote your business and then thinking later that your ezine is your business.

There are in fact several large mailing companies out there with clean, double opt-in mailing lists for ads, but I must emphasize care when selecting one of these companies. If mailing company cannot promise that their list is double opt-in, leave them be. Be sure to also get references and check those references. There are a lot of scammers out there sending spam to millions of harvested addresses and then trying to convince you that their mailings are safe. Buyer beware.

Double opt-in means that I as a subscriber request mailing then I receive a verification email from mailing list telling me that I must follow certain steps to verify my intentions to subscribe. Double opt-in is literally a method of getting someone to agree twice to receive future email.