Building Opt in Email Lists

What Is an Opt In List

Building an opt in email list is one of the best things you could do in your foray into internet marketing.  Before I get to far I want to explain what it is.  An Opt in email list is where people give you permission to send them email.  They enter their email address into a web form and that email address gets entered into the database of your autoresponder provider.  From there you can send them emails.

Single/Double Opt In?  What’s the difference?

There are two types of opt ins: single opt in and double opt in.

Double opt in is where a person enters their email address into a web form.  After they click submit their name gets added to a database and an email is sent to their email address asking them to confirm their subscription to your email list.  After they confirm their subscription(usually by clicking a link in the email) your autoresponder(a prewritten  sequence of emails) begins.

With single opt in a person just enters their email address and click submit and you start sending them emails.  There is no confirmation email sent.

Which one is better? Single Or Double?

The benefits of double opt in is that you have proof that they signed up for your email list and that you are not spamming them and won’t get a whole lot of spam complaints.  The draw back is that not everybody will not click on the confirmation link.  The benefit of single opt in is that everyone that enters their email address will automatically start receiving your emails.  The draw back is that you might get spam complaints because people might forget they subscribed to your list.  However, if you build value for people on your list you shouldn’t receive spam complaints

Benefits of List:

There are many benefits of having a list, with the primary benefit being what is called “The lifetime value of a customer”.  Let’s say someone comes to your website and buys an ebook on how to become a great kisser.  Let’s say that the commission you get is $15.  Without an opt in list the lifetime value of each customer would be $15 since they would buy from you once and then go away.  You would have no way of reaching them again to present them with more opportunities.

Let’s use the same scenario with an opt in list.  Customer comes to your website joins your email list and purchases your ebook.  Now since they are in your email list you can send them other offers that they might be interested in such as a book on How to French Kiss really well.  If they buy that your lifetime value just increases to $30.

If you get enough subscribers then it is easy to generate a decent amount of income just by sending out emails!

Another added benefit of having a larger lifetime value of a customer is that you can bid more aggresively and spend more money to get that customer to your website since you will make more money with that customer than someone without a list.

Another way to use your list is to send out a monthly or weekly newsletter also called an ezine.  In this ezine you could sell advertisements to people who want to advertise to people in your niche.  This a great way to monetize your list that I don’t hear a lot of people talking about.

How do I get started?

The first thing you can do is get signed up with an autoresponder service.  One of the most popular ones out there is aweber.  A few others are ConstantContact, Icontact, and getresponseare the ones I can think of off the top of my head.  Once there you can need to create a list.  The thing I like about Aweber is that they have premade opt in forms that you can use.  From there you take this form and add it to your website.

How do I get people to opt in?

A lot of people will have what they call squeeze pages.  These pages generally offer a free report to someone in exchange for their email address.  There is usually no other thing for a visitor to do besides putting their email address in or navigating away from the page.  Also, people will have an opt in form on their website.  So if a visitor lands on their site, browses and likes what they see, they can join the email list right then.

What are some resources if I want further information?

I always recommend joining Wealthy Affiliate.  They have a tremendous amount of resources available on different topics including building opt in lists.  If you were looking for info on just building lists Kyle and Carson(the owners of Wealthy Affiliate) wrote an ebook titled “Inside The List” on this exact topic.  You can purchase it here
One last thing:

Treat your list great.  Focus on providing value to your subscribers and helping them improve their lives and the money will follow.  Blast them with salespitch after salespitch and pretty soon you will have nobody on your list.

Conclusion:

Building an opt in list is one of the best ways to build long term success online.  If you start out small and work at it consistently then eventually you could  have a big opt in list.  I look forward to hearing about your success!

P.S. – If you have any questions or comments you can leave them in the comment box below.  🙂