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In the previous lesson, you learned that your blog is your main attraction tool. Today, we’re going to talk about your second attraction tool – your list.
As I mentioned previously, the number one goal of your blog is to entice your readers to give you permission to communicate with them again and again.
Your list or autoresponder is what enables you to do this easily and efficiently. Others call this their ezine or newsletter. For purposes of this ecourse, we’ll use the term “list.” It refers to the fairly consistent email communication you send to people who requested it.
If you don’t have a list yet, now’s the time to get one started. If you already have a list, read on to find out how you can make it better – grow it faster, build better relationships, and finally guide your readers into becoming buyers.
Along with your blog, your list is another way you share your gift to your audience. This doesn’t mean you use it like a pedestal, to show off how much more you know compared to your readers. Instead, it’s another channel for you serve your readers — by giving them nuggets of wisdom that can potentially change their lives for the better.
Here are 5 reminders to help you accomplish this:
I hate to be the one to tell you this, but “Subscribe for updates here” just doesn’t cut it anymore. People are busy. Everybody’s inboxes are overflowing, and nobody’s got time to go through all their emails.
So to be given space in your readers’ email, you have to offer something enticing, something so good you could easily sell it for money. Something that can bring your readers closer to their goals. This ecourse is an example. Other entrepreneurs offer ebooks, special reports, even mp3 recordings and videos. The format isn’t as important as the content, which brings me to the next reminder…
After you get your readers’ permission to send them stuff through email, make sure you keep your promise. Fill their emails with content that shows your best work. Don’t spam them with one promo after another. Very few marketers can get away with this, and you’re probably not one of them. If you promised updates, special offers, and exclusive resources, then give your readers that.
You may find it hard to believe, but you’re part of the reason your readers signed up for your list. No matter how seductive your information is, if the reader weren’t interested in YOU to begin with, they wouldn’t have subscribed anyway. So share a little bit of yourself with them.
Write your emails in a conversational tone, even if you are “teaching” something. Tell a personal anecdote when it’s relevant and useful. Share your personal struggles and triumphs. A human story is hard to resist.
As you may have noticed by now, the foundation of Magnetic New Marketing is giving. However, it doesn’t stop there. You do have a business, after all, and I did say you would actually sell more stuff, right?
Sometimes this generosity thing can be taken to extreme, where marketers actually forget to sell, or feel very awkward doing so. If you’ve been giving your readers quality information all this time, they won’t mind the occasional promotional email. In fact, many of your readers are probably dying to buy something from you. I know I’ve felt like that sometimes. I follow somebody, devour their free stuff and think, “This person is so good! What can I buy from her?”
The thing is to maintain a healthy ratio of information and promotion. You may have heard of the 80-20 rule before. That is, make your content 80% pure information and 20% promotion. Following this rule, you would send 1 promotional email for every 4 purely informational emails. Or, each email could be 80% information, 20% promotion. You may have to experiment to find the right approach for your audience.
Whatever you do, sell with confidence. In future lessons, we’ll get into the specific language and structure of selling.
Finally, you have to use the right tools so you can build and manage your list. I use Aweber, and I like its features, particularly the new web form editing features. I hear from other marketers that the deliverability of Aweber is much better than that of other autoresponder services. Check out your options and take a free trial, if it’s available.
Your blog and your list are the core of your magnetic new marketing efforts. Don't even think about trying out the next shiny object until your blog and list are fully optimized (more on that in future lessons).
This is it for now. In the next lesson, we’ll talk in more detail about what content you can actually publish in your blog and autoresponder, to build a positive relationship with your readers.
Blessings,
PS: The link to Aweber above is an affiliate link, which means I get a commission if you get an account through that link. If you don’t like that idea, you can use this naked link: https://www.aweber.com
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