Build Your Email List!
Build Your Email List!Now that you have targeted an audience who has a specific and urgent need (As you learned about in Step #1), it is time to build an opt-in email list of people who are interested in your hyper-focused niche.
I'll carry on with the 'Yoga for back pain' niche and audience, for the purpose of this example.
But first, I need to stress how important this step is...
To do this, lets rewind about 10 years ago when I first started making real money online.
I found a niche, I had an offer, and I was aggressively marketing every day. Things started to click and I was beginning to consistently generate $40 commissions. One here and there at first, then one a day and then pretty soon it was up to 5 even 10+ per day on some days.
I went from struggling to generating over 5 figures in income within a matter of months.
You would think that I'd be intelligent enough to invest in this growing business to add on the paid tools that every professional marketer had been recommending to me for years right?
Wrong.
I was stubborn and I thought I had found a 'cheaper and better' way that allowed me to make sales without having to spend any money on those lead generation components.
It was all fun and games until the site I was doing all of my marketing through changed their terms of service and my income literally dropped down to $0 overnight.
Had I been building an email list FIRST, like I do now and like I'm teaching you to do here... I would have had a list of tens of thousands of people interested in a specific niche who I could have continued to market to while I found a new channel to attract new leads.
Literally, I could still be making money from those efforts today. But alas... I had to learn a HARD lesson.
How to Make Money With a List
Step 1 - Capture Emails
On my next major website projects, I began using list building tools, but I didn't choose the professional level tools, I used some of the 'cheap' and 'free' alternatives.
This was another HUGE mistake because these tools lacked specific functionality and they required hours upon hours of effort to try and get them to work together, which ultimately they never did. With months of struggling to make the 'cheap' alternatives work, I again gave up on those and finally purchased the industry standard tools.
The good news is that I'm still using those same tools today and I spend less time on 'configuring' everything and am generating more leads and more sales than ever before!
The short version of the story is that these tools are not optional if you are truly committed to making money online.
Ok, sorry for the tangent before digging in here and getting to the goods but I wanted to be sure that you understand how important this step is and these tools are to your long term success with making money online.
Right... Moving along.
Now that you have your targeted audience, it is time to build a list of people from that audience who are actively searching for solutions.
Take a look at this short video to see the exact kind of configuration you will create to profitably build a list online... This is the simplest type of marketing funnel you will need to create and I go through the entire process to show you how in about 30 minutes...
Now, if a 30 minute video feels long... Guess what. It took me YEARS to figure this out...
And, no one 'laid it all out' for me, which is why I was inspired to show you step by step how to set this all up.
The Tools
In order to create your own marketing funnel like the one I show you how to create in the video above, you will need an Email Autoresponder and this Funnel Creation System.
The Email Autoresponder is the system that manages your email list that you are building. When you collect leads, the 'live' here. You are able to create follow up emails that are automatically sent out on a set schedule, to automate the follow up process with all of your leads at once and you have the ability to log in and send a 'broadcast' email to all of your subscribers at once if you want to promote a special or new product.
The follow up series in the autoresponder generates consistent and residual income once you get it dialed in right. You stay focused on generating leads and a percentage of those leads will purchase the items you recommend in your autoresponder.
The broadcast side of the autoresponder turns your list into a cash-on-demand system! When you find out about a new and relevant product or if a product you have been promoting offers a coupon code or special price, you can log in, send your email to the entire list (which can literally go out to tens of thousands of emails at once when you have built a big list) and then the 'Sale Notification' emails start showing up, sometimes almost instantly.
In order to get a user on your list, you need a tiny, 1 page website that is managed by the Lead Generation System that connects to your autoresponder account and places visitors onto your autoresponder list when they subscribe.
This system has dozens of pre-made lead capture pages that are professionally designed to convert traffic into leads by offering visitors a free report in exchange for their email address.
Yes, you will need to create (or hire a writer to create) a free report that is highly relevant to your audience in order to 'plug that in' to this system, but that is ultimately simple.
For our Yoga for back pain niche example, I could put together a .pdf report titled '10 Yoga Poses That Will Eliminate Back Pain FAST'. If I was a certified Yoga Instructor, I may actually put together a free video series with the same title, where I demonstrate getting into each pose on video.
Not a Yoga instructor and you still want to put together a video series? Well, you could always find a new or local Yoga instructor who would be willing to be recorded or even just photographed demonstrating a series of poses. Obviously this is not the 'free' way to go about it, whereas doing research and writing a .pdf yourself would be free, but I'm trying to illustrate how a little creativity can allow a marketer to enter just about any niche.
From the point of view of the visitor, in this example someone with back pain, when they find this offer presented in a clean and professional way (thanks to the lead generation system's professional templates) they will more often than not subscribe to get access to the videos or the .pdf.
How to Make Money From Your List
You can then follow up with them automatically with your Email Autoresponder, to further build rapport, gain trust, and then offer them a product for sale.
It's simple, effective, and when set up correctly can be refined and dialed in to work for you and create income for a very long time.
So the first email your subscribers will receive from you is going to be one that does not ask for a sale and simply gives them the free and valuable information you promised, whether it is a .pdf, ebook, or a video training.
The Fortune Is In The Follow Up
Next, you want to add a series of follow up emails to be sent out 1-3 days after each other in sequence that build upon the free gift they received.
For example, you could add follow up email #2 that has the subject line "5 Stretches That Eliminate Back Pain, Fast!". Obviously if you use this subject you'll need to have done your research and share stretches that will actually eliminate pain.
Then in email #3 you could talk about supplements, essential oils or other natural remedies that can also help relieve back pain.
Email #4 could then share a great informational product that is all about relieving back pain. To find this product, you can simply go to the ClickBank marketplace and search for 'Back Pain'. This is exactly what I did to find these products:
- backpainrelief4life.com
- bulletproofback.com
- losethebackpain.com
Each of those products pays a commission of between $33 and $54 per sale and are specifically designed to 'sell' the visitor so you don't have to.
Your job is to research the products, the reviews of the products, the sales material and ultimately the product itself, to make an honest decision about which one is 'best' so you can share that information with your subscribers.
Would this mean purchasing all of those products? Well, if you are committed, then yes. Absolutely!
Wouldn't that be expensive?
Some Tricks
Well, there are some 'tricks' here. First of all, you can reach out to the merchants as an affiliate with an email. You can let them know you are thinking about promoting the product and you would like to receive a complimentary copy of their product, so you can review its contents.
This is a common request in the affiliate marketing world.
Each of these products (as do all Clickbank products) has a 60 day money back guarantee. So you could also get access to the materials long enough to make your decision and then request a refund as well. Or use the product, fall in love with it, and honestly share your excitement with your email list about it.
The Ultimate Goal that Pays
You see... The ultimate goal as a marketer in this money making system is to become a trusted adviser. An individual who delivers valuable information, helpful advice and knows what products are worth while and what products aren't.
Then you share what works, what doesn't and continue to drop tid-bits about your story and how you learned all of this. Through this process, you are effectively building a relationship with every subscriber on autopilot, through the email series.
Then, when it comes time to promote a product, your email could be as simple as...
Subject: FirstName, If Your Back Is Still Hurting, This May Be The Answer.
Email: Hi Firstname,
In the last week, I've sent you over some great yoga poses, stretches and natural remedies to help with the back pain... I really hope you have been able to find some relief at this point.
When I was dealing with a bad back after I slipped on some ice, last year, the stretches and Yoga got me to about 70%, but it was really this system that helped me get back to 100%
If you are still looking for the solution to your back pain, you may want to give this a chance: EnterTheLinkHere.com.
Let me know how it goes!
YourName.
See how simple that was?
Now, I would always be sure that the story is true, which is why in step 1 I recommend you find a niche that you have experience in or a strong understanding of from your past experiences.
Once you have your first 4 emails in place, you can then add more 'free' follow up emails that have more information, tips, more of your store, additional links to helpful articles, etc... Before adding another affiliate link in email #8.
The Second Offer
For the second affiliate promotion, you could promote the 'Teeter Hang Up' back relief system (teetertv.com/) because they have an affiliate program (offershot.com/teeter-hang-ups-affiliate-program.html) and because those inversion tables really do help cure back pain.
The 'trick' to this third step of monetizing your list is to truly step into the role of trusted adviser and to stay focused on building the relationship through sharing free and valuable information.
You need to go out and do the research for the user.
You need to find the tips and tricks that work, and sort through all the available courses and products for your subscribers. Personally I usually buy every product I recommend to make sure the quality is truly up to a high quality standard... Or at least ask people I trust who have tried multiple products about their opinion.
How to Never Have to Sell
That is how I knew about the Teeter Inversion Table, my father in law has a bad back. He has had back fusion surgeries and he SWEARS by the inversion table as the one thing that truly helps.
For someone who thinks they have 'tried everything' but has never heard about the 'Teeter Inversion Table', do you think they would be excited to learn about it?
Absolutely! I'm not 'selling' them on this, I'm simply recommending something to a friend that I know is working well for someone else.
This is how you completely avoid having to ever 'sell' anything. Selling sucks.
Simply build a relationship by giving more value (I like to give 2-4 free emails in between each email that promotes a paid product) and continue to share awesome advice and bits and pieces about your story.
Over time, you will learn things that work better than others for your specific niche and for you as a writer, and continuing to test new products, offers and emails is important so you can continue to convert more leads into sales, over time.
Conclusion
If you would like a course that is specifically designed to help you master the art of building a relationship with your list, you really need to check this course out!
Now, just because we made it to step 3 of 3 in My Simple 3 Step System To Making Money Online, this doesn't mean that we are done.
Far from it!
Having this system in place is literally the engine that runs your online business. The more efficient you are able to get this engine through optimization, the faster your online business can grow.
But, just like the engine in a car... Or better yet, the engine in a Ferrari... If it doesn't have any fuel, the high-performance engine isn't going to do you any good.
So while you are finishing getting your engine built... I'm going to be writing up the recipe for the race-fuel that will help you get the most performance out of your online business engine.