The A To Z of Building and Monetizing an Opt-In Email List

Let’s discuss “How to monetize email list” if you’re like most list builders (or even aspiring list builders), then you want more: more subscribers, more people opening every email you send, more sales, and more profits from your list.

And that’s exactly why I’ve created this email marketing A to Z guide, which includes 26 lessons that are designed to attract more subscribers to your mailing lists, turn those subscribers into buyers, and turn those buyers into repeat customers.

So, without further ado, let’s get to it…

The A To Z of Building and Monetizing an Opt-In Email List

One of the keys to email marketing success is to establish yourself as an authority in your niche. You want your newsletter to become THE go-to source for a specific niche topic. As your subscribers begin to trust you and see you as an authority, you’ll see your open rate and sales conversions go up. In other words, you list is going to become a whole lot more profitable!

Question is, how do you establish yourself as an authority so that you can start getting these benefits?  Check out these ideas…

Look Outside Your Newsletter

The idea here is to establish your authority all around your niche (not just in your newsletter).  When your audience isn’t reading your newsletter, you want them to see your content everywhere. This builds familiarity and further establishes you as a niche expert.

To that end, focus on sharing your expertise on your blog, on guest blogs, on social media, via lead magnets, and everywhere else that you publish. Use search engine optimization to ensure your audience finds your content when they’re looking for solutions to specific problems in your niche.

You’ll also want to grant interviews to others in your niche. When people interview you, that instantly establishes you as an expert. This is even more effective if the person who’s interviewing you is also an expert or otherwise well-known and well-respected in the niche.  This is a way to borrow other people’s credibility and boost your standing. You can also accomplish this by doing joint ventures with experts in your niche, such as by creating a product together.

Encourage Action

Another way to boost your authority is to encourage readers to take action on your content.

Here’s why it works…

There are a whole lot of people who basically “collect” information.

You can do this in two ways:

• Provide a call to action. This is where you specifically tell people to apply what they just learned. You can give them a good reason to do so now, such as by reminding them of the benefits they’ll enjoy if they take action.
• Offer tools to encourage action. For example, you might offer a checklist, worksheet, template, or similar items to help people take action.

You should definitely always provide a call to action, and offer tools if it’s feasible.

Create Content Around the Goal

Now that you know what your goal is, you now need to craft an email that supports the goal.

For example, let’s suppose your goal is to get someone to purchase a product. Your email might take the form of a presell, where you lay out the benefits of the product and why the reader should purchase it.

You could do this in a couple different ways, including:

• Create a direct-response email. Here you define the problem, introduce a product as the solution, and then list all the benefits of the product. You then end with a call to action telling readers to purchase the product.
• Offer a product review. Here you share the pros and cons of a product, as well as your recommendation as to whether to buy it or not. (In most cases, you’re doing a product review because you like the product and want to promote it. If you don’t like the product, then do a product comparison instead. See below.)
• Provide a product comparison. If people in your niche are torn between two competing products, you can do a product comparison to help them decide which one is right for their needs. In most cases, your comparison should have a strong “winner” (which you then promote with a link and call to action).
• Create a mini buyer’s guide. Here you share the details and comparisons across multiple products in your market. Your buyer’s guide should naturally lead to the one product that you’re wanting to promote.

Alternatively, you might create content that’s “useful yet incomplete.” This is where you solve part of the prospect’s problem with the content of your email, and then you recommend a product to solve another part of the problem. In other words, this strategy is all about sharing content (not a direct promo), but it’s still designed to sell something.

Let me give you a specific example…

Let’s suppose you’re selling a course about how to start getting more traffic from social media. You might send an informational email out with 10 tips about social media marketing and then point people towards the course to get a step-by-step tutorial. The tips are useful, but in order to get all the details, the reader needs to purchase the course.

Another way to approach it is to offer a tool.

For example, you might offer a set of Facebook ad templates. These are useful, but in order to make the most of them, the reader should purchase the course on social media marketing.