Are YOU afraid of email marketing?

Then think about this… how many emails do you get everyday day as a result of having signed up for newsletters about topics in which you are interested?

Ten, 20, 50… 100? (I get WAY more than 100).

Are you often curious enough about the topic discussed in certain emails to click the link and visit the website?

If you answered “yes” to the last question, you already KNOW that email marketing works.

I KNOW it works too, because I click many of those links everyday and while I may not buy anything, I learn LOTS and may purchase something from/through those people at a later date.

Why then, haven't you tried email marketing in your own affiliate marketing business?

Having taught tens of thousands of people about affiliate marketing, getting involved with email marketing seems to be a sticking point for a lot of people.

They're willing to go to all the effort of building a website, blogging regularly about a topic, and promoting products on their website – but for some reason or another, they won't build a list of potential customers whom they can contact regularly.

YES, as an affiliate marketer with decades of experience, that reluctance baffles my brain considerably. 🙂

Let's consider some of the reasons why one might be afraid to start email marketing.

1. Email Marketing is Spamming and You'll Get in Trouble

   This is SUCH wrong thinking!

   Whichever autoresponder service you choose will encourage you to set up your lead capture form in such a way that subscribers must double opt-in, meaning that once they sign up on your blog, they receive an email to which they must respond, therefore confirming their desire to receive the emails.

   Here's the standard set-up form…

   

   Your subscriber clicks the link in that email and afterwards can't complain of having received spam.

   Oh, they might try, but you have PROOF that they elected to receive the newsletter, so you're on the good side of the CAN-SPAM law. 🙂

   Granted, if you provide great information every time you send them an email, they'll NEVER mark your emails as spam.

2. Email Marketing is Too Much Work

   If spending 15 minutes once to setup a ‘blog broadcast' that delivers an email to your subscribers every time you post an article to your blog is too much work, then maybe you shouldn't be doing business online.

   Granted, I spend about 15 minutes each time I write an article to craft an email newsletter for my subscribers that looks a little better than what the automated blog broadcast sends out.

   Fifteen minutes isn't too big a drain either, considering you set up a template once and can use it over and over and over again.

   Here's the template for the email I set up in my autoresponder to send out to my subscribers for THIS article.

   

   I've used the simplest template available (Plain) and made it left-aligned.

   The Footer was set up long ago and repeats itself in every email I send. So, in effect, I've only had to write the first four lines of the email, add a link to the new article and Poof! my work is finished.

   Considering you're probably smarter than I am, it'll only take you 5 minutes to write those 4 lines.

3. Email Marketing is Too Expensive

   I've used Aweber's autoresponder service for almost 2 decades and believe me, the benefits (pay back) of using an autoresponder service FAR outweigh the costs.

   Aweber offers a free trial on each of its package plans, and then depending on whether you choose a monthly, quarterly or yearly plan, their service costs $19 per month, $49 per month or $194 annually.

   Seriously, for less than $200 per year, you get unlimited emails, integration, segmentation and a lot of other bells and whistles.

   Cost is NOT a reason to be afraid of email marketing.

   Email Marketing is Worth its Work in Gold

   Let's do a little math on the potential returns for investing a little bit of time and money in email marketing…
   Let's say you have 1,000 subscribers.

   When you send them an email informing them of your latest article, 80% of them look at the email and 50% click through to your blog.

   Of the 50% (500) who click through to your blog, 5% (25) of them buy the product that you are promoting which costs $100 and earns you a commission of 25%.

   DO the math.

   25 X $25 = $725.

   SEVEN HUNDRED and TWENTY-FIVE bucks for sending out ONE email and my estimates are conservative based on my experience.

   That MORE than pays for your annual subscription to Aweber and leaves you with more than $500 in the kitty.

SO… the question remains… WHY are you NOT email marketing?

Autoresponder Providers

I've listed Aweber as my provider of preference, but here is a list of autoresponder services if you'd like to look at more options.

Too, if you want to avoid some email marketing mistakes, read my article My Email Marketing Mistake: Poor Link Positioning.

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Cheers,