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How To Build An Opt-In List

By Randy Justason

  I wanted to take this opportunity to show you how you can optimize your resources to help your business along. Even if you are just starting your home based business, and may be involved in only affiliate programs for the time being, you can use this information to start to build your opt-in list.

  First of all, what is an opt-in list and why do you need one?

  An opt-in list is a list of names and addresses (preferrably email addresses if your business is strictly online) which your visitors have given to you. Once you have these addresses you can send them emails until they tell you to stop. Eventually, when you have more things to sell, either your own products or through other affiliate programs, you can send your ads to this opt-in list.

  If you have been loyal to your opt-in list and have not spammed them on every opportunity that came your way, then they should trust you and you will have a much better chance of them buying from you.

  Most people are not going to just give you their name and address, you will have to offer them something of value for them to take such a step.

  Some of you may have heard about Resell Rights Programs and Private Label Rights Programs where you can get ebooks and/or software along with the rights to sell them and keep all the profit or to give them away (be sure to read the terms of service and be certain of what you can do with the products). Of course one of the first things we want to do (me included) is to put up a sales page and try to sell some of these things. There is nothing wrong with that, however, there are probably hundreds of others trying to sell the same products.

  Here is a much better idea.

  Once you get your hands on a product that you like and you think others could use it also, do a search on your favorite search engine (Google, Yahoo, etc) to see how many other people are selling that same product. You'll probably find that there is a lot of competition. In order to sell that product you'll have to offer something of greater value with it or lower the price so much that you won't make any money.

  If the terms of service let you give the product away then you have a great opportunity to start building your opt-in list (that is why Private Label Rights are attracting so many people, once you buy the private label rights you can do anything you want with the product).

  So, what will you need to set this up? Glad you asked!

  First you'll need your own website hosted on the internet. I know that sounds scary for a lot of newcomers but the truth is, it's not that hard. If you need some tutorials on building a web site and getting it hosted on the web take a look at http://www.mlmwonders.com/resources.html where you'll find all the information you need (there are links to tutorials for building web sites and getting them hosted).

  Your web site can be a very simple 2 page site.  The first page is where you offer your valuable product for free and provide a form where your visitors type in their name and email address.  The second page is the download page where they get the product.

  Once your visitors fill in the form one of two (or both) things can happen.  Either they will be taken directly to the download page or they will receive an email from your autoresponder giving them the link to your download page.  I prefer the second method for the simple reason that if they already have downloaded the product they may simply hit the unsubscribe link in your email and you have lost your contact.  By telling them on the signup page that they will receive an email with a link in it they will most likely click on the link in the email then close the email rather than unsubscribe.

  By the way, you MUST provide them with a way to unsubscribe at any time and honor their request.

  I mentioned an autoresponder.  Why do you need one?  The fact is, you don't. However, it will make life much easier since all you do is set this web site up once and then forget about it.  People will visit, fill in the form and automatically receive your email. The autoresponder will keep all of the names and addresses for you and you will receive a notice that you have another signup.

  There are hundreds of autoresponders available for your use. Some charge you a monthly fee, some are software programs that you can purchase and some are free.  Since we are just starting out, I prefer the free version.  I use one that is totally free, fully functional (i.e. I can set up as many autoresponders as I wish, send as many messages as I want and can build large lists) and fully automatic. It comes with simple directions to set it up and the person who developed it provides assistance. You can get your own copy of this autoresponder software at: http://www.mlmwonders.com/free_autoresponder.html .

  Now, if you already have a website you're already ahead of the game.  All you need to do is to get your visitors attention so they can receive their free product from you. Once again you'll have to build a page to capture their information and one to download the product.

  So, how do you capture their attention?

  Today most internet surfers have some sort of pop-up blocking software on their computers so using conventional pop-ups won't work.  What I use is an unblockable pop-up!  This works fine for me and, once again, is very inexpensive to accomplish.

  Not only is the pop-up unblockable (as long as your visitors have javascript enabled, most do) but it spins onto the page to attract visitors' attention. It is a simple program which costs less than $10 to purchase. For more information take a look at: http://www.mlmwonders.com/spinpop/spinpopup.htm .

  Since you can make an endless number of pop-ups and autoresponders, you have an excellent way to generate numerous names on your opt-in lists. 

  If you wish to see this process in motion, you can visit the following web sites. Please keep in mind that these are set up as very simple, working examples of how you can use the Spinning Pop-up Generator and the free autoresponder to generate signups. There are many, many more valuable uses for these two products.  Take a look at these two examples (the popup will activate as soon as the page is completely loaded):

http://www.all-natural-cleaning-product.com

http://www.craft-show-wonders.com

  There you have a relatively simple way to generate an opt-in list. Now all you need to do is to generate traffic to your web page, but that is for another article.

  I wish you luck with your opt-in list building venture and if I can be of any assistance (I hope this article hasn't generated more questions than answers) please do not hesitate to contact me, Randy, at: webmaster@mlmwonders.com .

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