You’ve put a lot of investment into your website and marketing to drive traffic. Now you need to turn those visitors into subscribers – it’s the only way you are going to make money from your online efforts!

The secret? Put yourself in your visitor’s shoes. Here are five steps to help you do just that.

1. Get the right visitors. One of the most important ingredients to building a responsive list; it’s also the most time-intensive task. The key is good copywriting in both your marketing materials (ads, articles, etc.) and your website that makes an emotional connection with your prospects. Get help if copywriting isn’t among your strengths!
2. What do you want them to do next. A visitor has found your site and stayed more than 2 seconds…now what should they do? Too many choices = confusion = click away! If your goal is to get subscribers (hint), then your home page should funnel them toward that goal, and only that goal!
3. How do they subscribe? They’ve read your copy and are interested in subscribing. Is it easy to figure out how to do so? Your form should be prominent (left, near the top is recommended) and embedded on the page; don’t make them click away to get to the form. Put a subscription form on EVERY page of your website, for visitors who don’t land on your home page.
4. WIIFT? (what’s in it for them) If you aren’t giving away something in exchange for their email address, why should they subscribe? Few folks really want another weekly or monthly email; however, if you offer a valuable freebie, they might be willing to try it out! Specify the format/length of the freebie, frequency of your newsletter, etc.
5. Why should they trust you? No one wants more spam…you need to assure them that their email address is safe with you. Include a short privacy statement, and assure them that they can unsubscribe anytime. Ask for only minimum info — email address, and first name so you can personalize their emails.

The above steps will make it clear to your visitor/potential subscriber that you have THEIR interests at heart. That’s the beginning of the emotional connection that will build your list, and ultimately, increase your income!

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 6th, 2008 at 1:51 pm and is filed under Internet Marketing, Email Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.