List Building - Top 15 Tips to Build Your Subscriber List

Email marketing can be profitable for most businesses, especially if its online. It is significantly cheaper than most advertising techniques and, if done right, helps build trust and loyalty with customers. As a result, you generate more sales and more profits!

The base for successful email marketing is a targeted, permission-based email list. If you've put together a list of subscribers that are qualified and interested in what you are offering, then you've completed the first step and are on your way.

What we are going to discuss in this article are several list-building and retention thoughts that will help you get the best results from your email marketing strategy:

1. Provide helpful, relevant content. People will not give you their email just because they can subscribe to your newsletter for free. You have to offer unique and helpful information that will be of interest or use to them.
2. Add a subscription form to all pages on your site. Make sure it is easy to find. If it doesn't look cluttered, you may want to include two forms on some pages. For example, if your opt-in form always appears in the top-right corner of your site, you may want to add one at the end of your most popular articles.
3. Include subscription forms to your social media pages. Make sure that you take advantage of this valuable opportunity. Incorporate your sign-up forms with Facebook and more!
4. Make it simple for visitors to sign up. The more info you request, the less people will opt-in. In most cases, a name and an email address should be enough. You can always survey them once they're subscribers! It is recommended that you provide a link to your Privacy Policy however.
5. Have a Privacy Policy. Let your readers know that you will not share their information with anyone. The simplest way to do this is to set up a Privacy Policy web page and provide the link to it below your form. (Note: If you don't have one, type the words "privacy policy generator" into Google and you should be able to find one to use.)
6. Give samples of your newsletters and Ezines. This lets potential subscribers review your materials before they sign up.
7. Archive past articles. An online library of past articles is both interesting and useful to visitors and builds your credibility as an expert. More than that, if your articles are written with good SEO techniques, they can increase traffic to your website through enhanced search engine positioning.
8. Offer gifts subscribers can actually use. Give an opt-in bonus for joining your subscriber list! Write an ebook or provide a PDF report, or even hire a programmer to create downloadable software. You can even give them out when your readers fill out a survey, provide a testimonial, success story, or a great product idea. Tell them when they can expect the next gift. Everyone likes to get free stuff! And if you pass out "goodies" all year, your subscribers will feel truly valued, and that's great for business!
9. Invite your subscribers to pass it on. Word of mouth is a powerful viral technique. If your subscribers find your content interesting or informative, they'll probably share it with others. This can be an awesome source of new customers, so make sure to remind them to "pass it on".
10. Let others reprint your articles as long as the content is not modified. If you're happy to share your content with the world, then why not! Many webmasters and newsletter publishers are looking for high-quality content and, if they reprint your article, you'll get new subscribers, and more traffic and links pointing to your website.
11. Put in a "Sign Up" button in your newsletter. If you're using plain text instead of HTML, be sure to provide a text link to your subscription web page. You may think that this is not necessary because the subscriber is already on your list, but remember that readers will forward your newsletters to others, or reprint them online. Make it simple for people to subscribe!
12. Include a squeeze page. A squeeze page has one purpose, to get opt-ins and build your list. Think of it as a mini-sales letter to go along with your subscription gift. It should make subscribers salivate to sign up! Once created, use a service such as WordTracker to find some targeted keywords, and promote your offer using pay-per-click advertising from Google, MSN and Yahoo.
13. Add testimonials on your squeeze page. This is important. Put one or two strong testimonials from customers on your squeeze page. This can be in any format, but multimedia (audio or video) is more "believable" and inspires more visitors to action. To further improve believability, get permission to use actual customer names, locations and/or urls (Don't use "Sam K, FL").
14. Blog often. Blogging is an awesome way to communicate with prospects and potential customers. Make sure to include your newsletter sign-up form on every page of your blog. You can create a free blog at Blogger or WordPress.
15. Post on other blogs or forums. Post useful comments and information on similar blogs with a link to your squeeze page. This is an easy way to generate new traffic and subscribers, and get your brand out there!