by Chris Dudding

Created on: July 25, 2011

Email marketing is one of the best ways to communicate with a large audience of interested prospects.  I have found that by following a few guidelines, email blasts are a very effective and inexpensive way to promote your business. 

1. Be patient when building your opt-in list.  The foundation of your business is a solid list of people who are interested in your information.  It can be tempting to buy one of those big generic lists of email addresses but in the long run it just doesn't work.  Why?  Because those lists may contain a lot of bad addresses or spam traps.  It is unlikely that you will find many people on the list who are truly interested in your product so they will unsubscribe very quickly and they might even report you as a spammer.  Start your list with loyal customers and friends.  Once they are on board, ask them to tell others about your newsletter through social media or word of mouth.  This process is slow, but you will build a good list of people who are likely to stick with you and purchase from you.

2. Create useful content.  Your subscribers will stay with you only as long as you can provide them with content that will make their lives better.  No matter what business you are in, you need to show them how your knowledge and ultimately your product will help them.  It is OK to occasionally send out a special offer or discount, but information they can use has the highest long-term value.

3. Make it easy to buy your product.  Set up a shopping cart so the readers can purchase while they are still excited about your message.  Google, Amazon, Yahoo and many other large sites offer very inexpensive shopping carts for business of all sizes.  Most only charge you a percentage of the sale (around 5%) so you only pay if you sell.  Don't worry if you are not very web savvy, these systems make it very easy to set up your account. 

4. Don't hold your subscribers hostage!  Every message should have a functional, easy to find unsubscribe button.  People are more likely to sign up in the first place if they know it's easy to get out.  No matter how good your content is, it just won't appeal to everyone.  If they decide not to stick with your newsletter, chances are they aren't going to buy from you anyway.  Let them go!  You also should have your name (or business name) and real street address and working phone number on every message.

5. When in doubt, farm it out.  If you have great ideas, but writing isn't your cup of tea, partner up with someone who likes to write.  If setting up a shopping cart sounds like launching a space shuttle to you, I'm sure you have a friend who could do it blindfolded.  You get the idea.  Quality is very important to long-term success.  If you need help at first, don't be afraid to get it.  It's better to share in a successful business than to stand alone in an unsuccessful one!

By following these few simple hints, you'll avoid many of the common reasons that email marketing businesses fail.  Take your time and do it right, it will pay off!

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