On Day One we set up a squeeze page. On Day Two we created an opt-in incentive. On Day Three we worked on our autoresponder series.
The task for today is to fine-tune your targeting, avoid "freebie seekers" and
attract responsive buyers in your niche.
Your targeting is super important, and missing the target is a common mistake that many people are making. Unfortunately, this is rarely taught in keyword marketing, and is an easy mistake to make when you are going on numbers alone...
For Day 4, refer to pages 11-13 in the 31 Day Guide to Growing Your List
"When you're targeting your market, part of your pre-qualification should be that your buyers are able, willing and even eager to buy products that solve problems." -page 12
Keyword Targeting
I always advise people with a product-based site to focus on keyword phrases with commercial intent. Then use informational keyword phrases for content marketing and/or list building.
Depending on your offer, you can use specific keyword modifiers to attract ideal subscribers. Words like "free", "download", and "tips" are used by searchers that want free information instantly. They are searching for specific information, and will go where they can get it free (and hassle-free).
If you do target a keyword phrase with the word "download", cater to that by asking "Where can I send the download link?" - instead of "Sign up for my mailing list to get it!" Half of the targeting process happens with keyword selection, the other half with the message-to-market match on the page. ** <- Important Point! 😉 Different keyword modifiers will work well in different niches. Examples: comparison, guide, how, how to, coupon code, discount code, best way, tips. Targeting "free" and "download" are fine too, as long as the emphasis is on the benefit and draws them into making a buying decision. Window shoppers can be turned into buyers. It's just much easier to turn shoppers into buyers.
Creating a Responsive Mailing List
The 4 most important factors in creating your email list are:
- A Super-Focused Niche/Topic
- Meeting (and Exceeding!) Their Expectations
- Becoming Liked and Trusted by Your Readers
- Creating Good Headlines & Well-Written Emails
If your list is general, your conversion rates will be much lower than average. If your list is super-specific (very tight niche), your conversion rates will be much higher than average.
In the case of a more general website, you may want to offer several email lists or make use of segmenting features in your mailing list manager. I recommend creating a topical opt-in incentive for micro-topics within larger sites, creating separate lists, and using the appropriate opt-in as the call-to-action on the appropriate pages or categories of your site. When you have a more general offer, you can always email multiple lists at once from within your Aweber account.
To meet your subscribers' expectations, always refer back to your squeeze page or opt-in offer. What did you promise them upfront? Are you delivering that? It's easy to go astray (and we've all been victim of that on the other end of an email list, when signing up for tips and getting nothing but pitches.) Go out of your way to send things of interest, even if they are videos or blog posts you find on other websites. See Email Newsletter Ideas.
Becoming liked and trusted takes time. Invest yourself in becoming a market leader. Use your own unique personality, have a strong opinion, research your information (and keep your foot out of your mouth), admit when you're wrong, be personable, and above all... remember that every single "stat" is a real live human being opening your email in their inbox on the other side of the screen - talk to them that way.
Tip: Write to ONE person. Allow every single subscriber to feel as if your email was sent to them specifically, even if they know it was not. Feeling spoken to, versus feeling blasted with an offer, makes a big difference.
Resources
Keeping Your Market Engaged & Responsive
Justin Brooke's Email Marketing Recipe (good read!)
I look forward to hearing your thoughts! 😀
Best,
p.s. If you need a step-by-step fill-in-the-blank solution for newsletter ideas or your autoresponder series, see Instant Niche Emails. The software & entire package is *great* - I've used it on several of my niche affiliate sites...
About Lynn Terry
Great set of tips. It's always important to know who you're targeting and how they think. When you keep abreast of this, you're easily able to determine what motivates them and work accordingly.
A focused group is key. I have only one successful list and it's largely successful because it's a group of similar folks in a single industry. My content to them is for this group specifically, which means most people like the content ... and hence trust is built.
Lynn, this listbuilding series is outstanding. I'm reading along absorbing it all. I have much to learn about listbuilding. I'm on a mission to build traffic right now, but in a few months I will then redirect my efforts to listbuilding. This is my 2011 two-step goal.
Thank you Peter! 🙂
Free is the buzzword and the buzzkill in the music business these days. But it's a great tool when used as you described, Lynn. Free can (and has for me) lead to paid because I used it but didn't abuse it.
Have a great, blessed, and fun "long Mother's Day weekend" with your kids.
Thank you Tony 😀 I am *so* looking forward to a long weekend, lots of fun with the kids, and a huge much-needed break from the home office! Have a great weekend yourself 😉
Great writeup Lynn. I have built lists of freebie seekers before and it was a huge waste of time. You are right...it's all in the keywords...buying keywords, that is.
Thanks,
Mark
I have really enjoyed your post. It's been a while since I visited your blog because I was away too busy with my product creation. But I'm back and I discovered you are on JV series. I think avoiding freebie seekers is a sure way to succeed online. Thanks so much Lynn for sharing.
Great to see you back! Sounds like perfect timing 😉
Updated and optimized my squeeze page and my keyword list. Thinking about charging a nominal fee for my report.
A low-cost report = impulse buy, and generally converts VERY well. It's also a great way to build a list of buyers, which is much more valuable than just a list...
Wow, thanks for the link love Lynn. Some really great posts you got going on in this series. Easily worth more than some Clickbank products we've seen.
I've been thinking long and hard about switching over to the paid newsletter model. Also been thinking about using a nice looking email template instead of text... Internet and email has evolved quite a bit since the days when we all decided that using text based emails was the best way.
Got any wise words for a young pup like me?
Thank you Justin and you're welcome! 🙂
HTML vs Plain Text has been a running debate for years. Formatting is very important. For example, it used to be standard to use a certain line length in plain text emails so that they didn't span so far on the screen that they were hard to read. I have ditched that now that I am reading my email on my mobile device (like so many other people!) because it really screws it up on a mobile screen. Of course HTML emails come out fine on my mobile - whether it's my Droid X or my iPad - so that's still a decent option.
The perk to HTML formatted emails is you get to keep your branding in front of your readers. I'm in the process of creating some new templates myself. I'm looking for a designer to do the task if you know someone you can recommend. 😉
I don't have any experience with the paid newsletter model, outside of the Membernaire model - which obviously works *great*. But it's the same concept as building a list of buyers by selling the product upfront. Buyers are good.
This is a fantastic post on JV series. As usual, you have shown that you know what you're doing. I'm a huge fan of your posts and will definitely bookmark this one for my readers.