Start a Mailing List and Increase Affiliate Sales

Erik Karey Jun 6th, 2007 No comments

Affiliate marketing can be a tough arena when you first enter. However with the aid of a mailing list you can put some bounce in your affiliate campaigns. Mailing lists can be an extremely helpful marketing tool. Although many people might see them purely as spam, they can be much more. Provide your mailing list subscribers with useful content, content that they asked to receive and then throw in some targeted affiliate links.

The main drawback with mailing lists is that you have to collect them (unless you buy one, which is a bit frowned upon). Collecting a mailing list can be a timely process, but done right can pay off. The first step to creating your list is to setup your list software. There are a few choices here, but the one you will hear the most about is Aweber. Its downside is that it is $19.99/mo with the first month as a free trial. It is upside being that it provides you with everything you need to manage and promote a successful mailing list. Other options for those not willing to shell $20/mo out would be PHPList and Zoodoka

Once you have your software setup you can start building your mailing lists. Make sure to keep your mailing lists categorized as best you can. If you get 1000 emails for your jokes site and 1200 emails from your law site, you probably don’t want to mix the two up. The 1200 people on your law site probably don’t want a joke of the day.

Here are a few ideas on how to build your mailing lists:

Start a Newsletter – Offer unique content that people can’t get from your website. Make them want to signup and get the content.

Use a Forum – If you have a site with a forum already, you can generally use the forum member emails for your lists, assuming that they allowed you to send them emails in the first place. Just check your members’ settings. A mailing list based on a forum can not only help you with affiliate sales, but also boost forum activity.

Opt-in Boxes – Make people aware of your list. Make sure you have a box on your sites for people to opt-in to your lists. In many cases people are willing to opt-in just because it’s there.

Use Your Affiliate Sites – I know many of you probably have sites designed specifically as affiliate sites. Before you offer your product to your user, offer an opt-in box and the offer to send them related content daily or weekly. Once you have their email you can send them the content along with related affiliate links.

Personally I’m just getting started on building my mailing lists too. I’ve started to use 3 of the above tips and my lists are slowly starting to grow. I’m hoping to use them soon and boost my affiliate revenue. I’ll keep everyone updated.

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