Article Surfing Archive

Everyone will tell you... the gold is in the list.

And the reason is simple. Once you have a mailing list, you automatically have your own personal cache of people you can sell products to.

Of course, the bigger and more targeted the list, the better the results. And the result you're ultimately shooting for is more revenue.

Not that you're going to use your mailing list as a permanent and exclusive sales machine. That would be deadly.

What you have to do is keep a fair balance between sales pitches and quality information...

If you send out too many blatant "buy this now" messages, you'll lose the trust and support of your mailing list members.

If you send out too much free information over an extended period of time, you might just alienate your mailing list members when you do finally pitch any type of product to them.

That's where balance comes into play. You need to supply them with quality information and advice for free. But you also need to incorporate promotion messages that are related to that information.

For example...

Let's say your business is based on SEO information and products. In one of your mailings, you're explaining how to get the most benefit out of Google Adwords.

And in the midst of all that free information and advice, you let them know about a great software program that can increase their advertising profit margins.

Or maybe the information you're providing is based on different methods of generating website traffic. That would be the perfect opportunity to mention a search engine optimization or link building product.

Overall, it's much more effective to include your sales pitch either within or associated with any free advice or information. It's the soft-sell approach that most customers find much less offensive.

But since the whole point of having a private mailing list is to enjoy the benefit of sending messages to an eager and receptive audience (and do it whenever you want), there will also be numerous occasions when you're simply promoting something. Without including any free information or advice.

And therein lies the gold!