This happened today, and has happened on a few occasions when dealing with the folks at MaxBlogPress.

My first dealings with them were to get a couple free plugins. Specifically the customizable opt in box plugin and the ad stripe plugin ~ both of which I use on my Internet Marketing Strategy for Beginners site.

When I got these plugins and installed them to make them work I had to opt in to MaxBlogPress’s list. Brilliant. I was a little annoyed but quickly got over it when I started getting their emails and all the valuable information and products they provide.

Because the first emails I read from them were so helpful to me they have earned a place directly in my inbox. You see most of my internet marketing lists skip the in box and go directly to a folder called “IM lists” which I read when I have time (or really never), however, MaxBlogPress, has impressed me and I actually look forward to their emails.

(This is exactly how it is supposed to work, and how I hope my list is working)

Today I received an email from them about  interviews they’ve done with some of the best bloggers around about getting traffic to their sites. I’ve seen these “interviews” before, usually a bunch of fluff with no real information. Normally I wouldn’t have even checked it out, however, because it came from them and they have earned my trust I went and looked. I downloaded the pdf and holy COW!! It was good. Really good.

It was of course a presell for the entire product, which was also brilliant on their part. Because of the great content they gave away for free I’m really interested to see what comes next. I will have my eyes open for the email that comes telling me the new product is launching and I’ll take a look at it.

What’s even more fun than getting the great information was seeing the process in action, done perfectly. It gives me a great place to compare and contrast my process and think about whether the things I do are landing on my readers in the way their process has landed on me.

Here’s the post with the MaxBlogPress traffic download. You can grab it yourself.

As an affiliate marketer think about your sales process and see if your process is working in the same way that theirs worked on me. If you don’t think it is ~ time to tweak!! Here’s a free ebook outlining the 6 step process I’m using to create a sales process that works.

Do you worry that if you set them up you’ll have to keep creating content and manage them and it will just become too overwhelming? I certainly have thought that too.

However, I found a great plan that is simple and quick  to set up and can stand on its own when it’s done.

It includes creating an ecourse on any topic you decide.

Sounds complicated right? Nope.  It’s a simple 6 step process that you can probably get done today!!

Here’s a free report that will take you through the six steps it takes and tell you exactly what you need to do to have an ecourse up and running and earning money for you by tomorrow.

How to Create an Ecourse in One Day! ~

Grab it and use it! I think I’m going to set one up for all the “niche” sites I’ve been doing. What a great way to create another income stream from a site you already have up!

How I Get Subscribers To Read My Emails
by Jimmy D. Brown

Did you notice the title of this article? It’s going to be important in just a minute, so glance back at it one more time…

“How I Get Subscribers To Read My Emails”.

Any list publisher in the world knows in order to get subscribers responding to their email messages, those subscribers must first READ those email messages.

The question is – how to pull it off?

Let’s face it, just blasting out a message to your list won’t make the grade these days. It’s hard enough getting the darn thing delivered properly. Getting subscribers to actually read your mailing takes a bit of work.

And yet there IS a very systematic, very scientific formula for getting list members to take a look at your emails and read what you’ve got waiting for them.

It’s called – PRAYER!

Well, maybe that’s not the formula but it certainly couldn’t hurt. LOL

Getting back to the point, it’s all about crafting powerful “subject lines”.

The reason you’re here reading this is because the title in this article got your attention long enough to get you to take action.

So, it obviously worked.

Which prompts two important questions:

1. Why did my title work well enough to get you to read it and respond?

2. How can you apply the same technique I used to see results with your emails?

Let’s break down the subject line I used, “How I get subscribers to read my emails”, into three important keys as we answer those two questions…

Key 1 : Focus On The End Result.

One of the things that undoubtedly caught your attention when you originally read my title was the fact that it spoke of some enticing results that I was achieving, that YOU would like to achieve as well…

“get subscribers to read my emails”

That’s an end result that every email marketer wants to achieve, getting their subscribers to actually open up and read their emails.

So, from the beginning there is this indication, this hint, that I am about to share something that has already been proven to produce desirable results.

That’s all ad copy is, folks, whether it’s a salesletter or a classified ad or an email subject line. The primary objective is to get the reader thinking about the END RESULT.

Start with the end in mind.

What potential results can you promise to your subscribers if they open your email and take a look inside?

I assure you, when a man or woman on the other end of the line gets your email, that’s what they want to know – “What’s in it for me?”

You should never click the “send” button until you have made dead certain that something in your subject line appeals to the wants and desires of the individuals who are on your list.

Specifically, focusing on a desirable result (or lack of results, if you are using the “fear of loss” approach) that is so interesting to your subscribers that they stop in their tracks to read what you’ve got inside.

Start with the end results in mind: “get subscribers to read my emails”.

Whatever results YOUR specific list wants to achieve – as it relates to the mailing you are about to send -

* Speed read 150 pages an hour
* Get free airline tickets
* Raise a child model
* Take an extra day off each week
* Stop headaches for good
* Lost 12 pounds in 2 weeks
* Cut wedding costs in half
* Save your marriage
* Quit smoking in 30 days

After you’ve decided what “end result” you want to focus on, there is a second key to consider…

Key 2: Give Them An Example To Follow.

Learn this and learn this well: nothing – absolutely nothing – speaks louder than personal results.

How many times have you asked a man or woman who has lost a lot of weight…

“How did you do it?”

Just the other day the youth pastor at my church invited me to speak to the youth during a Wednesday night service. I accepted and for forty-five minutes those teenagers sat quietly, hanging on my every word.

After the service was over, the youth pastor came to me and said those magical words, “How did you do it?”

He went on to explain that they are rarely quiet with him and he has a hard time getting them to pay attention. He was so interested in learning how I did it that he dropped by my home the next day to ask me more questions.

Nothing – absolutely nothing – speaks louder than personal results.

* How did you lose that weight?
* How did you get those youth to listen to you?
* How did you get your lawn so green?
* How did you raise two great kids?
* How did you get that promotion?
* How did you teach your toddler to swim?

You get the attention of your subscriber by hinting at results, but you reel them in by giving them details on how you personally achieved those desirable results.

If we have a pattern to follow, we can do it ourselves.

And that’s what we really want.

Notice my subject line: “How I get subscribers to read my emails”.

* How I speed read 150 pages an hour
* How I get free airline tickets
* How I raised a child model
* How I take an extra day off each week
* How I stopped headaches for good
* How I lost 12 pounds in 2 weeks
* How I cut wedding costs in half
* How I saved my marriage
* How I quit smoking in 30 days

Every single one of us that desires a result, wants to know how to achieve it. And we’d rather not go to the pains of trying to figure it out ourselves.

We’d much rather have someone who has achieved what we want to achieve show us how to do it.

That’s why you are reading this article. Does my system work? You tell me.

You wouldn’t be here unless it did.

But, there’s a third key as well…

Key 3 : Use A Proven Template To Save Time And Increase Results.

Now, to be completely honest with you, this technique won’t work if you continue using it every single time you do a mailing to your list.

While you do want to hint at results and even mention personal results, you cannot simply plug in the same subject line over and over again…

* How I make money as an affiliate
* How I make money with joint ventures
* How I make money with my ezine
* How I make money with pay-per-clicks
* How I make money with banners
* How I make money with autoresponders

I mean, that’s gonna get old after a while. It’s gonna lose its luster. It’s not going to be nearly as effective after folks continue seeing it over and over again.

That’s why you need to keep a set of proven effective subject line templates on hand, so you can “copy and paste” them every time you need a “grabber” subject line for your mailings. Watch what your favorite ezine authors do and you’ll come up with some good ones, or you can purchase a set of hot subject lines that you can use any time.

So, that’s how I get subscribers to read emails. I encourage you to do those three things with your own opt-in list…

Focus On The End Result.
Give Them An Example To Follow.
Use A Proven Template To Save Time And Increase Results.

…………………….
Ready to learn more from Jimmy D. Brown about getting your subscribers to open, read and act upon the messages you send them? Then grab your copy of Subject Line Secrets today.  Not only will you find out which words trigger your readers to click on your emails, you will also get 20 proven templates you can start using right away.

It hasn’t always been, in fact, there was quite a while when you couldn’t add an opt in box to your Squidoo lens. You had to  place a clickable image in a text module. When people went to put their name it they would be transferred to a page where you had a functioning opt in box they could fill in.

Those days are over, and as you know you should take every single opportunity you can to add people to your list of subscribers.

There are 2 ways you can use Squidoo to build your list, let’s take a look at what they are.

1. Lead them to a squeeze page.

Most people send readers directly to an affiliate product from Squidoo. This can be a mistake because you will only get a small percentage of people who will buy the first time they land on a product page. You want to be able to talk to them more, so you need them on your list before you send them to the sales page.

My suggestion is instead of sending people directly to the sales page, you send them to your opt in page instead.  This means you need to have an opt in page set up to send them to. You can create your own and upload it to your server, or you can take advantage of this service where you can simply fill in the blanks and the software will automatically create your squeeze page. The service will also host your squeeze pages, no matter how many you create so you don’t have to worry about that either. It’s pretty handy.

2. Add an Opt In Box to Your Squidoo Lens

The second way you can go is to add an opt in box directly to your Squidoo lens. These kind of opt in boxes have a great conversion rate because they are exactly what the person is looking for and it’s right in the middle of content they are looking at.

It’s a bit of a process to get an opt in box in your lens, but there’s a great free guide available that will walk you through it.  The guide is not mine ~ and you will have to opt in for it, but it’s totally worth it. I’m saw an increase in my subscriber rate right away after I added some opt in boxes to lenses.

Here’s the lens where you can get the free guide to add an opt in box to a Squidoo lens.

Either way you decide to go, know you are on the right track. My business grew by leaps and bounds once I jumped in and decided to build a list. Yours can too, and it doesn’t have to be as hard as you think it is, in fact, it can be pretty simple.

If you have any questions feel free to ask them in the comments section below!

How to Pull In As Much Profit As Your Wallet Will Hold
With Opt-In Lists

By Jimmy D. Brown

The fortune is in the list.

If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard that said, well, I’d already have a fortune!

However “broken-recordish” it may sound, it is a truthful statement.  The fortune REALLY IS in the list.

Fact is, if you possess the knowledge of how to grow and profit from opt-in lists, you can pretty much write your own ticket.

And, if you’ll read the remainder of this article, I’ll pass that knowledge right on to ya.

It comes down to getting folks to do four things…

1. REQUEST. First things first, you need to convince people to “opt-in” to your list.  That is, get them to join your list of their own free will.

Usually, this involves giving away a mini-course, report or newsletter from your web site.  All you need is..

- An Attention Grabbing Title. (I could have chosen “4 Keys to Successful Email Promotions” for this article, but is that as attention-grabbing as “How to Pull in As Much Profit As Your Wallet Will Hold From Opt-In Lists”?)

- A Handful of Bulleted Benefits. (A short list of 4-6 desirable things subscribers will learn if they join your list. Think “what’s in it for me?”)

- An Opt-In Submission Form. (Your autoresponder system will provide this for you.)

NOTE: The BEST way to get folks to join is to embed the above mentioned items DIRECTLY in the most prominent place you have your site visitors’ attention.  Usually this is 3-5 paragraphs into your sales letter or 1/3 of the way into an ezine article.

2. RECEIVE.  After visitors to your site have “requested” information by joining your list, it’s critical that your emails be delivered successfully to their inbox.  With all of the filters in place (among other hazards) this can be quite a chore.

One thing you’ll want to do for certain is check your SPAM rating to make certain it’s in an acceptable range. Again, most of the better autoresponder services offer this feature for you.

You can also do things like…

- Get your subscribers to “approve” mailings from you.

- Authenticate yourself as a legitimate mailer when you receive a “response challenge” from protection services such as Spam Arrest.

- Use alternative formats of your email messages such as “downloadable email messages” in PDF format.

3. READ.  When your emails successfully arrive at the inboxes of your subscribers, another task awaits – getting them to  actually open your message and read it.

This is going to depend upon your “subject line”.  It is paramount that your subject line be intriguing enough to convince your readers to stop what they are doing and take a look inside.

One way to get this done is to create a swipe file of email subject lines that have convinced YOU to read the messages and then modify those subject lines for your own use.

Ex.  I received an email that had the subject line of “This affiliate tip is almost too easy” that caught my attention and forced me to read the associated message.

This subject line could easily be used in a variety of different niches…

- This dieting tip is almost too easy
- This time management tip is almost too easy
- This marriage saving tip is almost too easy

4. RESPOND.  When you have convinced your subscribers to open your email message and read its contents, the only remaining “task” is to get them to respond.

You want them to take action.  Click a link.  Go somewhere.  Ultimately, spend money with you.

The only way you’ll be able to do this is follow a simple catch phrase I’ve been teaching for years:  “useful, but incomplete”.

It simply means this:  your messages must provide content that is useful to your subscribers (otherwise, they’ll unsubscribe faster than you can say “oops”!), but is also “incomplete” in that there is some additional offer that could enhance or maximize that content.

Ex.  You might write an article that shares “7 Ways to Profit With Autoresponders” to send to your list.  That’s “useful” information to those who are interested in that particular topic.  It’s also “incomplete” because they need an autoresponder service to put the information into action.  That’s your cue to promote your recommended autoresponder service.

See how it works?

If you want to pad your wallet with profits by using opt-in lists, this is how you do it:

Get people to do these four things

- Request
- Receive
- Read
- Respond

This is a system that has never failed, will never fail. I’ve used it.  Others have used it.

Now, it’s your turn to use it.

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For the first time, ever, Jimmy D. Brown is sharing his simple, yet powerful 6-step system that will show you how to grow your list, provide your readers with the content they crave and start making more money than you ever expected from your list. Do I have your attention yet? Then visit http://listprofit.affiliatemarketingwahm.com to get your copy of the List Profit System today.

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That was until I did lol. Once I did it I realized it wasn’t that complicated, or hard, and I LOVED the feeling of creating a relationship with the people on my list, and them trusting me. I loved being able to say hey I found this great thing that works for me and them responding by buying what I recommended. There really is no better feeling that knowing you’ve done your job in building a relationship so well, that you can send out an email and make money.

If you aren’t sold on the process or just don’t know what it entails, here’s a free ebook that will help you understand the process, and maybe not be so intimidated about getting started.

How to Build a List for Affiliate Marketing

Once you’ve finished it, come back and let me know what you think.