Above is a shot of my Aweber autoresponder account. It's not just the size of my various lists I want you to notice, it's the amount of people who actually open and read my emails. The reason that I can get those sort of open rates, is because I spend time building RELATIONSHIPS with these people... and boy is it worth it!

Below is a brief introduction to email marketing... It's the real "secret" to making money online!
 

An Introduction To Email Marketing

Email marketing, also known as opt-in marketing, is the most stable and long-term revenue generating technique on the Internet. Email marketing is the collection of an email address in exchange for something. For example, someone may be willing to give you their email address and name in exchange for a course on "making money online"...or to sign-up to a newsletter with the hottest dating tips. Could be anything really!

In this day and age, consumers are inundated with marketing messages that work off of pure interruption. You watch your TV and then BAM...you are interrupted with commercials. You listen to the radio and you are getting the latest and greatest invention promoted to you. You open your newspaper, same thing.

Large companies can afford this method of marketing and can connect with millions of people with their big fat budgets (i.e.: Coke or McDonalds). However, it is hard to measure the success of such campaigns, and you only have a single opportunity to make your impression felt!

Unlike traditional forms of advertising, email marketing gives you the ability to invest once to get the clients contact information, then gives you the ability to connect with this person again, and again, and again, potentially for a lifetime. Instead of paying for an ad over and over again, you only have to get the initial subscription and then you can contact the person for FREE!

Below is an example of one of my "lead capture pages". Anyone who signs up, gets my free 7 day boot-camp videos...

When people sign-up to this form, it gives me the ability to contact them again and again, not only with promotions, but also to offer value and insight into the Internet marketing industry.

Email marketing is actually quite simple when broken down. It works like this

(1) You ask for permission from people to join your mailing list in exchange for something (boot-camp, newsletter, guide, etc).

(2) They share their email address and name with you.

(3) You then have permission to offer them information and ultimately marketing promotions.

Not only do you have the opportunity to connect to this person once, as long as you keep a good standing relationship with them, you can continue contacting them over and over again.

Whereas the traditional type of advertising, even Pay-Per-Click (PPC), only allows you to contact someone once in order to recoup the money spent on advertising, you now have multiple chances to generate returns.

Below is an outline of the "flow" of email marketing:


Website Visitor ----> gives permission in exchange for something ------> Joins YOUR LIST------> YOU offer information and promotions ------> YOU MAKE £££

Email marketing is the single most effective way of marketing online. There are three factors that contribute to this.

(1) Pay once, contact forever

Now this is really cool. Unlike your typically PPC or article marketing campaign, with the incorporation of email marketing you have the opportunity to contact people over and over again. You essentially work to get the lead once, then you can contact them over and over again...for FREE.

(2) Can be applied to any niche

One advantage that email marketing has, on some other marketing methods, is that it can be done within any niche. Sure, you can make money within most niches with other marketing techniques, but email marketing allows you to cross-promote relevant products to a niche as you have on going communication with your subscribers.

If someone is interested in weight loss, they may be interested in a George Foreman grill. If  someone is interested in a bird feeder, they are likely interested in bird feed. Having an email list gives you this opportunity. Any industry, any niche...you can build a list within it!

(3) Automated

You know the old Ronco commercial slogan "set it and forget it"? Well, this is appropriate for the email marketing world. Once you get a system in place that is converting visitors into leads, and leads into customers, it is all about scaling up your campaign. Once you get traffic converting within your sequence, it will always convert.

There are tools that allow you to automate the whole process. Email marketing can become hands free, and once you have a formula in place that yields a positive ROI, you having an automated "money making" system in place!

When you enter the email marketing world, competition becomes NULL, because every email, after the initial sign-up, is ONE on ONE. You do not have people competing with you (like traditional advertising). You build that initial relationship correctly, and you are going to have your subscribers waiting for your next email, buying what you tell them to buy, and ultimiately earning you some serious income!

The real money is in email marketing and if you can master it, success will naturally follow :-).