Mailing List, Autoresponder, Opt-in? HEEELP!

[affiliaterookie2009]

Hello all,

Should I make sure affiliate product links are all placed before i begin working on a mailing list?

When starting the mailing list what's the first step? Do I write a bunch of newsletters in advance? Or is there a way for my email to contain my most recent post? And what about free incentives?

Also any info on how to do a contact page, or should I just place it in the about me section? I just realized there's no way people can email me which would eliminate all of my next options.

I'm quite confused at this point, I'd greatly appreciate any info on where to begin this part of my journey>

Thanks a lot

 

[Teli]

Hello affiliaterookie,
The answers to your question depends a lot on what you're looking to do.

Do you need to have all your affiliate product links up before you start building your marketing list? Nope. But, it could help in case you wanted to start promoting right away.

Do you need to write your newsletters in advance (basically, create a newsletter series)? Nope. Not unless you wanted an automated system and in that case, you could easily promote a course. For instance, sign up to my mailing list to receive my 8 week course on how to do XYZ. When people subscribe, they're automatically sent each lesson however often you choose (assuming it's one lesson a week, then you'd need to come up with 8 lessons).

As for the contact page, it's simple enough to do if you understand HTML, have your own domain and hosting. Or, you can just set up a free blog or use a free host to create your contact page. But if you're trying to look professional, you'll want to avoid the freebie routes.

So, after saying all of that, let me back up and give you a bit of advice. Ask yourself what you intend to do. How are you going to help the people who come to your site? That's going to be the basis for your next steps.

~ Teli

 

[Joseph Ratliff]

Hello affiliaterookie,
The answers to your question depends a lot on what you're looking to do.

Do you need to have all your affiliate product links up before you start building your marketing list? Nope. But, it could help in case you wanted to start promoting right away.

Do you need to write your newsletters in advance (basically, create a newsletter series)? Nope. Not unless you wanted an automated system and in that case, you could easily promote a course. For instance, sign up to my mailing list to receive my 8 week course on how to do XYZ. When people subscribe, they're automatically sent each lesson however often you choose (assuming it's one lesson a week, then you'd need to come up with 8 lessons).

As for the contact page, it's simple enough to do if you understand HTML, have your own domain and hosting. Or, you can just set up a free blog or use a free host to create your contact page. But if you're trying to look professional, you'll want to avoid the freebie routes.

So, after saying all of that, let me back up and give you a bit of advice. Ask yourself what you intend to do. How are you going to help the people who come to your site? That's going to be the basis for your next steps.

~ Teli

Long time no see (or hear from) Teli!

I am a big fan of having it all done beforehand...but as Teli advised...you can just put it out there.

 

[Linda Buquet]

I know YEA Teli is back! I'm sure it's good to know she was missed!

 

[Teli]

Aaaww, ya'll are so sweet. Thanks for the warm welcome backs. Yea, I've been quiet (super busy offline as well as on...*sigh*).

And, I just wanted to add that I do agree with Joseph on one point: I also like to have all of that stuff done beforehand. It just makes things a bit easier, but it's still important to know *what* you're doing and *why* you're doing it.

 

[rogerbauer]

Here's a suggestion: instead of pre-populating your auto-responder with a series of emails, you could send out a broadcast whenever you think it's appropriate with your latest (up to the minute) content. This is more cumbersome in that you'll have to remind yourself to send semi-frequent updates, but you wouldn't have to pre-develop an entire series before you get rolling.

You could also develop the series as you send broadcasts so your newest subscribers get the same content already sent to longer standing subscribers.

If you're tying your newsletter content into the content on your blog, you could have an RSS feed serve up the content to your subscribers whenever there is a new post to your blog. You can also tie your affiliate links into the blog posts so they'll get duplicated in the RSS feed to your subscribers.