Today’s interview features Australian entrepreneur, Yaro Starak

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Please introduce yourself to our readers…

My name is Yaro Starak. I operate from a home office or a laptop while traveling. I draw on my experience and passion for web business to teach others how to build and manage successful Internet enterprises.

When, how and why did you get started with blogging @ Entrepreneurs-Journey.com?

I began Entrepreneurs-Journey.com officially in January 2005, however I started blogging three months before that on a proofreading blog for my business at the time, BetterEdit.com

The blog was simply something I wanted to test first as an SEO tool, then decided to do it as a hobby and share what was in my head about entrepreneurship and internet marketing. It grew from there.

What is your experience with list building so far?

I began my first list in January of 2006, a full year after starting blogging. At first my list grew slowly, but eventually after doing some launches and releasing some great free reports, it started to rapidly increase. Today I have almost 100,000 subscribers.

What are the TOP areas I should concentrate on when building my list first time?

Focus on creating a “gauntlet” of content emails. This is a series of content focused lessons, which go out automatically after a person subscribes to your list. These emails build relationships and give your subscribers value, so when you do ask them to buy something from you, they trust you.

Do you have a formula for writing subject lines that get opened?

Not specifically a formula, just some good rules I’ve learned from years of sending out emails. I find the best headlines are short, focus on curiosity and are all about the one person receiving the email, not about you and not written as if you are talking to many people – it’s just the one person.

What would you say is the one most important thing you’ve learned about writing openings?

You need to grab the attention of your subscriber quickly, so I find telling them a major benefit they will have as a result of reading your email or clicking the link you are presenting works well.

Telling stories really helps, but sometimes just a really short email works best because long emails tend to be ignored if people don’t have time.

What about getting clicks?

To maximize clicks I recommend you include as many as three links to the same page, one at the start, one in the middle or towards the end of the message, and one in the P.S. Sometimes you have to ask people multiple times to take an action.

So how do you make money with your list[s]?

I make money by recommending quality affiliate offers and selling my own courses. I also drive traffic back to my blog, which contains advertisements that sponsors pay me money to display.

Who are you learning from or getting inspiration when it comes to writing your emails?

I learned the most from Eben Pagan or his alter ego, David DeAngelo. I also admire Frank Kern for how succinct he is. Between these two guys you have a great example of how to use compelling short and long emails.

What are your list building plans for the future? And what do you expect others do once they finish reading your interview?

My list grows by about 100 new subscribers every day thanks to my reports and blog, so I don’t need to do much to keep the machine running. However you enjoy massive list growth when your do a new launch with affiliates, so I try and do one or two of these a year at least.

If you want to learn more about how I use my blog to build my list, I recommend you watch my free video here – http://www.conversionblogging.com

Thank you for sharing your list building wisdom with us!

P.S. If you have any questions or suggestions on today’s interview, comment below [I want to hear from you]…

For more list building interviews, click here…

Are you busy building a list…getting subscribers…and not seeing any change in your bottom line?  Would you rather have shoppers…or buyers…on your list today?

You’re sending emails to your subscribers for one specific purpose…to encourage them to take an action of some kind.  If you want that action to be to purchase a product from your website,  here are a few things …to consider:

1) Are you unique…enough?

Let’s say you’re in the health field, and you’re marketing supplements.  You’ve attracted interest…as evidenced by your increasing subscriber list.   You’ve written some good articles…are had someone else write them…that have done a good job of explaining how and why supplements can help.  Do any of those articles, or your landing page, really hone in on why the supplements you’re marketing are different from other supplements on the market?  Why are your supplements better suited to solve the problems your subscribers, or their loved ones, are experiencing, than any other similar supplement?  Maybe it’s the source of the primary ingredient, maybe it’s the process used to create the supplement, or the superior strength.  Whatever it is, are you adequately describing, or painting a picture of what your subscriber can expect to achieve by using your supplements?

2) Are you controversial…enough?

Part of convincing others to take action is to create the controversy that exists in your subscriber’s minds.   Let’s stay with the supplement marketer for an example.  Ask the question “Are XYZ supplements really helpful or are they a waste of money?”   Show research and testimonials that answer the question clearly and affirmatively.   If you’re marketing a particular supplement, are you using it yourself?   What were you attempting to cure?  What was the debate that raged in your head…that you answered with this one product…that you either purchased and became a distributor of…or developed… that allows you to uniquely identify now with each one of your subscribers.  Dare to be different…in a way that your subscribers can identify with.

3) Are you scarce…enough?

Not only why should they buy your product…but why should they buy it now?  Are key ingredients getting harder to find?  Are prices about to go up?  Do you have excess inventory  (unexpired of course) at the moment that you’re willing to part with at a reduced rate to make room for the new shipment coming in?  Is there a current legislative movement being pushed by large pharmaceutical companies that’s creating potential for banning this type of product?

Identify wholly with your subscribers.  Think what they think.  Feel what they feel.   When you do this, you’ll find buyers…of your products and passions…on your list today.

Author info:

Max Kazen is an email marketing strategist, writer, public speaker and business coach, with an arsenal of writing skills built from 20 + years of persuasive corporate writing and leadership positions in Operations, Labor Relations, and Human Resources in major Fortune 100 transportation company.

Working with…a top professional web copywriter, Ray Edwards.

http://maxkazen.com

The secrets that you are about to learn have the power to change your affiliate marketing campaign! It is so important to focus on your click through rate if you want to see serious results in your list response, allowing for even greater revenue from the ads or banners that you may have posted as an affiliate marketer.

First of all, make sure that you are doing your keyword research.

This makes a dramatic difference in your click through rates, and you can easily use the Google Keyword Tool to do so. It’s important have specific keyword phrases that target your demographic and niche market, and you can verify what people are actually searching for online.

Fine tune your landing page.

This is something highly important for the click through rates of an affiliate marketer because the landing page is what will attract the customer to make a conversion to your product or service. In fact, you can even split test your landing page to see which keywords work better for your target market.

Write your own ads.

After you have done your keyword research, it is important to write your own ads using those keywords to generate a higher click through rate. You can also use negative keywords in your ad to draw attention and entice a customer to click through to your website.

Use the word “Free”.

No matter what, the word “free” is going to attract readers to click on your ad. They will want to see what may or may not be offered for free, and customers are much more likely to sign up for a product or service if something free is offered. In fact, they are often willing to pay more for a product if they are also given something for free. Food for thought…

Use catchy headlines in your banners.

Attention grabbing headlines will make a serious difference in your click through rate, especially if you are offering a solution to the problem of your target market. An example of this would be to advertise that the customer can “look years younger in moments” for an anti aging or makeup product. It really will work!

These techniques will set you up for success as an affiliate marketer to generate an even greater income by dramatically increasing your click through rates!

Author info:

For a great selection of all things coffee, check out Chuggin McCoffee’s website, The Coffee Bump.

Feel free to leave your comments on today’s article…

Read today’s interview with pro blogger and six-figure business mind David Risley

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Please introduce yourself to our readers…

My name is David Risley and I’ve been blogging for a living for over a decade now. I got my start as a technology blogger and built that up into a six-figure business. Today, while still running that, I am now focusing on showing other bloggers how to turn this craft into real online businesses and monetize the real way.

When, how and why did you get started with blogging @ DavidRisley.com?

A couple years ago, I decided I wanted to branch out into something other than tech. My real passions had evolved more into Internet and business stuff. At the same time, I was an avid reader of other blogs about blogging. However, I felt they were missing the boat and not really getting down to business, as evidenced by the fact that so few bloggers really successfully turn “pro” at this. So, I decided to start my own blog about it, drawing from my long experience in the biz.

What is your experience with list building so far?

In my business, list building is a core fundamental and I think it is a shame that so many bloggers out there are not building lists. I went for a few years not building a list on my tech blog (PCMech.com) and I curse all those lost years of progress! When I finally connected the dots and started building that list is when the business actually started moving from hobby to real business. Today, list building is always a consideration for everything I do.

What are the TOP areas I should concentrate on when building my list first time?

The “sell”. Realize that you have to sell people into the idea of joining your list even though there is no money changing hands. So, give them something really good to entice them onto the list. And use some ad copy with the giveaway to draw on their sense of curiosity and mystery so it really draws them in and earns that opt in.

Do you have a formula for writing subject lines that get opened?

Not really. I just ask myself – would I open it? Again, draw on the sense of mystery or curiosity, and give it some punch so that it stands out in the sea of email they inevitably have in their inbox.

What would you say is the one most important thing you’ve learned about writing openings?

Be personal and real. You want the email to be like it was from a good friend. Secondly, realize that the only job of the opening is to get them to read the next paragraph.

What about getting clicks?

Interestingly, I find that often the shortest emails get the most clicks. We’re talking about a sentence or two, packed with curiosity, then a link. With a good enough draw, they practically can’t keep themselves from clicking on it unless they are so jaded that they’ve already got one foot in the grave.

So how do you make money with your list[s]?

I do some affiliate marketing, but primarily I promote my own products with the list. I also be sure to build that relationship and give them good content more often than I sell to them. So, often, I’ll email them just to tell them about my latest blog post and entice them to read/comment. But, it really bugs me when I see these traditional internet marketers literally NEVER email their list without promoting something for sale. To me, that’s a bit sleazy. Where’s the value?

Who are you learning from or getting inspiration when it comes to writing your emails?

I kind of do my own thing, however I am subscribed to a bunch of email lists in my niche so that I can monitor what they’re doing. Too many to name, really.

What are your list building plans for the future? And what do you expect others do once they finish reading your interview?

I plan to keep doing it, of course. By providing solid content and really getting my brand out there in my market, I’ll draw people into my blog and into my squeeze pages for getting onto my list. I’m also going to be conducting a few more product launches this year with affiliates, so that always helps expand the list, too.

As for people reading this interview, I just say “Get Busy”. There is absolutely no rocket science to list building. It is all common sense. The biggest prerequisite is not letting grass grow under your feet and just get busy.

Thank you for sharing your list building wisdom with us!

P.S. If you have any questions or suggestions on today’s interview, comment below [I want to hear from you]…

For more list building interviews, click here…

List Deliverability Update (and maybe a Game Changer): Yahoo!, Gmail and others folder your email automatically!

There is a movement out there that could change email inboxes forever.   Yahoo!, Gmail and other email providers have started moving commercial email into separate, automatically generated, non-Inbox folders.  This means that the list you have spent so much time building and the email you created and sent might never see the inbox. Instead it could fall into one of the pre defined folders.

What can you do about this?

1- Remind your subscribers to keep a look out for your email.  Always ask them to white list your domain.

2- Use keywords in your email or in the alt tags.  If you are promoting a website, include the website name, topics etc. This will help to be sure your email falls into the correct inbox folder.

3- Keep in mind that right now this is an application that must be installed.  As a result, it won’t reach critical mass immediately. Learn about this now so you will be ahead of the curve.

4- A positive from this new technology is that it appears that legitimate emails will no longer go to the ‘spam’ folder.  It will instead be directed to one of the predefined inbox folders.

5- Take a look at this technology to see how it works.  Go to www.otherinbox.com.

Does this mean the end of all of our deliverability problems?  Will it dramatically decrease or increase domain performance to those email providers? I can’t say now, but I have begun tracking this more closely and you should as well.

Here’s the screen shot from my Yahoo! account showing the new ‘Shopping’ folders:

What do you think about this?

About author

Jordan Lane is an Email Marketing expert. His website, http://www.emailmoxie.com/ ,offers Email marketing Best Practices, Knowledge & Tips. Follow Jordan on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/JordanDLane

We can probably all agree that the days when you could just ask a website visitor to enter his/her name and email address are long gone.  Website visitors now receive so much email marketing that they only “give up” this info for something of value.

Now if you have a restaurant, for example, the something of value could be a coupon for a free second dinner.  Or if you have an online DVD store, you could offer a coupon for a half-price DVD.

Yet if your business, like mine, is about providing information to your target market, then you should be demonstrating with free information that your knowledge is valuable.

One cautionary note: Yes, you can ask people to sign up for an online newsletter.  But most of us get so many online newsletters that we don’t read them – too many and too much info.  (Only a couple of free online newsletters do I read regularly, and I do not wish to add to that number.)

Thus a free report is the ideal in my opinion.  But this can’t just be any report.  Here are some guidelines for your free report:

•    On the topic of your business.

This may seem obvious but isn’t always carried out.  For example, your business may be online marriage counseling and you offer a free report on the best places to buy used furniture because that’s your hobby.  If the free report is to convince people of the value of your marriage counseling advice, then the report has to be on that topic.

•    Written in good English with (hopefully) no spellcheck errors, typos, etc.

I just read a book on social media that had several errors in it, including such mistakes as reign when the word meant was rein, possessive when the plural was meant, etc.  Obviously if this book had been about good writing habits, I would have not trusted the advice very much.  FYI – If you’re not a good proofreader, give your free report to someone who is to check it for you.

•    Info that is worthwhile.

This needs some explanation.  I do not mean info that can’t be found anywhere else on the web because that’s probably an impossible feat.  But I do mean the actual info rather than a tease.  In other words, give the info you promise instead of talking about giving the info.

For example, I’ve just written a new free report “How to Monetize Your Site/Blog Without Ads.”  In this report I give very specific steps with links for further info so that people may actually act on the information.

In other words, I did NOT just write that sites/blogs can be monetized and that it is a good idea to find a way to do this.  That info is not worthwhile.  That info is the question; your site visitors want the answer.

•    Choose a good title that conveys the promise of the information without promising more than you can reasonably deliver.

The title of your report should attract your target market, be a realistic representation of the actual information, and not promise the sky (such as “How to Legally Make a Million Dollars in Two Weeks”).

•    Write new reports.

If you’ve had your free report on offer for some time, write a new report.  You can keep the optin box for the old report on your site for first-time visitors who haven’t seen that offer.  But you need to have new free reports for two reasons:

1) Some of your website visitors want to know what else you have – they may still need more convincing that you know what you are talking about.

2) Different people have different questions they want answered.

My new report “How to Monetize Your Site/Blog Without Ads” is an addition to free reports I already offer about Twitter and other Internet marketing elements.  When I first started writing new reports, I swapped out the old report for the new one.  Then I stopped doing this when I realized that the old one still had value for some people.  Now I simply add new optin boxes to my company site.

In conclusion, whenever I write a free report, I put myself in the perspective of the reader and write for that one person.  I use easily accessible language – no need to demonstrate that I know “big” words – and I use at least 12 point in the report so people don’t have to squint to read what I’ve written.

If you follow the above advice and share information that your target market wants to know, you should be writing free reports that attract people to join your list.

About the author

Phyllis Zimbler Miller has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and blogs at her company website – www.millermosaicllc.com/blog .  If you are interested in integrating Twitter, Facebook and your website, grab her FREE report “Twitter, Facebook and Your Website: A Beginning Blueprint for Harnessing the Power of 3 for Your Business” now from www.millermosaicpowerof3.com

There are email marketers who get sky-high open rates. And those who never will!

What is the secret?

The pros have stumbled upon a way to get strangers open their emails. In fact, some of your competitors might use this secret to get your subscribers open their emails, and spend money with them, instead of you.

You can’t let this happen to you. Let’s change tables. It’s time to beat your competitors with their own weapon. And discover the secret to getting sky-high open rates.

Once you know this, miracles will start happening:

1. Strangers will open your emails
2. Subscribers will open your emails more often
3. Clicks will skyrocket and income will jump

When it comes to getting emails opened, subject field matters the most. Studies show that 5 times more people will read the subject line than the actual email content.

Put it this way. A bad, dull or boring line will get 5 times less people read your emails.

When you start using this secret to getting more people opening your emails, you’d be able to attract 2, 3 and even 5 times more clicks

Instead of getting 10 clicks, you can get 20, 30 and even 50! Imagine the possibilities.

Instead of making $100 per mailing, you could be making $200, $300 and even $500. Obviously this won’t be the standard rule, it will probably not happen every time, this is just to show you the potential of what an irresistible subject line can do for your email marketing.

How to write irresistible email subject lines:

1. Learn from the pros.

They know it best. Email marketing pros do one of these two things – hire top gun copywriters. Or copy-cat other top-gun copywriters. Some do both.

2. Study copywriting

If this is a new term for you, be aware – copywriting stands for writing emails that get opened [with, or without commercial intent]. Copywriting is mostly used by advertising firms and individuals to sell or promote products and services.

Copyright stands for exclusive rights to copy, distribute and adapt an intellectual work [article, book, etc]. If you want your article not to be used by others, you’ll @ copyright it.

The best email subject lines can be found in your INBOX. The ones attracting your attention will probably attract your subscribers and customers attention too. Use them!

3. Adapt

It is not enough to copy-cat a subject line, word by word. You have to adapt it to your personal email marketing campaign. Adjust it to fit your core message.

There you have it. How the pros get sky-high open rates. Hire professionals or observe how others are doing it, and adapt their lines to your marketing. There’s no other way around it.

Speak up!

How do you get others open your email? What do you do? What secrets are you using?

If you are tired of not drawing a response from your e-mail campaign, then here’s what you need to do in order to get higher open rates.

Just as a refresher, an open rate is how many e-mails are actually opened within a campaign versus how many are sent. Unfortunately, many people are prone to clicking delete on an e-mail instead of actually opening it. To solidify greater results, here are five tips to get you started:

Resend the same e-mail to those that did not open the e-mail initially.

This will give people who initially deleted an e-mail the opportunity to open it a second time, greater increasing the results of your e-mail campaign.

Rely on users on your list with dedicated results.

If you are seeing great results from e-mails sent to the same IP addresses, target those users on your list within your e-mail campaign to increase your open rate.

Use prime e-mail time.

The best times to send an e-mail are between Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 AM to 2 PM. This is when people feel less bombarded in the middle of their work week, and they will be much more likely to open an e-mail that you have sent.

Be clear and to the point in your e-mail title.

People will be likely to open an e-mail if it is clear and concise, instead of overwhelmed with information. To get a higher open rate, focus on a clear and targeted title that will catch people’s attention. In fact, you can take examples from other e-mails that you have been sent that were effective to grab your attention as inspiration.

Use a fine tuned and targeted opt-in list.

If you have a number of e-mails that are not getting opened, go through your opt-in list to make sure that your list members are still interested in your product or service. This will prevent a lower open rate so that you can see even greater results in conversions from your e-mail campaign!

The truth is that an e-mail campaign can be quite effective when done properly. These tips will prevent a number of issues in lower open rates to yield greater results in conversions for your product or service!

Author info:

For a great selection of all things coffee, check out Chuggin McCoffee’s website, The Coffee Bump.

Feel free to leave your comments on today’s article…

What could a 18-year old entrepreneur who enjoys blogging, creating sites and products, teach you about list building that you don’t know already?

Read the answer in today’s interview with Jason Pereira …

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My name’s Jason Pereira. I’m an 18 year old entrepreneur who specializes in website development, products and blogging. My main internet marketing blog is located at TheUniversityKid.com

When, how and why did you get started with blogging @ TheUniversityKid.com?

I actually started blogging in 2007 as part of a competition with a few online friends to see whether any of us could reach $15,000 in six months. I was 15. The blog was setup to document my progress – and I loved blogging so much I continued to blog even after the competition was over. Although I sold the blog in April 2009 as I didn’t have the time to run it anymore, I recently bought it back in January 2010 for $3,000 and have big plans for it.

What is your experience with list building so far?

I quite like list building. My first experience with list building started way back at the beginning of 2008 – an informal list of website buyers which was made on instant messenger programs like MSN, Skype etc. I didn’t know what Aweber was at the time, and even if I did I didn’t have a credit card to sign up for it. That list has made me five figures so far. My first experience with a ‘conventional’ list was using Email Aces – although I had around 150-200 people opt in the first day, the service was so terrible I eventually restarted with Aweber. I’ve used list building to add to my income on both my niche sites as well as my internet marketing websites, although I believe I haven’t yet mastered list building in the IM niche.

What are the TOP areas I should concentrate on when building my list first time?

I believe you should give your subscribers a top class product after they opt in – this can be an eBook, course, video series, entirely up to you. I also believe that you should have a way for them to be able to see the quality of it before they trust you with their email address – on a blog for example, they can read your posts before they decide whether they want to opt in. On a squeeze page, you should put a sample of the product (a screenshot of it, testimonials, video, something like that). And of course build a relationship with your subscribers, don’t spam them and only promote high quality stuff.

Do you have a formula for writing subject lines that get opened?

I’ve found that figures (for example, Learn How He Made $1,000 With This…) or questions (What Do You Want To Know About X?) tend to work best.

What would you say is the one most important thing you’ve learned about writing openings?

Don’t mislead, don’t overhype and don’t be boring. That’s three but I’d say the second is the most important. J

What about getting clicks?

Same as above, but be as intriguing as possible and give them a reason to click through (for example give them half of a story or bullet points to a method and make subscribers click through to get the full deal).

So how do you make money with your list[s]?

By promoting products to them and indirectly as well (the greater my list size, the more people that read my blog, meaning the higher I can sell ads for, for example).

Who are you learning from or getting inspiration when it comes to writing your emails?

Alex Goad is a legend, while I definitely respect people like Michel Fortin. Although most IM ‘gurus’ are hated for the way they promote to their lists, it clearly works – as $1mill days and hours have shown.

What are your list building plans for the future? And what do you expect others do once they finish reading your interview?

I plan to take my blog to 10,000 subscribers, build huge lists in at least 4-5 niches and promote more effectively to them.

Thank you for sharing your list building wisdom with us!

P.S. If you have any questions or suggestions on today’s interview, comment below [I want to hear from you]…

For more list building interviews, click here…

Is there anything new to learn about list building from an Internet marketing blogger? If I told you this guy squeezed $3,500 in sales by pushing a button to a small targeted list of people, would you listen to him?

What this young guy knows about building lists that make money that others don’t?

Let’s find out in this brand-new interview with Tom @ BuildThatList.com

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Hey everyone! My name is Tom and I am a 23 year old Australia that is just recently married to the most amazing wife and expecting our first child.

I started in the whole ‘Internet Marketing’ and blogging scene about 3 years ago, but being the slow learner that I am it took me quite a while to get started.

In that time I have created quite a few blogs and started building my fair share of lists but do to lack of focus only a few of them escaped being sold or abandoned.

Currently aside from BuildThatList.com I have one other main blog in a different niche and a few micro niche blogs that are all helping to pay the bills.

When, how and why did you get started with blogging @ BuildThatList.com?

Well I bought the domain in September last year, but didn’t actually start blogging until January this year!

I decided to start BuildThatList because I wanted to prove that I could. I had built successful blogs before for me personally the launch phase is always the most exciting. But what I have learnt from BuildThatList is that if I want my blog and my list to have long term success then I need to keep that excitement and passion long past just the launch phase.

The reason that I chose list building as a topic is because it is something that I had done to a successfully with my other blogs but more importantly it was something I was looking to perfect myself. And for me, the easiest way to learn more is to start teaching – because as soon as you do, you realise that you do not know as much as your first though and you have to fight hard to keep in front of the pack!

What is your experience with list building so far?

As I mentioned, I had done quite a bit of list building with a few of my blogs, using the free gift model (or bribe as I tend to call it on my blog). I found that I was experiencing some success with my list building (now I am not building 10k lists quite yet – but I can see that happening), and I started helping my brother set up an email list for his ‘bricks and mortar’ business and we have had great success with that.

In fact in one of my posts I shared how that small list of targeted subscribers (targeted is the key) produced $3,500 is sales from just one email.

Now that was with high priced products, but it definitely proves that a small list can still equal big profits.

Now with the BuildThatList email list I currently have a few free squeeze pages as my bribe, or incentive for new subscribers – but am currently in the process of creating a 10 day e-course called ‘List Explosion’ that will show you the best strategies to quickly build your email list (and a couple of ways not too!)

What are the TOP areas I should concentrate on when building my list first time?

1. Quality Bribe
   Make sure that your free gift for subscribing is top notch! There are so many average bribes that list builders are trying to use to coerce visitors to become subscribers.

   I highly advice against using PLR or other peoples products to build your list. Your free gift is the first impression that each new subscriber has of you, so why would you want to promote someone else? Create a great product that answers the question that your visitors are looking for and you will see a very positive increase in your conversion rate.

   Oh, and make sure your product has a great ecover! You would be surprised how superficial people can be.

2. Nurture Your List
   Now you have subscribers, treat them like a human being. Now I know that may sound  like common sense but you would be surprised by the amount of lists that I have been on that is just one promotion after another.

   People don’t subscribe to be sold to – they subscribed because they trust you to provide them with quality information (and you had a great free gift).

3. Promote Great Products
   Always look at the product you are about to promote and ask yourself, ‘Would I recommend this to my family and friends?

   Now I know that your family and friends may not be interested in the topic of your list but promote with integrity because one commission from a dodgy product could ruin your reputation – which is worth much more!

Do you have a formula for writing subject lines that get opened?

Subject lines are one of the major things that can make or break an email. But even if you have a killer subject line if you do not have a targeted list you will not get a good open rate.

To be completely honest I am not the best at email subject lines because I am too honest.

Usually I just state exactly what I am trying to tell them or want them to do as my subject lines. Here are a couple of the subject lines I have used for email to my BuildThatList email subscribers that have all got a good open rate:

• Would You Be Willing To Give Me A Testimonial
• Bonus Unique Squeeze Page Just For Being My Subscriber
• An Update On The Aweber Code

As you can see, there is nothing special here, but I could possibly get an even better open rate if I was a bit more vague or enticing – but sometimes I find that a little bit off putting.

You will also notice that I do not collect the names of my subscribers. It is something that I have chosen to do because it increases your initial conversion rate and in all honesty I don’t know these people and they know it – so the majority see straight through all the email personisation.

What would you say is the one most important thing you’ve learned about getting clicks?

Clicks should be easy. If you are honest in your title then people know what they are in for before they even read your email. A lot of the times I am usually linking my emails back to one of my blog posts or product reviews so my email includes an overview of the post and at the end I just add  ‘Read my full review on BuildThatList.com’ and link it through.

I find that this builds trust because you are not just sending them through to a sales page, but instead your are providing an introduction to the product and allowing your subscribers trust in your transfer to the product that you are promoting.

If you do not want to have your review on your blog, then I advice installing a second copy of WordPress onto your domain, use the same theme but cut back the majority of advertising and subscribe boxes (because they are already subscribed) and write your reviews there.

You may not get as many hop counts, but you will definitely have a better change of converting them to a sale.

So how do you make money with your list[s]?

Well as I mentioned earlier, for my brothers business we have a physical product and a service component that we promote, but with my blogs it is always affiliate products.

I have not really done any promoting to my BuildThatList email list yet, but one strategy I will be implementing is ‘quality content with recommendations’.

With my new e-course that is currently under development, all 10 days of content is going to be exactly that pure, quality content – that you will not have to buy anything to take advantage of. However, I will have a recommended resource at the end of each day that I believe will help them improve the efficiency of that list building method.

Personally I believe that trust is the main reason that people buy products that we recommend as internet marketers, and if I can build peoples trust with free content then they are more likely going to purchase the products that I recommend.

Who are you learning from or getting inspiration when it comes to writing your emails?

Michael Dunlop from IncomeDiary.com is something that I admire. I subscribed to his email course a while back and a lot of the things that I am implementing are things that I learnt from how he structured his course.

That being said, I do not really have anyone else specifically. I learn something from everyone internet marketer that I talk to, visit their sales page, or subscribe to their list. Sometimes it is how to do something better, and other times it is more of a case of what not to do.

What are your list building plans for the future? And what do you expect others do once they finish reading your interview?

My plans are to explode the growth of my email list for my blog to create a platform where I can launch my own products and in the process help others to do the same with their lists.

I hope that everyone reading this interview starts to see the potential of having an email list (a group of raving fans) that are waiting to hear what you have to say next. I would encourage you that if you do not already have a list, start one. And if you have one, focus on growing it. But please do it the right way – don’t make it all about the money and forget that you are talking to people. When you help others, you will find that you start to succeed.

Thank you Codrut for the opportunity you have opened up for me to share with your readers!

Thank you for sharing your list building wisdom with us!

P.S. If you have any questions or suggestions on today’s interview, comment below [I want to hear from you]…

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