The Money is in the List ?

I know many of you have heard the phrase "the money is in the list", namely a newsletter subscriber list. I wonder if that's true in all cases and whether it's worth the trouble, for a free newsletter anyway. As you know, you can spend a lot of time writing an ezine and taking care of unsubscribes manually etc., for basically no compensation at all.

I have a subscriber base of some 20,000 and have published a newsletter for almost 2 years now, but, I have found that any ads in the newsletter, however modest and nice, are always ignored. It's even hard to give away things for free.

I have mainly used companies that obtain names for you at a price per subscriber, to build my list. Perhaps that's the problem, I don't know.

I have had good articles and content in my ezine, but any request for people to click on a link to an offer, almost never works.

Perhaps the majority of newsletter subscribers are just freebee seekers and never intend to buy anything, no matter how much or how good the offer ?

My two questions are :

1. For those of you who publish ezines and have a website(s), is your income from your list, or is it mainly via visitors to your website through traditional means (search engines, articles you have published elsewhere etc.) ?

2. I have noticed that many ezines are going to either a paid website format or a paid newsletter format. That sounds like a good idea - is that the trend for the future ? It seems logical that paid content would weed out people who want things for nothing. I also realize that not many would pay for an ezine, unless it offered a great deal.

Your comments would be appreciated. Thank you.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all !

Ken.

Hi Ken,

Are people reading your ezine? I subscribe to a LOT of ezines.

Some of them pile up, and pile up, and pile up. They clog up my email, until I discard them or save them. I almost never read them.

Other ezines, however, I read EVERY issue. I can't wait for the next issue to arrive in my mail box. I salivate for every next issue!

We've tested for readership in the Entrepreneur's Hotsheet (an ezine we put out here at Sowpub) - and we get pretty good readership. I think this is why....

We've never paid for subscribers, and we don't "bribe" people to subscribe. People subscribe because they want to read it. (Though I have paid to advertise it.)

We use a double opt-in system. If someone signs up to subscribe, shortly afterwords she (or he) will receive some email. In that email, there is a link she has to click on, to CONFIRM her subscription. This confirms to us that she REALLY wants to receive it, and that it is a real email address.

(We've NEVER yet gotten a "bounce-back" - all because of our double opt-in system. It weeds out all the "bad" email addresses.)

Let's say that you are down at the market. Two sellers, next to each other, are selling two baskets of fruit. Both at the same price!

The first seller's fruit basket for sale is huge, there's a lotta fruit! But when you examine it closer, most of the fruit is bruised, crushed, rotten, or otherwise pretty awful!

The second seller's fruit basket for sale is much smaller. But when you examine it, every fruit is delicious and juicy and ripe, and has a mouth-watering aroma.

Which is the basket you would buy?

I don't know about you, but I would buy the smaller basket for sale, with the high quality fruit I'd like to eat. There's no point buying fruit I wouldn't want to eat, no matter how big a basket it was!

The point is - the money IS in the list. But it's not just how large the list is - it's about the quality of the list too.

- Dien Rice

Dien,

You mentioned you have had no bounces for your list.

Do you mail to hotmail and yahoo addresses?

I know some folks have a hotmail "throw-away"
email address that they use for freebies;
i.e., they use the hotmail address to submit
to subscription forms to get the freebie for
signing up for the ezine.

The hotmail address is often no good...they never
check their mailbox. Often it fills up causing
mail to bounce back to the ezine list manager.

I've heard that some list managers automatically
delete hotmail and yahoo email addresses insisting
that people get a "real" email address.

Just curious how folks feel about that...
If you are using a free email address, are you
really serious about your online business?

JDB




This is a serious business...

Hi JDB,

We do accept Yahoo and Hotmail email addresses....

However, we do require "double opt-in".

Let's say a person signs up with a "throw away" Yahoo or Hotmail account. When he (or she) signs up, he will get an email asking him to confirm his subscription.

If he never checks his Yahoo or Hotmail email account, he will probably never read the email to confirm his subscription!

So I think the "double opt-in" system tends to mean someone like that - who doesn't read the email address he signs up with - won't go through the full sign-up process....

If a person doesn't confirm his subscription, by clicking on the link in the confirmation email they receive, he won't be subscribed.

There are some people who use Yahoo and Hotmail email accounts, who do check their emails there. A person who does use their Yahoo or Hotmail account will read his (or her) confirmation email, and click on the link. Then he will receive our ezine with no problem.

So I think it's largely "self-policing" in this way.

My main reason to use "double opt-in" though is because I didn't want to be accused of spam. By using a "double opt-in" system, I can be sure that everyone who receives our ezine REALLY wants to receive it. I think a "side effect" of this system is that it really is a list of people who read their email, without a lot of empty "filler" and worthless email addresses.

- Dien

I'd say build you own optin list instead of purchasing names. The problem with purchased names is that unless you know exactly how they are being generated you won't be able to determine the quality of the names. Some really good lists I know have been built over several years from a subscription box on a website.

The other thing is that a lot of people are now using throw away email addresses when signing up particularly if you're giving away freebies in order to collect names.

You can improve the quality of your lists by switching to double optin and by using software that collects the subscriber's email address from their browser. Optin Lightening is a good example.

Regards

Clive




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Dear Ken,

Here are my responses to your very specific questions:

> My two questions are :

> 1. For those of you who publish ezines and
> have a website(s), is your income from your
> list, or is it mainly via visitors to your
> website through traditional means (search
> engines, articles you have published
> elsewhere etc.) ?

***Most of my business is generated via subscribers to my newsletter. The most frequent method of moving folks to subscriber to buyer goes something like this:

1. Person reads an article or posting to a forum with my link in it and thinks "Hmmm, interesting message from this person" and then chooses to subscribe to my ezine.

2. Person reads the ezine for a while, getting a feel for who I am, my style, seeing if we will "click".

3. Person calls/writes and requests coaching

OR

3. Person attends free teleclass/ecourse or something else without a financial contribution and with a time contribution

OR

3. Person attends a fee-class

OR

3. Person purchases a product directly from me or from one of the affiliate program products I offer.

I occasionally get someone to hire me as a coach without being a regular subscriber and I would guess that is about 10% of my business. Much more likely is people learn to know me and trust me and then when they are ready to hire a coach, I am the one who gets the call.

> 2. I have noticed that many ezines are going
> to either a paid website format or a paid
> newsletter format. That sounds like a good
> idea - is that the trend for the future ? It
> seems logical that paid content would weed
> out people who want things for nothing. I
> also realize that not many would pay for an
> ezine, unless it offered a great deal.

****Because of the purpose of my ezine, to engage each person on the planet in the possibility of living with passion everyday I will continue to offer my ezine without financial contribution.

My articles are distributed in many many places so there is also that advantage.

Hope my thoughts and observations are helpful.

With Purpose and Passion,

Julie Jordan Scott


Dare to Discover Your Passion, Decide to Live Your