The List Builder

  How to Build Relationships With Your Email Subscribers In my last article, I talked about why building an email list is about more than just collecting names and email addresses. It's about building relationships. But that brings up a question. How do you actually build a relationship with someone through email? After all, you may never have met these people face to face. Some of them may live hundreds or even thousands of miles away. So where do you begin? 1. Start by Keeping Your Word When someone joins your list, they usually do so because you offered them something or promised to share information they were interested in. Deliver what you promised. If you offered a free report, make sure they receive it. If they signed up to learn about a particular subject, give them information related to that subject. It sounds simple, but trust often begins with keeping small promises. 2. Give Them Something Useful Every email doesn't have to contain an offer or a sales pitch. Share s...

  Don't Just Build a List—Build a Relationship Building an email list is one of the most valuable things you can do online. But there is something even more important than the number of people on your list. It's the relationship you build with them. You can have 100 subscribers who know, like, and trust you—and that can be more valuable than having 10,000 people who barely remember signing up. Your List Is Made Up of People It's easy to look at an autoresponder and see numbers: Subscribers: 100 But those aren't just numbers. They are people who gave you permission to send them something. That means every email you send is an opportunity to provide something useful. It might be an article you wrote, a helpful tip, a resource you discovered, or simply something that makes their day a little easier. Don't Make Every Email a Sales Pitch One of the quickest ways to lose subscribers is to make every message about buying something. There is nothing wrong with promoting a p...