More than ten years ago, I went through all the rigmarole that most people go through when starting out online. By this I mean joining anything and everything that looked like it had potential (yet never did). The surefire way I learned to build readership, that to this day never fails, is very simple. There is a bit of background involved first, so do read on – the meaty part is coming

1. Break down and spend about $10 a year to buy yourself your own domain name. Not only is it mandatory to building anything online (having your own space) it’s a cheap investment in your future. You will have complete control over what connects with that name and what doesn’t. Just don’t make the mistake of merely pointing (redirecting) the domain to another website. Go to Step 2.

2. Here’s where a bit of homework comes in because you will want to host that new domain somewhere. For those who will never take the time to learn html and coding a website, you can pick something simple like a godaddy overnight website. But, I would not advise that – look instead for hosting that supplies a true cpanel because sooner or later you will become proficient enough and need access to this key part of your web site.

3. Look for web page developing programs like xsitepro, dreamweaver, coffee cup, etc., that make it easy for you to create your pages. Use the internet to find methods and instructions on building a web site (again this how-to isn’t about starting a website per se, but you’ll need one of your own eventually and/or at a minimum see the next step – the meaty part).

4. Get yourself an autoresponder. Aweber or Getresponse are reliable and both systems have been online for years (read successful) and not likely to cave in leaving you afloat and starting over. The advantage of using a good autoresponder is, of course, the fact that you can put the HTML code on your newly built website to collect (initially random) visitors as they drop by. However, you don’t need a website to start with (see next step).

5. Start a newsletter or “ezine” (rhythms with magazine) on a topic that you know more than a tiny bit about. For instance don’t start an ezine on internet marketing if you are brand new and know less than nothing. But if you’re really into say knitting and crafts now there’s an ezine just waiting for you to publish!

6. Join an ezine advertising co-op. These co-op’s exist to help bring you readers. The traditional arrangement is you join under the agreement that you will:

o Add the new subscriber to your list, and

o Send him/her a welcome email (after Aweber or whatever autoresponder you’re using kicks out the “Confirm Yourself” email first).

In this welcome email all you need to do is tell your new reader when you will run their advertisement. You can put that advertisement in:

o The ezine itself (just like a newspaper)
o In your classified ad edition (requiring a 2nd mailing), or
o Post it on your web site on an ad board (assuming you start a website).

It is vital to know that you do enter into an arrangement. Ezine advertising co-ops send you new readers with the stipulation that you give that new person one free ad.

7. Write and publish your ezine on a regular basis. Once a week is fine, but you must write it religiously. Your new and existing readers expect to hear from you on whatever day it is you plan to publish, so be sure your ezine is in that inbox on that day.

8. A vital component to increasing your readership is often overlooked by new (and older) publishers. Swap ads with other ezines! Contact the publisher and ask them to run an ad for your ezine in exchange for you running an ad for theirs. Keep in mind this is to promote your “ezine” or newsletter not some affiliate program you’ve joined. Never be afraid to ask! More often than not, that publisher is likely to want to help you out (and get free publicity for themselves to boot).

If their list is larger than yours, go the extra mile and suggest you’ll run theirs two or three times as long as they promise to run yours at least once.

9. While blogs are abundant, the one thing hardest to do is track whose following your blog and being able to contact them directly without posting. Feedburner, for example, can give you stats on the number of current readers, but not their name nor their email. You are in business to build a list of people you can get to know and establish trust and reliability with, right? So you need that information because….

10. Having your own mailing list means you can interrupt your regularly scheduled ezine mailing and send solo ads (which you can get paid for) or announce really good free and not free programs that you personally endorse. Be careful. Make sure the program really is good or you’ll soon lose the trust and confidence of your readers.

Ezines and/or newsletters and/or gazettes (whatever you want to call yours) are immensely popular. People read them for all sorts of reasons – content, opportunities, and to advertise within.

If you stay at only the “affiliate level” of marketing, your list building is sadly never going to grow outside that of any downline you may be able to build. You need fresh readers added consistently that have nothing to do with those programs you’re trying to get them to join.

Provide a solid newsletter (ezine) publication, really put your heart and soul into producing it, give sage advice on whatever topic it may be, join solid (reliable) ezine advertising co-ops, swap ads with other publishers – and watch your readership (hence your mailing list) grow!

Tags: Affiliate Marketing, aweber, ezines, getresponse, how to build a mailing list, list building, Publishing, readership

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 21st, 2009 at 11:30 am and is filed under Publishing, ezines, list building, marketing tools, mastering, statistics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.