7 Sure-Fire Ways to Make Your List Hate You

Do Your List Opt In and Freak Out?

If you’re a serious blogger or marketer, you can and should be building a blog opt in list that will become one of the most important assets of your business. The idea is to give away something of value to your readers in exchange for their name and email, and agreeing to receive emails from you in the future.

Many bloggers focus their efforts on providing the most compelling giveaway to maximize their blog opt ins, and there’s good reason for this.  The more compelling your “ethical bribe”, the faster your list will grow.

But here’s where many bloggers fall short.

They fail to capitalize on the opportunity to turn their blog opt in list members in to loyal followers and avid buyers.

Let me ask you this.

When is the last time you thought seriously about how your list members feel about you?

How do they feel about receiving your emails?  Do they say to themselves, “oh good, I love these emails” or do they roll their eyes and whisper “not again!”

Or worse, do they simply click delete without even bothering to open your emails in the first place?

The truth is, Jym has written some amazing posts on this blog about improving your blogging productivity.  In fact, I have written similar posts on my own blog, geared towards productivity for part time marketers.

Yet, much of this effort will be wasted if you don’t follow through with the ongoing task of building a relationship with your list.

In my experience, there are things you can do to breed loyalty among your readers and blog opt in list members.  There are certainly ways to nurture your list and make them excited to hear from you.

Unfortunately, there are many more things you can do that will make your list hate you or worse, ignore you.

7 Ways to Make Your Blog Opt In List Hate You

1.  You Make it Difficult Right out of the Gate

It’s a great moment!  You receive notification that someone has provided their information in exchange for your free giveaway… becoming a member of your list!  Hooray for you!

But what is it like for your new list member?  Have you made sure they can easily access the free giveaway you promised?

If it’s an ebook, be sure they can download it easily.  If its a teaching video, be sure they can easily find the video.  Whatever it is, make it simple and easy to access, and test it often.

Problems here will really get you off on the wrong foot.

2.  You Don’t Tell Them what to Expect

You must let your new list members know what to expect from you. Tell them how often to expect an email and what kind of emails you’ll be sending.

Whether you’ll be sending daily emails or will write once a week, tell them up front what to expect.

If you will be promoting occasional products, let them know in your very first contact. Then put every effort into meeting these expectations.

It’s all about trust.

3.  You’re Not Transparent  

If you’re going to be promoting affiliate products in your emails (you should), tell them upfront when your links are affiliate links and that you’ll receive a small commission if they purchase the product.

Don’t apologize but be proud to promote your affiliate products.  Just tell them upfront and there shouldn’t be a problem.

4.  You Don’t Understand Them

One of the biggest mistakes I see beginner bloggers make is a general lack of understanding as to why someone joined their list in the first place.

• What compelled them to provide their information in exchange for your free giveaway?
• What are their problems, their obstacles, and their needs?
• How can you help them find the answers they crave?

Take some time to give this some serious thought because if you don’t understand what your list members want and need, they’ll soon become disenchanted with you.

They’ll be thinking, “he doesn’t have a clue”.

And believe me, they know where to find the ‘unsubscribe’ button.

5.  You Promote Too Soon or Too Often

Emails to your list should be primarily value-based content mixed in with an occasional promotion. There is no hard and fast figure here, but in general the rule of thumb is 80-90% value to 10-20% promotions.

That means at least 8 out of every 10 emails you send to your blog opt in list should be focused on either providing knowledge they’ll find useful or helping them to solve a problem they’re likely experiencing.

Your promotional emails are your reward for providing value to your list.  If you’ve done a good job in the first 8 emails, you should get some good results in your promotional emails, unless….

6.  Your Promotions aren’t Valuable

Not only should the information in your emails be valuable to your list members, but your promotions should be for things that will also be of value to them.

For example, my list members are primarly part time entrepreneurs looking for tips and strategies on being more productive with less time.  I promote tools and products that will help them accomplish this.

If I were to promote a totally unrelated product, not only would they not buy it but I would lose their trust.

Be sure you choose your affiliate product promotions wisely.  Ask yourself the question, “Will this product/tool/course help my list members fill a need or solve a problem, or am I just trying to make some money?”

It’s very tempting to jump into the latest product launch with large commissions, but if you put yourself above your list members, you’ll soon lose their trust.

And it can be very hard to win it back.

7.  You Make It Hard To Ask Questions

Do you make it easy for your list members to contact you with questions or comments?  If not, you’ll be missing out on a valuable opportunity to hear their feedback or help them on a more intimate level.

Be sure your contact information is provided at the end of each email. Or better yet, tell them to simply reply to an email to get a response.

Let your list members know that you read all emails and answer them personally.

Then do it.

Treat Your Blog Opt In List Like GOLD!

As a blogger and marketer, there’s no more valuable an asset than your blog opt in email list.  Without this list, you’ll be missing out on a huge opportunity to show your leadership, build relationships, find potential collaborators and… yes… make money.

Provide your list members with the royal treatment they deserve, putting their needs first and foremost and you will have a loyal following who will not only buy from you, but also tell their friends.

Your Turn…

What’s your experience with the members of your blog opt-in list?  Are they responsive or do they feel like dead weight tied around the neck of your business?

What are you doing right… and wrong?

Leave a comment and join in the discussion.

7 Sure Ways to Make Your Blog Opt In List Hate You © 2011 Blogger’s Alchemy