You have probably heard the saying that the money is in the list. While I believe this is true, it is also important how you use your list, which is where the money really comes in.

Sure, you can use your list and spam people all day long, but knowing how to market to the list can be the difference between making some money and making big money.

The people on your list are smart, and they like what you are publishing. Don’t waste that opportunity by misreading your audience.

You can optimize the monetization prospects of your list when you ask for feedback and then actually listen to it.

A few years ago, I ran a website for an automotive fan club. Every time I sent out a newsletter to the list, I would get back five suggestions and tips on things like changing the oil, driving in snow etc. These would be incorporated into the next newsletter.

After a while I started to find out that these drivers all used a certain type of oil, car wax, and brand of tires. So, I got it in my head that I could send out an ad for them to buy a certain brand of tires. While I didn’t sell any tires through the list, I did learn that 99% of my subscribers found this email worthless, as they preferred another brand.

It showed that I didn’t know about my list or niche for that matter. I must have received 1,000 replies to that email, and they were not very nice. But it taught me a valuable lesson.

In my next newsletter, I simply asked what type of car cover they used and literally 100% said they used the same brand. So I joined the affiliate program for that brand and sent out the next newsletter with an ad for them.

That ad sold over 1,000 car covers, and made me a nice profit. Now, I could have sent out an email with any type of car cover, but I listened to the list and the intelligence of my readers. This paid off very well and I have done the same thing with car wax and other car related products.

Your readers know more about your niche than you think. You see them as a name and an email but you should be thinking about them more on a personal level.

Before you drop your next email, stop and think about the people who will read it. Put yourself on the receiving end.
Odds are you will gain insight, make more money, and gain the respect of your list now and in the future.

Vinny O’Hare is the president of Vincent O’Hare Consulting and his site is Vinnyohare.com.

Download the entire FeedFront issue 12 here – http://www.scribd.com/doc/38530545/FeedFront-Magazine-Issue-12
FeedFront issue 12 articles can be found here as well: http://feedfront.com/archives/article00date/2010/10

Build profitable customer relationships by following these simple email axioms

Email holds distinct advantages over other online marketing channels:

• It is widely used by consumers.
• It enables targeted, one-to-one communication with potential customers.
• It is repeatedly cited as delivering superior ROI over display ads, paid search and SEO (among other channels).

Many affiliate marketers use email to boost their sales. The most successful ones follow the “golden rules” of opt-in email marketing:

Rule #1: Start With Permission

Successful email marketers build their campaigns around a foundation of permission. Spamming undermines that foundation, ruins your reputation and ensures that future emails from you won’t get treated kindly by ISPs.

It might seem like a shortcut to buy or rent a list from someone, but shortcuts don’t lead to a responsive audience that actually reads your emails and makes repeated purchases from you over their lifetime. Besides, spamming people is just… wrong. You don’t like getting spam and neither does anyone else.

Build a list of people who come to your website and sign up to get emails from you. They’ll be your most responsive, most profitable subscribers – and you’ll actually get your email delivered to them.

Rule #2: Give the People What They Want

Even though there’s no money changing hands, when someone signs up to your email list, they are conducting a transaction with you. Basically, they are trading you some of their time, privacy, and attention, with the expectation that what they get in return will be more valuable than those things.
To get potential subscribers to sign up, show them how they’ll benefit from your emails. Sell them on the value of being on your list.

Then, once they’ve signed up, (over)deliver on that promise of value. Don’t hammer them with sales pitches right away – give them what they asked for. Earn their trust first with relevant, valuable, timely email messages.

Relevant, valuable, timely emails lead to happy subscribers.

Happy subscribers not only stay subscribed and become happy customers, they refer other people to you, helping you grow your list (and get more happy subscribers) without increasing your ad spend.

Rule #3: Stick With It

Email marketing isn’t a single-use tool. It’s a process whose benefits grow over time.
Many potentially great campaigns are derailed by inaction – sending so infrequently that subscribers forget they ever signed up. Consistency is the key to building the trust that leads subscribers to become customers.

Email your subscribers at least 1-2 times per month. Better yet, decide how often you’re going to email them and tell them when they sign up how often they can expect to hear from you. Then, stick to the schedule you’ve committed to.

Tom Kulzer is the CEO and Founder of AWeber Communications, the leading email marketing service for affiliate marketers and small businesses. http://www.aweber.com

Download issue 1 of FeedFront at http://feedfront.com/feedfront-issue1.pdf.