The answer: Yes, it is.

You have in your possession thousands of contacts, possibly obtained through sign-up forms provided by Aweber or even your own acquaintances. There is definitely someone among those thousands who would be interested in what you have to offer them. ‘Someone’ is just a humble figure; you are going to get tonnes more if your email marketing list consists of those who willingly signed up to receive more information from you.

So why is email marketing worth your time?

1. Building relationships

   There are so many businesses out there that it is quite likely your targeted customers have not heard of you, unless you are Honda, McDonalds or Seiko, of course. Email marketing serves not only to promote a product or service but also to create brand awareness.

   Those who did not know you previously will now do after receiving your emails. Take the opportunity to introduce your business in a light and informal way. Use interesting contents in your email capture the attention of the recipient and give an overview of what your business is about.

2. Share latest news and happenings

   After building relationships, it is time to nurture them. It is really pointless if you stop being in touch with your potential customers after gaining their interest and attention. Stay in touch with them regularly by sending updates of your business, calendar of events related to your industry or a newsletter with promotions or freebies.

   After all, your database of addresses would consist of those who are interested to know about your business or else they would have opted out of the mailing list.

3. Keep you in customers’ minds

   “Out of sight, out of mind” – this saying has been proven true in business.

   It is easy to forget about a brand if there isn’t any marketing or promotion. That is why businesses spend on various advertising methods to constantly remind potential customers of their presence. So use email marketing, one of the lowest cost marketing methods, to subtly remind your customers of your business or remind your readers of your awesome blog!

4. Makes it easy for people to purchase

   How does sending an email make it easy for my customers to purchase (or to action on something you want them to), you may ask? Insert “Buy now” buttons (the call to action) in your emails which customers can click on to be directed to a page finalizing the deal.

   Common examples of such emails are from Groupon, that fastest growing company. They send newsletters to subscribers each day notifying them of the daily deals, which customers can click on the image in the email to be directed to a payment page immediately. Very clever, eh?

5. Get feedback

   Email marketing isn’t just for promoting your products or website all the time. If your email database is built of potential and existing customers, get to know what they think of your business or website. There is always room for improvement and it would certainly be helpful to know the opinions of the core of your business!

There are so many perks to gain from email marketing. Never be afraid to communicate with your subscribers; after all they have opted to receive communication from you and would have removed themselves from the mailing list had they found your emails useless.

But remember not to overdo the frequency of the emails and also, always make it easy for subscribers to opt out as well as to indicate their preferred types of alerts and frequency. Good luck with your email marketing, it’s definitely worth your time!

Today I cleaned out my list and deleted over a 1,000 email addresses. I am absolutely sick of people signing up when they are not really interested to receive any emails from me. Therefore I am going to change the way I gather my subscribers by sorting the good from the bad hopefully before the signup process. I am no longer interested in numbers, but only quality subscribers. I guess I am turning the tables here.

I actually wanted to delete my list completely and start again but I had to refrain, only for my loyal subscribers.

Do you really want to be on my list?
I am very fussy about who I have on my list and I have decided that I do not want to entice people with freebies to acquire their email addresses, so if you qualify then please feel free to sign up.

This list is for you…

• I only want subscribers that want to learn how to build WordPress websites to make money online.
• You are not afraid of trying something new.
• You are a positive person.
• You want to change your life.
• If you want to see how I make $5,000 a month from one website then you need to be on this list.

This list is not for you if…

• I have to be straight with you right now. If you are signing up to get the free ebooks then shame on you! If that is your reason then please do not subscribe.
• If you are already making more than $10,000 a month online you do not need to be on anyone’s list. Just ramp up what you’re doing now!
• If you are a negative person with no goals for the future.
• If you do not believe that any of this is true.
• If you are signing up to waste my time and yours…
• If you know you will not open the emails anyway!

Why I only want genuine subscribers on my list

1. Every subscriber on my list costs money, therefore it is a waste of money when I have people on my list that do not open the e-mails.
2. I do not want to be putting all this work into my e-mail list when only half the subscribers read it.
3. I hate the feeling that I am talking to no one??
4. Why should I try my hardest to get people on the list when they do no belong there?

Now I need your help

I need you to tell me what you want from my emails. What did you expect and what did you get.. I am betting that half the problem is me not giving my list the information they want. So now I want you to tell me what you want to see.

I might know how to build website and make money but I am not sure what information to step back to. Please tell many in the comment section below what you would like to see on the perfect e-mail list about building WordPress websites to make money?

Using squeeze page generators can literally squeeze your visitors into your funnels which help us achieve our goals. Generally a squeeze page is a landing page with limited options presented on the page, usually a simple optin form or a simple link. If you are not a “super coder” or technically minded you will need a Squeeze Page Generator to help you create a professional high converting page.

Even if you are a whiz at coding, using squeeze page generators to build your goal pages is a smart thing to do as they will save you hours of valuable time. Most of the time these generators are drag and drop easy and include graphics and boxes that make you look like a pro.

People say that ugly pages convert but I am not sure about that. I have always found that simple pages convert but if they are nice on the eye they can convert even better.

2 Top Squeeze Page Generators

I will mention both free and paid Squeeze Page generators as it really depends on your needs as to how far you go with this. Even if you are a straight blogger and not a complete mini site junkie, you will still need to get familiar with squeeze pages.

I actually started out with free squeeze page generators and they were such a success that I had to go for something bigger and better!

Free Squeeze Page Generators

You are going to love this sales page generator because it is easy and free to use.

http://simplesqueezepagegenerator.com/

Here is a squeeze page I created with this FREE site http://letsbuildwebsites.com/SEO-My-Way/FR/seo-my-way/

In the video below I Show how I made the sales page, uploaded to my server, then later I edited it on my server. It is installed on this website, even though I have WordPress installed at the same time.

I do prefer the easy way out by installing an entire WordPress theme as shown below.

Now for the top squeeze page generator/blogging theme

No I am not going to mention OptimizePress here. It is great but nothing compared to AP2 for squeeze pages, sales pages, affiliate blogging, and more.

Yes it it is not only a top squeeze page generator, but it is also a complete blogging theme. Therefore if you are not into making sales pages or squeeze pages, you can simply use Authority Pro for a blog. I seriously have not seen a sales page generator as professional looking as these ones. There are a few videos on the Authority Pro sales page that can explain things better than I can, however here are a few things that I noticed.

• AP2 (Authority Pro) has all the graphics and headings and sales buttons you will need, all built-in, ready to go.
• It even has different templates for different occasions.
• It includes a SEOPressor like plug-in built-in for search engine optimization.
• It includes a built-in video site map.

Do you want people to say WOW about your sales page?

• AP2 includes 24 custom widget positions. See the screenshot below.
• It also includes 13 custom widgets that will help you place advertising, social media links, ratings, Clickbank text ads, and so on.

• “AP Launcher” Theme Customization Panel (70 customizable options)
• It also has Facebook comments that can be integrated, Twitter feeds and so on.
• Integrates your optin code from the top email marketing guys like Aweber, Mailchimp and 5 others and makes you look like a pro.

You will be absolutely shocked at what you get when you buy Authority pro. You can even use it to build a product reviews site and your affiliate links are placed in the best clicking spots. Everything has been tested for giving you the best conversions. There is no joke that grabbing sales is an art and these people have studied it.

All this seems light years away from a post I did last year about making a sales page with the Socrates WordPress theme. If I compare it the two sales pages we know which one looks more professional. Socrates has the options to build a sales page but never included all the fancy graphics to make it look like a professional job.

Hopefully I have given you some food for thought when you are looking for squeeze page generators or sales pages for your new venture.

You can’t just build a responsive list and magically increase email open rates. People think that when they signup top somewhere like Aweber, all the beautiful automation and tools they have will build you a fantastic list. This is true but there is a lot more to it.

You build the list and then you build the response.

The truth is that your email list doesn’t come with a high email open rates right off the bat.  You have to earn it with your subscribers and increase email open rates by impressing and giving.  Lots of marketers are doing it all wrong.

Has this happened to you?

You subscribe to a list to get a free report.  You immediately get an email like this:

“Hey,

I wasn’t going to tell anyone about this, but I’ve been making LOADS of cash with this new product.  The creator is a great guy and allowed me to share his secret money-making machine with you and bla bla bla

Just click here for your fortunes…

http:// unsibscriberightnow.hop.clickbank.net

Yadda Yadda”

I can’t unsubscribe fast enough!

Just because someone is on your list doesn’t mean they already trust you and like your emails.  Even if they’re already a fan of yours, they’ll want to see what kind of emails you send and get used to it first.

Only after this can you enjoy high open rates and click-throughs on your profitable emails.

How to Increase Email Open Rates

The average email open rates for the marketing industry is 18.79% and most categories average around 20%. These stats come from both Mailchimp and Aweber, the two world leaders in email management.

These are the techniques I use to increase email open rates and overall response.

Provide Value Continuously

The first thing you want to do in your email sequence is provide value to your subscribers.  Give them something free, tell them something new.

The next thing you do is provide value to your subscribers.  Give them something free, tell them something new.

Deja Vue?

Some email lists I get on come so close.  They are good at first, but then they become non-stop sales pitches.  After the initial value, I am more inclined to stick around after a couple sales pitches and I might buy one of the products.  However, I’m not going to stay on a list that becomes entirely salesy after the original value provided. This is not way to increase email open rates!

They key is to continuously provide value to your subscribers.

Don’t contact subscribers too frequently

I know my subscribers like being on my list.  Hardly anyone ever unsubscribes.  However, this doesn’t mean I’m their favorite person in the world and they want to hear from me every day.

I’m more passive than most, but I only send out my follow-ups once a week.  That is much more infrequent than the average, but then again, my response rate is also much higher.  Coincidence?

Another reason for spreading out your follow-ups is that you draw out your content.  You stay in contact with them for longer with less content.  Time builds trust.

Extra Tip: Take a while to create a logical and organized series of follow-ups.  If you write them all ahead of time, you can have months of consistent content and contact with your subscribers with no additional work.

Don’t treat them like virtual credit cards

Send emails without direct commercial intent.

If your subscribers think they are only on your list to be profitable, they’re gone.  No one likes being sold to.

Contrarily, if you keep sending them helpful tips and links to cool things, they’ll be more likely to check out your money-making emails.

Make it Feel Exclusive

Make them feel like they’d be missing out if they unsubscribed.

I don’t share the same links and info on my site that I do on my list.  I also like to share some opportunities exclusively with my followers.  For example, review copies my upcoming ebook will be shared with my subscribers only for free.

Exclusive opportunities make your subscribers feel they are getting greater value from being on your list.

Write Compelling Subject Lines

I’m no expert copywriter, so take it from someone who is.  You can supplement the success you have with your list by implementing good subject line practices.

You can’t get away with just good subject lines.  You need great content too or your readers will eventually catch on to your tactics.  This will result in lower open rates over time.

Regardless, your subject lines should be carefully crafted and tested over time to increase email open rates and response.

Start it with a BANG! Increase Email Open Rates

Make your first characters in your emails compelling. Aweber or Mailchimp will let you set up an auto responder series.

Most email services show the first few characters of an email.  For example, Gmail shows the first 80 characters of the email including the subject line.  Most people like to take a glance at the contents before they click, so use this to your advantage.

Your List = Base of Operations

Your list is the first place to go when you have big news to share.  If you’re releasing a new product or having something special to share, you want them to know.

Your list allows you to keep reoccurring traffic to your site that you can send where you want.  It allows you to build trust and stay in contact with your readers.  Put simply…

A list is an asset.

Google can take away your rankings, but no one can touch your list.  Treat it like the precious asset it is.  Make it more valuable by learning to increase email open rates and response rates:

• Continually provide value
• Don’t send emails too frequently
• Treat your subscribers like real people
• Make it exclusive
• Write killer subject lines

Marketers use their lists in many different ways.  Regardless of why you are building a list or what you intend to use it for, these techniques will help you increase email open rates on all levels.

Would you like to be on YOUR email list?  Are you struggling to Increase Email Open Rates?

It is really annoying having 5 different boxes at the end of each post so I decided to add an optin form to the Socialize WordPress Plugin. This way I have the social media buttons for people to share my content as well as an optin form and a few other follow buttons. Hopefully I can gain a few more twitter followers as I have not really pushed that network previously.

The different buttons and forms we have to include on our WordPress Websites is getting over board so I thought I would throw them all together in a nice compact box. I thought about hand coding this entire box but I really wanted to try the Socialize plugin for myself. It simply made my life easy and that is why I would recommend this plugin to anyone.

Click on the image below to enlarge and see what I mean by customizing the Socialize WordPress Plugin.

The first step to creating this Socialize box is to install the plugin. If you know how to install a WordPress plugin I will proceed with this tutorial.

How to customize the Socialize WordPress Plugin

To get your plugin looking great you will need to visit the Socialize Display settings. You will find the Socialize tab in the menu. Press on this, then press on display.

There are many different settings but the most important is in the ‘Call To Action’ Box Text’. This is where you will place your customized code.

Here is the code I used to add an optin form to the Socialize WordPress Plugin.

<h4>If you enjoyed this post please consider sharing ! </h4><BR>
<HR>
<table border=”0″ cellpadding=”0″ cellspacing=”0″ style=”border-collapse: collapse” bordercolor=”#111111″ width=”100%”>
<tr>
<td width=”64%” >

<!– Begin Signup Form –>

Put your Aweber or Mailchimp form code in here. Make it a simple form with an email address input and a subscribe button. (and remove this line of text)

<!–End_signup_form–>
</td>
<td width=”36%” ><p><a href=”Your Feed URL” rel=”alternate” type=”application/rss+xml”>
<img src=”http://www.feedburner.com/fb/images/pub/feed-icon16x16.png” alt=”" style=”vertical-align:middle;border:0″ width=”16″ height=”16″/></a> <a href=”Your Feed URL” rel=”alternate” type=”application/rss+xml”>Subscribe in a reader</a></p>
<p><a rel=”author” href=”Your Google profile URL”>
<img src=”http://www.google.com/images/icons/ui/gprofile_button-16.png” width=”16″ height=”16″>
</a> <a rel=”author” href=”Your Google profile URL“><u>Join Google Plus Circle</u></a></p>
<p><a href=”http://twitter.com/tips4pc” class=”twitter-follow-button”>Follow @tips4pc</a></p>
</td>
</tr>
</table>

All the areas in red are things you should change. For example you will need to add your own details in.

Notes on using my code:

• You will need to add your own signup optin form code. If you are a member of Aweber or Mailchimp, add your form code in the space provided.
• You will need to add your Rss feed URL, Google profile, and twitter user details.
• You can also change the text at the beginning.
• I have removed the Javascript code from this as I did not need it. For example there was <script> with the twitter button but the plugin already supplied it for me…Therefore I removed it as these things can slow your blog down.

Other things you can do with the Socialize WordPress Plugin

• You can add a picture of your free report to tempt signups.
• You can change which buttons you use. I am only using four in this example.

Making all these changes will customize the Socialize WordPress Plugin to your needs.

If you are signed up for my email list, you would probably know that I use Mailchimp as my choice for email management. They are fantastic and do almost everything for you, however they will not remove non opening optins from your list. This ugly task is up to you.

Why do you need to clean out your email list in Mailchimp?

Unless you have a small subscriber list, most email management companies cost money. Mailchimp is free for your first 500 subscribers but after that, if you want to continue the service, it will cost around $30 a month. When you gather more subscribers your account goes to the next level and it costs more. This is the same with Aweber and most other email management companies. This is why you cannot afford to waste your good emails on non opening email subscribers.

How to clean out your list in Mail chimp?

1.  To clean up a list in Mailchimp, we will first have to go to view the list. Once you have signed in, click on the Lists tab.

2. Go to the list you want to clean. Click on View List.

3.  Now click on The view all button. See screen shot below.

Now we will see a list of email addresses. We will need to sort these email out, or segment the list to see which ones need to be deleted.

How to view a segment of your email list in Mailchimp?

1.  Now that you can see your full list, click on the segment link. See screen shot below.

2.  Fill in the first condition. For example you could choose 1. Member rating 2. less than 3. 3 star.

3.  Also make sure the first box is set to match all of the following.

4.  To add another condition press on add condition.

5.  When you are done you can click on view segment on the right.

6.  Now the list will be smaller and follow your conditions you set.

How to delete the unwanted subscribers in bulk in Mailchimp?

1.  Click on select visible as shown in the screen shot below. This will put a tick in the box of all emails visible on the page.

2.  Now click on the arrow next to the person icon and a drop down menu will appear.

3. Choose delete from the menu. You will be asked to confirm.

You can also delete the email addresses individually by pressing the delete button shown on every line on the right hand side.

Watch this video tutorial to see for yourself.

Can you handle 20 people subscribing to your email list everyday? Well this is what is happening to me after I installed Subscribers Magnet from Maxblogpress. Here is a screen shot below from one day. I installed the plugin and made my form in two minutes, then the emails just started flooding in. I haven’t even adjusted the settings yet or tweaked the form for top performance. I haven’t even put a pop over form in or a footer form. OMG…That is all I have to say.

So if you add this up. 20 subscribers per day times 7 days a week = 140. And 140 subscribers times 52 weeks = 7280 subscribers in one year. I have to say OMG again.

You are probably thinking that this number will drop, but don’t forget that I have not even tweaked the form yet. I could change the position, colour, words, and so on.

My next question is “How I am going to manage that many subscribers?” Obviously this is what I wanted and now it is all happening. Keep in mind that this screen shot is only for one website and I have approximately 20 websites that have the same results…Yes it is crazy!

Now my goal is to figure out “what money is in this list?”

To see how easy it is to use Subscribers Magnet see this article How To Add An Optin Form To Your WordPress Website Sidebar?

How to add an opt in form to your website? You could call it an opt in form, a signup form, or maybe even a subscriber form, but whatever you think it is, we all need it to collect email addresses on our websites. The “in thing” at the moment is list building which involves a webmaster “hooking the fish” in anyway they can. This means catching the website visitors email addresses, usually by offering a free gift, and  hoping that they take the bait. This is where you need the opt in form placed in a prominent place on your website. For example you can see my sign up form in my sidebar.

When you are building a WordPress website from scratch, one of the first things you should have is an opt in form. If you do not do this you are letting your visitors leave without ever being able to contract them again. Many webmasters do affiliate marketing through email and would never let a potential customer leave without at least trying to get them on their list.

What is an opt in form?

An opt in form is a mini form embedded into the website code where you can usually type in your name and email and press a submit or press a signup button. You are normally enticed to signup with something you need or want given to you for free. What a great deal.

As a Webmaster you might add an opt in form to your website to collect your visitors e-mail addresses with the intention of sending them e-mails and news about your website.

Who will manage my email opt ins and signup forms?

You can try managing your email addresses manually yourself, however after you gather a few hundred it becomes almost impossible to handle. MailChimp and Aweber are the most popular email management services, however there are many more available. I use Mailchimp because it is a new and innovative company that does an excellent job. I started out as a free customer and ended up not being able to live without their service. Aweber is still the number one email management system though! I cannot deny that!

Add an opt in form to your website – Where do I get my opt in form code?

If you do not have an email management service then you will need to create your own html code optin form or get someone to do it for you. However why bother when you can get a free account at Mailchimp and then let them create the form code for you. Mailchimp is free for you if you have under 1000 subscribers.

To see how I make my optin code for my form watch this video tutorial below.

How to add an opt in form to your website?

Once you have the opt in form code there are a few ways to embed the opt in form code into your website.

1.  To add an opt in form to WordPress you can place the code into a text widget . Then you can simply place it in your sidebar on the WordPress website.

2.  You can place it in a blogger blog by adding a gadget (a html/javascript gadget) in your design/page elements section.

When you are on your page elements  area, press to add a new gadget. Then choose the HTML/Javascript option. Paste your optin form code in there and save.

3.  You can place the code into the html of your website between the <body> and </body> tags.

Is there an easier way to add an opt in form to your website?

I have found a WordPress plugin that can create an optin form for you and place it in various places in your website.  All you have to do is get your signup code and paste it into this plugin. After you have done this you can choose where to add an opt in form to your website. You could place it in the sidebar, the top of the post, the bottom of the post, a pop over, and even in the comments. This crazy plugin can also fill in your subscribers name and email for them if they have commented on your website previously.

Its called Subscribers Magnet and is just launching for the second time, probably open now.. I have been waiting to buy this plugin for at least two months as it is one plugin that every WordPress website builder would need.

If you think this sounds too good to be true then please see my video below to see how it works.

Subscribers Magnet

If you like Subscribers magnet and buy through this link I have an extra bonus for you. I have two bonus reports about list building that will help blast your optin efforts. Just email me youtube [@] letsbuildwebsites.com and let me know your email. I will send them to you.

See Subscribers Magnet for yourself!

If you do not have an email management service you will need one if you are serious about building WordPress websites! Definitely go and compare both Mailchimp and Aweber and see which one suits you. After that you can easily add an opt in form to your website today!

Knowing how to upload a PDF file, a report, or even a full ebook to your server is a “must know” task when it comes to building websites. We all know you need to feed your website visitors with new information to keep them interested and PDF files seem a great way to do this. It is all the rage.

How to upload a pdf file to a Hostgator web server?

1.  Sign in to your Hostgator account.
2.  Scroll down to the Files section.

3.  Click on the File Manager icon.

4. A file directory box will appear.

5.  Select which domain you want to install the pdf on. If you only have one domain name on this server you will not need to choose.

6.  After selecting the correct domain press go. See the screen shot below.

7.  You will be taken to the root directory of your website.

8.  Now you can press on New Folder to make a folder to put the PDF file in.

9. Double click on the new folder to enter it.

10.  Now click on the upload icon.

11.  Another window will open. Find your file and upload it.

Once you have uploaded your PDF file to your Hostgator server you will need to know the file path so you can make a link for website visitors to click on. The path or link will be the domain name, then the folder you made, and finally the file name. It will look something like this: http://www.tips4pc.com/foldername/filename.pdf

To see more information watch the video tutorial below.

Why would you need to upload a PDF file to your Hostgator Web server?

If you do not know this already, most free giveaway reports and ebooks are in PDF format. If you intend to transfer these files to your websites visitors you need to store them on the internet and therefore we need to upload it to a server.

I was hanging around on Youtube and found this video. Usually when you see a video that has a title with the word secret in it, you know it is a scam. However this video is very interesting and gives you another cool way to use your sales page and opt in page. After all the name of the game is to build a great OPT in list for your website, and this guys method would guarantee sales as he has already figured out that the OPT in is a buyer.

Please share your great ideas on how to attract solid OPT in email addresses.