In my last post I talked about how to create an irresistible free offer so that you can begin to build a profitable, consent-based email list.

To recap, the 5 steps are:

1. Create an irresistible free offer
2. Create an email list and attach your freebie
3. Create an opt-in page
4. Add additional follow up emails
5. Get traffic to your free offer

Today I want to dig a little deeper into step #2 and show you exactly how to set up your email marketing account and attach your new “freebie” to your auto-responder.

An email marketing account is simply an account that allows you to build a database of subscribers who are interested in learning more about you and your business.  This is a simple way to get people to know like and trust you.

The most effective email marketing accounts with protect you from any SPAM issues while allowing you to reach out to your entire list, or a segment of your list, with automated follow-up and broadcast messages.

My favorite resource for this is Aweber.com.  They are not only reliable, but they follow the strictest anti-spam regulations which will ensure that you.  Aweber has some very good video tutorials that will help you set up your new account so don’t worry about the “techie” side of this.  You can also pay a virtual assistant via IVAA.org to set it up for a nominal fee.

Once you’ve set up the email account with Aweber or another list management company of your choice you need to attach your free offer to the first follow-up message.  This way the new prospect will automatically receive what they signed up for without you having to sit near a computer responding to each and every new sign-up

You can add a PDF attachment to the message or create a separate web/blog page with a link to your free offer.  If you’re using audio or video, the file will be too large to add as an attachment, but using AudioAcrobat.com will allow you to create a simple link that you can share within the message that will take your prospects to the content.

Next I will talk about setting up your opt-in page so that you can begin getting subscribers and build your brand new community.

Be sure to ask any questions here:
http://TomBufordMarketing.com

I talked about specific ways to build a profitable, consent-based email list.  In other words, you are building a strong relationship with a community of people who are sincerely interested in what you have to offer.

To recap, the 5 steps are:

1. Create an irresistible free offer
2. Create an email list and attach your freebie
3. Create an opt-in page
4. Add additional follow up emails
5. Get traffic to your free offer

Today I want to dig a little deeper into step #1 and share some ideas about creating a free offer that your ideal prospects will love to sign up for.

Your irresistible offer can be anything from a free report or list of resources to a simple audio tutorial where you share your thoughts on a specific idea.  There is no reason to make this long or complicated.  After all, this is a free sample of more to come.  Don’t put so much pressure on yourself that you never get out of first gear.  In fact, it’s my experience that many people appreciate a concise solution when they are signing up for a free offer of some sort.  The idea is to get it out there in a big way and use this to establish a strong relationship with a large list of potential clients and customers.

Here are FOUR simple steps to create your free offer:

1. Decide on the topic that you want to dig into
This should naturally lead to your paid solutions so be sure to keep a theme going here.  Be as specific as possible.  You won’t attract many prospects if you set out to solve every problem for every person.

2. Pick a title for the freebie
Don’t get too cute here.  Keep it simple and be sure that people know what they are getting.  An example if you share pricing strategies with service providers might be “5 Deadly Mistakes to Pricing and what to do if you’ve made them.”

3. Outline and create your free offer
Turning a simple word doc into a PDF or creating a short MP3 audio is certainly sufficient.  If you have the ability to add graphic design, etc then knock yourself out, but the most effective freebies will share valuable content without having to try to rely on fancy design elements to please the prospect

4. Attach your free offer to your auto-responder
I like to use Aweber for email marketing software.  They have an impeccable reputation and cost less than twenty bucks a month.  That’s hard to beat for the value that you will begin to build by implementing consent-based email marketing into your business.

In my next post I will dig into step #2 and explain how to set up your email marketing account and attach your brand new irresistible offer to it so that you can get ready to build your community practically on auto-pilot.

Not only can you build a list by interviewing other people,
you can also create new content for your own programs, get
thousands of dollars worth of information for free, pop out
an info product in a matter of a few days and have multiple
streams of revenue coming into your business.

You see, there are actually a lot of very knowledgeable experts
who are lined up waiting to be interviewed so that they can
increase their own exposure. Taking part in an interview series
is both compelling and rewarding for them and most will be
happy to help you spread the word which, of course, will radically
increase the size of your list.

I created an interview series last year and getting the interviews
was actually pretty simple. Yes, it took a little bit of legwork,
but nothing worth having comes without effort.

Here are the 5 basic steps to creating an interview series and
turning into a profitable project that you can repeat over and
over again:

Step 1: Pick your topic

Create a topic that excites you and that you know will excite other
people and this will make it simple to sell and promote.

One tip to finding if others are interested in the topic is to put
out a quick survey using SurveyMonkey.com. This way you can get
direct feedback and know that there’s water in the pool before you
take the plunge.

Step 2: Interview your experts

Create your wish list of experts and start getting in touch. One
of the easiest ways is to simple ask people you already know who
they might be able to recommend. Some of those people you already
know might make great interviews also, so don’t rule that option out.

Step 3: Build your list

Ask each expert to share the recording with their list and
circle of influence. You simply host the playback of the recording
on your website and have an opt-in box for people who would like the
MP3 downnload. This is just ONE of many ways to begin building your
list with interviews.

Step 4: Create your info product

After you have between 5-8 interviews, go ahead and package them
into an information product. You can include transcriptions of the
calls, worksheets to guide people along, helpful resources, etc to
really add value to the project.

Step 5: Start the cash flow

Remember all of those people who opted in to get the free download
of one of the interviews? If they were interested in that, I bet
they’d love to have the whole enchilada. You’ve already demonstrated
the value that the interviews offer. Many of those people will be
more than happy to purchase the entire program. You can deliver this
as a digital download (MP3 recordings and Ebook) or as a physical
product (CDs and binder). The best is to offer both and let clients
choose. If you sell a physical product, I recommend including the
digital download as well. The immediate access to the information
will help with sales and the physical product will increase the
perceived value.

If you want to learn more about how you can create a very profitable
interview series and have a whole lot of fun doing it then sign up
for the FREE teleseminar that I’m having on Monday, June 29th at
6pm EST. Even if you can’t make the call live, I will send you a
recording, but you have to sign up to get access.

Just go here to register: Interview Series Profits

Cheers
Tom