Email marketing is a crucial piece of the puzzle in your online business, so use it as an opportunity to build a relationship with your prospects. Most of us have never written emails in this way, so it is a skill that must be learned. In fact, writing emails that get people to take action is a form of copywriting. In order to be effective with this, you must write email copy that jumps out from the rest, speaks directly to the person reading it, and gives a call to action that makes them click. Here are some ideas on how you can do this right now.

We all receive so many emails each day that it is easy for us to just scroll through to the ones we want to read. What makes us read one email over all the others? The first thing we all look for is to see who it is coming from. Even if there is no subject line at all, if it comes from someone we want or need to hear from we will open it right away. Make sure your prospects know who you are by always using the same name when you write to them.

The next thing to consider is the subject line. It has been proven that people are much more likely to open an email that is personalized, so that will be something you will always want to do. Sometimes I like to mix this up by using their first name in the middle or at the end of the subject line.

The message itself should be no longer than about two hundred words, and about 65 characters across for ease of reading. Write as though you are just writing to one person instead of to everyone on your list. Go back and look at previous messages you have sent. Make sure you have included the word you more than the word I, and do not ever say many of you or all of you. Those phrases let the reader know that your message was intended for many people instead of just for them.

The greatest compliment you can receive is when someone hits reply and responds to you, thinking your message was written just to them instead of to your entire list. The goal is to reach them on a personal level so they will be more likely to click on the links you have included. Add your link three times throughout your message, so that it is easy for them to click when they are ready.

This idea was hard for me to grasp, but now it is a solid part of my marketing strategy. Setting up a series of autoresponder messages for each topic and product you create gives you the opprtunity to stay connected with your prospects and clients for an extended period of time, rather than for just a short time after they sign up with you initially.

When someone first signs up, send them a message every day for the first ten days. Then go to once a week or so, making sure to stay on topic. This gives you a reason to send them more information and appropriate offers over time. If they stay on your list for a month, they are more than likely to stay with you for an undetermined period of time.

When I was just starting out, the idea of setting up a year’s worth of autoresponder messages seemed like an impossible task. Now I just set them up for the first 30 days, and then add to that during the next month or so. The result is that I now have sales of both my own and affiliate products every single day. Many of those sales are from products and services I have recommended. The idea is to create a system where you do not have to do any additional work in order to profit for years to come. The most popular system to send out these autoresponder messages is Aweber. They are currently offering the first month for only $1.

You gave your prospect something when they originally signed up with you. It may have been a special report on your topic, an eBook, an audio recording, some tips, or any of a varity of other things. Even if you gave them helpful tips, give them some more.

Set up a series of 10 autoresponder messages to go out over a 20 to thirty day period. This means they will receive a new tip every 2 to 3 days. Number them, and make sure they are helpful and informative so your prospect will be able to put them into use right away.

By numbering them, people will look forward to receiving each one in sequence. End each message with an action step or call to action, such as asking them to comment on your blog or visit a specific site. Many people will save these tips in a folder on their computer, or even print them out. Never underestimate the power of the information you are providing to others.

When you are marketing to your list you will want to make a schedule for what types of messages you want to send. In the beginning I recommend setting up three messages at a time. One should be a helpful tip or other information on your niche topic. The next one can be a link to an article or a blog post you have written that is about a topic that would be of interest to your prospect. They may not be aware that you have a blog or are writing articles, so this is an excellent way to share that with them. The third message can be more promotional, where you are telling them about an affiliate product they may be interested in, or one of your products or services.

The first two emails earn you the right to send the third one. My experience has been that my list appreciates my free content and information so much, they are excited when I share something they can purchase. Make a schedule for the next month, sending an email every three days or so. If you mail about 9 or 10 times during the month, three of the messages can easily promote something for sale. This is a nice mix and will build trust with your people while also giving you an opportunity to monetize your online business.

All of us are on someone’s list. Every time you give your name and email address in exchange for a free report or other gift, you are added to that person’s list. Yet no one likes to be thought of as just another number. We all want to think that the person is truly interested in us as individuals. So, how do you achieve this?

Personalize your messages. Use your prospect’s first name in the subject line and within the body of the email. Speak to them as though you were writing to only them, and not to a hundred or a thousand people at once. The greatest compliment you will ever receive is when someone replies to your autoresponder message, thinking you wrote that message just to them.

This is the way to let your list know that you care about them and what they want.

Are you confusing your prospects with your autoresponder messages? When you email your list, remember to only include one message. The biggest mistake you can make is to try to talk about two or more things in one short email. Remember that a confused mind will always say no.

Instead, write a short, three or four paragraph message that gets to the point about what you are wanting to share with your list. Tell them the details. Be specific. Ask them to take action.

I am still amazed at the email I receive that are telling me about two or three different things. I’m not sure what the author wants me to do, so I do nothing. Take a look at what you have already written and make some changes now. You’ll make more money and your prospects will be clear on what action you would like for them to take.

An autoresponder is a message that is set up in advance, with the intention of having it delivered at some point in the future. This was very confusing to me when I first got started, so I made a study of it to learn how to set it up correctly.

When someone opts in to your list, they will receive an autoresponder (AR) message welcoming them to your list. That first message is extremely important, as I have discussed in a previous post. But what happens next? You should have a second and third AR message already set up in your system. In fact, I recommend that you set up 10 messages to be delivered to your new prospects over the first 30 days.

The first message welcomes them and gives them a link to download your free giveaway. The second message gives them some tips and content on your topic. The third message may give them a link to one of your articles or to one of your blog posts. In each case you are asking them to take action, whether it is to read your article or blog post or to take a look at an affiliate product. Make sure this content is relevant to what they signed up for.

The remainder of the messages can be a mixture of invitations to a teleseminar, information on an affiliate product, and more tips and content on your niche topic. The most important thing is to stay in touch with them and to provide them with excellent and helpful information. And with each message, ask your prospect to take a specific action.