Top 15 Ways to Build Your Subscriber List

Email marketing can be profitable for any business, no matter what kind of product or service you offer. It is significantly cheaper than other advertising methods and, if done right, helps build loyalty and trust with customers. As a result, you generate more sales and more profits!

The foundation for successful email marketing is a targeted, permission-based email list. Marketers call contact lists their 'goldmine' because it can generate much of their sales revenue. If you've built up a list of opt-in subscribers that are qualified and interested in what you have to offer, then you've completed the first step and are on your way. Now it's time to 'mine' for gold!

Below you'll find several list-building and retention ideas that will help you get the best results from all your email marketing activities:

1. Provide useful, relevant content. Your visitors will not give you their email addresses just because they can subscribe to your newsletter free of charge. You have to provide unique and valuable information that will be of interest or use to them.
2. Add a subscription form to every page on your website. Make sure it stands out so it is easy to find. If it doesn't look cluttered, you may want to include more than one on some pages. For instance, if your opt-in form always appears in the top-left corner of your site, you may want to add one at the end of your most popular articles.
3. Add subscription forms to your social media pages. Make sure that you don't waste this valuable source of revenue opportunities. Integrate your sign-up forms with Facebook and more!
4. Make it easy for readers to sign up. The more information you request, the fewer people will opt-in. In most cases, a name and an email address should suffice. If it's not necessary, don't include it here. You can always survey them once they're customers! We do recommend that you provide a link to your Privacy Policy however.
5. Publish a Privacy Policy. Let your readers know that they can be confident you will not share their information with others. The easiest way to do this is to set up a Privacy Policy web page and provide the link to it below your opt-in form. (Note: If you don't have one, put the words 'privacy policy generator' into a search engine and you should be able to find a suitable form to use.)
6. Provide samples of your newsletters and Ezines. This lets potential subscribers review your materials before they sign up to determine if it's something they'd be interested in.
7. Archive past newsletters and articles. An online library of past newsletters and articles is both appealing and useful to visitors and builds your credibility as an authority. In addition, if your articles are written with good SEO techniques in mind, they can increase traffic to your website through enhanced search engine positioning.
8. Give gifts subscribers can actually use. Offer an opt-in bonus for joining your subscriber list! Write an ebook or provide a PDF business report, or even hire a programmer to create downloadable or web-based software. But don't limit yourself to offering gifts to opt-ins. Give them out when your readers fill out a survey, provide a testimonial, success story, or a great product idea. Let them know when they can expect the next gift offer. Everyone likes to get something for free! And if you pass out 'goodies' throughout the year, your subscribers will feel truly appreciated − and that's good for business!
9. Ask your subscribers to pass it on. Word of mouth is a powerful viral technique that works great with email marketing. If your subscribers find your content interesting, amusing or informative, they'll probably share it with their friends. This can be a great source of new customers, so make sure to remind them to 'pass it on'.
10. Let others reprint your newsletter as long as the content is not modified. If you're happy to share your content with the universe, then why not! Many webmasters and newsletter publishers are actively looking for high-quality content and, if they reprint your newsletter, you'll get new subscribers, and more traffic and links pointing to your site.
11. Include a 'Sign Up' button in your newsletter. If you're using plain text instead of HTML, be sure to provide a text link to your subscription page. You may feel that this is not required because the subscriber is already on your list, but remember that readers will forward your newsletters to others, or reprint them online. Make it easy for them to subscribe!
12. Add a squeeze page. A squeeze page has one goal − to acquire opt-ins and build your list. Think of it as a mini-sales letter to go along with your subscription or opt-in gift. It should feature a strong headline and a couple of powerful benefits that should make subscribers salivate to sign up! Once created, use a service such as WordTracker to find hundreds of targeted keywords, and promote your offer using pay-per-click advertising from Google, MSN and Yahoo. Now that should make a splash!
13. Include testimonials on your squeeze page. This is crucial. Put one or two strong testimonials from satisfied customers on your squeeze page. This can be in any format, but you may find that multimedia (audio or video) is more 'believable' and inspires more people to action. To further enhance believability, get permission to use actual customer names, locations and/or urls (Don't use 'Bob K, FL'). Add a note inviting others to participate. After all, it's free publicity!
14. Blog religiously. Blogging is a great way to communicate with prospects and potential customers, and creates a nice synergy with your email marketing. Be sure to include your newsletter sign-up form on each page of your blog. You can start a free blog at Blogger or WordPress. 
15. Post on other blogs. Post thoughtful comments and information on similar blogs with a link to your squeeze or opt-in pages. Also comment on others' blogs through trackbacks. In most cases, your comments will be posted on their blogs with a link back to your site. This is an easy way to generate new traffic and subscribers, and get your brand out there!

Top 10 Reasons to Have an Ezine

1.      Establish yourself as a trusted expert. People search online for information and will look to you, as a subject matter expert, to provide it to them. Every week (or whatever schedule works) provides an opportunity to build on this, while reinforcing your brand.

2.      Build a relationship with the people on your list. It's common knowledge that people like to buy from people they like. By using ezines to connect with readers in their homes, you can develop a relationship of familiarity and trust. Be sure to share a little about yourself or your company in every issue, whether it is an anecdote, event, or employee spotlight.

3.      Keep in touch with prospects and clients. Consideration should be given to eventually developing two ezines: one for prospects and one for clients, as each require different information. This is a great way to notify your readers of weekly specials or upcoming product launches, offer new articles or customer stories, and provide links (or urls) to updated FAQs, blogs and splash pages.

4.      Drive traffic to your website or blog. As noted in #3, remember to call attention to new blog posts or other changes to your website with links directly to those pages. Remind readers of your online newsletter archives. Promote special sales (maybe with discount coupon codes only for subscribers) with a link to the sales page. Use links to turn your ezines and newsletters into 'silent salespersons'– driving traffic to your website and building your lists around the clock.

5.      Build content on your website. Make a habit to adding your ezines and newsletters to your website in an archive area. This serves a several important purposes:

o    Visitors can read an issue or two to determine if your ezine will be of interest to them, which could help to increase sign-ups and potential sales.

o    If you optimize your article placements, you will not only make your website 'meatier', but you'll also bring new traffic from the search engines.

6.      Get feedback from your readers. Make it easy for you to stay in touch with prospects and customers and vice versa. Ask them to take action and comment on your articles and offers. Conduct polls and surveys. Start a 'Letters to the Editor' column in your ezine. Feedback allows you to fine tune your messages, target your marketing, and expand your product line. It's also great for relationship building!

7.      Develop an information product. If you deliver your newsletter once a week and include two articles, at the end of a year you'll have 104 well-researched articles in your portfolio! Pick the best-of-the-best and turn them into a bonus ebook for opting-in to your list, submit to download sites to build your list, or sell in PDF-format!

8.      Grow your mailing list. Let your ezine subscribers work for you. Be sure to remind your readers that it's okay to forward your newsletter to anyone they'd like. In addition, it's important to include sign-up instructions for those who received your ezine from viral marketing methods. A simple line titled, 'Get Your Own Copy of XXXXXX', with a link to your squeeze or opt-in page is all it takes!

9.      Gather demographic data. By offering surveys, feedback forms, and niche reports, you'll be able to get valuable information about your prospects and customers. Learn what makes your readers tick, how to better serve them, and how to give them what they want. Make sure they become repeat customers!

10.  Save money! All of the above benefits of publishing an ezine are free or almost free. The small cost of a top-rated ezine publishing system is nothing compared to the cost of brochures, business cards, advertising, direct mail, pay-per-click or other means of promotion. Not only that, but someone has to manage that production! Because your newsletter is delivered online, you can grow your list to be as large as you want without worrying about the expense. Bottom line − it's proven that email marketing is the most cost-effective marketing solution for companies just like yours!

1000 awesome prizes for first 1000 new email marketing users.

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• Exclusive Email Marketing Webinar with Maciej Ossowski, our Education Manager, entitled “10 Most Effective Ways to Build Your Email List Online & Offline”.
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So if you’re one of the first 1000, you’re guaranteed one of these awesome free gifts. Of course, the prize isn’t the only benefit you’ll receive. They’re just added value to what you ALWAYS get from GetResponse email marketing − easy-to-use features, great deliverability, and 5-star expert support.
And, with a GetResponse account, you gain access to other great features such as:

• unlimited sending of newsletters, campaigns, and autoresponders
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The promotion ends June 30th or when all 1000 prizes are gone, but remember - you have to be among the first 1000 to get your prize!
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Nintendo DS Lite: Advantages Of Getting One Over The Nintendo 3DS

The announcement of the Nintendo 3DS at the E3 2010 was without a doubt one of the most surprising of the event. The introduction of true stereoscopic 3D gameplay in a handheld device without the need of special glasses was the revolutionary idea unveiled by Nintendo on June of that year, and after its release in Japan, America, Europe and Australia, is now available for all of us to use and play with. Lots of gamers and Nintendo fans want eagerly to feel the new gameplay experience this system has to offer; however, given the $249.99 launch price tag, the ok-but-not-really-that-awesome collection of launch titles, and its short battery life (three and a half hours of gameplay average), makes one wonder if it is wise to invest in this system right away and play 3D games NOW, or wait until the second model of the system is developed (just like it happened with the original DS). A third option is investing on a different system, like a PSP GO or a previous iteration of the Nintendo DS line; but, is it worth doing it at the expense of not having true 3D gameplay? Let's analyze some facts:

Both the 3DS and the DSi offer capabilities not present in the previous DS models. To name a few: browsing the Internet through the Opera browser, being able to buy and download special games (DSiWare/3DSWare) through the Nintendo eShop, the option of creating Miis, upgrading the firmware of the device and even reproduce certain kind of multimedia formats from an SD card. They also count with built-in VGA digital cameras which point to the user and to the front of the handheld, which is not a very useful feature in the DSi (the quality of the pictures it takes is very low), but is an essential feature on the 3DS. The user camera on the 3D handheld is what recognizes the position of one's eyes and creates the 3D effects accordingly; also, the two cameras in the lid of the console are capable of taking pictures in 3D and can also integrate what they capture into "augmented reality" mini-games. Also, in addition to the features that came with the DSi, the Nintendo 3DS has full backward compatibility with DS games, an activity log, and even includes the service of Virtual Console, which allows you to buy "Nintendo Points", and redeem them for Virtual versions of Game Boy Pocket titles, Sega Game Gear titles, among others.

As you can see, both the DSi and the 3DS offer a great array of attractive features; however, these are seldom used in general. If you really don't care about browsing the web from your portable (that's what your laptop is for!), downloading content, taking photos, etc., and all you want is just to play some games, then the direct successor of the original Nintendo DS, the DS Lite, could be an excellent alternative for you.

Aside from the stereoscopic 3D gameplay, the DS Lite actually has a number of advantages over the 3DS: First, it has a much longer battery life, which lasts from 8 to 10 hours of continuous gameplay. It is region free, which means that you can buy an American console and play Japanese or European games in it without trouble. Also, it comes with the Game Boy Advance (GBA) slot; if you happen to own any GBA cartdridges you can play them on your DS Lite (only in single player mode), or use it in conjunction with specific DS titles in order to unlock special bonuses. Also, certain DS games come with accessories that make use of the GBA slot (like Guitar Hero: On Tour); these titles can't be played from the DSi onwards. Finally, the DS Lite is slightly lighter than the 3DS.

The Nintendo 3DS might be packed with features; however, if you are more of a casual gamer and use your handheld for its main purpose only, which is to play games (not Internet, Miis, eShop, etc), I would recommend you get the Nintendo DS Lite instead, at least until the second model of the 3DS is released. Not only it costs less, but the original library of DS games is HUGE, along with the large collection of GBA titles (which nowdays are pretty cheap) you can get for it. And if you ever want to know how playing in true 3D is like... you can always visit your nearest game shop and test the 3DS out!

As the original DS motto goes: "touching is good"... even if it is not in stereoscopic 3D. Happy gaming!

For detailed information on the Nintendo 3DS you can check out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_3DS

For information on the Nintendo DS Lite check out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_DS#Nintendo_DS_Lite


Article Source: EzineArticles.com

The Most Anticipated Game Of 2011 Is The Action RPG Mass Effect 3

Statements similar to the title can be found all over the internet. Especially if someone is a gamer and he likes hanging out in gaming forums, or he likes to read video game magazines. They all say the same thing again and again AND again. Whether they are trying really bad to advertise the game or they really believe that it is going to be really good.

Statements like the title are way too bold and someone should be careful when and where to say those. By saying such comments you have to be absolutely sure that this game WILL be if not the best then one of the best. Saying this as a gamer and a Mass Effect fan, yes I am looking forward for the last part of the trilogy. Because I want to see how it ends. But I am a Mass Effect FAN.

Bioware (the company which developed the game) bets its reputation on this game. So it better be as good as they say it will be. Even if the game will not be better but will follow the same standards as Mass Effect 2 did then it will still be a success. But gamers these days need and want more than that. When they pay for a sequel they demand that it will be much better than the previous part of the series. Until now Bioware is always listening to its fans and always support the people who pay them. Let's hope they won't disappoint us.

Personally I believe the new Mass Effect 3 and at the same time the last part of the series will be more than epic. It will shake the foundations of the gaming world. Ok maybe I am exaggerating but I am sure, they will make sure that it will be a lifetime experience.

So what we know so far? After the events in Mass Effect 2 where they created more questions than answers, we already knew that there would be a massive Reaper attack. And all the Galactic Alliance was getting prepared for that. Among the things that we didn't know was where they would strike first and if the Alliance would have a chance to defend themselves and strike back.

The trailer of Mass Effect 3 comes to answer some of those questions. So we know that the reapers will strike at Earth and they will almost wipe out the entire population. We know that Earth, humans, and their defenses are no match against the Reapers. We know that the Alliance or Serberus under the command of Shepard will strike back. But still those information create even more answers.

Was Earth the first planet they hit or it was the last one? Did the Alliance and the rest of the races survived or humans are the last race alive? Who is helping Shepard to strike back? Will he manage to succeed? Questions, questions and more questions. I hope Bioware will give us some more content very soon.

Making a Mass Effect 3 Review is way too early and difficult given all the known information available by the company. The only thing we have in our hands is only a game trailer. But on the other hand why not try.

Article Source: EzineArticles.com

Dragon Quest IX: Simple But Effective

Dragon Quest has been a key player in the RPG world, often eclipse in the American market by Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest has not lost steam in the Japanese market and with good reason. Dragon Quest IX doesn't rely on ever growing damage points to make you feel like your characters are growing, it has a simplistic and effective class and skill system and it doesn't take itself too seriously.

All too often people associate strength in RPGs with the number of 9s you see pop up on the screen. DQ doesn't feel the need for that and I think to its advantage. Without the focus on how big the damage points are getting you have more time to focus on the strategy of your character, working within the limitations of your class. This gives Dragon Quest IX a challenging edge without taking away from playability. Sticking with defined classes with specific jobs to complete to aid your party is where Dragon Quest IX 'makes up for' not having 15 rows of 9s popping up.

The class/skill system set up within Dragon Quest IX is simple but extraordinarily in depth when put into a multi player environment. For Example, when partying alone as a Mage your immediate job is to deal as much damage to as many monsters as quickly as possible. For the obvious reason of your Mage getting one shotted into the ground. But once you enter the multi player realm of DQ IX, you find yourself needing to hone your attacks more as to not draw the attention of the monster, so your meat shield (Warrior) can draw in the damage. Although there is not an exorbitant amount of skills to learn the narrowed scope makes the game much smoother to play then similar RPGs. Another problem of similar RPGs is that all too often realism get substituted for fun.

DQ IX is a fun little game that anyone can enjoy, especially those who are children at heart. Most RPGs and games in general have gritty backdrops with quasi good characters and graphics that make it hard to distinguish whats real and whats not. Which is great, but sometime companies need to remember as tale can be epic but still fun. One of my favorite moments of Dragon Quest IX was when you fight the evil "Master of Nun" a transformation of "The Jack of Alltrades". Sure its not the greatest pun in the world but I chuckled and had fun with it 'nun' the less.

Overall DQ IX is a fantastic title for all and I suggest picking it up today. If you want a full synopsis of the game and all its features have a look at this link.

Article Source: EzineArticles.com