With so many optin email lists out there, your really need to come up with a hook to attractive subscribers. It needs to have something special or different. It could be something you offer inside every newsletter issue, like interviews with experts. Or the hook could be a unique incentive that website vistors can take advantage of immediately when they sign up.

Here are 3 ideas you can use for your own sites, or use as inspiration to get you thinking a little outside of the box:

– Build an Optin Email List by Creating a Private Members Only Site or Section –

Create a private web site and have people sign up to get free, immediate access. For example, you could say, “Subscribe to our free e-zine and get free access to our private membership web site!” You can choose to have them receive a username and password every time they want to login, or you can just provide a link to the site in your welcome email.

Your private members only site can be as big or as small as you want. Some of the things you can include inside are: reports, software, articles, ebooks, etc. Inside the site, you can advertise your affiliate programs, as well. And you can follow-up to let them know about updates, new products they might be interested in, the latest news in your industry, etc.

– Build an Optin Email List By Giving Subscribers a Free, Tangible Gift –

Instead of offering a free ebook (or a whole package of them) like most everybody else, promise to give your visitors something they can hold in their hands if they give you their contact information.

For example, you could say “Subscribe today and get our new report mailed to you via First Class.” You could print out your report on standard 8 x 11 sheets of paper, fold it up, put it inside an envelope, and mail it off.
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Even though I’m pretty happy with how 2005 turned out, there are still some things I wish I had done differently. Here are 5 things I aim to change for 2006

1. Didn’t take time out for me. I admit it, I have the typical entrepreneur bug. I spent way too much time working on my business and not nearly enough time on me. In 2006, I plan to take more breaks and schedule in some “me-time.”

2. Wasn’t as consistent with my own marketing. Much like not taking time out for me, I also struggled with not taking as much time as I should have for marketing my own business. (Remember the old adage of the shoemaker’s children running around barefoot? Marketing my clients’ businesses always came before my own.) Now, my business has grown rapidly, so although I’m not exactly complaining, I do wonder where I’d be if I had been more consistent about my own marketing.

3. Got distracted. One of my biggest problems is what my coach, Melanie Benson Strick, Success Connections, calls “bright shiny object syndrome.” That’s where you find yourself chasing all sorts of bright shiny objects (also known as “new” opportunities or “new” ideas) rather than focusing on your core business systems. What happens is you end up with a lot of half-finished or barely-started ideas and very few actually completed.
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There are many ways to market a product or a service and providing the potential clients and customers with testimonials is one of the best ways to market.

The power of testimonials can never be underestimated. People, especially nowadays, will only purchase products or avail services which have been referred to them by people whom they know. But most of the times, this is not an option that is in the hands of the business owner, he has to do the next best thing, which is to get testimonials from his past clients.

Testimonials are living statements from past customers or clients which states that they were satisfied by the product/ service. Every business must have testimonials to be able to stand out in the ever crowded markets.

There are many benefits of having testimonials. Here are some of them.

Testimonials appease the target market

Testimonials usually lessen the doubts of the target market. There are a lot of scammers and con artists nowadays, and this has turned the market into a fearsome one. Credible testimonials provide security to the people who are eyeing at a certain product or service. The provision of testimonials gives people a much more relaxed attitude towards a product or service.
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The last couple of days have been beautiful, the weather near perfect and some of us are suffering from spring fever while others are simply struggling with the pollen levels. This time of the year reminds me that summer is coming and things are about to slow down – in networking. I would like to take just a moment and discuss this trend and what I believe may be the cause of it.

Let’s begin in the fall. At this time of the year we are working feverishly trying to procure new business because we realize that around the holidays things will slow down. As December draws near, some of us become preoccupied with things like parties and shopping and our attention turns from building our business. Others find it increasingly difficult to make contact as people begin long vacations.

Then the holidays pass. We put our marketing and networking efforts into high gear, going to several meetings a week, trying to get things cranked up again. The result is increased business and increased profits. Have you ever noticed that in the early part of February that things begin to pick up almost at a maddening pace? When this occurs, unless we are prepared for growth, we start to back off on our promotions as we scramble to complete the work that has been generated by our marketing efforts.

In effect, we stop networking. We lose contact with those we have been making and asking for referrals, and they begin to feel as if we are not interested in them any longer. When this happens, they may look for someone else to refer when that target prospect comes along.
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