Creating, Managing and Building Your Opt-In Lists

By Shelley Lowery

An opt-in list is a list or database containing email addresses
of individuals who have chosen to receive your email messages.
Your messages may be web site updates, product updates or
an ezine. They provide you with a direct line of communication
with potential customers and enable you to promote your
products or services.

In order for you to start collecting email addresses, you'll first
need to set up a system that will enable your visitors to submit
their information, automatically subscribe them to your list and
enable you to send out messages.

Before we go any further, I want to make sure that you
understand that this article pertains to "Opt-In" lists. Not Spam.
Under no circumstance should you ever add anyone to
your list without their knowledge.

Collecting Email Addresses

There are many free list services on the Internet that will enable
you to set up a mailing list however, they won't allow you to
personalize your messages, they require that your subscriber
reply to a confirmation message and they can choose to shut
your list down at any time.

Your first step in setting up your system will be to get a good
form processing script. This script will be used to enable your
subscriber to submit their information via a form and send the
information to a specified address.

The best form I have found is called, Master Form. This form
will enable you to have the results emailed to you or to a
specified address, can write your information to a database
file and even have a personalized thank you page. In addition,
you can even have multi-page forms with no limit on the
number of pages. This script costs $35 and can be found here:
http://hop.clickbank.net/hop.cgi?wsnet/willmaster 

You can find a free script with similar features here:
http://cgi.tj/scripts/alienform/

Whatever form you select, make sure that it will allow you to
use email templates, as you will need each subscription
request to contain certain words in the subject for processing.
Email form templates will enable the email messages sent to your
subscription address to contain any information you'd like.

After you've gotten your form set up, you'll need to set up a
pop email account on your server just for your list(s). You can
name it "lists" or whatever you'd like. In addition, you will need
to create two email aliases for subscription requests. Example,
yourlist-subscribe@yourdomain.com and
yourlist-unsubscribe@yourdomain.com.

Setting up a database

Your next step will be to set up a database to enable you to
store your subscriber's information, process subscription
requests and email your subscribers. I use a great program
called Group Mail by Aureate. This program will process the
information from your form, process your subscription
requests, store your subscribers information in a database
and enable you to send personalized email messages. Best
of all, it's free. You can find it here:
http://www.group-mail.com/ 
Note: Make sure you download all of the extra, free plug-ins.

Once you've gotten Group Mail and the plug-ins installed, your
next step will be to create your mailing list. Simply follow the
instructions provided. After you've set up your new list, click
on "Plug Ins" then on "Subscribers." You'll now have to set up
your subscription filters to enable the program to process
your subscription requests.

Now that you have your system set up and ready to collect
email addresses, you'll need to place a form on your web site.
Create two input fields for your form; one for your subscribers
name and another one for their email address.

Your new system will take some time to set up, but it will work
for you continuously. It will take care of all of your subscription
requests and undeliverables and will store your subscriber's
information in a database for easy access. In addition, you'll
be able to send personalized messages with any of the following:

first name
last name
user name
email address
address
company
contact
four additional customizable fields

Now, you're ready to begin collecting your visitors email
addresses and start building your targeted list of potential
customers.

Building Your Subscriber Base

There are many powerful ways to build your subscriber base
however, we'll only focus on a few of the best ways.

- Place your subscription information in your signature
- Place a sign-up box on every page of your web site
- Offer a free gift just for subscribing
- Write articles and include your subscription information
within your bylines
- Create and distribute free ebooks with your subscription
form on each page
- Provide a free service and require those using your service
to agree to receive your publication
- Create a member's only site with special resources, content
or downloads for subscribers only
- Create a contest and submit your contest to all of the free
giveaway sites. Place your subscription information on your
contest page

If you're not collecting your visitor's email addresses, don't
wait another day to start. Opt-in lists are one of the most
powerful marketing tools on the Internet.

About the Author:

Shelley Lowery is the Webmistress of Web-Source.net.
Your Guide to Professional Web Site Design & Development.
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