HOW DO I USE EMAIL TO PROMOTE AFFILIATE PROGRAMS

HOW DO I USE EMAIL TO PROMOTE AFFILIATE PROGRAMS?

An Opt-In List is a list of email addresses of people who have ASKED to be on your mailing list. They “opted in,” which means they either sent you an email, asking to be subscribed to your mailing list, or they filled out a form on your web site.

An opt-in list is a powerful tool in affiliate marketing. With it, you can offer your list new products, announce updates to your web site, and even send them your own email newsletter (called an “ezine”) about your site topic.

To build your own opt-in list, you MUST use an auto-responder program. This allows your prospects to self-enroll into your mailing list. The auto-responder is a software program that can automatically send out emails for you, on whatever schedule you choose.

For example, if you are an affiliate for a digital camera store, you can easily entice your visitors to give you their email address by offering them a free 7-day course on fun things they can do with their digital photos. You could talk about how to build photo albums, make greeting cards, make screensavers, etc.

It would be just about impossible to MANUALLY keep track of who is getting which installment of this course. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of people may request it! But an auto-responder will easily send the right emails to the right people. It can automatically send out all the messages in the sequence you specify, and keep track of where in the sequence each person is.

Most people use third-party auto responder services, though you can also set one up on your web site hosting service. Once you’ve created the sequence of messages and specified the schedule, you put a sign up form on your web site.

Then you can promote your free course in some of the “viral” ways we mentioned n Module Seven. This method is absolutely essential if you are selling for a merchant who does NOT share customer information with you.

Merchants usually promise their customers they will NOT share or rent their contact information with a third party. They need to do this to protect themselves form spam complaints and other types of negative consequences. They can’t help you to build your own mailing list, even if they wanted to. So you must build a list yourself, using “viral” techniques.
SPAM – DEFINITIONS AND LAWS

Today, the most difficult part of using email to promote an affiliate product is the spam problem. Spam is unsolicited junk email. If you use email at all, you are all too familiar with it.

Spam is a terrible burden on the Internet today. Pornographers are the worst offenders, but so are unsuspecting and naive marketers who fall for promotions offering to “Mail to 5 Million People For Just $299!” They foolishly buy these “mailing lists,” end up adding to the problem – and often wind up with ALL their mail banned by ISPs around the world.

The problem is made even worse by people who consider ANY email that they don’t particularly feel like reading to be spam. These same people may not mind getting their mailbox crammed with junk flyers and circulars, but they will explode if a piece of spam shows up in their inbox!

Such people might report you to spam authorities, even if they DID sign up for your mailing list. It is easy enough to protect yourself against such people, though they are extremely annoying.

Legally speaking, Spam is UNSOLICITED (the person never asked for it) JUNK (advertising, porn, or scam) EMAIL.

And yes, as of December 2003, spam is illegal in the U.S. The “Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003,” known as the CAN-SPAM Act, was passed into law. So you must abide by this law is you are going to maintain any type of opt-in list or conduct any type of email campaign.

Many other countries have extremely severe spam laws. So your best bet is to err on the side of caution when sending any kind of email.

To comply with the details of the CAN-SPAM law, you must be able to PROVE the person signed up to receive email from you. Each email you send also needs to comply with certain legal requirements, such as identifying yourself accurately in the “From” line, including a physical address and phone number, and giving people an easy way to “opt-out” of the list so they can stop getting email from you any time they wish.

t is not difficult to comply with the CAN-SPAM law. If you decide to build an opt-in list of your own, you should actually READ the law to make sure you understand it. The basic requirements are all spelled out clearly. You can read about it here:

MAKING MONEY FROM AN OPT-IN LIST

Here are the most popular ways to use your opt-in list to support your affiliate marketing efforts:

Newsletter/ezine: This is an informational publication sent via email to your list. In it you include articles, anecdotes, product reviews, advice, and other helpful information that will create a strong bond with your readers.

Alert or announcement list: This type of list offers to send people email notifications of updates to your web site. It usually contains a brief greeting, then a list of links to important new information on your site. With this type of list you can send notifications of free viral guides, sales, new product reviews, your latest articles, etc.

Tips list: This is similar to a newsletter or ezine, except it is very short – just a few paragraphs containing a quick tip about your topic. Many people enjoy tips, especially if you send them out very regularly, say once a week.

HOW DO I USE EMAIL TO PROMOTE AFFILIATE PROGRAMS