The definition of “critical mass” for our purposes here is “a term to describe the existence of sufficient momentum such that the momentum becomes self-sustaining and fuels further growth”.

Don’t get hung up on the definition, just think of it as a ball rolling down a hill. Once it builds up enough speed it propels itself. This is where we want to take our businesses and the best way to get there is by building a warm list.

There is no good reason not to have an email list. In fact, it is one of the first things you should set up. You don’t even need your own product or service before starting to gather a targeted list. All you need is an autoresponder and an opt-in box on your website….that’s it!

The key is to get this going prior to creating a product or service (or if you already have a product or service, DO IT NOW). That way once you do create your own product or service, you’ll already have your list in place and it’s time to make some money.

As you build your list you can pre-sell them on your market authority and build their trust in you, not to mention already having readers who are interested in what you have to say. Plus, it will make it easier to sell things when the time comes due to the relationship you have developed with them.

Starting from the beginning your goal should be to build a targeted list of people who trust you and see you as an expert in your field. When you do this your chances of reaching success will skyrocket. In selling terms we call this “selling to a warm list”.

Any “guru” who has made millions of dollars selling online has done so because they sell to a warm list. There are other factors involved to be sure, but after the dust settles the main reason they are ultra-successful is they consistently build, develop, and sell to their “warm list”!

When a “guru” asks their list to “buy this now”, their list responds by asking “where do I sign up?” There is only one way for you to get to this point and that is to build a warm list of your own.

The best way to achieve this is to offer top quality content for free. The old internet adage “give your best stuff away for free” is more relevant than ever. Why? It accomplishes two very important things. It builds:

Trust

Authority

Building your warm list depends on building trust and authority. The best way to do this is by giving away quality content on a consistent basis. Help people solve their problems and they will not only follow you, they will spread the word about you to their friends.

Once you make this happen, things will start to get interesting. “The ball will slowly start to roll forward”. As you build momentum and speed you are creating a freight train that cannot be stopped easily. You are on your way to achieving “critical mass”.

I was going to wait to write this as a tip to increase your email open rates to your list, however, having just received over 40 of them today I felt this would be a good time let the cat out of the bag.

Let’s start from the top with a question to suck you right in to the subject matter. Have you ever received an email that had RE: in the subject line? I am sure most of you had at one time or another so I will assume the overwhelming answer is yes.

This is the way the email subject line begins when someone responds to your email. The subject line always starts with RE: and we have been conditioned to recognize this as a response to an email we had sent out.

Recently I was struggling with my email open rate with one of my lists and pretty much came to a dead end. I had tried everything, including praying to the gugu gods of email (it wasn’t pretty let me tell ya -J). Still nothing worked. It didn’t matter what super ninja tactic I tried, my open rate just stunk!

Then one morning while considering my latest email I can up with the idea to start a new email to the list with RE:. I hit “send” and held my breath. Soon I began to check my Aweber open results and Wala! I had struck solid Gold! The email open rate sky rocketed and people were responding to my email as if I had emailed them personally! Perfect!

Being that I had effectively “tricked” my list into opening the email I have used this technique sparingly and only when I really need them to open an email.

So fast forward to today and someone must have beat me to the punch and put it out there that The RE: subject line gets Mega open results when inserted into an email because emails with this attached to them are laying all over my email. OK already, it works….but not from 40 people on the same day.

My point is simple; this is a great technique to use “sparingly” to temporarily boost your results. Use it as a bridge to build more trust with your list and offer them more value (the ultimate fix) and they will be waiting for your email with mouse in hand.

Did you ever sign up for an email list and in the sales page it says they will deliver (what ever they are promising you) to your email instantly….. “yes, even if it is 3 am in the morning”. Well, they are using an email autoresponder to automate their business.

Once you get the feel for what your customers are looking for you can continually tweak your messages and keep on adding more email content to them. I have seen some autoresponders set up outside a year long. Imagine the messaging you can send on a consistent basis not to mention the cash you can generate on a regular basis.

In my opinion a mailing list is your most valuable asset. The larger the list the more money it is possible to make. I have made up to $1,000 for one mailing in a very narrow niche with a list of only 1,800 people. But your list is only valuable if handled with care and respect. The important part is that you know how to use it to its greatest potential. Don’t over use it and keep jamming sales letters and affiliate links down their throats. Make sure to send top content on a regular basis and they will be ready to by your product when it comes out.

If I knew how valuable my lists would prove to be I would have started to build them much sooner. It is hard to believe the feeling when you need some cash and you put out an email to your list offering a great deal on some of your e-products and the cash starts rolling in. Once this happens, you will never look at list building the same ever again. I guarantee it!

Before we get into the actual marketing to your list, let’s go over some basics about autoresponders and the steps you need to take before you ever send that first email.

How to Find the Right Autoresponder for YOU

Don’t just sign up for the first autoresponder system you come across. Make sure you compare several companies and see what they have to offer. Do your research and find out which autoresponder has which features and benefits. You want to find the one that best matches your situation.

There are quite a few systems out there to choose from so I’ll tell you which system I use and some of the other top names. Don’t limit yourself to this list. If you have heard good things about a company then check them out. I actually looked at the companies that were used by the guru’s sending me email and started my search from there. That might not be a bad idea for you as well.

I use Aweber because it fits my system perfectly. It is easily scalable and you can start off small and for very little money. This worked great for me and the most of the people I learned the business off of where using Aweber so I gave it a try and have been with them ever since. It may or may not be right for you so compare it to others to see if it is right for you.

Here are some links to other popular autoresponder systems.

Aweber

iContact

Get Response

Email Aces

Making a wise decision before starting a marketing campaign can and will make a difference. Yes, you can change to a new autoresponder later, but why go through the hassle if it’s not necessary. Choose wisely.

Know The Programs Available

Educate yourself on your autoresponder before beginning any marketing campaign. Take the time to learn how all the bells and whistles work. Once you know what you’re working with, you’ll be unstoppable. Don’t leave anything on the table that will keep you from utilizing this powerful tool to its fullest potential.

If your autoresponder can do all that you need it to do, and you know how to use it to your advantage, your marketing campaign will flourish.

Now let’s take a look at some do’s and don’ts. This is where an autoresponder will make or break your business. If done right, you’ll discover why everyone and their brothers say, “The money is in the list.”

Did you ever think it was possible to work less and make more money? I had trouble with that concept too as my family (especially my Dad) always said the harder you work the more you will make. This is not necessarily true in the online world in which we now live. Because of tools such as autoresponders that can be programmed to do much of the work for us the direct opposite is true in a lot of cases.

An autoresponder is just as the name implies. It is a program that automatically responds to a request for information. The most common use is sending a response email to someone who has signed up for your email list. The customer receives a response immediately and, if they are not familiar with autoresponders, may think you are typing them a response at all hours of the day or night. I can’t tell you how many times people have responded to one of my emails from an autoresponder, thinking that I was on the other end pecking away on my computer. If you would like more information on autoresponders click here . I use and recommend Aweber.

The reality is, you do the work once and you are done. The autoresponder repeats the process each time another person signs up. You can just send a welcome or courtesy email or you can attach a file to the email and send them a special report or ebook. Everything is automated. Talk about beautiful, this is the way to get things done.

Let’s assume for a second that you are selling an ebook. On the sales page you have a “add to cart” or “buy now” button with a link to your merchant account or PayPal (I recommend Paypal but that is for another section). The customer purchases your product and your shopping cart automatically sends them the ebook link plus sends a request to your autoresponder add them to your email list.

Your autoresponder then sends an email with a “Thank You” note and a link to an upsell. They decide not to take you up on the upsell this time; however, you programed the autoresponder to send an email every other day for the next 30 days containing some kind words and the same upsell link. Nothing, nothing, nothing, and then….. Bam! On day 22 they purchase the upsell!

This is real life and this is how you triple your profits with less work.

Did you ever sign up for an email list and in the sales page it says they will deliver (what ever they are promising you) to your email instantly….. “yes, even if it is 3 am in the morning”. Well, they are using an email autoresponder to automate their business.

Once you get the feel for what your customers are looking for you can continually tweak your messages and keep on adding more email content to them. I have seen some autoresponders set up outside a year long. Imagine the messaging you can send on a consistent basis not to mention the cash you can generate on a regular basis.

In my opinion a mailing list is your most valuable asset. The larger the list the more money possible. Your list is only valuable if handled with care and respect. The important part is that you know how to use it to its greatest potential. Don’t over use it and keep jamming sales letters and affiliate links down their throats. Make sure to send top content on a regular basis and they will be ready to by your product when it comes out.

The importance of a mega profitable squeeze page can’t be overstated. A top notch squeeze page can get you started building that high producing email list you’ve always wanted. It can also set you up for a very profitable back end sales funnel that could double or triple your sales profit.

One of the reasons an excellent squeeze page is so important is to “squeeze” the email address out of your reader so you can use the information they provide you for follow up marketing…the mighty “back end” sales game.

Some marketers don’t even plan to make a profit on the original sale. They will spend the entire profit just to get the email address. Think about that. It is so profitable to gain an email address that some marketers will give up all their profit just to get you on their list. This should give you a good indication of where the “real” money is and what you should be focused on if you want to be competitive.

If you use this properly, your squeeze page has the power to boost your visitor-to-subscriber conversion rates, allowing you to send follow-up communications that will in turn help convert your subscribers to buyers. This is the “holy grail” for an internet marketer. This is what keep the money coming in and the world going round.

I have assembled some tips to help you build, or improve, your squeeze page. They are pretty easy to implement and should get you on the right track in no time.

Keep it Simple!

A squeeze page is meant to serve one purpose – get subscribers to your list. Don’t get carried away and end up with clutter everywhere like affiliate links and other offers. As a matter of fact, less is more when it comes to a squeeze page. It is better to have less on a squeeze page than to overwhelm your visitors with too many options. Keep them focused on the optin.

Make your intentions clear – you want them to subscribe, not click off your page? If your page is too cluttered your reader will get lost and move on. You have to make it clear exactly what you want them to do. If you give them too many choices they won’t make one at all. Think about the old Saturday Night Live skit where John Belushi plays an owner of a small restaurant and all they offer is cheeseburger, cheeseburger. It didn’t take his customers long to decide what they wanted did it? They were focused. The same principal applies here.

Make a Compelling Offer

There are a lot of other people online offering basically the same things you are. You are all competing for the same customers and your competition wants your readers to sign up for their site too. So, what makes you different? Why should they sign up with you instead of them? Why should they give you permission to continue to contact them?

The first step is to speak to your reader in terms they can understand. Speak to their problems and their pain. Tell them how you will solve their issues and then tell them what you want them to do next.

Let your readers know exactly what to expect when they sign up for your list. What are the benefits to being on your list? Figure it out and then tell them how being on your list will solve every (fill in your area of expertise here) problem they have. Pull out all the stops and make a compelling offer.

One way to make sure this happens is to under promise and over deliver. You hear it all the time but it is so true. If you promise a weekly newsletter you’d better send them a newsletter every week or be prepared for the mass unsubscribe when you haven’t mailed them for months and your readers no longer remember who you are or why they subscribed in the first place. Give them what you promised and then some. This will not only keep them as customers, it will inspire them to tell their friends about you too.

Follow Up Relentlessly

A mega profitable squeeze page will make your prospects want what you’re offering so badly they don’t hesitate in giving you their name and email address. It creates trust and confidence and these are the building blocks for a very profitable relationship.

We have been trained to expect immediate gratification. Our society is addicted to it so if you’ve offered an ebook or ecourse as an incentive for them to sign up to your list – give it to them immediately! If you promised it and did not deliver the free stuff, what do you think that is saying about you delivering any product that they might buy?

Don’t make them wait for anything. Use an autoresponder to send out the information right away. If you don’t have one you should get one if you plan on being in this business unless you want to stay glued to your computer 24/7. I use Aweber and love it. I started out a couple years back and now have ten or twelve email lists with them. They deliver your email on time and are very reliable. There are other companies out there so do your homework but Aweber is highly regarded in the industry and won’t disappoint.

Constantly Test, Tweak and Test Again

The major difference between a marketer that will make it and one that will go broke is testing. Successful marketers test everything all the time. Start out running a split test with two squeeze pages against each other to see which gives you the highest conversion. After that, test again, and again, and again to increase your conversion rate. I can tell you not everyone is doing this so this could separate you from the competition right here.

While we hope that every decision we make with our online business will result in enormous success, unfortunately, this is not always the case. And even if we did call it correctly, it is all relative because where you start cannot be where you end up. You have to keep improving all the time.

If the copy on your squeeze page doesn’t seem to be drawing your readers to sign up, you might need to take a look at how you’re driving traffic to your squeeze page. Everything is subject to change and the more you test the faster you will improve and the more profit you will make.

Never be afraid to ask a mentor or someone with some background in Internet marketing their honest opinion of your squeeze page. Keep an open mind to what they have to say and what you need to hear. Then, make the necessary changes. The more you fail the faster you succeed so embrace failure as a step towards improvement and your ultimate goal.

There you have it, my take on what make up a profitable squeeze page: Keep it Simple, make a Compelling Offer, Always Follow Up, and Test, Test, Test!

Now, go out and create the best squeeze page you can. It doesn’t have to be perfect but, it does have to exist so get with it and get it up on your site. You will be amazed at what a good list will do for your income. Make sure you stick to the basics and use persuasive copy that gives them a reason to opt-in. From there, the sky is the limit!

(Legally Create) Free Email Content for Your Subscriber List!

One of the least known and least used features of Aweber is the Blog Broadcast feature. This feature enables you to plug in your blogs RSS feed into your email list and when you generate a certain number of blog posts it automatically send the article feed to your email subscribers.

This could generate good traffic from your email back to your blog plus keep your subscribers up-to-date on the topics you are writing about.

Recommended Resources: Aweber

Create a New Auto Responder Email List in AWeber

One of the most important pieces to building your business is building your list. The easiest way to sell products to your list is through the use of an auto responder. This is software that sends out pre-written emails to you email list as they sign up. I suggest creating creating 25 to 30 followup emails. This will take some time but it will be one of the most powerful selling tools you will have.

Recommended Resource: AWeber