As an online business owner email marketing can be your best friend. Email marketing can be an inexpensive and effective marketing tool. In fact, it may be your best marketing tool. Here’s how to make the most of email marketing: 
1 Communicate to your audience, not the masses. When you’re building your email list make sure you’re building it with targeted prospects. This is accomplished by offering a freebie that would appeal to your prospects specifically.
For example, you can provide a free report or information product in exchange for their email address. Sure, giving away something like an iPad will motivate a lot of sign ups. However your list will be full of people who really aren’t interested in buying from you in the future.
2 Don’t let your list get stale. The secret to an effective email list is to use it. IF you simply collect email addresses and don’t connect with your prospects you’re missing a valuable opportunity. Commit to an email schedule and then stick to it. For example, if you promise a weekly newsletter then by all means deliver a weekly newsletter. Add a few extra promotional messages throughout the year for an extra boost in income.
3 Provide information not advertising. The key to keeping email subscribers is to provide value. If you’re communications are all about marketing and promoting your product then people are going to be turned off. However, if you’re providing them with valuable information then they’ll look forward to each email you send. A good rule of thumb is to make sure each message is 80% content and 20% marketing and promotion.
4 Test and track. Most email marketing solutions and autoresponders provide an abundance of information. They show you how many people opened your email. How many clicked on your internal links. They also show you how many people deleted your email or forwarded the message to a friend. Use this information to your advantage. Test which subject lines have the most impact. Test which promotions and messages get the most clicks.
5 Honor your customers. There are a few rules regarding email marketing. First, you must have permission to email someone. That means they must “Opt-In” to your email. The double opt-in process, confirming they want to subscribe, helps ensure all of your recipients are happy to hear from you.
Additionally, you must include an opt-out or unsubscribe option in each message. Finally, you must tell your subscribers what you do with their email address and information. For example, do you sell their email addresses or share them with others?
Email marketing helps you get and stay connected with your target audience and your customers. It’s a very powerful marketing tool. Use it to your advantage.
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