subject: The Proper Way To Use E-mail Marketing As An Affiliate [print this page] Email marketing, a simple enough term but one of the most difficult forms of marketing to master. With ever increasing amounts of spam being delivered everyday it is imperative that you understand the basic underlying principals of how to use email marketing to promote your program with out violating any laws and with out upsetting the readers.
There are a few rules that you need to follow to make sure that you avoid getting hit with spam violations and running afoul of the major email service providers. The next rule is to avoid using those words with high risk ratings; go online and research them. One of the most preferred and often used methods of blocking spam is, according to Wikipedia, the Bayesian email filter; According to Wikipedia:
"Bayesian email filters take advantage of Bayes' theorem.
Bayes' theorem, in the context of spam, says that the probability that an email is spam, given that it has certain words in it, is equal to the probability of finding those certain words in spam email, times the probability that any email is spam, divided by the probability of finding those words in any email:"
To put this in layman's terms, if you use words that are highly associated with spam in your email there is a higher probability that your email will be blocked for being spam. So try to avoid words like "free" and "money" and "limited time offer" and other words favored by spammers.
Two very important items that you must have in order to ensure that you can not be blamed for spamming; the first is to use an opt-in request that requires that your intended recipient signs up for your email. They do this by clicking a link or by filling out a simple registration form on your web page. Keep the records so that you can produce them when asked. The second is that you must always provide a means for your customers to
"opt-out;" in other words provide them with a means to let you know that they want to stop receiving any more emails from you.
Another rule is to avoid buying and using email distribution lists from online companies. Usually the only ones that are making money on that deal are the companies selling you the distribution lists. I am not saying that they won't work; I am just saying that you run a much higher risk using them. Instead the best thing for you to do is to create a great blog that entices people to "opt-in" to receive your emails.
Your objective is to send periodic emails over a period of time to accomplish one clear goal; you want to build credibility and trust. You do this by sending pertinent and relevant information to those people that want to receive email from you. If you start blasting them with sales propaganda they are going to drop you like a bad habit!
Remember, you want to leverage information to your advantage. You do this by giving your readers good valuable information in your email and they are going to want to get more of the same from you. If you do your job right they will actually be looking forward to receiving that information.
Once you have built that credibility and trust you will have an opportunity to make a product recommendation. Now the key here is that you can not make a product recommendation over and over again. One product recommendation a quarter or one every six months seems to work best. The beautiful thing is that if you have done your job correctly then every time you make a product recommendation a large majority of your readers will take the time to investigate the recommendation and more importantly a large number of those investigating the offer will make a purchase.
Now, as you remember we have stated repeatedly that you have to have a great blog. This is your foundation and everything builds off of it. Keep in mind that the objective of all of your affiliate marketing up to this point has been to get people to visit your blog. The objective of your blog is to get people to sign up for your email distribution or to keep coming back to your blog for information. When they sign up for your email, what you decide to deliver to them is up to you. Some of you probably won't have the time to deliver monthly news letter so you can send out bulletins or announcements instead. The point is that you want to send them emails consistently over a period of time. As mentioned, this is the only way to build up the relationship with them and to earn their trust. You can only do that by sending important and useful information to them.
Last but not least; it is imperative that you always sign your emails with a signature block that includes your affiliate link. One of the best ways to accomplish this is to always add a "Post Script" to your email. In the post script you would want to say something like;
PS. You can learn more about this topic by visiting Alan's website. Alan is the expert that I am learning from and does a much better job of explaining this than I do. Click here for more information.
To your success
E. Alan Cowgill
P.S. Take the time to go online and sign up for someone else's email distribution. That way you can get examples of what they are doing and perhaps gain some insight on how you want to manage yours.
