For an online business, marketing and promotion is a huge part of your success (and if done incorrectly or not at all, unfortunately part of your failure). The Oz-E-Wahm site aims to support all work at home mums, but we especially enjoy sharing information that will help online businesses. And so, welcome to Marketing Monday, where each week we’ll be posting some great info on a topic of the month to help you grow your website and your business.

This month’s topic is Turning Newsletter Subscribers into Buyers.

Even if you just have a simple web presence, you should have a newsletter. An online newsletter is extremely cheap and easy to do with software available online now, and really is one of the must do’s for an online business.

I’m sure you know people who have tried, and possibly failed, to build an opt-in list. Maybe you are one of these people. Not all is lost, however. You still have a chance to breathe some life into your list, and get it working for you instead of against you.

The number one relationship between you and your opt-in list members must be one of trust. If there is no trust, you will not likely get that person to sign up. If they do they may not stay. Here are a few strategies to build and maintain trust:

#1  They must be able to opt-out.  Make sure each customer signing up for your newsletter or information knows they have a quick and easy option to bow out when they like. A simple checkbox and click for their subscription to be removed should do the trick.  This is actually required by the CAN-SPAM Act in the US and our anti-spam laws here in Australia.

#2  Offer interesting and valuable content.  To build their trust in you, start providing your readers with valuable and interesting articles, blog and forum posts based on your niche topic. While this may seem a lot of work, the benefit of them trusting what you have to say is well worth the time. You will soon be considered an expert in your field, which can easily bring more prospects to your business.

#3  Stick to the 80/20 rule.  People expect a certain amount of marketing when they receive an email however if your email is too heavy on the marketing end, they’re going to drop you like a hot-potato.  Always make sure you offer at least 80% valuable content and around 20% promotional content. Additionally, make sure your marketing content is relevant.

#4  Get them involved.  One great way to breathe life into your opt-in list is to get your readers involved.  Take a poll or survey, and post the results, ask questions and provide feedback.  Create a community with your prospects and customers, it’s a great way to build a business.

#5  Finally, make sure to balance your communications.  There’s a fine line between emailing too often and contacting your opt-in list too infrequently.  Find the balance. Study your click through and open rates.  Test to see what frequency works best for your audience. While most people who sign up will expect contact from you regularly, they aren’t likely to remain happy if you email them several times a day. When creating your opt-in box, try to specify how often you intend to contact them, with room for extra mailings for the occasional special bonus. Studies have shown that for most lists, fortnightly or monthly is optimal.

Your list is the lifeline to your business. If you have nobody to communicate with, who will buy your products or services? Keeping them happy, waiting in excitement for the next mailing is the key to a happy list. Treat them well, let them trust you, and your list will not only start breathing again, but will have more life in it than ever before.

Don’t forget to drop by next Monday, where we’ll chat about five different ideas you can use to help grow your subscriber base.