The Worst Kept Secret of Internet Marketing: Email Every Day, Sell Every Day, Make Money Every Day

If you're struggling to make money right now, or you feel your business has plateaued and you're trying to get it back to where it once was... OR you're doing great and you want to do better...

"What's the most effective thing
you can do right now
to EXPLODE your business?"

Let me tell you three things that WON'T help... or at least, these aren't the answers I'm looking for...

It's not "expanding your social media presence" -- look, I created a LinkedIn group with the rest of them that's now just under 1,000 members. We've got a few Facebook fan pages for our business (plus some other niches) and a FB group where people login and post every day. Google+ Communities are too new for me. A Twitter account I never really use, 7k followers...

Writing a book? You should have one but there are more urgent matters you need to attend to...

Information product? The "perfect" home study course or membership site that took you 2 years of content creation to finish? Or a "steady stream" of 7 dollar products that make you 500 bucks each? Not so much...

The secret to consistent income is sending consistent emails consistently.

MEANING: Email Every Day!

I'm looking at 2,706 broadcast emails I've sent in the past 5 years alone and here's what I can tell you...

  • People are going to drop off your list no matter what you do (1% list decay every single day)
  • You can email for the same offer 45 days in a row and people will buy every single day (Newbie Crusher, Paper Template, Backup Creator)
  • You can expect a 2% clickthrough rate from your entire list every time you mail -- but you can mail 5-10 days in a row to get 10%-20% of your subscribers to click
  • Your subscribers are the hottest within the first 7 days -- so email every day when someone joins your list

I don't know how your business is doing personally (but I do care)... but if you plan on going to an offline event anytime soon, as this question to an internet marketer: "Where is your optin page and where can I join your list?" You probably won't get a URL as an answer.

Thinking back to some random conversation years ago. Someone asks me why webinar attendance was down industry-wide. He mailed to a webinar and only had 100 people register, only 33 showed up, he didn't make too many sales...

After some questioning, I realized he'd only mailed once. With a very uninteresting webinar title. At the last minute. He fooled me at first when he said his list was 50,000. I had to find out the hard way that "fifty thousand" included his Twitter followers, Facebook friends, YouTube subscribers... not the same thing.

Is Facebook eating all our lunch? Yes! Are email opens down, email clicks down, blog comments down once people get to the page? You better believe it!

1like

Of course people would rather click the "like" button, share a 1-sentence post with friends, post a cute picture of a puppy, or get distracted by 1,000 other things on the page.

Here's another scary thought... I took an a forced optin page that converts at 42.9% to cold traffic, promoted it on Facebook... only a 1.29% optin rate! (direct linking on the news feed, running ads, placing inside a fan page iframe didn't make any difference... they ALL remained around a 1% optin rate)

It's like Facebook has turned our brains into BROWN SLUDGE!!!

So internet marketing as we know it is DEAD?!?

What's the solution? Is it to pack up your blog, pack up your website, shut down that sales letter, stop emailing, and move it all to Facebook?

No. Look, you might love Facebook a bunch, but it's "just another traffic source" just like EzineArticles is just another traffic source and AdRoll is just another traffic source and podcasting is just another traffic source!

  1. Keep the email list, free gift, optin page, sales letter, keep sending broadcast emails and save your best emails into your followup sequence
  2. Keep running ads and tracking your links so you know what converts and what doesn't
  3. Keep engaging your list by asking them questions and doing crazy things (mail your physical book to the first 20 responders, pay people $1 to attend a webinar or comment on a blog post, limit your blog to 10 comments or your sales letter to 1000 sales) -- BE INTERESTING (UNLIKE MOST PEOPLE!!!)
  4. Keep getting your subscribers to take action (consume your freebie, login to the membership, comment on your blog post, read your sales letter)
  5. Keep building your list any possible way that you can
  6. Keep networking with other marketers, use TimeTrade to schedule interviews and setup an affiliate program using Clickbank and Rapid Action Profits

The other day I literally killed a few dozen of my old websites... most of PHP and JavaScript training courses I'd pumped out over the years. Why? Because I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but I only have about 20 products that have REALLY made sales in the last year.

And out of those... 4 of them are "home run hits" that make sales every single day, so I've built my funnels around them!

If your list has gone cold, tell them why you've been missing and what they can expect from you in the next 30 days.

If you've stopped building your list, figure out where you can get 200 clicks back to your sales letter -- that's 100 opt-ins (just not from Facebook!)

Speaking of Facebook, start posting your links -- and sometimes your entire emails -- as status updates for extra traffic. Post them on the groups you own, your own timeline, fan pages you run and boost those posts for 7 dollars.

The number of comments on this blog post proves it... the "traffic" hasn't gone anywhere. We just have to be more interesting in order to get more engagement than the clicking of a "like" button.

Question: What are can you do this week to rise to overcome the FACEBOOK SLUDGE that seems to be stealing our traffic and taking everyone's attention away?

Filed in: Archive 1: 2012-2016List Building

Comments (117)

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  1. Kenny says:

    A membership site.

  2. Roger says:

    Hey Robert,

    It would seem to me that the secret to consistent income is setting up a membership site in which I can deliver the information my audience needs to solve a problem or better their life in some way that they will find is worth paying for.

    In other words, solve a challenge for them or teach them how to solve the challenge themselves or show them how to better their lives in some way that was probably not obvious to them.

    The easiest thing I could do right now is to listen closely to what my audience wants, and deliver it to them in a way that will provide ongoing support and information for my customers and a somewhat consistent income for me.

    Best wishes to you and yours and please keep this wonderful and information filled blog going,

    Roger

  3. Barry Meager says:

    Build a List.

  4. Hi Robert,

    I would say the answer to your question in my view would be to introduce a high ticket item to your product line-up (be it one you create yourself or one from someone else that you can promote as an affiliate)

    With that said, I’m not talking about a product that has a large price tag designed just to swell the vendors bank balance as that would prove counter productive, the type of high ticket item I mean is one that provides the purchaser with so much value that they consider their investment entirely insignificant.

  5. Joel says:

    constant high traffic

  6. John says:

    Hi Robert

    The worst kept secret of business is recurring income products/services, preferably on autopilot. Just think of all the things you rely on that you pay for automatically every month or year. Telephone, cable TV, web hosting, magazine subscriptions, club memberships etc. Some don’t even require much effort, like web hosting for instance.

    Have a great day!

    John

  7. Barry says:

    First you have to have something to sell…and ask someone to buy it.

  8. Bill says:

    The secret to consistent income is..
    – Become a trustworthy marketer
    – Offer quality content
    – Become a celebrity and millions of people will buy any crap you have to offer

    The worst kept secret out there…
    – Your Facebook friends aren’t really your friends
    – It’s not ‘the list’, it’s the quality of your list and how you build a relationship with them

    The easiest thing you can do right now is..
    – Shoot yourself in the foot
    – Learn from someone who knows what they are talking about

  9. Byrt says:

    Robert, my take on this is to have high ticket training course via either webinars or Skype or ecourses. I’d probably go with training courses via webinars.
    Keen to know what you have up your sleeves 🙂
    Byrt

  10. I think the worst kept secret is to have a product out that isn’t perfect, that anyone can buy from a sales page that isn’t perfect but has a live ‘buy’ button.

  11. Nice question, Robert!

    The answer (that sort of sums up all the other ‘avenues’ in a way or another) is, in my opinion:

    * Build a Cult around you!

    A cult is a membership, ultimately, a paid one at that (and the faithful memberes are happy to pay, btw…).
    It is also a method of increasing awareness for your brand (personal or business);
    Members are happy to hear from you regularly (list);
    They give you money in exchange of services, but most of the times for nothing, actually, except their feeling of happiness by contributing to the community… 🙂

    ^^^ Think about Apple in the terms above. What do you reckon?

    Cheers,
    Steve ? Master eMailSmith ? Lorenzo
    Chief Editor, eMail Tips Daily Newsletter

  12. James Elliott says:

    The product that people are looking for and have the money to buy and a list of people ready to buy the product

  13. Fran Civile says:

    A “worse kept” secret is not much of a secret! If we’re talking about making an income
    I must have something somebody needs and make sure somebody knows about it.
    Fran

  14. Hi Robert, I would say at least part of the worst kept secret is to have a tested converting product that converts positively,in other words you make worthwhile profit after your advertising costs,plus you must have the right type of visitor or traffic,targeted to the product. All built in to a automated system,follow up emails etc.
    Regards Denis

  15. Rob says:

    Membership sites and traffic issues

  16. shatish says:

    engaging your audience

  17. Dr Will says:

    Robert
    A membership site where you build your client list and update information.
    Also a daily or every other day approach to contact your clients.
    Will Horton

  18. bruce says:

    you should get in front of a hungry crowd with money to spend.

  19. Donna White says:

    I agree with Barry Meager. Build a list.

  20. Tom Allen says:

    A product, an offer & traffic, a list !

  21. Laurie Mills says:

    Monetising blog posts properly to start with.
    Finding or creating decent products that are useful to the end user.
    Getting an Autoresponder set up properly.

  22. Jeff says:

    All the comments on here are worth considering. However, everyone is leaving out the absolute most important ingredient in changing their business model. Whether your income has plateaued, or you are making very little to no money in your business.

    Before I give my answer, let me go over a few points.

    Membership sites are great, as long as people stay a member. Attrition rate is high and if you do not give them a reason to stay, why should they.

    Creating your own product has the highest profitability, but can also be your biggest failure. If you create a product that provides you some success, that success is short term and you either have to keep marketing your product through many channels (profitability diminishes with time) or you have to continue to create new products, to maintain a consistent income flow.

    Building a list is a key component to any business, but it is not the ultimate answer. If all you do is sell, sell, sell to your list, eventually, the responsiveness of your list will diminish exponentially. Build rapport with your list, offer lots of value, and be an asset to them and they will be an asset to you.

    So, what is the ultimate answer to Robert’s prevailing question? One must change their inner game. Most people in business today, especially online business owners, miss this very critical point.

    What does changing your inner game mean? It means, you read, listen to audios, or watch videos on subjects that teaches you how to become a more effective person.

    Here is the formula: 80% of your time should be devoted on becoming a more effective individual and 20% on your business. At first, this seems counterproductive, but it actually works. For example: Doubts breed more doubts and eventually failure. The only way to fail in anything, is by simply giving up and quitting. No matter how bad one circumstances may be, as long as you never give up, there is always a solution. Negative thoughts and feelings. Another failure mentality. Breeds anger and contempt which leads to ill health.

    I have only touched the surface. Change your inner game, and you will be successful beyond your wildest dreams. Success is never measured in the amount of money you have or make, success is in how well you deal with each situation in your life. Rather it be personal, business, physical, etc.

    The absolute best book (or audio) that I can recommend to each and everyone here is: “PsychoCybernetics” by Dr. Maxwell Maltz.

    Change your habits, change your life!!!

  23. Ken says:

    promoting someone else’s High Quality pre-built membership site for…
    continuing Passive Income

  24. Jorge says:

    Membership site that constantly adds value. Think Mixergy.com.

  25. Chelsea Peet says:

    Robert,

    I think you’ve set us up here. If so… Well played!

    And if so… The obvious answer is:

    User Engagement.

  26. Don Hill says:

    Guest Blogging…

  27. Beage says:

    Pre-recorded Webinars (Webinars made to look live)
    When people signup for the Webinar, they think It’s live but it’s
    actually pre-recorded. You add in some scarcity & put on auto pilot,
    you have yourself a big list overnight.

  28. Terri says:

    bottom line: stick to it! whatever “it” is.

  29. sonia says:

    Not certain but looking forward to what you think?

  30. Val Spangler says:

    Google Hangouts are the next Big Thing!

  31. Mfalme says:

    I think a kindle book and leverage the massive amazon traffic

  32. John Antaya says:

    Take Action on everything that you learn. When I said action I really mean the right type of action that will propel you in the proper direction.

  33. Structured Takedowns says:

    Only read your email twice a week (sic.)

  34. “What’s the most effective thing you can do right now to EXPLODE your business?”

    Host a webinar

  35. Sherm says:

    Sending an email to your list (Something I really need to do!)

  36. nazirul says:

    free stuffs that has ‘hungry’ market

  37. Chuck Burke says:

    The money is in the lists and the way they are monetized.

  38. Mk akan says:

    You kicked membership sites in the nuts so i cant choose that. List building is a must and can explode income overnight -but i dont think it is what you want – so what do i do. I wait to hear your answer.:)

  39. Russ says:

    In terms of building ANY business, there are only three ways to grow:

    1. Get more customers,
    2. Sell more to your existing customers,
    3. Larger transaction sizes.

    So logically, the way to EXPLODE your business is to implement a strategy which does all three at once.

  40. Rickey says:

    It should be membership sites. Evergreen money making way in IM.

  41. Rob says:

    Robert,

    The secret to consistent income is… consistent engagement and consistent effort.
    The worst kept secret out there… is that many market but few know what the heck they’re actually doing.
    The easiest thing you can do right now is… kick back and take stock of what you’ve done and what you’ve got to do next.

    Cheers,
    Rob Knowlan

  42. The big ‘secret’ before you do anything at all is to know your ‘Why!’

    Why do you want a successful business? Why do you want a membership site? Whey do you want to do a webinar?

    What is driving you ahead?

  43. Adam Porter says:

    Host Webinars.

  44. Mike says:

    Well, you have a lot of people second-guessing themselves Robert – I hope you’re happy! I was thinking sending an email to my list but there are a lot of other great answers on here already.
    Ultimately, emailing a list is only good if you have a solid relationship with your list. Hosting a webinar is again – only good if you have people to get on there and something to pitch or a a JV partner/affiliate setup.
    Also – measuring your results and staying accountable is pretty important – otherwise nothing gets done. Can’t wait to hear your answer and reasoning behind it.

  45. Hey Robert, it’s not nice to put this kind of pressure on us. (LOL) I hope that you get your 100 comments as I don’t want you to stop giving us this great content. I read all your posts and love the super info I get from them. I’ve been building both an online empire and an offline business that I love doing.
    With the best software available, years of training and a ton of hard work, I’m building a great future and it’s people like you that make things so much easier. I have depended on great mentors to help me to make less mistakes than they have already gone through.
    I always love hearing your podcasts and reading your posts, they are interesting and informative. Which makes for a lot easier read or listen.
    Keep them coming as you have a follower in me.
    Thanks for all you do,
    Morris (Murph) Murphy

  46. James Coe says:

    get more targeted traffic

  47. Sherwood says:

    Outsource

  48. Take consistent focussed action everyday!

  49. MIles Austin says:

    Take Action! Do SOMETHING – do anything – but don’t just sit there. Jump in and do SOMETHING and then tweak it to improve over and over.

  50. John Templin says:

    Laser targeted traffic… and lots of it!

  51. Han says:

    I think affiliate marketing.
    Simple and clean website
    Idiotproof buttons

    Bye the way, people over here, like to be treated as stupids.
    See you around,
    Greetings from Holland
    Han

  52. Jen Eick says:

    How to go from internet marketing prospect to actual internet marketer.

  53. Pat says:

    1. Joint ventures
    2. Use Papertemplate

  54. Wayne Gin says:

    Apart from building a list we all need to ,work on ourselves notaably our inner mind to determine why we need to Take Acion to propel us creating the internet lifestyle we all desire.

  55. Manny Wood says:

    I doubt if i am the forst to say this but keeping a great list and acually letting your customers know that you are doing your best to meet there needs
    That is my best guess

  56. Tony says:

    Have a proper mindset, be focused and be consistent.

  57. Gary says:

    Good question Robert but not an easy one to answer as you can see by the responses. The answer is different things to different people.

    From Affiliate Marketing, Blogging, Making your own product and marketing it, Mailing your list, Webinars, Google Hangouts, Podcasts, Write your own E-Book, Start a Membership site, Coach or Mentor people, become an Expert Speaker, Build Websites, do SEO, Social Media and Networking, List Building, Video Marketing, Reviews or take another course in new shiny objects or a Million other things. Have a Blueprint to follow,know what you want to achieve and how to get there.

    As you can see there are many things that qualify to be your answer or not.
    But I feel the common thread for all these answers and people is to take there first step.

    . What I mean by this is it does not matter what you do or even if you do it well to start with as long as you do something that you like and feel comfortable with and continue with it and not give up or constantly keep changing what you try without treating it as a real Business and having a real shot at it.

    Thank you Robert for an Interesting exercise and good luck to everyone newbie or experienced with your commitment to do something right now.

    Best regards
    Gary.

  58. The most important thing is Focus. Not being distracted by the ‘shiny objects’ and focus on the one task, the one site that will make you money.

  59. kevin thomas says:

    Don’t let your list die, keep them engaged with useful relevant entertaining information and you’ll have an audience to sell to for life.

  60. Barry Lee says:

    “It cost money to make money”

  61. kenneth says:

    The worst kept secret of internet marketing is that to be successful you have to outsource or automate your business. As a green newbie, the horrors of becoming proficient at all the roles needed to go from 0 to 1 are fraught with costs that could have been avoided if this had been made clear. The main focus of a newbie should be on mastering the ins and outs of traffic management, and its cost to action benefits.
    That’s my two cents.. cos I’m still working on figuring this stuff out..

  62. Janet says:

    Building a relationship with subscribers on your list.

  63. Kenny Salter says:

    The secret is there is no secret.

  64. sivakuma says:

    My comment is just simple. I will say, what Kevin Thomas Said is rite.
    I too have the same opinion.

  65. Barry Lee says:

    It takes money to make money

  66. sivakuma says:

    The Worst Secret is to expect for more Bucks of Money with less Marketing! as It doesnt workout..

  67. Joyce says:

    I believe that honesty is the one thing that is left out of internet marketing. Everyone trying to make a buck at the expense of the folks who are new and have no clue as to what it really takes to make a dollar on the internet.

  68. Drew H. says:

    TRAFFIC PLUS CONVERSIONS EQUALS MONEY,,,,LOL!

  69. Hello again Robert:

    The worst kept secret is that you need people visiting your website who are already looking for what you are selling in order to make sales.

    Your programming understudy,
    Albert Thomas

  70. Howard says:

    The worst kept secret in internet marketing is that it all boils down to just 3 simple things…Traffic, Lead Capture, and the Offer.

    Just do those 3 simple things and get just a little bit better at each every day. We all overestimate what we can do in a week or month but underestimate what we can do in a year.

    Over time, marginal and consistent improvement in these 3 items will drive huge results.

  71. Focus, Time Management, and Just do it and only it.

  72. Joshua says:

    Robert the secret is action, without action you have nothing no product, no traffic, no list , and no sales.

  73. Loretta says:

    It would probably be adding an informative and intuitive membership site to your business.

  74. Deanne says:

    FTM = Fixed Term Membership

  75. Roger Haeske says:

    I think the question is really a bit too broad. Depends on so many factors including what stage of business you are in and your niche. Got to have products that people actually want and or a large enough market to sell to just to get started.

    But in my stage of business one of the best things I can do and have done is do joint ventures. And or build a large affiliate network.

    I recently reread a brilliantly simple but powerful technique for doing this that will produce massive results. That’s what I plan to do. It’s just a basic concept but will drawn in affiliates and JV partners with big lists like bears to honey.

    Roger Haeske
    The 46-Year Old Teanajer

  76. Nathan says:

    build a list, build trust, only sell quality products or services, persevere

  77. Nancy says:

    Build a relationship with people who want to buy what you offer, and have enough products and services for them that they keep on buying after the first time because you’ve earned their trust.

    That’s my 2 cents worth today Robert 🙂

    Fun question!

  78. Shan says:

    Hi Robert

    Host a Google hangout.

    Shan

  79. wayne says:

    Build a list and maintain a good relationship with your list by providing value and not pounding them with offers.

  80. Steve says:

    Build a list of loyal subscribers

  81. Rhonda says:

    The best kept secret is to take action on one method and not to try other things, nomatter how tempting, until you complete that first project.

  82. In my perception membership sites will give the best ROI. Building and getting traffic to one assumes taking action, which is the biggest impedament for most

  83. There’s a lot of great and inspiring answers here, but the systems and vehicles to reach out with any business is always a secondary thing. It is the vision that needs to be nurtured first. When you easily can describe how you really can make a positive difference in other peoples lives with just 2-3 sentences. Then you know that your business idea is ripe to test out.

    Almost automatically you will have lots of options from there on to pick and choose from. So pick the systems you believe is the best and easiest way forward and scale it up gradually from there. Keep it simple. It does’nt have to be perfect in the beginning. Practice makes perfect.

    Also be consistent and go deeper and deeper into your products and services. So you truly can solve all your customers needs and desires. Build a true and sincere relationship with all your customers and prospects. Nothing is more important. Don’t just create product after product in different niches like you have internet marketing A.D.D. 🙂

    And last but not least… Don’t forget to branding… What can you do differently that makes your offer better than your competitors? Why should they buy this solution from you now? What owner experience can your product or service give that no other solution can give?

    To your success!

  84. I think it is to build a tribe and be consistent with giving them relevant and valuable content.

  85. Cindy says:

    Constant qualified traffic.

  86. robert says:

    I have been on the internet, for about a year now. And so far I keep coming back to this site. I have learned whole lot from Mr.Plank. But right now I have not soaked up enough info.

  87. Bonnie says:

    The most important thing, regardless of delivery, is consistent quality content.

  88. Bill says:

    A marketing platform with enormous reach; an exclusive product that addresses a universal problem (with no, or very few, alternatives readily available); combined with a fool proof delivery system.

  89. jackie says:

    The most important thing is great engagement! To keep up with this and take your business to the next level is a Virtual Assistant the secret to all successful marketer success. Outsource training imperative.

  90. James Stuart says:

    Always providing a “Wow” customer experience. It has served me well in the offline world.

  91. Donna says:

    At this juncture, marry a successful billionaire internet guru…. THAT would make me instantly successful. 🙂

  92. Robert,

    My quess is follow up (usually to your customer list) is what most people forget to do for internet marketers.

  93. tom says:

    just perusing the comments gives one great ideas!

    thanks to all the posters.

    the answer that the late, great Gary Halbert said one time:

    “a hungry market”

    ha ha

  94. Pete Bass says:

    Consistent engagement with your target audience. Build trust and rapport by blogging consistently.

  95. Kathy says:

    Grow six more hands to keep up with all the tasks? lol

    Seriously I would say devising shortcuts to routine daily tasks such as weeding out the email inbox, followups, etc. would definitely be one of the best kept secrets of internet marketing

  96. Audrey Johnson says:

    Blogging, webinars, and interaction

  97. Bert says:

    Build a responsive list, just as you have done, by building and maintaining a relationship with them. Then, it doesn’t matter what your product or service is, or how you keep everyone engaged…webinars, emails, social media, video, etc. Use any or all of them.

  98. John says:

    Encourage people to interact on blogs and reward it.

    100!

  99. steve says:

    Staying on the a consistent schedule delivering the value asked for by your target audience.

  100. J Freeman says:

    Focus on what works for you and improve on that. Don’t spread yourself too thin and do only one thing. Have the mindset for that one thing, what ever it is, and go for it!

  101. David says:

    aWeber COMPLAINTS will go up if we email everyday and the recipient gets annoyed.

    Aweber will flag you if more than 1 complaint in 1000, won’t they?

    So, how do I implement this everyday strategy??

    Thanks.

  102. Byrt says:

    Robert, looks like the worst kept secret and the best kept secret are blatantly staring at us after all; email everyday consistently when appropriate. I am kinda glad you said it was about emailing and not some complex guru-ed up new thing 🙂
    Emailing, I can do that….always have….but I better step it up a bit.
    Thanks Robert for helping us get real and keeping it stupid simple.
    Cheers from Sydney
    Byrt

  103. Dr Will says:

    I have been mailing more regularly and my income has gone up. I add extra value content an article or video randomly and it seems to help. I am trying to email every other day.
    Just started a sale and will mail every day for a week. Will track results.
    Will hortonk

  104. Tom Allen says:

    Okay Robert,
    You said it, Traffic from all sources to keep building our list for the reason of communicating our message & offers !
    Consistency is the message, a good clear reminder
    Your the example for us to follow !
    Keep it comming

  105. Richard says:

    I think the answer, besides having a list, is having a good backend product to market to your list.

  106. Two things:
    1. Membership Sites (promoted by blogs)
    2. Facebook Fan Pages (which have videos)

  107. John Antaya says:

    What I’ve found is that if you by chance do not have a double optin list then sending emails daily could be detrimental to having a list period. With a double optin I really don’t see too much of a problem with email frequency. There are a couple people of which I am a double opt-in for their site and unfortunately they like to send me emails 2,3,4 times a day or in a 24 hour period. For me this is ridiculous and not necessary but they seem to think so. I’m just about ready to tell them what they can do with their emails since it is always the same set of emails only with different subject lines etc.

    Thanks
    John

  108. Build your list by building the best relationship possible with that list.

  109. John Chang says:

    Building lists are important, of course; but emailing every day can be excessive, depending on your audience.

    I’ve unsubscribed from quite a few lists because it was simply TOO MUCH. We’re already being bombarded by the information overload that is life in the Internet Age.

    What stands out? Content I value / that speaks to my needs and desires – not being sold by yet another shiny object.

  110. Cararta says:

    Still working on building an email list….

    Know I need one, Think I want one,
    but have a feeling of dread at writing emails, emails email ……

    Don’t mind writing articles, even comments aren’t bad…
    but emails……………….hard time connecting

    I know, I’ll just copy Roberts.emails to me….
    .put them in a file and do a little editing
    or since I would like to do a little affiliate marketing and have some
    great products like Back up Creator…That Plate theme…even PodCast
    Crusher

    But talking about emails and how all these social things..may or may not affect emails……..google plus did something
    strange…I have this site about Diabetes…went into the valley lately..
    a friend said he finally found me on page 43 if searching for sugar control

    Well, I did a proxy search tonight….guess who is on page 1 number 11 for
    a post I did on my site August, 2012 and left a Facebook comment somewhere
    that G+ picked up and decided it liked…even if old….
    and no SEO in title but did make it into the first sentence….

    “Some foods strange to the regular American diet are recommended in this diet cookbook and blood sugar control plan! ”

    Plus Andrew (my Orange and White buddy) and I are sitting there taking it all in….

    Almost every results on that page had a picture…My picture was my gravatar guess a picture is a picture.

    Guess you need to develop a different POV….there are always new people
    coming into the internet…getting interested in marketing so maybe their
    email boxes aren’t overflowing ….yet.

    About any of this, there is one thing that is a MUST…
    be consistent..posting, commenting, sending your emails

    If nothing else make yourself a schedule like my Grandma did:

    Monday washing (laundry)
    Tuesday Ironing (pillow cases first so can make up the beds)
    (takes a long time when you heat the irons on a wood burning stove) .
    Wednesday go to church
    Thursday churn the butter
    Friday weed the garden (her domain-the men did the big cotton & corn fields)
    Saturday Bathe all the children…8 grandchildren she took care of including me!
    Sunday Church and Sunday Dinner (at home)

    in addition to the above she had a few jobs that were done daily:
    milk Bessie and the heifer…(delegated to me & my cousin Ralph)

    Cook for 8 children & 3 to 5 adults….add 4 more adults on the weekend (parents of the 8 children …jobs in town at the “Mill”)
    Breakfast:
    Ham, Bacon, Sausage, Biscuits,milk gravy and grits & eggs. Fruit…canned or fresh
    pack lunches for the men to take to the fields along with quart jars of “Sweet Tea”

    Lunch for kids usually breakfast left overs, even cornbread and milk

    Dinner: Smoked ham or pork from the smoke house, vegetables..fresh or her own canned from the garden. Cornbread and biscuits…

    No electricity, no refrigeration except for “spring house” to keep milk and butter.
    at night all leftovers were fed to the pigs…called Slopping the hogs…along with
    unshelled ears of corn…..pea shells..

    .Oh yeah, feed the chickens and gather the eggs every day…and lock them in the hen house at night….anything that moves likes to eat chickens..hawks, foxes, possums, raccoons, mink and wild cats (baby sized mountain lions never saw one, Grandpa said they are there)

    A few other little jobs added in…sweep, mop, make lye soap to do laundry, dishes
    and even wash the floors….make up all those beds, clean out the fireplace
    clean out the stove (ashes)

    Delegating and outsourcing she knew….

    the boys brought buckets of water from the spring down in the “holler” to
    fill up the reservoir in the stove (hot water to dish washing),
    water for the chickens, pigs, mules, horses water can on the back porch,

    Girls…do dishes or help by drying and putting away..wipe down the stove with
    shortening to make it shine….clean the lamp shades (kerosene and they smoked)

    trade extra eggs for some butter from neighbor..she liked her mold with
    flower pictures on the butter….
    Trade cured ham for beef roast with another neighbor

    She didn’t write it down…just got up every day and Did It.

    She was as methodical and organized as Robert any day of the week.

    Hmmm….and here I am ‘ whining about writing a few emails.

    Really wish I was
    my Grandmothers Daughter like my younger sister is…up early and go from dawn to dusk without stopping.

  111. Hi Cararta,

    Really nice rant . . . uuuh article. But I don’t get it? If you can write like you just showed us you already have the key to reader engagement, and emails. Just add a few curiosity triggers, some questions for them to ask themselves and maybe respond to you with and divide your articles up into 2 or 3 parts hook a few together, add some points about your product or an affiliate product (with a link in SOME of your mails) related to the area your list is in and before you know it you have an email sequence built. Load those into your autoresponder a day or 2 apart from each other and vola, you have folks opening your mails right and left because they want to hear what you are saying. That builds your credibility and helps spure folks on to open your mails and links that are inside.

    Keep me posted how you progress
    warmly
    David
    David-Whitfield.com

  112. Great post Robert, taking action is better than taking no action at all. One of my favorite mentors told me that if you wait to be perfect you’ll die broke! So very true, I have a small email list compared to most standards but I still try to email daily. Consistency creates trust, but better than that is when you let your subscribers know they’re getting an email at such and such time and you deliver!

  113. Dale Maxwell says:

    Hi Robert,
    Thanks for the Post Card
    Do you feel lighter for dumping the old (mostly-dead product sites)?

    Bet you do.

    Thanks for your great content.

  114. Robert Plank says:

    Hi Dale, you’re very welcome.

    I’ve only dumped a couple of the old sites. Working to phase more of them out. Always important to be moving forward, as you know!

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