An ancient proverb states: "He who works his ground will have abundant food." While I'm sure that we can all see how that would be true for farmers, the same is true for those of us on the Internet.

It's just that the "ground" we work is a little different. The ground we work is our opt-in lists.

Your opt-in list is made up of your customers, those who visited you site that didn't buy (yet), those who have subscribed to your eZine because of some other type of promo. If you will work these lists effectively, you will see an ever growing income from your list.

Here are some steps that will help you to hold on to and "work" your list:

1. Mail a high-quality publication to your entire opt-in list each week--content heavy with little or no advertising.

   The goal of this weekly mailing is to build YOUR REPUTATION. This is crucial. You don't have to write all of the content, but it is good if you can "introduce" all of it. "Many people ask me about [the article topic], so I wanted to publish this excellent article by [author]..." It ties you in with the author and gives you higher credibility than if you just "cut and paste". Remember: the only difference between an Internet guru and the rest of us is that Guru's write their own press releases.

2. Separate your list into sub-lists.

   For example, my newsletter list actually is composed of several lists--Subscribers from visiting my site, subscribers from several different list services, customers and repeat customers. This is something I've never heard of doing anywhere else, and it will make you a TON more sales. Here's why:

   We have all heard that mailing to our customers is a good idea. I certainly agree. But you can certainly target mailings to people who are on your lists for a variety of reasons--not just buying.

   For instance, one service that supplies me with about 1500 new subs per month, requires me to provide each one with a free classified ad for subscribing. By targeting a message to that group, I get a much higher response than having to write a general message to the whole group. "This is a special offer that I am making just to..."

   Separating repeat customers and customers is also an important distinction. My customers have often spent very little money with me--maybe as little as $20. Many of my repeat customers have spent over $5000. When I send out a mailer to the latter group, I know that they will be much more responsive.

3. Have a Marketing Plan.

   Take some time each month to sit down, list the products that you have to offer and consider how to promote them to your various lists. This is a good time to evaluate whether you need some additional products or services to offer as well.

   Then, make out a plan. Here are some things you need to have in the plan:

   • No more than 1 "solo" mailer to each group every two to three weeks.
   • Each offer has to be tied to a "time sensitive" incentive.
   • A projection of how you expect the promotion to do.
   • The same product should not be promoted to the same group more than once every THREE mailings (meaning 6-9 weeks between offers of the same product to the same group).

   By splitting up our groups, we do a new mailing here every week to at least one group, but our recipients each receive only one mailing every 2-3 weeks.

4. Follow the Plan.

   This is the hard part for some people...actually following the plan they have laid out.

   If you will consistently follow these four steps, you will see your subscribers, your credibility AND YOUR INCOME grow each month.