_____ FEATURED ARTICLE _____________________


           My Huge Email List...What a Mistake!


I read a chilling, but honest, confession today by an online 
marketer.  No, not one of the biggies.  This was a guy who had 
obviously read one of those irresponsible marketing books on 
building your email lists quickly.  For purposes of anonymity, 
let's call him Bob.

What was Bob's confession?

That he had spent way too much time and money building his list 
and not enough time properly targeting his subscriber base.

You see, Bob erroneously bought into the idea of "build a huge 
email list, and they will come." 

Admittedly, his plan did seem perfect when he initially set out. 
 His goal was to have 30,000 subscribers in 120 days.  He 
started this plan on June 4th.  Today, the middle of August, he 
has almost 21,000 subscribers.  Great!  Bob is on track to reach 
his goal.

When making this plan, Bob made a logical assumption that over a 
year's time he could get 10% of those 30,000 to purchase a 
measly $10 product.  Pocketing $30,000 would make his plan 
worthwhile.  Yes!

However, sooner or later reality would dictate whether his plan 
would work.  Unfortunately, the reality of Bob's plan now is 
that he is getting less than 1/10th of 1 percent response from 
his massive list.  This is disastrous!

Folks, just because you have a lot of subscribers doesn't mean 
they're going to buy your products.

Read part of Bob's confession...

"I've depended on subscription services to deliver targeted 
subscribers. They have been able to deliver a high quantity at 
what appeared to be a very reasonable price. But again, it's not 
what you pay but what it costs that matters."

The cost to Bob is not only monetary.  He feels he has wasted 
time in the efforts put into his ezine, the long hours of 
writing, of conceiving ideas, of reviewing products.  He found 
himself resenting his big list and feels like giving up.

Now, I know there are many of you out there who feel the same 
way.  Perhaps you have bought the same manuals as Bob.  It all 
made so much sense, right?  But, it didn't turn out the way you 
had planned.  Hats off to Bob for being honest enough to make 
this confession.  He only said what many have been feeling.  

Bob admitted that he now understands that his time would have 
been better spent in targeting his subscribers rather than 
building his list.  And, this is what he is now determined to 
do.  As a result, I'm confident Bob will turn his plan around 
into a success.  His eyes are being opened to the realities of 
marketing - online or off.

The key is in targeting your subscribers.  Once you've done 
this, you get to know them, and they get to know you.

That's it?  Yes, that's it.  Well, okay, you have to learn the 
right ways to target your list.

I've read Bob's ezine issues and am amazed at the time he 
obviously puts into them.  He was honest and straight-forward 
with his subscribers.  But, they didn't respond because of two 
things: 1) first and foremost, they were not targeted, and 2) 
the relationship just wasn't there yet.

Both of these things take time to build.  From experience I can 
tell you that if you will learn to do the two things listed 
above, the orders will roll in.  It makes that much difference, 
especially at this time when there is a glut of ezines.

Dave and I could easily have 50,000 subscribers to our ezine 
within a few months.  We know how to accomplish it.  It's 
actually easier than you might think.  However, we also know 
that if we made this our goal, our conversion ratios would fall 
drastically.  So, why do it?  Honestly!

When we see an ezine that grows in numbers very quickly, we 
steer away from advertising in that ezine.  The chances are high 
that their conversion ratios will not pan out for our ad.

Lesson learned?

Spend the majority of your efforts in targeting your subscribers 
and less in building your list.

------
About the Authors:
Successful entrepreneurs Heidi and Dave Perry are founders of 
HomeBusinessOnline.com and PrettyGreat.com.  Receive free issues 
of their popular HomeBizBytes newsletter: 
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-----
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