If there is one piece of advice I would give to every business operating on the Web today, it would be this:

You MUST collect the opt-in information of visitors to your web site!

Why? Because if you're not constantly building your opt-in email list, you're letting MOST of your sales opportunities slip right through your fingers! I can't say it often enough!

Studies have shown that it takes an average of FOUR TO SEVEN points of contact to make a sale — and you won't make it to the second point of contact if you don't have a way to reach your visitors after they've left your site.

Think about how many web sites you visit in an hour of surfing the Internet — do you remember the salescopy and products from each of those sites? Could you find a particular site again if you wanted to re-check their information? Even if you Googled it, there's no guarantee that exact URL would show up in your keyword results.

In most cases, visitors come to your site, they look around, then they leave, and they're gone forever.

But simply by collecting their first name, last name, and email address, you can stay firmly on their radar and expose them to your products time and time again — all at nearly no cost to you! These people are your opt-ins, and an opt-in email list is the very foundation of any online business.

That's why it's amazing to me that many people don't take advantage of opt-in email marketing.

Especially when statistics from PostFuture back up exactly what I'm saying:

• 82% of online buyers have made at least one purchase in response to an email promotion
• 67% of users open at least 60% of opt-in emails they receive
• 32% have made an immediate online purchase in response to an email!
• 59% have gone on to redeem an email coupon in an online OR offline store

People pay close attention to their email, and more and more people are buying online every year!

But consumers know that their personal information is gold, and they won't give it to you unless you give them something they want in return. If you provide your visitors with a targeted, valuable opt-in offer, your opt-in email list will grow — and so will your revenues.

So now that you know WHY you should be collecting your visitors' information, let's take a look at...

• WHO you should be considering when you build your opt-in strategy
• WHAT to offer your visitors to get them excited about opting in

• HOW to promote your offer

• WHERE to put it on your web site!

Once you've got the answers to these questions, you're ready to put together the best possible opt-in offer for your target market.

WHO? Know your target market — and build an offer they can't refuse!

The first step in creating a solid opt-in strategy is to consider the people you want to opt in to your list. Just as the best businesses are created in response to the needs of a specific niche market, so are the best opt-in offers!

That's why the first, most important question is always WHO. Unless you can specifically say who you're aiming your strategy at, you're going to have a hard time running any kind of an opt-in campaign... AND your business, for that matter.

You can find out a lot about your site visitors' preferences and habits by looking at the server logs that your web host supplies. What's the most popular page on your web site? What pages do visitors stay on for the longest time? Build your opt-in offer around what's on those pages.

Where do people most often click away from your site? Obviously whatever's there isn't something your market considers valuable, so a related opt-in offer wouldn't work.

When do most people visit your site? If they're visiting during work hours, your offer will be much different from one aimed at people visiting in the evenings.

Also consider the questions or comments you get from customers after a sale. What do they want to know? What do they like or dislike?

The more hard information you have on your target audience, the easier it will be to come up with an opt-in offer that answers their specific needs.

Now's the time to think about WHAT your target market really wants...

WHAT? Discover the opt-in incentive that will provide maximum value for your opt-in email list — and get your subscribers in the mood to buy!

There are tons of different incentives you can use to encourage people to give you their personal information — but not every offer will suit every web site or business.

Because people already get so much email these days, you need to provide them with a really compelling incentive to opt in to your list.

Most people think of newsletters right off the bat when they are first developing an opt-in incentive for their web site. Starting your own online newsletter is one of the most effective methods of building your opt-in list. It's an incredibly powerful way to position yourself as an industry expert with your customers and subscribers, and it reminds them regularly of your presence.

For some businesses, however, offering a free newsletter isn't the best way to collect email addresses. Let's suppose, for example, that your site sells washers and dryers. You're going to be hard pressed to come up with interesting, relevant information about laundry for your free newsletter every month!

According to an Ipsos-Reid poll, 71% of all Internet users have unsubscribed from at least one email list because the information delivered wasn't sufficiently interesting or relevant.

Before you start a newsletter, think about how much interesting and relevant information you can deliver to your specific audience and how much time you have available to put it together so it can be delivered on a regular schedule.

If a newsletter isn't a good fit for your business, don't worry — there are other ways to collect email addresses, and they require less time and effort.

1. Offer a free course

If you have a lot of know-how in your area of expertise, you can turn your "expert" status into a free multi-part course on a subject your readers are interested in learning.

Ask yourself what kind of information your readers want from you — what do you have to teach them? What have they come to your site to learn, or what kind of information were they seeking?

By using delayed autoresponders, you can set up the different lessons in your course to be emailed to subscribers at specified intervals, all without any effort on your part.

Your delayed autoresponder program could be set up to send a new lesson to subscribers every seven days — meaning that subscribers would automatically be exposed to your company and your offer four times over the course of a month. And the best part is, you are contacting them with information that they have specifically requested.

(If you're interested in getting your hands on an email management program with unlimited autoresponder capability, check out www.marketingtips.com/mailloop.)

Don't forget that your course can contain text, audio, graphics — even video — whatever suits the material you're delivering. Just send your subscribers a link to the web page where your course can be found. Unlike email, your web site doesn't put any restrictions on how much rich media you can feature.

2. Offer a free eBook

A free eBook can be a great incentive, depending on the kinds of products or services you offer.

If you offer a free eBook, you'll have to take the time to actually write it. But an eBook doesn't need to be hundreds of pages long to be useful. An information-packed eBook can be as short as 8 to 10 pages, and still provide a ton of value for your opt-in subscribers.

Not only does a free eBook help build your list, it also helps familiarize your visitors with you and your products or services.

You can also make your eBook viral — and no, that doesn't mean you're making anyone sick! "Viral marketing" is a strategy in which you encourage your customers to pass on a marketing campaign or message to others. Like a virus, your message has the potential to spread throughout online communities.

With viral eBooks, word about your business spreads quickly. For example, let's say that you persuade 10 people to pass your eBook on to their friends. And if they share it with even a few of their friends? That's a number that multiplies pretty quickly — and can convert into tons of highly targeted potential customers!

You can even create a new opt-in offer for people who've received the eBook from friends. Put a link in the eBook to a special landing page that features the offer and collect a "second generation" of opt-ins.

3. Offer downloadable articles

If your site contains a lot of useful, original, content-rich articles, one of the best ways to collect email addresses is to require that visitors to your site opt in to your list if they want to download those articles.

As long as you offer useful information, and as long as the downloadable articles contain something that people can't get for free in the version you have posted on your site, you can expect to get a TON of sign-ups using this strategy.

Now, maybe you're not comfortable writing, or your business isn't suited to offering a written opt-in incentive. But don't worry! There are a number of opt-in offers that don't require much writing at all — just a bit of creativity!

4. Offer other "downloadables"

Articles aren't the only items you can offer for download on your web site — why not offer e-cards, screen savers, desktop wallpapers, or templates that your visitors can enjoy in exchange for their opt-in information?

For example, if you sell books about pet care, you can offer e-cards or printable cards with photos of adorable animals! Or if you sell beach home rentals, you could easily create a screen saver with pictures of some of your most beautiful destinations. (Imagine if you could be on your visitors' computer screen EVERY DAY — whether they were online or offline! That's what screen savers and wallpapers can accomplish — all with a minimum of set-up time, and at no cost to you!)

You don't even need a ton of graphic design skills — a few good shots of your products or related items, and you're most of the way to creating something attractive that will keep your visitors connected to you and your product.

You can even offer a monthly subscription to special items like these, or a members-only area on your web site where subscribers can go to find goodies that relate to your industry.

5. Offer a contest, puzzle, or game

Running a contest on your web site works on the same principle as dropping your business card in a jar at the local cafe in hopes of winning a free lunch for your office.

The cafe collects information about its customers, and the customers get the chance to win a valuable prize. Both parties benefit, and it doesn't really cost the cafe anything more than a few burgers for the winner.

Depending on the kind of business you run, there are a ton of different options for this type of opt-in incentive. Some examples include:

A contest to win an item (or a coupon for a percentage off an item) related to your product. Say you sell party favors — hats, toys, and streamers. You could hold a contest to win a free birthday cake from a bakery in your area or a percentage-off coupon for a party rentals place.

A contest to win one of your products. But remember — don't offer to give away the primary product you sell. People will enter the contest hoping to win — and leave your site without considering an actual purchase!

A weekly puzzle or quiz. The type of puzzle is up to you: a crossword with words that relate to your business, or a "multiple choice"-type quiz, an animated jigsaw puzzle, or a game of "Hangman"! You can set it up as a contest and draw a name from the winning entries to award a prize — or require that people give you their opt-in information to get the answer.

6. Offer a survey

Surveys are a great way to generate opt-ins, and they also provide a valuable service to the people who take part in them. For example, if you had something to sell that was of interest to gardeners, you could mention your survey in relevant newsgroups, forums, or related newsletters, and give a link to the survey page on your web site.

Your survey could delve into what types of products gardeners are using in different kinds of gardens, or what kinds of gardening challenges they face in their particular region. Let participants know that you will send them the results if they give you their name and email address.

Because participants have to come to your web site to fill out the survey, you should be able to take advantage of all that new traffic and generate a significant number of new opt-ins.

You might even incorporate a survey question such as "Would you like to receive a complimentary copy of our monthly newsletter (or eBook, or course) with tons of gardening tips and tricks?" If they answer "Yes" to that question, you can add their name to your opt-in list!

7. Offer a members-only forum or discussion board

Members-only forums and discussion boards can be a major draw for people in niche markets. Because their areas of interest are often unique and specific, they sometimes have a hard time getting the information they want, or finding other people who are interested in the same things.

You can step in and provide a community for like-minded people to meet and discuss their hobbies or their concerns — or pretty much anything to do with your market.

If you can provide a forum that appeals to your market, people will RUSH to give you their opt-in information to be a part of it. This will also give you a great opportunity to learn more about your customers and what kinds of products or services you can develop to further meet their needs — AND grow your business.

You'll need to participate by establishing some community rules and moderating the forum — not to mention starting up some topics of discussion and adding your two cents to the debates! But in the meantime, your subscribers will do most of the work by creating valuable content.

8. Offer members-only specials

One of the easiest ways to encourage visitors to opt in with their personal information is to offer them a chance to save money! It can be as simple as the following text:

"Do you want to receive our special MEMBERS-ONLY offers? Every month we bring exclusive deals to our subscribers that you can't get anywhere else! To start saving now, just sign up below!"

This is a great way to drive opt-ins AND sales, and to make your potential customers feel appreciated before they even buy your products!

There are many different opt-in incentives available — you just need to apply a little creativity to choose the one that's right for you and your target market!

But even the BEST opt-in offer can be ignored if you don't know how to present it to your visitors.

Let's check out HOW to get your potential customers interested in your offer...

HOW? Build a compelling opt-in offer that no visitor to your site will ignore!

Opt-in offers aren't tough to write, but they do require a little bit of thought and time on your part. We've worked with some of the best (and highest-priced!) copywriters in the business, and here are the three hard-and-fast rules they follow when writing an opt-in offer:

Rule #1: Emphasize benefits, NOT features

To persuade visitors to sign up for your offer, you NEED to answer their biggest question: "What's in it for me?" The best way to do this is by always emphasizing the benefits of your product or service, as opposed to the features.

Here's an example: Suppose you are offering an eBook on your tax advice site. If you were to write...

"Download our FREE eBook, written by a real CPA."

...you'd be advertising a feature. You are telling your visitors a fact about your eBook.

Here's how it reads if we emphasize benefits instead of features:

"Don't pay a penny extra on your taxes! Discover 10 simple things that you can do to save hundreds — even thousands! — of dollars on your return this year! Just enter your name and email address below to get your FREE eBook!"

That's a pretty dramatic difference, isn't it? You've hooked your visitors by letting them know how THEY will benefit by signing up for your offer — by avoiding costly taxes in the future.

Rule #2: Include a call to action

If you want people to take action on your site (such as sign up for your eBook), you need to have a call to action that tells them exactly what you want them to do.

For example, if you want your visitors to opt in to your list (and of course, you do!) you should include a link that says something like, "Subscribe here to receive dozens of FREE PowerPoint templates every month!"

You might think it's obvious that you want people to opt in to your list — especially if you've written a great sales pitch that explains how your opt-in offer solves their problem.

But no matter how convincing your copy is, if you don't provide your potential customers with a very specific call to action, you're just leaving them hanging.

Rule #3: Include a link to your privacy policy

A lot of people still feel a bit reluctant to hand over their personal information to someone they've never met before. The best way to ease their fears is to include a link to your privacy policy whenever you ask for personal information. In fact, you should have a link to your privacy policy on every page of your site!

This lets people know that you are committed to protecting their privacy, and makes them feel safe leaving their email address with you.

Your privacy policy should state explicitly what information you collect from your visitors and how you intend to use it. You don't even have to create your own privacy policy from scratch! There's an easy-to-use "privacy policy" generator at:

www.the-dma.org/privacy/creating.shtml

Now that you've learned about HOW to craft a winning opt-in offer, let me show you WHERE on your site it should go to get you the maximum amount of opt-ins!

WHERE? Place your opt-in offer in the RIGHT spot and send your opt-in rates through the ROOF!

Believe it or not, there are still a lot of sites that hide their opt-in offer, making it almost impossible for their visitors to find it. In fact, a 2005 MarketingSherpa study showed that only 52% of e-commerce sites have a prominent call to register on their main home page!

If your homepage contains a long salesletter, you'll want to put the opt-in form somewhere around the second "page" of text. By this point, you'll have grabbed your visitors' attention and shown them that your site offers some valuable information. They'll be more inclined to give you their email address once you've established your credibility.

If your homepage DOESN'T have a long salesletter, you'll want to place your opt-in form prominently within the "first fold." (This is the portion of your web site that is visible to a visitor without scrolling.) That's where you'll see our opt-in offer on this page.

Place the opt-in box in the same place on every single page of your site. The more chances you give your visitors to opt in, the higher your conversion rate is going to be. Of course, you don't want to overdo it... one opt-in offer per page is plenty!

You can create an opt-in offer that is specifically targeted to a particular page on your site. For example, if your web site is a catalog site selling home aquarium products, and you have a special page dedicated to different kinds of fish food, you can include an opt-in offer on that page for a free report on "The Top 5 Mistakes People Make When They Feed Their Fish."

And on your page dedicated to exotic breeds of fish, you could offer a free eBook on "Tips and Tricks for Caring For Exotic Fish". That way, you could establish yourself as a fish expert with your potential customers at the same time as you capture their information for your marketing purposes.

Final Thoughts:

An opt-in email list that you build with great opt-in offers will generate profits for you starting immediately — and continuing well into the future! If you follow these suggestions, there's no reason you shouldn't be able to get at least 10% of your site visitors converted to subscribers!

If you are getting less than 5% of your traffic opting in to your offer, you know you need to tweak your strategy.

I'll say it again: Building a successful opt-in email list is one of the most important things you can do for your online business. That's why we've spent years learning and testing how to create the kinds of opt-in offers that will have a DRAMATIC impact on your conversion rates — and your bottom line.

To get insider-level access to advanced email tips and tricks, head to:

www.MarketingTips.com/emailsecrets

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Derek Gehl specializes in teaching real people how to start profitable Internet businesses that make $100,000 to $2.5 Million (or more) per year. To get instant access to all his most profitable marketing campaigns, strategies, tools, and resources that he's used to grow $25 into over $60 Million in online sales, visit:

http://www.marketingtips.com/tipsltr.html