Everyone tells you the money is in the list, so more people try to get people to subscribe to the list. So more people are on more lists. So everyone gets more mail.

How do you get your mail noticed?

I've noticed some people say that building a list isn't the way to be doing it, because they believe with all this email overload it's a waste as they won't be reading your emails anyways.

While I agree that it takes creativity to get people to read your emails, I disagree that building a list is a waste. Really what you want to be doing is building a list of people, not email addresses.

Yes, you have their email address, but you should be building relationships with those people not just sending out emails to them. That's why you should have the return address be your inbox.

So many people put a bouncing address as the return email, which not only decreases your deliverability, but it makes customers angry when they can't easily contact you.

If you have real relationships with the people on your list, then it doesn't matter how many emails they get - they'll read yours. They'll see it's from you, and read it. You can play all these games with subject lines, but that FROM line is huge. If it's from someone you care about, you read it. If it's not, that's when interesting subject lines really matter.

This is one reason why you should find a balance in the number of emails you send. It's why I setup my auto responder to send the auto emails on Sundays. I don't post to my blog on Sundays, so I know you won't get too many emails from me. When you mail out too much, then people start to ignore your emails!

So there you have it, a few tips to improve your responses with your list:

• Send from a REAL email address, and reply when people email it! (I do, though I will admit I'm hugely slow)
• Build relationships with the people that are on your list (twitter, conferences, forums, emails)
• Don't send out too many, so you don't get ignored!

I created a new survey for you guys, if you complete it I'd very much appreciate it. I got no bribes for this one though, so sorry if you were expecting a freebie =P

I'm just interested in what people think about the current auto-responders that are available. People have joked about me creating one, but I don't know if it'd be worth it or not. There are already a ton out there, so why create another?

So your feedback will help me figure out a few questions of my own. Thanks!

People always talk about building a list, and how it works great and you should do it. But how many tell you anything more than that? I don't know, but I'm about to tell you more.

One of the things promoted to every person who subscribed to my blog is The Pizza Plan. It's an ebook by Jon Olson talking about how he went from flipping pizzas to working online. It's straight forward, simple, and free. So if you don't have a copy, go get one!

So the question is, how do I profit from giving away a free ebook? It's simple, everyone can download it free but you have to pay if you want a copy of the ebook with your referral links in it. Makes it really easy to build downlines in the programs mentioned because people are learning about them in one spot.

Now how many people do you think would actually pay for that? Many, actually. I've earned $1463 so far from giving away this free ebook. Now half of that was the initial launch, because nobody on my list had heard about it previously. The other half is from being in my auto responder.

I'll be honest, that isn't enough income to quit your day job. But it is enough to pay for your hosting and auto-responder. And on top of that direct income, I've indirectly made commissions from sales through the services mentioned in the ebook.

For instance Traffic Wave is mentioned in the ebook. People who don't have an auto-responder and are learning about them are very likely to click the link, learn about it, and sign up. Now I don't have any way to know how many signed up to it from The Pizza Plan, but that doesn't matter so much.

What matters is when you take The Pizza Plan, and the other products and services I really believe in and promote, it all combines into a nice income. And it's all possible because I use an auto-responder. If I promoted The Pizza Plan directly, I wouldn't be able to then promote any other service to you later. Having a list lets me tell you about them until you unsubscribe (which my goal is never =P)

So do me a favor now and go get a copy of The Pizza Plan, then buy the resell rights, and promote it to your list. Even if you haven't started getting subscribers it's a great thing to have in your auto-responder series because 1) it's straight to the point 2) Jon updates the ebook so it stays current.

After contemplating the whole Email Overload post, I realized I wasn't helping my blog subscribers with that. The way my auto responder works you were getting an email every 3 days when you first subscribed.

I decided to cool it down, and make it once a week. And I decided to make it go out on Sundays because that's when I usually take the day off and don't post. So if I don't post to the blog, you aren't already getting an email from me that day.

It's actually a cool new feature with Aweber, so we'll see how it goes. Basically every Sunday you'll get an email from me mentioning a product or service I recommend. You don't have to sign up to them all obviously, but I like to put them in the AR series so I don't have people asking every blog post "What's TEtoolbox?" or "What's StartXchange", etc.

I'll also be promoting other people's services that I think are worthy to join. For instance, other traffic exchanges. I don't want to get into the clutter of email, but I do see value in 1) pointing out the good ones 2) getting referrals/commissions. Will be interesting to see how this new pick the day/time of the AR feature works!

There are different opinions on the whole email topic. Should you mail out daily, weekly, etc. Is there too much email, or not enough. One thing's for sure: Activity happens when those emails go out.

I've often wondered though, how do you guys manage the emails you get? For the exchanges that I'm using I know my answer is: I don't read them.

But it's clear that when I send out an email to StartXchange members, people start surfing and activity starts up again. So clearly people are out there reading the emails. So this one's to you: How do you manage it all?

And a follow up question would be, do you need reminders to surf? Are you just waiting for promos? If there is something important for you to know (big changes, etc) is email the best way to let you know? I'm interested in your feedback!

People love getting free stuff, so much so they'll enter their name & email address into your auto-responder to get them. This tactic is used by many marketers because it works so well!

The part most people struggle with is what to give away. Well if you are advertising in traffic exchanges, giving away TE related reports is a good idea.

That's where TE Reports comes in. John Guanzon & Brett Phillips launched it today. It's sort of like a downline builder for reports. There are many in there that I promote to you guys in my own auto-responder.

They set it up simple too, you can literrally enter your auto-responder code into their splash page maker and offer the reports to people to subscribe to your list. Then when they do, they have an easy page to download all the reports!

Of course there will be an offer when you first join, it's for squeeze pages that go with each of the reports. They have a full package deal here. So go check it out!

The biggest fear people have about building a list is not the creating of the list, but the writing of the emails to the list. Most people don't think they are good enough or know enough to write to their list.

But here's the deal, it's easier than you think. All you have to do is be yourself. Don't look at it as having to be some guru to write emails. You write emails all the time already, this is the same thing!

The easiest way to do it is to think about how you would reply to someone if they sent you an email and asked you a question. If you are selling a service, pretend they emailed you asking for more information about that service.

Remember they will be opting in to get the information, so they already want it, all you have to do is tell them.

Start out small if you have to, just one email that you'd reply with. Then add more to the series as if the person hasn't decided if they were sure they want to join your program. Give them a few different reasons than the first email. Point out the big benefits again, etc.

You can even sign the emails and ask the person to reply. Their questions will help you come up with more content to write in continuing your follow up emails.

The great thing is, if you really be yourself with these emails, your list will be loyal to you. You don't have to worry about what you write because they've already decided they like what you have to write.

We talk about building lists all the time. In Traffic Exchange Live we had a viewer who was going the in house route for sending out emails. There are pros and cons to doing it yourself or doing it with a service.

Auto-Responder Scripts

The biggest reason to use a script and run it yourself is complete control. I do this with StartXchange. I have certain features that I want to be able to do, that wouldn't work if it was hosted elsewhere. I also don't have to worry about variables that are out of my control when a third party is involved.

The problem is this comes at a cost. There are SPF records, DomainKeys, Sender ID, Reverse DNS, Abuse Feedback Loops, Unsubscribe lists, and bounce processing.. Just to name a few. There are also whitelists to be added to, dedicated ips, certifications, etc. It costs time and money, and it's really easy to make a mistake that messes up your deliverability.

If you do it right and are on top of your game, you can get great results. I really love the results with StartXchange's email deliverability. But if you do it wrong, you end up wasting all that time and money when you could be building a list. On top of that you aren't likely to get good results unless your list is large and you are mailing fairly frequently.

Auto-Responder Services

With a service there are many of the same problems, but they are no longer your problem. If you go with a reputable service it's all done for you. You essentially save your time and efforts for the other things in your business.

Of course there are some down sides. You are limited to what the system lets you do. That's why in some instances you'll have to go your own route. And you are affiliated with the neighborhood of the service you use. If they have a bad reputation, or weak security, it could affect you negatively.

So what should you do?

In the end for most of you going with a 3rd party is going to be the best choice. I personally do in house email for StartXchange for the specific reasons above. I then use Aweber for my blog because it has a blog broadcast feature.

And then everything else I use Traffic Wave for because it's downright simple (and you don't have to pay more when your subscribers go up). I even have a video tutorial showing how easy it is.

If you are like the guy who was talking to us, determined to do it yourself, it is possible. Just know that it'll take work and research to do properly. Which some people are OK with. (hey I did it lol)

Everyone is always asking how to make money, and I've been teaching about lists and such (which I'll get back to, I've got plans don't worry), but some started asking "Yeah, but what do I do with the list? What's next?".

Content seems to be the next issue. Which can be tough, because I don't know what gets you going. I only know what gets me going, which could be terrible for you.

So let's put that aside and try something that I think will work, at least for most people. Take your knowledge offline. What?! Yes, take it offline.

Find a local business, locally owned restaurants are good targets. See if they have an email newsletter. If they don't, ask them if they'd like someone to set one up for them. You know how to do it, you just don't know the content right? They know the content, but don't know how to do it..

I have one business in mind that I know would love having such a list. I know they tried it at one point, putting a big white board up with "Google our name". Unfortunately I don't think they realized that Google is personalized so they may be listed #1 for themselves, but not for everyone else =P

But I know they'd be estatic to have a list they could email out coupons to every month. They already spend money sending out coupons to the masses in flyers, or even on the backs of receipts at other stores, but imagine how much more targeted it would be if they could send out an email to their loyal customers and instantly get an increase in business?

It's really easy with Traffic Wave and Aweber too. But here's what I would do. Rather than setup the list under my account, I'd have them create an account themselves. Maybe bring a laptop over and walk them through it, but tell them you'll setup the techy stuff and all they'll pay is the cost for the auto-responder service.

(you can charge a setup fee if you want, but I always like to do the first couple really cheap so when you do charge you've got the routine down and look like a pro)

Then you'll have someone you'll earn commissions from on an ongoing basis. And since this is really valuable to any business, it's very likely they'll stay long term. Especially since they aren't geeky enough to know how to switch even if they wanted to!

It would be an easy way for you to start making more cash while you figure out what your drive is for the content of your list. That's something you'll have to figure out for yourself though, I can't tell you what your drive is. But I can try to point you in different directions and hopefully one of them will stick.

For all I know this little plan could make you thousands, you could be the go-to guy for all the local businesses because you do it great. Or it could be a flop and you'll know that's not your thing.

I mentioned this on Traffic Exchange Live.. There is a huge lack of response from you guys on this whole setting up a list thing. Is it something you aren't interested in learning? If that's the case fine by me, I don't want to bore you.. So please speak up!

As promised yesterday, I've created a video showing the steps on setting up your list on Traffic Wave. Now here's the deal. I'm not gonna post any more tutorials unless I get 10 or more comments to this post. If I don't get 10, and I feel like posting tomorrow, it'll be whatever I feel like posting and not continuing on this series. I figure if you aren't interested I might as well post how I want to!