How to run a massively profitable online business

The World of Newsletters

I see, you are currently thinking: “Hey dude, what are you talking about? What do you mean by newsletter?”

A newsletter, according to Wikipedia, is

a regularly distributed publication that is generally about one main topic of interest to its subscribers. Newsletters are published by […] businesses to provide information of interest to members, customers, or employees.

Indeed, people will give you their email address to get your emails to receive more information and various bonuses. Getting their email is like receiving the mobile number of the woman you want to date. That’s priceless.

By giving you this, your subscribers tell you they are fans of what you do and they are okay to get your customized emails in their mailbox. Usually people check their mailbox several times a day and they often click the links in the emails. The user tells you “okay, send me your emails and show me what I have to do to turn my website into a slick conversion cash machine”.

It changes everything as you can show your credibility to your readers and connect with them somehow to make them become fans and customers. You just have to make them come back to your website thanks to your emails. With the emails you can increase your conversion rate to 5% and sometimes even 10%.

People get rich online. Be one of them.

It is really a privilege to get an email address so you should use it wisely. You hate spam, your fans too. Don’t lose them by sending too many emails or with no added value.

Before talking about what to include in your newsletter, we should define a strategy to convert your blog visitors into newsletter subscribers.

Focus on building your list. That’s where big money is hidden.

How to convert your visitors into subscribers

In order to get new subscribers, you will first have to give enough added value on your blog. Why would they join you if you give crap? As soon as you have a few long high quality blog posts and a good design, you can start the process of getting subscribers.

It is time to build your mailing list.

The very effective method is to display an opt-in form, which is basically a pop-up window. It is invasive, but it converts very well. I am sure you have already seen plenty of opt-in forms on the Internet, especially on this blog. If it is well done, it will not disturb your users too much and it can even bring an important added value. Indeed, most forms give a gift to the user in exchange of an email address. For example, a free e-book. That’s a good deal, isn’t it?

It’s worth it, definitely. Remember, you should focus on converting your visitors into subscribers and potential customers. That’s why an opt-in form feature is one of the most important assets you will have on your blog.

You need to install a plugin to use opt-in forms. I tried to find good free plugins but I couldn’t find one good enough to recommend you. Finally, I found Thrive Leads, an excellent plugin from the German company Thrive Themes that brings a lot of added value. You can tell me if you find a free opt-in forms plugin with professional quality.

I decided to buy the Thrive Leads plugin because a well known blogger I know recommends it. In order to get it you don’t have to buy a subscription unlike many competitors. You pay once and you enjoy it forever. When I bought it the price was $67 for a single site and $97 to install the plugin on all my own websites. As I have many businesses I decided to purchase the multi-site license of the plugin even if it is a bit more expensive.

The company describes the business of Thrive Leads as follows:

Yes, building a list takes time. You won’t go from zero to massive, profitable mailing list over night. But it’s time well invested, because a mailing list gives you a growing asset and it pays off every step of the way. First in a small way. Then in a big way. And later on, if you’ve invested your time into email marketing instead of a bunch of passing fads, in a really massive way.

The push-button money magic doesn’t exist, but it’s those who build mailing lists that get closest to this dream. It’s great to know that you can send an email and it will generate sales for sure. You know you can get those clicks, you know you can get traffic to anything you want. Believe me: this is worth investing in.

As for fishing, design a bait

Your readers are not stupid, they will not give their email unless they have a good reason to do so. You have to give added value first before they decide to offer you the possibility to contact them personally when you want.

Besides the fact you can improve your website content and design or your marketing campaigns, you should also create a bait. If you go fishing, believe me, you won’t fool any fishes without a good bait. Humans are the same, they want free gifts to let you catch them. However, as you are a good fisherman, you will deliver high added value with an e-book or another good gift when your readers subscribe with their email.

Your gift should show that your blog or website is of good quality.

Try to think about an irresistible offer. People can’t simply resist it. They will give you their email in exchange of this gift. You can give them advice for making a living on the Internet, or explain them how to grow their website traffic, or how to find love…It is related to your thematic.

Single or double opt-in forms?

There are two types of forms that convert very well your visitors into new subscribers: the single and the double opt-in forms. In the single form you ask directly the email address of people when requesting them to subscribe to your newsletter or to download an Ebook.

On the contrary, the double opt-in form is split into two parts. When visiting your website, your visitor see a popup lightbox window that is asking a question, or stating something that will make this person curious. This opt-in form offers two choices: either to discover more about this special thing you are offering, or to leave. Most people are curious and if you offer a high value bait it is irresistible…the person will click.

Then, a second popup window appears, asking for the email address in exchange of the free product/service. It is important to mention that the email request appears only in the second popup. With this system people feel more engaged in your form as it asks for interactions.

Also, people will more likely enter their email as they already started their interaction with your popup form. They want to go to the end and find out your irresistible offer. If you would have asked the users to give their email with the first popup window, most of them would have closed the window.

It is not harmless to give your email to someone you don’t know. You don’t want spam. You give it only if you trust the website owner.

Many studies showed that double opt-in forms are more efficient than single-opt in forms. If you offer an irresistible bait, you create interactions with your users and you don’t ask directly for their email, people will more likely think you are a person of confidence and they will give you their email.

The popup you see on Dreamed Fortune is of course a double opt-in form as you can see below.

First step

Thrive Leads – Lightbox, step 1

Second step

Thrive Leads – Lightbox, step 2

Here is the editor of Thrive Leads. You see, no need to program!

Thrive Leads editor – Lightbox

You have access to hundred of Opt-in templates. I recommend you to choose a “Multi-step Template”.

Thrive Leads – Templates

You prefer to create a personalized form, from A to Z? That’s super easy. You don’t have to program. Just slide the elements to customize your form.

You want a popup? No problem.
You don’t want a popup but you would like to see a form directly in your page? That’s possible.
You want to collect the first name, last name and email but also the phone number? Super easy.
You want a super cool form on laptop, tablets or smartphones. Thrive Leads does it with its 100% responsive personalized design.
You want the form to appear after X seconds? Or when the visitor intend to leave your website? Super easy to do.

Optimize your forms

You can create several opt-in forms like the Lightbox popup you see on Dreamed Fortune. Every detail counts, from the text color to the words you use, the images,… A parameter change can double easily your conversion rate. Which form design should you create? It’s a tricky question and it relies on your own users behavior.

Therefore, you will create many forms with different style variations and Thrive Leads will select the best one to use. The other forms will automatically be archived after a time and you will only have the best performing form for your users. This process is a “split test”. Split testing provides a means of comparing two or more strategies for opt-in forms in a controlled experiment [Aweber]. You can call it also A/B testing as mentioned on Wikipedia:

In marketing and business intelligence, A/B testing is a term for a randomized experiment with two variants, A and B, which are the control and variation in the controlled experiment. […] the goal of A/B testing is to identify changes to web pages that increase or maximize an outcome of interest (e.g., click-through rate for a banner advertisement).

Make sure your forms are nice-looking. Imagine that you enter inside a 5 stars hotel. Everything is beautiful. They give you the key of your room. You open, and you see a complete mess inside. It breaks the magic of the place!

Don’t do the same mistake with your readers, they deserve the best of you. Give them beautiful forms, even if you have to pay for that. Remember the main goal of your website.

Mailchimp

Thrive Leads is great for getting people to give their email when registering to your newsletter. Now you have another problem: what should you do with their email address? This is where Mailchimps comes in. Mailchimp is an autoresponder which aims is to collect the email addresses of your subscribers to build a list.

Luckily enough, Mailchimp is free for your first 2000 subscribers. After you will have to pay a monthly fee, but if you reach this limit it means your website will most probably already be a cash machine. After registering to Mailchimp, you have to set up your account settings and create your list that will collect your subscribers. Later on you will also be able to create campaigns which are emails sent to subscribers on a list. In other words, a newsletter.

It is the best solution if you start a business as you don’t have many subscribers yet and you don’t want to pay heavy fees especially as your business doesn’t bring money for the time being. When you will reach profitability and exceed the 2000 subscribers you may think of trying Aweber, another well-known company on the web marketing field.

Don’t use Mailchimp for their opt-in popup forms, they are ugly. Use Thrive Leads instead. You need beautiful forms otherwise your users will not give you their email address.

You can easily connect your Thrive Leads lightbox popups to your Mailchimp account to convert your website into a lead generation machine.

Single or double opt-in integration of Mailchimp?

You can choose the type of opt-in you would like for the Mailchimp integration: single or double opt-in. Do not mix with the same concepts explained for the popup forms. Here, it concerns the way you manage your list with Mailchimp and especially the emails you send to your users.

If you choose the single opt-in integration, Mailchimp adds people automatically to your list of subscribers. They will get an email saying they registered to the newsletter, or they can download your Ebook.

If you choose the double opt-in integration, Mailchimp will send an email with a confirmation link the user has to click on to register effectively to your newsletter. It is a more complicated process and you risk to lose some subscribers. Indeed, if you offer a free e-book and you give it immediately at registration, the user will not bother to click on your email for your newsletter unless he is really interested in your product/services.

The double opt-in process has many advantages. You get more dedicated subscribers because they had to confirm their registration. Therefore your list is clean. You are also sure that they give a good email address.

However, you may wonder why a user would give a wrong email address when subscribing as he wants to get your irresistible offer (free Ebook,…). With a wrong email he will never get it. If you ask the user to confirm he is not a robot (captcha system), it is likely that you will get qualified subscribers in your list even if you choose a single opt-in process via Mailchimp.

You can try both processes and see what works best for you.

Mandrill

Mandrill is a transactional email platform for MailChimp users used to send trusted emails to your subscribers registered in your MailChimp list and it is free of charge for the first 2000 emails sent.

I see you coming, “why the hell should I use Mandrill and not a free Gmail account or the email linked to my domain name?”

The answer is simple: because of spam. The mailboxes of your fans are like castles in the middle Ages. If you don’t enter via the drawbridge with permission, it means you are already probably dead. You have to make sure your emails will go for sure in the main mailbox of your subscribers without being trapped by their spam filter. Emails providers spend a lot of energy to send unknown mails from people you don’t trust in the spam box.

A world full of death and devastation.

You don’t deserve that, really.

Therefore, you will use Mandrill and you will prove you are an email sender we can trust. How? By proving that you are the official owner of your website. And for that, you need to find a geek. If you are not one, I am sure you can find one in your surroundings.

Your favorite geek will have to please Mandrill in that way:

Mandrill settings

Provide added value

If you want your readers to register to your email list, you have to give them added value first. You must stand out from the competition. A very efficient way is to write long detailed and thoughtful articles while being written in a pleasant style. People want to hear from reference persons. A good way to show your credibility is to create such articles of high added value. They will come back on your website and with time they will become new subscribers and customers.

Create beautiful landing pages

You know it, you have to give beautiful content to transform your readers into subscribers. However, most of the time your default Wordpress design for your pages produces crappy looking content. As you sell your products and services, you need a great packaging.

In order to solve this tricky issue, I bought “Thrive Content Builder” from Thrive Themes. It is beautifully designed as Thrive Leads for the lightboxes popups, but here the goal is to create nice looking content.

For example, I built the pages “Get Started” and “About” of Dreamed Fortune with this WordPress plugin. It is really easy to use and you can buy a license for a cheap price (when writing this article, $67 for 1 website and $97 for an unlimited amount of websites). It is an editor that gives you access to hundreds of templates so you have no excuse to create beautiful landing pages. I share with you how Wikipedia defines a landing page, if you don’t know this concept yet.

In online marketing, a landing page, sometimes known as a “lead capture page” or a “lander“, is a single web page that appears in response to clicking on a search engine optimized search result or an online advertisement. The landing page will usually display directed sales copy that is a logical extension of the advertisement, search result or link.

Landing pages are often linked to from social media, email campaigns or search engine marketing campaigns to enhance the effectiveness of the advertisements. The general goal of a landing page is to convert site visitors into sales or leads.

Here is a screenshot of the administration panel of Thrives Content Builder. It is the section dedicated to the landing page templates. There are hundreds of templates and you can also download more of them on Thrive Themes cloud at no extra cost.

Thrive Content Builder – landing pages templates

Conclusion

It is surely not easy to convert your visitors into subscribers.

Be strong, keep believing you can do it and one day you will reach your goals. You need to be persistent. It’s the key to success.

You have also to define your strategy on the social network (like Twitter) and your SEO (search engines optimization) to bring even more traffic on your pages. Your blog is like an island in the Ocean and you want people to find it.

Make it happen. Contact influential people like famous bloggers and write articles for them. I intend to cover most of these topics on Dreamed Fortune over time.

You have to stay focused. Don’t do many things at the same time.

You write a bit, you optimize your social network skills, you try to sell or promote your services, you do SEO and you try to follow some advice you got randomly on the Internet, promising a huge traffic increase…

You do that all together after your working day and you feel stuck.

Stop. Immediately. Focus only on getting new subscribers to your newsletter.

That’s it. Get their email addresses.

Collect them all.