When you decide to have an opt-in list, it is not just a matter of sending your subscribers your promotional newsletters or catalogs.  There are many things to consider in avoiding many complications.  While there are so many ways you can make people subscribe to your list, there are also some things you must do to avoid subscribers from wanting to get off of your list. 

Aside from that, you also want to avoid any problems with the law and your internet service provider.  There are many laws and rules that are designed to help protect the privacy of the internet users from spamming and unwanted mails. With the popularity of the electronic mail as a medium for marketing because of the low cost, many company’s have seized the opportunity and have flooded many people’s e-mail accounts with promotional mail.

But, with an opt-in list, you avoid this annoyance because people subscribe to the list; they want to receive the newsletters and promotional materials.  They have consented to being on the list by subscribing themselves, just don’t forget to put an unsubscribe feature (everytime) in your opt-in list so you avoid any confusion.  There may be times when an email account was provided when the real owner didn’t want to subscribe.

It is essential that you keep your list clean and manageable.  Arrange it by using the many tools and technologies available for your opt-in list.  Don't worry; your investment in this marketing strategy is well worth it with all the coverage you will get which will likely be converted into sales then to profit.

Keep yourself and your business out of trouble and potential run-ins with the law and the Internet Service Providers.  Keep your operation legit and clean.  Your reputation as a legitimate businessperson and a legitimate site depends on your being a straight and true marketing strategist.  As a tip, here are three things to avoid when emailing your list.

1) Take notice of your unsuccessful sends. These are the e-mails that bounce.  Bounced emails, also known as undeliverable messages, are those messages that, for whatever reason, were not successfully received by the intended recipient.

There are bounces that happen or occur because the server was busy at that time but can still be delivered at another time.  There are also bounces because the inbox of the recipient is full at that time.  There are those bounce messages that are simply undeliverable forever.  The reason for this is that it may be an invalid email address, a misspelled email address, or an email address that was abandoned and erased already.

Manage your list by putting markings on those that bounce.  Erase an email account from your list so you have accurate statistics and records as to how many are actually receiving your mail.  You may also want to check the spellings of your email addresses in your list.  One common mistake is when an N instead of an M is placed in the .com area.

2) Always provide an unsubscribe feature on your site and an unsubscribe link in your e-mails.  When someone in your list files a request to be unsubscribed, always take that request seriously.  If you don’t take them off your list and keep sending them your e-mails, you are now sending them spam mail.

When you are reported as a spammer, you and your business can get into a lot of trouble.  You can be reported to the authorities and maybe blacklisted by many Internet Service Providers.  You will lose a lot of subscribers this way and many more potential subscribers.

3) Do not provide pornographic or shocking and disturbing content in your newsletters.  It is hard to decipher the age of the recipient and many complaints may stem from these.  Controversial issues also are to be avoided to not be branded by your subscribers.  Stick to the nature of your site and business.

Always remember these tips so you can have a healthy relationship with your subscribers as well as staying within the boundaries of what is allowed in sending e-mails to an opt-in list.

Until next time…

Follow me on Twitter!

Ed

Now, it's not uncommon for one to have accounts in all of the social networks, and subscribe to hundreds of RSS feeds as well.

One of my clients recently told me he was getting over 1000 email's a day, and had over 1200 unread items in his RSS Reader.

Is this the ideal way of getting information?

If this sounds like you, then it's time for you to get a grip on reality and realize that you have about the equivalent of getting a Sunday edition of the New York Times delivered to your door every day of the year!

Over subscribing to free content via RSS feeds and email newsletters is an invitation to "Information Overload Disaster". You're probably getting far more information delivered to your in-box and RSS reader than you could ever hope to read.

I'm guilty of bookmarking sites I visit, all with the best intentions of going back there one day, but in reality, I very rarely ever get back there, because in the following days, I'm inundated with even more stuff, more links, more places to get more information.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

It's time to start some RSS and Social Network housecleaning!

These days, more information is published online every 24 hours than you could read in five years. The key to managing it is to be more selective, not less. So ruthlessly unsubscribe to e-zines, RSS feeds, etc. until you get only what you absolutely need.  Even then, you won’t have time to read even a small fraction of what you get. But at least your inbox will be somewhat under control.

I challenge you: Unsubscribe from 10 newsletters today. Remove every RSS feed from your reader (Bloglines, Google Reader, whatever you use) that you know you don't have (or take) time to read daily. Just unsubscribe from them.

You will feel less like you are in the Information Overload mode, and more like you can handle what you see.

It's insane that we keep piling on more and more information, when we have less and less time to do our jobs. Where will it all end?

In writing this post, I removed myself from 14 email newsletters or updates I had been getting for a long time, and unchecked 22 of the RSS feeds I had been monitoring. It felt really good!

Are you suffering from "Information Overload?"

Please share a comment below and tell me what you did today to trim some of the fat off of your Information Overload.

In the meantime, FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER (Unless that's one of the places you choose to "unload")

Ed