For most publishers, getting subscribers is 1 of the most time consuming jobs they do for their online business. In fact, I've read that online business people should be spending at least 65% of their time to building their list.
Now after you've spent that much time building your list, you don't want to accidentally lose subscribers do you? I don't.
Recently I added a couple of things to my newsletter and site to make it easier for subscribers to:
- Remain subscribers
- Share information about the newsletter and membership site.
These 2 things should have been in place when I started more than 3 years ago and have been on my "To Do" list since then.
But, like you, getting started was of primary importance and both were things that could be added once the site and newsletter were online.
Now hopefully you're not as forgetful as I am and you'll remember to add these things if you don't already have something in place. I finally got around to adding information on how to change your email address and how to get re-subscribed when I was overwhelmed with "I made a mistake" email this last December. The "share this information" was added because of a recent blog posting by Patric Chan.
The blog posting not only jogged my memory but it also pointed out an interesting fact I want to share with you.
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Side Note: No matter how long you've been online, you can still learn things - in fact, it's a must that you continue learning.
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The blog pointed out that many ezine publishers solicit their subscribers to "forward this to a friend" and went on to say that while having your subscribers share your information is a good thing, having them forward your email was dangerous because:
The unsubscribe link would be in the forwarded message and the person receiving it could unsubscribe the subscriber who thought your ezine was good enough to share.
Can you imagine losing a subscriber who liked your ezine well enough to share because of 1 simple, mistake?
You'll notice I took heed to Patrick's advice and implemented a 2 step approach to sharing information. Yes, it does create more work for the subscriber but it also makes it easy for them to share while protecting their subscription.
So learn from my examples. If your mailing system is like mine and doesn't provide a change of address page, read the bottom of my mailings to see how you can provide change of address or re-subscribe information. If you would like your subscribers to be able to share your ezine, use a script similar to mine and protect your subscribers' unsubscribe links. You can see my example at the end of the tip in my newsletter:
http://www.friendswhocare.us/thisweekp2.htm
And if your wondering why I haven't shared Patrick's blog address to his insightful tip it's because he's removed the posting. I don't know why he removed it - maybe it was an accident or maybe he decided it was a secret he didn't mean to share.
Either way, it's too late now because we all know.
To Your Success,
Susan
PS - You can also add "Tell A Friend" scripts to share information about your site. See how I've used one in our member area at: http://www.friendswhocare.us/join.htm
PPS - There are a lot of free "Tell A Friend" scripts available online so implementing this tip doesn't have to cost you anything but some time.
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