Building Your List - Part 4

So far we've discussed what you need to do to grow your list, what to do when you don't know what to write about and the important items to administer for an autoresponder.

This week we are going to discuss knowing where your subscribers are coming from - also called tracking.

Part 3 - Know Where Your Subscribers Are Coming From

In our excitement to get our online business going and starting a list many of us don't create a way to track anything.

With so much to learn and all the work to be done we put "tracking" on the bottom of our To Do List and sometimes forget to get around to it. (Yes, I said we because I was just as guilty as you when I started.)

Big Mistake!

Now I am not going to repeat all the words you've read before about why tracking is important so you'll know how and where to spend your time and money. Instead, I'll give you an example of how our kids instinctively know how to use tracking to their advantage.

Example:

Halloween is a big holiday here in the states where children dress up in costumes and go door-to-door to collect candy.

The first year a child goes out to make the rounds to collect goodies they have no idea what they're going to get so they pretty much go to every house within the limits given by their parents. However, they are mentally noting who is giving what.

When it's time to quit, most of them will ask, "Can we please go back to xx house because they gave xx?" (Money always attracts repeat visitors.)

Now the the second year the child goes out they somehow remember who was giving the "good stuff" and want to go there first. They also remember who gave the "icky stuff" and have no problem with walking past that house to go to another.

As the child gets older and their boundaries expand, they start becoming selective as to which houses they will go to and which ones are "not worth their time." They've been tracking the treats given and now want to use that information to their advantage to collect as many "good treats" as time permits.

Learn from the children!

Track everything that can affect your business, your time, your money and your list.

Now there are several ways to track where your subscribers are coming from and I'll list 3 of them below. You'll notice that none of them include the use of a tracking system because those systems count visitors to a page and not who signs up.

Method 1:

1. Create a separate page for every method you are using to attract subscribers. They can all look alike or they may be different depending on how you're promoting them.
2. Go into your autoresponder system to create the form to include on 1 of the pages and add 1 custom field. Name the field something like: Referred By:
3. Copy the form onto your sign up page.
4. Now if you're using an html editor like FrontPage you can select the input area for the custom field and select Properties from the Format menu. Enter something in the Initial Value box - a value that will identify this page.
   
   If you have to type the code yourself it will look something like this:
   <input type="text" name="custom1" size="40" maxlength="70"
   value="How you identify this page">
   The bolded words are what you must add.
5. Test your form.

Now when someone signs up, the autoresponder will store the information in the custom field and you should be able to access it.

Method 2:

The above method for tracking is used when someone fills out a form to become a member of your list. Some autoresponder systems allow you to simply have new subscribers send an email to your system. If your system has this capability you may be able to add a Subject to the email they send to identify where they are coming from. Be sure to test this method because adding a subject line to the subscribe email message may work for some but will not work for all.

Method 3:

If your using an autoresponder system that does not allow the use of custom fields or adding a subject line, another way to find out where your subscribers are coming from is to create a separate autoresponder and sign up page for every place you are getting traffic. And although this method will work it is time consuming because you'll have to go to multiple lists to do your mailings and make any changes to your message sequence. I only recommend this method as a "last thing to try method."

Tracking where your subscribers are coming from is as important as tracking your ads because it tells you where you are getting your subscribers. And by knowing where you get most of subscribers you know where to spend most of your time to get more.

To Your Success,
Susan Carroll
FriendsWhoCare Newsletter
http://www.friendswhocare.us

PS Partnering in giveaways is a great way to add subscribers. Create a page and form for each 1 you are currently participating. When a giveaway ends, you can re-use the page for a new giveaway simply by changing the identifying value in the custom field.

If you're using a separate autoresponder for each giveaway you can re-use them the same way. Simply the record the dates associated with each giveaway so you'll know which ones worked the best.

While giveaways are a great way to add subscribers they are not created equally. Some will produce more than others. Knowing which ones work the best for you will help you decide which ones to join in the future when the giveaway owners host another.