(Left Photo Credit to: graciehagen)

You have all heard the phrase, “The money is in the list.” All of the blogging gurus tell you that if you want to make money online, you need to build a list. These gurus left out one important detail:

“The money is in the list, unless your list doesn’t give a shit.“

You could literally have a list of 2,000+ relevant subscribers, and they won’t be worth your time unless they actually care to do the following:

1. Open your emails.
2. Read them.
3. Follow your links.
4. and Buy from you.

Having a list of prospects is like being in a club full of hot women, but not being able to take any of them home with you… The females are there, but if they’re not going home with you, what’s the point?

Makes sense? Damn, right it makes sense.

If you want to make money with email marketing, then you actually have to get your list to engage with you. Your subscriber actually has to care about what you say, think, and do.

How Do You Know If Your Subscribers Care?

A good indication that your subscribers care is your email inbox:

When you begin to interact with your subscribers, you will begin to see that many of them will be happy to buy from you, and many of them may even tell you that they purchased something through your link(s):

How Do You Get Your Subscribers To Care?

Getting your subscribers to care can be the hardest part about blogging. Just like picking up females in the club, you have to know what to say and how to say it, if you’re going to turn them into a hot lead.

(Above Photo Credit to: graciehagen)

If you follow these points, then your subscribers should actually begin to engage with you:

• Cover a topic you’re passionate about. You have heard it a million times before, but if you are going to make money with your list, your list actually has to believe you’re passionate about your newsletter and blog. If you’re not passionate about the topic(s) you’re covering, your readers will see right through your writing and unsubscribe, or worse, ignore your messages.

• Be honest. If you were to tell a friend about a product, you wouldn’t make any false claims… You would be 100% honest in trying to help them. Treat your subscribers the same way. Don’t send them advertisements, send them recommendations.Example: The email I am going to send out today will read, “Hey, brother. Do you know if Vince Delmonte’s muscle building product works?” This is much better than, “Hey, brother. Get Buff with Vince Delmonte.” You see the difference? The first title sounds more like you’re talking to a friend, where the second title is just an advertisement.

• Answer their questions. If you’re fuckin shy, it’s time to get into a new business, brother. The more popular you become, the more emails you will begin to receive. Do something incredible, (like building 15 pounds of muscle in 60 days) and your email inbox will become full with people’s questions. Do your best to answer each question, as this is where you gain your trust from each individual subscriber.

• Be their friend! Add them on Facebook. Hell, if they’re cool enough, give them your phone number. Subscribers subscribed to you to learn from you, and because they’re passionate about what you’re passionate about. Talk to them, and stay in contact. Make friends with your subscribers, and be sure to track all leads in a spreadsheet. If people contact me more than others, I say so in a spreadsheet. If people buy from me, I mark them as hot leads.

• Stop trying to sell, sell, and sell! So many people abuse the shit out of their list. All they use it for is selling. On Monday and Wednesday, I provide my FRIENDS with quality tips. On Friday, I recommend products to them, while being as honest as possible about the results they could attain by using the mentioned product.

Your List Doesn’t Mean Shit.

Unless you’re getting your readers to open your emails, read them, follow your links, and buy from you, you may as well be that guy who leaves empty-handed from a club full of beautiful women.

The money is in the list… The girls are at the club… But unless you know how to attract hot leads, you won’t make money, and you won’t pickup any women.

For starters, I would like to thank Wong for allowing me to guest post on this bad ass blog.

Thanks a lot for checking out my post, guys. If you guys have any questions about blogging or making money online, feel free to leave your comments below.

Hey it’s been a long day, your finishing up some side projects you have been working hard on for more than three weeks. Finally you’re done, you publish the content to your website and things are looking good.

You send a mass e-mail to your members letting them know you have released some new PDF files for website navigation, article submission and setting up their profiles. You’re happy, even excited to see the response you get from your members, people are positive and enjoying the new guilds.

Then you get a track back to your article. Obviously as a blogger we follow to see what people are saying about us. You’re still excited and hoping it’s positive news but it’s not. You find out some guy, you don’t know is ripping a new one into your hard work and pointing out some things you have done wrong.

What Do You Do ?

Do you take it, live with it and move on? Do you write an article about that blogger a try to stand up for yourself? Do you get hot headed and tell him off? So many opportunities but only one moment. This is your moment to shine so don’t waste it. This is your chance to live, learn and love…

If you haven’t realized yet this is a true story and happened to me recently on October 13th 2011. I released 3 PDF documents to help my Blog Engage members better understand our website. I thought it was the best thing I’ve done since I started the website and was extremely excited to see our member’s response and increase in activity.

Below are the 3 guides:

• Setting up your Profile Guide

• Submitting your First Article Guide

• Website Navigation Guide

Approximately 6 hours after releasing the articles I got a track back from Ben Barden and his article titled, What’s Wrong With the Blog Engage Navigation Guide? Now I will admit when I first started reading this article I got offended and was starting to get upset and hot headed. I took a moment, sat back and tried to read the article as an outsider that had nothing to do with Blog Engage. In fact many of my grade school teachers would be impressed with me right now seeing they spent their entire lives telling me to think before I speak.

After reading the article a second time I realized that Ben made some really great points and perhaps I should be taking them into consideration. The article Ben wrote wasn’t about me, nor Blog Engage but the way in which I presented the content to my readers. After cooling down and reading the article over I saw a few suggestions that were very valid.

A Zipped PDF File

That’s right I zipped a PDF file and uploaded it for my members to download and unzip. Little did I know I simply had to link to the PDF and my members would easily be able to open it. Thanks Ben this was a great suggestion.

Website Navigation for Advanced Users

When I first posted the article I said the guide was for both new and advanced users. Well Ben thought it was ridiculous seeing any advanced user of the site wouldn’t need such a guide. Perhaps he’s right so I went and re-worded the article to only include new users. Ben also thinks the name “Navigation Guide” is incorrect and shouldn’t be used in this case. He thinks website tour guide or website guide would have been good enough.

When it’s all said and done we have to take criticism and use it to our advantage to improve on what we’re doing. I took Ben’s suggestions and implemented then to make a better experience for my users and like anyone else yes I was offend because I love Blog Engage and worked hard on the PDF files. What I had to remember is this wasn’t about me, this was bigger than me it was about Blog Engage and the users.

We learn lessons every day in life it’s up to us to see the opportunity and to benefit from these moments, moments in time that we own and it’s up to us to make the most of them. I think I’ve learned a lot form Ben’s article and I thanked him in a comment on his blog.

Feedback and Discussions

I like to create a section for readers to give feedback on my story and I would like to do that here at The Bad Blogger Blog. What are your thoughts on the entire process? Do you think what Ben did was good? Do you think he could have approached it in a different way than to publicly announce it? I would love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks,

Brian