With so many opt-in email lists out there, you really need to come up with a hook to attract subscribers. It needs to have something special or different. It could be something you offer inside every newsletter issue, such as interviews with experts. Or the hook could be a unique incentive that website visitors can take advantage of immediately when they sign up.
Here are 3 ideas you can either use for your own site, or as inspiration to get you thinking a little outside of the box:
--Build an Opt-in Email List by Creating a Private Members Only Site or Section --
Create a private web site and have people sign up to get free, immediate access. For example, you could say, "Subscribe to our free e-zine and get free access to our private membership web site!" You can choose to have them create a username and password to login every time or you can just provide a link to the site in your welcome email.
Your private members only site can be as big or as small as you want. Some of the things you can include inside are: reports, software, articles, eBooks, etc. Inside the site, you can advertise your affiliate programs, as well. And you can follow-up to let them know about updates, new products they might be interested in, or the latest news in your industry.
-- Build an Opt-in Email List by Giving Subscribers a Free, Tangible Gift --
Instead of offering a free eBook (or a whole package of them), promise to give your visitors something they can hold in their hands if they give you their contact information.
For example, you could say "Subscribe today and receive our new report mailed to you via First Class." You could print out your report on standard 8 x 11 sheets of paper, fold it up, put it inside an envelope, and mail it off.
You could also offer a tips booklet and mail it to new subscribers. Or create your own CD full of information targeted toward your market and mail that. Another option is if you have a wholesale supply of a product of interest to your subscribers, you can send one to each new subscriber. The possibilities are endless!
Follow-up possibilities include: articles (your own or written by others), tips, news, reviews of products, and related websites.
-- Build an Opt-in Email List through a Contest or Sweepstakes --
Hold a free contest or sweepstakes on your website where they must give their contact information, including their email address, to enter. Make the prize something that your niche market will be interested in; otherwise they'll never want to enter.
If you already have an ezine up and running, you could offer free automatic entry for new subscribers. For example, you could say, "Subscribe to our free newsletter and receive automatic entry into our contest." You'll also want to retroactively include current subscribers.
You can announce the winner(s) at the end, as well as send any new contest announcements or product announcements. You can also make it an ongoing contest, where you give away the same thing to one (or more) lucky people every month. That way you'll entice many subscribers to stay on your list.
You can find niche products to give away through wholesalers or drop shippers. You can create it yourself. One of my favorite ways to do this is create a CD-Rom with a guide or report (or sometimes several) that my niche market will find interesting.
Once again, you can follow-up with tips, articles, news, new product announcements, or just an announcement of each monthly winner(s).
Hopefully, I've inspired you to take some action or encouraged ideas of your own with these tips. Any idea requires you to think outside the box every now and then in order to be effective. Building an opt-in email list is no different. With newsletters and ezines saturating the Internet every day, you need to offer something a little different to make them want to sign up to yours or you'll just end up getting left behind.