Ahh yes, e-mail marketing. If there is one marketing method that new affiliates are probably afraid of, I would say that e-mail marketing is second only to PPC (hey, PPC even scares me sometimes). With all of the laws and regulatory legislation that is now in place regarding “spam”, an e-mail marketer needs to be careful about who they send mail to and when they send it- there’s nothing worse than receiving a phone call from someone in the government letting you know that you’re being shut down for violation of CAN-SPAM laws.

But, despite all of the legislative mumbo-jumbo that doesn’t mean that you can’t make a decent amount of money using e-mail marketing. In fact, if you build up your e-mail list yourself and offer them category targeted offers and e-mails you will probably make a ton of cash. I know this because it’s being done all the time all over the internet.

So, what’s a safe way to e-mail market?

1. Build your own list - Instead of buying a list of e-mail addresses from someone, build your own. This will ensure that they have opted in (and hence you won’t be breaking any laws by e-mailing them) and has the added benefit of their interest- they want to receive e-mails from you.
2. Target your e-mail list - Building category specific “squeeze” pages that are designed to generate new e-mail addresses relating to specific niches (work at home, weight loss, etc.) is like adding a list of people who want to buy what you’re offering. Sending that list relevant offers to their niche is like offering candy to a baby- you know they’ll bite.
3. Gain credibility - Make sure that you are the authority as far as those in your e-mail list are concerned. When you write an e-mail, do so from the perspective of someone who is in control and aware of what’s going on. Having credibility is the difference between a 1% conversion ratio and a 5% conversion ratio.
4. Gain trust - You want the people on your e-mail list to trust you. If they trust you, they are much more likely to seriously consider your affiliate offers when you promote them. Gain their trust by only e-mailing them when you have something important to say, gaining credibility and appearing knowledgeable about what you’re talking about, and actually having a message- people don’t want to be reading about affiliate offers all the time.

A big part of e-mail marketing is the copy. Make sure that it’s well written, easy to read, and is free of any spelling or grammatical errors. As well, keep the tone neutral so as to avoid unintentionally offending people.