Happy Saturday!!!!
Welcome to my blog, where I am documenting my affiliate marketing journey week by week!
There was no class this Friday, so Dean, during the weekly live Zoom Q&A on Wednesday, reminded us that the homework was to practice everything learned so far and start to really get a good handle on the road ahead.
During the Q&A on Wednesday, I asked Dean, “What is the best way we can keep our email list engaged, and what should I do with my old email list?”
Dean’s answer was comprehensive. He said all is coming in time. We are going to learn all about emails and automated email sequences, but for right now, he recommends emailing your list once a week at a minimum.
Here are the types of broadcast emails that Dean recommends sending:
- Email alerting of your most recent blog post: Once weekly I should be sending an email to my list announcing my blog post. Keep in mind that one email a week is the minimum. This email should alert readers of your most recent blog posts, and it should include a call of action, i.e., read it or have a watch (if it has video content), and comment and share.
- Email alerting your list of social media content posted that you feel can be of value to them! This email is another opportunity to get people to watch your content, engage, comment and share, direct your list to a cool new video you posted on social media, building know, like and trust.
- Email announcing any updates/lessons learned/promotions! This email can contain updates, something you learned this week, etc. This email can also introduce them to a product of value. For example, I could send out to my list a recommendation to check out Dean’s book The Iceberg Effect. This book is what started my journey and actually contains the entire proven path to affiliate marketing success!
- Email encouraging participation! Send an email out to your list with a survey or a question and encourage them to email you back. The purpose is to try and get them to answer back and engage, i.e., Hey, excuse the random email, but I wanted to ask you where you are at in your business right now and what you are stuck with. I am learning a lot right now, and although I can’t promise to have all the answers, I might be able to help; hit reply and let me know.
Remember, the game has changed. If you are not familiar with the rules of email marketing that have recently changed, you can check out my previous blog post to learn all about the changes by clicking here.
In the new world of email marketing, the more engagement, the better your sender scorecard is.
Sending emails that have people clicking links to take them to your blog or social media or encouraging participation where they respond can do wonders for your sender’s reputation – this is the secret sauce!
So that answered my first question: how to keep my current list engaged now on to the second question: How do I get people from an old cold list to move over to my new list?
Dean and the team recommended sending about four broadcast emails over the course of 2 to 3 weeks.
These emails would let people on your old list know that “I am sorry I dropped the ball, I am moving over to a new platform”, and it would offer them something (lead magnet) to try and entice them to move over and join the new list.
When sending these emails, it is really important to look at the statistics. The first email I sent got opened by a small percentage, so I decided to send another broadcast email to those who didn’t open the email; instead of just sending a bunch of emails over and over, I wanted to take out the people who engaged with the first email.
You can even resend the same email to those who didn’t open it; you can change it a little, i.e.: “You might have missed my first email…” so I sent it again.
Here is my attempt to send a broadcast email to the people who were not engaged ( If you watch it, you’ll learn my best-converting email subject line):
Here are a few other really great things I learned this week:
1. Back up your email list
You can also back up your list for future use by downloading it to a CSV; this can be another thing to do regularly to back up your list; you never know if social media, Aweber, or any company that houses your list can disappear overnight. Just as you back everything else, your email list is no different. I posted a video of me backing up my list on Aweber you can check it out on my social media by clicking here.
2. How to be authentically you when creating content. AI is very present in today’s world. When starting out, I struggled with using AI versus trying to be my authentic self. A really great piece of advice that I read this week that speaks to this is: It’s okay to use AI for inspiration, but make sure your authentic voice is heard. A great way to do this is to get an app or program that can transcribe your voice. Sit down to “write” your blog post and emails, but instead of writing it, pretend you are talking to your best friend, telling them about all you experienced, learned, or did this week, and talk it into a voice app that will produce a transcript. Then, use that transcript as the base of your post. This is a great tip to capture your voice and connect with your audience!
Last Pro Tip of the Week: Create or Join A Mastermind
So, the big secret and pro tip that I wanted to share this week is that I have joined a mastermind group!
I am currently in a mastermind for another class I am taking as a self-publisher, and it has been a game changer. Getting together with a group of like-minded people consistently can propel you to success.
I have been wanting to create a mastermind with my affiliate peers and am so excited that this has come to fruition.
In this group, you can bounce ideas off each other, hold each other accountable, leverage each other’s expertise, share your social media posts and blog posts to engage each other’s audiences, and collaborate on projects like podcasts…the possibilities are endless.
Dean talks about how he used to attend live events, and the people he met and relationships that he made there have transformed his life and his pocketbook.
So I invite you to tag your buddy below or share this post on their social and let them know you are interested in getting together once a week to support each other and ride from rookie to riches together!
Taking action every day, even if it’s just for 1 hour a day, consistently working on your business, and growing your skill set is a must, and having a mastermind that you check in with weekly to report what you did or confront you when you don’t show up or haven’t been progressing, can help you be accountable to your goals.
Don’t forget to comment below, sharing what you have accomplished today, this week… Share your weekly wins. What successes/failures have you learned from? Do you have anyone you want to create a mastermind with? If so, don’t forget to tag them below! Have you started making videos yet for social media? If you have started your social media, please share your links below. I would love to follow you!
Let’s ride from rookie to riches together!
To our success
Alison Blaire
25 Responses
This is great stuff.. I have an old list that I have been emailing about my new blog, but I had not thought about migrating it across. I think I need to craft an absolutely stunning sign-up offer. I am going to work on that.
I would love to hear more about your self-publish group. I have a few self-published books on Amazon. I sell one or two copies a month, but read stories of guys who publish and turn over thousands, so I know itm my marketing that lets me downb.
Thanks, Tony. I’m happy to talk publishing anytime! I have six books published, and I plan on publishing a book a month in 2024! The same concepts apply to affiliate marketing, building lists through offering lead magnets, and using advertising to drive traffic. The world of Amazon ads has been interesting, figuring out the right keywords and bids; it is definitely a skill set that will need to be developed as a self-publishing offer and must be tweaked constantly. DM me anytime (rookietorichesride.com/links); I have two masterminds I attend in the self-publishing world who are so helpful, and I am currently building out my brand and website!
Hi, Alison! I did not know about the need to back up my email list. Good to know! Which social media platform has your video on backing up your list?
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Your sharing the screen tutorials are awesome! Did Dean and team say you did the migration correctly?
I would love to be in a mastermind w members of our group. A Mastermind is a productivity tool like none other.
Kate, the part where I chose unengaged Avoid the pitfalls was correct; I just shouldn’t have added the other lists at the bottom. Instead, I should have done the same thing: went into each email list, created a group of unengaged people, and then sent the email to all of those groups; I was close, lol. Masterminds are fantastic; with the certified partner’s Facebook group, it is easy to post and see who is interested and get a group together!
Hi Alison, as always you have a very nice website and very informative blog. Thanks for your email list related tips. I’m actually in the process of building my list from scratch so It helps me having tricks from others. I really like also your advice about authenticity. When I speak to a friend I do it in French mostly. I wonder if I record my voice in English if I will look authentic on paper? Anyway I could surely give it a try!
Best regards,
Martin
Martin, I don’t see why not; you can start in French and then translate it over. Although there will be some stuff I am sure that doesn’t translate exactly, it will still have your voice, which is what we all want to hear!
I am shocked to see your best converting subject line. It gives me insentive to put that subject line back, lol. It certainly is not something I would normally use as a subject line in an email to anyone, personally. Still, I have been paying attention to the engagement of my subscribers; pairing down the list and I am generally at a 30% open rate daily.
You’ve taken an interesting stance on moving folks from your old email list to one on the new platform. It is MY hope that I will be able to use my list from AWeber and somehow maintain that list in the new platform.
You heard this before but, as far as failures go – the AI for Facebook decided that my lead ad stating “replaces a full-time income” presents an unrealistic outcome needed to be rejected. Then a couple of days after – I read a blog post that had a number of stats on affiliate marketing. And one of the stats showed that the average annual base salary of an affiliate marketer in the US was indeed $55K. Now I realize in some places one would need more than double that amount to live – but for other folks like me – that IS a full-time income. But in the case of my Facebook Lead Ad, there was no opportunity to get a review by a real person until I changed my text – and then there was no point as the ad was approved and it was already into a learning phase.
I welcome you onto my newsletter and I ask that you attempt that subscription again as I never did see confirmation when you said you joined a while back…not sure what actually happened.
There are many ways to say the same thing. So you can think of ways to imply full time income without saying the word “full time income”.
Taking the weight loss niche as an example. You can’t really say “lose weight” or “burn fat” in Facebook Ads. So what marketers do is they say something like “how I manage to fit into my old jeans again” or “how my husband just can’t stop touching me”. These imply weight loss without saying the word ” weight loss”.
By doing so, you can sometimes get much better results from your ads. You can connect with your audience better by painting the scenario instead of just saying the word “full time income”.
Alan Lim recently posted…How to Get 30% to 80% Open Rate With Your Email Subscribers
Robert, 30% is a very impressive open rate; keep doing what you are doing! As far as your Facebook Ad goes, you can request a review when you go into Ads Manager, select that ad that got rejected, and there is an area ” Click Request review and then select Submit.” You can also call them. Meta is really great and will get on the phone with you; they want you to run ads. I will re-subscribe again, not sure why it didn’t join, something to look into, gotta love technology 🙂
Alison, I think your site is so fun and well done. This post is a #win. Great recall points of Dean’s recommendation and so good for your readers to have a good path to follow.
Keep up the great work.
Blessings on all you do.
Success is yours!
john
Thank you so much John for your kind words, they mean a lot!!!!
Alison, I like your video. Great points. AI is or can be a downfall if not handled properly,
I am just beginning and believing for a good gathering of Newsletter subscribers.
Believing for total success for you and us all for our greatest success.
Have a great week.
john
Hi Alison
Great information about how to re-engage an old list and brilliant advice about backing up mailing lists on a regular basis. You do indeed never know if Aweber are going yo close your account for some strange reason. I know of people it;s happened to. They don’t five a warning, it’s just closed and you loose access from what I hear
It is so scary how much power these companies hold; I see it in the publishing world a lot. People getting their Amazon accounts just closed overnight with no explanation and having to fight to get them back; it is always good to back it up, just in case, you can always start over somewhere else! That is also why I love that we are learning the skills and foundations of affiliate marketing and not just promoting some links; the skills we learn will help us with every business endeavor from here on out, we are so lucky!
Alison, not everything I read online is worthy of me converting it over to its own Post-it note, but this week’s blog definitely was! I’m in the early stages of working on my email list and I’ve struggled what do send to my subscribers when I get to that point. Your list of the types of Broadcast emails was so helpful! Thank you! Your tutorial was awesome, you are just full of helpful advice today! Lastly, I wanted to know what screen recording software you used for your video?
Lauren, thank you so much; it brings me joy to know you got value from my post! For this video, I used Zoom. I really like to use Zoom because it has some filter in the video setting that takes away a lot of my wrinkles lol; from there, I throw the video in Canva and edit it. Canva is such an amazing tool, you can even separate the audio and video, and add additional images and even music if you want! Check out my social media. I am posting tutorials on how I do my videos, create subtitles, and all the features of Canva I love @ rookietorichesride.com/links!
Alison, another amazing blog from you. Your blogs are probably the best in the group, because not only do they have practical advice and education you then give video tutorials on how to do something and it’s very engaging. Your manner is very calm and easy to understand and captivating. I think you’re going to be incredibly successful and I wish you all the best, and thanks for everything, Atif
Atif Perwiz recently posted…Maximising Your Affiliate Marketing Potential: Tips for Success
Atif, thank you so much for your kind words. I put a lot of work into these blog posts, and it fills my heart with joy that you like them! Your blog post are great as well, incredibly informative, and packed with value!
Great information – I had been part of a Mastermind group a couple of years back but unfortunately, it fell apart for lack of participation. I do know however that it helped us being accountable to each other while it lasted.
Looking forward to reading your future posts; many of the information you provide is greatly needed!
Marc, that sometimes happens; in the beginning, in one of my masterminds, there were 14 people, but now we are down to 6. Life happens, but once you find those consistently willing to show up, it is incredible. Sounds like it is time to start a new mastermind!!!!
I appreciate your clear and detailed documentation of your affiliate coaching and training and
I also like that your screen-share of technical pieces to all these moving parts.
They are so easy to follow!
I think your suggestion of joining mastermind groups is well-advised as I love being able to bounce ideas off people who are going through similar journeys. Thank you.
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Hi Alison!
Thank you for the email tips. I am currently trying to grow a list for my business. I’m sure your pointers will prove beneficial!
Also, I just wanted to say that I have been enjoying your TikTok posts.
All the best!
Milissa Neirotti
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Alison,
You did a great job in explaining how to move one’s old Aweber email list over to you a new affiliate email list. Also, the value of a good mastermind group cannot be measured. The trick is finding one that you fit in with and can help you grow. I have had the opportunity to join a few but in the past and they were helpful but i out grew them and they didn’t provide value anymore.
What would you suggest for a good mastermind in affiliate marketing?
Have a great day!
CJ
CJ, thank you for your kind words. I think when forming a mastermind in affiliate marketing, it is best to find people that are following the same “blueprint,” check in regularly to see what everyone is working on, Share lessons learned, ask questions, get unstuck, and end with sharing goals for the next week. It is a great way to be held accountable, and to have a sounding board when you get stuck!