—- This lesson is a bit technical. But with a some patience, a little persistence and effort, this is nothing you can’t master! —-

With your blog up and running and already visible at various directories, you should see traffic starting to trickle in. Check your traffic stats from your hosting Cpanel or use Google Analytics.

In a later post I’ll be sharing in dept how to use Google Analytics at your blog for performance analysis.

It’s time to “catch” those precious visitors so that you can stay in contact with them and promote your goods to them on an ongoing basis.

For that you will need three things:

1. An autoresponder to follow up with your subscribers.
2. A bribe (a freebie) to hand to your visitors in exchange for their info.
3. A sign up form to capture your visitors info.

1. Autoresponder:
As far as autoresponders go, you got plenty of companies to pick from. Personally, I recommend only these two services: Aweber.com or GetResponse.com. Both companies enjoy a high customer satisfaction, are top notch in service and offer very affordable packages. Which one you pick is a matter of personal preference.

I don’t recommend you use a free service for two reasons:

1. A lot of free autoresponders come preloaded with ads.
You are setting up a business. You must appear professional. Having an autoresponder preloaded with ads does not make you look professional and will deter from your messages.

2. Free autoresponders are free.
That means that you pay the price elsewhere; i.e. limited features, bugs in the software, lack of support, etc. Why bother with the headaches? Again, you are running a business here.

Anyway, getting back to our mini-course. Up next is:

2. The Freebie:
People like to get free stuff. It’s part of our human nature. To entice your readers to fill in your capture form you have got to offer them something that is of value to them (this is important – just because you give it away for free doesn’t mean it should be crap!).

Ideas for freebies:

- A 2 page report about the benefits of your chosen topic. Example: “Why (your topic) Is Beneficial To You And Me!”

- A “How To” short ebook. Example: “How To Grow Award Winning Tomatoes From Your Patio!” or “How To Give Your Car That Showroom Shine!” or “How To Get Your Dog To Listen To You All The Time!”

- A web page that reveals tips and tricks. Example: “5 Insider Secrets For Instant Sales!”

- If you finished Lesson 1 and found a product you are interested in promoting, contact the owner and ask her if she has a freebie you can use to promote her product. Most likely she’ll have a barn full of things you can give away to your subscribers.

— Dirty Marketing Tip: —
Do not ever give your subscribers instant access to your freebie. ALWAYS have your freebie send to their inbox. This ensures that your subscribers will give you their actually email address and not some made up junk email.

3. Add The Signup Form To Your Blog:
Once you picked an autoresponder service, you will need to copy and paste the HTML code provided by the company for your opt-in form on your blog.

Or if you know your way around designing web pages, you can do what I did and create your standalone sign up page. Then just add a link in your blog pointing to your capture form
(see sample).

To include the capture form HTML code directly into your WP blog do this:

- Log in to your blog as the administrator.
- Click on Appearance.
- Click on Widgets.
- Open your Top Sidebar (if your WP theme has more than one).
- Drag the TEXT Widget into your opened sidebar.
- Give the widget a catchy title.
- Paste the autoresponder HTML code into the widget.
- Save the widget.

Now you have a capture form on your blog that is constantly visible to your readers. Your blog is ready to start collecting those precious email addresses.

— NOTE —
Make the very first message in your autoresponder your “Welcome” message and include the download link to your freebie in that message.

When you have time, start adding more messages to your autoresponder and send those out at regular intervals (every 2 or 3 days).

Do NOT make the mistake of loading your autoresponder messages full with promotional material. At least not in the beginning. Before long, I’ll be sharing an entire autoresponder “How To” course with you, where you’ll learn exactly how to make money with your autoresponder messages.

Instead, use your initial messages to:
- Gain your subscriber’s trust.
- Proof your knowledge in your topic.
- Share valuable and useful information (tips, tricks, how to, etc.).

OK!, I know, this lesson is the “roll up your sleeves and get busy” kind. Don’t worry, you’ve crossed the most difficult part.

Now that you got a subscribers capture form on your blog you can spend the rest of your time on writing a new post. Don’t forget to ping it (see Lesson 1) after your publicized it.

In Lesson 3 you’re going to learn a neat little trick to get your blog indexed super fast and start receiving beaucoup traffic.