One of the easiest to implement yet most overlooked ways to get people to warm up to you and feel like you value them and want to help them is to ask them simple questions. Everybody’s favorite subject is himself or herself so why not show some interest?
Ask questions and do things that require some sort of interaction from your readers. It doesn’t really matter what you ask. You can ask questions that are completely unrelated to what your newsletter is about so long as you get people to respond.
When you get them used to doing things you ask them to do, no matter what it is, it’s easy for them to keep doing things you ask them to do like buy the products you recommend.
The more you can get your readers to communicate with you, the more they will feel like they know and can trust you.
A relationship (as far as an online newsletter or email course goes) is nothing more than two people (you and each individual subscriber) knowing what their place is in relation to each other.
You are the provider of helpful information and someone who wants to help your reader succeed at something. You must get that across.
Your reader is someone who will learn to trust your advice and listen to your recommendations because you have built up a history of doing things that seem to benefit them more than they seem to benefit you. That doesn’t necessarily have to be true, as long as it seems like it’s the truth to your readers.
Remember, perception (or what people believe) is the only truth that really matters as far as they’re concerned.
The Internet is a cold and distant place.
That’s actually to your advantage because if you can consistently get across to your readers that you are a real person with real concerns (just like them) and you know what it’s like for them to be in the situation they’re in because you’ve been there, you won’t have any trouble getting people to warm up to you.
People in general tend to like others who look out for them because people (again, in general) think about themselves first. If it seems like another person is looking out for them first then that person will automatically take a high position in their eyes.
In other words, when you’re writing, not every link in it has to be an affiliate link for a product you’ll get paid from.
Understand this…
Your readers are buying products and services all the time that aren’t putting money in your pockets so it doesn’t hurt you at all to tell them about a product or service that you won’t make money from.
This sets you up to make money when you do have something to recommend that will put a commission check in your pockets.
To set yourself up to make money you have to give, give, give and then give some more. Now it’s important to note that I’m not saying that you have to give everything away.
Giving (as I’m using the term) means to give of yourself. Share stories with your readers, point them to helpful resources and let them know about things they probably haven’t found on their own.
In other words, offer your guidance. That’s what they signed up to your mailing list for. Not for a bunch of ads they can find on their own.
There’s no point in building a list if your readers don’t think you care about them. You should. Otherwise you don’t deserve to have them as subscribers. When you give to your list, you always get back much more in return so you’re actually being selfish by being unselfish. Knowing that you will get back more than you give ahead of time allows you to focus on giving.
There are some publishers I listen to above all others and when I took the time to try and figure out why, it hit me. They all do one thing that now seems so obvious.
Something you may feel compelled NOT to do. They all give me valuable information many times without promoting any products in some of the emails they send me.
They give me pages and pages of content I can actually do something with. When they do have an affiliate link in an email I don’t even care they’ll be getting a commission from my purchase because of all the great content surrounding that affiliate link.
Am I saying give away your commissions?
No.
I’m simply trying to get the point across that you don’t need to be an affiliate for every product or website you happen to mention to your readers under the guise of trying to help them.
It’s really not necessary anyway.
I’m not saying that you shouldn’t promote products to your readers. You should. Just don’t club them over the head with your offers before they’ve gotten a chance to get a feel for you and if you’re someone who’s looking out for their interests or just your own.
Some of the publishers I pay attention to are ones who from time to time will pass on resources to me just because they think those resources would be of interest to me and my goals. When someone does something for you just because, without appearing to gain anything financially from it, especially online, you take notice.
Perception is about appearances. You have to present yourself as you would like others to see you. If you want others to see you as someone who is giving and truly interested in them and what they want to accomplish then you have to do things that make you look that way.
When you pass on helpful information to your readers because you feel like that information will help them without necessarily promoting a product it accomplishes two things.
v Passing on resources to your subscribers without always worrying about your commissions builds trust because they start to think that you want to help them and not just get money from them. This makes them more willing to give you money when you ask for it. That’s just the way it works.
v Prompting your subscribers to send you feedback on the resource(s) you tell them about is what helps to make your list responsive to your future offers. Get your readers used to interacting with you. Get them used to doing what you ask. In order to do that, you have to keep asking them to do stuff.
When you find anything you think is useful and think your subscribers will find useful as well, pass it on to them even if you don’t get a commission from a product they buy.
You don’t have to do that every single time you write something but do it and ask them for their opinions on what you wrote. Writing to your readers without caring about getting commissions for every single product you mention is a small price to pay in the long run for the level of trust you inspire.
That trust (built on the fact that you have shown your readers they are more than just a dollar sign) is what will set you apart from 99.9% of the other publishers out there.
Let’s be real. I publish to profit. Period.
If my subscribers don’t buy from me I stop publishing because at that point it becomes a burden on my time. I am in business to make money and so are you. My readers understand that and so do yours.
What does this mean to your bottom line?
v The more you give to your readers without asking for a lot in return the more they’ll feel like the NEED to give back to you. That’s the law of reciprocation at work. Most of us were taught to give back what we get from people. That being the case, be careful about what you give because what you give is what you can expect to get back. That’s a scary thought huh? 
v Like I said just a minute ago your subscribers understand that you are in business to make money. If you don’t make money, you go out of business. The issue a lot of the time with publishers is that if you haven’t been giving your readers information they actually value, they won’t care if you stay in business or not which means they won’t bother buying the products you recommend.
I buy products from publishers who do their best to give me value because I want them to stick around. The only way I know how to keep them around is to buy from them.
Give your readers some credit. They know that to keep you in business they have to buy what you recommend. The only real question is do you give them enough value in the form of quality information for them to care if you stay in business or not?
The bottom line is you are a person and your subscribers are people. The Internet for all its wonders lacks what many people crave the most, which is to connection with another human being. The Internet is faceless and impersonal. Use that to your advantage.
Be a real person to your readers. Whenever you create an information product (an article or even just a simple report) do so with the intention of putting together something that will actually help people do something specific. Help people achieve a goal.
Don’t worry so much about your commission checks. Those will be there if your readers feel like you’ve earned them.
You earn them by not making them your focus. Focus on giving value to the people who keep you in business. You can’t afford to be one of the many publishers who forget that.
People want to interact with other people online. Especially those who share valuable information. Give your readers those two things (interaction and valuable information) and you’ll quickly discover as I have that you magically have more active readers instead of just subscribers.
Something that may help …
Do what I do.
Write as much as you can without using any affiliate links at all. Focus on the content without distracting yourself with how you will get paid from what you write. After you have the content nailed down you can always go back and add an affiliate link to a good product (you have used) that supports what you’ve written.
When you become known as someone who gives value, you will be perceived as someone who also promotes valuable products. If people feel that the information you give away is bad then they assume that anything you promote is bad as well.
It’s all about perception.
Remember that.
Project the image of yourself that you want your readers to see. Want them to see you as someone who cares about them? Then do the things you would do if you did care about them like give them information you KNOW will help them even if you don’t get a check from it.
You should care about your readers but at the very least you should always try to make it seem like you do. Now you may not like the fact that I say you should try to make it seem like you care about your subscribers even if you don’t but you’re missing the point entirely.
Our actions dictate who we are and who people see us to be.
If you do something long enough it will become a habit that’s a part of who you are. Even if at first you have to try to make it seem like you care about your readers more than you actually do, eventually you’ll notice that you’re not faking anymore.
It can be hard to really care about someone who doesn’t do things for you (like buy your products) but by focusing on your subscribers’ wants and needs they will start to put money in your pockets and I guarantee you’ll start to love them then.
And remember … always do what you do for a specific reason.
You’re not giving to your subscribers just for the heck of it. This is your purposeful attempt to show them that you value them and see them as more than just a dollar sign.
Doing that allows you (over time) to convert more subscribers into customers because they will WANT to buy from/through you to make sure that you stay in business. If you don’t provide your readers with valuable content, they won’t care if you stay in business or not so you can kiss your commission checks and main income goodbye.
Give, give, give and then give some more.
Your readers should be so wrapped up in the idea that you are one of the few people online who genuinely cares about them and their business that they will jump at anything you say is worth their time and their money because they have learned that you only tell them about things that you believe will benefit them.
When you can get your readers to believe that (through your past actions) you have their best interests in mind whenever you tell them about a product or point them to a resource, they will learn to listen to and trust what you say.
But Doesn’t Giving Your Readers Free Information Only Train Them To Expect More Free Information From You And Not Buy?
Not really. For two reasons…
1) Your readers know that if they want you to keep producing quality free information for them that they have to buy your products or the products you recommend. It doesn’t hurt when you remind them on occasion that your time is valuable and that you’ll keep publishing only if it’s in your best interest to do so. Kind of like what I did throughout this report.
I publish for profit. As soon as it’s no longer profitable for me to produce information like this, I’ll stop and you can be 100% sure that I’m not kidding.
2) People online don’t know who you are. You have to demonstrate that you have some knowledge about your supposed area of expertise before they can believe that you know enough to give them recommendations on products that will help them.
If you’re just the average publisher who pushes a bunch of recycled articles surrounded by ads, how is that any different from what they do? If you can’t offer them any more than they can offer themselves, you become unnecessary.
The main thing people are looking for is guidance from others who seem to know something more than they know. The only way people will see you as that person is for you to show them. If you don’t know anything then go out and learn something. Then show others what you’ve learned. That’s all any good teacher does. They are constantly learning something new.
Really what it comes down to is you understanding what people think. People expect you to go after their wallet without proving yourself first. People expect your newsletter to be full of “junk” and ads. People expect you to look out for your needs first.
Surprise them.
Almost Forgot This: When you start asking your subscribers for feedback you need to keep in mind that most of them won’t respond, but some will. Maybe a lot of them will. That’s a good sign, but it may not seem that way when you start thinking about how you’re going to respond to everyone who emails you.
Here’s what to do in that situation…
Instead of doing what a lot of people do which is to answer emails for hours at a time, set aside 10-15 minutes and go through all your email 2-4 times a day. It’s easier to knock all your email out in blocks than it is to try and handle it in bits and pieces throughout the day.
Set up specific times for getting to your emails and for the most part, stick to that schedule.
The most important part about asking your readers for questions is responding to those questions within a reasonable amount of time. I’ve had problems with that in the past and it was partly due to me not setting a schedule for checking my email. When you have a schedule, it’s easier to have the right mindset to answer the questions you get.
Am I saying that you can’t check your email sporadically during the day? No. Sure you can; as long as you mainly stick to whatever schedule you’ve set for yourself. Any extra time you spend going through your email is entirely up to you.
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Important: You might think some of the questions you get from your readers are of little value and you may even think some of them are a waste of your time to answer. However, you should always try to keep in mind the fact that any question someone asks is important to him or her so those questions must become important to you.
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Think about it. Even though email is easy to send, it still requires some effort to compose an email and send it out. When you send email to someone, you expect a timely response because your question or concern is important to you.
Right?
Your readers are no different.
Here’s the bottom line…
How do you feel about people who do things for you? Aren’t you more willing to do things for people who have already done things to benefit you? Of course you are and if you honestly ask yourself why you’ll come to the conclusion that it’s because you want those people or that person to continue to want to do things for you in the future.
That’s how newsletter publishing works.
It’s a measured give and take.
When you give you to subscribers they will give to you if only to keep you in the mood to keep giving to them. If all you do is try to take from your subscribers you’ll start breed resentment at your attempt to snatch their hard earned money at every chance you get.
Your subscribers buying from you is a direct result of your efforts to make them want to keep you in business so you can continue to do things that benefit them. That’s basically it. People care about their needs above and beyond yours so take care of theirs first.
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