Internet marketing is the essence of any and all online businesses. No matter what you do, you are a marketer, that’s it, end of story.

But, seldom do your marketing efforts pay off, the first time round. Okay, so you have a neat website, fancy name, an auto responder set to deliver your mailings, but your efforts are failing. The time will come, when you finally realise, that you need a good opt-in list. After having read countless articles and having sought expert advice and having read many success stories of people creating a small fortune with opt-in lists, you finally decide that you just have to have one of your own. You think you have learnt everything there is to know about opt-in lists and have followed the advice to the T, but you still haven’t been able to make any sales or profits.

Let me introduce you to the 2 secrets that nobody ever seems tells you about – list and trust.

In all honesty, in your marketing drive, you are probably losing money and becoming very frustrated. This is perfectly normal and part of the learning curve. You may even have gone as far as hiring ghostwriters, to help you out, or else, you are incurring some other unavoidable expenses, which detract from your sales responses. There are always costs.

Maybe you pay for advertising, or optimisation, or website analysis, or traffic generation, or hosting, or e-mail facilities, or statistics analyses, the latest marketing tools,or you simply can’t resist buying products on special offer, with a view to reselling them, of course. Again, this is common amongst marketers, both new and more experienced.

You would be lying, if you denied that you were getting worried about your lack of sales. The thing is, you will not make money, if you don’t change your tactics. I don’t care how big your list is. Sound strange? Not really, if you understand. You have heard before, that size doesn’t really matter, it’s how you use it that counts. Well that applies here, more than ever.

What is the use of a huge list, when you are not getting enough sales from it? It is possible that you are trying to sell the wrong products to the list, I mean how can you sell ice to Eskimoes? It is more likely though, that your list is not responding to your offers, because you are not doing it right.

The truth is, that only a very small percentage of your contacts, actually buy from you and you are still not making the desired profits. You'll probably realize that, when, after a few months of poor sales, you sit down and actually analyse your statistics and sales figures.You'll realise that you have been going about it wrongly.

So, what is the right way? So, what could have gone wrong? Why have other marketers succeeded, where you have failed? The most common mistake, is that you just dived right in, without enough preparation. You probably chose a topic, which you thought would prove to be quite popular and would earn you money and then sent out your mails, enthusiastically, but – no sales, or not enough anyway.

This very important task, is not quite that easy. Just because you wrote to people, on your list, doesn't mean that they are going to buy instantly. Why should they? Who are you? Why are you better than all the others out there? Is it a niche product, are they pre-qualified in this area, is the product something they will all need, or is it only good for a few of them?

Do not ever commit the cardinal sin of reducing your prices. Never! Obviously you can't overcharge and under deliver, you would be chewed up and spat out in a very short time, but assuming you have a good service and a fair price, try something else.

Try to sort out your customers and products and match them where you expect the best results. Categorise them. You won't sell motor spares to ladies, or perfume to men, so only send those offers to the select targeted part of your list.

Yes, you have now learnt that the first secret is the type of list, but there is a far bigger secret – trust.  

If you’d like a little help, I’ll explain. Firstly, for those who have started an opt-in list and have failed at it, it is possible to rejuvenate your failed venture. For those who are starting out, here are three quick and easy steps, to building a profitable opt-in list.

Forget all the other bumf that you might have heard. If it's not working, you better fix it!

1) You have to get your customers to trust you and your products first, before you will ever get the sales you are looking for. Just launching your opt-in list, will not make you an expert and a credible seller. You have to build a rapport with them.

Write and post a few articles first, on other sites and forums, so people get to know you. Try to show that you know what you are talking about, before starting your opt-in list.

Write about a topic, that you know something about and have preferably, already started and used on your own website. Try to put up forums on your site first, to gain knowledge about your customers, to tell them about you and to find out about their wants and needs and only then, can you try to target those wants and needs.

Only by becoming known and trusted, will people take any notice of the offers and recommendations in your mailings. Even then, make your letter informative and entertaining.

Don’t just throw the offer at them, you need to convince them that they really need this and can’t get better anywhere else. This will also let you off the hook a little, if you aren't a brilliant script writer.

If people are suspicious and critical, you will never make that sale, but if they know and accept you, then the poor grammar and spelling mistakes are overlooked by them and you could quite easily convince them to make the purchase.

You also must not ramble on and make your letter too long. People are in a hurry and will not bother to read a long, boring letter.

Once they choose to unsubscribe, they are lost for ever. You have to find the perfect balance.

Join forums on other sites as well. Provide expert advice and recommendations. Write short articles and blogs. Always mention your name, company and website.

Once you feel that people trust you, you can then start building your list and ultimately start mailing offers to your them. You can also build a base, with other forum users. You can ask them to join your list. Friends are always good customers.

Put up a link to your site, so that they can see what your business is all about. Don't try to plug your site, or your products in these forums, but slip in your name and a reference, if not a link, so that you don't completely waste the opportunity to advertise, just a little.

The truth is, the money will only come, once the consumers and subscribers believe you and trust in you. They want a product or service that would be beneficial to them and worth their money.

People are not going to buy something, on your recommendation, if they don't know you and they don’t trust you. That is the bottom line.

2) Find a product, or service, that your people really want and need. Although it may not be your forte, if you take the trouble to provide a service and product that you have researched and learnt about, you can then carry on with confidence.

Invest your time, effort and money in something, that you think you definitely can sell to your opt-in list and then research it, entertain your list and slip in the personal recommendation.

While it is true, that it is best to sell something that you have a genuine interest in, there are probably not that many people, who have the same interests as you. Be sure not to try to sell something that is not extremely popular, or profitable.

Do your research well and then you will see the profits. Also, try to provide your subscribers, with promotional material, that they can actually use and tell their friends about. This is what makes information such a powerful product.

3) Make friends with other opt-in list holders. This is mutuallly beneficial, especially if it is someone, who has already launched a successful opt-in list. Maybe you could even swop lists and by so doing, both of you win.

These are the people who have experience in these ventures and experience is still the best teacher.

While there are many articles available on the internet, for you to use, there is nothing better than gaining knowledge, first hand, from someone you trust. Experienced opt-in list users, will be able to tell you exactly what to do and what not to do, because they have already gone through the same exercise.

While different situations can arise, with different folks, the general concept that they used, can still be very helpful to you. There are many things to avoid and these people will be able to tell you exactly which they are.

Remember I said you were not in business, not in the service field and not in sales, but only in marketing?

Well here is another startling statement. Your website is not for selling, not for attracting customers and not for explaining how good you and your products are. Not primarily anyway.

No, your website is as good as your first page, or your landing page. Some call it the capture page and that is exactly what it is. To capture names and e-mails. That's it. Even if you don't have any other pages, as long as you are capturing details, then you are doing just fine. Serious.

Okay let me explain. Imagine that you capture details on your first page, by a subscription to your newsletter, or a free membership, or a free giveaway, it doesn't really matter how you do it as long as it works.

Now you have the details, you can send out your super interesting and entertaining mailings, which in turn send the prospect to a hidden page somewhere at the back of your website. This page tells them more about the wonderful offer and gets them to hit the order button. Another hidden page appears, out of the "non public viewing folder" and thanks them for their purchase and provides the download link. That is a successful sale and it wasn't really achieved on some flashy, large website.

Sure you can add pages and content and forums and guestbooks and the rest, but remember the sole purpose is to get the details of the traffic arriving on your first page! If they read your whole website from front to back and leave a lovely message, without giving you their details, you have failed.

Some of the best sellers make their sales from a blog! That's right, they don't even have a website! The articles posted carry the promotional links to the hidden sales pages. No products, banners ads etc are shown on the blogsite at all. But, they build mailing lists from the blogsite and that is the secret.

Another common mistake is to litter your pages with links to other sites and affiliate sites and fun pages. You run the risk of sending the prospect away from your site, before you get those all important details.

Building a profitable opt-in list, doesn't just happen overnight. There is much preparation needed and a lot of effort required.

Opt-in lists, are best built from scratch and then, as your list grows, you must also maintain the quality of your mailings. Your list also needs constant management.

You will need to keep it organized and try to place the different interests, in separate sub-lists. Don’t be scared to hire help, if you need it.

At all costs, you must ensure that your subscribers are happy and satisfied and that they are willing to buy from you. This is the only way you will reach the point of success with your mailed offers to your subscribers. With that advantage, the money will follow. Good luck!

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Derek Robson has been a successful Internet marketer since 2003. He has a vision of empowering all fellow South Africans and other non U.S folk, to have equal opportunity and success on the internet, by finding solutions to the many obstacles facing them. He is a syndicated article writer. He and his wife Sally, have started a string of sites, resources, courses and articles, as part of Dersalsites. For informative articles on Internet marketing, South African online business, list building, affiliate marketing, article marketing, blogging, seo, the law of attraction, rugby and other general topics, such as gardening and fitness, visit Derek and Sally at their blog, part of http://dersalsites.com/