One way to ensure that you build up your online business is to form a good relationship with your
target market so that they trust you and your content. This will encourage repeat business and solidify
your customer base. The main way to do this is to create a mailing list and keep in touch with people,
informing them about your products and your special offers. When establishing your mailing list you
will want to spend enough time thinking about who you are going to include in it and what you are going
to send to them. Here are some tips you can use to help get you thinking.

Make people feel secure
Guaranteeing your visitors’ privacy is fundamental because this is what will encourage them to trust you
with their email addresses and it will instil a sense of professionalism. People want to know that if they
give you some of their information you are not going to share it with other organisations.

Make the sign up as easy as possible
Make sure that signing up for your newsletter or emails is not a lengthy drawn out affair. It should be very
easy to do and should come in the form of a quick sing up page that can be filled in within a matter of seconds.
You might want to think about making these forms available throughout the content of your website so that
they can just be clicked on at various points without the user having to navigate back to the relevant page.
You could also include a link in any of the social media that you use. It has been suggested that putting your
form at the top of the page will make it more visible and will increase your visitors’ likelihood of using it and
filling it in.

Don’t ask people for too much information
Think about what information you need from your customers. You don’t need lots and lots of detail, so don’t
ask for it. People are often wary when they are asked for more than their email addresses so only ask for what
you actually need.

Offer people a second opportunity to opt in
Once your users have opted in to receive information from you, give them a chance to confirm in the form of an
email registration. This will prevent you bothering people who have inadvertently opted in without realising it.

Incentivise registration
Many website offer their customers a free gift for signing up so you might want to do this too. This might come on
the form of a voucher or discount incentive code or you might send out an ebook. It is always good to show your
appreciation so consider what you will give out.

Other ways to encourage sign ups
When thinking about more opportunities to invite people to sign up to your mailing list, try adding a link into your
email signature in any correspondence you send out.  You can also invite people to forward on the link to others to
receive a discount or voucher.

Advertise for others in return for publicity
You could encourage other businesses in the same industry to advertise for you by suggesting that you will advertise
for them at the same time and increase the flow of traffic to both your sites.

When sending out information or newsletters to your mailing list remember to keep the information fresh and
interesting. Stale content will turn people off at best and irritate them at worst!