“The Money is in the List.” I bet you’ve heard that before right? Well it’s true. I’m not saying this is the only way to make money, but if you want to reach the top in affiliate marketing it is the way to go.

What e-mail marketing does is it allows you to collect e-mails addresses which you can market to via e-mail. You need an autoresponder to help collect the addresses and send your messages. The autoresponder system has all the tools you need to build your signup form to put on your blog or website. It allows you to set up your e-mails to be sent out on a specific date and time, or so many hours after the person signed up. This is a great idea because you can create your messages months in advance and be on vacation when the e-mail goes out.

The reason for this kind of marketing is because most people don’t buy after the first time of seeing a product; they need to be convinced that the product will help them in some way to make their life or job easier. That is the reason e-mail marketing works so well; it gives you a chance to market to the same people over and over again until they are sure they want the product. They can now make an informed choice to purchase without any doubt as to whether they want or need the product. And this will keep them coming back for future sales, because they will have learned to trust you.

So what do you put into your e-mails? You simply describe your product, giving your potential customers as much information as you can about your product. You need to let them know what this product will do for them. You let them know what it has done for you and if you have testimonials you can include them in there as well.

Another awesome thing you can do is give away free stuff, like an e-book or other information not available to non-subscribers. Everyone loves free stuff, and this will reduce the un-subscription rate. You can throw in another product or e-book if they make a purchase before such and such a date. Or give them a discount if they act now.

There are many things you can do, but don’t cram it all into your first e-mail which you send; span it out over several e-mails. For example, describe the product in your first e-mail by explaining all the features and what it will do for them, then in the next one you could explain what it has done for you, and in the next you could include some testimonials, and so on.

And if your first product didn’t make a sale, offer the next product and the next. These products do not have to be your products; they can all be affiliate products. But make sure though that you keep your products relevant to your first offer. If they originally signed up to receive more information about how to make money online, don’t start advertising books on cooking. This will be considered as spam and you could end up in trouble.

The beauty of this system is that once you have it set up it will keep working for you for years to come, depending on the product. This will allow you to focus on other things.

Don’t go rushing off to get an auto responder; there are a few things you need to learn first, in order to build your list. You need to learn how to drive traffic to your website or signup page. If you don’t have traffic coming to your site an autoresponder won’t do you any good. You can buy lists of e-mail addresses, but these are unreliable and you could be accused of spamming. I do not recommend that you buy lists; take the slow route of building your own and you’ll fare much better in the long run.

You should have a clear picture in your head as to what you want to offer people, what kind of products and or services. Once you have that established you’re ready to get started.

You can register with companies like Aweber, or Constant Contact. Aweber is one of the leading companies, and is offering a 30-day trial for just $1.00, and Constant Contact offers a 60 day free trial making it perfect for the beginner.

Here are a few tips to keep in mind when setting up your autoresponder.

1.) Only e-mail those that signed up through your sign-up form. You might be tempted to send your e-mails to others that you know, but don’t fall into this trap; you’ll be accused of spamming and this could result in suspension of your account.

2.) Make the subject line friendly and personal by putting the person’s name into the subject line. This is the most crucial part to your marketing because if you don’t create a curiosity in your reader, the e-mail will end up in the trash without being read.

Personalizing the e-mails will result in much higher click-through-rates, and generate more sales than non-personalized email. Also the number of un-subscribers will be less.

3.) Don’t send your mail everyday, unless you are offering a course of some sort, but don't advertise everyday. If you send too many advertising e-mails people will get tired of receiving your e-mails and will opt out of your program, even though you are offering valuable information.

Don’t take it personal when someone opts out. No matter how good you are at marketing, or how good your product or service is, people will opt out.

4.) Send your e-mails out on Fridays. Most people get paid on Friday’s and if you can get to them before their money is spent on other stuff, your chances of making a sale is much higher.

"The Money Is In The List" Name: Email: AWeber proves it to thousands of businesses every day. Learn how email marketing software can get you more sales, too.