If you are looking to build a list
and maintain a relationship with
your subscribers, you will need to
decide on whether you want to use a
structured or an unstructured approach
in your email marketing campaign.

Using a structured approach means to
load up your auto-responder with messages
and sending them out in a set pattern
(such as weekly or bi-weekly), and
an unstructured approach is just
manually sending your subscribers
messages whenever you have something
to tell them or when you are promoting
an offer.

You could use a combination of both,
but you should at least incorporate
some facets of a structured approach
toward your email marketing campaigns.

A common example of a structured approach
would be a newsletter or a series, where
your subscribers would receive a piece
of information at set time intervals.

Be sure to implant this into your
visitors' minds on the squeeze page
when they subscribe, for example
"Opt-in to receive my bi-weekly newsletter"
or "Subscribe now to receive my
tip-of-the-week investing series."

An advantage of this format is that
you are in control of how often you
get to email your list. By asking
your visitors to sign up for a
newsletter, when they do sign up not
only are they giving you permission
to contact them on a regular basis,
they are expecting it.

This in known as permission-based
marketing and is much more effective
than if you were to send them promotions
and other messages when they don't
necessarily expect it.

When creating your messages, you want
to avoid referencing certain events,
otherwise the message might not make
sense if someone were to subscribe
months later.

For example you may want to avoid
mentioning current events in your
auto-responder messages.

Sometimes current events tie in nicely
with your marketing message, so if you
want to use a current event you can
just simply send it out as a broadcast
message.

If you plan to implement a twenty week
newsletter, add another message at the
end so that when your subscribers receive
the final newsletter piece, you can thank
them for subscribing to the newsletter
and that you'll continue to send them updates
and other important pieces of information when
necessary.

This effectively sets them up to expect
to continue to hear from you on an
ongoing basis. If you keep sending
them quality information, you'll be
able to maintain a good relationship
with your list for a long time to come.