Welcome back. In the last article, I outlined the 3 methods of co registration itself. No matter which one you decide to follow, before you get started, you need to know exactly how to properly and carefully handle co reg leads themselves. There is a definite reason for this.

 

In the early days of co registration (think dawn of the internet age and you will understand how wild it was) people were not too concerned about proper handling of co registration leads. They simply threw their co reg leads straight into their main email list without a second thought. This led to major headaches which almost caused co registration to totally fall out of favor. The reason is they built big lists, but those lists were a total mess!

 

The main reason for this is, believe it or not, is the nature of the internet itself. It allows for a measure of anonymity that no other medium does. People can actually claim they are anyone they care to be and nobody can really check up on it. So people fill out opt in forms with fake data. Some of it led to emails bouncing, some of it went to other people's email in boxes (this is called 'Joe Jobbing'), and some of it went to 'spam box' emails addresses that never get opened and read.

 

Today there is a specific vetting process that is done with leads generated via this form of advertising to get around this and other problems. I'll outline the basic process; your lead provider should be giving you specifics on how to do this.

 

1. Segregate your co registration leads on a separate autoresponder from your main list. Putting them on a separate account on your main autoresponder is simply asking for trouble. It's too easy to make a mistake and mail them something you will regret sending them later, so keep it totally separate to avoid that little problem.

 

Now some people will tell you to use an in house autoresponder script for your co reg leads. Let me ask you a question: Would you do this with your main email list? If so, then great, spend the money on an autoresponder script for co reg leads, otherwise use a free autoresponder service for this purpose.

 

2. If your leads are exclusive, and delivered in real time, consider confirmed opt in. Some leads are bogus, some are 'Joe Jobs', and some are going to 'spam email boxes' that won't ever get read anyhow, do you really want these kind of junk leads? A confirmation email will weed these out real quick and painless, so you will only send emails to people who will actually read what you have to say.

 

3. Warm them up. Let's face it. They do not know you from Adam. So the first email you actually send them should be nothing more than an introduction. Encourage them to get off this list unless they are serious about reading what you have to say, and do this multiple times. Also reassure them know you won't share their info, won't send them offers for junk all the time, and outline the info you will be sending them and how long the series will last.

 

4. Send only content. Do not send them ads in the beginning, wait at least several emails before pitching anything to them. Of course, if this is to build up a free ezine, you can give them a link to that but it needs to be couched just right.

 

A good line to send is "If you like this content, you will find more great info at my ezine at www.yourlinkhere.com". Another one is to say "This trial subscription ends in x emails (note: make sure it does or you will be sorry), if you like this content and want more, go to www.yourlinkhere.com and sign up for my free ezine". Use your imagination and come up with a good line that works for you.

 

5. When done, throw them away. This eliminates the temptation to re mail them, which is a totally frowned upon practice for obvious reasons. With any autoresponder, it's real easy to sort through them and mass delete any old co reg leads, so there is really no excuse for not doing it.

 

Following the above practices will ensure your co reg campaigns generate a good responsive list at the end of the campaign, which is what you really want.

 

The key is to plan this out beforehand so this does not bite you when you least expect it. Write up your warm up email and your content (and your ads, properly put in) first then load this into the autoresponder you choose to use, and then start your co reg campaign. As they say, 'Prior Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance'.

 

Now that you got that planned out, what's next? If you are using personal co registration (the method everyone endorses), you will need joint venture partners. So how do you acquire those? That will be the next subject in this series. Look for it in the next couple of weeks.