Now you have all your opt in forms on your webpages, but you have no traffic, and no follow up messages set up. Let’s work on creating the first message.

Log into Aweber.

Click on the messages tab. Next, you’ll want to click on the link that says ‘create message 1′

I usually turn on click tracking to keep stats of what messages get the most clickthroughs. Also, it’s a great affiliate link hider.

You’ll see that there are many templates you can choose from, but I like to use text only template (no template selected).

Now it’s time to write the email. In the subject you want to first address them by name. To do this first click on the subject box, then click on insert field and select {!firstname_fix}. This will enter their first name that they entered when they signed up for your newsletter/mini course.
It should look something like this:

{!firstname_fix}, welcome to the widgets mini-course

or

{!firstname_fix}, part 1 of your 7 part mini course

You can chose however you want to welcome your new subscriber.

Now let’s get to the message itself.

First you want to address their name. People love being greeted by their name. It makes the email seem more personal, and not like a robot. So start out by saying.

Hi {!firstname_fix}, or Hey {!firstname_fix}:

However you want to greet them. It’s up to you. All you have to remember is to be yourself. Pretend that you’re writing an email to one of your friends.

Now you want to thank them for signing up for your newsletter, or minicourse and explain what it’s all about. After that you’ll want to explain what you are about, what your company is about or if it’s a mini-course the first part of it. There’s so many options to go with this.

It can be confusing and frustrating on what to write. What I discovered is to learn what successful email marketers write, and incorporate it into your writing. You might be asking yourself “How do I know which emails were successful, and which aren’t?” I know that because I was asking the same question.

So I did some research and discovered “Million Dollar Emails“. This ebook is the greatest investment in email marketing I have made. Especially for $19. It answers the fundamental question of “which emails are successful”. It even reveals the subscription rates, and clickthrough rates. So get reading, and soon enough writing emails to your list will be second nature.