First of all, don’t make it difficult for visitors to your blog to figure out how to opt in to your blog.

It’s not an uncommon scenario: Business bloggers get so caught up in the grind of churning out quality content on a regular basis, they tend to forget about some of the other fundamental factors that contribute to a successful blog. One of these factors is a growing subscriber base. You know, those dedicated blog readers that keep coming back to your blog on a regular basis? The people who consistently read and share your content with their networks?

Now that we’ve covered how it technically works, let’s talk about a few strategy errors that could cause it to backfire in your marketing.

One of these factors is a growing subscriber base. You know, those dedicated blog readers that keep coming back to your blog on a regular basis? The people who consistently read and share your content with their networks?

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In the Harris Interactive/Janrain survey mentioned above, nearly 60% of respondents reported that they would be happy to give their personal information on a website if the data they provided would be used responsibly and for their own benefit. That decision of providing information should sit squarely with the website visitor. While things like geographic customization are possible by using an anonymous IP address, efforts to personalize prior to a form conversion or other opt-in by the user can be both error-prone and arguably a violation of the tenets of permission-based marketing.