The free gift that you give away to build your list... your follow up messages does it have to be relevant to the free gift? For example if I have an e-book or pdf on backlinks (as an example) your follow up messages does it have to be about backlinks and then promote an affiliate product in the sequence on backlinks? I would rather find out what they want/need and then build off that.. but I have been doing research on this and they say your follow-up messages should be relevant.. to what you gave them.. thoughts/advice/suggesstions?
Imagine yourself downloading an eBook about backlink building strategies as an example. If you're downloading that eBook you are probably already interested in the niche. Now if you saw an ad after downloading the eBook that you can get a software that can help you A LOT with building backlinks, wouldn't you be more excited to buy it if you were already interested in the subject? Having a targeted OTO does a lot better than just throwing in a random IM product or whatever you had in mind. Sure, you should always do split testing, but it's a proven strategy to make more money. I hope I provided some help. =)
Your follow up messages could be similar to what you gave your list in your free e-book. In one message you could talk about building backlinks, in another message you could teach your list where to post backlinks, or similar related topics to the one you are already talking in your free e-book. Imagine if somebody subscribe to your list for one year. What are you going to do in that year ? talk about backlinks throughout the year all the time. It would be boring for your list. You need to make your content sticky and interesting, you need to talk about different things related to that topic to become helpful to them in the future. You can send your list funny videos about anything you find interesting to keep your list happy about your content. I hope that helps a little bit.