The Money Is In The List…

July 7th, 2008 | Building Your Business, internet marketing, list building

There’s no doubt that somewhere along the way you’ve heard someone say, “The money is in the list.” Am I right? And today might be the day when you have finally come to realize that you need an opt-in list. So you started your pursuit by reading articles, did a little online searching, and maybe you have even been reading posts on your favorite forum. But maybe you’re not brand new to list building, maybe you started 6 months ago, 12 months ago maybe even a few years ago and you are paying monthly for that online account, but you’re just not satisfied with the results that you’re getting from your opt-in list.

Today’s blog post will address both of these things. You can accept this fact as truth: people have made small fortunes with their opt-in lists. And finally today you are probably in a place, in your heart and mind, where you’re ready to dedicate some of your time, money and resources to growing your own opt-in list.

It might be said that your list is the most important marketing tool, and whether that’s true or not - if you don’t have one you are not achieving anywhere near your income potential.

While a large list of subscribers is important, the quality of that list is even more important. Your emails need to be opened, read and hopefully links are clicked on. The best way to achieve this result is to begin with that end goal in mind. You want your customers to trust you and your products, so begin by writing articles in your area of expertise. Post them not only in forums, but article directory sites. This is the beginning phase of building credibility, your online identity and your brand.

Always link back to your site, so the readers are able to see what your online business is all about, and what products you are offering. Even if you’re promoting other’s products, it’s truly hard for someone to trust and believe your recommendation if they haven’t first developed a relationship with you - that’s your goal and purpose.

The next thing is to keep a common theme in the material that you send to your list. For example, if you are building a list of pet owners there’s likely no point in mailing out an offer for a new weight loss product. Since it will just confuse your readers. Keep your e-courses, product offers and other material to a common thread or theme. Again, you are building rapport and credibility with your subscribers. Third is to keep in touch with those on your list. In the past I built lists, and many months would go by between mailings. So, when I finally did launch a new product and sent a mailing to my list, it was ineffective. Why? They didn’t remember who I was. Now how often you should mail your list will vary. Personally, I think that daily is just a bit too frequent, but I also subscribe to lists that the sender mails his subscribers, typically, twice daily.

The final point today is to make sure that when you build this list, you are using a reliable online service. The small monthly fee is very worthwhile, and you will be able to make that back in profits many times over.

I use and highly recommend AWeber. They are known for having top notch email deliverability as well as excellent customer support, which are both very important. If you don’t have an autoresponder yet or you aren’t pleased with your current one, you can click here to learn more about AWeber:
http://www.gettingstartedonlinefast.com/recommends/bestautoresponder

Just remember, it’s never too late to start focusing some of your resources on building your opt-in list. So why not start today?