How To Build a Responsive List
This is something I see approached a lot.
Some guru or whatever says, "first you need to create a list"
Well duh, right? You have to have an audience. But no one ever really explains how this is done from an intuitive perspective...or maybe they do and since I don't buy courses or books on the subject I look like an idiot for saying that!
RE-gardless, I wanted to address it for any newbies out there who are feeling a bit confursed and loost. Yes, I spell incorrectly at times on purspose.
Here is the secret you need to know to be successful on the Internet...or in any business actually...I can do this in 1 ******* word:
Trust
That's it folks.
Okay, there's obviously more to it than one word, because to truly be successful is a mutable word, it really varies from person to person. I may say I'm successful making $1,000 a day and you may say you're successful making $1,000,000 a day. Whatever. But to be successful, I mean you are doing what you love and able to keep doing it while enjoying the comfort of life, whatever that is to you.
To accomplish this, of course, it begins with not doing things you don't love doing or don't want to do.
I know a lot of critics will perk up at that and say, "hard work never hert arny woon. sometimes ya gotta shovvel thruuu shit ta git thairt goldern toooth"
Okay, I'm not saying you will refuse to do anything that you don't absolutely love...I don't love grocery shopping, but I love eating...so I eat out. Ha! No, seriously though, I do shop and don't love it.
So yes, there are things you do that are responsibilities and things you need to do for whatever reason, but maybe don't love doing them. But if you are not keeping your focus on what you love, then you can get stuck in ruts doing what you don't love more than what you love.
And even grocery shopping, one day I'll hire someone to do that for me. The more I do what I love, the more I'm rewarded for it, the more I am financially free to hand off things I don't love to others who may love that shit.
The point is, don't choose deliberately to begin a business or blog or youtube show, or whatever that isn't enjoyable for you to do. Don't go on youtube to get rich. If that's your goal, don't do it...go there because you have a passion for something you want to do a show about.
This is the quickest route to success...making choices based around what you love to do.
There are a million choices available to you every day, but every choice you make removes other choices, so only follow those that serve you. If you think the only way you can make $3,000 next month is by taking a job as a UPS driver, and you believe that, then that will limit all the opportunities flying around you to that one...and it will become your reality regardless if you truly love it or not.
Now, you know what you want and love to do. So just ******* do it.
And realize as you begin, that it may be 10 years before it really pays off big time. But here's another secret...10 years goes by fast.
And no one has ever said, "I really regret doing what I love for the past 10 years"
But I've heard a hell of a lot of people tell me "John, I really regret that I wasted so many years at that job/in that marriage/shoveling through shit to find a gold tooth <-- okay not that last one but you get the idea"
So, you must accept that success is not aware of your schedule or any rush you have on it. You must accept that time doesn't exist, it's man/woman-made. Einstein understood this. We create time.
But success, the ultimate place you see yourself, begins the moment you choose.
Next, whatever it is you are doing that expands from outside of yourself (I'm assuming the thing you chose involves others at some level...the versions that don't even do...we are all connected, so anything you love doing can be connected to others and that's how we exchange things like money), in other words the stuff you love doing that somehow helps or serves or benefits others, needs to make its way to others. That's what an email list is all about.
Why do people say build an email list? Because you own it.
You could build a huge YouTube or Instagram following, or even Udemy. But you won't own that list and worse, you don't own the account. You may wake up some day and it's gone. It literally happens and often for mistaken reasons.
So an email list is a way to have more control, the same way having your own domain/website does.
You can start building your list through another platform, so long as they have a way to get people to later get on an email list. I know Udemy doesn't, they frown on it and it's against their terms sadly. But you can redirect people from Instagram, YouTube and many other platforms to your own site and email signup.
The secret to building a good email list or any list, is trust. The way you build trust is the same online as in the real world.
We don't trust strangers, I wouldn't hand my money to a stranger for no good reason. If they gave me a reason to trust them...even a homeless guy...I'll be willing to pay. The homeless man may gain my trust by simply being very homeless, smelly, etc, and I believe his "story" and give something to help him out, money, a coffee, some food. So that's trust.
To build a following, you have to build trust.
Eventually, it will be easier to build trust for new signups or followers...because your present followers will do much of that trust building for you. Either by just being a follower and others see how many people are willing to follow you, or by comments and engagement and others want in on that conversation, etc.
But it is truly all about trust.
This is why you won't become wealthy overnight doing what you love. You can't build that level of trust that fast without some absurd outside influence helping you out.
Building an email or any following list isn't just about the person signing up. Trust begins there, but then keeps being developed over time.
When someone signs up, what next?
Engagement. You MUST engage regularly and consistently.
This also develops trust. Followers or subscribers see they made a good choice because you engage them right away, and keep giving them consistent whatever.
On social media that's doing regular and conssitent posts...videos, etc. For example, on YouTube, to be successful you build trust. You do this very simply by consistently posting videos according to some parameters people can rely on knowing will always be true. Timing, content type, attitude on camera, etc.
It's only after developing trust and a long standing relationship with your following or email list that you should step outside the parameters for any reason.
For example, if the second email I get from someone saying they are going to send me free business tips daily, is a pitch for a product, I'm out.
They broke my trust. But if they pitch me after a few weeks of great consistent content, I'm not leaving...unless the pitch somehow is too far outside the parameters of who I have come to know them as...again, trust and a relationship.
Marketing is not complex. It's simply, and guys who make money over-complicating it hate this sort of thing...but it's simply relationships. That's it!
If you have ever managed to have a positive relationship with anyone, you can do incredible marketing. Just remember, every number on your screen, every signup, is a real human (hopefully unless you bought cheap traffic or bought follows or use a bot to get follows) and deserves to be treated as if they were standing in person, right in front of you and you were accountable directly to how you treated each other.
That is marketing in a nutshell...trust and the developing of relationships.
A quick sidenote...Click Baiting. This friggen enrages me. And it's a good way to destroy trust. So as you develop your list or following, never click bait them. Yes, you want that email opened, or that post read, or whatever, but never mislead someone just to get them to open the email.
Even if they don't consciously think about it, they will trust you less.
Really anything misleading that is being used to gimmick your way into a relationship faster than is natural, is going to only hurt you in the long run.
Like my local grocery store moves shit around alot. And it friggin frustrates the hell out of me. They do this as a gimmick to make me see things I may have not seen if I visit the same aisles every time...well it works, I see shit I don't want to see where I expected my organic beans to be...and then I think, "why do I shop here, this is so annoying, I could probably do all my shopping at Whole Foods around the corner, yeah that's what I'll do, this is so frustrating"
They broke my trust in an attempt to get more sales out of me.
Trust is probably the most underrated and least practiced trait. But it will bring you success if you apply it consistently.
And that's it, that's how you build that list that is "killer" and has high conversions on actions you do eventually pitch.
A few side notes: I'm not saying that you should never pitch anything in any email right off the bat...for example on Youtube it's common at the end of a video to pitch viewers to like the video. At the end of your email a pitch may be to visit your site for more great and similar content and articles, where they happen to see your sales pitches.
This is of course a very limited and short blurb on the subject...but I wanted to share as much as I can write today without feeling overly exhausted from trying to funnel all my experience into a post! :0 No but seriously, sometimes I hate writing this sort of stuff because I really do want to give as much as possible and I can't remember some of the crucial points I was thinking of making in the shower and really I could write a book about this but don't really have the desire to (do what you love) but still want to help as many new marketers as possible...and yes, that's a big ******* runon sentence.
Last note, if you are new or simply lost, just try to stop buying all the WSOs out there or all the books and breathe for a minute and realize most of the stuff sold to new marketers like you is not sold by experts or experienced people, because if they were spending their time doing what they say works so well they wouldn't have time or really a good reason to put together elaborate sales funnels for you to be sucked up into...but just take a moment and breathe and here's the clarity: To be a success as an internet marketer will take a long time, focused effort, committment and consistency, the building of trust and relationships and a love for what you're doing...and you'll find yourself saying "I'm going to DO this" rather than "TRY this".
Good luck everyone! Much love and peace from a poet/consultant who's on your side.
Namaste
Some guru or whatever says, "first you need to create a list"
Well duh, right? You have to have an audience. But no one ever really explains how this is done from an intuitive perspective...or maybe they do and since I don't buy courses or books on the subject I look like an idiot for saying that!
RE-gardless, I wanted to address it for any newbies out there who are feeling a bit confursed and loost. Yes, I spell incorrectly at times on purspose.
Here is the secret you need to know to be successful on the Internet...or in any business actually...I can do this in 1 ******* word:
Trust
That's it folks.
Okay, there's obviously more to it than one word, because to truly be successful is a mutable word, it really varies from person to person. I may say I'm successful making $1,000 a day and you may say you're successful making $1,000,000 a day. Whatever. But to be successful, I mean you are doing what you love and able to keep doing it while enjoying the comfort of life, whatever that is to you.
To accomplish this, of course, it begins with not doing things you don't love doing or don't want to do.
I know a lot of critics will perk up at that and say, "hard work never hert arny woon. sometimes ya gotta shovvel thruuu shit ta git thairt goldern toooth"
Okay, I'm not saying you will refuse to do anything that you don't absolutely love...I don't love grocery shopping, but I love eating...so I eat out. Ha! No, seriously though, I do shop and don't love it.
So yes, there are things you do that are responsibilities and things you need to do for whatever reason, but maybe don't love doing them. But if you are not keeping your focus on what you love, then you can get stuck in ruts doing what you don't love more than what you love.
And even grocery shopping, one day I'll hire someone to do that for me. The more I do what I love, the more I'm rewarded for it, the more I am financially free to hand off things I don't love to others who may love that shit.
The point is, don't choose deliberately to begin a business or blog or youtube show, or whatever that isn't enjoyable for you to do. Don't go on youtube to get rich. If that's your goal, don't do it...go there because you have a passion for something you want to do a show about.
This is the quickest route to success...making choices based around what you love to do.
There are a million choices available to you every day, but every choice you make removes other choices, so only follow those that serve you. If you think the only way you can make $3,000 next month is by taking a job as a UPS driver, and you believe that, then that will limit all the opportunities flying around you to that one...and it will become your reality regardless if you truly love it or not.
Now, you know what you want and love to do. So just ******* do it.
And realize as you begin, that it may be 10 years before it really pays off big time. But here's another secret...10 years goes by fast.
And no one has ever said, "I really regret doing what I love for the past 10 years"
But I've heard a hell of a lot of people tell me "John, I really regret that I wasted so many years at that job/in that marriage/shoveling through shit to find a gold tooth <-- okay not that last one but you get the idea"
So, you must accept that success is not aware of your schedule or any rush you have on it. You must accept that time doesn't exist, it's man/woman-made. Einstein understood this. We create time.
But success, the ultimate place you see yourself, begins the moment you choose.
Next, whatever it is you are doing that expands from outside of yourself (I'm assuming the thing you chose involves others at some level...the versions that don't even do...we are all connected, so anything you love doing can be connected to others and that's how we exchange things like money), in other words the stuff you love doing that somehow helps or serves or benefits others, needs to make its way to others. That's what an email list is all about.
Why do people say build an email list? Because you own it.
You could build a huge YouTube or Instagram following, or even Udemy. But you won't own that list and worse, you don't own the account. You may wake up some day and it's gone. It literally happens and often for mistaken reasons.
So an email list is a way to have more control, the same way having your own domain/website does.
You can start building your list through another platform, so long as they have a way to get people to later get on an email list. I know Udemy doesn't, they frown on it and it's against their terms sadly. But you can redirect people from Instagram, YouTube and many other platforms to your own site and email signup.
The secret to building a good email list or any list, is trust. The way you build trust is the same online as in the real world.
We don't trust strangers, I wouldn't hand my money to a stranger for no good reason. If they gave me a reason to trust them...even a homeless guy...I'll be willing to pay. The homeless man may gain my trust by simply being very homeless, smelly, etc, and I believe his "story" and give something to help him out, money, a coffee, some food. So that's trust.
To build a following, you have to build trust.
Eventually, it will be easier to build trust for new signups or followers...because your present followers will do much of that trust building for you. Either by just being a follower and others see how many people are willing to follow you, or by comments and engagement and others want in on that conversation, etc.
But it is truly all about trust.
This is why you won't become wealthy overnight doing what you love. You can't build that level of trust that fast without some absurd outside influence helping you out.
Building an email or any following list isn't just about the person signing up. Trust begins there, but then keeps being developed over time.
When someone signs up, what next?
Engagement. You MUST engage regularly and consistently.
This also develops trust. Followers or subscribers see they made a good choice because you engage them right away, and keep giving them consistent whatever.
On social media that's doing regular and conssitent posts...videos, etc. For example, on YouTube, to be successful you build trust. You do this very simply by consistently posting videos according to some parameters people can rely on knowing will always be true. Timing, content type, attitude on camera, etc.
It's only after developing trust and a long standing relationship with your following or email list that you should step outside the parameters for any reason.
For example, if the second email I get from someone saying they are going to send me free business tips daily, is a pitch for a product, I'm out.
They broke my trust. But if they pitch me after a few weeks of great consistent content, I'm not leaving...unless the pitch somehow is too far outside the parameters of who I have come to know them as...again, trust and a relationship.
Marketing is not complex. It's simply, and guys who make money over-complicating it hate this sort of thing...but it's simply relationships. That's it!
If you have ever managed to have a positive relationship with anyone, you can do incredible marketing. Just remember, every number on your screen, every signup, is a real human (hopefully unless you bought cheap traffic or bought follows or use a bot to get follows) and deserves to be treated as if they were standing in person, right in front of you and you were accountable directly to how you treated each other.
That is marketing in a nutshell...trust and the developing of relationships.
A quick sidenote...Click Baiting. This friggen enrages me. And it's a good way to destroy trust. So as you develop your list or following, never click bait them. Yes, you want that email opened, or that post read, or whatever, but never mislead someone just to get them to open the email.
Even if they don't consciously think about it, they will trust you less.
Really anything misleading that is being used to gimmick your way into a relationship faster than is natural, is going to only hurt you in the long run.
Like my local grocery store moves shit around alot. And it friggin frustrates the hell out of me. They do this as a gimmick to make me see things I may have not seen if I visit the same aisles every time...well it works, I see shit I don't want to see where I expected my organic beans to be...and then I think, "why do I shop here, this is so annoying, I could probably do all my shopping at Whole Foods around the corner, yeah that's what I'll do, this is so frustrating"
They broke my trust in an attempt to get more sales out of me.
Trust is probably the most underrated and least practiced trait. But it will bring you success if you apply it consistently.
And that's it, that's how you build that list that is "killer" and has high conversions on actions you do eventually pitch.
A few side notes: I'm not saying that you should never pitch anything in any email right off the bat...for example on Youtube it's common at the end of a video to pitch viewers to like the video. At the end of your email a pitch may be to visit your site for more great and similar content and articles, where they happen to see your sales pitches.
This is of course a very limited and short blurb on the subject...but I wanted to share as much as I can write today without feeling overly exhausted from trying to funnel all my experience into a post! :0 No but seriously, sometimes I hate writing this sort of stuff because I really do want to give as much as possible and I can't remember some of the crucial points I was thinking of making in the shower and really I could write a book about this but don't really have the desire to (do what you love) but still want to help as many new marketers as possible...and yes, that's a big ******* runon sentence.
Last note, if you are new or simply lost, just try to stop buying all the WSOs out there or all the books and breathe for a minute and realize most of the stuff sold to new marketers like you is not sold by experts or experienced people, because if they were spending their time doing what they say works so well they wouldn't have time or really a good reason to put together elaborate sales funnels for you to be sucked up into...but just take a moment and breathe and here's the clarity: To be a success as an internet marketer will take a long time, focused effort, committment and consistency, the building of trust and relationships and a love for what you're doing...and you'll find yourself saying "I'm going to DO this" rather than "TRY this".
Good luck everyone! Much love and peace from a poet/consultant who's on your side.
Namaste
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SethTheUBotGuy -
Thanks
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silveroaks -
Thanks
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