How did you started to build your list?

25 replies
Hey folks,

I thought it would be awesome (and helpful to newbies) to hear how you got started with your first email list?

There are many ways to get subscribers to your list but in the beginning it can be kinda hard and I guess there are people who like to know what options there are.

For example, my first 200 subscribers came from traffic exchanges (Lots of clicking tho) and from that I´ve built my list(s) using giveaways, articles, affiliates and ad swaps...

How did you start?

-Lauri
#build #list #started
  • Profile picture of the author winebuddy
    several optimized landing pages with optin forms with traffic driven to them from Adwords. Over 200 subscribers a week. Cost a little money to get it going but the sales just keep on coming.
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    • Profile picture of the author jbsmith
      Same general approach, always tweaking and improving to increase results:

      1. Target a niche - operating a general website will be tougher to offer the value that is required to insent people to opt-in

      2. Give them something they MUST have...what is the biggest desire or outcome desired by your market? What do they want most? What questions stand in their way or frustrate them? You want to target this desire with an answer to their biggest question. This could be a report, ecourse, teleconference, video, audio interview, etc...the key is that it will get them further toward their desired outcome.

      3. Setup a landing page (could be a forced squeeze page, or it could be a combined content with strong call to action landing page) where your main focus is to give value in return for opt-in

      4. Study the keyword phrases that relate most to your target market IN RELATION to the value you have to give them.

      5. Generate traffic through a combination of content development (write and submit articles, blogging, Squidoo, social networking, etc...) and paid advertising (PPC and and/or banners)

      6. Study your results carefully. Which keywords are leading to clickthroughs to your landing page and result in conversions (opt-in's to your list)? What is the overall conversion of your landing page? Lots of traffic to your landing page means your traffic generation is working, but your landing page copy must be improved. Little traffic to you landing page means you need to do a better job of targeting keywords, generating content or targeting ads.

      Do not ignore the value in #6 - many people I've worked with start off extremely slow, but those that stick with it and improve can see ongoing (and sometimes dramatic) improvement in 2-4 weeks.

      The good news, of course, is that once you have the system in place it can largely run on autopilot.

      Finally, if/once you have your own product to promote you can spread your traffic generation out into an affiliate base which can really ramp up both your list building and revenues.

      Hope this helps,
      Jeff
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      • Profile picture of the author cdtboxhdr
        I created a value-added free report - then I sent my blog readers the report for their sign up in exchange. Has worked very well so far.
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  • Profile picture of the author JEL0221
    I am actually in the process of building my list. My approach is building a wordpress blog with new informative entries(futures and options trading niche) every 2 days or so, then submitting articles and press releases driving them to my blog.

    In the blog on the side of every page will have a sign-up for: 1. free e-book 2. 2-week demo to our trading platforms 3. free weekly newsletter on futures trading.

    I do not have an online product...I am of futures broker so I plan to have this as one of my main client prospecting avenues.
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  • Profile picture of the author WinsonYeung
    Just like you, I started my first list building through free giveaway event.
    I wonder if there's a list of upcoming giveaway event where I can take part in...
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    • Profile picture of the author LauriNiskasaari
      Originally Posted by WinsonYeung View Post

      Just like you, I started my first list building through free giveaway event.
      I wonder if there's a list of upcoming giveaway event where I can take part in...
      Yeah, there`s a good listing at New JV Giveaway Events

      -Lauri
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  • Profile picture of the author michellegreen
    1. I set up a blog with an opt in form for a free ecourse.

    2. Set up two or three other blogs pointing to the main one.

    3. Posted articles on the main blog every day.

    4. Summarised the main blog's article topics each day with a link to the main blog.

    5. Submitted articles to article directories each day, with links pointing back to the main blog.
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  • Profile picture of the author AndyM121
    I only started list building a couple of months ago. I was part of a coaching program that advocated giveaways as a good place to start.

    I made myself a product and a squeeze page and I got stuck into the giveaways. Once I reached 200 subscribers I got straight into adswapping. This has resulted in me reaching over 900 subscribers in a very short space of time.

    I have a few other list building methods including opt-ins on my blog, articles etc but ad swaps are BY FAR the quickest way of growing. And, of course, everything takes longer to start. When you swap at 200 subscribers and get 5% conversions you only get 10 new subs a day but at 2000 subscribers you would get 100 a day.

    Plus you have the added bonus of meeting other marketers and making some great contacts!

    Andy
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve Peters Benn
    Heya, for my first ever business, I didn't even have a list. I sold shareware, and the idea of a list was completely foreign to me. This was back in the mid to late nineties. It was during my 'free ipod' days that I began building lists. I started by flyering student areas and getting them to sign up.

    I wouldn't do it the same now, but it worked pretty well for me back then and got me a list of a few thousand eventually.
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  • Profile picture of the author Roy Carter
    It's more important to think about the quality of the list you are building. For example, Giveaways may build you a big list but do you really want a big list of freebie seekers?
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    • Profile picture of the author LauriNiskasaari
      Originally Posted by Roy Carter View Post

      It's more important to think about the quality of the list you are building. For example, Giveaways may build you a big list but do you really want a big list of freebie seekers?
      In my opinion, if you provide lots of value to folks on your list and you help them make money, they will trust you and become buyers...

      Subscribers from giveaways also seem to buy low-ticket items + upsells pretty easily.
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  • Profile picture of the author KristiDaniels
    The question is the same question as the "how do I get traffic" question often discussed on these pages.

    Subscribers come from subscription forms.

    You send traffic to the page with the subscription form. That traffic can be from Adwords, article marketing, buying ads in ezines, forum marketing, blog commenting, video marketing, building links or any of the other methods of getting traffic discussed on these pages.

    There is nothing different about building a list than just getting traffic to the page with the subscription form and improving the subscription conversion rate on that page.
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  • Profile picture of the author AffiliateAdshare
    Provide an area for Optin forms on EVERY landing page or article. Write articles, submit them to article directories with your optin form. Pique your user/readers with something of interest. Something they look forward to reviewing or receiving. The list goes on and on for list development methods. And...

    Generally sending a regular newsletter or special offers to potential subscribers will entice them to sign up and respond to your mailing efforts. Because if you develop an email list and make no use of it by only sending infrequent emails such as once every 2 months, then you for sure will lose interest and attention from your subscribers and your list value will diminish. Also increasing your list value will be to require subscribers to double opt in your your newsletter or subscriptions.
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  • Profile picture of the author MoneyRaker
    For me the best way to List building is by producing a great IM Report - then getting a killer mini page designed by a professional - remember the opt in page needs to look great - because thats all what the viewers are going to c - Its should be even better than ur product (report)

    Then simply drive lots of traffic from my Blog, Article marketing and Guest Posting (Biggie). However the fastest way has been by using cheap paid traffic - like PTC traffic.

    Just my 2 cents
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  • Profile picture of the author petelta
    I've found HUGE success the past couple weeks with posting on forums related to the niche. I have 4 niche sites with 4 different newsletters. I post at least 5 quality posts on forums related to each of the niches every day with a link to my free give away in my signature. I'm averaging 20 sign ups a day right now per newsletter. I just started these newsletters a couple weeks ago to.
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  • Profile picture of the author topcash
    Giveaways and getting the traffic from article directories, works great.
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  • Profile picture of the author Social Espionage
    It seems clear the free give-away and good Squeeze page wins. I agree with jbsmith. But traffic is the key here.
    Do you have money to pay for, and the skills to do Adwords? Do you have SEO skills to get you to dominate the first page of Google.
    If none of the above then articles and Social Media will get you traffic. Not just the paltforms like Facebook and Twitter, but 2.0 properties where you can build your own sites and a community along with them, like Squidoo and Hubpages.
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  • Profile picture of the author mrozlat
    seo'd landing page such as: Residual Income Business Opportunity

    then have some articles for traffic, mainly on ezine and scribd

    some twitter action for instant buzz

    then rinse and repeat for other keywords and keep link building for harder keywords with more traffic

    i always try and optimize each landing page for 3 keywords to get ranked for
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      Originally Posted by petelta View Post

      I've found HUGE success the past couple weeks with posting on forums related to the niche. I have 4 niche sites with 4 different newsletters. I post at least 5 quality posts on forums related to each of the niches every day with a link to my free give away in my signature. I'm averaging 20 sign ups a day right now per newsletter. I just started these newsletters a couple weeks ago to.
      Funny, that's how I built my first real list over ten years ago. 100% from participating on related forums and email discussion lists, via sig line.

      That was actually my second list. The first one was built scraping addresses from Usenet newsgroups. Got toasted pretty good on that deal...

      It's nice to see the old-school stuff still works.
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      • Profile picture of the author petelta
        Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

        Funny, that's how I built my first real list over ten years ago. 100% from participating on related forums and email discussion lists, via sig line.

        That was actually my second list. The first one was built scraping addresses from Usenet newsgroups. Got toasted pretty good on that deal...

        It's nice to see the old-school stuff still works.
        How was the conversion rate on sales with building a group this way? I feel like I'm building a good relationship with people on these forums. I just hope they turn into buyers when I promote a product.
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        • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
          Originally Posted by petelta View Post

          How was the conversion rate on sales with building a group this way? I feel like I'm building a good relationship with people on these forums. I just hope they turn into buyers when I promote a product.
          That's a whole different story. I'll admit, I mishandled the list. I let my ego get in the way of making sales.

          I got lots of feedback telling me how smart I was and how much they appreciated the content I was sending. So I kept sending it. Then, when I did send a promotion, the fertilizer hit the fan. I lost a chunk of the list, while others accused me of selling out and tricking them into trusting me so I could sell them stuff.

          After a few more attempts, I just got burned out and let it go.

          I'm not faulting those list members (newsletter subscribers). They were paying me with the currency I taught them I wanted. When I tried to change the currency, they balked. My bad, not theirs.

          If I had it to do over again, I'd have been making offers from the very beginning. Even if it was just a low key PS (Hey, fellow list member Joe X has a new product at link. If you want to learn Y, you might want to check it out.)

          It's all about setting the expectations and then being consistent with them.
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          • Profile picture of the author Silas Hart
            I sell a "How to become a Powerseller" eBook on eBay. By someone buying it tells me they are interested in investing into themselves, and want to make money online. I throw a couple small affiliate offers, some suggestions and advice, send them some of my YouTube videos, etc. - Thats how I built my list. I even made a couple cents off each person just "joining my list" too.
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          • Profile picture of the author petelta
            Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

            That's a whole different story. I'll admit, I mishandled the list. I let my ego get in the way of making sales.

            I got lots of feedback telling me how smart I was and how much they appreciated the content I was sending. So I kept sending it. Then, when I did send a promotion, the fertilizer hit the fan. I lost a chunk of the list, while others accused me of selling out and tricking them into trusting me so I could sell them stuff.

            After a few more attempts, I just got burned out and let it go.

            I'm not faulting those list members (newsletter subscribers). They were paying me with the currency I taught them I wanted. When I tried to change the currency, they balked. My bad, not theirs.

            If I had it to do over again, I'd have been making offers from the very beginning. Even if it was just a low key PS (Hey, fellow list member Joe X has a new product at link. If you want to learn Y, you might want to check it out.)

            It's all about setting the expectations and then being consistent with them.
            Yea, in my email sequence, I do 10-15 emails with good content then send my first offer which will be a CPA free email submit product, just to get them used to idea of me promoting something. My first product promotion is a supplement and I start talking about the benefits of supplements at around email 8. So I hope Im preparing them to be buyers.
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  • Profile picture of the author JAIDEEP2959
    I started list building last year by participating in a giveaway events.

    I generated around 300 members but could not make over 10 sales from them as they were freebie seekers.
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