The Most Powerful Way to Build Your List

8 replies
Let's face it; list building will always be a hot topic in the Internet marketing world. We have always been told how the money lies in the list and how it's the biggest asset.

However, when it comes down to actually building the list, you get the same old advice: give away free stuff such as ebooks, reports, audio, video, etc. While this model really works if done effectively, not many are able to pull it off successfully, especially if you're just starting out. Besides that, it's increasingly becoming difficult to stand out of the competition even when you're giving away stuff at no cost.

I'd like to share with you a list building method that is extremely powerful if done right. It's nothing new, but many Internet marketers have trained themselves to think small, which is why they wouldn't think of doing this. I'm talking about:

"Starting and running a valueable free/paid software as a service (SaaS) targeted towards your niche that gets people to sign up to use it."

I bet you were expecting something out of this world. But this IS what all the major companies have been doing! What's Facebook? It's a social networking service. What's Twitter? Again, it's a service that lets you connect with others socially and share. What's Gmail? It's a service that lets you send and receive email.

I can literally give you hundreds of thousands of examples of big and small services that are being run in various niche markets.

You can actually look around for software tools in your niche and see if you can do the same by converting them into a service! The service you run doesn't have to be too huge, it could be solving a simple problem and still attract a lot of attention.

The bottom line is: Email list building is all about delivering value to your subscribers, and there's no better way to do it than provide them with a service that fulfills their certain need or want.

You'll be delivering value to them hands free whenever they use your service. And the best part is, if they really find your service useful, they'll recommend it to their friends, blog about it, spread the word on social networks. The sky is the limit!

You can read and learn more about SaaS here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_as_a_service
http://www.wikinvest.com/concept/Software_as_a_Service
http://searchcloudcomputing.techtarg...170781,00.html
#build #list #powerful
  • Profile picture of the author MichaelAppleton
    Great post Mustafa, a nice twist on the normal give away of an eBook or something similar. Thats what internet marketing is all about right? Taking an idea and making it your own?

    Thanks for sharing
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  • Profile picture of the author moneyphul
    by the word "service", i am guessing you are implying some web application or software service??
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    • Profile picture of the author xohaibx
      Originally Posted by moneyphul View Post

      by the word "service", i am guessing you are implying some web application or software service??
      Yes, I'm referring to Software as a Service (SaaS) ... Just edited the post
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  • Profile picture of the author scortillion
    Do you do this yourself Mustafa? If so what is your site? I'd like to check it out if you don't mind.
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    • Profile picture of the author xohaibx
      Originally Posted by scortillion View Post

      Do you do this yourself Mustafa? If so what is your site? I'd like to check it out if you don't mind.
      Yes, I'm doing this in a completely non-IM niche, and it's working out great. Although I won't be able to give away my site's name
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  • Profile picture of the author Amanda Craven
    You've got me thinking, Mustafa - the key factor, of course, is offering a service that your particular niche will fall over themselves to sign up for...

    I like the way you suggest a more lateral approach than the typical ebook/report offering and I have started to explore that with multimedia giveaways. Expanding that to a truly valuable online service is the next logical step and a very exciting one.

    Hmmm...I'm going to be brainstorming all afternoon!
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  • Profile picture of the author Andy Medlam
    Interesting post. I would be interested in seeing your service you offer in the none IM-niche...

    You could PM me with URL: if you wish?

    -Andy
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    • Profile picture of the author xohaibx
      Originally Posted by Andy Medlam View Post

      Interesting post. I would be interested in seeing your service you offer in the none IM-niche...

      You could PM me with URL: if you wish?

      -Andy
      I'd love to share it, but I'm not the only one involved in it, so can't really disclose it
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