LIST BUILDING FOR ROOKIES...

13 replies
I've been doing Internet Marketing for the last few yrs. I've managed to make some money at it, but I feel that I'm still NOT really getting anywhere. At times I often feel like just giving up becuase of my lack of success that I've gotten out of the effort that I've put in.

Could you help me out please & answer the following questions:

1- What are the first few steps in building a quality list?

2- How should I go about finding email leads or what is the most effective strategy I should implement in capturing them?

3- I don't know if I should start spending money with Aweber because I'm afraid that I will not know exact how to build a list. Is there any free way of building a list that I can market to or do you think that Aweber would be my best bet?


I would really appreciate you help or any advice that you could give. Thanks...
#building #list #rookies
  • Profile picture of the author wordpressmania
    Try Mailchimp... it is free for the beginners. you can upgrade he membership level later.....
    Hope this helps...
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    • Profile picture of the author James Campbell
      Originally Posted by wordpressmania View Post

      Try Mailchimp... it is free for the beginners. you can upgrade he membership level later.....
      Hope this helps...
      If you want to do ANY affiliate marketing to your list, mailchimp is NOT an option. Heck, even if you want to promote your blog and have affiliate offers on it they may shut you down (yes it has happened).

      Hopefully, one day, people will STOP RECOMMENDING MAILCHIMP for anyone wanting to engage in typical IM activities.
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    • Profile picture of the author Nubitol
      Mailchimp is a big NO for affiliate marketers. It's stated in their TOS.


      Originally Posted by wordpressmania View Post

      Try Mailchimp... it is free for the beginners. you can upgrade he membership level later.....
      Hope this helps...
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6796532].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Shaun OReilly
    Originally Posted by MarketingAce View Post

    1- What are the first few steps in building a quality list?
    a) Choose a hot market
    b) Find out what they are already BUYING
    c) Create a free gift to give away
    d) Set-up a squeeze page to give away your gift and build your list
    e) Create a follow-up process that gives good content and related offers

    If you're just getting started, then you could use affiliate
    offers so that you can learn what sells and not have to go
    through the hassle of creating the product or fulfilling the
    product, etc.
    Originally Posted by MarketingAce View Post

    2- How should I go about finding email leads or what is the most effective strategy I should implement in capturing them?
    That depends upon your target market.

    Where do your niche hang out online?
    Originally Posted by MarketingAce View Post

    3- I don't know if I should start spending money with Aweber because I'm afraid that I will not know exact how to build a list. Is there any free way of building a list that I can market to or do you think that Aweber would be my best bet?
    You can get a $1 free trial of AWeber for 30-days.

    If you go with a free option and your list takes off,
    you'll then be faced with the problem of having to
    import a list into a paid provider like AWeber.

    Good luck.

    Dedicated to mutual success,

    Shaun
    Signature

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  • Profile picture of the author paul nicholls
    firstly don`t punish yourself or feel like you should know more about it

    list building is very powerful and is the back bone of many peoples businesses online however, the same as anything it does take time to learn

    first thing you need to do is create a good quality free report, video series or course

    the most important part of building a list is what you give away for free

    if its complete garbage then you will be the guy that is known for giving away garbage (you don`t want to be one of these people)

    once you have created a good free product to build your list with start to market your squeze page

    while your building your list up using free traffic and maybe some paid traffic if you really want to, then you can be creating a product which is a kind of an upgrade from your free offer which you then sell

    while your creating your paid product, include an email in your follow up series where people can join your pre launch list for when your product goes live (even if its in a couple of months)

    pre launch lists are awesome and i often see 20 - 40% conversions from pre launch lists

    once you release your product, you already have a good list that are interested in your product

    you can either create a little wso around it or add your product to clickbank and digi results
    so you wil then be able to pick up affiliates that will then drive you more sales and buyers

    this is exactly what i did when i first started and once you build some momentum it gets easier to then build more mometum and so on and so forth

    hope this gives you a few ideas, it really is not difficult but you do need to put the work in at the start to get things moving, no one is going to do it for you

    paul
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  • Profile picture of the author MarketingAce
    You guys keep saying to build your list by giving free stuff away, but where do I give the free stuff away? You say it depends on where they hang out, but everyone has a Facebook, Youtube, Twitter account these days. Should I start gather prospects from there? If so, what are some exact examples you guys use? No offense, but simply telling someone to "build a list by giving away free stuff!" is very insufficient. Could you be more specific or elaborate with some examples of the exact places you go to & how you setup the squeeze pages please? Thanks...
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    • Profile picture of the author Shaun OReilly
      Have you taken the first step of deciding on your target
      market yet?

      Can you describe your ideal prospect with accuracy?

      Until you do these first steps, it's hard to give more
      specific and useful advice.

      YOU need to be more specific.

      Your market is not everyone.

      Take things logically, step-by-step and do step one first.

      Dedicated to mutual success,

      Shaun
      Signature

      .

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      • Profile picture of the author MarketingAce
        Hey Shaun,

        Actually to tell you the truth, I have quite a few ideas that I'm interested in. Here are a few to be exact:

        1- Internet Marketing (of course)
        2- Music production and selling digital sounds to music producers.
        3- I just recently created a Youtube SEO Software product that is currently making my videos rank to the top of both Google & Youtube with ease. I am a decent coder so I made my own Internet Marketing Tools & I know that my Youtube SEO tool is awesome. I know that I just need to get it marketed properly though.
        4- Affiliate marketing (of course)

        I just need some effective examples of setting up squeeze pages and building lists. I can definitely create info products & give them away for free if necessary.

        Thanks again for any advice...

        p.s. btw Shaun, I know that my market isn't everyone, but you also have to understand that Facebook has every niche on there because everyone has a fb account nowdays.


        Originally Posted by paul nicholls View Post

        firstly don`t punish yourself or feel like you should know more about it

        list building is very powerful and is the back bone of many peoples businesses online however, the same as anything it does take time to learn

        first thing you need to do is create a good quality free report, video series or course

        the most important part of building a list is what you give away for free

        if its complete garbage then you will be the guy that is known for giving away garbage (you don`t want to be one of these people)

        once you have created a good free product to build your list with start to market your squeze page

        while your building your list up using free traffic and maybe some paid traffic if you really want to, then you can be creating a product which is a kind of an upgrade from your free offer which you then sell

        while your creating your paid product, include an email in your follow up series where people can join your pre launch list for when your product goes live (even if its in a couple of months)

        pre launch lists are awesome and i often see 20 - 40% conversions from pre launch lists

        once you release your product, you already have a good list that are interested in your product

        you can either create a little wso around it or add your product to clickbank and digi results
        so you wil then be able to pick up affiliates that will then drive you more sales and buyers

        this is exactly what i did when i first started and once you build some momentum it gets easier to then build more mometum and so on and so forth

        hope this gives you a few ideas, it really is not difficult but you do need to put the work in at the start to get things moving, no one is going to do it for you

        paul
        Originally Posted by James Campbell View Post

        If you want to do ANY affiliate marketing to your list, mailchimp is NOT an option. Heck, even if you want to promote your blog and have affiliate offers on it they may shut you down (yes it has happened).

        Hopefully, one day, people will STOP RECOMMENDING MAILCHIMP for anyone wanting to engage in typical IM activities.
        Originally Posted by Shaun OReilly View Post

        a) Choose a hot market
        b) Find out what they are already BUYING
        c) Create a free gift to give away
        d) Set-up a squeeze page to give away your gift and build your list
        e) Create a follow-up process that gives good content and related offers

        If you're just getting started, then you could use affiliate
        offers so that you can learn what sells and not have to go
        through the hassle of creating the product or fulfilling the
        product, etc.

        That depends upon your target market.

        Where do your niche hang out online?

        You can get a $1 free trial of AWeber for 30-days.

        If you go with a free option and your list takes off,
        you'll then be faced with the problem of having to
        import a list into a paid provider like AWeber.

        Good luck.

        Dedicated to mutual success,

        Shaun
        Originally Posted by wordpressmania View Post

        Try Mailchimp... it is free for the beginners. you can upgrade he membership level later.....
        Hope this helps...
        Originally Posted by Shaun OReilly View Post

        Have you taken the first step of deciding on your target
        market yet?

        Can you describe your ideal prospect with accuracy?

        Until you do these first steps, it's hard to give more
        specific and useful advice.

        YOU need to be more specific.

        Your market is not everyone.

        Take things logically, step-by-step and do step one first.

        Dedicated to mutual success,

        Shaun
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6795784].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author Shaun OReilly
          Originally Posted by MarketingAce View Post

          1- Internet Marketing (of course)
          Internet Marketing is very broad.

          If I were to choose that market, I'd narrow it down and
          choose a much narrower subject area.
          Originally Posted by MarketingAce View Post

          2- Music production and selling digital sounds to music producers.
          Originally Posted by MarketingAce View Post

          3- I just recently created a Youtube SEO Software product that is currently making my videos rank to the top of both Google & Youtube with ease. I am a decent coder so I made my own Internet Marketing Tools & I know that my Youtube SEO tool is awesome. I know that I just need to get it marketed properly though.
          Take a look at how similar products are promoted by
          the top marketers in the field.

          It takes work to identify your target market but once
          you do, the rest of the process becomes more obvious
          and much easier.

          For example, the approach you'd use to build a list to
          target music producers would be way different than
          the approach you'd use to sell your software option
          to video marketers.

          You still need even more clarity on your target market.

          In fact, if I were you, I'd choose ONE niche market,
          focus on that and eliminate the other diverse markets.

          Dedicated to mutual success,

          Shaun
          Signature

          .

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    • Profile picture of the author JonVinci
      Originally Posted by MarketingAce View Post

      You guys keep saying to build your list by giving free stuff away, but where do I give the free stuff away? You say it depends on where they hang out, but everyone has a Facebook, Youtube, Twitter account these days. Should I start gather prospects from there? If so, what are some exact examples you guys use? No offense, but simply telling someone to "build a list by giving away free stuff!" is very insufficient. Could you be more specific or elaborate with some examples of the exact places you go to & how you setup the squeeze pages please? Thanks...
      A good place to start is YouTube. You'll want to search for terms like "squeeze page" and "Sales Funnel".

      Once you get an idea of how a squeeze pages and sales funnels works, decide on the niche you're targetting. See if you can find any similar squeeze pages and see how they look. Try to match and improve upon their design.

      If you know html/css, then feel free to download a free wordpress theme and edit it to your liking. If you want something easy, I'd consider in a custom wordpress plugin or theme like OptimizePress or Premise (google or search this forum about them).

      Drive traffic to your sales (squeeze page) and collect their email in exchange for your free gift. You now have a list.
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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    First find a niche that is in demand and doesnt have alot of competition.

    Then get a website and create a squeeze page. If you dont know how to create a squeeze page, dont worry. Even ugly squeeze pages have been known to produce amazing results. At the very least, include a headline, some bullet points, an image of your free ebook, and then the autoresponder sign up form.

    Add emails to your autoresponder, then start driving traffic to your site. To test to see if it works quickly, drive traffic to it via PPC.
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  • Profile picture of the author igl0w
    Mainly guys said main points here. To add Mailchimp si free but.. just for dead markets. If you enter better market or have more traffic/clicks they expected they will tel lyou to buy normal plan and suspend. Happened to me 2 times - cant be coincidence.
    I did buy good plan - but on other company.
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