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Lots of talk on list building. However have I got these basics right? Someone please help :)

by Sonny Am
9 replies
Hi,

Basically Ive been hearing a lot of talk about list building and how building a list is almost a sure fire way to make some serious money in the future. However I just wanted to make sure I go the basics right.

The list building process

1. Build a squeeze page, offering something of value as a free gift.

2. Build an autoresponder series (ie. thank you for clicking, check your inbox to confirm)

3. Which leads to an OTO (one time offer) in order to get some of the opt ins to buy something right there and then.

4. you then build a relationship to that list by continually communicating with them, but not more than 1-2 emails per few days, and look to add value with every email. Ever so often, like once a week send a paid offer their way, if you have built the value correctly then you should get some sales.

Traffic

On the topic of building traffic. You can advertise your squeeze page on forums related to your niche, build a site around it, rank the site and get opt ins from the free offer in the process, or buy solo ads and ad swaps.

Testing

I have also read about the importance of testing to optimize your squeeze page and emails for maximum conversion of visitors to opt ins.



That is what I understand of list building. Have I got the full accurate picture, or am I missing something?

Really looking forward to your replies.


Thank you in advance.


Sonny.
#basics #building #list #lots #talk
  • Profile picture of the author Trevor
    1. Build a squeeze page, offering something of value as a free gift.
    You don't HAVE to use squeeze pages - It's not the only way to build a list. You can have an incentivized opt-in form on a content-rich site and even within posts. That's another good way to build a list.

    3. Which leads to an OTO (one time offer) in order to get some of the opt ins to buy something right there and then.
    As far as OTOs upon confirmation go, I don't recommend using them if you haven't yet built credibility and trust in your subscribers. If they don't even know who you are and are presented with an OTO before they get to know you, not only will the conversion rates be bad, but they will distrust you.

    4. you then build a relationship to that list by continually communicating with them, but not more than 1-2 emails per few days, and look to add value with every email. Ever so often, like once a week send a paid offer their way, if you have built the value correctly then you should get some sales.
    Yes, definitely strive to build a relationship with them before marketing anything to them. Even the promotional emails should benefit them in a way and be of value - contain valuable information. At least that's how I do it - The product that I'm promoting is just part of the email.
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    • Profile picture of the author Sonny Am
      Thank you for that detailed response. I'm guessing from your response, although I might take a different perspective (as you have pointed out), that i do have the full picture regarding list building?

      Im not missing anything out, or any steps am I.

      Also are there any courses you know of about structuring the emails, is there a right and wrong way to do it?

      Thank you in advance.

      Sonny.

      Originally Posted by Trevor View Post

      You don't HAVE to use squeeze pages - It's not the only way to build a list. You can have an incentivized opt-in form on a content-rich site and even within posts. That's another good way to build a list.



      As far as OTOs upon confirmation go, I don't recommend using them if you haven't yet built credibility and trust in your subscribers. If they don't even know who you are and are presented with an OTO before they get to know you, not only will the conversion rates be bad, but they will distrust you.



      Yes, definitely strive to build a relationship with them before marketing anything to them. Even the promotional emails should benefit them in a way and be of value - contain valuable information. At least that's how I do it - The product that I'm promoting is just part of the email.
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      • Profile picture of the author Bilderberg
        Your on the road to success Sonny, and you are on point, don't wait for someone to get you side tracked, get to work! The faster you assemble this model, the faster you gain prosperity! One extra ingredient for the traffic section I want to throw in the mix is....wait for it....Sponsor a Giveaway Event....but wait till you have the above model in place and in action, then sponsor a Giveaway event, just Google the term "Sponsor A Giveaway Event" you should be able to find a service to help you sponsor one, and they even email their lists to come to your event and trust me alottt of freebie plr mrr seekers show up trust me, my first event got me 10k plus from someone else's list, plus you can make some extra change with the "upgrade to premium for 5 bucks" and oto's which, I just used affiliate products for my oto's. So I paid 200 bucks to host a Giveaway event, got 10k+ subscribers, and made my money back and then some! If you found my reply helpful please click the "Thanks" button in the bottom right corner, and good luck!
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        • Profile picture of the author Sonny Am
          Hi,

          Thanks for your kind words and great advice.

          People getting me sidetracked is a huge issue. Just as im about to get started on the above, i click on a few links on this forum and see people offering products and advice offering better more effective ways of making money, and using different tactics to build a list, however I realise now that the structure above is tried and tested and longstanding so should work better than the gimmicks that come and go.

          thank you again.




          Originally Posted by Bilderberg View Post

          Your on the road to success Sonny, and you are on point, don't wait for someone to get you side tracked, get to work! The faster you assemble this model, the faster you gain prosperity! One extra ingredient for the traffic section I want to throw in the mix is....wait for it....Sponsor a Giveaway Event....but wait till you have the above model in place and in action, then sponsor a Giveaway event, just Google the term "Sponsor A Giveaway Event" you should be able to find a service to help you sponsor one, and they even email their lists to come to your event and trust me alottt of freebie plr mrr seekers show up trust me, my first event got me 10k plus from someone else's list, plus you can make some extra change with the "upgrade to premium for 5 bucks" and oto's which, I just used affiliate products for my oto's. So I paid 200 bucks to host a Giveaway event, got 10k+ subscribers, and made my money back and then some! If you found my reply helpful please click the "Thanks" button in the bottom right corner, and good luck!
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          • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
            Banned
            There are different styles, and there isn't much objective "right and wrong" about this: you test and see what suits you. In my opinion, although one or two aspects of this are niche-dependent, much more than that it's all traffic-demographic-dependent (my own split-testing, for example, made me abandon both squeeze pages and especially OTO's, which I'd never actually liked anyway, in all of my niches).

            However, Trevor (post #2 above) has made exactly the points I was going to make about this, on reading your original post. So I have little to add, except perhaps the observation that this recent thread may interest you, if you haven't already seen it: http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post6123982

            And good luck!
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          • Profile picture of the author shane_k
            Originally Posted by Sonny Am View Post

            Hi,

            Thanks for your kind words and great advice.

            People getting me sidetracked is a huge issue. Just as im about to get started on the above, i click on a few links on this forum and see people offering products and advice offering better more effective ways of making money, and using different tactics to build a list, however I realise now that the structure above is tried and tested and longstanding so should work better than the gimmicks that come and go.

            thank you again.
            One thing that you can add in, is a survey asking people what problems or concerns about your subject that they want answers to. This will give you an idea of a report or product that you can create that answers those things.

            This can be your 3rd, 8th, 50th email. there is no right way.

            I have more suggestions but don't want you to get confused.

            You have the basic steps down so now is the time to put the blinders on and take action, and then once you take action you will start seeing if people are opting in to your list or not.

            if they aren't, then you will have future questions about how to adjust your strategy to get them to opt-in.

            if they are then you might have future questions about how to improve that.

            either way, the best advice I have is take action, take action, take action, even if that means shutting down the warrior forum and not coming onto this site for a full week, or two weeks until you can see if people are opting in or of they aren't opting in.

            Get to it buddy!
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  • Profile picture of the author KatyKoo
    Hi Sonny..

    In my opinion you have the right steps there..

    I do agree with Trevor, about the OTO on confirmation though.. That part is the only stage of your plan that I would leave out! If you do what to do something along this line though, I would say it is OK to have recommended products avaliable to your subscribers straight away..

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  • Profile picture of the author paul nicholls
    my best advice is to just jump in and start "doing it" or "doing something" you will learn way more than by reading or trying learn from ebooks

    once you get stuck in you will soon realize what works and doesn`t so then its just a case of doing more than works and ditch the stuff that is crap and doesn`t perform

    paul
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  • Profile picture of the author Big Al
    I actually disagree on this part (although it does depend on the market and traffic source):

    As far as OTOs upon confirmation go, I don't recommend using them if you haven't yet built credibility and trust in your subscribers. If they don't even know who you are and are presented with an OTO before they get to know you, not only will the conversion rates be bad, but they will distrust you.
    The benefit to you is you can immediately build a buyers list and start to segment your traffic and if you're paying for traffic you want to know where you stand financially asap.

    Now you can continue to promote your initial product to the list who haven't bought and you can sell a different product to those who have bought.

    I do understand why people don't like one-time-offers but if you have faith in your product and believe it's best for your new subscribers... why not sell it?

    Imagine you're promoting a product on how to cure a toothache and the subscriber joins your list.

    You can continue to build a relationship OR you can just sell him the product that gives him all the information and cures his toothache now. Which is the greater service?

    Bottom line is that it's down to you and which ever you make work best.
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