List building - really necessary in every niche?

What I do is experiment on both sides to see if it is necessary. If you have a good flow of visitors daily, at least 300-400 such as me, I pop in an autoresponder for the week to see how well my conversions go with that. The following week I just send the traffic directly to my site and then I compare my figures. It really depends on your traffic and what you are selling and your conversions. So for me I strictly focus on what converts more. But building a list is great if you want to send emails out to your list on other offers than the site they were just at. Just make sure it is a related niche so your not spamming the person.

It is for me. I wouldn't be able to sell a tendinitis product at all without list-building, and wouldn't even be willing to try to.

By (a) trying to analyze the traffic demographics as accurately as possible (I do take the point you make above, but I still suspect from my medical knowledge that this niche has some slightly more recognizable demographics than you've implied!), and (b) trying to find related products/services/information/areas of interest where possible (one takes this into account, to some extent, in selecting niches in the first place?).

I do hear you, and am not trying to dismiss your questions, and I see that to some extent they do arise in that niche. But I suspect that some sub-groups of people with tendinitis might have some commonalities which could be amenable to further/related promotions? :confused:

Hi Alex,

You can do so many things within your autoresponder service anyway.

This allows you segment yout lists and test different messages to see which ones are working best and why.

If you are using GetResponse or Aweber you can do a lot of testing and tweaking with your campaigns.

Nothing has to set in stone and I would suggest you don't think about things too long.

Allow your results to tell you what is working and what needs to be improved etc.

I know how it feels to get bogged down with all the "What If's" rather than just taking action and improving along the way.

Hope this helps and good luck my friend!!!

List building is a pretty good way to go in any niche, however some people like yourself find they do well using a different strategy.

Whatever you do it's all about optimisation and increasing and repeat IMHO.

Absolutely...having a list is way way more profitable

Selling a product is fine but that is not where the money

The money is in repeat customers and once you have a list you are able to sell other related products too

For instance if you build a list around the "six pack abs niche" you could not only sell the main product but reports on healthy eating, best ab exercises to do, how to stay motivated, where to get the best supplements, new workouts etc etc

There are always a lot of related products that you can sell to your list that is why it`s so important to build one and your conversions will be way higher if you sell to the same customers that have already purchased something from you

Paul

Well, I can see with an abs product, pretty much everyone who buys it is going to be overweight (or at least think that they're overweight), so you have a common denominator. It's just that I don't see one with tendon pain...

I do have another site that deals with plantar fasciitis, and for that a logical follow-up would be either a weight-loss product or something for runners. But with tendons... I can't seem to find a common factor.

You should definitely be building a list if you're building a business. Like Paul said, a list allows you to build that long term following. The people who buy from you over and over again. That's how you grow efficiently.

There's a big misinterpretation about list building though. Most people are so worried about building a list of readers. You give away something free and you try to convince them to buy something from you. This is a great asset to have for sure... but the real list you need to build is your buyers list.

These buyers are the ones who are most likely to open your emails, listen to what you say, click the links you have, and buy what you recommend.

Also where is your traffic coming from if your demographic is all over the map?

Travis

Traffic is coming from SEO mostly. I have a few videos out, some articles and so on. But mainly it's SEO long-tail keywords on my blog, where I've written a bunch of articles on tendon pain.

And when I say all over the map, I really mean it. Today I made two sales, one from the US and one from Denmark. Yesterday I had a guy from South America buy. I've sold my tendon pain product in something like 40 countries now, albeit most of the traffic comes from the US.

And yes, I get what you're saying about buyers being more responsive. I have two lists.

List Building is one of the most substantial, profitable and intelligent ways to make money online since you are in full control (unlike to SEO) over how to market, further grow, and monetize your list.

The biggest misconception ever is that some people believe that must have a huge list to make a full-time income. That´s not true. You can make more money from a responsive 300 big buyers list, than you can from a 10000 big freebie seekers list.

Your primary goal is to figure out how you intend to monetize your knowledge, then you can begin building a high quality list. Whether you want to "milk" your leads through products or coaching programs, make sure that you only provide the most recent and most valuable strategies that you can find.

I have found that people were more inclined to buy from me if they saw that something worked particularly well for me.

To answer your question: Yes, you should build a list right from the get go, or you are losing out on a lot money!

Yes my brotha....always build a list and always be marketing.

Look at it this way, suppose that you build a list of 1000 people that have bought your product, these are buyers my friend. And once they've bought from you in the past, it's way easier to sell to them in the future, like 1000 times easier.

So now your list becomes an asset. Say you're sitting around the bbq one Sunday afternoon drinkin beers and having a huge porter house steak, then you get an idea. You send out an email (autoresponder- aweber) that you write once, and mail to everyone on your list.

You briefly and nonchalantly mention this other product that you like and that has given you some killer results, you share that with your list by giving them a link (your aff link) and let them check it out for themselves.

If they buy something after clickin on link, you get paid. What could be easier? This is the most bad ass way of making money online.

So stop posting on forums, and build your list my friend! You'll be glad you did.

I believe having a mailing list is useful not only to try selling again to your existing customers, but also as an additional tool to improve your CRM system.
You can send gifts and promotions to your subscribers and keep them engaged, so they will know that when the bottle is empty they can go back and buy another bottle from you beacuse they trust you and they have a relationship with you.
We call this a long term relationship.

Hope this help.

Peace

I sell a similar infoproduct, a one time solution (even if there are some rules and techniques that must be applied long term) and i have found that trying to presell by email after having asked the email address on an optin page is not the best solution for several reasons :
->Some people want to find a solution now and are ready to buy now. In trying to presell with several emails sent during several days they can lose interest (or find another solution) and thus you can lose sales. There will be contradictors of this statement but even if information can trigger some emotions and thoughts, it cannot trigger physical pain or disconfort. When people are searching for alternative solutions to solve/relieve a health related problem, they are, as i was, in pain/disconfort, else they would not be searching.
->Wether you think it is true or not, there are some people who have difficulties with computers and you have to make your interface easy to understand, easy to access, easy to use. So having to open several emails during several days can be confusing especially if some emails go into the spam folder.

I am using another strategy now, which is to use my website pages and a downloadable pdf to presell.
The advantage is that it is more accessible and less irritating than having to give your email address for no justified reason.
Some will say that you may lose contact with the interested person with this strategy and this is a understandable concern, but if your presentation and infoproduct seems interesting enough, the interested people will try to find your website if they want to buy it or they can find your website through the links of the downloaded pdf file.

Now about having a buyers list, there is no discussion about whether you need one or not, you need to be able to recognize and to reach your customers : for support, for updates, to send free information related to the subject, to send interesting offers related to the subject.

Necessary? No.

Strongly recommended to earn big bucks? YES

Whatever you offer, say it right, say it straight. Nothing comes for free and everybody knows that so it's better to mention in the first line that this is the price you pay to have this and if you really need this go ahead and buy it.

YES! It is Necessary!

Doesn't matter what niche building a list will make you more money than not.

You can make it without a list, but you will ALWAYS make more if you are building a list at the same time!

If you sell a one time solution to a problem and there are people who may not have the money at that moment to purchase your product why not try to get them on your list so you could eventually mail them helpful tips related to the problem so that you stay fresh in their mind? You'll increase the likelihood of turning them into customers, ESPECIALLY if you aren't spammy and you give them your BEST info.

If you have an IM/SEO list, then please give me a private message!
I might have a monetizing/revenue share offer for you!

You can use any list for advertising, getting the word out, in order to attract customers. If it's an e-mail list, then drive people to your Facebook page - then you'll grab them for a longer period (provided that they did "like" the page)...

Otherwise I encountered the same problem.

I've been advertising single-use services as well. Services that don't require much "bla bla", much philosophy etc...

There are services that just require a stream of people getting to the page/landing page and take action.

If you have call-to action and CPA or pay-per-search, PPC systems on your pages that are used to generate revenue, then lists are very hard to use.
Indeed: in many cases the lists cannot be used easily. You rather need constantly streaming fresh visitors. That's what SEO was/is good for... of course, now it's harder due to the new algorithms...

If you have any list, then use it for advertising.

Well, a one-time solution can't really be built into a long term business on just that one solution as there is nothing more to sell or upsell on.

You'd have to go after other "one-time" solution products to sustain any kind of sales volume.

But people who build lists do so in niches where an upsell is a natural fit, the next step sort of speak. When you build a list you're building an asset so when you offer the next step existing customers will buy it.

No need to go out and constantly drive more traffic to your offer.

In a on-time solution business as soon as you stop driving traffic that's it. But, if you're in a niche that has natural upsells then you don't have to rely on just driving traffic to your website.

In your case I'd probably look to diversify, come up with a system to take advantage of more than one market that offers one-time solutions and become a publishing company. Or I'd look into a niche that has natural progression to the next step.

if i were you, i would load up my autoresponder with a survey or two so i could ask all these different people to help tell me what they want.

Then you can use the survey data to further target the groups as your survey identifies them.

here is just a quick example based on some of the above posts.

maybe your survey could be a multiple choice saying what other health problems are bothering you the mosts?

a) weight
b) abs
c) acne
.......

then once those people identify themselves and tell you what their other problems are you can use automation techniques to send the affiliate product offers that can solve their specific problem.

I just think you are trying to outsmart your customers and guess what else they want. Better to ask them...lol

maybe a simple freebie pdf report reward for filling out the survey might help too.

obviously this is just a quick example, and what i have laid out here is not a 10 minutes setup, but that is the way i would be moving forward.

Having not list you can do well.

Having a big ass list, is good for 2 reasons.

1) you can do more than JUST OK.

2) You have an asset, that no one can take away.

No matter what google panda, penguin, duck, geese, giraffe or any of their other idiotic updates come, you have high quality targeted traffic at the push of your button.

Does not get better than that.

Also you have an assett to swap lists or ads with bigger compeitors or people in cross niches.

Do you have to build a list? well...no! But I know people that have created big lists and it has changed their lives. Literally.

I cannot give you a good answer, OP. However, by the responses that I've read here, I can state that I'm starting to see the light about list building!

Yes, you should always start an email list from day one. Why? Because no business survives without leads.

As far as your particular business, I think you could definitely utilize email to grow your business. You have to get creative with your approach and use the data to your advantage.

You do a number of things to monetize a list in your niche.

1. Send retention-based (keep in touch) emails, as well as informative email packed with useful tips/content

2. Promote affiliate offers that are relevant to your client base

3. Exclusive offers & promotions on your current products/services

These are just a few ideas but the possibilities are endless. Just takes some creativity and hustle.

Not every niche needs a list. An example would be something like the acne niche. People want a cure, not emails every week. Once they get the cure (from an e-book, perhaps) they have no reason to keep in contact.

List building absolutely needs to be a priority. Like Alexa just said, you may be able to get a few sales without building up trust via your list, but why take the chance?

Not in all niches. For some niches, you can see quick results with your list building efforts for a small list, and in other niches... you have to amass a large amount of leads just to reach a considerable amount of income.