How many people are still not building a list?

by 64 replies
74
Almost every internet marketer has heard of the saying "the money is in the list". But I wonder if all the internet marketers are really building lists or if there are a few people that just don't believe this.

Anyone care to share?
#main internet marketing discussion forum #building #list #people
  • I think the main reason people fail to build a list (me personally) is the daunting prospect of creating a free product (with high value), designing and testing squeeze pages and basically everything involved in the process!

    I don't think it takes a genius to see how it can be beneficial, I think people just fail to take action and come up with excuses of why they don't need to do it!
  • I didn't build a list for a long time mainly because my follow up sucks...

    I can pop in 15 followup emails and let them run, but I never send out broadcasts and such as much as I could, even though I know I should.

    Creating a freebie wasn't ever the problem for me, it was knowing that I had to manage the list that detracted me.


    I still don't build a list in all of my niches...
  • List building is definitely integral to internet marketing. Whether your marketing strategy is through social sites such as Facebook, Twitter, MIG4 etc or through traditional online methods, you need to establish an individual personal relationship with your active and inactive clients.

    Even after closing a sale, you can still prospect to your client.

    The key to building a great list is to sell an appealing product, create a great squeeze page and give away something valuable. The rest will be done by marketing.

    Opt-in lists that are in the particular niche are also useful.
  • Well I haven't built a list yet.

    Though I'm doing heavy campaigns like selling lots of products.

    In fact I just finished my CPA promotion recently where I promoted
    758 products which is now starting to make me some pocket change
    daily..

    What I lack in list building I try to make up with something else..
    and again, I do large numbers..

    But a lot of list builders I know would definitely say adding a sign-up
    form for my campaigns would benefit me greatly..I just don't want to
    get tied up in maintaining a list and paying high dollars for it.

    However, I already studied phplist and might build a list soon on my own
    hosting without that much maintenance cost.

    Well see..
    • [1] reply
    • A couple things kept me from building a list for a long time. I think one of the biggest fears I had was that I had to maintain it and I was always told that "you should email out twice a week" or some other nonsense that made it sound like it had to be scheduled or it wouldn't work.

      I was just too uptight about the whole thing. Now my main focus is building a list and everything I do is centered around that. The most important thing to remember is that a 'list' is not numbers, it's a collection of PEOPLE that are just like you and need help reaching their goals.
  • You don't have to build an email marketing list to make money online, just like you don't have to build a lot of sites or a single mega site to do it or have a blog or ecommerce site to do it. There are many approaches to take and which one to choose depends on your particular skill set and personality.

    I don't list build myself since I've seen it terribly abused, especially in the IM marketplace. Most of the time it's "permission spamming", not "permission marketing". It turned me off to the whole prospect of spamming a list of people who bought my product or downloaded a freebie with the latest rehashed garbage being excreted on Clickbank.

    That said, I have helped offline clients setup email lists for their businesses and, when you're essentially only promoting your own products and business it's a lot more palatable to me.
    • [ 3 ] Thanks
    • [1] reply

    • Exactly. Depends merely on your business plan. I do have a list but I am not looking to build it out to 40,000 plus. I concentrate on people who are really interested in building out their web presence. You can have a hundred or two of those and make more than a guy selling a $9 product and a list with a thousand sales per ebook. Whats more its a more pleasant experience dealing with people who value what you do not just looking for the next magic pill.
  • Creating a list is essential in internet marketing. It ensures that you will have potential customers for many weeks, months or years to come in a lot of different niches.
    • [1] reply
    • I agree. It IS a fear. A fear that building a list might turn out to
      be "useless" or the "I'm not good enough or have enough value
      to share with people to justify building a list"...it's all fears...

      I should know. I was one of those people. Now, I will do nothing
      without building a group of people who are looking to solve a
      problem in their lives whom I can keep in touch with.

      Listbuilding...is FAR more easier than trying to sell "one product
      here and there" to someone who's skeptical of you and what
      you offer (because of no relationship to you). And when they
      buy from you, they're gone forever.

      I learned the importance of relationships writing for other people.

      I could not have had the success I had if I was so focused on
      the "one time sale" as I was before in the past. It's amazing the
      difference you'll experience. But everyone comes to their own
      conclusions on the value of building a group of people...I just
      know it' works like mad.
  • I KNOW I need to build a list.
    I'm just not able to get my head around it. I have a great list of contacts, and I know it would make a huge amount of difference to one of my main websites, but I haven't got there in my head.
    I need to though...
  • arrrgh. oops. posted reply in wrong place. sorry!
  • lists aren't compatible with all niches. I only use it for IM niche and other niches like that. Some niches don't even require niches, so, why create a list?
  • I think there is something MORE important about list building
    than the money...

    and I think...it's about having MORE FUN.

    The FUN is in the list.

    When you start to get feedback and doing fun things with
    your list...it's very rewarding...to me anyway.

    I was discussing this the other day with Mike Long a marketer
    I have huge respect for...and only mention his name to give him credit...

    But Mike said..."The ADVENTURE is in the list."

    and I thought that was very profound.

    Travis
    • [1] reply
    • Would it be ok if I re-phrased (or rather reframed) the original question?

      Ok here is my re-phrased (but slightly longer) version:

      How many people are still not attempting to create a real and genuine relationship with their website visitors and are relying instead on the visitor making a snap decision to buy or not buy whatever is being offered (big intake of breath) knowing full well that they are merely a click away from gathering the same or better info elswhere?

      Or how about this version:

      How many people still think that they can sell something to a complete stranger with no interaction and only a minimal amount of information within just a few short seconds of them turning up at the website against a backdrop of operating in the noisiest marketplace ever devised with multiple 'other options' available to every visitor?

      The point I'm making is that it's not really about building a list...it's about forming a relationship and communicating with the potential customer to the point where they trust you enough to make a positive buying decision.
      ....and then repeating the process.

      I mean....I suppose it's OK to try and sell 'em at the first visit....it just doesn't make any sense....does it?....P.S it CAN be done if you are a brilliant website designer and a master copywriter....if you aren't then why not just get them to give you a way of contacting THEM...instead of hoping they'll buy something now..or at least come back...(they won't)
  • I have some lists, but I also have offers producing 4 figures/day without a list. I know people doing mid-5 figures/day without a list. Building a list is NOT essential. It has its place... there are times that it is appropriate, and times you'll get a better ROI without it.

    It all depends what your goals are, where your customers are in the conversion process, what you're promoting, and what is going to give you the best ROI. Sure, a list allows you to follow-up and remarket, but it just doesn't work in some niches - at least not as the most effective/profitable method. Where other niches, list building is the best approach where there is potential for upsells, cross sells, the need to build a relationship, etc.

    It really depends on the offer or niche your promoting in, but also your traffic source. If you have an authority site getting 10,000 visitors/day from organic search, a list might do better there, where the same offer on PPC campaign might work better with a simple landing page.

    I don't think there is a definitive yes/no answer, as to whether list building is necessary. It depends because there are too many variables involved. Test it out and get to understand your metrics.
  • I have started building a list. It is small right now, only about 13 but I am trying. If I can make it work great but if not I am doing other things to promote my site so in the end I hope it all works out.
  • I agree. Building a list in the IM niche is very important, but I guess it is not that important in some niches. Micro niches I guess..
  • i NEED to make a list as i feel it will be beneficial to my Niche, However i wouldn't know where to start....

    What software would i need, how i create an "opt in" on my blog etc etc

    I can see the benefits of a list 100%
  • you don't NEED a list, but if you're selling your own products or other peoples regardless of the niche, you'll make more money if you do have a list...

    I don't think you can say some niches don't require a list... because if you're selling a product, then a list will still help increase your profits no matter what niche
    • [1] reply
    • Lists can make you a lot of money, but always test an optimized email strategy vs. a landing page or direct linking. The cost to acquire a subscriber compared to the long-term value of the subscriber in some cases will put you negative - no matter how well you've optimized. Promoting the same offer by direct linking could increase your conversion rate and get you in the positive.

      This will also depend a lot on your traffic source and keyword targeting.
  • I feel that building a list is essential and yes it is quite a bit of work. I currently have 7 lists at AWeber as I have a variety of niche websites. List building allows me to build a rapport with my visitors and, of course, promote offers to them over time.

    For some of my lists, I have created a year's worth of autoresponder newsletters. Some affiliate programs provide you with newsletters plus I also write a great deal of them myself. I know some people outsource this task and I hope to be able to do this in the future.

    I also have 4 blogs so my RSS feed is broadcast to my subscriber list once or twice a month. This seems to generate quite a bit of interest from my readers.
  • yeah true, it's all about offering you're subscribers good useful information, and also products which you think can help them.

    Sure they're not idiots they know you're promoting to them, so it's NOT a case of being deceptive in you're promotions, but just make sure you offer products that are 1) relevent obviously and 2) not a pile of crap lol
    • [1] reply
    • I agree with MarkSherris...my autoresponder series in only partially promotional. It's important to build a relationship and trust with your subscribers so a great many of my newsletters just provide useful information or a free tool/e-book/software etc. Bombarding your readers with constant promotions is a sure-fire way to have them click on the unsubscribe button.
  • I think it depends a lot on the product being promoted. In niches like the old, "yeast infection cures", trying to sign people up to a list can actually reduce your overall conversions and profits.
    • [1] reply
    • I see you're point however I disagree... what if you had something above you're autoresponder form saying something like,

      "5 simple ways to get rid of a yeast infection" - please fill in you're details to be emailed these simple yet highly effective techniques!

      I'm not in the "yeast infection" niche lol, so wouldn't no for sure, but seems like it could work
  • While list building is an optional marketing method and not everyone wants to do it, consider this: I can send out an email and make from 1k to 5k in 2-3 days. It took a long time to get to that point, but if you're not list building it's not even an option.

    I don't know of any other way you can raise that much cash over and above your normal online income with so little effort.

    Our remodeling project went over budget because of some unexpected problems. I'm about to have a sale to make up the difference between what we budgeted and the actual costs. I don't know of any other way I could do that so quickly and easily, do you? If you do, I'd love to hear about it! Joint ventures take time to set up, it takes time and money to buy traffic, etc.

    List building may not be for everyone, but it's worth thinking about if you don't have at least one list.
    • [2] replies
    • I know people who can do that with porn or pharma spamming but I don't feel comfortable using those methods either.
      • [2] replies
    • took the words right out my mouth.

      Strange how some people will rationalize NOT building a
      list as a good option, when...although it is A option...it
      certainly isn't a GOOD option in most cases.

      You can argue some niches don't require building a list,
      but we're talking about the niches where building a list
      DOES make more sense than not....

      I saw one post on here to where the guy said it's fun to
      build a list and talk back and forth with people...I would
      second that...a lot of fun. You just can't get that
      connection without a list.
  • I dont have a list
    email lists is the online version of telemarketing, do u like telemarketing calls?
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • [1] reply
    • No it's not. Telemarketing is the online version of spam. Building an email list is permission based. The only people that receive your emails are those who have given you permission to send to them.
  • Well my thoughts are: if you are not utilizing building a list from the traffic that you receive then you are definately leaving money on the table. But on the other hand, when some people just start out in the IM niche, they are trying to get started somehow, and learning and working on the list building will come for them later, it just becomes too much to take on at one time. Information Overload, or they just arent quite sure how to go about it.
  • Building a list is very important in this business. It is not merely having a ready list of people to buy your products, but it is also about having a list of people that trust you because you continue to give them value.

    I think the reason people are not building a list is that they do not realize its value. They don't realize that not building a list causes them money for they can build a ready list of buyers only if they are willing to extend an extra effort to give people something of value.
  • I have never seen so many people say that they know they need to build a list yet don't. That just seems crazy to me.

    I think the best quote I heard was this: "With a list you can make money on demand" After I heard that I began building a list right away
  • [DELETED]
    • [ 3 ] Thanks
    • [3] replies
    • I am building Lists for some of my Blogs. But some I dont. Like ones that are focused on Adsense.

      Also my top producing Blog I started building a good list. But it was NOT converting as it was based on CPA signups (paid Surveys etc...). The whole site is based on Free Money as is the domain name. And it is just NOT efficient building a List with it !!
    • I believe at the end of the day communicating with customers or potential customers whether it is by email or by snail mail or by telephone will make you more money than if you did not communicate with your customers or potential customers. Therefore I would be an advocate of any type of customer contact including email.
    • One of the things I always think about when I see people talking about building lists, is the free give away that is so often mentioned. It was talked about in this thread. People also talk about the value of lists of buyers, and the problem associated with freebie seekers.

      So why not build a list by selling product for $1, which has a high perceived value? Would this not alleviate the issue of freebie seekers somewhat? Or do the returns from the larger list, including the freebie seekers, outweigh the lesser list that would be created by selling the item for $1 in the beginning, instead of giving it away for free?

      Inquiring minds want to know.

      I think my biggest problem when I contemplate building a list is, how do I keep the list supplied with valuable information and not just bombard them with sales pitches. Not being very creative, I would find it hard to come up with stuff all the time that would interest my list. Therefore, I closed my Aweber account shortly after I opened it. I didn't know what the hell to do with it, and it wasn't being filled up with email addresses very quickly. Actually, even with a free item, I think I got four or five on the list in a couple of months. Obviously I was not doing it right.
  • I constantly hear that I need to build a list but my main fear is also the follow up.

    I don't want to feel pressured into writing emails and scheduling with one set of emails for buyers and one set for non buyers and keeping conversations going. It is just too much.

    Especially if you have more than one site for different niches.

    I don't know... Maybe later...Like years later.
    • [1] reply
    • Hey Nuz, that's what the autoresponder is for. You can sit down and write all your emails up now, and then just load them up so they automatically go out for you.
  • I'm not building a list, but it's not because I don't believe in it. I fully understand that if you do it right there's a lot of money to be made in a subscriber list, however I don't personally feel that it's the right way for me to make my money.

    I started trying to build a list, but then I realised that I was not interested in just sending sales pitch after sales pitch to the subscribers, and I don't have enough knowledge on the different aspects of IM to be able to give them anything of value.

    I've chosen to go a different path to both help people and (hopefully) make me some money along the way. But help them becomes before helping me.

    So no, I'm not building a list.
    • [1] reply
    • Melani, I see where you're coming from - most marketers abuse their list's power by sending promotion after promotion. You don't need me to tell you that it gets really old, really quickly. Truth be told though, the original point of a list (this may be a revolutionary idea for a few certain individuals) is to get targeted customers to whom you provide VALUE. This, sadly, is the exception rather than the rule when it comes to the Internet Marketing niche, which is a real shame.

      The TRUE idea of building a list... gathering customers whom you can help, over and over again. Help them enough, and yes, eventually you'll see some cash from it.

      That said, I think building a list might actually be PERFECT for you. Hear me out:

      You want to help others right? It's a lot easier to get the attention of people who've come to trust and like you than those who size you up in less than ten seconds.

      If you say you don't have enough knowledge on IM to do that then... there are THOUSANDS of other niches besides IM!

      Besides, you'll probably find that building a list (and providing value) is far easier in any other niche market anyway... other niches aren't quite so jaded or bored with the familiar marketing tactics >

      If promoting ebooks altogether is a turnoff, don't forget that ebooks are NOT the only products being sold online. So many physical-product affiliate programs - Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, Walmart, I could go on - to choose from. You'd make less per sale, but promoting a book for $9.97 through Amazon is a hell of a lot easier than John Doe's $97 ebook (plus if the buyer goes on a shopping spree through Amazon, you get commission on EVERYTHING - not just your promoted product).

      Anywho, the moral of the story is to not turn yourself off from what could be a profitable venture because other people are misusing it. There is power here, so long as you're willing to apply a little creativity.
  • One of the main reason I don't build a list is that for some strange reason I want the Internet part of my life to remain totally hands off, passive income, unrelated to my "real" life. I don't have a Facebook or Twitter account either.

    I more and more feel this is a big mistake. I'd only build a list from 20% of my sites, not all of them, but they would indeed become assets with lots of leverage later on.

    I have more things to fry now, but I do plan to build lists in a month or so. Starting with my soon to be born "offline" marketing consultant business.
  • Banned
    [DELETED]
  • But how many of them are pushing it a few steps further and building and creating something of serious value, building their brand, and actually caring about their users/members/subscribers?

    It's been said more than once in this post, but just building a list believing that the money "is in the list" is just a fools errand. More to it than that.
    • [1] reply
    • I often wonder if I should plan on building a list with a niche product I am making. So far, I have

      "How to Build a ______" - which I know people will pay for.

      I can create a decent mini-site with just a couple pages promoting the product, saying why people should buy it, and answering common questions.

      or...

      I put an offer on the main page that offers a free basic 'average quality' product that is slightly similar to my product that has a couple ads for my main product, but also allows me to capture their e-mail to later offer them a discount of 20% off for 48 hours, about two days after I have captured their e-mail. But for the people that do and do not buy my main product... what could I sell them? What would be the point in sending them an e-mail every once in a while, affiliate product or not?
  • List building is crucial and this quotation will also tell you why: "The principle of maximization is to increase the amount of purchases from clients you already have."

    Thus, there is no point if you already have built thousands or hundreds of lists if majority of them are not interested in your offer. What matters about the success of list building is grabbing the opportunity to offer them what they need right from the beginning and that list goes never ending from your list to their lists and so forth.
    • [1] reply
    • We have trialled and tested building email lists in various niches, and I can attest to 2 things:

      1. Emails lists do not work in all niches, and

      2. Just having an email list will not make you money.

      Here are my learnings from painful lessons learnt:

      - Build a relationship with your readers,
      - Provide useful quality content that's relevant to them,
      - Don't stuff your emails with sales messages (oversell)
      - Only offer GOOD products.

      p.s. None of our niches are in the IM niche. We are making approx $AU 3,000 p/month without email lists, but have implemented lists in one of our niches that seems to be working .... on others it dosen't work at all.
  • i think there is a big misconception that building a list is very hard and time consuming and it's anoying having to follow up with prospects etc etc...

    I personally think list building is a LOT easier than most other ways to make money online.

    Send traffic to a page, collect your prospects, then follow up with them via email....your autoresponder will do most of the hard work.

    The only problem that people should face is traffic, but if you already know how to get traffic using blogs, articles etc, then having a list will be a great asset to your business.

    You can even build lists in niche's that you know very little about aslong as you do your research to provide your list with good useful content!
  • Well I don't really focus on building a list anymore, I was led to believe that it was the be all and end all of IM, however, I have found that I can generate a large profit consistetly without one.
Join the discussion

Next Topics on Trending Feed