List Building: What's Your Best Technique?

41 replies
Email Marketing has been and still is one of the most powerful marketing strategies around.

While an effective campaign can produce HUGE dividends, an ill-conceived campaign tends to produce astronomical opt-out rates and a slew of irritated subscribers.

Unfortunately, we're seeing more and more of the latter.

There are far too many marketers out there who don't even pretend to mask the fact that all they're concerned with is the sale.

BUY - BUY - BUY!!!

Where is the value?

Where is the concern for what I, the subscriber, actually wants and needs?

Where is the benefit - to me???

That being said, I know there are a lot of email marketers out there having a great deal of success and it would be extremely beneficial to all of us as a community to hear some of the things you're doing to help strengthen your campaigns.

What are your best tips and techniques for keeping your subscribers happy while still being able to generate huge revenues for your business?
#building #list #technique
  • Profile picture of the author Mangozoom
    I try not to sell but tell .... make recommendations and offer value

    Cant take it when people hit me with a constant stream of sales messages but give me nothing else.

    John
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  • Profile picture of the author Dave d
    One word "Honesty". Dont try a BS your list because there is only so long your going to get away with it.

    Secondly I cannot believe the amount of list owners who are constantly pushing products that are getting savaged by reviewers. If your not going to test a product your promoting at least do some research into what others are saying about it.
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  • Profile picture of the author LondonPaladin
    It's all about building up the list size. So give away something free to people who join.
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  • Profile picture of the author IwebSeo
    Banned
    MY best techniques are Article submission - create new articles related to my services and products and submit in all top 200-300 article directory sites. every week each article and another is blog comments, forum post and link exchange with related sites.
    try it your site get high ranking asap.
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    • Profile picture of the author billjingle
      Banned
      [DELETED]
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      • Profile picture of the author addice
        Hey,
        I'm not sure if I'm allowed to share this... But this really works for me big time, cos I only see sign ups just after I do this:

        Write your signature, just like how you write your title of the landing/ squeeze page/ mini site (whatever that is called).

        Put the link there, of course.

        Then at your link, use a popup sign in if you are using a blog.

        Hope this helps.
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  • Profile picture of the author socialbookmark
    I have made some lists myself but i think these lists are not much effective for making money through them. I think the way and the content of those emails is much more important than the list.
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    I love warriorforum. Computer Tutorials

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  • Profile picture of the author Luke McCormack
    Only offer products that you have bought and tested. Link with a blog that shows your "journey" through IM people love seeing results from products that you endorse.

    Regards

    Nigel
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    • Profile picture of the author Ldimilo
      Originally Posted by LondonPaladin View Post

      It's all about building up the list size. So give away something free to people who join.
      Originally Posted by Dave d View Post

      One word "Honesty". Dont try a BS your list because there is only so long your going to get away with it.

      Secondly I cannot believe the amount of list owners who are constantly pushing products that are getting savaged by reviewers. If your not going to test a product your promoting at least do some research into what others are saying about it.
      Originally Posted by socialbookmark View Post

      I have made some lists myself but i think these lists are not much effective for making money through them. I think the way and the content of those emails is much more important than the list.
      Originally Posted by nigelwhittaker View Post

      Only offer products that you have bought and tested. Link with a blog that shows your "journey" through IM people love seeing results from products that you endorse.

      Regards

      Nigel
      These are all "feel good' replies. Value is very relative and generic and has absolutely no meaning.

      You can deliver what you consider to be "value" and still deal with low open and CTR's. You can deliver value and still get unsubscribes.

      The reality is that it really depends on your strategy. There are folks that have huge lists that send daily offers and their goal is to constantly replace the unsubscribes with aggressive marketing.

      So, they have a list of 10k subscribers and they send out an email a day with nothing but an offer. If they are in the marketing world, the average open rate is most likely in the 20% range.

      The click through rate is 10%...

      The conversion rate is 5%.

      Using this model, and supposing that you are making $20 per sale, you would make $20 a day or $600 a month.

      If you funnel those who bought into another list, over time, you would have a nice list of buyers.

      The only real "work" that is involved using this model is lead generation....

      That is a much easier model to follow than to create "value" over time. A marketer who creates "value" has to worry not only about lead generation but also formulating ad copy for their offers and creating content that makes them credible enough to improve open rates and CTR's.

      Now, I am in no way saying that this is the way to go. I just think it is too easy for marketers to complain about lack of value when they don't see why a marketer is choosing this strategy.

      As long as people buy from mass offer mailings, there will always be marketer's willing to choose volume over value.

      Just my .02 cents though.
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      • Profile picture of the author Jason_Lewis
        Some good feedback so far. Thank you to those who've contributed.

        So far, we've identified that there are two basic strategies to approach listing building -

        Sheer volume and aggressive sales emails

        vs.

        Providing real value and nurturing the list


        For the successful list builders out there who are providing real value and nurturing your list, what type of strategies are you using to both build you list as well as nurture them?


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      • Profile picture of the author Jason_Lewis
        Originally Posted by Ldimilo View Post

        These are all "feel good' replies. Value is very relative and generic and has absolutely no meaning.

        You can deliver what you consider to be "value" and still deal with low open and CTR's. You can deliver value and still get unsubscribes.

        The reality is that it really depends on your strategy. There are folks that have huge lists that send daily offers and their goal is to constantly replace the unsubscribes with aggressive marketing.

        So, they have a list of 10k subscribers and they send out an email a day with nothing but an offer. If they are in the marketing world, the average open rate is most likely in the 20% range.

        The click through rate is 10%...

        The conversion rate is 5%.

        Using this model, and supposing that you are making $20 per sale, you would make $20 a day or $600 a month.

        If you funnel those who bought into another list, over time, you would have a nice list of buyers.

        The only real "work" that is involved using this model is lead generation....

        That is a much easier model to follow than to create "value" over time. A marketer who creates "value" has to worry not only about lead generation but also formulating ad copy for their offers and creating content that makes them credible enough to improve open rates and CTR's.

        Now, I am in no way saying that this is the way to go. I just think it is too easy for marketers to complain about lack of value when they don't see why a marketer is choosing this strategy.

        As long as people buy from mass offer mailings, there will always be marketer's willing to choose volume over value.

        Just my .02 cents though.
        Ld,

        I just want to make sure I understand your post because I couldn't get the math to work out.

        If we have a list of 10k and we can expect roughly a 20% open rate, we're looking at 2000 opens.

        If we can expect a 10% CTR, we're looking at 200 CTs.

        If we can expect a 5% buy rate, we're looking at 10 buyers.

        At a $20 price, we're looking at $200, not $20.

        I probably missed something somewhere so don't mind me if I did. Just trying to clarify.
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        • Profile picture of the author Ldimilo
          Originally Posted by Jason_Lewis View Post

          Ld,

          I just want to make sure I understand your post because I couldn't get the math to work out.

          If we have a list of 10k and we can expect roughly a 20% open rate, we're looking at 2000 opens.

          If we can expect a 10% CTR, we're looking at 200 CTs.

          If we can expect a 5% buy rate, we're looking at 10 buyers.

          At a $20 price, we're looking at $200, not $20.

          I probably missed something somewhere so don't mind me if I did. Just trying to clarify.
          >>>>worthless at Math on Thursdays<<<<<<

          Yeah...umm....a wee bit off with my math there. At any rate, you can understand why someone would be that aggressive....
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    • Profile picture of the author oneplusone
      I've made $100,000+ per promotion from lists I've built which are 4,000 to 6,000 in size.

      Is it solely because I provided massive amounts of valuable content and had a great relationship with the people on my list?

      A: No.

      If you want to believe that, have fun slaving away building 25,000 size lists and making a measly $500 while I make $100,000+ from one promotion to my 5,000 size lists.

      The answer is simple: what ultimately determines how much money you make from your list IS THE QUALITY OF THE DATA ON YOUR LIST.

      What action did the people take to get onto your list?

      Did they buy something?

      How much did they spend?

      Did they get a freebie, are they collecting free stuff?

      If you gave them a freebie, did they even actually agree to be e-mailed again?

      Did they subscribe to your newsletter?

      If they opted in, was the traffic targetted?

      Who are they exactly?

      What right have they earned to be on YOUR list?

      Think of your list as the VIP AREA of a club that you own, would you let just any Tom, Dick or Harry into the VIP AREA?


      You get my point, QUALIFY the people who come onto your list, understand and know who they are and focus on bringing QUALITY people onto your list.

      People who don't just want endless info and free goodies, people who have money and who WANT to spend their money on what they desire.

      Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying having a great relationship with your list or providing value isn't important - it is.

      But if you wrongly believe that is the determining factor, you will probably fail to make any serious money.

      If you want to make serious money from lists, QUALIFY the people that come onto your list.

      QUALIFY them when they are on your list too.

      Every serious player with quality lists has a BLACKLIST, and they don't hesitate to put people on it who step out of line.

      As I said, think of your list as the VIP AREA of a club that you own.

      Once you have QUALIFIED THEM and allowed them in, then you think about a great relationship, providing value to them - because they have proved they deserve to be in your VIP AREA (i.e your list).
      Signature
      'If you hear a voice within you say "you cannot paint," then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced.' Vincent Van Gogh.
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      • Profile picture of the author thebitbotdotcom
        Originally Posted by oneplusone View Post

        I've made $100,000+ per promotion from lists Ive built which are 4,000 to 6,000 in size.

        Is it solely because I provided massive amounts of valuable content and had a great relationship with the people on my list?

        A: No.

        If you want to believe that, have fun slaving away building 25,000 size lists and making a measly $500 while I make $100,000+ from one promotion to my 5,000 size lists.

        The answer is simple: what ultimately determines how much money you make from your list IS THE QUALITY OF THE DATA ON YOUR LIST.

        What action did the people take to get onto your list?

        Did they buy something?

        How much did they spend?

        Did they get a freebie, are they collecting free stuff?

        If you gave them a freebie, did they even actually agree to be e-mailed again?

        Did they subscribe to your newsletter?

        If they opted in, was the traffic targetted?

        Who are they exactly?

        What right have they earned to be on YOUR list?

        Think of your list as the VIP AREA of a club that you own, would you let just any Tom, Dick or Harry into the VIP AREA?


        You get my point, QUALIFY the people who come onto your list, understand and know who they are and focus on bringing QUALITY people onto your list.

        People who don't just want endless info and free goodies, people who have money and who WANT to spend their money on what they desire.

        Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying having a great relationship with your list or providing value isn't important - it is.

        But if you wrongly believe that is the determining factor, you will probably fail to make any serious money.

        If you want to make serious money from lists, QUALIFY the people that come onto your list.

        QUALIFY them when they are on your list too.

        Every serious player with quality lists has a BLACKLIST, and they don't hesitate to put people on it who step out of line.

        As I said, think of your list as the VIP AREA of a club that you own.

        Once you have QUALIFIED THEM and allowed them in, then you think about a great relationship, providing value to them - because they have proved they deserve to be in your VIP AREA (i.e your list).
        Very true. So often we hear "the money is in the list, the money is in the list" whereas it should read "the money is in the buying/targeted list". Apparently, there is a difference.
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      • Profile picture of the author Jason_Lewis
        Originally Posted by oneplusone View Post

        I've made $100,000+ per promotion from lists Ive built which are 4,000 to 6,000 in size.

        Is it solely because I provided massive amounts of valuable content and had a great relationship with the people on my list?

        A: No.

        If you want to believe that, have fun slaving away building 25,000 size lists and making a measly $500 while I make $100,000+ from one promotion to my 5,000 size lists.

        The answer is simple: what ultimately determines how much money you make from your list IS THE QUALITY OF THE DATA ON YOUR LIST.

        What action did the people take to get onto your list?

        Did they buy something?

        How much did they spend?

        Did they get a freebie, are they collecting free stuff?

        If you gave them a freebie, did they even actually agree to be e-mailed again?

        Did they subscribe to your newsletter?

        If they opted in, was the traffic targetted?

        Who are they exactly?

        What right have they earned to be on YOUR list?

        Think of your list as the VIP AREA of a club that you own, would you let just any Tom, Dick or Harry into the VIP AREA?


        You get my point, QUALIFY the people who come onto your list, understand and know who they are and focus on bringing QUALITY people onto your list.

        People who don't just want endless info and free goodies, people who have money and who WANT to spend their money on what they desire.

        Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying having a great relationship with your list or providing value isn't important - it is.

        But if you wrongly believe that is the determining factor, you will probably fail to make any serious money.

        If you want to make serious money from lists, QUALIFY the people that come onto your list.

        QUALIFY them when they are on your list too.

        Every serious player with quality lists has a BLACKLIST, and they don't hesitate to put people on it who step out of line.

        As I said, think of your list as the VIP AREA of a club that you own.

        Once you have QUALIFIED THEM and allowed them in, then you think about a great relationship, providing value to them - because they have proved they deserve to be in your VIP AREA (i.e your list).

        Great information!

        The logical follow up questions would be -

        How do we go about qualifying them properly?

        What should we be looking for and how do we set ourselves up to make that happen?
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  • Profile picture of the author Bellusccio89
    Hey Jason_Lewis,
    One thing I've learned for list building is to give them value and to be really honest or else you will just transform yourself into an annoying marketer (something you don't like yourself)
    So basically treat others the way you would like to be treated. (simple)

    What does value mean?
    Free gifts or something of value that doesn't need payments like free ebooks with powerful information your list will then be happy and feel valued as a part of your list.

    Think of the customer (listee) first and the profits will follow - Peter Drucker
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    • Profile picture of the author iansinfo
      building a list is all about building trust. One of the best ways I have found that works well is getting referals from satisfied customers
      Signature

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  • Profile picture of the author forfun_cash
    For me it's only one method and it works great for me.

    1. Purchase targeted leads. (sorry can't review source)
    2. Hardsell. Spam my list with clickbank product 1-2 times everyday.

    The opt-out rate is high but not before they purchased something. The revenue generated will be used to buy more leads.

    3. Rinse and repeat.
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    • Profile picture of the author Jason_Lewis
      Originally Posted by forfun_cash View Post

      For me it's only one method and it works great for me.

      1. Purchase targeted leads. (sorry can't review source)
      2. Hardsell. Spam my list with clickbank product 1-2 times everyday.

      The opt-out rate is high but not before they purchased something. The revenue generated will be used to buy more leads.

      3. Rinse and repeat.
      Thanks FF!

      So that's method #1 - aggressive sales emails and constant burn and turn. I can see how a great lead source would make that machine run nicely.

      Is anyone out there going the value and nurture route???
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      • Profile picture of the author Shaun OReilly
        This is not necessarily a case of either/or.

        It is possible to make people offers to buy at the outset
        that truly add value to their lives - even though they
        need to spend money to get that.

        The danger in giving high value information away all the
        time is that you may end up with a list of freebie seekers
        who you've actually conditioned not to buy.

        So, give valuable information up front but also make related
        offers to be able to build the important buyer's list and
        monetize your subscriber list.

        The money is not even in the relationship with your list.
        (They can think you're great and still not buy).

        The money is actually in the behavior of your list.

        Do they buy - or do they not buy?

        Dedicated to your success,

        Shaun
        Signature

        .

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        • Profile picture of the author Jason_Lewis
          Originally Posted by Shaun OReilly View Post

          This is not necessarily a case of either/or.

          It is possible to make people offers to buy at the outset
          that truly add value to their lives - even though they
          need to spend money to get that.

          The danger in giving high value information away all the
          time is that you may end up with a list of freebie seekers
          who you've actually conditioned not to buy.

          So, give valuable information up front but also make related
          offers to be able to build the important buyer's list and
          monetize your subscriber list.

          The money is not even in the relationship with your list.
          (They can think you're great and still not buy).

          The money is actually in the behavior of your list.

          Do they buy - or do they not buy?

          Dedicated to your success,

          Shaun

          Along the same lines as what Oneplusone said in his post.Very good info.

          So it seems as though giving value, in it of itself, is not necessarily 'the key.' It's important to develop a buyer's mentality in our subscribers, as opposed to conditioning them to be freebie seekers.

          Thanks for a great post!
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          • Profile picture of the author Shaun OReilly
            Focus on the behavior of your list rather than
            just the relationship.

            I've been list building since 2003 and have made
            a lot of mistakes in that time.

            I used to think that if you just give away a ton
            of valuable information and hold back on making
            offers until later (so as not to be too pushy) then
            that was the best way to go.

            Though I got sales with the above method, I also
            noticed something odd. Some of the biggest fans
            on my list - didn't necessarily appear on the all
            important buyers list.

            I've tested a number of different approaches and
            the one I recommend now is to still give valuable
            information away - but do it strategically and
            always make an offer of a highly related paid
            product.

            In fact, even once someone subscribes to your
            list, make them an offer on your thank you page
            provided that it adds value to their life and is
            highly related to the opt-in gift.

            Also, design a follow-up series that gives useful
            information but also promotes the first offer to
            turn subscribers into buyers.

            So - focus on their behavior and getting them to
            buy.

            However, the offers must be in their best interests
            by selling them what they need right now - not
            just to make a buck.

            It's about win-win, not win-lose or lose-win.

            Dedicated to your success,

            Shaun
            Signature

            .

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  • Profile picture of the author Zeus66
    It's still about the relationship. Even list members who are your "fans" but haven't bought anything may well do so, eventually. Making them fans is a crucial step, especially these days. You want your subscribers noticing your name as the Sender and looking forward to opening your emails whenever they arrive. That's the behavior you need to develop with your relationship building. You can't know what every single subscriber will want/need at a given time in their individual lives. It's impossible. So you have to go with the next-best option for you, as the list owner. And that's to get as many as possible looking forward to your next email. As their lives inevitably change, along with their circumstances, you'll have a core of constant buyers, a core who never even open your emails, and that great middle section where things fluctuate.

    John
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  • Profile picture of the author fated82
    Really great information here...I have been struggling to find good list nurturing strategy but I think i have found one in here. Thanks!
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    • Profile picture of the author myob
      My top methods for building large lists quickly in many different niches are buying targeted leads, solo ads in targeted ezines, and syndicating articles to targeted ezine publishers. It all begins by targeting, screening and filtering your subscribers.

      All of my lists are heavily pounded to promote products every day, but also include valuable tools, resources, tips and light hearted good humor. There's really not much nurturing going on, but I have very low unsubscribe rates, and mostly active buyers.
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  • Profile picture of the author ReportKing
    Banned
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    • Profile picture of the author James Foster
      Originally Posted by ReportKing View Post

      I've been killing it with ad swaps. After doing some math, I have been averaging 20-25 sign ups per day (some days I get 10, some days 50) from ad swaps and paying roughly $.02 per lead.
      That's great. It sounds like you're building a big list... but are they making you money or are you just happy to have a big list?
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  • Profile picture of the author Dave Lianelli
    There are just two types of subscribers that I really, really focus on - till now.

    As you can see I've just launched a free WSO and we'll see what that's going to bring for me.

    Those two types are: Endorsed Traffic and Proven Buyers

    You can get the first through running an affiliate program. But what I find more rewarding is actually building relationships with marketers that are at the same level or just one step higher.

    (Level explained: let's say you got 1,000 subscribers. Then aim for someone who got around 5-10k subscribers)

    Become friends with them by actually being a good person, help out and promote them and their products. Eventually they'll endorse you in return. And that's the best kind of traffic you can get!

    Proven Buyers is my other focus. I'm doing some integration marketing with several of my partners. They're all placing my ads on their Thank You pages or mentioning me in their products. That brings me traffic that has already bought something.

    Most of those ads promote a paid product, on which I give 100% commissions. That means extra $$$ for the person they came from, and proven buyers (of my very own products) on my email list.
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  • Profile picture of the author MISylvia
    From another perspective, I'm on a lot of lists. And I do buy - too often. My major annoyances are deceptive headlines and emails that just say, "go here, You'll love it." Then there are some people that offer such good training, I save every email and even back them up. I do always look for good information.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rod Cortez
    Originally Posted by Jason_Lewis View Post

    ...............What are your best tips and techniques for keeping your subscribers happy while still being able to generate huge revenues for your business?
    My best tip is to ask my subscribers what they want. I am shocked that most list builders don't do this. And when and if they do, they tend to go about it the wrong way. A few of the good guys comes to mind. I received some emails last year where the marketer wanted some honest feedback on something.

    I even CALL my customers (with their permission) and will have a mini-focus group session with them, asking them what they're looking for or why did they purchase my product or why they downloaded the free report or audio.

    This one thing has allowed me to compete in some pretty competitive niches. People are pretty smart and they know when you actually genuinely care about their problems / issues. I give away more free reports and audios than anyone else in one particular niche that comes to mind and that's probably why the Long Term Value (LTV) of my customer base is extremely high.

    Though I'm a fairly aggressive marketer, I balance it well with valuable, usable content and it has shown in my conversions. Once you obtain a certain amount of core customers who will buy from you again and again, you'll actually be able to make passive income for many, many years. I call this critical mass.

    Focus on the long-term growth of your business and just like the tortoise, you'll eventually pass all these quick buck artist who just seem to hop from shell corporation to shell corporation and from niche to niche.

    RoD
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  • Profile picture of the author Fazal Mayar
    There are so many techniques, the possibilities are endless. But whatever list you have, try to give free information and you can send out promotions once or twice a week.
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    Blogger at RicherOrNot.com (Make Money online blog but also promoting ethical internet marketing)

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  • Profile picture of the author Bruce Smith
    First of all you need to sit down and look at your whole email marketing strategy and look at it from your subscribers' point of view. Imagine you were a subscriber to your list. Would you find the messages interesting and informative or would you quickly get bored of them and end up hitting the unsubscribe button?

    It's all too easy to get drawn into the potentially lucrative world of email marketing and see the dollar signs flash before your eyes, but the problem is that you will only generate substantial profits if you have a highly responsive list. Therefore you need to make sure that you provide your list with good quality content so that they not only open your emails, but they actually look forward to receiving them.

    If you can provide them with good content then you can get away with offering sales messages every so often. Furthermore you will also find that if you actually recommend a particular product or you sell your own product, then you will generate a lot of sales because you have earned the trust of your subscribers.

    ~Bruce
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  • Profile picture of the author rcritchett
    Awesome thread, great answers.

    Since there isn't one.. I'll just say the one that I think, based on analysis, has gotten me the best results.

    BEING HUMAN.
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    • Profile picture of the author RichMag
      Originally Posted by rcritchett View Post

      Awesome thread, great answers.

      Since there isn't one.. I'll just say the one that I think, based on analysis, has gotten me the best results.

      BEING HUMAN.
      Great, Great, Great response. If you really want to buid trust with your list try this. Before you promote a product, how about actually buying it first to see if it is crap or not. If it is, tell them why you feel that why. If it is a good product write a solid review of it and then promote it.

      I bet there are a lot of marketers out there that never buy a product that they are promoting. They throw out an email ("Buy this, it is Great!!!") with an affiliate link. Thats a good way to burn through your list.

      Just be human (as stated above) and be as honest as you can with your list. You would be amazed at how far that will go with your subscribers.

      Rich
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      • Profile picture of the author kaweenbee1
        I am just now trying my hand at building a list. When I sign on for someone else's list and then I am constantly bombarded by offers that are referred, I feel that I cannot trust any of these offers. Maybe it's because I am in the internet marketing business. I will go the route of providing my list with valuable information and building trust.
        Kaweenbee
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  • Profile picture of the author mikede555
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    • Profile picture of the author Nightengale
      List-building is tremendously important and its importance really can't be overstated. In fact, Andrew Carnegie, America's first billionaire said: "Take away my factories, my railroads, all my assets and wealth, but leave me my customer lists and I'll have it all back and more in very short order."

      Anyway, here are 11 list-building strategies for you. Pick 2 or 3 of the easiest for you to do now and work on those. Don't try to do everything at once. Once you get some success, then build on that.

      1. Create free, live teleseminar on your topic.

      I don't know about you, but for me, it's a lot easier to yap about a topic for an hour than it is to sit down and write a 10 or 20 page report. (Should I have admitted that? I'm a copywriter. On second thought, please just keep that between you and me, ok?)

      Advertise your free teleseminar on your own website (it can be your bait for the opt in), in your own e-zine, in other e-zines and Web sites of targeted associations and organizations (join these orgs if necessary), and anywhere you'd usually advertise your business.

      2. Turn that same content into an audio class.

      Don't create more work than is necessary here. Simplicity is key.

      You can record several different live teleseminars and pick the best one or simply do a recording of you talking into your computer. Again, don't SOUND like that's what you're doing! Pretend you're sitting down with a friend for coffee and explaining your topic.

      Post the recording on your website and require that people opt-in to get access. (This will also free up a lot of your time when you're ready to move away from live calls.)

      3. Turn it into a special report.

      Take your call, have it transcribed and cleaned up and post it as a free report. MUCH easier than staring at a blank MS Word screen, trust me! 10-30 pages is fine. End your report with a promotion for your product or service. Add tracking links throughout the report so that you know where those clicks came from. I know 1 Shopping Cart offers link tracking.

      (See? Same piece of content, 3 different promotions. Ok, marching on...)

      4. Turn that same content into a live talk.

      When you're ready, you can start giving talks to your target market. But use the same info and format that you already have and just tweak it for your audience and venue.

      Locate groups of your target market. Speak for FREE or $$$$. Sell your products and services at the event. (I believe the host usually takes a commission)

      For those times when you're not allowed to "pitch" or promote in any way, use the GIVEAWAY DRAWING strategy to build your list. (This works best if you have a physical product with you.)

      When you're done with your talk, smile and ask who would like a FREE [insert your product here]. Hosts and promoters usually don't have a problem with this (it makes them look good to their audience) too since everyone loves to get something for free.

      Describe your product (to let them know what they're going to get), let the audience know that everyone who enters your drawing will be added to your list and receive a complimentary subscription to your e-zine.

      Pass a fishbowl or hat around and have everyone drop their card in. Pick a card and give away your product. Someone gets a free product and YOU get everyone in the room onto your list.

      [/b]5. Be a frequent teleseminar guest.[/b]

      You've already located groups of your target market. Offer to be a guest on their teleseminars. If they're not holding teleseminars, then offer to host a free call for them and give their audience great free information and give the partnering organization a commission on all referred sales. If possible, negotiate to get a copy of the registration list as part of the deal. Better yet, direct their registrants to YOUR site and have the registration be an opt-in to YOUR list.

      6. Advertise in other e-zines, websites and publications.

      Too many people (and IMers in particular) simply don't spend enough time or $$$$ building their list. They're cheap and want everything for free. Big mistake. Your list is your biggest asset, the one that will feed you for life so be willing to invest in it. If you're tracking like you should be, you'll know exactly how many sales came from whatever activity and so you'll know exactly how much you can afford to spend. Direct Marketing 101.

      Choose publications your target market reads and advertise your free (whatever your opt-in bait is), NOT your product or service. Your primary goal is to get them on your list. THEN you can sell them.

      7. Plaster your articles all over the Web.

      Ask the article marketers here who know: article marketing pays. Recycle every article you write for your e-zine and submit them to appropriate e-zines and article directories.

      8. Attend live events.

      Look around for conferences and seminars with leaders in your industry and that your target market attends. Pay more to sponsor an exhibit and look for unique ways to get noticed. (One Internet marketer I know of planned a party at an event she attended and invited everyone from the conference hosts and leaders to the attendees. Simply by virtue of the fact that she's planned and hosted it, she was seen as very gracious and people were very open to here after that.)

      9. Give great testimonials.

      Give generous and honest testimonials for other people's products and services. as them if you can be featured on their websites, along with your URL. They may very well agree to this and even though that URL probably won't be a hyperlink, people can still find you.

      Remember that results-based testimonials are most likely to be featured since they sell the most.

      10. Go viral for a rush of subscribers.

      You might follow Scott Stratten's example and create a short Flash movie with an opt-in box at the end. He did The Time Movie (which I believe is still up) and got an insane number of people on his list in a very short time. The catch to that is that his movie (and thus his list) was very general and not very targeted. But you can get creative and see what you can do to make it more targeted.

      11. Use a book to build your list.

      I think that most people have dreamed of writing a book and becoming a famous author at some point (myself included). But the truth is, you're not very likely to get rich writing a book. In fact, you're not likely to make any money writing a book at all (unless you're direct-response oriented and self-publish).

      But a book is a GREAT LIST-BUILDER! It gives you tremendous credibility and people don't typically throw away books. They'll throw away your business card and your brochure. They'll click away from your site. But they're not likely to throw away your book.

      There are a lot of options for self-publishing. Don't believe anyone who tells you that a traditional publishing house offers an author more credibility than self-publishing. People want to know about the book, if it's any good and who the author is and what makes him qualified to write the book. Nobody ever asks who the publisher is.

      Obviously, this isn't a first step for a newbie, but it's definitely something to keep in the back of your mind. There are lots of options for self-publishing: everything from going it alone (check out Dan Poynter's Self-Publishing Manual -- a FABULOUS book (I own a couple of copies) to people offering coaching programs and done-for you services designed to help get your book out of your head and into print.

      Check out Sophfronia Scott at The Book Sistah or Christine Kloser at Love Your Life Publishing Get Your Book Done I've never worked with either one of them but they were recommended to me by people I trust.

      And... (drum roll please!) my first book Boost Business Online: How to Attract More Clients by Leveraging the Power of E-mail and the Internet was just published this past Nov. I'm SO psyched about out!

      There you are: 11 list-building strategies to keep you busy and get your list growing. Just keep your target market in mind: WHO are they and what problem does your product or service solve for them?

      Once you know that, you can focus on generating qualified traffic. But that's a whole 'nuther topic and I need to go to bed.

      Hope that helps!

      Michelle

      P.S. I never claim to have an original thought. (I'm only good at repeating what I've heard elsewhere.) This comes directly from my marketing mentors.
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      • Profile picture of the author MajorSuccess
        Someone said the other about list's in general: If you know ratio of MC/Visa versus AmEx people on your list, what kind of list do you have? A Buyers List, right?
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  • Profile picture of the author BruceWood
    These techniques are so varied... one interesting observation is that those who buy lead lists also seem to have the most aggressive email strategies, and those who rely on ads and capture pages and free offers are more prone to soft-sell. It makes me wonder which group is making more money?
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  • Profile picture of the author jasons
    Originally Posted by Jason_Lewis View Post

    Email Marketing has been and still is one of the most powerful marketing strategies around.

    While an effective campaign can produce HUGE dividends, an ill-conceived campaign tends to produce astronomical opt-out rates and a slew of irritated subscribers.

    Unfortunately, we're seeing more and more of the latter.

    There are far too many marketers out there who don't even pretend to mask the fact that all they're concerned with is the sale.

    BUY - BUY - BUY!!!

    Where is the value?

    Where is the concern for what I, the subscriber, actually wants and needs?

    Where is the benefit - to me???

    That being said, I know there are a lot of email marketers out there having a great deal of success and it would be extremely beneficial to all of us as a community to hear some of the things you're doing to help strengthen your campaigns.

    What are your best tips and techniques for keeping your subscribers happy while still being able to generate huge revenues for your business?
    Well I think it all comes down to relationships. Here is what I would do but this is just my opinion.

    Give 75% great content 25% your own promo's and make relationships with other marketers to by saying I'll put you on my thank you page if I can give my subscribers and customers a great deal with your product.
    Treat your list like your family advertise you great content through all channels mp3, video, pdf, blog posts, not just email But I'm talking great content stuff people would pay for around 2 times a week with no promo.

    Set up good sales funnels and great content and show people you give a #### about there success. I love teaching people cool stuff and if you just become a gushing giver. You will make cash hand over fist just because people like you. But I think it's not about selling and more about relationships.

    Try this out let me know how it works!

    1# Create a squeeze page about what you are going to end up selling but give great content how to.

    2# Follow up with more steps for 7 days giving great content on what the person optin in for.

    3# On the 4th-7th day give the prospect a great deal on one of your products to move them from the prospect to the buyers list.

    4# Treat your buyers like Gold an repeat the process but this time ask them via survey what they want to learn next.

    5# Then create products your customers want to buy and get paid.

    This is just my to sense.

    Cheers

    Jay
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  • Profile picture of the author Dave Lianelli
    There could be entire $1997 courses be written about list building and making profits from email lists. Actually, there already are...

    Back in the old days, in 2005 or 2006 someone named Craig Perrine released one of the very first high-end courses. It was called The List Profit System. Contained 3 HUGE workbooks and 20+ CD's. It cost $997.

    And you know what, since that time - nothing really inspiring has been added to newer courses by other companies and marketers. It's only been translated to modern day technologies, like social networking and such.

    Now on to building profits with your list. There are just a very few things to do:

    1) Get more subscribers
    2) Sell them more
    3) Sell them more often

    I'd recommend working in advance. Thus using an autoresponder to deliver your messages. Setup entire funnels with email sequences to sell your products. And make sure that no single lead ever gets lost (not getting any emails anymore).

    In another thread I posted yesterday you can see a good sample of a funnel and more things you can track and improve on:
    http://www.warriorforum.com/make-mon...-business.html

    -Dave
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  • Profile picture of the author morsh
    gotta subscribe this, got many helpful information
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    • Great tips, I'll give 2 that worked the best out of dozens for me:

      1. Content live events
      2. Content webinars/teleseminars

      I have people on my list for years who got exposure to the list from content.

      So the key is to give good value when you meet the person and if you sell from time to time no problem but they won't stay if it's all sales and people are ok with sales as long as they get more content they can use and implement.

      In any case that is kind of what I noticed of the years.
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