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Screwed Up My List Last time - How Do You Really Make A Profitable List?

by Ernie Lo
11 replies
As some of you may know, I grew a list of 3,000 a few years ago and lets
just say it was an absolute failure.

  • Barely anyone cared
  • Barely anyone bought my pitches
  • Barely anyone opened my emails I'm talking less than 2-3%
We can safely say I screwed it up big time. Now I don't think it was my email
copy that was the problem. I think it was more to me having a rubbish list
(giveaway subscribers mainly) and me never having a real plan.

I had no plan with the list, I just emailed when I felt like it...had no structure either...big mistake I know.

I'm at a stage where I'm finally making some money online every day and
have the right mindset these days. I feel like I have valuable info to share these days too.

I think I'm ready to make a new list and expand my income


So now we come to my question. Are lists really as good as people say they
are? Are they really worth dancing around and drooling over? OK that's not
my real question. My question really is the following:

"how on earth do I make a profitable list?!"

I mean spare me the "you need to offer value and build relationship" drill, I
know all that already. But I need specifics.

Should I create a few $1 WSO' reports and build a list that way?

Should I build just a paid list?

Should I once again try and build the biggest list of freebie seekers I can,
like last time?

Any advice in this field will be greatly appreciated.
#list #make #profitable #screwed #time
  • Profile picture of the author grannywriteswell
    Originally Posted by Ernie Lonardo View Post

    My question really is the following:

    "how on earth do I make a profitable list?!"

    I mean spare me the "you need to offer value and build relationship" drill, I
    know all that already. But I need specifics.

    Should I create a few $1 WSO' reports and build a list that way?

    Should I build just a paid list?

    Should I once again try and build the biggest list of freebie seekers I can,
    like last time?

    Any advice in this field will be greatly appreciated.
    I know you don't want to hear "it depends on what you are selling" but you have kinda answered your own question.

    If you offer a couple of $1 WSO's you are going to get interested people who can afford a dollar

    If you create a list of buyers then you will have a list of people that have a strong chance of buying from you again if they were happy with their first purchase

    If you build a paid list, or use the giveaway idea then you are going to get a lot of freebie seekers who have not proven they even have a credit card, let alone will whip one out and buy from you.

    You know your products and you know the people those products are best suited for - those are the people that should be on your list

    All the best
    Ellen
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  • Profile picture of the author warriortx
    give them free useful stuff for 6 weeks once every week
    on the 7 week sell them something thats going to make the
    first offers pop.
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    • Profile picture of the author Robert Puddy
      Originally Posted by warriortx View Post

      give them free useful stuff for 6 weeks once every week
      on the 7 week sell them something thats going to make the
      first offers pop.
      I guarantee if you do this then on week 7 your going to get a whole lot of people upset and a stream of unsubscribes.

      Send them useful stuff by all means but make sure there is at least a pitch in the PS related to the good stuff your sending in every email you send.

      getting the most from a list is as much about training them to click on links in your emails as it is about setting up a loving relatioship with them.

      If you spend 6 weeks training them to expect free useful stuff then when you make your pitch they are going to be get bent out of shape.

      spend 6 weeks Training them to click on (pitch) links that are related to the goodstuff in the emails
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  • Profile picture of the author wcmylife
    I think you got to begin with the end in mind from the beginning or atleast have some type of objective. You cannot gather subscribers from every niche and expect an amazing response when you push a particular product.

    You have to build a list that is interested in what you have to offer. Initially something free is good but if all you do is create a pool of people who expect things for free that your in big trouble.

    Like Rich Schefren says - each and every interaction with your list must bring them closer to the sale - that's how you design your auto-responder copy.
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  • Profile picture of the author JeedoAquino
    Hi Ernie,

    In response to your query I suggest you sign up on Jason Fladlien's list he has some AWESOME tips about building a responsive and profitable niche:

    Jason Fladlien's Blog

    And no, that's not an affiliate link, just wanted to help you out. If you might be curious, I'm starting to build a list myself (for the first time) and at the same time launching my business platform. It's in my link for the curious ^_^

    Hope this helps.
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  • Profile picture of the author Intermission
    I came to the forum just now to ask pretty much the same question, Ernie. I have a relatively unresponsive list and want to see what I can do to turn that around.

    So thanks, Ernie, and thanks to JeedoAquino for Fladlien's info. That looks like just what I need to go through.
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  • Profile picture of the author Shaun OReilly
    Originally Posted by Ernie Lonardo View Post

    "how on earth do I make a profitable list?!"
    The most important decision you'll make is which niche
    and subject area you're going to focus on.

    (This will determine the income potential of your list).

    You build a profitable list by finding out what your list
    and market wants and then you build a solid case for
    why they should buy it from you.

    Here's one time-tested approach:

    Develop a product funnel and plan to move people from
    being a free subscriber to an entry product buyer and
    then ascend them from there for repeat purchases at
    higher and higher price points.

    If you didn't make much before, it's simply because you
    weren't offering people what they wanted in the way
    they wanted it.

    Give and sell people what they want and you'll have a
    profitable list.

    Dedicated to mutual success,

    Shaun
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    .

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

      You build a profitable list by finding out what your list
      and market wants and then you build a solid case for
      why they should buy it from you.
      Thanks for the reply Shaun, I may be overthinking all this...I just want to get it right this time.

      I want to have another crack at building a "make money online" list. But I'm not sure the best way of building it.

      Would you recommend building separate lists based on those interested in adsense, another interested in traffic generation etc...or just one large list?


      And finally how exactly do you recommend getting people on the list. Should I focus on only building a paid list or would you go the free list route still.

      Thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author fated82
    I will look at how targeted the list is....you may have a huge list but the list are not at all targeted, so make sure they are targeted.

    Create a sub list so that you now have a very targeted list.

    Second, I believe in sending highly targeted message to my list daily. The key hee is to send quality content and recommendations in the message. Not just a sales pitch but valuable content too.

    Lastly, once awhile send a questionnaire to find out what needs they have and how you can create new products to fill that need.
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  • Profile picture of the author JeedoAquino
    Hi Ernie,

    If I may add, you should use both, paid and free. The most important thing is you BUILD A RELATIONSHIP with your list, ask them what their needs are and attend to them. Also, don't be afraid to REMOVE those on your list that aren't responding at all. A list of 1,000 responsive buyers is a whole lot better than a list of 5,000 who doesn't know you even exist.

    Here's one idea. Send out a survey for their most recent challenge in online marketing, is it web design, ftp, setting up a site? Pick out the most common issues and build a report to fix those issues. Then, after the report, recommend an excellent product that will complement your freebie. Make sure the product is something that you really use and recommend, when you are passionate about a product and swear on it, people will know.

    Just my 2 cents.
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  • Profile picture of the author Lee Wilson
    Originally Posted by Ernie Lonardo View Post

    • Barely anyone cared
    • Barely anyone bought my pitches
    • Barely anyone opened my emails I'm talking less than 0.5%
    Is that 0.5% a typo or for real? If so, seems to me you need figure out why that was before anything else. No one cared because there was no one. 0.5% of 3000 is 15 people opening your email. Even a terrible list to the wrong people I would expect better than that, at least for the first few follow ups.

    If the decline was gradual then it would probably indicate the wrong content, if it was from the off then I would guess the follow ups were completely unrelated to the original offer. Did you check for technical issues, were they actually receiving your emails? Could be a thousand and one things but if you still have the email series, headlines, the offer, squeeze page etc, i'd go back and have a good look at where it was going wrong. Either way, your list had already failed regardless of the content, in effect, you only had a list of about 15, not 3000.
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