What is a 'list'?

Hi,

The "list" is your database of opt-in email addresses that you acquire through list building. Basically, requesting that a visitor give you their email address and permission to use it (which then goes on the "list").

Email marketing

What is opt-in e-mail? - A Word Definition From the Webopedia Computer Dictionary

How to Grow Your Opt-In List: The Ultimate Guide

A list is a group of people with a common interest.

An e-mail list is a group of people who have a common
interest and have given you their permission to contact
them via e-mail.

Dedicated to mutual success,

Shaun

I'm sure you've happened upon--or been sent a link to--a website that offers you some freebie in exchange for your name and email address, correct? Well, when you enter your name and email address they're entered into the website owner's database from which they can then send out emails to everyone who has opted into the list to get the freebie.

List building is simply the act of growing such a list and there's plenty of ways to do it but the basics are just what I said above: set up a one page website with a freebie offer and an opt-in form. Then just send traffic to it.

The "money is in the list" but only in a list of buyers (generally). In order to get that list of buyers you could modify the above plan and offer a product for $1 - $10 and anyone who buys will then be put on your email list. These people will be more likely to buy from you in the future, whether it's your own products or affiliate products.

To make those sales, you send out emails to your email list that you've built from your website.

It's obviously more involved than what I've explained but those are the basics. Check out the WSO section for a number of ways to build a list and profit from it.

If you do a forum search for "email marketing" or "list building," you will come up with some very educational results.

Basically, when someone comes to your site, you offer them something in return for them submitting their email and "signing up" for your list (this is just one of many methods).

Once you have the list, you email information on whatever it is that they are interested it. If they signed up on your gardening website, email them about gardening. If they signed up on your pet website, email them about pets. Over time. you will build trust with them and can then offer them products.

That's kind of simplified, but it's the general idea.

Hi TheDuckDev,

As noted above in various ways, a list is a group of people (often called subscribers) who sign up to receive information from you. This information comes in the form of emails.

Just like a magazine has a list of subscribers or readers who sign up or buy something from them. In a similar fashion, people who have websites/blogs/etc have a box or pop up or something on their website where they try and get readers to sign up for.

Often, it's completely free. And not just free, but they get something in exchange for signing up. A bonus. It can be a free report or a series of emails talking about whatever topic they're interested in.

You'll read or hear "the list" often referred to as a "house list" or "subsriber list" or "email list"

Basically, you have a database of names and email addresses that once people sign up, they belong to you. Now, they can unsubscribe at any time if they don't like the information you are sending them, or they feel it's not worth their time, etc.

With this list of names, you now have what is essentially "free" advertising. You can simply send out one email and reach every single person on your list. There are small monthly costs to do this for you, companies like Aweber, iContact and many more. Ususally about 19 bucks a month and sometimes you can find deals where the first month is $1.

They manage/store the database for you and this list of names.

When I say manage, they dont' send out the emails, they basically "hold" them for you and send them out whenever you login, enter an email and click send. You can export this list to a file on your computer and have it there too. But you still need a service to send the emails out.

You will hear a word or term called an "autoresponder." Which basically means that you can automate the process and "respond" to the people on your list. Respond as in contact them as often as you wish, and do so automatically. Hence the word, autoresponder.

You can write emails (or have them written for you) and enter them into your autoresponder (like with companies mentioned above) and they go out automatically. You can determine if you want them to go out daily, weekly, every other day, whatever.

If you have 100 emails written and entered into the system, and set it to go out twice a week, you'll be contacting your list for almost an entire year! Some have enough emails to last them two years.

If you have a large enough list of names and email addresses (and you don't need the names, just the addresses, but most times people ask for both, to personalize the emails, such as "Hi, John! I'm writing because I came across the hottest new breakthrough in internet marketing, and the results it is getting is amazing..." yada yada yada)

Basically, if, say, a 1000 people comes to your site. And 1% buys something. You've "lost" the other 99% who didn't do anything. But if you offer something for free on your site, information they want or are interested in, you can sometimes get 5%, 10% even 50% and higher depending on all kinds of other factors like "squeeze pages", quality of the visitors, etc. of the people to sign up.

Let's say, out of that 1000 visitors we talked about just a sec ago, you get 10% to sign up on your list. Now you have 100 people on a list that you can contact over and over and try to get them to buy. You'll find that this results in A LOT higher conversions in the long run as they get to know and trust you, or even just from seeing the offer over and over. Many people don't buy the first time, or they don't have the money yet, or they were going to but got distracted and went to do something else in the house and someone else jumped on the computer and went to a different page.

With them on your list, though, you can continue to contact them and not "lose" them if they leave your website without ordering.

This is why, among many other reasons, people say "the money is in the list"

Can you imagine people with lists of 10,000 or 100,000 and higher. There are plenty of marketers with lists that high and more. A lot more.

And if you've loaded up your autoresponder with compelling email messages, promoting your own products or affiliate products (which are products that someone else has created, but you promote them to your list or on your website in return for a percentage of the sale) you can be in bed in the middle of the night, traveling to an exotic location, sipping sweet iced tea like your grandmother made while watching football or whatever it is that you do, and this whole time your website is collecting names and addresses, the emails are going out as often as you specify, and you are collecting money every way as your bank account fattens and the bank teller is doing double takes as she glances at the amount of your (ever increasing) deposits

All sound good?

Build a list. Or twenty. Send them offers.

And make lots and lots of money!

IMPORTANT. Please take care of your list. These are real people with real lives. If you care for them, meaning if you don't just send them junk, if you value them and truly recommend good products, try and steer them away from the bad and help them to achieve whatever it is they signed up for, they will treat you like gold.

As my friend Gary Bencivenga has said, "treat your customers by the golden rule and they will reward you with much more gold."

I wish you all the best!

Loyd

Lots of great advice here (especially the last post). Thank you very much.