What are the essential things to know about list building?

Yes you would fill it with people who want freebies, good thinking. Not a lot of people realize that when they first start.

A better way to go would be to create a product and sell that and build a list using that product. Then you can use it to promote affiliate products and also make more products and promote them to your list.

first thing i will say is "slow and steady wins the race"

dont go head first into it thinking that your going to see massive results overnight

it does work very well but it does take a bit of time

make sure you have:

squeeze page
high value free video course/reports to build your list
low priced product (optional to start with)
a basic sales funnel
targeted traffic

that in a nutshell is all you need

you can make tweaks and changes as you go and your sales funnel will expand as you grow your business

paul

the best way to succeed in IM is to see it as a business and treat your visitors(customers) on a professional level.

if you want to make it simple, just join membership that offers you complete squeeze and then buy solo ads. See my thread here :
http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...-i-newbie.html
oh, ya, get close with your subscribers will increase the conversion
I hope it helps

regards

Ivana

Here are the three essentials, from my experience (I think understanding these three Big Issues, as an overview, before thinking about any "operative details" at all, can help anyone) ...

1. Don't depend entirely on SEO traffic, to build your list. For two main reasons ...

• SEO traffic is low-quality: it converts worse, opts in less, and buys less often, than traffic from almost any other source (I suspect this is a "little secret" unknown to many people whose measurable, analyzable quantities of traffic have only ever come from SEO!)

• as so many Warriors have been discovering over the last year - some of them to their very great cost, with all the Panda updates and other changes going on - a business that depends on Google for its primary traffic is only ever going to be one algorithm-change away from a potential accident (or even a potential disaster)

2. Don't assume that the biggest list necessarily equates with the biggest income: this can easily be untrue, and often is, and there are good and valid and reliable reasons for that.

3. Don't assume that a squeeze page is the only way to build a list. It isn't. It's often not the best way (after all the lengthy split-testing I've done in separate, unrelated niches, I stopped using squeeze pages for list-building altogether when I eventually worked out what they were costing me - and it was far from easy to work out).

How well you do, financially, in the long term, from list-building, is fundamentally about "a process of continuity". Personally, after all the testing I could be bothered to do, in a few different niches, without getting significant unsubscriptions and so on just from "testing", I now send email on days 1, 3, 6, 10 and 15 and thereafter at 5/6-day intervals (never 7-day intervals, because of the "same day of the week" problem).

I think many of the most worthwhile ways of keeping people on your list (as well as keeping them opening and reading your emails) relate to things you need to do before people opt-in, not after. It's about setting expectations, establishing reliability and credibility, and earning people's trust.

These things all vary according to the traffic demographics, the opt-in incentive and maybe even the niche, too.

These are the kind of things I normally suggest to people who ask ...

(i) Explain really clearly to people that they're going to get regular emails from you, in addition to the "free report" or whatever carrot you're giving them in exchange for their email address;

(ii) Explain openly roughly how often you'll be sending these emails, and stick to what you've said;

(iii) Explain what information/materials will be covered in your emails, and why (obviously making the whole thing sound as attractive/appealing as possible);

(iv) Make sure that the "free report" is designed specifically to make sure that its recipients open and read the subsequent email series (failure to do this is a seriously missed opportunity which leads to unnecessarily low open-rates and less income);

(v) Always use a reliable autoresponder with good deliverability, never a free one which may send spammy junk of its own out with your emails (opt in yourself, under a few email addresses, and see how they look and whether they reliably hit your inboxes);

(vi) Make sure there's as good a match as possible, in tone, style and presentation, between (a) what attracted people to your site in the first place, (b) what they saw when they got there, and (c) what you send by email - this can make a huge difference to keeping people subscribed and opening/reading your emails, because continuity matters;

(vii) As well as all the more obvious things like reminding people who you are, why they're receiving it, how to unsubscribe and so on, put a little "feeder" in each email for the next one, so that it'll be expected and welcomed when it arrives (can also make a big difference);

(viii) Don't use people's first names when you send them autoresponder emails: marketers (often) love to do this, or at least the ones who are naive enough to imagine that people think it "makes it look more personal" - it does no such thing. People aren't stupid and they know that it's automated and means nothing. Customers often think it "just makes you sound like an insurance salesman" and it puts them on their guard - exactly the opposite of what you ought to be doing. (You can also build bigger lists by not asking for their names - an email address is all you need, and more people will opt in if that's all you ask for);

(ix) Don't try to give your emails "clever"/"tricky" subject-lines, or be misleading in any way in their titles: not only does this not work at all, but if anyone ever complains about it, your autoresponder company may (rightly) drop you like a stone;

(x) Don't send unnecessary "broadcasts".

Selling products and giving away free products both have pros and cons when it comes to building your list.

But don't be afraid of the freebie model because many of them will eventually become buyers.

Giving away free products will also build your list faster and enable you to start leveraging that list (ie-selling solo ads, JVs, adswapping, etc.).

Hey EL,
Welcome to the WF.

I cant take too long on this, but I have to say I agree with Alexa, up above.

Don't rely on SEO exclusively.. that can be a long slow process.

If you want to build a list quickly, create some form of "lead magnet" and squeeze page.
Take some time on this.. you don't want to give away something substandard..that's not a good way to start off a relationship with a reader / subscriber.

Then, if you have a little cash, invest in running a few solo ads.

Optionally, turn your lead magnet into a WSO.. it doesn't have to be a paid WSO either..even a free WSO can offer great value to subscribers, and really build your list quickly.

Yes..these are people who are picking up freebies.. that's ok. Treat them well.. don't worry about that.

Eventually, when you have a bit of traction, create some paid WSOs..then you have a buyers list as well.

There's a couple pointers.
I hope that helps.
All the best,
Patrick

You need to remember this thing called "FREE MODEL STRATEGY".

By far, the easiest way to build a list is by giving free stuffs - this has been done since >10 years ago I suppose and people are still doing it now...and will be doing it in the future. Of course, give QUALITY free stuffs and not lousy e-book content.

And...remember this also. Money is NOT in the list.

MONEY IS IN THE RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR LIST!

All the best =)

Absolutely agree with (almost) everything said so far.

I'll add some emphasis to 2 major points:

1. Your list is a list of people. A lot of people treat their list like one big blob of email addresses. The truth is that each and every email on your list is a person. And each person is on your list for a reason. What do they want? How can you help them get it?

2. Everything is a value trade. The more value you can provide to the people on your list, both when they sign up (your squeeze page bribe) and the in the emails you send out, the more value you'll get back in return. Always ask yourself how you can be providing more value and help out more of your subscribers.

Aside from those 2 points. I think it's super important to see what everyone else in your market is up to.

Start a swipe file of squeeze pages, thank you pages and emails. That way you can see what other people are saying and giving away to get people onto their lists. You can use this swipe file for inspiration.

Just keep your eyes open and you'll see plenty of squeeze pages and lead generation happening everywhere you go on the net! (Doesn't even have to be in your niche to give you some good inspiration)

Most important thing-offer VALUE to your list or you can be sure you'll have high opt-outs.

Everyone gives away free stuff and most of the time its not worth reading. My research tells me that lots of people have a separate email account that is a throw away account for these "Free" offers. A list built with this type of prospects produces no future sales. Its not the size of the list its the quality.

A little out of the box thinking: Have the small pdf written with valuable information. Hell we put the first and second pages on separate URLs with the Read More tag making them click from the first page to the second page.

When they get to the end of the second page another Read More tag... On the third page put up your opt in/squeeze page that says: "You must be a subscriber to continue past this point. Put up reasons why they want to be a subscriber, how your going to send them emails about new important things. The article must be dripping with valuable information to make them "beg" to subscribe.

I do this in the hunting niche. Those redneck boys... can't put their name and email in the box fast enough. They are future buyers and we get our emails read. In this niche I believe I could shorten the process... on page one: You Must Be A Redneck if.... Read More.... You have to subscribe to go beyond this point... LOL

One more thing... Don't make it more complicated than it has to be.

Here's a basic overview of the process that I personally use for building a list. It is
by no means the only or the best way for building a list, but it works perfectly fine.

Step 1: Create a squeeze page

Step 2: Create a free gift

Step 3: Sign up with an autoresponder

Step 4: Create a new list and opt-in form in autoresponder

Step 5: Connect opt-in form to your squeeze page

Step 6: Drive traffic to your squeeze page

Some have suggested using paid offers to build a list, and it works perfectly fine as
well, though I find this is the simplest system for newcomers who don't know much
about IM at all.

I'll jump in real quick on this one:

- Don't "overmessage" your list, send them a message periodically instead of constantly/too much. One thing I learnt very fast over the years is that my lists appreciate way more a periodic email from me rather than if I were to harass them with incessant emails.

- The more value you give them, FOR FREE, the more your list will love you and respond to you when it is time for you to bring in revenues from it.

Some tips:

Create an O.T.O.
Offer an affiliate program.
Do adswaps and buy solo ads.
Offer a free report with your website listed in it and
share it as much as you can. You can share it here,
at places such as scribd etc..

Really building a list is not as difficult as some people
say it is.

Good luck.

Best regards,
Johnny

Hi..
I have ever discusses about it in :
http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...-i-newbie.html
just visit it

HI Alexa,

I'm confused by this post of you: "3. Don't assume that a squeeze page is the only way to build a list. It isn't." How can i get subscribers without a squeeze page?!

thanks in advance, Schwan

Two of the most important things to remember for long-term success with email marketing are:

1. Provide fresh, high-quality content to those on your list.
2. Stay in contact on a regular basis with those on your list.

A squeeze page is there to give a visitor an incentive for keeping the communication lines open. Look at Cosco as a great example of a squeeze page. You enter the store they have free samples. In your free sample you will want to blow the person away with value. You want the person thinking... "If they give this much away for free I wonder what I will get when I pay for something." Build trust by offering value first. When people learn to trust you they will think of you as a friend. People buy from people they trust and like.

Tips: Just read all posts by Alexa in this thread. She's laid out everything you need to know

Get your list to grow your list for you. In a sense, nurture them with regular free gifts. To obtain those gifts, they have to pay only with a tweet or a facebook status updates. This way your list will virally spread your links using their social networks. There are many free tools available to do this. I recommend cloudflood.com for this.

Dont worry too much about freebie seekers.
There will be freebie seekers no matter how to try to avoid them
What you should do now is.
1) create a product to give away for free.
2) build a squeeze page to give away the product for free.
3) write a series of follow up emails in your autoresponder
3) send traffic to your squeeze page.
Hope that helps.
good luck in building your list!

Its wonderful that your love IM. You know what they say, if you do what you love you're more likely to succeed.

Be careful when trying all the different strategies as it may cause information overload.

With regards to filling your email list with people who want freebies. It really is a double edged sword. Giving freebies may improve the speed of getting subscribers. But they may not that great at converting to sales.

It's all about conditioning your subscribers to expect what you will be sharing with them.

Alexa,

I love your comments about this topic.Simply brilliant! One item, however, that I have a question about. I have tested with the name and without in the subject line and in the body. I found more people open and click through when I include their name. However, it does not work with every email you send them. You do have to vary it up.

Andy

Yes, the people who optin for your free gift did want something free but what's important is that now you have someone who is interested in your subject matter that you can stay in constant communication with.

That's a hella good prospect if you think about it.

You have someone who came to your page, saw that you were offering something around a certain subject matter and they opted in to get your gift.

You're on the right track though. The overall business model should be:

Traffic >> Squeeze Page Offering Your Gift >> Thank You Page or One Time Offer

Then continuous email followup delivering a good balance of relevant value and relevant product promotions.

Once you get that whole funnel set up (i.e. squeeze page >> thank you page >> email followup), go find ways to drive traffic into it.

So your business may look like this in a few months:

>
SEO traffic>>>>>>>>>>
Facebook Ads traffic>>>>>>[squeeze page] >> thank you page or OTO
Banner Ads >>>>>>>>>>
>

Keep building your list, treating them well and making $$$. Good luck!

Since Alexa deferred an answer, I'll take a swing at it...

Neither.

If I were going to do that, here's how I would lay out the landing page (which would be the home page for the site or blog):

> Opt-in form on the upper right, same as for every other page on the site (with the exception of the order page if you are selling product from the site).

> Normal header and navigation. I tend to use smallish headers, so it isn't much of a distraction.

> Front and center - a continuation of the experience from the solo ad. Your ad promised either a benefit they desired enough to click or a solution to a problem they desired enough to click. Give them a taste of what they get in your incentive, then ask them to opt-in to get the incentive and additional information. Provide a larger version of the opt-in form.

> Follow that with whatever else goes on your home page - navigation, footer, etc.

In blogging terms, your opt-in area would take the place of a "Featured Post" pinned to the top of the content area of the home page.

It also helps if your regular navigation, sidebars, etc. are a bit on the subdued side so it draws attention to the opt-in area.

There are more tricks, but that should get you started.

Essential? Get a squeeze page. Send all of your traffic to it. Build a relationship with subscribers.

Then there is building your list - There are so many ways to do this. Find the best ones and then master them.

get yourself a squeeze page set up along with a personal blog

a personal IM blog is very powerful and you can also build your list from your blog and also link your squeeze page from your blog too

while your building your blog up use some solo ads to build your list fast to get yourself going

once you have your traffic funnels set up its then just a case of making sure your back end sales funnel is set up effectively

paul

As for me I always use double opt-in mechanism to collect email addresses, just in case somebody furnished others’ email addresses
also as much as possible avoid throwing popups and permanent subscription windows that follows the users while scrolling..
and don't forget state that you are not a spammer and stick to that word

Guys, you're great! Thanks.

Just to be sure, John, this is what I understood:

1. I make a script that installs a cookie on the visitor's computer, which says that the visitor is not a subscriber.

2. When he eventually subscribes, in the welcome email, I somehow edit the cookie that was already installed in his computer, editing it to say it that the visitor is now a subscriber.

3. When he returns to my website, he won't see the opt-in offer, and I choose what to display instead of it.

My question is: does it work with WP? I have no tech skills, but I know someone who does.

And don't I need to warn them that I've installed a cookie in their PC? I've heard that in the UK you have to do it. (I even saw a website that used a pop-up to announce this.)

Here's something I'm starting to discover after running a list and website for almost a year, now:

Give them a good freebie, but be careful not to give away the farm.

I've been getting a decent amount of traffic (finally!) and also made a few sales, but my conversion rate is still pretty low. I know for a fact that my copy could do with quite a bit more tweaking, but something else hit me just last week when one of my subscribers sent me a note:

"Thank you for all your advice, the free report you sent me has been very helpful!"

Did a mental facepalm, right there.

You see, my free report was actually a sample chapter of the product I created and am currently selling, and it contains a vital piece of information that potential buyers are looking for.

I didn't think much of it at the time, but it's all starting to make sense to me why there aren't that many buyers in spite of the steady influx of subscribers: I've been giving them exactly what they wanted for free.

I'm currently thinking of ways to give them the same amount of value they're getting at present, while closing that little loophole. Hopefully it'll translate into a better sales funnel for me.

Alexa Smith has given you all the information you need. Exact and to the point. You need to generate trust above all else and give value for money and honour any refund requests.

Thank you kukelka for the thread, even though I'm hopelessly late!
I'm just about to get my first autoresponder, and Aweber was my choice. Yesterday, however, I had some dealings with JVZoo and they strongly recommend GetResponse for technical reasons. So - confusion! That's why this thread caught my eye.
Thank you everyone for interesting ideas, especially you, Alexa. I'll come back to read the other threads you mention.

7 Tips on List Building
1. Familiar with your Autoresponder (Explore the features)
2. Know exactly who your ideal list member is and focus your efforts on finding them.
3. Offer free report to subscriber after they opt-in.
4. Show yourself to be a trustworthy source of high quality information just for subscribers.
5. Send message periodically to stay in touch with your subscribers.
6. Everything you offer your list should be valuable and useful to them.
7. How you treat your subscribers is everything. Treat them as valued customers & give them
exclusive deals

Do not build a freebie list until its funneled towards a targeted product.

Buyers list of way to better to spend quality time building one..

Thanks for sharing information it is use full to us.

Alexa smith has given you all you need to know, I can't expand on what she has already said. Trust is what you need to build to turn your subscribers into buyers.
Good luck with your endevours.

Thank you for sharing that insight.

I have taken my time to give the most comprehensive answer I can. Please read this entire post - it will impact how much money you make!

Welcome To Internet Marketing 101 - What is the Best Strategy To Use For List Building?

In my experience, what I find is most business owners try to get customers to buy instantly. They want customers to show up at their website, whip out their credit card and part with their cold, hard cash immediately.

In theory then, you are hoping that people come along with 2 things: 1) a bucket full of money and 2) a bucket full of stupid

I do concede that this makes sense logically, I mean, believe me, every single business owner would love to have something where customers show up, part with cash straight away then leave with no hassles whatsoever.

BUT the reality of the situation is that prospects that don't know you that well, they're going to need a little more 'convincing' so to speak. You need to walk them along the path to buyerville. You need to comfort them at every stage.

SO - in terms of strategy. We want to switch from the "one night stand" approach to a "romance/relationship" strategy.

It's critical to remember when marketing online that your prospect/customers don't know you. In traditional business, all transactions are done face-to-face, so the getting to know you stage is often at a sub-conscious level and in the moment. Online however, such an advantage is not attainable. You could be anyone, you could be a crook who's just trying to get their money or you could be an old Gran who's never told a lie in her life. It doesn't matter, people do business with people and the internet is a barrier.

I always use the same analogy - Would you walk up to a women/man in a bar, that you don't know and ask them to marry you? Answer: NO Why is this important? Because by asking people to buy straight away you are essentially asking them to take a risk. Whether you see it that way or not, believe me, your customer certainly sees it that way.

Think about it if you were the customer...What would you want to know about the person before you bought anything from them? How would you want to feel?

So the strategy that works best time and again is to Stair-Step everything. You actually have to map out the process from prospect to customer to loyal buyer. Here's an example: You are walking along the street on a hot day, you're not really thinking about food, but then you pass an ice cream store which has a free taster scoop outside, for everyone. So you help yourself. And suddenly, you mind goes do you know what, I want an ice cream, that's exactly what I need. In this situation the ice cream store 'stair-stepped' the process and mapped out exactly how they will take you from prospect to customer.

SO - if you offer something that solves and immediate problem, you suddenly build trust that this is someone you can rely on when it comes to whatever problem you helped solve.

If you look at all the 'gurus' and those who are effective, one of the things you will notice it that they all build trust through education. Key distinction between those who are successful and those who are not is that those who do well, give you a better education. And for those of you who say - but my product is so much better than theirs. You could make more with my stuff. That might be true, but are you educating them on why that's the case?

One concept that Eben Pagan loves to teach is 'moving the free line'. In essence you give away your best stuff to build trust. Then ask them to buy, if they want to know more. He practices what he preaches and often gives away free recordings and videos to his list. And if you don't think that works, you might want to re-think your position once you learn that he takes home close to $20Million each year.

THE MORE VALUE YOU GIVE AWAY THE MORE PROSPECTS YOU ATTRACT

Hope that helps,

Michael

Thanks Alexa for the great info, however I always wonder what's the best way to build a relationship with the list.

I often hear from warriors that building relationship is the forte but there is no precise advice on how to do that, except giving useful content (which is pretty vague).

Is think one time offer at after sign-up is good.

My Strategy is give them an one-time offer to sign up for something free via an affiliate link. This way you don't destroy trust, but you can make some part of your investment back right in front. And you would loose because your provision for the affiliate-link is lower but the conversion will be higher, because it's free.

Do you think this Strategy is good?

Having good lead magnets! I use a program called snagit to make quick jpegs that work great for lead magnets in emails and squeeze pages. I have videos I made for my VA anyone can PM me and I will send you them and a tutorial on how to use them in Aweber.

Mark

The information in this thread is solid gold compared to all the “easy push button” stuff that you see about. Just follow the advice given here by Alexa.

Rob

Welcome. You bring up an important and relevant point. There are different kinds of lists to build. There are freebie lists (what you refer to), and buyer's lists (when someone buys something from you and you have it set up to where they must subscribe in order to have their product delivered. This is recommended but obviously you will need your own product. Obviously freebie lists are easier to build than buyers lists, but since buyers lists consist of proven buyers, they almost always convert better when you present a great offer. However, for great offers freebie lists also will make you money. So try to build both types of lists, even at the same time. I offer a free report about quickly building buyers lists on $1 products. $1 products are cool because they can be simple little videos or reports sold for $1, but they MUST deliver excellent content and value. Someone who pays even $1 is still a buyer in reality, so they will build your buyers list, AND you can even upsell a OTO (one time offer) when they purchase it to make more than $1. See my signature below if you want the free report. Hope this helps you.

It is always hard to give 'precise' advice on how to build a relationship with your list - because it really does depend on what niche you are in, what demographic exists within the list, where they may have signed up etc.

If the list was created from a very informal blog page, then it makes sense that the people who signed up had come to your blog, and presumably because they liked what they saw - signed up to your list.

If the sign-up is from a more unknown place - maybe as a result of a paid advert for instance - then they may not be expecting you to waffle on about what sort of day you've been having.

So I think it best to treat every list quite individually - and just apply common sense in choosing a communication style that is both natural to you, and one that won't be a surprise to the people who've just signed up.

Hey El, great to meet you and Welcome! It all boils down to getting people to see your url! You can have the best site with the best low cost front end products that everyone in your market wants but if no body see's you page then you an't going to make squate my friend. Building this stuff alone can be a headace for newcomers. My advice is to join a reputable network or authority site that is already established on the web and provide valuable content everyday and then share it with all the social networking sites. Defently want something where you can capture emails and have controll over the list. You could even create a form with aweber and have them host it and just add that form on your sites you joined. See these authority sites are already getting the traffic! Also create a facebook fan page and learn to respond back to other commetns and again provide value. Do that everyday for 15 min or so and eventually you will start to build up traffic!
Best of luck and if you ever need anything here's the place to ask....Have a great day!

Thanks for all this info guys theres certainly a good wealth of info to get any newbie started and also help me tweak my system,,

Regards
Ian

Give away free gifts in exchange with their emails and names.

Hi Connor,

In GetResponse after your message is created and ready to go, you are prompted to choose which list to send to. The number of subscribers in that list is displayed beside the list name.

After you proceed, you will see a summary page which includes msg subject, template, spam score and recipients number, all at a glance. You can then either elect to send now or schedule your email for later and enable our time travel feature wihich will send out your email to your subscribers at the same local time everywhere.

Regards,
jim

Best tip anyone will ever give you.

Internet Marketing = Virtual Amphetamine

It's not a part of your life, it BECOMES your life, it becomes who you are.

But I'm not complaining

But, quick tip (if someone didn't already say it): A list of people that you KNOW spend money online is 100x more effective than a list of the same size full of people that opted in for a free offer.

Please don't give the free products that is totally useless. Please serve people with quality products. otherwise they will not convince to your product later.
thanks

Focus on driving traffic to your squeeze page. Build a huge list.Your money is in the list. Good luck!

Always provide loads of value to people on your list and never send more than 1 email per week.

Alexa, you're sooo right! Thank you for your no-nonsense approach to IM. You could not have said it better.

Frankly, I think that IM is no different from any other marketing - people only ever buy from people or businesses they trust. That's the first and most important premise. The caution in opening our wallets, when off line is the same as when pulling out the credit card for on-line purchases. The question we ask is "Is this person trustworthy? Will the product work as promised?"

So work on building a trustworthy and reliable brand. Become an expert in your field so that people will recognise your name and your brand and keep returning to your site. When they trust you, then they'll buy.

Work on your brand constantly before you even think about monetization. Don't waste your time worrying about how to make money until you have a decent amount of traffic.

To recap - first of all give good content and great value.

Warmest,

Killara.

This thread has been very beneficial for me as I'm starting to build my own list. Not much success yet, but keep on trying to learn from my mistake. My biggest problem is how to get quality traffic with limited budget. I've tried low quality traffic for the sake of experiment and it was a nightmare. Well, at least I learned something valuable.

On another note, in your experience (everybody is free to chime in), do you think personal branding has anything to do with successful list building? How should I position myself in front of my visitors/prospective subscribers to gain their attention and trust?

value,value ,value
best probably plugins , soft , wp theme anything really useful
don't over sell give some free stuff too

good luck Frank Moreno

To the OP:
The only sustainable way to build a email list is through a good blog where you provide valuable info. This way you will get the emails of people who trust you and are willing to spend their money for what you sell.

Everybody who tries the shortcut will just see his/her effort wasted because the ROI for the shortcuts is just not worth effort involved in building a product and building a list.

I cant give all the info, but in essence:
Create a Lead Magnet
Create a Squeeze Page.. best be original although some do plr (I dont)
Possibly consider a OTO

Rather than spend days and nights bloggin till the cows come home to get traffic:
add a link to your signature
consider running solo ads

Provide ongoing reasons for people to stay on your list.. give great value.. consider some ongoing video training etc.

Those last three items will save you months of time and help you retain your readers

Can someone recommend a FREE auto-responder to start with and keep the ball rolling?

Thanks.

Thanks for the detailed suggestions.

I browsed through warriorforum and found out a mixed opinion, but still paid ARs make lot of sense when it comes to reliability, delivery and other factors.

You can segment your list into all sorts of groups when using Aweber. Freebie list, OTO buyer list, product buyer list, software download list, CPA offer list to name a few.

When you do this it is much easier to bring the perfect message and product to each one of your subscribers.

I was going to come in here and offer some advice but it seems that most of the good stuff has already been covered. Some excellent posts in here, really indepth and helpful, that newbies AND experienced internet marketers can learn something from. The warrior forum has really excelled it's self with this topic.

There is plenty of great advice in this thread. If there is only one thing you had to pick and do it consistently then concentrate on building trust & relationship with your list which will yield long term results which is something everyone aspires in their businesses unless you want to do it for short while and move on to pastures new.

I would to ad one part - People start a list , get to a small number (around a 1000) and thinks its not working. Its just that you don't have enough on the list with the relationship to buy or buy what you recommend. Sometimes I will recommend things just because they are good- not just affiliate offers....

Creat a squeeze page. Offer your visitors a free 15 day course on list building spread out over 15 days. You've just turned away the ones who use throw away emails to get free ebooks and stuff like that. I haven't tested this but I do believe this would attract a more serious person who really wants to know how to market online and build a list. A couple days into your sequence is when you can begin the selling process.

Honestly, you did a good start of building a list. Try to build a high-converting squeeze page and promote your page to various media out there.

Always provide loads of value to people on your list and never send more than 1 email per week.

Give away free gifts in exchange with their emails and names

You need a squeeze page to capture people email.
You need a reason why people would give you their email - it has to be a free gift
You need to then build trust with your subscribers
You need to find out what they want
You need to create a product to answer to those needs
You then promote the product to your list
You then find out what your list wants...etc.
Always provide value and trust. Be yourself. Be different to the rest!

Well, you could use PLR products to give away and use solo ads to build the list. You need to educate your visitorsa first before trying to sell them something. It is als possible to sell solo ads in the JV section of this forum to make some quick cash. Of course, you need a list of at least 300 members.

focus on driving traffic to your squeeze page.
build a huge list. your money is in the list
thnks

Getting subscribers starts from getting traffic on your site or to your offers. If you don't have traffic at all then you won't win any subscribers.

Thereafter, it depends on the quality of the products you are offering. Your subscribers create an image about you from the quality of the material you provide them. So, provide only top notch quality to your subscribers.

great threads. I learned a lot. thx.

You need to build a squeeze page, and give away something of value. That could be video, audio, report, course.

To monetise the list you need to pick some valuable products, ones that really help your readers.

Then you need to promote your valuable give away offer.

That's it, in a nutshell, there's obviously a lot more to it than that, but that should get your started...

It's not just the the relationship with your list it's the depth of that relationship.

Patrick

Offering something free builds trust. Its says I am here to help you so much so you don't have to pay for it. It also shows what you know. If they read it and they are impressed they will want to buy from you. Its all about VALUE exchange if your an expert and you offer a newsletter people will sign up because of the value they will receive. What is common in newsletters and eBook using the tools to SELL. So give value then at the end it with a upsell on what your offering or an affiliate with but after providing VALUE. Value builds trust, trust builds sales.

Very good points in this thread. To me it all boils down to being genuine in who you are to any subscriber/reader that you are able to get on your list. Treat them the way that you want to be treated. When people say bring VALUE to the table, what they are really saying is help the subscriber learn something that they didn't know and help them know it without cost. Then you are perceived as a GIVER and not a taker and the trust level in the subscriber towards you has just elevated. You will build a huge list in no time when you come from that perspective. I gotta admit though, I'm no expert, because I make mistakes all the time, but I am willing to learn from them. Let's just say, I'm failing FORWARD day by day.

Lots of great tips on tips on this thread.

This may be controversial, but I think it works in some cases. If you have inactive subscribers that never buy anything or don't open your emails, delete them. That way you don't have to pay extra to your auto-responder service you are using.

For example, Aweber charges $29 for up to 2500 subs (If I am not mistaken here). If you pass that number, you have to pay $49. So if you have 2550 subs with 50 subs who are inactive and never respond, you are just wasting an extra $20 for 50 people who are never going to make you a dime. Go to your account and delete them.

Now, of course, you would also be risking the potential to make money off of those 50 people, if down the road they decide to buy. So, research your data to make sure you don't delete people to early, before you have enough data of them not being responsive.

** Don't be afraid to make mistakes...**

...because you WILL make many.

You WILL get spam complaints (don't promote
garbage and INCLUDE a disclaimer giving them the
option to unsubscribe anytime)

You WILL have an unsubscriber curse you because
you sent to many emails or...you're not sending
enough (you can't please everyone and you can't
take ANY of it personally -- have a thick skin)

You WILL get moments where you're subject line
doesn't get a response (test various headlines and
see if benefits + curiousity works best...if only curiousity
headlines work best...etc)

You WILL have times where you get a lot of opens
but few clickthrus (work on your persuasion and
copywriting skills)

And THEN you will find the solution...the secret sauce
if you will that works for YOU.

You're style of writing, your offer, how you built your
list, etc plays a factor in how you piece together the
puzzle.

It's a game. A giant puzzle. The pieces are all there.
It's up to you to fit them together.

Love the process and don't get over-excited or over
-heated when things don't go your way. Treat it as...

business as usual and look at your progress and results
from an objective point of view.

Again. If you treat it like a game you will have fun making
money...figureing things out...aaha moments...revelations
and suddenly...breakthroughs.

This is the way it's been for me.

And TEST and TRACK every...little thing.

I take tons of screenshots of everything in a campaign
and put them into seperate folders. So, if one thing doesn't
work as well as the other, I can EASILY go back to what
works better and use THAT to improve from (split test).

You must be fanatical about tracking and testing. It helps
keep your emotions out of the game and focus on playing
it until you succeed.

This is what Edison did.

He tested THOUSANDS of combinations to get the lightbulb.

...but you better believe he noted down what DIDN'T work,
kept what did work, moved some pieces around and boom.
...the light bulb is invented.

If he just tried a bunch of combinations you would make
the same mistakes over again multiple times.

~~ Joe ~~

I can't believe this thread is still going. I said on page one... don't over complicate it..

I remember when we could promote Clickbank products with PPC on the big G and drive the traffic directly to the sales page of the offer with our hop link. I know that it was crazy but didn't care.One offer I promoted for every $150 in PPC campaign cost I got back $450-500 regularly. It was almost like clock work. A low gravity product with little to no competition.

I got mad at the big G because they changed the rules and made everyone have a page of my own to drive the traffic to. They did me a big favor... learned about soft selling and building lists. All I did was set up an ugly squeeze page... took some copy from the sales page and my opt ins were 40-50%.

My autoresponder series was 5 emails that went out over two weeks, one paragraph with some copy to make them want to go to the sales page again and a link with my hop link (didn't need the cookie from my site at this time). My sales increased 50%.

At that moment I learned the importance of list building.

If your new to IM.... this still works. Not a long term strategy but this simple method will make some money. Don't complicate things.

One disclaimer... I am very good at PPC and that kept my cost inline. Quality Solo ads will do the same thing. If you have a limited budget do article marketing.

When it comes to build a list, There is two vital aspect which need attention the most:
1. where you put your ads for the landing page.
This is depend on niche, your should use trial and error method to find one that works for you, try some good PPC campaign each day and observe which one works for you.
2. ad copy, you can move people to action if you can play with words, you don't need to lie about your product, it is about capturing people attentions. You can use statistics approach, playing with number to convince you potential customer. You can also use affection to capture the heart of your potential customer, using good design, good ad copy, and modern color.

I like the idea of not tricking people into becoming invested and stuff. Some people are stupid and "easy marks" but you don't want to be some slimy con man.

What I don't understand is how you get those people to the initial site to begin with? I mean, you have a product, make a site that promotes product, but the site isn't even ranked on Google. I think I'm just missing something obvious. You said SEO or ranking #1 on Google wouldn't matter so much. I guess I don't know how you build a list.

I think I get the whole, don't trick people and how to then send the automated emails, sort of. Like what you wrote about initially but I don't understand how that site gets any visitors to begin with?? Am I making any sense?

Hello El. Welcome to the IM world.

Im sure you already have all the technical stuff on list building.

Here are the things you need to do once they are already in your 'circle of influence' ( List )

1. You need to become a highly professional surgeon.

Find the biggest pain in the ass. The roadblocks that kept them getting what their want in their life or achieving goal.
How? Use Surveymonkey or Polldady. By doing so you'll get a bunch of vocabularies that filled up their mind and their life. You could use these vocabularies to form a story with high anticipation . No promotion of email at this stage.


2. Freemium stage.

Once you get the raw data from the survey. Create a top notch freemium content/solution to that problem. By doing so, you'll not only earn their trust but also it will strengthen the bonding between you and your list.


3. Reaping stage.

This stage you will present an offer to your them only once not EVERY DAY Tell them that this stuff ( offer ) will do more than the previous one. In the Amazon site, it's equivalent to ' customer who bought this also buy this' concept. That's how the amazon sneaky promo trick to increase sales.


When it comes to list building , you also need to know how to separate the 'sheep form the goats' . They call it list segmentation.
One of the way to perform the task is by using 'raise your hand if you want this' approach.

Always usesuspense flavor in your follow up email. How? Look at LOTH trilogy. The Hobbits' fans ( real fans who went to the cinema ) have to wait more than 24 months to complete the trilogy. Pete Jackson made $2.92 billion sales worldwide. In a nutshell, write emails with suspense element so that they will eagerly to see your next email.

That is one of the things I like about this forum. Each of these threads can be a gold mine of info if the right people choose to reply.

If you give away a good freebie and provide value to your list, you will be able to monetize it quite well. I know I unsubscribe when I get pounded with offers like many WF members send out as soon as you are on their list. You have to give to get IMHO

#1 - List building and easy... but in the long run, it will give you Riches

Hey EL,

Well, you need a mix of products to market, you also need to associate yourself with some affiliates, you also need to find other people that have certain skills you don't have and are willing to join your team.. JV are always good to look for. I hope that helps a little.

Jan

First thing I would always remind myself is to jsut take it easy. too many people just rush into "promotion-mode" and splash their list with offers.
but like a good piece of steak, you gotsta tenderize and loosen it up with great content, extra bonuses, good headlines and gooood offers...

Test. Test. Test.

Test everything. Your squeeze page, your traffic sources, your sales funnel, your product and etc.

Test and then optimize. Did I mention test?

Follow a good training program from a IM Pro and stick to it. Yes start with a freebie and as well go in another direction too and promote through your site/banners/FB.

Here is a piece of advice I rarely see. A squeeze page, though that is not the advice. What is the advice concerning the squeeze page is to have a professional do it. Hire someone who has a proven track record of a good opt-in rate. Too many people are using software, or reading an e-book, or trying to do it themselves. The content on that squeeze page is the difference that makes the difference. Spend money and find someone who HAS done it! There are different types of squeeze pages needed for a free offer, an affiliate offer, a webinar, a CPA offer, etc. There is not a one size fits all. Hire an expert! Given the importance of the squeeze page itself. My two cents.

Great insights...thanks for this contribution on the warrior forum...

If you take list building just to send promotions to the subscribers, it is about building a relation of trust with them, cause if there is no trust then you are not going to succeed.

Some of information are really helpful for me. I have learned more from your sharing.

There are some really thoughtful and informative responses on this post! I had to learn the hard way that maintaining your list is one of the largest learning curves. Everyone says, "the fortune is in the follow-up." In other words, most people don't buy on their first introduction to your offer. They require multiple exposures before they buy, and they want to buy from someone they know and trust. Bridging that gap...learning how to build that trust and knowledge has been quite difficult for me.

I started off with solo ads, which gave me a good-sized list from the outset. But because I was so new to the IM arena, I just used other people's follow-up emails and their schedule for sending them. That was a huge mistake! I lost a lot of people due to being too salesy, plus not speaking in my own voice. (After going through and actually reading some of those emails, I cringed that my name was attached to them! They were SO not me!)

If I could do it over again, I would have started them off with more value-oriented emails and opportunities to get to know me and my story first. Plus, I wouldn't have barraged them with daily emails. I simply look at how I react when I'm receiving daily emails from a certain marketer. It irritates me, because my inbox gets clogged up so quickly.

For any people who are brand new to IM or are thinking of embarking on IM, start first in listing things YOU like to see in the emails you receive. What emails entice you to open them? Which ones actually compel you to click through? What turns you off? What irritates you? Doing this exercise will help you immensely!

Do some research and put together some informative emails for your niche. Include those emails in your follow-up series. Tell your story. What brought you to IM? What are your dreams and goals? What's your WHY? Include those in your follow-up series, as well.

Only pepper in some quality sales emails periodically in your follow-up series. Don't inundate them! And focus those later in your series, after they've had the opportunity to come to know and trust you more. I hope this helps someone!