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At the list building crossroads...

by kevd10
18 replies
I have came to a point after spending as much as I could possibly afford (around $200) where I am really considering whether it is even possible to build up a list that would generate a full time income (4k+ subscribers) without spending hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. Even if a person had thousands of dollars to invest in building a list, there are virtually no risk free ways in which to do so (except Cory Friedmans course, which gives you a list of around 5k subscribers).

Has anyone built a full time income using free traffic methods to build an email list? I strongly doubt that this is possible these days. It is very dis-heartening to finally realise that all of the time and effort I have invested is for nothing due to not having the financial means to invest thousands of dollars online.

:confused:
#building #crossroads #list
  • Profile picture of the author TheContentAuthority
    Kevd10,

    Is it that you are having trouble building the actual list or marketing to it? Unfortunately if you aren’t a good writer and/or web designer in some capacity then you will have to spend more money. For example there are a lot of list building techniques centered on content generation. For example writing ebooks that appeal to your target market and offering them for download.

    What tactics have you tried already? If you are doing things right you should be seeing some results. Have you tried gathering data and testing your methods? I would say just stick to it, observe what works and what doesn’t and then build upon what does work.

    Hope that helps and good luck,

    Shawn
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  • Profile picture of the author dunc
    It takes either money, time or both my friend. No way around this. What niche are you in depends on how to attack it via traffic. Adwords is out the window if you plan on promoting a squeeze page. If you like posting on forums of your niche you can create a FAQ blog around common questions with answers from the best in your niche.

    Take IM for example. You would post questions, get some great answers and then post it to a blog. Rewording it of course. That can give you content for a long time. The way to promote that can be any way. Via paid or free. I suggest going with free first to get your feet wet and test if your sales funnel even works.

    It is very possible to make money online. You have to take the notion that its "fast and easy" out of your mind now, because its the exact opposite!

    You only spent $200. I was a WSO junkie and bought over $2,000 worth of ebooks.

    Well, at least if you want to make it big it is.
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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    I do a ton of free marketing. You shouldn't feel discouraged. I also back it up though with paid advertising. Free marketing will take longer, but if 3 years from now, you continue to do free marketing day after day... you will see yourself with a business that is producing big money for you... with 100% profits.
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  • Profile picture of the author kevd10
    Good responses. I am a good writer (english literature degree). My problem is simply sending traffic to a squeeze page. I have Ben Gordon's system, so I am using that squeeze page (which allegedly converts at 40%, though I am skeptical). But I just feel that I have invested hours upon hours of my time in the past only to see zero results in free traffic methods. I see the same old things posted about topics such as forum marketing when in reality, there are almost zero MMO blogs around that allow signatures. Its the same with blog commenting. Dead and buried methods that do not work. Youtube could probably work, but you would still have to invest some amount of $$$ to get backlinks etc.
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    • Profile picture of the author dunc
      Originally Posted by kevd10 View Post

      Good responses. I am a good writer (english literature degree). My problem is simply sending traffic to a squeeze page. I have Ben Gordon's system, so I am using that squeeze page (which allegedly converts at 40%, though I am skeptical). But I just feel that I have invested hours upon hours of my time in the past only to see zero results in free traffic methods. I see the same old things posted about topics such as forum marketing when in reality, there are almost zero MMO blogs around that allow signatures. Its the same with blog commenting. Dead and buried methods that do not work. Youtube could probably work, but you would still have to invest some amount of $$$ to get backlinks etc.
      Good thing, writing is a huge part of being successful online. Sending traffic to just a squeeze page with paid advertising is impossible with adwords. So I would stick to forum marketing and promoting your squeeze page in your signature and post the hell out of your niche forum.

      You can go to fiverr and get a really good squeeze page made for you for $5. Its simple and easy. Don't use rehashed squeeze pages.

      If you are in the IM niche, the best place for traffic to your offer is warrior forum by creating WSO's.
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  • Profile picture of the author mikefrommaine
    It takes money to build a list, that's for sure, but you can still leverage what you have built with ad swaps. Anton Nadilo and Andre Stoelinga have a great course on list building called List Frenzy.
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    • Profile picture of the author kevd10
      Originally Posted by mikefrommaine View Post

      It takes money to build a list, that's for sure, but you can still leverage what you have built with ad swaps. Anton Nadilo and Andre Stoelinga have a great course on list building called List Frenzy.
      Yea I cant seem to find anywhere to get an ad swap..I tried safe swaps but its like impossible to get a swap now unless you are a paying member. I have a list of around 50 subcribers
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  • Profile picture of the author JasonBennet
    Have you take action consistently? I do know of people who are driving lots of traffic to their website as they just focus on one method at a time. Free method is not exactly free because you will be investing your time to get the traffic. Just keep doing and I am sure you will start to see some results
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    • Profile picture of the author kevd10
      Originally Posted by JasonBennet View Post

      Have you take action consistently? I do know of people who are driving lots of traffic to their website as they just focus on one method at a time. Free method is not exactly free because you will be investing your time to get the traffic. Just keep doing and I am sure you will start to see some results
      Yea, I have been doing mundane things such as blog commenting etc for months on end. I genuinely am starting to believe these methods are ineffective. At the moment, it seems fruitless to be doing anything to do with IM until I have around $1k to seriously invest in it.
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      • Profile picture of the author James Fame
        Have you tried purchasing targeted prospects from other people's lists? They're called solo ads. Check out safe-swaps or contact vendors. The PPC game is only for marketers with a pretty optimized funnel that converts well enough to cover ad costs.

        James Fame
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        • Profile picture of the author kevd10
          Originally Posted by James Fame View Post

          Have you tried purchasing targeted prospects from other people's lists? They're called solo ads. Check out safe-swaps or contact vendors. The PPC game is only for marketers with a pretty optimized funnel that converts well enough to cover ad costs.

          James Fame
          Really dont mean to be rude, but if you read the thread you would know that the conversation is about free traffic, not paid.

          And I also mentioned that my sales funnel is Ben Gordon's WSO sales funnel which has converted really well for a lot of people.
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          • Profile picture of the author James Fame
            Originally Posted by kevd10 View Post

            Really dont mean to be rude, but if you read the thread you would know that the conversation is about free traffic, not paid.

            And I also mentioned that my sales funnel is Ben Gordon's WSO sales funnel which has converted really well for a lot of people.
            Originally Posted by kevd10 View Post

            I am really considering whether it is even possible to build up a list that would generate a full time income (4k+ subscribers) without spending hundreds, if not thousands of dollars.
            No offense taken, I was answering to this bolded sentence in your first post.

            If the sales funnel converts, then there's no reason why you can't make paid traffic work. If it can't convert, it's a conversion problem. Either a message mismatch or an audience mismatch. Not only in biz opp market, but I've personally managed to get many of these ad channels profitable.

            Most of the time there is a loss in the front-end product and a profit in the backend product. It's all about customer LTV.

            Free traffic is 'alright', but I find that it accelerates when you have a brand of some sort... which I probably assume is diluted in your case as you're using a sales funnel with an affilated product. Organic traffic normally increases as your reputation/asset increases.

            Blogging might be good, but I doubt a focus mainly on the system will do any good. A review site might be a good view.

            But seriously, and I'm meaning this with good will, why go for traffic like that when paid traffic is possible?

            Buying solo ads builds your list very quickly... even to 1K. From then on, list swaps with other list owners will accelerate your list growth at a faster pace. It all works because the list owners are all targeting similar demographics.

            James Fame
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            Fire me a pm if you have a question. I build businesses and provide consulting. I do not do finance/money/internet marketing niches. Fitness, self-improvement and various others are welcome.

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            • Profile picture of the author kevd10
              Originally Posted by James Fame View Post

              No offense taken, I was answering to this bolded sentence in your first post.

              If the sales funnel converts, then there's no reason why you can't make paid traffic work. If it can't convert, it's a conversion problem. Either a message mismatch or an audience mismatch. Not only in biz opp market, but I've personally managed to get many of these ad channels profitable.

              Most of the time there is a loss in the front-end product and a profit in the backend product. It's all about customer LTV.

              Free traffic is 'alright', but I find that it accelerates when you have a brand of some sort... which I probably assume is diluted in your case as you're using a sales funnel with an affilated product. Organic traffic normally increases as your reputation/asset increases.

              Blogging might be good, but I doubt a focus mainly on the system will do any good. A review site might be a good view.

              But seriously, and I'm meaning this with good will, why go for traffic like that when paid traffic is possible?

              Buying solo ads builds your list very quickly... even to 1K. From then on, list swaps with other list owners will accelerate your list growth at a faster pace. It all works because the list owners are all targeting similar demographics.

              James Fame
              My main priority is building my list, I am not concerned about how I am going to monetize that list with affiliate offers because my main focus is eventually going to be selling solo ads. I firmly believe there is easy money to be made selling quality clicks to people for affordable prices. Yahoo answers was something I tried to implement, but quickly found every single one of my answers had been reported and removed for no good reason. I cant find a MMO forum with a visible signature with every post, and blog commenting seems to be a dying breed as the blogs worth commenting on simply do not allow guest posts or URL links. My goal is to make $1000 from free traffic. Once I get to that amount, I will invest that in building my list as large as possible in order to sell solos. Just frustrating when I have a plan in mind, but cannot implement it due to lack of funding.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jared Hale
    Free marketing works but it depends on what your niche is and how long and hard you want to work for it. I have a local contracting business that runs 100% through search engine rankings. No paid advertising what so ever and I turn work away. It's only through a few years of tweaking, quality back linking and building a good customer base that I have managed to accomplish that.

    You can have the largest list in the world, but if the content is crap then it won't make you a dime, just as you can have a small list with great content which can give you a full time income.

    You can build a good, quality list on a free budget, but you have be willing to put in the time and effort.

    Wish there was another way but it's pay or sweat. Good luck!
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    • Profile picture of the author kevd10
      Originally Posted by certahub View Post

      Free marketing works but it depends on what your niche is and how long and hard you want to work for it. I have a local contracting business that runs 100% through search engine rankings. No paid advertising what so ever and I turn work away. It's only through a few years of tweaking, quality back linking and building a good customer base that I have managed to accomplish that.

      You can have the largest list in the world, but if the content is crap then it won't make you a dime, just as you can have a small list with great content which can give you a full time income.

      You can build a good, quality list on a free budget, but you have be willing to put in the time and effort.

      Wish there was another way but it's pay or sweat. Good luck!
      My niche is MMO, and google rankings would be useless for me (never guna get a squeeze page in that niche ranked highly). I used to believe in the old 'pay with $$ or time' chestnut, but I chose to pay with time (easily over 200+ hours) and received nothing in return. It works in theory, but in reality, the free methods just dont cut it.
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      • Profile picture of the author gchesty
        The important thing is to have a good relationship with your list so they know they can trust you when you do market to them.
        If they know you have their best interest at heart and not trying to make a quick buck off them, goes a long way.
        Deliver quality information that helps them even if it's free.
        Then when it comes time to offer them a product of value, they will remember how much you helped them in the past.
        Just because a subscriber list is big doesn't mean it's a better list.
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        • Profile picture of the author kevd10
          Originally Posted by gchesty View Post

          The important thing is to have a good relationship with your list so they know they can trust you when you do market to them.
          If they know you have their best interest at heart and not trying to make a quick buck off them, goes a long way.
          Deliver quality information that helps them even if it's free.
          Then when it comes time to offer them a product of value, they will remember how much you helped them in the past.
          Just because a subscriber list is big doesn't mean it's a better list.
          Yea, my issue is definitely not how I will be interacting with my list. To be honest, once my list is big enough I will be venturing into selling solo ads, so there wont be much marketing done from me. I guess my question is, should I somehow try and gather the cash ($2k) to buy Cory Weidmans done for you 5k subscriber list (with 20+ solo ad skype chat rooms) or is it possible to build the same size list for free?
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  • Profile picture of the author Geri Richmond
    Internet Marketing has changed in the last 3 years because google has changed. You can build a list with forum marketing and social media. You must do your marketing in forums at least an hour a day. Twitter at least 1/2 hour or more a day. Keep on truckin'. If you give up now you will always wonder if you could have made it.
    Geri Richmond
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