I dont quite understand the whole "i wish i built my list first" regret

I think most of them would be saying that they wish they had an option for people to subscribe to their email list on their website / blog from the beginning.

Many people run websites for months or years and get tons of visitors and do quite well but don't build an email list and realize later their business would have grown much faster and been much more profitable had they built a list.

A list means more return visitors and return visitors are more likely to buy from you because of the relationship you've built.

As soon as you are getting ANY traffic you need to put up a sign up form to build a list.

I just use the free version of Mail Chimp and it works great.

I built my site as kind of a hybrid landing page / blog with tons of free music content.

You have to offer people something free that has real value.

I get lots of people signing up because I offer to send them my latest free royalty free songs.

I think people don't build a list because they don't have anything to offer or think that they don't. When you start you probably don't have any product or report that you have written and so don't have anything offer.

I think the first step is to create quality content on your site - whichever niche you are in, this doesn't take long to do and as soon as you have some great content, you then needto get your Free Offer created and your Autoresponder set up!

This then enables you to mail your list when you create a new post, (getting traffic to your site) of course offering quality content, and also to recommend products which you feel offer good value and deliver 'what it says on the tin' - also make sure the products you're recommending fit your list's interests.

If you don't have some quality content on your site before you begin building a list then I doubt visitors will be very impressed - as for squeeze pages, this is good for paid advertising - but again deliver what you promise and offer quality at all times.

As you state the, "wish I'd started building my list sooner" marketers, didn't see the benefit of this when they started - I very much doubt there are many marketers starting out now who will overlook this very important step!!!

Hi,

Don't over think this for another 12 months is my first opinion.

Secondly it's not just about building a list and that's all there is to it.

You have to take time and build a solid front end offer and back end
email sequence that converts browsers into buyers and buyers into
long time raving fans of yours.

So for the people who do say that they wish they'd built a list years ago
or whatever time length that may be for them are the ones who have built
solid funnels and made them work.

Have a solid days work pay for you my friend
Gavin

You don't start building a list just for the sake of having a list or because someone says you need to build a list.

You have to plan your list building strategies so that it will automate your business. People forget that you should consider your autoresponder an employee that works 24/7 to help subscribers and promote products that will help your subscriber fix a problem they are having.

Much of your business can be automated this way so all you need to do is get people onto your list and let your followup sequences do most of your work for you.

I consider list building the foundation of my business. People can copy my products and everything I do but the one thing they don't have access to is my list. If something were to happen to my websites, I could rebuild much faster because I still have my list.

So plan your follow up messages that the subscribers will see to build that know you, like you and trust you feeling with you but also add in product recommendations that will also help them solve problems.

One thing I like to do is send the subscriber to other squeeze pages when I get toward the end of one follow up series to automatically get them on another list and another automated series of follow up messages.

Again the idea is to automate my business as much as I can and keep contact with my subscribers.

I only send out broadcast messages when I have something to say that is not in a follow up series. So I don't have a need to send that many broadcast messages.

I change up the frequency of my follow up messages so they don't receive to many at one time.

I hope this has been helpful,
Steve Yakim

If you want to make real money, forget about creating lists...leave that to the newbies. Try to create a valuable product, which will sell, instead of spamming newbies with "How to make money online" scam offers.

The list is a huge asset! Build a good list in the right niches, and you basically have a money machine.

Check out this series of post:
http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...000-month.html

Although it is about affiliate income, it turns out that the main Driver to good earnings is the list.
It is quit Long but in the end you recognize what value a well cared for list has.
I copied all the Posts from LindyUk in a word doc and started rebuilding my webstrategy.
Takes time and effort, but probably worth it.

Because after realizing how much traffic has come to a particular blog throughout time without capturing their info you realize how much profit was missed from those who couldve been put into a converting funnel bringing in multiple sales down the line from that same one subscriber!

(So just multiply that times 100 subs or even a 1000)

The so called secret to this funnel is in those email followups. Without this once a person leaves your blog their gone possibly forever.

I think most folks are scared of list building. They don't know what they will send to their subscribers or what they will promote or even what to give them for signing up.

I know that in my case it was really just a lack of focus. After I got tired of seeing other people succeed I made a commitment to list building. I decided to dedicate 6 months to list building only to see if it actually worked...

Luckily I made that commitment to myself and stuck it out because at the end of that 6 months I quit my job and have been full time online ever since.

So if you are in the "scared" mode when it comes to list building. Now it the time to "face your fears" and start building a list. I don't know where I would be today with out it!

Good luck.

Cheers,
Coby

Online selling is based on a trust factor. With big names like Amazon and eBay, you already have that trust factor established. But, with an unknown company, it would take time to establish trust with a potential buyer. People are not just going to buy from a random website, no matter how good the deals. They want to shop around and see which site offers the best values/information. That's true whether you're selling a tangible or digital product or just offering advice on a niche (and linking to affiliate products). By getting people to sign up to your email list, you have the chance to talk to them even after they leave your site and give them reasons to return. Building the trust factor is easy when you have that person on an email list.

If you rely on razor margin traffic or se traffic, then having an insurance policy against the possible drying up of that traffic is intelligent - hence "friends" and emails lists.

I would do both. Test both at the same time.

Start a blog and collect emails. Start squeeze pages and collect emails. Do both.

List building is nothing more than an additional potential revenue source - it doesn't have to be the only portion of an internet marketing business. Just like building niche sites is one aspect, flipping websites, etc, etc.

I would have to agree with Coby in that list building wasn't a focus of mine when I got started in internet marketing. Now that it is a focus, and simply an additional source of revenue, I enjoy it and do well with it. I only started after building sites and earning money online in other ways.

I could have built lists sooner, and I regret not doing it sooner only because I would have earned the additional income sooner, but that's the only reason and most will feel the same way.

But to reiterate my answer to your question, do both blog creation and squeeze page creation at the same time if you have the ability.

I agree with Brendon try to do both at the same time and then start sorting out which is the best way for you.Hope this helps

An email list is a list of people who may care about buying what you are offering, and also people who may care about clicking on your links and visiting your pages whenever you send them an email message. Having a list is very good for many reasons.

When I started out I had heard a story from a friend who was a business consultant about a woman who had created a recipe website that she monetized with Adsense. After about three years she had reached the point where she was working about two hours a day and making upwards of 100k per year.

I tried to copy that same model. I had no idea what I was doing and it didn't work all that well. But back in those days I had never heard of list building. Do I wish now that I had known about it then? Maybe. But, I have to say, as much as people may realize that they should have learned sooner about list building and the idea that "the money is in the list" I don't think it's the best thing for people to jump right off into list building necessarily.

Why? Because in this business your reputation is your most important asset. And if you start building a list without first learning how to relate to your list it could hurt your reputation.

Fortunately for many it doesn't get hurt too badly before they start learning some of these things by trial and error; after all, there are lots of potential customers out there.

But I can tell you that there are lists I've been on that I'll never be on again and if I ever am I will quickly unsubscribe. Marketers who left a bad taste in my mouth for one reason or another and are now on my "no fly" list.

Just a thought.

Having a list is always important ... look at every company they always try to capture information about their customer for future contact.

In your case asking which you should do first and well ... I would suggest finding the path that you want to use and find out how you can make your first $1 after that its all scaling. If you have a list or not, it won't stop you from making money. Everyone has their own way.