LISTBUILDING - THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO LIST BUILDING - FROM START TO FINISH
Introduction
As a new Internet marketer, you may have heard that the key to your
moneymaking success lies in your list—and this is the truth. In order for any
Internet marketer to be truly successful in running his or her online
business, they first need to build an extensive list of contacts.
These
contacts may not always be first-time customers, but building relationships
with them is critical.
Why? One of the largest expenses for businesses is drawing in customers
and turning them into sales.
It takes time, effort, and money to draw in your
customers, have them purchase an item from you, and never come back.
If
the customer comes in, but doesn’t buy anything, then it’s a hit to your
bottom line.
Building a list allows you to collect a large number of people
with minimal effort, so you can sell to the same people repeatedly.
Building a list establishes relationships, so you can reach out to your
subscribers again and again, until they convert into paying, and hopefully
returning customers.
As a new Internet marketer, the most important thing you need to learn is
that you must build a list. While there are several parts to building a
successful online business, your list is the single most important aspect, as it
is a major driver of income—and what makes money for you while you
sleep.
The Essential Guide To List Building
The idea is that once you have your list built, you can send out an email the
list promoting a new product or service, and see sales shortly after.
You can
literally make money in your sleep by adding the promotional emails into an
auto-responder series. An auto-responder automatically sends out emails
to subscribers at predetermined intervals based on their initial sign up date.
As a marketer, you have the option to create and sell your own products, or
to work as an affiliate for other products. There are pros and cons to both
approaches.
As someone who creates their own products, you have the
option to really search the market and the competition and offer something
you know will be valuable.
However, this means you will have to invest
time, effort, and possibly money into the product creation. As someone
who is an affiliate for other products, you will be competition with other
affiliates, and you will only get a portion of the sales price.
No matter which
path you choose, the list is still an integral part of your success.
Setting up your auto-responders will take a bit of time and effort in the
beginning, but once they’re finished, you can leave them on autopilot.
As
long as you check from time to time to make sure your links are still
working, you’re good to go.
Now that you understand the importance of building an email list, let’s get
on to the practical action steps you need to take to get it running for your
business.
We’ll start with creating the opt-in offer’s bait, and then move on
to the steps for creating your list and setting everything up online.
Subscriber Opt-In Offers
It is important to acknowledge that you should have something of value to
your target audience to provide to them for free, in exchange for
subscribing to your list.
Otherwise, they won’t have incentive to do so in the
first place, and you will have a hard time building your list. This can be some
as simple as a short e-book, or a recording, or a video that relates to your
product or service, and helps the user to solve a problem.
Creating Your Opt-In Offer a.k.a. Bait
While this stage will take some time, just like setting up the list and auto-
responder emails, it is also something you can “set and forget†and check
on periodically to make sure the information is current and all links are
functional.
I call this your “bait†because essentially, that’s what it is. You’re baiting
people into subscribing to your list, with something of value to them, in
hopes that they will become a paying customer later.
Here are a few options for bait:
• Ebook
• Video/Audio recording
• Short course to teach something of value your readers are interested
in
• A periodic newsletter filled with important and pertinent information
for your readers.
Here’s the thing about bait that you need to remember: while you’re giving
it away for free, it has to be worthy of being paid for. It has to be good.
If
your readers don’t find it valuable, then they have no reason to stick around
—and they can unsubscribe at any time.
People are constantly flooded with
junk email, so these days they tend to be incredibly careful of who they
provide their email address to.
The fact that they’re considering opting in to
receive your emails is a good sign that they find you trustworthy, and you
need to treat them with respect by giving them something that they’re not
going to get anywhere else.
If you don’t grasp this and do well with it, you’re shooting yourself in the
foot, because this is a key component to your success with Internet
marketing, because it is critical to the success of your list building.
Your opt-in offer needs to be good to not only entice people to join the list,
but to keep them on it. It needs to: capture their attention, convince them
that they want/need it, look appealing, be easy to obtain, and deliver on its
promise.
If you’re worried about looks, don’t worry—we’ll be covering that
shortly!
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