When we get to the actual steps and tools that you’ll be using in list building you’ll find that it’s so easy that you can start building multiple lists at the same time by clicking some buttons. It is important to learn these technical stuff, or have someone in your team who can do it, but there is another issue that you should focus more on before you start building any list.
What are you going to do with this list? The purpose you are building this list for is to be able to generate traffic on demand to certain pages so that you make money. Isn’t it all about money?
Ok, yes it is about money, but in order to get to that point you need to have a list building strategy that aims at maximizing your lsit responsiveness. You need to see ahead of time what are you going to do with your list 1 year from now.
One of the mistakes that I did when I started building my lists is that I used a free autoresponder that only allowed mass mailing. Without an automated series of emails going out to my list I had hard time keeping track of what I’ve sent and what to send next to whom. That made it easier for me to just send one email to all of my list members every once in a while.
What that did to my business was destructive. My list was reponsive at the beginning when I was actively sending them information and promotions regularly. But when I stopped doing that for a while due to other life issues my list forgot who I am and some have even sent me asking “when did I sign up to your list” or something like that.
Where am I going with this story? You need to do two things in order to keep your list responsive:
1. Be consistent. If they expect an email every week from you don’t skip a week without sending it. Any paid autoresponder can handle that for you. Just write the emails you want to send to your list IN ADVANCE and insert them in the sequence and you’r done. This also keeps your list members on the same sequence as one another. To explain this imagine you are sending those emails manually and every week you write a fresh content and send it to your list. Your older members have seen the beginning of the series, while your new members can only see this week’s content.
A $10/month autoresponder can solve this issue for you. You can still send the fresh weekly content, but the original series has to go to your list regularly and on time every time they expect it.
If you don’t, someone else will take your place and will be their hero for providing similar content but with consistency.
2. Always put content first. The purpose of building the list is to send promotions that make you money, but without sending free valuable content to your list you are not building the AUTHORITY RELATIONSHIP with your list members. This authority is what gives you the credibility that will get your list members to respond to your promotional offers.
If you have been around in the Internet Marketing field for a while you must have heard of Mike Filsaime’s 7 Figure Zone and Frank Kern’s InfoMillionaire. What those people did is that they provided highly valuable information for free and got thousands of people on their lists. They monetized the process by no brainer back end offers (OTO’s and monthly subscription to their magazines).
Their free content were enough for many people, including myself, to start building online businesses on solid foundations. That alone has built their authority figures for their lists. When they send promotions as affiliates to other Internet marketing gurus, they get on top of the super affliate lists very easily just by sending a few emails to their lists.
Their free valuable content gave them the credibility that when they recommend something to their readers, they trust them and believe them. They dont’ have to hide their affiliate relationship with the product they are selling, We know they are affiliates but we also know thay are not going to sell us cheap.
What I want you to take home from this article is that you need to be there in your list’s life on regular basis with valuable free content. That’s why they are on your list, and if they don’t get it from you another marketer will provide it and take your place in their lives.
To the right of this article you might find an ad for one or more autoresponders. Invest in one of those as low as $10/month and start building your empire on solid foundation.