List, List List. All I ever hear about are email lists. Are you sick of hearing about email lists? Oh, I hope not, because as they say, the money is in the list.
A Week Of Posts About Lists
As I mentioned to you a few days ago, my buddy Josh Spaulding recently released a new eBook about how he manages his email list. It is excellent, and I recommend it highly. It's so good, in fact, that it has motivated me to take some serious action.
Starting today, I am posting a series about building lists -- here is what you can expect:
- Today (Thursday) -- This post about the importance of lists
- Tomorrow (Friday) -- A post about how you can use free stuff to build your list
- Saturday -- A post about Jonathan Leger's $7 secrets formula (for building lists)
- Monday -- A post about how you can use quality Master Resale Rights products to build your list
- Tuesday -- A post announcing my new eBook about writing eBooks ($7 secrets style)
- Wednesday -- See what the fortune cookie says about lists
The Purpose Of A Mailing List
If you spend much time around internet marketers, you’ll hear them talk about “the list”. That term refers to their mailing list, which is made up of people who have requested to receive information from them, usually in the form of email newsletters.
For many internet marketers, the bulk of their income comes from marketing to the people on their mailing list. A person’s list can truly be their key to success. I know of several examples of "normal" people making a living on line using their list.
As Josh points out in New Age Email Marketing, some people mistakenly believe that the bigger list they have, the more successful they will be. This is not necessarily the case. There are a lot of ways to “get” subscribers, such as contests, list swaps, and even through list purchasing. It is possible to achieve a high number of subscribers through these methods... but that doesn’t always guarantee success.
Instead of focusing on the number of people on the list, focus on the quality of the list and how interested the people are to receive the information. A list of 1,000 very interested people will bring in much more money than a list of 10,000 uninterested people.
More important than that is trust. Are you offering something of value (usually free information) to your list, or are you just asking them for money all the time? Do they look forward to getting email from you, or do they hit the delete key without reading your mail?
While you think about those questions, here are some tips to help you build a great list:
Easy sign-up process
If signing up for your newsletter is a complicated process, many people will simply click away. It’s also important to make sure the sign-up box is easy to see. You'll notice that my opt-in box is at the top of my sidebar. The graphics are professional, and I am asking for a minimum of information. Some people place it at the bottom of their sites and if the visitor doesn’t scroll all the way down, they’ll miss it. Many studies suggest that placing your newsletter sign-up box on the top right portion of your website will yield the best results.
Here is an example of easy -- an opt-in box right in the middle of a post:
Promote your list to your target market
Knowing your target market is another big key in creating a great list. The more targeted the people on your list are, the more likely they are to purchase your products or services. That is one of the reasons that blogs are so great for list building. People are visiting your blog because they are interested in the information there. In that case, your target market consists of the people who are most likely to be interested in what you have to offer. This is important. Obviously, if you sell natural baby care products, you probably wouldn’t want to promote your list by purchasing an ad on harleydavidson.com.
Offer a freebie
Many people offer their subscribers a freebie in exchange for joining their mailing list. I'll talk more about this on Friday, but that is exactly why I offer the Friday Freebie on MasonWorld.com. This freebie could be in the form of an ebook, a special report, an audio recording of a teleclass or some other information product. When doing this, it’s always best to stay close to a topic your target market would be interested in. Going back to the example of someone selling natural baby products, a great freebie would be a small guide filled with natural baby food recipes.
Stay At It
Building a great list, full of targeted readers, will take some time to develop. Don’t get discouraged if it doesn’t happen overnight. Over time, the list will grow and it can develop into one of your best business assets.
Did you like this post? Why not sign up to my list? That's the point after all. You'll receive lots of helpful content and notification about new blog posts. You'll get the occasional special offer. You will never get SPAM.
Sign up today.
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