Why You SHOULD Be Building Your List
I expect that you have all heard the saying in internet marketing "The Money Is In The List".
And it's true.
A list of people who are interested in your niche market is a very valuable asset, because you can email them a series of follow-up emails with offers, and potentially make multiple sales from the same buyers.
Also many people do not buy the first time that they are exposed to a product.
You may of heard about the "Rule of Seven", which states that - on average, a prospect needs to see an offer at least seven times before they take action on it.
With a website or a static offer, this is unlikely to happen. But with a list, you can promote the same product multiple times to the prospect.
One reason that the Rule of Seven applies is that it takes time for people to like and trust you, before they will buy from you.
An email list is the ideal way for you to build that trust, by providing them with useful information that will help them in their niche.
Once they like and trust you, then they a far more likely to buy products or services that you recommend. As you are more willing to buy something a friend recommends to you, than a complete stranger.
This applies particularly to online businesses - but even if you have an offline business, building a list should be your number ONE priority.
Why You Need An Auto-responder
If you had to build an email list yourself, then it can become very time consuming handling the process of adding the contacts details to a list, sending emails to all on the list, and dealing with unsubscribe requests.
This is where an auto-responder service such as SendSteed or Buildabizonline, makes it much more efficient and professional.
These email services can easily handle all the subscribe and unsubscribe requests automatically, together with any requests to change the persons email address. This is important as many people now tend to sign up with a temporary email address, to avoid getting lots of spam. Then they can change it to a normal one once they find you are providing valuable information.
A lot of the services also provide a "Double Opt-in" method that ensures that the person has to click a link in a confirmation email, before they are added to the list. This means that people can't sign-up with other peoples email addresses to get the information.
These services also provide many other benefits from using their mailing list service. For example, they provide stats on who opened your email and clicked the links in the mails. Some even allow you to re-send the email to those who didn't open it the first time round, giving them a second chance to read it.
Simple Ways To Get More People On Your List
1. Advertise Your Capture Page Everywhere
You should have a sign-up form for your mailing list on every page of your website, and preferably near the top of the screen.
You should also advertise in your signature text in emails and forum posts, and on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus.
2. Offer An Incentive To Sign-Up
To get people to sign-up you need to offer them something that will be seen as valuable by people in your target niche.
A free downloadable eBook that offers solutions to a particular problem in that niche, or a video, software tool, are all good choices.
Having a downloadable product is the best choice, as then the whole process of delivering that product can be automated. Simply provide them with the download link in the follow-up emails. And you can also promote other related products on those download pages too, getting you more profits as they go through the process of downloading their gift.
3. Make It As Quick And Easy As Possible
Try to keep the information you ask for to a bare minimum, preferably just name and email address.
The more information you ask for, the larger amount of people will not bother signing up to your list. If you need to ask for more information, then you can always have a small survey in the follow-up series.
4. Respect Their Privacy
People are very wary of spam these days, so make sure that you clearly state that you will not sell or rent their details.
5. Always Provide Value
Do not just start selling to your prospects on your lists, they will soon unsubscribe in droves.
Use your follow-up mailings as an opportunity to build trust with your subscribers. Provide them with high-quality information, good deals and show your expertise in the chosen niche.
You can also give your emails the human touch, with humorous stories of your own experiences.
This will make your subscribers look forward to opening your emails, and they may even forward them to friends as well.
6. Include Subscription Details In Every Email
If you do get your emails forwarded to friends of the subscriber, then you need to make sure that the email includes a link for them to subscribe.
This means you can steadily build your list with no more effort on your part.
I hope these tips help to show you why you MUST start building your list today. It is the No.1 asset of every successful marketer, and means you can run your business on autopilot 24/7.
