Your looking to build your first list otherwise you wouldn’t be here. This article will summarise what list building is, take a look at the act of building an email list of subscribers that you can send out emails to and hopefully make some money. You will hear many internet marketers say that the money is in the list, which is very true. I’ll start with a quick overview of what exactly is involved in list building and then go on to teach you how to build your first list.
An example popup presenting an user with a free gift in return for subscribing to his list
What is List Building?
Your looking to build your first list, and in order to do this there are several steps which you must follow, but the first, and possibly most important step is to sign-up to an email marketing service (often called auto-responder services), such as Aweber, iContact or Mail Chimp. Once your signed up and have set up your list you’ll need to get your opt-in form.
The opt-in form is a simple sign-up form that you can place on your website which will ask for the users name and email (or other things) to be added to your list. It’s usual for marketers to offer a free report or some other type of incentive to get users to sign-up. Generally there are two ways in which users can be added to your email list.
- Single opt-in: This means the user enters their details and begin to receive your emails without confirming their email address.
- Double opt-in: This makes the user confirm their email and verify that they in fact want to be on your list.
After this is done then you then have the ability to send out emails to the entire list at any time you like. In these emails you can promote your own products, promote affiliate campaigns or just send more general information or articles with regards to the service or product you offer.
Build your First List:
Before you build your first list you will need to decide which niche market you would like to enter. It could be anything from weight loss, internet marketing, or specifics within the niche like SEO optimization or losing belly fat. List building in an overcrowded niche is not recommended since there will be a lot of competition and list out there. Someone is much more likely to pay attention to your emails if they are on only one list for losing belly fat specifically then if you are just another weight loss newsletter out of the 5 they are signed up on.
Once you have decided on which niche you will want to make a small ebook or pre-written email to send as soon as the user has opted-in to your list. This could be anything from basic exercises on how to lose belly fat, or simple tips to SEO optimize their website. Advertising that the visitor will receive something immediately after signing up will greatly increase your conversion rate from visitors to opt-ins.
Now it is time to actually start list building and sign-up for an email service. In the next article I will show you my two favorite services to use, but for now let’s assume you use Aweber. Once you are signed up you will need to create your email list and get the web form or opt-in form. Hopefully you already have a website but if not you will need to purchase a domain and hosting as well. Setting up the form is as simple as placing the code onto your website and once that is setup then you can start driving traffic and building opt-ins. In a later article I will give you some best practices for setting up your squeeze page where your opt-in form will be placed, so that you get high conversion rates.
Build Your First List – A Summary:
This is just the beginning and there’s so much more to learn. The site is full of articles on what to do next and how to take your marketing campaign to the next level – but for now, congratulations, you’ve just started the journey to build your first list.
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