Email List Building Strategies

August 1st, 2010 by admin

Honestly, everyone making money online has an email list. This is the most important factor in your long-term success. Because you can market to your list whenever you want. It’s like a renewable resource that allows you to make money on demand.

So, how do you build a list?

Here are the three components of list building:

Your Landing Page
The Bribe
Your Confirmation Page

Your Landing Page – The squeeze page is the first thing your visitor is going to see. This is where they will enter their email address. That’s why it needs to look like a professionally designed page. It’s also got to be free from distractions. You’ve also got to make a strong “close”.

The biggest mistake you can make is not having a clear call to action. This “close” tells your visitors what you want them to do. And if you don’t include it, they won’t opt in. The funny thing is that people just don’t know what to do unless you tell them.

One way to really spice up your squeeze page is to add a video to it. You only have a few second to get your visitors attention – video helps! And you can repeat the call to action several times int he video. Then at the end of the video you can print “sign up now” on the video.

If you don’t know how to make video, don’t worry. Hiring out-sourced help to do it for you only costs $150 – $250. You can also find ready-made list building tools that give you squeeze page templates.

The Incentive – The second component is the reason they are opting into your list. You have to give people a compelling reason to give your their email. Most people are very protective of their email address. So you have to give them a good reason to do it.

You have to provide value in your bribe for it to be good. That means you make it something people would actually want to receive. And will be able to actually benefit from it. It could be:

A report
Some useful software
A video
An email training series

It all boils down to content. Something that’s useful and helpful to your visitors. And nothing sells like “free”. Bottom line is it’s got to be worth more to them than their email address.

Once again, don’t worry if you don’t know how to create the freebie. You can just pay someone else to make it for you. You just pick the topic and they create the training. A 5-part email series is a good freebie. And you can get emails ghost written for about $20 – $25 each. So, you’ll get the whole series written for under $150.

Or again, you can find complete list building packages for sale online that include an email series. Two things to keep in mind when writing (or buying) and email training series. First, it must provide value to your subscribers. And it’s nice if it earns you some money, too. One very easy way to make some money from your list is with affiliate marketing. This is such a simple solution because you don’t have to create the product. And make money right away from your list.

The Thank You Page – Finally, you need to consider your opt-in confirmation page. This is the page your subscriber sees after they opt in. It’s a great idea to give them some valuable information right on the thank you page. Then they feel good about giving you their email address. And it helps you establish the relationship. Then they’re more receptive when you email them.

You can use a “done for you” email marketing system. Or you can go the DIY route. You can either write the content pages on your own. Or have someone ghost write for you.

Final thoughts

It doesn’t matter if you do all of this yourself. Or if you hire people to do this for you. Or if sign up for a “complete package” solution. The key is to start building your list. Because as soon as you’ve got your own list . . . You’ve got a license to print money!