How To Build Your List In 5 Easy Steps

In order to build a responsive list of subscribers you will need some essential list building tools and business skills. Building your list need not be hard, but it takes planning and action from you on a consistent basis.

In a general over view, a list building strategy involves the following steps;

• Plan
• Build
• Promote
• Optimize
• Communicate

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you are in the direct sales businesses, the need to have a continually growing database of customers and potential customers to keep a steady income and supporter base. It's safe to say that it is a basic survival tactic for a direct sales business.

As long as your list is growing, it means that you have prospective customers and an ever growing market reach.

By having a subscribers list, each of these customers can be contacted any time you have new information. When you launch a new product or run a promotion you have a warm market to launch your product too. Having instant access to a responsive list of customers can improve your work at home business earnings.

Most online marketers are taught to build their list as one of their first objectives. hmm....you don't really need to wonder why. You've heard it before and you will hear it again....they money is in the list.

One trend I have noticed in my time in this industry is that those who position their company to incorporate massive list building.....bigger profits is what they are ultimately after.

Why This Fact Is Important For Your List Building....

If you want to corner part of your niche market and develop a solid customer base....you'd better start. Otherwise the 'big guy's' are going to beat you to it.

Simply this means that you need to hurry up and get your list building started.

Time is Money! When your business depends on your time and abilities this business fact is even more true.

No Secrets To List Building

In case you didn't know, there are other marketers out there who are following down the same path you are going down. Accelerate your list building efforts by doubling your list. Doubling may not be enough, in order to really build the type of list you need in order to keep moving forward, you need to build fast in order to move ahead of the game and not allow all the other marketers in your niche to pass you by.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

These steps are simple and practical when you think about it. Place your optin form in a location where it is going to get the most exposure.

It makes sense that if you put the form at the bottom of the page or bury it back on one of your internal pages - you are going to get less subscribers as the majority of visitors to your site will never get past the home page.

The front page of your website is exactly where your optin form should go. Design it to work into the overall layout of your website and you can have an optin form on every page if you wish.

If I was your publisher I'd be telling you to put it before the fold : )

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you have not started building a list, the list building guide below will help you get going, but even if you've started your list there may be ways you can improve your optin rate (number of daily subscribers you are attracting).

So far we've taken at look at why you want a list and how to optimize your optin form location and why you should be building a list.....lets get to the how to's so you can start working a list building strategy into your business.

5 Steps To Easy List Building

• Plan

To have a productive list, you much approach this with some thought. Don’t just bounce around trying things and hoping that eventually it will all come together. Very few of us are that lucky!

Develop a good free report or something of value that you can give away to those who sign up. Unless this report is related to your niche, it’s not going to build a solid list that has little to no value to you.

It is an absolute necessity to deal with a good autoresponder company This becomes more and more important as the size of your list grows so it’s best to get this right from the start.

• Build

Be sure you identify individuals who will have a natural interest in the products or services you offer. Having a list of that was built with no specific target in mind is never going to be as responsive or productive as you would like.

Learn the rules regarding list communication – ie understand optin compliance, what is spam, plus research ways of protecting your list and even domain name if you are self hosting an autoresponder.

• Optimize

You must develop a good squeeze page to be successful. Design your page with one goal....it's only purpose is to gather the name and email address of people are in your target market. Focus all of your marketing efforts to your squeeze page for maximum list building results. At the end of the day, having a great squeeze page actually makes your job easier. Then promote it!

If list building is your foucs generate links will direct traffic to your squeeze page using forum posting, articles and blogs (just to name a few)

• Promote

A responsive list will grow naturally over time – you can not force it. You can double or even triple your list building efforts and generate more subscribers – just be sure to keep it targeted. Don’t get desperate......focus on the long term goal of developing a responsive and productive list.

• Communicate

Finally, when you are involved in productive list building, you will want to make certain that the communications that you send to individuals on the list you have compiled are well done. In short, you do not want to send junk to these individuals if you intend to profit from your list building efforts.

Send your subscribers plenty of free goodies and valuable information on a regular basis. This ensures that they will continue to look forward to, and open your emails.

As the schedule suits your niche, send them targeted related promotions, perhaps weekly, for products that are related to your niche. Never give a hard sell, think value and information. Make sure that the items you are promoting represent good quality and have great value. Never recommend over-priced or crappy items. This is a sure way to destroy your list.

And most importantly of all, build a relationship with your subscribers. Send out questionnaires, talk to them like friends, and more importantly, answer their questions in a timely manner.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What! I hear you say....yes it's possible - in an essence of the word 'list' I guess. I will explain my logic on this one. Hubpages allows other's to become your fan. When you become the fan of another member, you are sent an email every time that author publishes new material.

And there is another way people can get on your hubpages list parse...

You see each and every HubPages writer has various RSS feeds associated with their account. If you take your RSS feed, eg mine are

Latest hubs;

http://hubpages.com/author/The+How+To+Hub/latest/

This can be applied to your hot hubs feed

http://hubpages.com/author/The+How+To+Hub/hot/

Top ranked

http://hubpages.com/author/The+How+To+Hub/best/

When someone subscribes to your feed - they are also notified via email when new material is published. If you want to get more RSS subscribers you are going to have to promote your RSS feed or Hub profile.

Perhaps you can put a link on your MySpace profile to your latest work. Burn your RSS feed and promote it on RSS directories. Submit hubpages to social bookmarking sites. These are just a few suggestions to help build your hubpages list : )

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Your website is the first place most people look when they want information about your business or when they want to bookmark your site to come back. Don't miss the chance to start building an attraction relationship with them.

Ask your visitors and customers for their email addresses and permission. Whether it's over the phone or in person, don't forget to tell customers about your email communications and ask if you can add them to your list. If you have a physical store, put out a sign-up book in a prominent place. If your business is internet-based and your only customer communication is through email, send them a follow-up email after an order and ask if they want to join your list. Ask acquaintances you meet when networking and at trade shows to join. When you meet people at networking events and trade shows tell them about your free e-newsletter or your email-only specials and ask them if they would like to join your list.

Beyond the Basics:

Take your email marketing to the next level. Offer incentives for signing up for your newsletter. It's amazing how a freebie or a chance to win a prize can be just what a person needs to "take the plunge" and sign up for your email list. Your giveaway doesn't have to be costly; it can be as simple as a free resource guide or ebook. Make it clear to those who sign up that they will be added to your email list.

Conduct a "Forward to a Friend Contest." In your newsletter, let your contacts know that if they use the "Forward to a Friend" link to send this month's newsletter to at least one new recipient, they will be entered into a drawing for a prize. There are many things that can be used as email list building incentives. One useful advantage of using an email marketing service provider is that you can see which subscribers forwarded your email to a friend. With that knowledge, you can easily run the contest. See how to have win-win relationships…