How to Build a List

There are many different ways of list building. Some people offer a product or service, which people sign up to receive information and special offers, whilst others may not have their own product or service to sell. There is no right or wrong way so here we will discuss some of the ways that are used.

Content creation as with most internet marketing approaches is king. You have to have a great landing or squeeze page to encourage your visitors to sign up for your mailing list. Many marketers will often give away some free content, which they may have written or in some instances they will use Private Label Rights (PLR) content. This can create an immediate bond with the individuals who have signed up, and may improve conversion rates for subsequent offers.

You can generate traffic through a number of methods, including seo, pay per click (ppc), through video’s, articles, pr and even latterly through social media. This is is a significant topic in it’s own right and one that we will not delve into for the purpose of this article.

There are a number of auto responder email systems providers, probably the most common of these is aweber, which a significant number of internet markers use. The reason that they use it is that is generally reliable, and there are a number of great features. These include click through tracking (conversion rates etc), and also bounce rates and un-subscription. There are a number of providers which generally charge a monthly premium for use of the service.

What an auto responder will do, is when someone signs up, they will then automatically receive an email or series of emails which you as the website owner will have set up in advance. So in some instances this could be one email containing the free content that the person may have signed up for, or alternatively it could just be a thank you. You can use this as you wish, with some marketers setting up a whole sales process from the point that someone signs up to their list.

You need to ensure that your landing page converts. With some of the email software providers you are able to split test with variations of the landing page and check the conversion rates to see which setup converts best. If you are using PPC to generate your traffic it is recommended that you do this research before you start the campaign, as otherwise this could cost you significantly.

There is lots of theory in terms of use of language, colour, video and also where on the page items are displayed having significant effects on the conversion rates achieved. I have actually experienced a significant increase in the conversion rate just by removing one word!

You have to have some reason or encouragement for people to join your list. Why else will they sign up otherwise. This could range from to get your free xxxx sign up here… Through to: to receive further great xxxx sign up here.

I would recommend having the sign-up box displayed on several pages of your website. Often people like to explore a site a little and get a sense of the site prior to joining. This therefore may mean if you only have the option to sign up on one page then you may miss some potential sign ups.

Managing the relationship with your list is a skillful thing to do. You need to be providing a clear message in terms of the niche that you are providing information or news on, but at the same time you do want to make it clear that you will promote offers that you believe to be relevant to the list. If you explain this up front then people are likely to be more receptive, but again it depends on the type of list that you are looking to generate and within what type of niche.

There are companies who will build a list on your behalf and then hand it over to you as it progresses. In my experience this can work out to be expensive, however if you only have a finite amount of time this can prove to be useful.

Good luck!

By: Matt Lenzie

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