List Building - What? Me? Build a List? I Wouldn't Know Where to Start

List building is so critical to success online, yet many marketers are, frankly, scared to build a list. They are scared to write their own emails, they are scared to communicate with people they don’t know, they are scared of the CAN-SPAM laws.

But I am here to tell you that it really is easier than that. You really can learn to list build and do it quickly and easily.

On August 03, 2006, I started to build my current list. In all fairness, I had built two lists earlier, one of about 125 subscribers, but I built it kindof amateur-like, mailing it from my yahoo account. That was tough! The second list I built with a free autoresponder, and I think most of my emails were not delivered. So when I started this list in August, I already had some experience with what didn’t work, and had a little bit of a foundation to work with.

But today, October 12, 2006, I have 770 active subscribers. That is out of 992 total subscribers (the difference is the people who unsubscribed or did not verify their emails or whose emails are undeliverable).

This is how I did it, in reverse order of the number of subscribers I have on my list:

4) Miscellaneous. To cover everything, I have to list this. This includes everything except my top three methods---free advertising, complimentary links, safe list and traffic exchange subscribers, and forum postings.

3) JV giveaways. These are joint venture giveaways where I submitted a free product to put in the giveaway, and then the contributors (including me) send traffic to that one site. I gain subscribers because in order for their visitors to access my free product, they have to subscribe to my list. One note about this: although it has boosted my list size, I do not have a documented sale from a giveaway visitor.

2) Google Adwords advertising. This has been effective at generating subscribers, although just recently I have really begun to learn how to convert them to paying members of my subscriber base. I am still in the red on this form of subscriber generation, but am still testing and advertising because I believe I can make it profitable.

1) Article Writing and Submission. This is by far my most effective means of traffic generation. I write articles just like this, readers just like you click my links to check me out, and subscribers just like you buy my products. It really is just that simple, and has been the strongest form of subscriber generation I am doing, and is certainly the most profitable. As a testament to my belief in its effectiveness, I have written around 200 articles at this time, and will probably write many more in the days and months to come.

Are you interested in learning how to build a responsive mailing list? Click here: List Building

Do you want my free book, ‘15 Steps to Internet Success‘? Click here: Internet Marketing Success

Sean Mize is an online author and internet marketer, and produces internet marketing training materials.