List building has got to be one of the most fundamental, accepted and time-proven concepts in marketing and now online marketing…yet so many people never get to building their list and those that do often struggle to turn that list into an automated money machine that it really can be.

I actually went into my Autoresponder account just now and counted, we have 24 different lists, some are adding an average of 30-40 people each day, others are adding a trickle.  These lists are across 3 different niche markets and include separate lists for the following:

• New prospects from paid advertising
• New prospects from various content-generated traffic
• A video subscription list
• A newsletter list
• An announcement list
• A list of customers (actually these are separated into multiple lists depending on product)
• List of joint venture partners and affiliates

Of course the new prospect lists are the ones that grow the fastest, this is the beginning of the funnel where we hope to turn those prospects into raving fans and ultimately customers.

I assume you were like me when I first started list building…it took me much longer to get rolling than it should have and even when I did I made pretty much every mistake in the book.  But I ultimately knew that the ticket to consistent, growing income online is a responsive list. 

Let’s look at important list building fundamentals:

1. First, figure out your market and your VALUE to the marketplace.   List building requires an exchange of trust (your prospect) for the promise of value (from you).   The greater the percieved value, the greater your response will be.
2. It’s not the size, but the relationship you have with your list that’s important.  You may have heard this said before, but it IS really true — a list of 1,000 highly responsive people is worth far more than a list of 20,000 cold subscribers.  This relationship building is primarily made up of you delivering value to your list with just a touch of personality thrown into the mix. 
3. Start NOW!  Each day you put off the decision to build a list you are missing out on at least 10-20 sign-ups.  Sign-ups that could be worth anywhere from $2-$10 each per month if you nurture the relationship correctly.  Think of it like this…if you had the chance to work a few hours to automatically collect $5/month from everyone you signed up, would you spend the few hours now or in a month? 
4. Make it your PRIMARY goal.  List building should be your PRIMARY focus – period!  Your goal is to get someone into your sales funnel and then apply various elements of persuasion to sell them your products, services and affiliate offers in the future.  Without persuasion, you may convert 1% of your visitors into customers – cold – if you’re lucky.  With persuasion those rates can be as high as 6-7% which means 7X the monthly revenue.
5. Get an autoresponder account NOW!  I’ve been with these guys for years now and they are without a doubt the best autoresponder service out there today…pick up an account so you can start list building right away.
6. Begin adding opt-in forms – inline, pop-ups, shadow boxes, johnson boxes – these are all different types of opt-in forms you can easily add t your web pages and blogs using Aweber’s basic account. 

Whatever you do…don’t be scared off by list building.  If you have questions, get them answered NOW so you can move on and begin your list building campaigns. 

Go ahead, post any questions or comments you have by hitting the "Comment" button below and let’s put your list building into HIGH gear.

Jeff