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Sunday 19 December 2010

Why Build a List?


When you set out to build a list, you are hoping to gather the names and email addresses of dedicated subscribers and prospects. You’re hoping to gain instant access to customers and also to build a following of readers for your ezines and articles, or whatever game plan you have in mind.

However, these days it’s not easy to get people to part with personal information. There is so much spam out there that people have become wary of anybody who asks for their names and email addresses. For that reason, you are going to have to convince people they should offer this information to you. The most effective way to do this is by building trust as well as value. You must give them a good reason to part with their personal information.

When you build a list, you are creating a dedicated following. These people, if you do everything correctly, will eagerly await your next communication in which you offer them the next great product or service that they’re sure to be interested in.

See, to build a quality list, people must be looking for what you’re offering in the first place. They may search for you using Google, or they may click on an ad, and that’s when they’re taken to your website that offers them something in exchange for their information.

That essentially means that, for you to build a quality list, they have to seek you out. For that to happen, you must give them an opportunity to find you. This can be done in a number of ways. You can use paid advertising, article marketing, or you can use several of the techniques we’re about to discuss. Then, once they find you and they give you their information, you’ll be able to offer them what they want whenever you want to.

If you have a new product you’re selling, you can instantly send out an email telling all your subscribers about it. If you just published an article on an ezine, you can also tell your subscribers to go read it. It’s an effective way to build a fan base that is always hungry for what you’re offering. That makes list building, hands down, one of the most effective marketing techniques ever conceived.

There are other techniques that are great for marketing, but none target a group quite like list building. When you drive down the highway, you see billboards advertising products and services and even ideologies. These billboards are designed to reach everyone who passes by. Some people may respond to these billboards, but most people won’t. They’ll just pass them by and they’ll become essentially just another part of their surroundings.

Now, consider if you could design a billboard that could only be seen by the very people who would love to respond to it. That’s essentially the idea behind list building. You are delivering information and products to people that are looking for those exact things. That means you have a higher chance of making money than if you were to blanket market to people who may or may not be interested in what you have to offer.

Finally, the reason you want to build a list is because people often don’t buy the first time they’re offered something. For example, let’s pretend you have a product. You build a website, you fill it with quality content and you optimize it effectively for the search engines. Then, you do some article marketing and you even create an Adwords campaign to promote that site. You may get a few visitors but most people don’t buy and those that do visit never return.

Now, what if you could get the visitors’ email addresses so that you could keep in contact with them? 
Do you think you could convince them to buy if you could offer them more information over a longer period of time and actually build a trusting relationship with them?
I bet you could and that right there is the primary reason why list building is essential to online marketing.
Next time I will cover another item of the list building process

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