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There are basically Five ways to build a list and as most marketers will tell you the money is in the list.
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Use Some One elses
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Buzz Marketing
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Newsletters
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Mini Courses
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Current Customers.
You are either 1 or 2 type of people...
1. you work hard promoting in traffic exchanges, forums, groups ect. and still are unable to make a significant dent in potential sales on the net.
2. you have worked hard for several months marketing your rear off and you have built 1,100 subscribers and have a followup series in place to generate sales.
It doesn't take long to figure out that you want to be person #2. Bottom line is that you should be building your list before you start promoting anything online. How? I'll keep it really simple! Give away free e-books, guides, software, advertising, information, and generally anything people could ever want. And before they can gain access your free gift they have to double optin to your list! Pretty easy huh? well actually it is if you think about it. Just think.... if you were able to capture 2,500 subscribers or more a year then have 2,500 or more people that will buy from you again and again and again!
List building is probably one of the key strategies for building a great online business. You can do this a number of ways. It is imperative that you have a good management system to do all of this and to track your results.
You can easily add a subscription form to your website/s and I have even set up a specific websites to collect subscribers.
- Create a mini course
- Create a free members only site
- Start your own newsletter
- Offer a free giveaway
- Create a snatch page
1. Create a mini course.
Be a Winner! Answer the Challenge! An e-course is a sequence of emails set up to be delivered automatically without any effort on your part after the initial set up. Just set it and forget it. Setting up a free e-course is a great way to keep your services on top of mind and educate people about what you can do for them.
I highly suggest you subscribe to other people's e-courses in your field and study what information they offer too. Psst! To make this e-course work, you'll need a sequential autoresponder service. I use 1 Shopping Cart. (It's an entire shopping cart system, but I actually signed up with them initially because of the sequential autoresponders. They have a free 30 day trial).
HERE'S HOW TO GET STARTED
STEP ONE: Outline your topics. First you have to figure out what you think people would want to know about. Do a brainstorm exercise where you limit yourself to 5 minutes (use a timer). Write down all the topics you can think of on your area of expertise. Then edit down what you think is most relevant. For example, here's the basic outline of my free e-course on streaming audio.
 Day 1: Overview of What You Will Need
Day 2: Tips on Recording Techniques
Day 3: Recording and Editing exercise
Day 4: Front and Back Music
Day 5: Compile Using MP3 Sound Stream
Day 6: Embedding and Uploading
Day 7: Audio Postcards
STEP TWO: Go deeper in each subject. Really provide some content here. Make 2-3 points about each topic. Don't be afraid to do some hardcore research. Find statistics and trends and use them. Two of my favorite resources for current info are http://answers.google.com/answers/ and http://www.ceoexpress.com. Your message doesn't have to be long, just information-packed. You have the attention of people who "asked" to learn from you. So give them something valuable.
STEP THREE: Tease them till next time. After you've educated them, let them know that the next lesson will have something even more mouth-watering. The less specific you are, the more tantalizing the copy. Here are some teaser phrases I used in my e-course. Feel free to swipe versions of them for your own use:
 Hang on till tomorrow and I'll give you some tips to turn the heads of your target market.
In Day 4, you'll learn the secret method I use to tease the emotions.
Tomorrow you'll learn the SINGLE most important aspect of streaming audio.
Next I'll show you how to put it all together and make your website sticky like honey spilt on the kitchen floor.
STEP FOUR: Sign off. End your email like a real letter with a closing like "sincerely", your name, business and some ways to get a hold of you. Add your website and any tagline you use too.
STEP FIVE: P.S. Alert them to your other products or services. You have something to sell, right? But the purpose of your e-course is to educate and develop a relationship, isn't it? Don't worry. You can do both. As long as you're giving good content, people often like to know if you have something else to buy they would be interested in. For a gentle call to action, I recommend putting a product link with very little text in the P.S. (Studies show that people read the headline first THEN the PS. Weird, huh? But it's true.)
So to recap. Follow up is one of the biggest problems in doing business. Autoresponders do it effortlessly.
THE CHALLENGE Write your 7 day e-course and have it ready to go in 7 days. For sequential autoresponders, again, I recommend 1 Shopping Cart. Writing a free e-course is a great way to get business. And you'll use it for years with only minor tweaks. It gives people a reason to go to your page. Best of all, they get to test drive your material at no risk. Autoresponders save you time and make you look professional. I can't wait to read YOUR free e-course!
2. Create a free members only site
My friend Mike Filsaime of Instant Buzz is a master at this and has taught me a lot. A free membership site is something you can produce by adding lots of content etc on a monthly basis and then get people to sign up for it. You provide them with a sign in and password to make it private and it creates a special feeling because they are the only ones privy to the information.
You can set up a private login simply by password protecting a folder where you add all the information. You can usually do this in the control panel of your hosting account. As you find new material, free software etc, just add it to your members area and then advise your members. This can be a very quick way of building a list.
The other secret here is to add a one time offer in between the sign up and the actual site so when people sign up you offer them a never to be repeated offer. And you should never repeat it. Make it an irresistible offer and you can sell a lot of product from your free site.
3. Start your own newsletter
To create a newsletter you use the same basic principle as the minicourse however instead of making it a autoresponder you do it as a broadcast. If you decide to do a newsletter be consistent and never sell directly through your newsletter.
Offer great content and add some links to your products however do not major on selling because remember a reader is just one click away from unsubscribing. A newsletter is more of a relationship building tool rather than a selling tool.
Of course your prime objective is to sell products but just be aware that to much and you will loose valuable contacts.
4. Offer a free giveaway
Another great way to build a list is to give away something of value. There are plenty of resale right packages and I have even provided some in this course. You offer to send the customer a free copy of something if they give you their name and email address.
For example you may offer them the open source program Cam Studio just by filling out a form. Obviously try and make it something related to the business you working in.
5. Create a snatch page
A snatch page is a page where people are required to enter their email address and name to get more information. You will need to give an irresistible offer for this to work and niches are great for this.
A good friend of mine has made this work very effectively in the scrap booking field. He noticed that their were a lot of sites on scrap booking however nothing on how to make money from this hobby. Have a look at Bretts site and notice his snatch page and also the multimedia. A great product and marketing plan all round. Have a look now.
Special Note
These are just a few ideas on how to build a great list. Remember people are trusting you to provide good content and not to abuse their trust in giving you their name and address.
Expect Success
Quentin Brown
MP3 Sound Stream
http://www.msincome.com.au | 
