List building methods

H there. There are ton of materials on this on this forum that you can take advantage of.

If your interest is in golf niche, just put together a quick guide (5 to 10 pages) and offer that as a freebie to build a list.

Make sure you ask yourself these questions before you start:

1) why am i doing this?
2) how am i going to monetize my list?
3) what are my email sequence?
4) which autoresponder would I use?
5) am i really serious about this? am I committed?
6) which products would I promote to make money as part of my list building sequence?
7) how would i drive traffic to my site? few examples a) media buy 2) solo ads 3) SEO 4) social media 5) JV 6) etc. etc. etc.

One thing you need to know is that it will take time.You need to have patience and you need to be focused on the end goal.

Good luck.

Hey Guna,

Golf is not my niche, it was a past project from when I was living in Sao Paulo. Currently, my niche is entrepreneurship. I post daily & have been commenting, both done religiously of course. I have setup my wordpress (obviously), all on my own. I am starting a podcast, which last night I tried to edit but it gave me a huge headache, now it will be shelled out to fiverr. I have a Facebook page, twitter etc... I have tried to send out my posts to social media outlets, but wow, what a pain in the ass and it feels ridiculous. I tend to get traffic because of my comments and posts here and on blackhat, but they're not signing up to my email list... lol

Also, I do use SEO, both YOAST AND SQUIRRLY (paid version).

Auto responder, I use Mailchimp, simply because I am not interested in paying aweber for anything if there's no one to send emails to...

Having a Squeeze with a Freebie.
Make sure your Freebie solves/helps a major Desire in your niche.
With your Squeeze..
- Headline
- Sub-Headling
- Bullet Points
- Call To Action
all need to be tested.. to see what converts best..( 30% usually good conversion )
You always need to be testing.. & trying to beat your Control.

Once on your list..
either promote 'good' affiliate products..
or develop your own.
But don't just 'pitch' in your emails..
also provide valuable content..( build relationship with your subs )

-Theo-

Biggest thing working for me is to create a twitter account and follow about 200 people that are following a "guru" in your niche. So let's say for golf you would follow 200 of tiger woods followers. Then you create a landing page to an eBook and link too it and other interesting content. Split test it to see if different titles work better and boom your list is growing. I've done that to grow a list of 100 in a super competitive niche before so it won't be very hard you just have to make sure you have your auto responder up so that your list is trained to open your emails. Good luck!

You've definitely been of insight, everyone contributes in their way; the point of a forum

I am all for experimenting, but let's be honest, the time is not best spent on blog posting (which I do daily). There are a few more steps to it, one of which is me becoming organized. I just installed a new theme, which I like better.

Second, I think before any of this testing can take place I need to produce this digital product. There's nothing to test on when you have nothing to work with lol. Tweeting doesn't work, Facebook updates don't work. And commenting endlessly, on nofollow pages, which are everywhere, doesn't work either.

Frankly, producing blog posts and podcasts and trying to throw away digital products is what this boils down to in my opinion. The rest is up to you and for testing, one in the same lol.

I have not experimented outside of IM because I am not into purchasing a drop shipping site. I am a full-time student & work, I'm barely sleeping as is, though content to do so happily, to build my business to be...

The tried and true method of trust+time+email submit

It’s easier to go through list building today because there are a lot of resources.

Let me get you straight to the point. You need to turn to social media. You want to know why? Everyone who is engaged in any social media has their own email account and even multiple email accounts.

It’s also very easy to meet new people through any social media platform. I personally think that would be the best way for you to start. Good luck!

Nate

The things that "helped me to increase my opt-in rate the most" were all things that also cost me a lot of lost profit.

Be aware that, as a general principle, "the biggest list" and "the list that produces the biggest income" will very rarely (if ever) be the same thing. And that there are reasons for that.

Monitoring/testing things according to "the number of people who opt in" is a misguided approach, and planning your list-building according to "what helps you to increase your opt-in rate the most" is effectively handicapping yourself at the outset.

As an example, every single time I've split tested squeeze pages against opt-ins on a content-rich blog, the squeeze pages have built significantly bigger lists, but over all the 6-month periods I've tested their responsiveness and my income from the two separate lists, those bigger lists have also been less responsive and produced significantly less income. It used to puzzle me, at first, but the solution to the "mystery" is actually not difficult to understand: the reality is that the people who are most likely to become the best customers are exactly the ones who won't opt in to a squeeze page. (And it's not difficult to prove this, once you're aware of the possibility and don't start by assuming the opposite, as so many people do).

For these and other reasons, it would be a big mistake for you to start out by making decisions according to the proportion of people who opt in - unfortunately, internet marketing isn't quite as simple as that. It's a little like confusing turnover and profit in a business: it's easy to confuse list-size with income. It's a mistake.

Here are some posts/threads which may help you to appreciate these and other, related points, regarding list-building ...

What are the essential things to know about list building?

Lists: How Long to Presell - Averages

Website or squeeze page

Where to get reports to give away on opt in page?

Autoresponders vs. Broadcasts

I do use social media but it's annoying to harass my friends, that is just plan true.

Second: Thank you for the post and informative links, everyone included, I will be gearing up and looking to develop a product for a giveaway and then trying to market it.

hopefully this will help build my list!

Give. Give something cool or valuable. Something that will help people make money or save money. It is all about giving.... and to be frank giving away ebooks is getting old....

Have you tried few forums for generating traffic and building a list? Social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Google +? There are million people who are ready to become your audience.

This is some great content! I learn some new stuff just reading these post!

Facebook page can help our page reach more and more face book fans. Our fans and other Fan pages can tag us fan page..
Else You can go with

Articles
E-Courses
Squeeze Page
Free Membership Site
Newsletter

If you already have a list try ad swapping on safe-swaps and others. You also need to be targeted and have a great offer. Too often people get lazy and dont split test either. If no ones opening your ad change the headline. If their not clicking your link in the body copy change the copy. It takes work but if you do things right it pays off.

I have been building a list via a squeeze page and another one via my blog. The one from a squeeze page is bigger in size but the one from the blog is significantly more responsive. They have subscribed because they have read my blog, liked the content and know something about me rather than just getting a freebie - they don't get anything else from a squeeze really.

I'll take a smaller responsive list any day over a big one with low response rate.

blog comments is good carry on also do
classified add posting
forum posting
social bookmarking
social media promotion

I don't offer people any sort of freebie digital or otherwise on most of my sites to opt in.

Giving away freebies tends to mostly attract freebie seekers. You are bribing people to opt in and they do so to get the free giveaway and often not because they want to receive continuous emails from you.

This is a big problem as you end up with lists filled with freebie seekers and people who have no interest in what you're sending them which results in low open and click rates, high spam rates and high unsubscribe rates.

I prefer to qualify my potential subscribers to make sure they are the sort of people I WANT on my list and that they actually WANT TO BE on my list.

So usually no freebies from me. Either simply asking them to subscribe for blog updates (maybe with the some exclusive email content thrown in from time to time) or sending them through a 'content funnel' to qualify them first (Google Andre Chaperone's stuff for how this effectively).

Probably not what you wanted to hear. This question has been asked by hundreds of people before and very few seem to listen to it and just keep on focusing on how to get a big list despite the fact that big list never makes them any money.

I agree with you guys! Most especially when it involves giving away a freebie, though untested, I agree with establishing yourself and the rest will do itself. Naturally there is still a required competition for find your way there. That not limited to just being consistent and giving it time. There is much truth in people who just want to make money right off the line. Well really, who the hell doesn't? You have to have something of value, people have become so passive about actually earning their income. The opportunity you have to earn a living, doing something you love, is very high right now. There is nothing less than to have freedom, even if you hate blogging or doing activities that are online or tech otherwise. The pure freedom and mobility to be your own boss are worth the fight to the top.


If that doesn't motivate you, G-d knows only how ignorant you must be.

Anyway, aside from giving away nothing. I am sure something, meaningful & relevant, wouldn't hurt your campaign.

If you're going to create a 'free guide' then do it but instead of forcing people to opt in to see if they like it post that guide on your website just like a normal post and let everyone see it.

Tell them throughout the guide if they liked it they can opt in and they'll get more similar stuff regularly.

If you make your guide the most definitive resource on the net on the subject you'll get tons of links, social shares and exposure too.

I have been using Facebook Ads to build my list. You will have to optimize and split test a lot. Clicks have been as cheap as $0.07 for me. I will say this, although you get cheap clicks, conversions can cost you if you don't have a solid squeeze page. For this its probably best to have a fanpage and get likes first so you can keep promoting to them using sponsor features. For Entrepreneurship I would target people who are fans of Richard Branson, Frank Kern, etc.

I like the idea of just posting it on my site, particularly on it's own page, or in the 'Start Here' / 'Resources'. It's probably even likely to take that a step further and leave ideas or methods (information) incomplete; suggestive to opt-in to find more elaborative ideas. All will be figured out in time!

Yoichi, I have looked into advertising my page on FB. It just seems rather pointless right now. I have come to the conclusion that posting everyday is a waste of time as well. I have other things to focus on and my free time isn't so free. I am looking to open up for guest posters, and also just post 2-3 meaningful articles a week of the 1000-2000 word count. It saddens me to see such hard work going into posting everyday, and the posts just disappear into the crowd.

That said, blogging everyday has taught me that working on your website/business/business'to-be' daily is where it's at!.

"What helped you increase your opt-in rate the most." Without any doubt in a word RELATIONSHIP is the key as well as what others have already said.

Our tried and tested formula is as follows.

1. Give away a related valuable free gift
2. Follow up with more free valued gifts of quality
3. Show them you care by providing great, helpful free information
4. Eventually include an affiliate link in yor free useful information
5. Keep them on your list by always thanking them and saying what and when you will write to them again?
6. Finally include upmarket related links with your email follow ups while still giving value

That works for us. Golf is not our thing but these general tips work in most niches.

Regards,

Stephen & Jennifer.

Youtube account with tons of videos with entertaining/value content with a 301 redirected domain to a capture page works all day.

Videos don't have to be fancy or edited either. Just work on your communication skills and connect with your target market.

Simple, cheap, effective (in my experience anyway)

This is how I built a golf niche list.

1. I bought a domain and added wordpress to it.

2. Next I created a Fan Page

3. Posted on my blog and shared my posts on my Fan Page.
I would write unique posts about golf tips and other things pertaining
to golf and I would also add golf tips Youtube videos to my blog (not my videos)
Not all the content on my blog and Fan page is unique.

4. I would promote my Fan Page posts with Facebook Ads to get likes and subs.
When they would click on my post they would be sent to my blog and
on my blog I would have an optin form pop up while they were reading a post
or watching a video. Something like "Get Game Changing Golf Tips Sent To Your
Inbox Daily!" just enter your name and email.

5. I created a separate page on my Fan Page with a Fan gate on it.
The Fan gate would get the person to like my page before they could
see the other page, and on the page I would have an optin form.

This may not be the best method, but it worked pretty good for me.

Hope this helps.

I like the shout out to videos! I have been considering doing videos now. I am not, myself, doing the golf niche. That was a reference at a past project. Anyhow, I ordered a tripod case for my iPhone of amazon, hopefully I can make some videos in the near future.

I think promoting your "Brand" through your blog content, social media - facebook especially, twitter, .... Make contacts at websites that are in your niche to see if you can write an article for them.
It sounds like you have the recipe for success with the idea of promoting value about what you have expertise in. Then, as you grow your list, your subscribers/list will tell you what they want.
It takes time, but I think you have the right motivations.

Can I just be honest for a sec?

When you are just starting out and don't really have the resources to outsource things, doing things that aren't necessarily "your cup of tea" is actually an essential part of getting off the ground.

When you say "i don't want to see my efforts evaporate" what you are really saying is "i'm afraid to fail"

The truth is that yes you might fail, but you have to be willing to accept that.

You have to be willing to do absolutely whatever it takes...and that means that there is literally nothing that you will say to yourself that you won't do (as long is its not illegal or unethical or something).

Because the reality is that until you have mastered a certain skillset and can steadily make money with that skillset, then you do not have the ability to control your outcomes by controlling your actions.

You just aren't there yet.

Unless you have money to invest in either seo or paid ads, then blog commenting, social media, syndicating, ect is really the ONLY way you are going to get anybody to see your website.

Its just the truth.

And if you have good content that is either useful or entertaining, people will come back.

You just have to go out there and crawl over the broken glass and do what others won't.....so you can have the things that [most] others can't.

I have been struggling for years trying to build a list, finding ways to build a list ..blogs, the dreaded squeeze page ...only thing that worked for me is social media, specifically "facebook groups" ..ever since i place good free items to download on 65 million facebook groups my list building is out of control

nothing else i have done to date worked as well as social media, i only really discovered social media recently and i was shocked at my results, its free and easy ...now i am building my whole listing building around this method .."if it works, go with it" my moto

You absolutely right jgant. Posting once a day is a lot, and unnecessary after a certain point. I think regularly scheduled posts will suffice from here on out.

This is my first site, but once I start building my network, I won't even have to post so much. Just refresh an update the informative articles!

You should start with some paid advertising. It's the most practical and well-known ways to get immediate leads... even for a newbie. PPC, blog advertising, high traffic websites, forum advertising, etc.

Building a list via solo ads are the most popular form of list building methods especially if you're targeting make money online niche.

Personally it has worked well for me.

I would not bother about building your list.
Just go for the sale.
You will find say 5 out of 2000 people will open your emails despite the value you give.
At the same time you will be paying your autoresponder company monthly fees for keeping those worthless subscribers.
Test it and come back and post your results.

Have you ever used paid advertising? How about solo ads? But of course, you will be needing a squeeze page with something highly valuable to offer for free.

Here's another method: In those niche forums, send a private message to one of the "gurus" and ask if they're willing to sell their signature space and promote your blog there.

I see you've been quite frustrated about all these daily efforts (which can also be outsourced, by the way) and the quickest way to build a list is by paying for it.

Interesting.

Rather than a website, should we maybe be building our affirmative action plan by validating our ideas?