List Building

You've probably heard it said time and time again - 'the money is in the list'. It's true that if you have an opt-in list of subscribers,you have an attentive audience - members who are interested in what you have to say. Having an opt-in list of subscribers certainly helps to target a specific group of people - much the same as targeting a niche!

Here are a couple of things you should do once you have set up your website:

1. Have a free report or chapter from your product that visitors can download and put on their own websites as a free download for their website visitors. If their visitors download your free report or chapter, they will most probably click on the link to your website. This will bring you more traffic and more potential buyers at no cost to you.

2. Before they can download your free report or chapter, make sure you have an opt-in script installed. I use Aweber.

JV giveaway events are a very important aspect of Internet and Niche Marketing. Not only are you able to get lots of free stuff but you can also build your own list in a big way by participating and submitting a gift of your own.

In order for you to submit your own product, you will usually need to already have your own opt-in list in place so that you can invite them along. Every giveaway has different rules on the amount of subscribers you should already have before you can submit your gift so you will need to check on the particular giveaway that you intend to participate in.

You will also need to be actively involved in advertising the event - you shouldn't expect something for nothing! Writing articles and submitting them to the various article directories are a good idea and setting up a blog or Squidoo lens will also help to get the traffic to the event through your affiliate link. If you have a website then placing banners on the front page is recommended.

The products you may submit must either be your own, or products that you can legally submit, i.e. products with giveaway rights. If you are going to submit someone elses product then you will have to get in quick as there may be a few people out there with the same product and it will usually be a 'first come - first serve' basis. Not many giveaway events will accept more than one of the same product.

You may think that giving away your product as opposed to selling it defeats the purpose of trying to have a profitable online business however, you need to look at it another way:

You may sell 50 of your reports at say $7 each giving you $350 but if you were to put your report in a JV Giveaway event as a free download, think of all the people who would visit and to whom your report would be exposed to. Even if you had 20 people sign up on your list, they are 20 people who are interested in your product and more likely to buy from you. You can also let them know about other products which, if you affiliate with the product manufacturers first and your subscribers buy from them through your affiliate link, you will earn a commission from that too. By giving master resale rights or private label rights to your free report in the JV giveaway, will be a really big bonus.

Think about it: all that your prospective subscriber needs to do is enter their name and e-mail address to get a free report which they can sell and make 100% profit with! With events as big as these, I'm sure you would get more than 20 subscribers with a product such as that!

Make sure you sign up for this one! The Hidden Treasure Giveaway is ONLY allowing BRAND NEW PRODUCTS - get them all completely FREE! Click on the banner below to join!

Here's a small picture of the product that I have submitted:

Join up and receive my brand new Private Label Rights ebook completely FREE! Here's a sneak preview:

And you get the sales and download pages with this too!

Other than joining JV Giveaway events, giving away something for free on your website and of value to your website visitors as opposed to a report is another excellent idea for building your list. Set up a squeeze page with loads of freebies (where the licence permits) together with an opt-in subscriber box. You could also produce your own product to give away.

Submit your articles to various article sites and post them on your blog with a link to your freebies. Those that read your article will almost certainly click on the link!

Here are a few more pointers in helping you to build and maintain your opt-in list of subscribers:

1. Have a contest or competition on your site where the prize is something of value such as a Private Label Rights product. Your visitors will have to opt-in to participate;

2. Give out lots of useful information, articles and updates. By doing this your subscribers will know that they can trust you and will look forward to receiving your e-mails every few days;

3. If you are an expert in your field, offer free courses to your visitors, in return you ask for their name and e-mail address;

4. Always make sure that when you send out e-mails to your list that your links remain intact, there is somewhere they can click on to contact you and also make sure that they know they may unsubscribe at any time;

5. Join some forums and build relationships with everyone there as this will also be a great way to get more contacts and clients;

6. NEVER spam your subscribers. One e-mail every four or five days is enough. My subscribers receive their first e-mail immediately and then I send out a few broadcasts when I find a good product that I want to tell them about or if I have something new on site and that's it! If you keep sending out e-mail messages, your subscribers will probably just delete your e-mails and may even report you as spam. ONLY send out broadcasts if it is relevant to your business and in your clients interests.

There are many benefits of having an opt-in list of subscribers - they will definitely keep your business going however, it will not happen overnight. As with all things, you must work at it. Work at building a list of subscribers and work at keeping them.