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I’ve always got list building on my mind.
Online marketing is almost entirely about list building.
Everything you do on your blog, social media sites, and advertising campaigns should be done with list building in mind.
Why?
Because you want your followers to be accessible by email.
List building is the process of getting your followers to join your private email list.
This is a simple concept, really.
An email list is nothing more than a data base of those who like your product, service, ideas or offerings.
Well, if they like all that… when you ask them to join your list, you should get a pretty nice response, and a lot of subscribers.
But when you think of it, that very simple little asset that you could call a customer list, subscriber list, prospect list, or email list, turns out to be the most valuable asset of your business.
This is true for bloggers, affiliate marketers, network opportunity reps and everyone else building an online… or offline… business.
You email list is the heart of your business.
It is the most valuable asset of your business.
To underscore the critical role of list building, let’s briefly review the benefits of building an email list for your business.
“My 3 List Building Machines”
Do you struggle to build a list of subscribers for your business?
Donna and I rely heavily on what we call “list building machines.”
They’re absolutely free access, and you probably use some or all of them already, but just didn’t know how to turn them into the “list building machines” they can be.
Get our FREE Guide on how to use these “3 list building machines” with a zero budget, and with incredible effectiveness.
CLICK THE BUTTON BELOW To Claim Your Copy.
Permission Based Asset
While your email list an asset, it’s deeper value lies in the fact that it’s a permission based asset.
That means those who sign up have given you permission to communicate with them at their private email address.
This gives you ultimate leverage Once you’ve obtained permission to email somebody.
You can use your email list in any way you want, of course, but primarily you want to use it to build an even deeper relationship with folks who have given you permission to do so.
You Own It
Your email list is yours.
You own it.
You don’t have to rely on any outside services to help you stay in touch with your followers, your permission-based prospects.
You have full right and authority to use it as you see fit.
Now, this may seem to be obvious.
Don’t you own everything you create?
Not really.
Many folks rely more on social media platforms to harvest and harbor their list.
Facebook or Twitter, for instance, could be where you connect with people. You can tweet your Twitter “followers” and post an update to your Facebook “friends” any time you like.
But that’s not really true, is it?
Social platforms can, and do, control which of your followers you can see, how often, and for a cost. And, they control what that cost will be.
But with a simple email account, you contact your entire list of contacts anytime you want for a fixed monthly fee.
It doesn’t matter if your favorite social platform makes a sudden change in their privacy or user settings, or if they change their Terms of Service anytime they feel like it.
You know that when they do, you will no longer be able to communicate with your “list” so easily or effectively.
You have far more control over you email list.
Therefore you have much more freedom and ability to keep you in touch with your target
audience.
Everyone Monitors Email
Even though it may seem like everyone in the world is on Facebook, that doesn’t mean you can find a way to reach the people you want to there.
The same applies to all other social media platforms.
It requires time, effort and budget to reach prospects, leads and customers on social sites.
On top of that, you need to reach your target audience in a sea of disengaged users.
With your email list, you not only reach your target audience, but you reach those who have given you permission to contact them.
And while not everyone monitors their social media feeds day in and day out, virtually everyone monitors their email on a daily basis.
When they’ve learned that you give them valuable emails, they’ll look forward to hearing from you.
And your email won’t disappear on an ever-changing, short-lived timeline feed.
It’s Simple Stuff
Let’s face it.
Trying to keep in touch with people on social media sites requires some marketing savvy and technical skills.
But managing your email list is as simple as writing an email and sending it.
You don’t need an ad budget, and ad manager, a re-targeting strategy, custom audiences and all the rest.
Email is easy to use for those who are not terribly tech savvy.
It’s just a far simpler way of accomplishing your biggest goal… keeping in touch with your subscribers.
It’s also an easier and more systematic way to organize the names and contact information of your list.
And it’s the safest place to store them so that your contact list doesn’t get wiped out overnight.
The Power of Social Media
Now just because I don’t think that social media sites are the best place to “store” your database of followers (your “list”), don’t get the wrong idea.
I’m not saying that social media is not a powerful way to get people onto your list.
In fact, it’s probably THE most powerful way.
It’s just that you don’t want to have to use social sites to contact your subscribers.
Build your list on social media platforms, but then contact you list via your own private email address via whatever auto-responder service you use.
No Need To Hunt Down Traffic Forever
One of the greatest benefits of list building is that you do not have to stand on your head to get fresh traffic every time you decide to send out valuable content or promote something new.
Your list IS your traffic.
Social media or paid advertising may be your chosen source to get traffic.
But that’s only new traffic.
Your own private existing traffic is always at your fingertip, any time you decide to send an email to your list.
And remember, you have already built your authority and reputation with your list, so your subscribers are ready to receive your messages with an open mind.
You don’t have to “cold-call” every time you have something to share.
Subscribers to your list already know, like and trust you. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t stay on your
list.
This doesn’t mean you never have to look for new traffic, but once you have a substantial and engaged list, the new traffic search becomes a far less consuming part of your business.
At this point, if your list building efforts continue to simmer on the low burner, the right way, your list should be constantly refreshed and increased right on your site.
That is why I always have list building on my mind.
Every video, blog post, article, social media post… every piece of content you create is an opportunity to increase the size and quality of your email list.
Cost Effectiveness
Finally, delivering content and promotions to your list is the most cost effective way to promote your business, services and offers.
It’s certainly far more cost effective way than buying pay per click ads, or using other means of paid advertising.
But it’s even more cost effective than social media, because it has become almost impossible to build a business with social media just from free posting.
You can get some traction that way, but you risk being seen as a spammer if you get too aggressive with this approach.
Remember, folks seeing your social media posts have NOT given you permission to send them promotions, unlike your loyal email subscribers.
Free methods are also usually very costly in terms of your time and effort.
On the other hand, you can send an email message to your list any time you want, and promote whenever you want, at no cost to you other than the monthly fee of your auto-responder service.
Again, having a list of subscribers enables you to communicate with them whenever you want to.
And you will always be communicating with a qualified audience that will be more engaged with your messages since they voluntarily subscribed to your list to begin with.
List Building On My Mind
List building is the key to having a successful, profitable online business.
It doesn’t matter what niche you’re in.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a blogger, networker or affiliate marketer.
It’s only important that you organize and operate your business around building your very own email list.
That’s why I always have list building on my mind.
Do you?
Let’s talk about your list building strategies, what works, what doesn’t and what you might like to know a bit more about.
Leave a comment below so we can have a little chat about it.
Everyone’s free to join in!
“My 3 List Building Machines”
Do you struggle to build a list of subscribers for your business?
Donna and I rely heavily on what we call “list building machines.”
They’re absolutely free access, and you probably use some or all of them already, but just didn’t know how to turn them into the “list building machines” they can be.
Get our FREE Guide on how to use these “3 list building machines” with a zero budget, and with incredible effectiveness.
CLICK THE BUTTON BELOW To Claim Your Copy.
