Lists...Where? How? Costs?

[Audrey Thorne]

I searched and couldn't find an answer, forgive me if this question has already been asked 8,000 times...

WHERE do you get a list? Do you buy one, and if so, from whom?

HOW do you create your own list?

I hate sounding like a dolt, but I signed up for the Ewen Chia launch, and there are all these emails that will be available for me to send out to "my list". I HAVE NO list. I want to make the most of it though, but am clueless as usual.

Thanks in advance for any direction you can give me.

[dmarzean]

The best way to go about obtaining a list is to build your own. I have never purchased a list nor would I ever consider doing so.

In order to build a list, you need a blog or some sort of site that you can offer valuable information in exchange for a name and email address. This can be in the form of a free ebook or video series, a newsletter that delivers quality information that will help your subscribers.

It takes time to build a decent size list and you have to make sure that you are giving your list something of value to build up a relationship. You do not want to build a list and then throw offer after offer at them.

This is not something that you can do overnight. I have been building my list for a little over four years now and I only have a little over 15,000. I treat each and every one of them as if they were my best friend. I offer quality information and answer all the questions that I can for them. If I can't answer the question I point them in the right direction.

There are other ways to promote affiliate products. As you are promoting products with a landing page and/or blog, you have an optin box with an enticing offer to grab their information. Once you have them on your list you feed them with information and then throw the occasional affiliate offer at them.

Just remember, as you are doing this, treat them like you would your friend. Only offer products that you truly think are quality and will help them. Don't try to use your list as an ATM. They can unsubscribe just as quick as they signed up.

So, build your blog or landing page and start building....

Doug

[Markus Allen]

One of the most surprising ways I've found to build a list was to use the 7DollarSecrets script:
http://7dollarsecrets.com

Here's the concept...

... You write a quick report (on any topic) -- nothing fancy... maybe 10 to 20 pages.

You put up a quick web letter. And you offer this report for $7.

Then you post your offering here:
http://7dollaroffers.com

This alerts a network of affiliates to promote your $7 ebook.

Here's the nifty part. The affiliate gets to keep 100% of the $7.00. Your reward is you get buyers email information. This is all kept in a database for easy future access.

To participate as an affiliate, you tack on your PayPal email address to a website address using this concept -- this alerts the system to pay the affiliate an instant commission of $7.00 via their PayPal account.

Here's a demo of how the referral link would look... see how I append my PayPal email address to the website address... try it out... when you get to the PayPal checkout screen, you'll see that payment gets forwarded to my account:

http://7dollarsecrets.com/?e=affilia...ting-ideas.org

Pretty cool, eh?

By the way, this isn't a perfect solution. There are a few minor concerns to consider.

First, PayPal didn't like the language used on the original webpage to describe this concept. When this 7dollarsecret first launched, you had to buy the $7 system in order to promote it. That's known as a closed affiliate program -- something PayPal considers MLM... and a big no no with them.

That's not a problem now as you have the option of opening up your system to affiliates without requiring a purchase (something you want to do anyway if your only goal is to get a list developed quickly).

The second problem is if you write a junky report, then you expose your affiliates to offer refund requests. Because it's just $7, you're not going to be issuing many refunds. But the last thing you want to do is tick off your affiliates... so make sure to offer some good tips in your report. Remember, if there's a refund request, your affiliate has to give back the commission. And no one likes to refund their commissions.

As an affiliate, promoting this $7 concept was actually the most profitable affiliate promotion I've ever done. I'm almost embarrassed to admit it....

... I've promoted all sorts of affiliate offering from Commission Junction to expensive Yanik Silver courses to CPA offers, etc. Yet this $7 secret concept put the most zeros in my bank account. And the best part is since you're paid instantly, there's no chasing down commissions (which is a HUGE problem in this business).

This is how you quickly build your list from scratch. (And it's a precisely targeted list because they're BUYERS, not freebie hunters). It's a brilliant concept... one of those, "I wish I though of this first" things.

Hope this helps you out.

[Audrey Thorne]

Thanks to you, Markus and Doug. I appreciate the feedback, as always. It seems like a list is not something you can quick-fix. That's OK.....some things take time. I will work on it. For now, I'll just have to use the resources I have.

Thanks again,

Audrey

[charleskirkland]

Don't forget link baiting as this can be a great way to get tens of thousands of eyeballs on your site it is also a great way to get other people to link to you.

I did a post about britney spears & lindsay lohan seen kissing over the weekend. Well the title was 100% link bait and the story I wrote was about how they were seen kissing there boyfriends over the weekend. Yes this was when they both had boyfriends.

But the title that good every teenager boy with a pulse was clicking through. I ended up with a crashed server and getting my Adsense account banned all in the same day.

So be careful of what you use as a title. Also check out copyblogger as these guys have killer headline.

Also check out the trash newspapers at your checkout stand as they have great headlines.

Charles

[Mike Carr]

^^ Haha, nice little blackhat trick there.

[Dagenius]

Take it from me, ive bought lists.....twice......they didnt work for me nowhere nearly as advertised. To be quite frank, ive lost my total investment on them with zero ROI. Id very much suggest you stay away from list buying and look to build your list the old fashioned ways as was already mentioned in this thread.

[Barry Weiss]

I agree that building your own list is the best way by offering good interesting content. I've been in the list management and broker business and even double opt-in names can trigger a spam complaint, something you do not want.

Also all legitimate lists are NEVER released to you. You pay per thousand emails deployed and the list owner sends out your creative. You receive the responses and those you own. I would be very concerned with a list that you can buy. Also most lists are for one time use unless you pay a higher price.

Also lists from good sources like responder files are expensive.

Take the longer, tried and true route and you will find that your customer/subscriber base will be much more responsive as long as you treat them like gold.

[mrugank]

1. Why do we build a list?
SO that we can promote products (our products and affiliate products) and make money from it.

2. When will your list be profitable to you?
Its when they know you. They feel that you wont promote anything that is not worthy. They have to feel secure, they have to trust you.

3. How in God's name, you build trust with your list?
By providing them with cool, legitimate information from time to time. Giving them case studies etc etc. You have to make your list believe that you know what your talking about.

4. Finally, please do not promote each and every product that is launched in the week. Do not bombard your list with buying offers. I like the way Jonny Andrews does it. He sends case studies, interviews etc etc. in the subject of the email, he mentions: Urgent. Important. Nothing to buy.

5. Moral of this story: You cant do all this stuff by purchasing the list. The list has to come to you.

Well, Correct me if you find me wrong.

Hope this helps.

Wishing you the best,
Mrugank

[Pieter van Schalkwyk]

I also do not suggest that you buy lists but if you do, here are a few tips on how to "clean it up" if you do.

First and most important thing is not to try and sell to the list that you bought. They don't know you from a bar of soap. First get them to trust you before you include try to sell ANYTHING.

Set up a separate domain, with a separate autoresponder that allow you to import your new list. You main even want to do it with a separate hosting provider as you don't want your main business to suffer if you are reported as spam. It is really that bad when buying lists. Set up some REALLY GOOD content that you send to your new list in the new domain and send it out as 5 day course with new content every day etc. Get them to trust you with the free content and if you have any of the list traffic left (they didn't unsubscribe) send it over to your real sign up on your real site with another free offer of a video or special report etc. DO NOT TRY AND SELL TO THEM yet.

Once you have them in your real list and autoresponder you can take them through your normal sales process.

Hope it helps