Ok so yesterday I talked about the very first step of list building today I talk about how to build your first list by making sure you've some important items.
My focus today is on two items - namely an autoresponder and your 'bait'. This bait comes in the form of a (usually) free report where you give the visitor in exchange for his contact details. I'll talk more about your bait in a minute.
But first, your autoresponder. If you're at all interested in list building and making money from list building you must have an autoresponder. There is absolutely no 2 ways about it. Autoresponders are a must-have for any serious marketers.
If you already have one, great! But bear with me for a bit as I expand on it for the benefit of readers who don't have one.
An autoresponder basically is a web application that helps you collect, manage and send out emails to your list. It also handles all the nasty spam complaints, can help you keep track of your leads, segment them and provide very cool information about them - information that if you mine properly can make you a small fortune.
Speaking from experience, there's 3 autoresponders that I use:
1. Aweber (Yes, this is an affiliate link, sorry if that admission shattered your world)
2. GetResponse (non affiliate link)
3. iContact (non affiliate link)
I actually have 2 accounts with Aweber and they are the longest I've used. Getresponse and iContact are great too actually and to be honest I don't care which one you get it from....just get an autoresponder!
Because, to be frank, if you don't have yet an autoresponder account, there is no way you can implement any of the strategies that I'm gonna teach and show you. You should just stop reading and go try to make money from other stuff like PPC, Facebook or whatever.
Ok, now that the basic, newbie stuff is outta the way, let's talk about the more advanced stuff - your bait.
I take an anti-guru approach to listbuilding. In your mind, when I talk about bait and squeeze page, something like this probably comes to mind right?
I mean perhaps the content might shift a little, instead of the text, you have some videos and fancy graphics but that's basically the premise you've been working on.
That is actually a POOR way to building your list. I shall come to that in the coming days but first, let's talk about your bait.
I prefer to create my own bait and craft it to suit my target market's needs, wants, desires, fears and goals.
(Read the previous line one more time)
Needs, wants, desires, fears and goals. If you're able to demonstrate and provide value, up front, and in your bait you literally stand out from the crowd. Think about it for a second, how many 'general' make money using 'this' in x number of days products do you see?
Plenty.
On the other hand, how many targeted specific bait (that is actually good) do you see given out nowadays? Practically none! It's sad really because marketers everywhere are dishing out crap bait products to get as many leads as they can so they can...
...sell stuff to them almost every day!
Not cool bro.
Someone people forget about this thing called 'value' or 'building relationships'. Let me be straight up honest with you if you cannot offer good value, you won't be able to build a profitable list - you'll only be stuck with a bunch of pure freebie seekers and dead leads.
So back to your bait for your list - you really need to spend some thought into this. First identify who you want to target. 'People who want to make money online' is not good enough. 'People who want to make money online by building a targeted list' - ahhhh, that sounds so much better.
Once you've homed in on your sub-niche, it's time to do a quick profiling of them - what are their wants, needs, desires, fears and goals? Write it down!
An example of a want could be: 'I want to rapidly build a quick list online!'
A fear could be: 'I fear it would be costly to build a big list' and so on and so forth. Your bait should speak directly to them and either:
(1) Satisfy that emotion by providing solutions or (2) educate them and assuage them.
Using point (2) in addressing the above example (fear) I would tell them that
'A big list shouldn't be your main focus right now, in fact the smaller the list the better because it would mean it is much more targeted and much more profitable. Here's how...'
Noticed how I educated and assuaged their fears while also providing solutions to help them reach their goals and wants?
From this list you craft your free bait yourself or use it as a blueprint to outsource it. Personally, I'd much rather create my own product - it doesn't take too much work and you can control every aspect of it (plus its free to boot).
So go out there now and build your bait!
I'll see you in the next few posts in this 'checklist for building your first list online' series
My focus today is on two items - namely an autoresponder and your 'bait'. This bait comes in the form of a (usually) free report where you give the visitor in exchange for his contact details. I'll talk more about your bait in a minute.
But first, your autoresponder. If you're at all interested in list building and making money from list building you must have an autoresponder. There is absolutely no 2 ways about it. Autoresponders are a must-have for any serious marketers.
If you already have one, great! But bear with me for a bit as I expand on it for the benefit of readers who don't have one.
An autoresponder basically is a web application that helps you collect, manage and send out emails to your list. It also handles all the nasty spam complaints, can help you keep track of your leads, segment them and provide very cool information about them - information that if you mine properly can make you a small fortune.
Speaking from experience, there's 3 autoresponders that I use:
1. Aweber (Yes, this is an affiliate link, sorry if that admission shattered your world)
2. GetResponse (non affiliate link)
3. iContact (non affiliate link)
I actually have 2 accounts with Aweber and they are the longest I've used. Getresponse and iContact are great too actually and to be honest I don't care which one you get it from....just get an autoresponder!
Because, to be frank, if you don't have yet an autoresponder account, there is no way you can implement any of the strategies that I'm gonna teach and show you. You should just stop reading and go try to make money from other stuff like PPC, Facebook or whatever.
Ok, now that the basic, newbie stuff is outta the way, let's talk about the more advanced stuff - your bait.
I take an anti-guru approach to listbuilding. In your mind, when I talk about bait and squeeze page, something like this probably comes to mind right?
I mean perhaps the content might shift a little, instead of the text, you have some videos and fancy graphics but that's basically the premise you've been working on.
That is actually a POOR way to building your list. I shall come to that in the coming days but first, let's talk about your bait.
I prefer to create my own bait and craft it to suit my target market's needs, wants, desires, fears and goals.
(Read the previous line one more time)
Needs, wants, desires, fears and goals. If you're able to demonstrate and provide value, up front, and in your bait you literally stand out from the crowd. Think about it for a second, how many 'general' make money using 'this' in x number of days products do you see?
Plenty.
On the other hand, how many targeted specific bait (that is actually good) do you see given out nowadays? Practically none! It's sad really because marketers everywhere are dishing out crap bait products to get as many leads as they can so they can...
...sell stuff to them almost every day!
Not cool bro.
Someone people forget about this thing called 'value' or 'building relationships'. Let me be straight up honest with you if you cannot offer good value, you won't be able to build a profitable list - you'll only be stuck with a bunch of pure freebie seekers and dead leads.
So back to your bait for your list - you really need to spend some thought into this. First identify who you want to target. 'People who want to make money online' is not good enough. 'People who want to make money online by building a targeted list' - ahhhh, that sounds so much better.
Once you've homed in on your sub-niche, it's time to do a quick profiling of them - what are their wants, needs, desires, fears and goals? Write it down!
An example of a want could be: 'I want to rapidly build a quick list online!'
A fear could be: 'I fear it would be costly to build a big list' and so on and so forth. Your bait should speak directly to them and either:
(1) Satisfy that emotion by providing solutions or (2) educate them and assuage them.
Using point (2) in addressing the above example (fear) I would tell them that
'A big list shouldn't be your main focus right now, in fact the smaller the list the better because it would mean it is much more targeted and much more profitable. Here's how...'
Noticed how I educated and assuaged their fears while also providing solutions to help them reach their goals and wants?
From this list you craft your free bait yourself or use it as a blueprint to outsource it. Personally, I'd much rather create my own product - it doesn't take too much work and you can control every aspect of it (plus its free to boot).
So go out there now and build your bait!
I'll see you in the next few posts in this 'checklist for building your first list online' series
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