I was recently asked for some list building tips, or more correctly, I was asked why anyone needs a list in the first place. This is a great question that many new studious internet marketers may be asking themselves. When we first start out, we aren’t guaging in terms of long-term profit and we don’t really have the statistics ingrained in our brains. We’re just trying to figure out how to make money .. .so the list-building concept may not be all that intuitive.

So, this article will be the first in a series of list building tips. Here I’m going to focus on why everyone (yes, everyone) in business benefits from growing a list.

Let’s start off with the definition–a list consists of the contact information of however many people it contains. These contacts are considered leads and the quality of these leads can vary greatly. For example, if you have a list of people who have specifically requested that you send them information about a product that you promote or the business you are involved in, that list is extremely targeted and qualified. If you have a list of contacts who are interested in your industry in general but haven’t shown any interest in your particular product or business, that too is a fairly targeted list.

You may have a list of people that you have obtained from buying leads or something similar. That would
be considered pretty low on the list quality totem pole. Keep in mind that you may have several different lists that each represent a certain niche or target market or quality level. You will want to market differently to each of these lists but that another topic for a following article.

And here are 5 reasons you want to start building your list now if you haven’t done so already.

1. If you don’t, you’re missing out on a lot of income. Anyone who has already learned the lesson will gladly tell you. . .if you don’t have a list, you are losing income. Look at it this way. You advertisea product for a month and you get a certain amount of sales from this. If you don’t have the contact details of the people who bought this product, you have made just one sale. If you do have the contact details, you can offer these people more similar products, or upgraded products of the ones they have
purchased. Or. . .look at it this way. Someone is interested in your product but they don’t purchase it right now. If you can get them on your list, you can send them reminders about this product or others they may be interested. If not. . .oh well, off they go somewhere else.

2. You can do it even if you don’t have your own product or business yet. . .and you can make money while building. Many people get started with marketing online and they don’t really have a clear idea about what they want to do. Or maybe they are trying lots of different things. As far as list-building goes, that’s perfectly fine! You can start out promoting someone else’s product as an affiliate and build your list that way. As you start to learn more about online marketing and get a clearer picture of where you want to go, you are actually building up one of your biggest assets that will serve you forever.

3. Building a list means having access to feedback and ideas. This goes hand in hand with number 2. Once you can maintain contact with people, you’re able to ask them what they are looking for and in turn, you can develop your marketing strategies accordingly. Save on marketing research costs and ask your the people on your list what they want!

4. Building your own list = building your brand. The Internet is an amazing power. But you can get lost in a sea of cold websites and hype sales pages. Building a list puts you on a more personal level with your customer and allows you to establish a rapport. Who do you think people are more likely to buy from. . .the person they’ve never seen before of the guy/gal who sends them those really cool emails about something they are interested in. . .?

5. A list (or lists) represents multiple sources of income. The ideas you get from your list and from what actually compelled them to be a part of your list allows you to create your own products/services or seek out others that you offer to them.

There are many strategies to building lists and you can get really creative with it. The most important thing to remember is that you are not just out to get someone’s email address or phone number. Your goal with list building is to provide value and to maintain relationships with the people who land on your list.

If you’re a little confused about how all this works, have no fear–it will be cleared up in my next posts!