Is your listbuilding system has been setup correctly?

Personally, I prefer growing a list of highly responsive buyers that increases my bank account every single day … than a list of 100,000 which practically just waste the bandwidth of the email server it's hosted on … because it doesn't even pay for the monthly service!

Setting up a Listbuilding system to capture a responsive list!

If you have been online for a while this may not apply to you, however you may pick up some nuggets of information from my perspective on listbuilding system.

1. Always enable double-opt in for free first time subscribers

The problem with giving free content away is that people may not take you seriously enough and enter any old information in your optin form – just so they can get stuff for free. If you are redirecting them straight to a thank you page (like how I usually setup my listbuilding system), then you have just given away something for nothing whilst adding a list of email addresses to your autoresponder list. Get 1000+ signups like this and you would think you have got quite a good list however you will soon realize that you are not getting anyone’s attention when you send out an email in future. The worse part of that is it is costing you to have those fake emails on your autoresponder account! So again I repeat, make sure you have ‘double-optin’ enabled for first time free subscribers and make them CONFIRM their email before you give them anything.

2. Look professional and always hand out great content!

Your website and the content you dish out has to look like it is worth something – even if it is free! Take the time to brush up your sales copy, your graphics, your video presentation, your free report, etc. and your visitor will take the time to subscribe to you. Do NOT fall under the impression that list building is just about ‘listbuilding’. It is about building trust and loyalty – something that money can’t buy! You want to make an impression right from the beginning to the end. So stand out from other marketers who just copy and paste a web form code into a blank what page!

3. Have a follow-up sequence in place

Whatever you gave away for free there is surely more value information you can provide on a weekly basis in a series of emails no matter what niche that you are in. For example, I create a ‘free Internet Marketing’ course for beginners and will have email content delivered at least once a week with actionable steps for the subscriber. At the same time I will be recommending some of my related products along the way. When I was setting up the email accounts those that wanted the install service, I was shocked to see how there was no follow-up in place. I understand that most are beginners, however it’s always a good idea to get into the habit to have a sequence in place. What happens if you don’t?… Well your subscribers will forget that they even signed up to your site or why they signed up in the first place and when you come to email them about your new product release they’re going to report it as spam or unsubscribe.

4. Build a substantial list of 1000 or more before you start sending out broadcast emails

Let’s be real for a second… If you have 100 free subscribers on your mailing list, don’t expect miracles to happen when you send out a promotion. Sure 100 double opt-in subscribers are better than 100 single opt-ins but not everyone is going to open your emails, let alone read them – or click your link. I see some sort of panic occur when beginners have a few hundred people on their list and are sending out broadcast emails nearly every day but not getting many clicks. Your time is better spent promoting your squeeze page in forums, building more backlinks, and building your list. Leave your auto-responder follow-up sequence to take care of the rest of your listbuilding system and send out a broadcast when you have more subscribers.

5. Expect a 2-5% open rate.

That’s right… it might not sound like a lot but 2-5% is what you can expect when you build your list. It might not sound like a lot but once you start automating your traffic either with some software, or articles, or master resell right product, or through hyperlinks in viral reports or by outsourcing, your list will grow fast. These numbers are based on my email campaigns and vary depending on which group of subscribers I mail. So with a list of 1000 (which can be built within a matter of weeks, days if you really pushed yourself), expect 20-50 people to click and read your emails – and yes you can still pick up sales. This is how I started off.

6. Expect 90%+ clicks for every opened email.

I my experience the majority of people that open my email will click the link inside – whether it’s an offer or a free gift. If you’re not getting at least 90% clicks / opens then you need to look at the message of your email. Is there a strong call to action? Have you given your subscriber a reason to click? Have you make your reader even curious as to what’s around the corner? Do you even have a link in your email? Try to avoid short emails that don’t explain much. There are already too many marketers and guru’s doing this where they send a few lines in an email telling you to look at something now. What you should be doing is explaining and pre-selling in the email and then linking off to your promoting after. This way you’ll always get a better reception from your readers.

7. Segregate your free subscribers from your buyers.

When I was setting up the email campaigns for Internet Marketing For Busy Moms, I realized that no one had a list of buyers and subscribers. Either you’re not selling a product to build your buyer’s list or you’re not subscribing your buyers at all.

Let me quickly explain why you should have two lists per product you sell. The first list is your eCourse. This is where you give free information away to educate and pre-sell and to remind your subscriber that you have a product to sell. The second list is your buyers list. When a visitor or someone on your eCourse decides to buy your product DON’T send them directly to the download page – instead ask them to sign up. This will allow you to follow-up with more emails and promotions closely related to what they have just bought.

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