Building Your List – No Excuses Allowed
When you are starting an online business, there are very few things that you absolutely have to have.
Most of the time, you can decide whether something is crucial to what you are doing or not – it comes down to personal preference.
But when it comes to having a list of subscribers there are no excuses; you must have one.
Everywhere you turn you will hear marketers saying that the money is in the list. That if you have a list you will make money.
This isn’t entirely the case, but there is a lot of truth here as well.
Like many aspects of owning your own business and making money online, there are some myths about lists that need to be dispelled as well as some facts that need to be driven home.
You Must Have a List
Without a list, how will you make any money? Some people say that they have a store, so people will buy from their store.
Others say that customers will see their ads and visit their website. Here’s the problem: what happens then?
Let’s face it – your site, whatever it may be about, is in competition with millions of others.
Even if someone comes to your site and likes it, there is no guarantee that they will bookmark it.
Even if they do bookmark it there is a good chance that they will not click that link again for months, or even years.
Ads are great for bringing someone to your site once, but how are you going to keep them coming back? Your List.
Your list collects the names and email addresses of those who visit your site, and once added to your auto-responder you can send regular emails to them.
Your List must be targeted
While some people seem to think that any list is a good list, this really isn’t true.
You can get thousands of people on your list, but if they aren’t interested in the niche that you are in you won’t get any sales, clicks, or referrals.
This is the biggest problem with buying lists or swapping lists with the wrong people. You are unlikely to get the response you are looking for.
You need to make sure that you are getting people who are interested in your niche onto your list. There are a few ways that you can do this, and they aren’t difficult.
Squeeze Pages and Giveaways
One great way to get targeted people onto your list is to give something away on a squeeze page.
Squeeze pages are probably the most effective way to build a list, and anyone can utilize them.
There are many places you can get squeeze pages, and with a little personalization and the addition of your auto-responder code one can be online and ready to make money within a couple hours.
While the page itself is very important, the most crucial part of your squeeze page is your giveaway.
It needs to be something good, since you want to convince your subscribers that they should buy from you, and it needs to be relevant to your niche.
For example, if you are in the self-help niche, then you need to give away something like a 7-day course on improving your mental state, an eBook on how to break a bad habit, or a video set on relaxation techniques.
You can find all sorts of products online that are ready to be given away, or you can have a custom offer created at an outsourcing site.
Collect Info from Buyers
It is also very important to collect contact information from anyone who buys from your store as well.
In fact, these additions to your list may be even more important simply because they are individuals who have already shown themselves to be willing to make purchases from you.
Someone who has bought from you once is likely to do it again.
If you can get in touch with previous buyers to inform them of new products or specials you will make a lot more money.
Get Started
With all the resources available that teach about setting up the best squeeze pages, building lists, and targeting traffic, you really have no reason not to jump in and start building.
Get more information and then roll up your sleeves so you can start making a living online.
Squeeze Pages – A Short Tutorial
The term “squeeze page” is one that is getting bandied about more and more in the internet marketing world.
The problem is that if you are new to making money online and building lists, you may be wondering if these pages are the ultimate tool or a gimmicky waste of time.
Different marketers have different opinions regarding squeeze pages and how to get the most out of them, and like most things there is a lot of poor information on them out there.
But by learning about the basics of squeeze pages you will be better able to get going in the right direction.
Squeeze Pages Make Business Easier
While not everyone agrees on the best tricks to use on your squeeze page, anyone who is making a living online will tell you that squeeze pages make list building much easier than it would be otherwise.
If you don’t have a list you will either fail at running a successful business or you will work much harder than you have to.
Everyone who has a business should have a list.
Likewise, if you don’t have a squeeze page you will either fail at building a responsive list or you will doom yourself to constantly chasing email addresses in order to have anything but the tiniest list.
Squeeze Pages Are Not the End
A common misconception that many new marketers and business owners get is that if you have a product and a squeeze page, you’re set.
Squeeze pages have so much emphasis placed on them that some people get confused into thinking that they are the main part of an online business.
While these pages are great tools that will assist in building your list and making you money, they certainly aren’t the only aspect of your business, and you also shouldn’t consider them to be the most important part.
In fact, your product, graphics, squeeze page layout, and autoresponder messages all need to be treated as equally important since you won’t make good money if any of these aspects is lacking.
So yes, you should get a good squeeze page to help build your list and grow your business, but don’t get so focused on it that you neglect the other aspects of making money online.
Choosing and Designing Your Squeeze Pages
There are dozens of ways you can set a squeeze page up, and infinite graphics that you can choose to put on them.
This can make it difficult for beginners to know how they should go about putting their page together.
Unfortunately you can’t just copy someone else’s page and assume that it will work for you as well.
The real trick with squeeze pages is borrowing ideas from pages that you like and that you know are successful, and then being ready to change things later.
Sometimes changing colors, graphics, your copy, the free offer that gets people to give their info, and the layout of the page can affect the number of people that are signing up onto your list.
Changing things occasionally can help you know what works best for you and your particular products.
So try to start off with a squeeze page that imitates ones that have proven themselves, and then start thinking about what you might change if you aren’t getting the opt-ins that you are hoping for.
Patience is required
Also remember that making money online takes time, even if you set up great tools. People have to find you and decide to sign up.
This isn’t going to happen overnight no matter what – but by having a great squeeze page you will hopefully make it happen a little faster.
Get a squeeze page, set it up, and then drive traffic to it. Sooner or later you are going to start building a list that you can sell to.
Autoresponder Emails – Not as Scary as They Seem
One part of building a successful online business that seems to trip a lot of people up is the creation of autoresponder messages.
When you have a squeeze page that people enter their name and email into, that information ends up in your autoresponder.
This means that you need to make sure that your autoresponder is set up with a series of messages that will be sent to your list automatically.
For some reason this is a daunting task for many beginners even though it shouldn’t be.
As long as you know what you want to say, writing autoresponder emails is a simple task that just takes a little creativity and some proofreading skills.
Learning the Basics
Just like anything else, the best thing you can start with is learning the basics of writing emails.
Once you have grasped these, you shouldn’t have any trouble filling your autoresponder with quality messages that get the results you are looking for.
What Do You Want?
Before you do anything, you need to decide what you are trying to do with the email that you are preparing to write. This will help you know what you need to say.
If you don’t know exactly what that email is supposed to achieve, you are likely to end up with a bunch of empty words.
Keep to the Point
Wandering away from your point or rambling will turn your readers off quickly.
Telling your readers a little about yourself is good since this makes you seem more real, but they do not want to know all about you, how hard you work, your family situation, or anything like that.
The cold truth is that your readers don’t care about you.
They only care about what you can do for them, and if you talk about yourself too much they will stop reading and unsubscribe.
Give a “Call to Action”
One of the most common mistakes that marketers make in their emails is not giving a specific call to action at the end.
A call to action should be simple: “To find out more, click the link below.” or “Click the link to get your copy before it is too late!” It needs to tell the reader what to do.
It is true that only a small percentage of your readers will give you the response you are looking for, but that number drops even further if you aren’t specific.
Never assume that the reader knows what you want, and you will get a much better response from each of your messages.
Make an Outline
One of the easiest ways to make sure that you cover all your bases is to either create or find an email outline that you can follow.
This way you can refer back to it every time you craft an email and know that you have a complete message that is concise, informative, and will compel your readers to take action.
Writing autoresponder emails isn’t hard, and doesn’t have to be a scary thing.
If you have money available you can even outsource this aspect of your business if you want.
But once you have well-crafted messages in your autoresponder your business can start growing and making you some money “automatically.”
The Joy of Having Your Own Online Business
More and more people are looking into the option of owning a business.
One of the main reasons for this is that job security at the average company is a thing of the past.
On top of this, wages are dropping, work days are being cut, and benefits are being slashed. This adds up to a lot of financial discomfort for a lot of people.
To alleviate this, some people think about starting a business of their own.
If you are considering taking this path, you should look into online businesses first.
Online businesses are much better suited to most people’s lifestyles since you aren’t necessarily obligated to spend eight hours a day or more on them.
You can work an online business into your schedule around everything else that is already in it, which makes them a very convenient way to secure your future.
Choosing an Online Business
There are hundreds of business models that you can choose from, which on one hand makes it easy for you to find something that is well suited for you.
The other side of this is that it can get confusing sifting through the many options, and unless you have some pointers in place from the start you may end up choosing something that isn’t quite what you wanted.
List down a few important things in order to make sure that you only consider online businesses that will work for you.
How Much Time Do You Have?
Some online businesses are more time-intensive than others, so you need to make sure that you choose one that fits the time that you have available to devote to it.
If you only have an hour a day that you can put into a business, you need to make sure that you don’t choose something that will require you to spend four hours a day responding to emails and shipping product.
If you aren’t sure how much time you can devote per day, or you have multiple time slots throughout the day that you can utilize, you may want to choose an online business that is flexible as far as how much time you give it daily.
For example, if you usually have half an hour that you can set aside daily, but sometimes you have a couple hours that you can throw at your business, you need one that will thrive off the minimum amount of attention and will only grow more with extra attention.
Also, while you really should devote time every day to your online business, if you can have one that won’t fall apart if you have to leave it alone for a day or two you will be thankful for it.
Few things are worse than seeing your hard work go to waste if you get sick or have to make an unexpected trip.
How Much Money Can You Invest?
While it is possible to make some money online without an investment up front, the truth is that it is nearly impossible to make a living online without investing into your venture.
You need to figure out how much you have up front to put into your business, and how much you can put into it monthly.
You won’t have any trouble finding a solid business model that won’t cost you a lot of money, but knowing how much your budget is will help you to choose the right business.
What Are Your Interests?
Too many people make the mistake of getting into an online business because they are told that there is money in that niche.
While you do want to make money, you also need to have an interest in the niche.
If you aren’t at least a little passionate about the subject, you are going to have a very hard time actually making the business turn a profit.
You can make money with almost any niche you can think of, be it pets, health, hobbies, or teaching others how to run a business of their own – so there is no reason why you should feel pressured to get into a niche you don’t care about.
Work Hard and Be Rewarded
By starting your own online business, you put yourself in a position where you can reap a lot of rewards.
You do have to work hard to see an online business grow and make good money, but when the business is yours you get a lot more benefit for the work you can put in.
The best part is that you can choose something that you love, so once you can focus on your business full-time you never have to feel like you’re “working” ever again.
