BWMagic’s Internet Marketing News

List Building – Is It Still Relevant On Today’s Web?

Years ago, when I first started in online marketing, all the rage was
something called “list building”. I immediately jumped on this subject
and started gathering every list building technique one could possibly
imagine. It very quickly became one of my most favorite areas of Internet
marketing to explore; so much so, that when I reached my first goal of
getting 1000 subscribers, I was so pleased with myself, I even wrote an
ebook on list building.

But that was then, this is now.

Since that time, online marketing and even the web itself, has changed
tremendously. And we are not talking about small changes or minor
adjustments here – the web has fundamentally changed from the core up.
People simply use the web in a different way than they used it 10 years ago.
It has become so much more of a user-friendly place, so much so, that
marketing on this friendlier web has become a whole new ballgame.

The question remains: is list building still relevant on today’s web?

The answer is still a solid “YES”, but the “WAY” lists are built have
almost changed completely. Not too long ago, traditional list building
meant you slapped some sign-ups forms (provided by your webhost or an
autoresponder service) onto your web pages and you were in business.
Subscribers who signed up to your list or newsletter, would receive
follow-up emails from you or your site.

Anyone could do it since it was so straightforward and so simple,
almost to the point of being idiot-proof. However, the underlying
key to building a successful list was gaining loyalty and forming a
lasting relationship with your subscriber. Successful online marketers
and list builders will tell you, this was really the hardest part.
Communicating effectively with your subscribers over a long period of
time is extremely difficult to do and does require gaining some skills,
especially in the copy writing area.

So what has changed the list building process?

In a couple of words, three to be precise: social networking sites.
These social networking programs and sites have completely changed how
lists are built on the web. Actually, these social network sites such
as FaceBook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube… have made list building as
easy as taking your next breath. List building is integrated into these
programs so seamlessly, many users are unaware they are actually building
a list.

Simply by using these social networking sites any webmaster or marketer
can build a list of contacts or subscribers. Call them friends, fans or
followers – they are your subscribers and you can easily reach them with
your next posting, tweet or video. There are countless teenagers on many
of these social networks who have subscribers that number in the 100’s of
thousands, even in the millions. And the rate at which they build their
list of subscribers, would put many a seasoned marketer to shame.

There are several reasons why this new way of list building is much more
effective than traditional list building methods. First, building your
list of contacts is fully integrated into these network programs, often
it is the main goal or purpose of the program. Seeing how many followers
you can get on Twitter has become a world-wide sport – just go ask Ashton Kutcher!

However, from a marketing perspective, using these programs elimenates
one of the major drawbacks of marketing on the web – spam. Actually,
contacting your list by email is becoming troublesome, even with double
opt-in, many of your emails never get through to your legit subscribers
because they are blocked by spam-filters and Internet service providers.
Using these social programs is a way of contacting your subscribers without
the whole issue of spam being considered at all.

Perhaps, an even more important reason to use these social media sites to
build your list, has to do with the tricky problem of establishing relationships
with your subscribers. These sites make it much more easier to build that
long-lasting relationship with your contacts. In the case of YouTube, it can
simply mean making a video and talking directly to your subscribers.
Communication is direct and immediate. In most cases, there’s no need to
acquire additional skills or techniques. Besides, in most of these social
network sites, the communication is often more effective because it’s just
not one-way, your subscribers can easily communicate back with you.

Same goes for Twitter, which has become the list building tool of choice
for many webmasters and online marketers. Twitter is an excellent medium
for building your list. It can be used effectively to get your message out
to thousands of like-minded followers and have that message spread rapidly
around the web. Marketers are now taking advantage of such a system to market
online, but be aware abusing this program will get you banned especially if
you just use it to send spam. Like any type of marketing on the web, you
shouldn’t have any problems if you keep all your communications/interactions
real and human.

Another element of these programs which can’t be denied, they are all free.
Anyone can use these social network sites to quickly build their list or lists
without having to worry about paying for it. Actually, in the case of YouTube,
you can become a partner and earn revenue from Google Adsense while building
your list.

There’s also no denying these social network sites have changed not only list
building, but how we use the web. These programs have a “pooling” effect on
all web activity, gathering like-minded individuals into or around certain
“pools” on the Internet. These concentrated pools of people can be formed
around a certain topic or even around a certain person. These are excellent
areas in which to carry out your list-building activities and your online
marketing efforts since they provide very targeted prospects. Ones you can
easily contact and communicate with by using these social networking sites.

While the old traditional email list should not be forgotten, list building,
as we know it, has been changed forever by the introduction of these social
networking programs. And as these network sites become more and more popular,
they will play an even greater role in all your list building efforts. A role
that can’t be ignored or dismissed, especially if you want your list building
to be truly effective.

….

Here are four essential social networking programs you should be using to help
build your list:

FaceBook




Twitter




YouTube




Google Buzz

If you need more help with building your list – try this link:

List Building

Helping You Succeed Online Since 2002!

Kind Regards,
Titus

http://www.bizwaremagic.com

BWMagic’s Internet Marketing News!

…….
Contents:

o List Building – Is It Really That Important?

…….

Except for the whole concept of Internet Marketing, no issue
has taken up more of my time and interest than list building.
Since the very beginning, list building has been one of those
subjects that I am constantly coming back to and redefining.

So much so, that it seems to have taken on a life of its own.

At first, I didn’t really understand list building and why it
was so important. So you put out a newsletter and you built up
a list of contacts or subscribers that give you permission to
email them – big deal!

People can actually make money doing this?

That was my main question at the time, I just didn’t understand
how someone could actually make money from sending emails to a list
of contacts? And at first, I didn’t make any sales from my list,
no matter how attractive the products I was pitching.

In the beginning, I made a crucial mistake, one that many
beginning list builders often make, I didn’t realize it is
not getting subscribers which is important; but rather it’s
the whole process of building meaningful relationships with
those contacts that’s the crucial factor.

It’s a lesson I am still learning.

You have to build a connection with your subscribers, you
have to build some kind of meaningful relationship with
someone who is basically a total stranger. You have to first
convince them you’re someone worth listening to so you have
to try and build/have credibility in the eyes of your reader.

Traditionally credibility has two key components: trustworthiness
and expertise. You must use these two things to build a relationship
with your subscribers. Show your readers tangible examples or
successes from your online marketing or sites… if you have
achieved top 10 rankings in Google – show them. Showing
recommendations and testimonials from ordinary people who
have used your site or products is very effective. Video
testimonials are even more effective.

Only when you build that relationship and credibility will you
truly see why list building is so important. Unfortunately,
building that relationship is often the most difficult part
of list building.

To tell you the truth, I didn’t get anywhere with building my list
of contacts until my main site started ranking high in Google and
the other search engines. Which is only logical, someone searching
for information in Google and your site pops up, it is a simple way
of building instant credibility in the eyes of the surfer. Well, up
to a point, your content has to be of high quality and further capture
your potential subscriber’s attention.

Then you must follow-up with informative emails or information which
that subscriber is truly searching for.

Always remember…

Your subscribers are looking for information – first and foremost.
They are not looking for a sales pitch and if you keep trying to
constantly sell to your subscribers – they won’t be on your list
for long.

Put the emphasis on giving helpful quality information first and do
any selling as an afterthought.

Let’s take one of my actual examples of how this list building technique
works so effectively for me. One section of my site deals with laptops
and computers. Visitors can sign-up to my laptop guide to find out more
about business laptops, student laptops… and so on. Just informative
information on laptop computers… included in those mailings I give links
to some pages containing online laptop deals, coupons and offers from
major computer makers such as HP, Dell, Sony, Toshiba, Lenovo… where
consumers can get $100 – $300 or more off their laptop purchases if they
use these online links or coupons.

Those are my most lucrative lists that I have and they have really
shown me why building lists are so important. They can be a simple way
of gathering prospective customers for your own products or for the
affiliate products you’re promoting.

List building is a very effective way of increasing your sales numbers.

Moreover, since I mainly do affiliate marketing, I have surprisingly
learned another somewhat hidden aspect of list building that I knew
nothing about when I first started marketing online.

It has everything to do with the simple “cookie!”

With most affiliate programs when you send a customer to them, these
customers are “cookied” with your affiliate IDs. If that customer makes
a sale in the following days, you get credit and a commission. Now these
cookies can have different lengths – any where from a few days up to a
lifetime – however, most are around 30 to 90 days.

Basically, what this means is that you’re building a whole list of
customers cookied with your affiliate IDs. I realize the power of this
a few years back when my main site went down for over a week – but I
was still making daily sales, I couldn’t figure out where these sales
were coming from until I checked and found it had to do with these
cookied customers who had clicked on my affiliate links weeks, even
months before.

This has proven to be such an effective selling technique, I do
certain things to take full advantage of cookies. First, I usually only
join affiliate programs that have 90 day cookies or more, some even
have lifetime cookies. Second, I make sure I cookie my list by sending
them to my affiliate links… this can be done with free videos, ebooks,
informative articles that the affiliate programs supply to you for your
marketing. In the case of my laptop newsletter a direct link to special
online coupons and discounts will cookie these potential customers with
my affiliate IDs.

In the Internet Marketing field, a common marketing tactic is to
produce a valuable report or video which affiliates can use to “cookie”
their customers. That’s why you will often be bombarded with these
offers if an important marketer is launching a major product – everyone
is trying to cookie any potential customers out there. That’s one of
the reasons, Internet Marketing has a handful of heavy hitters who
usually make all the sales… they reach those customers first because
they have enormous lists in the millions. The larger the list numbers,
the larger the number of cookied customers, the more sales they make.
Simple arithmetic.

And it is also another reason why list building is very important,
sometimes it is just a matter of working the numbers. If you have
lists with hundreds of thousands of subscribers… there will always
be a certain percentage who will buy ANY product.

But don’t get fooled by the numbers… you can have very small
numbers and still make plenty of sales. If you have a list of
proven buyers who always buy from you then a small list can be
just as important. If you have built up a solid relationship with
these buyers and they totally trust you, then you can sell to them
time and time again, because they know your recommended products are
worth buying. Moreover, they will recommend their friends and your
list building can take on a life of its own.

These are just a few examples of list building and there thousands
of ways to use lists in your marketing. I just hope the information
covered here has convinced you the importance of building your own lists.
How effective they can be in promoting and selling your site or product
to your potential customers. Most of all, I hope you never ever
underestimate how powerful list building can be to your online marketing.
The money is certainly in your lists.

For more information on building your own lists try here:
List Building

Kind Regards,
Titus

http://www.bizwaremagic.com

…….
Contents:

o Why Twitter Is Becoming So Important
…….

Perhaps you’re like me and not really into the whole social
networking scene. It is really not “my cup of tea” as they say,
but these social networking sites are becoming so important
you just can’t ignore them if you have a website or do any
type of online marketing.

Social bookmarketing sites like Digg, FaceBook, MySpace…
and now Twitter – have become so popular with Internet users
you just can’t ignore them or pretend they don’t exist. They
are a force to be reckoned with and must be dealt with in your
marketing.

Twitter is probably the one you should be paying the closest
attention to at the moment. If you’re not familiar with Twitter
- it’s simply an online messaging/contact system where you send
short messages (tweets) of 140 characters or less, to all your
contacts or people who have subscribed to your Twitter
account and are following you.

These messages can be about what you’re doing, programs you’re
supporting or links that you are promoting and so on. A very simple,
yet extremely powerful system.

Needless to say, it has taken the world by storm and Alexa now
ranks Twitter as 50th of top sites on the web. It just seems
like everyone now has a Twitter account and are following their
most favorite people or companies.

As a social contact and list building tool Twitter can’t be
beat… some even argue it will bypass email as a way to
contact your list. Mainly because you don’t have to worry
about the “s” word.

Important News Regarding Twitter

Recently, Webpronews has reported Twitter will now be
searchable and the content in the links in your messages
will be indexed and ranked. They will have an algorithmic
ranking system much like the one Google has to rank it’s
index.

“According to CNET, Twitter’s new VP of Operations Santosh
Jayaram says that Twitter Search, which currently searches
only the text of Twitter posts, will soon crawl links included
in tweets, and index content from those pages.”

Basically, what this will mean is that Twitter will
virtually become a search engine – one run by millions
of users who will vote with their subscriptions and usage
of the content. Online democracy in it’s purest form as
users could decide what’s valuable or not.

Of course, this could prove to be a major rival to Google
in the coming years. And if you think Google is too
powerful to be unseated, then you haven’t been on the
web long enough to know everything passes, everyone
has their day and then we move on.

Twitter, if it’s not snatched up by Google, will also
prove to be a major competitor in the valuable search
market. One that offers some interesting options to
the traditional type of search we have now – one that
is more related to sites that let users vote up or down
the content they want to see featured in the index.
Sites like Digg could be the role model for this new
searchable Twitter.

Regardless of how all this plays out – the question
remains – are you using Twitter to promote your site
or business?

Twitter is an excellent way to build your list of
contacts or people interested in the same things
you are – if you do any kind of list building
(and you should be) you will already know the importance
of keeping a list of customers and using follow-up
emails in your marketing.

How big a list can you build?

Well if you have been following the news, you will know
that Ashton Kutcher best out CNN by being the first
person to reach 1 million followers on Twitter.

What does this mean?

When the guy from that 70′ show Tweets – over a million
people get his message. Just imagine him recommending
your website link to his followers… and you will see
how powerful Twitter has become as a marketing and
promotion tool.

Even Google has a twitter account

http://twitter.com/google

but it only has a measly 600,000 followers.

Anyway, I hope you can see the potential of Twitter for
your own site promotion and online marketing. It’s a great
system and you should be taking advantage of it.

The least you should do is open a Twitter account to
promote your site or yourself. Place your Twitter
link on all your webpages so that your visitors can
follow you or your site.

Then make regular updates in Twitter announcing all
the important stuff happening to you or your site.
You can use Twitter just for entertainment or for
business. No matter what you do…

Just use it!

Kind Regards,
Titus

http://www.bizwaremagic.com

An opt-in list is when you are given the option to receive bulk emails that are also sent to a large majority of other people. Generally you need a person’s permission to add them to such a list otherwise it will be seen as spam. Regardless of what you’re promoting or selling, if you want to succeed online you need to build up your own opt-in list. Most professional marketers use double opt-in which means subscribers must fill in an opt-in form on a web page and then confirm or verify their subscription in an email sent to them. This eliminates any spam complaints.

Virtually everyone uses email so it won’t be too hard to build your list if you use some of the simple tactics listed below. Keep in mind, using an opt-in contact list should have a place in everyone’s marketing plan as it is cheap, fast, and still more effective than other outdated methods of promotion and marketing. This is because a large majority of the people who are making money on the Internet are those who have built up a large opt-in list or are using strategic follow-up emails in their marketing. They will have refined, looked after and built up a trust with the people on their list who they can contact in the future.

If you need any help with how to approach compiling your opt-in email list then below are 10 quick and sure ways of getting people to sign up for your contact list:

1. Set up an auto-responder which will automatically send out messages to your visitor. It can be set up with a series of compelling messages, which will encourage your subscribers to buy your products or join your business. Using Pop-Ups, Pop-Ins and Slide-In forms on web pages will quickly build your list. Some professional marketers make the “Close” button on this pop-up form very hard to see, so that visitors will subscribe as a means of closing out the window. Use your own judgement here, do you want to be this sneaky? It’s not exactly the best way to start a relationship, but many savvy marketers use it. This is the equivalent of “getting your foot in the door” and then these marketers follow-up with quality content to really get and hold your attention.

2. Have a concrete image or graphic of your ezine or newsletter when giving people the opportunity to sign up as this will increase your conversion rate. Your ezine or newsletter can then be sent out daily, weekly, monthly or whenever you need to send it. Relationship building is the key here because you just don’t want a list, you want a responsive list.

3. Make it real simple for people to subscribe to your opt-in email; it needs to be quick and easy in order to encourage people to do it. For example you could put a simple form in the left hand column of your websites home page and other pages if possible. Most professional marketers place their opt-in form on EVERY page of their site.

4. Use social media sites like Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Twitter… truth be told all of these sites are only glorified List Builders; make sure you’re taking advantage of them to build your list of contacts.

5. Use Forums – there are literally thousands of forums and discussion boards so all you have to do is find one that relates to your particular business and then participate in the discussion. The key is to get targeted subscribers, ones interested in your topic or subject.

6. Promote your website and yourself – this can be done through such things as article writing. This will promote your site in a way that will get your site known and recognized by more people; become an expert and people will want to get to know you and what you have to say.

7. Ezine advertising is a cost effective and quick way to attract visitors to your site in order to get more subscribers. Ezine ads can be a very cheap and effective way of building your list quickly. Many professional marketers also use co-registration strategies – this can be simply done by adding a form where your subscribers can check to subscribe to other related ezines or newsletters. You promote my list, I promote yours.

8. Have well written content – you need to ensure that your website content is well written, informative and appealing so that when people visit your site they will hopefully opt-in to your email list. Again, if you have nothing valuable to offer your visitors, they won’t join your list.

9. Always use incentives to reward people for joining your opt-in list. Enticing potential subscribers with a free report, video, article, ebook or software is still the quickest way to get subscribers on your list.

10. Provide access to members only areas of your site – this part of your website will be accessible only when people have signed up to your opt-in email list. Same can be done for articles or reports… give your visitors a good teaser and then they have to opt-in to get access to the rest.

These are just some of the ways to build your list quickly but there are countless others, especially if you have a product to sell and you can do JVs (Joint Ventures) with other marketers or big-name Gurus. Then using a “Squeeze Page” to collect contact information to quickly build your list. So too is creating an affiliate program and letting your affiliates build your list for you!

Just remember, building up the perfect opt-in email list won’t happen over night but by following the above steps it will build quickly. Just make sure that as your opt-in list grows, you provide your users with quality content and you keep the list organized and manageable in order to keep your subscribers happy and satisfied so that they will be willing to do business with you over the long term.

….
The author is a full-time online marketer who has numerous
niche sites. If you want to learn how to make your online
marketing much more effective by building your lists try here:
list building ecourse
Copyright © 2009 Titus Hoskins. This article may be
freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.
To lLearn more Internet Marketing Tactics try:
http://www.bizwaremagic.com

When I first started, my goal was getting 1,000 subscribers
which I quickly passed, then it was 10,000 which was much harder
to reach… getting to 100,000 will take much more time
and effort but I believe I will get there eventually.

Maybe that number is a bit foolish, mainly because I learned
long ago it is not the size of your list that counts,
but how responsive it is. Still, it helps to have a goal
set for yourself… and a 100k subscriber list is not
an unreachable number especially when you’re talking
about the Internet. There are probably more than a few
pimply faced teenagers out there who have gotten triple
that number of subscribers just by placing some silly videos
on YouTube.

When I first started online marketing I kept hearing the
so-called gurus shouting “The Money Is In Your List!” Up
until that time the only list that meant anything to me
was probably my grocery list. However, as I quickly
became familiar with web marketing, list building became
one of my key goals.

Mainly because list building is one of the vital elements to
your Internet marketing success. It can play an important role
in increasing your sales, getting repeat targeted traffic to
your sites and a perfect vehicle for branding your product
or company. Moreover, your list can be a primary source of
business relationships which will help you build your online
business since these contacts can be the cornerstones
of your online marketing.

Many marketers make the mistake that list building is all
about sales and forget that your list is much more than just
for monetary gain. It can be the basis for a whole wealth
of ideas and interaction that goes well beyond how many sales
you can squeeze out of your list. The really savvy marketers
use their lists for market research, product development
and treat their lists as a knowledge resource they can tap into,
time and time again.

Your list building can also be the foundation of your own
vibrant online community. A community that’s interactive
and a great source of both ideas and business contacts.
Probably the best example of this type of community building
would be those communities that spring up through the
social networking media sites… Twitter would be a
good example of this type of list building.

Invisible List Building

In studying and using lists over the years, some things have
really surprised me. As an affiliate marketer I quickly
realized most of my list building was invisible! This happened
when I was fairly new at the marketing game, I had trouble
with one of my site’s webhost and I had to move the whole
site to a different server and my site was down for several
days… but the strange thing was my online sales from
this site still kept coming even though my site was down.

I was totally puzzled (I can be rather slow sometimes!) until
I realized or rather learnt the marketing power of cookies.
Almost all of the affiliate programs I was promoting on my site
were using cookies to mark the traffic or clicks coming from
my site as my referrals. If anyone of these referrals made
a purchase in the next 30, 60, 90 or more days – I would get
credit for the sale.

My site was down, but because I had a whole list of cookied
buyers lined up to purchase these affiliate products, my
sales still kept coming. I was fairly new at this web stuff
then and this was a real eye-opener for me. I started joining
those affiliate programs that gave me the longest time-frame
with their cookies. Most are around 30 days but there are quite
a few that will give 365 days. Some affiliate programs such
as Ken Evoy’s Site Build It and Marlon Sanders’s products
even give you a life-time cookie.

In affiliate marketing using these “cookies” to build up hundreds
of lists of “invisible customers” can be a very effective marketing
strategy. You might not see these lists, but they’re quietly working
for you in the background, bringing in sales even if your site is
down or even when you have stopped a particular campaign.

Of course, the key here again, is how targeted is your marketing.
You could have a million cookied customers lined up but if they
have no real interest in your product – they won’t turn into buying
customers. You must get the potential customer who has shown
an interest in your product, onto your invisible cookie list.
That’s why ranking high in organic search results for your chosen
keywords plays a vital role in how much you earn online, especially
if you’re into affiliate marketing. Going the PPC (Pay Per Click)
route can also work but the profit margins are much closer.

Nor should you ignore building an actual opt-in list of
customers to your autoresponder system in this whole process.
Many marketers also try to “cookie” their actual opt-in lists
as soon as possible in order to boost their sales. Your invisible
cookie lists can work in conjunction with your so-called real lists.

Along those same lines, one of my most effective marketing
strategies is to use “micro” list building which is building
hundreds of small lists of customers for each affiliate
product that I promote. In the process of building these
lists of potential customers, my first goal is to get
these customers “cookied” with my affiliate ID. Then
no matter if they buy directly from you or from some
other link on the web; you still get credit for the
sale.

Another effective marketing technique to use with your
lists is to promote a whole group of related brand name
products and MAKE SURE you cookie your list with ALL these
different products so that no matter which one they eventually
choose to purchase, you will still get credit for the sale.
This way as a marketer you can come across as a neutral
third party pointing out the benefits and disadvantages
of each product rather than a pushy salesperson pushing
one product at your list. Nobody likes a pushy salesperson,
so be a sneaky friend instead.

Don’t ignore the effectiveness of these cookies or invisible
lists in your online marketing. Used properly they can
increase your sales dramatically. You can have hundreds
of these invisible cookied lists working for you on the
web. When you get down to the actual numbers, a list
of 100,000 subscribers can pale in comparison. So next time
anyone mentions list building to you, just remember you
can always go incognito!

….
The author is a full-time online marketer who has numerous
niche sites. If you want to learn how to make your online
marketing much more effective by building your lists try here:
list building
Or you can try our popular: list building ecourse
Copyright © 2006 Titus Hoskins. This article may be
freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.
Learn more at: http://www.bizwaremagic.com

This List Building course shows you how to grow
and manage a large contact list with your site or
sites. Especially helpful for those just starting
with Internet Marketing and want to discover more
about one of the most effective tools you can use
to improve your online business.

This guide and course has been created from
first-hand experience in Internet Marketing.
It shows you what works and what doesn’t. It
also shows you how to use simple list building
techniques to boost your contacts and your sales.

I have been building lists for over 8 or 9 years
now and have found it especially effective for
affiliate marketing. I have read hundreds of articles
on this topic and also written quite a few of my own
on the subject. It is a subject that holds special
appeal to me personally since it has been responsible
for most of my online income. Directly and indirectly.

List building is one area where I do feel comfortable
writing about and showing others how it’s done.
Recently, I have been creating a lot of micro-lists
with the affiliate products I promote online. Simple
way to boost your traffic and sales.

If you want more help on building your list
or lists you can find information here along
with some great list building bonuses:
List Building