12.17.07
Build Your First List For Free
I have not updated my blog in a long time. I was tied up with a few other things - a product launch, loads of experimentation and a family 
But the good news is that I’m back and I have loads to share with you. The New Year is right ahead of us and I’ll do my best to make 2008 an informative one for you. Well, at least in the area of Internet Marketing!
Today, I want to show you how to build your first list for FREE! Have you built a list in any niche yet? If not, get into it right away. A list is a very important element of success for an Internet Marketer. If you want steady, long term profits - you must build a list and maintain it well…. I can’t stress on this point enough!
I have discussed the importance of list building in a previous post here.
I know that list building is not an easy task. But right now, I am not talking about building a massive list of 5000 or 10,000. That will come later. To being with, you must target a number that is achievable. Something like 100 or 200 subscribers in the next 30 days.
If you can build a list of 200 subscribers and maintain a good relation with them, that is at least $200 per month in assured profits for you. Once you achieve that, you can reinvest your earnings and ramp up your list building exercise.
So, as I see it, the problem really lies in getting the first 100 or so subscribers. And the bigger problem is getting them for free.
And this is exactly what I want to talk about in this article - how to build a list of 100 or 200 subscribers without spending a single cent!
First, let’s look at what you need to be up and running with your list building exercise:
1) You need a squeeze page, where users will enter their name/email address
2) You need a autoresponder, to capture users’ information and to communicate with them in the future
3) You need a good info-product (ebook/software/script) that you can give away for free as an incentive for people to sign up
You may be thinking that all of these require an investment. The fact is that if you DO invest in these, great! But if you are on a tight/zero budget, there are ways to get these done for free.
Your squeeze page can be set up in a Blogger blog, your autoresponder can be one of the many free ones available (Personally, I use Aweber and haven’t tried any of the free ones - so cannot recommend any one in particular) and your info-product can be obtained from a good Giveaway (just look for products with Resell/Giveaway rights)
You must ensure that your squeeze page, the info product and your follow up emails are top notch. The squeeze page must be desinged to get the best conversion rates, the free info product must offer valuable information and your follow up emails must be useful to your subscribers. In my later posts, I will cover each of the three elements in detail.
Once you have all the three elements in place, you are all set to drive traffic to it and get subscribers. Since this article is focussed on building your first list for free, I am not going to suggest that you use PPC or Ezines or any of the other expensive methods to drive traffic to your squeeze page.
Rather, I am going to focus on the one traffic generation tactic that has always worked for me. FORUMS!
If you’re already shrugging off this idea because its an old one - DON’T! From experience, I can tell you that forum signatures are the best way to drive free traffic to your squeeze pages. This form of traffic enjoys one of the best conversion rates on optin pages - yes, even better than PPC..
All you have to do is join the popular forums in the niche of your choice, create a nice signature pointing to your squeeze page and start participating intelligently in those forums.
If you join the right forums, create a compelling signature and make posts that give your signature enough exposure, then your squeeze page will see a good amount of free, targeted traffic. And when these visitors sign up on your squeeze page to avail the free gift you’re offering, they are added to your ‘list’
Just keep a few pointers in mind:
*** Join only those forums that are highly targeted to your niche and that enjoy lots of traffic
*** Your signature must be appealing enough to forum readers. Highlight the key benefit that your free report has to offer. And always use the word ‘free’
*** Your posts must be well placed. Its no good if your posts appear on page 2 of a thread or even way down on the first page. Also, your signature will get the best exposure if you start a thread that becomes popular with the forum readers.
Do this right, and soon your squeeze page will get loads of targeted visitors and your list will start growing. And remember, your initial target is only 100-200 subscribers in 30 days. After that, you can monetize your list and reinvest the money to grow your list further. I will talk about this in detail in a future post.
Till then, set a realistic target for yourself and start building that list!
Also, do share your thoughts by posting a comment below…
