Tuesday, July 22, 2008

What Resources Are You Using To Build Your List?

What Resources Are You Using To Build Your List?

Today I’d like to begin to discuss the many resources that are available for Internet marketers to use to build a list. These are the resources that I feel are necessary to maximize your Internet presence and build your list.

In this post, I’ll talk about the importance of Auto-responders and show you how to use one with a blog to create a lead capture page so you can begin to collect subscribers to your contact list.

Auto-Responders

A must for every business, online or offline. Your auto-responder becomes your contact manager, list builder and follow-up manager.

With your auto-responder you can create an immediate response to your new subscribers, share important details, provide a training series, generate an ezine or newsletter. You can also broadcast a message to your list any time, offering real time communication.

My auto-responder of choice is Response Magic for ease of use and flexibility. The cost for Response Magic is just 17.95.

Lead Capture Pages

With your auto-responder all setup, you will need to create a place for your subscribers to subscribe to your list. I recommend using Blogspot or another blog to place your auto-responder form. If you are html savvy and have your own domain, you can easily create a lead capture page on your own domain.

I offer simple directions on how to setup Response Magic on a Blog at My Wealthy Blog. The report is free to download and use and I offer a branding solution to add your contact informaton and affiliate links to my report and use it as an incentive for your subscribers.

Driving Traffic to Your Lead Capture Page

Setting up is simple, however … this is the point most people tend to give up.

Why?

The answer is simple. When using online marketing tools, one gets overwhelmed with information, links, emails, etc. It is easy to lose one’s focus and become distracted in the sea of links.

HINT: stay focused on the task of advertising your new Lead Capture page and avoid distractions.

Ok, so let’s talk a bit about online resources. There are many to choose from and I’ll discuss a few of the the main ones that I am currently using. We’ll cover others in another post.

Online Marketing Lists

By online marketing lists, I am referring to ‘Safelists’ and other marketing lists such as ‘ListJoe’. These lists are very effective and have provided a lot of downline members to my business over time.

Caution: When marketing to online lists, it’s important to setup a separate email address to use for registering for these programs. You will want to setup a message rule in your email program to direct this new email to a separate folder for you to manage. This is key to avoiding distractions in list marketing.

Online marketing lists can be a distraction as there are many links within the members’ area of their programs. Using online marketing lists is simple.

  1. Register
  2. Login
  3. Send your ad

And yes, it really is that simple.

What do you advertise to these lists?

That’s even simpler. You want to direct them to your new lead capture page. If you are branding and giving away my report “My Wealthy Blog” then you will want to write an ‘ad’ that reflects this.

Example

Ad SUBJECT: Do You Use Your Blog to Generate Prospects?

Ad BODY:

Download a copy of ‘My Wealthy Blog’
Learn the techniques of List Building
Expert, Janet Legere.

Subscribe to get your free copy here:
http://YOURID.blogspot.com

Watch for my follow-up and let’s
connect soon.

Regards,

YOUR NAME
YOUR PHONE NUMBER

My Top Online Lists

Long Standing Reliable Safelists

A safelist is a list that allows you to subscribe with the idea that you will send your business ad to the members of the list. In exchange, you agree to receive emails from other list members. That’s why it’s so important to setup a separate email for this process.

Business World List

Herculist

Both offer free and pro memberships and I recommend upgrading to the monthly pro membership in both as it allows you to email the list more often and the key to making all this work is consistency and persistence. Over time, both these resources were effective in generating subscribers to my list and dowline members in my primary business.

Online Marketing Lists

These types of lists function similarly to safelists. Most online marketing lists offer other types of advertising to their members as it is with the two I recommend below. In this post, I will introduce you to ListJoe and ViralURl. Both are highly responsive and responsible for rapid growth in my primary business.

List Joe - credit based list of 30,000 members. Very responsive program. This one is a must to upgrade! List Joe is also a unique downline builder capitalizing on the other top marketing lists.

ViralURL - earn credits to send emails to random members. Tracks your links as well. Very effective program and most effective as an upgraded member. I recently wrote an article on how to setup and use ViralURL and welcome you to enjoy the step by step article here.

ListJoe and ViralURL are the two resources that I recommend you upgrade in right away. As an upgraded member, you will see results very quickly using just these two systems with the ability to email 30,000 random members in each program every single month!

As with Safelists, you will want to use a separate email address for these types of programs to easily manage the incoming email you will receive.

Social Networks

Another big distraction can be Social Networks, however they can also be an extremely fruitful resource for attracting the right prospects for your business.

The advantage of Social Networks is the ability to ‘hunt’ for the right person to contact. You can search based on likes and dislikes, network connections etc.

You visit the prospects profile page that they have listed on the Social Network and either post a private message or invite them to your personal contact list. All Social Networks offer this ability, although they all function just a little bit different.

Social Networks are a great resource for prospects if you use them accordingly. I recently wrote an article on using AdlandPro, one of my favourite online Social Networks. AdlandPro is a Business Social Network in that most of the individuals you will find are using the Internet in some shape or form.

Please enjoy my article on Prospecting on Social Networks where you will learn how to setup and begin prospecting in this highly lucrative environment.

If you begin by using these basic systems, you will see your prospecting list grow on a regular basis. The next step is following up with your new list members and I’ll discuss more about that in a future article.

Until then, happy marketing - stay focused, avoid distractions (link clicking other than credits in List Joe emails) and be consistent. These are the secrets to your online success.

Post your comments below and share your stories with us.

Have a great day,

Janet Legere
List Building Expert

Click here for a complete list of my favourite online marketing resources