Over and over we see people asking, How does list building help a business? I need help list building. How do I build a list?
What Is A “List”?
If you’re just getting started in online marketing and sales, you need a list. I know, I know, everyone and their brother is saying the same thing. List building is Number One in building your business. Without a list, you can only bug so many friends and family members so many times.
Before you go one step further with any online business, you need to figure out how to get a list of people who are interested in what you have to offer.
Blogging Can Help Build Your List
Granted, I’m a bit partial to blogging as my primary list building strategy. If you’re going to be blogging, believe me that list is very important. Your readers are your warm market. Get your readers to subscribe to either a newsletter that you produce or subscribe to your blog to get daily updates on your posts. Once they sign up or subscribe to your blog posts, or newsletter then you have a list started.
Social Media Networking
This is the true social media story. All those “friends” and “likes” you get and give on any of the major social media networks have the potential for becoming subscribers to your list, to your offer, to your newsletters, to your blog posts. Don’t be trying to sell your social media “friends” on anything. Be helpful, answer questions, build up your reputation, be careful what you post, share good information, and encourage the people you meet to visit your blog or your fan page or whatever.
Social media is not going away, my friends. This is the way to advertise, find subscribers, and work on your list building in a friendly way. You have to sell yourself now. It’s not about the product. It’s about YOU and how you present yourself as trustworthy and above board.
Advertising For Subscribers
Yes, yes, I know. Here we go. Advertising. The bane of the retail world. Advertising is what brings brand recognition. It brings followers and likers. It bring in revenue and profits. Advertising can be the quickest way to build up a list of interested people. You can do paid or free methods or a combination of both.
List building by advertising a great offer, a no-charge informational product, or even – again – advertising your blog and getting people to subscribe, is one of the easiest ways to work on list building. Your advertisements need to be eye catching without being obnoxious, they need to offer value to the reader, they need to solve a problem, and they need to be placed where your potential clients and customers can see them.
It’s really the best way to have a group of “followers” (think Facebook or Google+ here) who like what you have to say, who like the way you present yourself, who trust you and believe in your vision – or who can see and believe that YOU can help them with a problem.
