There is a need to write this post today because I am seeing way too many marketers (especially newbie marketers) approaching the whole list building and marketing to their lists in a completely incorrect way – In particular, they are making some fatal mistakes that should be avoided at all costs, otherwise they will never be able to generate anything from the lists that they have built up.
While the fact “The Money Is In Your List” still holds, you need to do it correctly in order to be able to generate money from it.
What I’m going to share with you in this post are 5 fatal list building mistakes that I see over and over again and these mistakes should be avoided at all costs (if you want to build profitable lists).
1. Sell, Sell, And More Selling…
Remember this – People DO NOT come online to buy stuff. But rather, they come online to look for information. The only time these people will buy something is when they are convinced that a certain product/service will help them solve a nail biting problem that they have. Or the price that they can get the product/service for is one that they simply cannot miss out.
Other than that, people do not come online with a credit card in their hands. Therefore, when you send emails to your list subscribers, always remember – Do not attempt to sell them in every single email you send out. Doing so will only turn them off and unsubscribe from your list.
What you should do, instead, is to have informational emails (where you share with them a tip or two on the niche that they have signed up to your list in) together with promotional ones (where you recommend a product/service).
Generally, I would recommend that you send out one promotional email with every 3 to 4 informational emails.
2. Not Using A Professional Autoresponder
If you are serious in building up your Internet Business, do not shrimp and save when it comes to signing up for an autoresponder service.
Choose one that is reliable – Where your emails gets delivered to all the intended recepients. I’ve seen some autoresponders, though cheap, but their deliverability rate is simply horrible.
When it comes to autoresponders, I would highly recommend either Aweber or GetResponse.
3. Not Building A Relationship With Your Subscribers
Generally, people do not wish to buy from a complete stranger. So, in order to have a list that will generate you money every single time you make a product recommendation, you need to spend time communicating with your them to build a strong relationship.
Let them get to know you better by introducing yourself, and what you are doing, as well as how you can help them when they first sign up for your list, and over time, you may want to share with them some personal information (such as what have you been up to lately).
4. Irrelevant Content
Give people what they want, and you will get what you want. What you should do here is to give your list subscribers what they want.
If you do not quite know what they want, all you need to do is to send out an email and find out from them. From the response you receive, you can cater your email content to provide your list subscribers with what they want (along with recommending products/services that you think will help them in problems that they are facing).
That way, you will be able to get better response from your list building campaigns.
5. No Clear To Action
Want your email recipients to click on a link to read more about a product/service you are recommending, or read up more about a certain topic? Tell them specifically.
If you want them to click on a link, then tell them to click on the link. If you want them to buy something, then tell them to buy (along with strong reasons why they should buy it now, and not 10 minutes later, or a few days after).
Now, as long as you have gotten rid of the 5 list building mistakes that I have just highlighted above, I am sure that you will be able to have better results in your list building campaigns.