Welcome
Welcome to Build My Email Lists
If you have been involved in internet marketing for any time at all, you will know by now the truth of the oft-repeated saying, “The money is in the list.” Of course it is possible to do online marketing without a list, but it’s a bit like trying to fight with one hand tied behind your back – you are at a HUGE disadvantage to other internet marketers.
(If you’re not sure about why you really need an e-mail list, read this post.)
The aim of this site is to bring together a whole range of resources that will allow you to grow your list effectively. They are almost all free (though most do have paid upgrades available if you want to get more out of your membership) and most are very easy to use. I suggest that you work through this page in an orderly way, that way you will save yourself a lot of confusion.
STEP 1: BEFORE YOU BEGIN I suggest you do two things:
Firstly, set up a special folder in your bookmarks. Label it something like “Business Tools”. Within that folder, set up three subfolders, label them “General Tools”, “Traffic Exchanges” and “Safe Lists”. As you sign up for each site, bookmark its login page in the appropriate sub folder.
Secondly, set up a spreadsheet (or if you don’t know how to set up a spreadsheet, use a text file or even an exercise book and pen.) Again, have three sheets with the same labels as your subfolders. On each sheet, have the following colums: “Program Name”, “User Name”, “Password”, “Web site” and “What it Does.” Again, enter the details as you go.
Doing these two things will save you from feeling like you are trying to untangle a ball of string with a hundred ends – take it from one who has “been there and done that!”
STEP 2: GET WEB HOSTING
This step is not free, but it is very important. It is of course possible to build a list without having a web site, but it is much more difficult. And we are trying to do things the easy way, not the difficult way, aren’t we? For many of the tools we are going to use, you will need to have a splash page (don’t worry, I’ll point you to an easy way of producing them.) There are also some tools that really need to be placed on a web site.
For the moment don’t worry about what your website is going to be, or how you are going to make it. What we need first is somewhere to build it – think of it as buying the land on which you are going to build a house, before you have any idea of what kind of house you are going to build. (I’m assuming that you do know what niche you are working in. If not, that’s something you need to work out first.)
This is the web hosting service I use. It is very reasonably priced, offers a host of features, and allows you to host unlimited domains on the one account.
(Note: there are free web hosting services, which are fine if you just want a personal or hobby site. But if you are wanting to do business online, you will want to look professional. You can’t do that with a free site.)
STEP 3: GET LIST HOSTING
Before you can begin building a list, you need to have somewhere to host that list. Now, you could do it through your own web site, but your web host is probably going to limit the number of e-mails you can send in any given period. Also, self-hosted e-mail list scripts can be difficult to handle. By far the best option is to use a service that is specially set up for sending e-mails.
Here you have two options. If you want to send a series of messages that will go out at pre-determined intervals, and will do so totally on auto pilot, and also to be able to send one-off messages to your whole list, you need an autoresponder service.
The one I use is recognized as the best in the business. Get it here. (Please note that for some of the programs on this site you need an autoresponder, and this is the only one they will accept.)
Alternatively, if you only want to send one-off messages, and have a fairly small list, you may only need a mailing list service. This one is great value and very user friendly.
(Note: there are free autoresponders available, but they pay for what they give you free by adding advertising to your messages. If you want people to see your ads, not someone else’s, pay the small price to have your own professional autoresponder or mailing list.)
If you are affiliate marketing in several different niches, be sure that you set up separate lists for each niche. Your “dog training” subscribers, for instance, might not necessarily be interested in “weight loss.” Your autoresponder service will allow you to easily set up as many lists as you need, and each one need never know that the others even exist.
STEP 4: GET PEOPLE TO SIGN UP FOR YOUR LIST
Now that you have your autoresponder or mailing list set up, the time has come to populate it.
A word of warning: don’t fall for the ads that offer to sell you a huge list of e-mail addresses. Such addresses have been harvested illegally, and if you use them you will be spamming. Any reputable autoresponder or mailing list service will not allow you to use e-mail addresses gathered in this way.
Firstly, I HIGLY RECOMMEND that you sign up for the two programs below. Both are free and viral – in other words, you will not only be building your list yourself, but as you promote the programs hundreds and even thousands of other people will be building your list for you.
Both of these programs work the same way – in order to join, you must first sign up for the mailing lists of the six people ahead of you. Anyone who signs up from your link must subscribe to your mailing list to join. When people sign under them, they will also have to join your list, and so on through the levels.
Next, join this program – it does 2 things: It masks your affiliate URLs, and it throws an ad across the bottom of the link you are promoting. In exchange for showing ads on the pages you are promoting, you get to show your ads on other people’s pages. (See it in action here.) When you set your ads for this program, don’t have them promoting your money program. Set up one or more squeeze pages, and have the ads point to them to build your list.
Now, so that this page won’t get too long, go to this post to continue …