You’ve got a huge learning curve when you’re starting out as a newbie Internet marketer.
Believe me, I sympathize. After thirty years in the Navy and ten years managing food service for a large university, I found the transition from brick-and-mortar to virtual business pretty daunting too.
But that’s ok. Life is about learning and growing. Internet marketing is no more or less hard than any new thing you’ve done. In some ways it’s easier, mainly because the Internet makes so much information available so easily.
So what is list building, and how do you use it to grow your Internet business?
With a brick-and-mortar business, the “list” is the people who come in to buy things. With an Internet business, the list consists of the contact information you collect from visitors to your site which allows you to encourage them to come back again and again.
You may have noticed that brick-and-mortar shops, from clothing stores to coffeehouses, have started making books available where you can sign up to receive postal or email from them with news and discounts.
Internet marketing is just like that. When someone visits your site, you want them to come back. Building a list of prospects’ contact information is one of the ways you do that.
So how do you build lists as an Internet marketer? Here are 3 list-building tips:
First you have to build trust. There are several ways that you as an online marketer can do that. Give away samples of your product. Join business associations. Provide your site visitors with secure ways to purchase products from you. And never, ever, market your lists once you’ve built them.
You have to give something to get something. People don’t give their contact information away all that easily anymore. Offer special discounts to people who sign up on your marketing site. Send out a free, regular e-newsletter with content they can use.
You have to get the word out about your Internet business before prospects will come to your site. Use social networking sites, online classifieds, and article placement to drive traffic to you. Make sure that the links you include in your marketing messages take readers directly to the sign up form on your site.
Invest in a good auto-responder. An auto-responder will send out an immediate, customized message to people who have signed up with you. This is another opportunity to market your opportunity to prospects and bring them back for return visits.
It takes some effort to build up a good marketing list. You need to target your marketing messages so the people who sign up are the most likely to actually buy something, not just sign up for the free newsletter.
You need to know your market so you can find them and use your skills to get them interested enough in your Internet business to visit.
The good thing is that good lists can help build themselves. Try to build viral marketing into your list-building process – make it easy for people to share your newsletters and other offers with their friends. That way you’re not the only one doing the work.
As a newbie Internet marketer, building good prospect lists is one of the first jobs you have to tackle to achieve success. Take the time to do it right and you’ll enjoy the results.
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