Have you ever noticed that the products that are advertized to teach you how to do opt-in list building seem to focus on the “size” of the list you can build rather than on the “quality” of the list you build? Certainly size is important, but equally important is the “quality” of your email list. If you have a huge list of “window shoppers”, it translates into little financial benefit to you. In opt-in list building, what you are looking for is a quality list of people who love and trust you and are anxious to buy from you because of the huge value you have already given them.
I’m on the opt-in lists of several (or more!) home based internet business building gurus. I find myself liking their products so much that I risk getting far more than I can profitably use. How many of you know what I’m talking about? The secret is in the quality of your opt-in list building.
Why Worry About the Quality of List Building?
You’ve got to grasp the concept that quality matters more than quantity in list building for making money on the internet. Suppose you have two Toyota car dealerships. The first mails its announcement of inventory clearing sales to the people of the neighborhood, 50,000 of them. Most of them drive cars and need new cars periodically. The second dealer has carefully collected a list of 50,000 current owners of Toyotas in the area. Which of these two dealers would sell the most cars? The answer is obvious.
The dealer who has a mailing list of current Toyota owners has a “quality list.” His niche is much better defined. On his list are many who love Toyota and realize they need to turn in their old model for a new one. They will figure that now is the best time to do so. He risks making ten times as much money out of his publicity as the dealer who mails to the average resident of his neighborhood. Many of them love their own car model and are not willing to change even though they need a newer car.
How To Improve Quality in Opt-in List Building?
· Build a list that belongs to you and not to some other company. You see, it’s possible to make money by driving traffic to the site of an affiliate. Suppose you are promoting a certain network marketing business. The people you attract to make purchases or to join up with your team become the list of your company, not your own list. They develop a loyalty to that company. If one day you decide to change companies, they don’t leave with you. They are attached to that company. Hence your list is not really yours but the company’s you are affiliated with.
· Build a list based on a common interest or niche. Ask yourself, “Are the people on my list prospective customers?” Are they interested in the products or services that you offer? Is your list target specific? This is why you need to have a clearly defined niche that you are targeting. The clearer your “yes” to these questions, the better quality your list.
· Build a relationship with the people on your list, a trust relationship. It’s been rightly said that “people only buy things from people they know and trust.” They don’t buy from sales pages. As you know, it takes time to build relationship and trust in the real world and the same is true for the internet. You therefore increase the quality of your list the more you reveal yourself and the more you show your generosity through surpassing their expectations with the quality of information or products you give them. It’s what we call the “wow” factor. As you “bold them over” with what you give them, they become more and more willing to buy from you. You must communicate that you value the people on your list, their opinions and their well-being.
· A quality list is an up-to-date list. It takes time and energy to constantly keep up with changes of address, deaths, etc. A list that is up-to-date is a better quality list than one that is neglected and out-of- date.
· A quality list is one built through your own site and through your own value exchange. There are many who offer to sell you a list. There is no way that this kind of list can be quality the way we are defining it. How can such a list be well targeted to meet your needs? Furthermore, those on the list have no personal attachment or loyalty to you.
So to summarize, opt-in list building is at the heart of building a profitable internet business. The size of the list is important but the quality of the list is even more important. Those of you who are just starting an internet business need to get building your list as soon as possible, but aim at building a quality list. By quality I mean an up-to-date list of people who share your interests and are growing in relationship to you because of the value you give them.
To further understand what building a list is all about see the other two parts to this series of three articles on “opt-in list building.” The first article defines exactly what list building is and gives you several images to better visualize the role of opt-in list building. The other article explains why it is that list building must be a priority if you want to make good money through online business building.