How do I Build a List?

Today, as I answered the above question for one of our members at Loyaltepays, I realised that there may be many people, new to the whole idea of internet marketing, who may also be wondering exactly the same thing.

In fact, quite recently, one of my close friends asked me that same question. So I thought it would make a good subject for a post.

In principle, the answer is straightforward and, in outline, here are the required steps:

• Build a website/blog
• Open an autoresponder account e.g. Aweber
• Put an opt-in form on your website/blog
• Drive traffic to it
• Deliver your rebranded book(s) as part of your autoresponder sequence

If you have never done this stuff before, each of these steps requires some more explanation. So, I am going to explain how to do this stuff for you.

OK, so I am going to go through the above list in some detail:

Build a Website/Blog

To start with, I would suggest you build a blog and my recommendation would be to build a self-hosted WordPress blog. Now that’s something I wish somebody had told me right at the beginning. There are other options, and this option will cost you some money (for hosting and domain), but believe me, it is the right choice.

There are a number of different options for installing WordPress. Please see this article for details of the various methods.

If you are technically savvy, by all means go ahead and install it yourself; if not, it is well worth just paying someone to do it for you or finding a friend who has the technical knowhow and partnering with them. Partnerships are always a great way of solving these kinds of problems – that’s why we have a team at Loyaltepays – nobody is an expert in all areas.

Open an Autoresponder Account

An autoresponder account is the second most important tool (after your site/blog) in email marketing. It is the thing that allows you to collect names and email addresses and then send those people subsequent emails. Again, I am just going to save you a lot of trial and error by telling you the right autoresponder to get – it’s Aweber. It boasts an exceptional delivery rate and it integrates easily into every other tool you will ever need.

Actually, at the Aweber site, they have a free webinar on the subject. Please see here -scroll down the page and under ‘Upcoming Video Seminars’, enrol in the How to Get Started webinar - free.

There are free autoresponders on the web, but many free accounts are, variously, limited and some free autoresponders are simply rubbish. This is an important tool if you are going to build a list, so get the right one – Aweber.

Put an Opt-in Form on Your Blog

This is explained in the Aweber seminar. It’s not complicated to do; just take your time with it. However, you can also get a ‘lightbox popup’ that will catch the attention of your visitors and significantly multiply your opt-ins.

Go to your WordPress dashboard and to the ‘Add Plugins’ page. Type ‘simplepop’ into the search box and you will find a great, free plugin that will add the lightbox for you. You just enter your Aweber code after creating your form and it does a great job.

This is not the only way to install an opt-in form. You can put them in ‘text widgets’ within the sidebar of your blog – again explained in the Aweber webinar

Drive Traffic to Your Site

If you are going to make serious money online, traffic (getting visitors) is what you need to master. There are many methods and here are some of the most popular:

• Article Marketing (Resource Box Links)
• Forum Posting (Signature Links)
• Guest Posting ( Resource Box Links)
• Social Posting (Facebook & Twitter etc)

The thing to do is just jump in and get your feet wet. Don’t try everything at once; pick one or two methods, work them consistently and monitor your results. Then, when you find a method that you like and are prepared to stick with, give it your all.

This is a big subject in its own right and perhaps one we’ll return to in the future.

Deliver Your Rebranded Book(s)

Again, there are various way to do this. However, in your autoresponder, you could simply setup a series of emails and in each one, you could provide a little tip and some useful information, gossip and/or commentary together with a link to a rebranded book (or other rebranded material).

What will happen is that people will ‘Tweet’ and ‘Like’ your book and some of them will also join Loyaltepays. If you are a Premium Member, you get paid $1 every time that happens – isn’t that nice? And you also get paid a recurring (50%) commission when they upgrade their account.

As a Free Member, you don’t get the $1 referral bonus payments but you do still get recurring (25%) commission when one of your referrals upgrades. That’s how easy it is to make money with this program.

Click the following link for more information on using our Rebrandable eBooks.

My Top Recommendations

These are my recommendations for products and services I've personally used and found to be helpful. It is quite a short list as it only includes my top picks ...

25 Books You Should Read
K-Money Mastery
Our Collection of 60 Top Quality Books
Best Hosting Service
My Autoresponder Service