By Charly Leetham

If you are building an online business, you must seriously consider building your online email marketing list. Whilst some people say you don't need to worry about building email marketing list, particularly if you are an Affiliate Marketer, building a list of prospects will provide you with a lot more flexibility and options. There are benefits to having a list...

* Should something happen to your websites or online content, you don't have to start over and find new people to sell to. You already have a ready-made group of people who have decided that they want to hear what you have to say and have probably already bought from you.

* Typically, if you've built a targetted list and treated your subscribers well by sharing valuable information (as opposed to continually promoting to them), the bigger your list, the more money you can make.

* If you are an affiliate marketer, having a responsive list can help you to become a Super Affiliate, which not only equates to more income - it also means that you may have a chance to win cool prizes in affiliate contests. Being a Super Affiliate also means that you can becoming sought after for large launches.

List building requires effort to bring traffic to your website and convert visitors to prospects on your email list. Here are three ways to get targetted traffic to your website and build your email marketing list.

1. Give them something for free when subscribing to your list

You are asking your prospects to give you their email address and name - your prospects know what this is worth to you and they are less likely to provide their details unless they see value in doing so.

By offering something for free, you are overcoming this objection to begin with.

Downloadable audios are great gifts. Consider creating a podcast (mp3) of an expert interviw, yourself sharing some great tips about your niche, or an interview with yourself sharing great information about your niche.

Another idea is to create a video demonstrating a 'secret technique' or discussing some of your strategies in a visual way?

If your software developer, why not give away some software in exchange for their email address?

As an affiliate marketer, you can write a review of the product or service you are offering explaining how you use it and how it helps you. In fact, you can record an audio or video doing the same thing.

Whatever you choose to do, make sure that you give phenomenal value with your free item.

2. Post on your blog regularly - using your chosen keywords.

Search Engines love fresh content and the more often you post on your blog, the more traffic you will get.

Write a blog post every day for 2 weeks and check your traffic stats - you should have more traffic!

Ensure that you have your lead capture process set up to convert visitors to subscribers - make it easy for your visitors to join your list.

3. Ad Swaps are certainly an excellent way to grow your list fast and effectively.

Find another business in your niche that has a similar size list (or similar response) and send each others offers of a free item to your own list.

The key is to plan your swaps with offers that will appeal to your niche and not to do it too often, as you will 'desensitize' your list.

These are just three ways that you can generate traffic to your site and build your list . They all require some work from you - success doesn't happen overnight and whilst you can outsource a lot of the work, understanding the basics will definitely help you. Building your list will most certainly help you create a sustainable, and profitable business.

About the Author:

Charly Leetham is an Online Business Implementation Expert and Small Business Coach. She is dedicated to bringing useful and free information to new small businesses to aid in their success. Read seven more great ways to Generate Traffic and List Build.

Introduction:

This is a series of articles about marketing and advertising. There are different ways you can reach an audience of millions of individuals all around the world. I show you on this series how to implement profitable strategies in your marketing career.

It has been said that “what matters is not what you sell but how you promote it.” So, the secret to success lays within your marketing techniques. That’s why it is very important for business owners to develop skills which allow them to increase the sales of their products.

One of the most important skills you must have is the ability to reach a lot of people quickly. To do this you need to realize how powerful media is an how it can drastically increase your revenues.


– Newspaper ads –

Americans read their newspapers a lot, that’s a fact. Check the statistics and you will realize that the newspaper have always being a good place to advertise. Depending on the kind of products or services that you sell you could use the American’s newspapers to generate new sources of income for your business.

It doesn’t matter whether you live in the USA or not. For example if you own an international e-business this could bring you good profits. I think this is another way you can diversify your marketing strategies.

There is a website called Nationwide Newspapers http://www.nationwideadvertising.com/, which allow you to post your ad in thousands and even millions of papers all around the country for a low fee. Imagine how much publicity you can get from that! You choose your budget and everything. They have different advertising packages to suit different business needs.

Whatever you choose to market, always use powerful phrases in your messages. The most effective ads are brief but they have the ability to act upon the feelings of the readers. Motivate them, intrigue them, make them feel the heat. Always remember that short phrases with a strong emotional impact are the most effective ones.


– Highway billboards –

If you want to advertise outdoor some companies may help you with this project like for example http://www.billboard-ads.com/. Keep in mind that this is an expensive type of advertisement. To rent an ad space on a well populated area will usually cost you a few thousand dollars per month.

On the other hand, I think the best choice you have is to buy a piece of land in or near a mayor highway and set everything up by yourself. Learn about the laws and regulations in your specific state. Probably the most important agency you will have to contact is your state Department of Transportation.

Visit http://www.tdot.state.tn.us/links.htm to find your state agency. They can give you specific information about this subject. Basically you will have to fill out an application where you affirm that you own the land where the billboard will be placed and you will pay an annual fee which may range from $100 to $500 depending on the state you live. To have someone design and create the ad for you will cost you $1,000 to $3,000. That’s a one time fee you will pay.

How much publicity can you get from this? A lot! But it all depends on your ad’s location. If your ad is next to a highway with a high traffic volume, let’s say that on average 45,000 different drivers travels through said highway everyday, then there will be more than a million individuals watching it every month.

That’s a lot, but to be honest with you, this kind of advertisement works better for local businesses like nearby restaurants or real estate Companies than for other kinds of businesses. Also transnational corporations with a large advertising budget, which would like to build reputation would want to have many billboard ads across the nation.

Small business owners usually prefer to market their products using other less expensive techniques. Anyway, I included this information here because I thought some of you would like to read about it. After all this is another way you can reach a vast amount of individuals in an everyday basis.


– TV Commercials –

To advertise on television will have a powerful impact on your business revenues. Different factors will determine how much this marketing strategy will cost you. For example the price vary depending on the channels you choose, how often you will advertise, etc.

There are some Companies which can help you reach your clients easily. I think the two most popular are http://www.nationaltvspots.com/ and http://www.metromarkcorp.com/. In National TV Spots some marketing packages start as low as $26 for a 30 seconds spot. This is other way to diversify your marketing techniques.



– Magazine Ads –

You can advertise on magazines and save up to 80% off the regular price. There is a company called Media Bids - http://www.mediabids.com, which allow you to meet other marketers as well as to choose among different marketing packages available. The service is free. You only pay for an ad if you choose to make a purchase.

As you can see, these techniques can increase your exposure and help you get more clients. You can read about other effective marketing techniques from my other articles on this series.


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