Many of us have heard this statement bandied about regularly by internet marketers, but what is “the money is in the list” and what does it mean exactly?
What list? A list of what?
An Email List
Whether you’re an affiliate marketer or an offline business that has an online presence, every single enterprise that has a website would be wise to start building and growing an email list.
Rather than letting a website visitor or customer just simply disappear without a trace, capturing their email address via an opt-in form on your website (or at the store’s point of sale) enables you to market to this person again and again.
Of course, you have to offer up some juicy bait in order to get people to agree to join your list. This is what’s known as a lead magnet. What you offer will depend on your industry, but as examples it could be one of the following:
-
A free eBook
- A free eCourse
- The promise of future discounts available only to those on your list
- Discount coupons and special offers
- Helpful newsletters with tips and advice
It really can be anything that will help entice someone to hand over their email address. The important thing is, your lead magnet has to be free and there needs to be the promise of useful information on the way via your email updates to your subscribers.
No one wants to join an email list just to be constantly spammed with offer after offer. Of course you can present offers and sales in your emails, but mix it up with helpful, free content. So long as your subscribers feel like they are getting value from being on your list, they will remain subscribers and occasionally will take you up on one of your offers.
The Money Truly Is In The List
This is ultimately how you make money from your email list. Let’s sum up the process quickly:
- Offer something of value for free to new subscribers
- Send your list regular emails
- Include free and useful content
- Intersperse your free content emails with promotional offers
- Make sales
That’s pretty much how an email list works. Obviously the bigger the list the more money you can make from your subscribers. Many put the figure for each subscriber being worth approximately one dollar per month in revenue. This can vary greatly depending on what you’re promoting, but it’s a good reference point.
So let’s do some simple math. You’ve have built up a solid list of relevant subscribers and it now stands at 10,000 people. That’s potentially $10k you can make per month just from your email list alone.
Some businesses have lists in the millions. Think about that possibility for a moment. It takes a while to build a sizeable list, but in time it will naturally grow and grow.
Always keep in mind that you have to offer value to your subscribers and you will have a prosperous list for many years to come.
You Really Need A Platform To Manage Your List
This is where email autoresponder services come into their own. I use a company called GetResponse to manage my email lists and autoresponder service.
If you would like a more thorough explanation of what an autoresponder does, then check out the post I wrote on autoresponders here.
There are a number of good email list management platforms out there, but I’m most familiar with GetResponse, their prices are reasonable and I’m more than happy with their service. That’s why they get my recommendation.
First read the post I referenced above on autoresponders, then go on over to the my GetResponse review to see what you think. Just hit the banner below. If you have any questions about email lists or GetResponse, please feel free to ask them in the comments below.
Darren Burton
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As you have stated, I have heard a lot about creating a list. Collecting emails to market and send extra information to does make a lot of sense.
Now for getting and setting up an autoresponder do you feel that is something you should do right away or wait till your site starts to see some traffic?
I don’t see any reason to wait until you’re getting traffic. The sooner you set up an autoresponder and start building a list, thee sooner you will develop a sizeable list. It’s a good idea at any stage of your online business.
Hi Darren, thanks for such valuable information. I had started email marketing a while ago but was very discouraged to get only 1 person in 1 month that followed my free course. Considering I get over 300 visits a day, this is a very low conversion.
Then I thought it was not very profitable and decided to remove it. I know having a list can be really profitable so, do you really think I should persist in this?
Thank you so much
Hi Stefan. It’s definitely worth persisting with list building. Any successful marketer will tell you that that’s where they make most of their money. Maybe change from a course to offer a free eBook or something else to get them on your list. Or make your course into an eBook. Don’t give up on building a list. One day you will look back and think it was the best thing you ever did.