Starting a business is not easy, if it was we would all be our boss.

Please have a look to the right of this post, can you see a new banner advert? About 3 months after talking about it, I’ve finally completed my list building course and it’s now available for sale.

I’ve managed to get it online just in time for a week’s holiday, which is typically bad timing, but guess what I didn’t use that as an excuse not to put it online and start sending some traffic. That’s why you have until the 19th August to get a copy and see how I approach listbuilding. When I get back the next phase of this business will start.

Now that I can say “I have my own product” is where I really step outside of my comfort zone. To make this new website into a business I need to generate traffic, and this is where I struggle. Ideas and starting things come naturally to me, but spending time setting up traffic generation is something that I do not like, but the one thing that everyone knows is that zero traffic = zero sales.

The affiliate programme I have put in place is geared towards affiliates, I’m giving away 100% commissions as one of the things you want when building a quality list is to get the e-mail address associate with a paypal account, and what better way to do this than sell something…

This means that if you’re awesome at traffic generation we could be a brilliant partnership, so please get in touch as I have no idea about keywords to target, accurate demographics, and all the other stuff that I fear.

It’s kind of the reverse fear to the people who can generate thousands of hits to a website and know they should be building a list but can’t bring themselves around to the idea of setting up an autoresponder.

Lastly the other thing you need to do when you want to become self employed is to work hard. It wasn’t until I put in a extra 2 hours each night this week that I was able to cross the line and make this product available to be bought and downloaded. Perhaps the Olympic spirit and success of team GB really could kickstart everyone to achieve success?

Or perhaps this lack of sleep will explain why this blog post doesn’t have as much structure as usual?

Anyway I hope that my course does give you the helping hand you need to get started with listbuilding.

Andrew Stark

This post started with a tweet…

@andrewstark Hello! looking for a mentor of shorts..can you contact me when you have some time? thanks!

— Brian Rose (@idealmind8) June 7, 2012

 

Now I replied as is the polite thing to do when you someone connects with you on twitter.

@andrewstark sorry didnt see your reply until now…themancavemag.com keep in mind its being revamped

— Brian Rose (@idealmind8) June 8, 2012

 

As you can see I always think it is important to be using your blog content to generate a list.

@andrewstark I do not, since it’s a magazine style site not sure how I can turn the list into $$

— Brian Rose (@idealmind8) June 8, 2012

 

So rather than just reply personally to Brian I thought I’d share with everyone how to turn a list into $

The hook

Now in the case of a magazine site like the mancave we have the draw of fresh regular content and a box in the top where the call to action could be as simple as “Enter Your Email To Keep Up To Date”.

This is a news based site, and the reason they attract readers is to find out about the latest news items, so by getting access to news before the rest of the readers is something that would appeal much better than a free ebook or audio interview.

Getting Paid Instantly

 Now when someone decides to join list this is the ideal chance to try and sell something. Set up aweber so that when the visitor confirms their e-mail address they are taken to a thank-you page.

I see that you don’t have paid subscription levels, but you could create a welcome video explaining what the sites does and encouraging the reader to make regular comments and help improve site interaction. If you do have a subscription offer this is the place to try and sell it, this lead is red hot for you at the moment.

Underneath this video place your hottest converting affiliate offer. Make it big and bold, tell the reader why they need to click through to the offer and buy it. This bit of virtual real estate is the equivalent of the chocolate bars and magazines placed next to the till on your way out of the shops. You know that you don’t need them, but somehow you always end up buying them.

Repeat Traffic

The real benefit to list building for a magazine site is the ability to drive instant targeted traffic. When people joined the list to be the first to hear about your new posts it makes perfect sense that as soon as you hit publish it’s time to broadcast out to the people who want to know about your content.

With more traffic it becomes much easier to monetize a site. Even with basic monetization such as adwords you will see a bigger return by having more traffic. If you can show advertisers the increasing flow of traffic with spikes when you publish a new post it means that you could sell advertising space for a higher price.

In fact almost any monetization method you can think of will make more profit if you have repeat viewers.

The Relationship

In the follow-up series you can tell the reader all about the different authors, and encourage social interaction. If you can get the readers subscribed to social media and read then share the content you’re now well into the ideal situation of viral marketing.

Also if you do want to make the reader feel really special you can do subscriber only contests, podcasts where you take the time to answer readers questions, and just generally make long term friendships with the readers.

Traditional magazines have a letters page to encourage reader engagement, you don’t have to wait for the postman to do this. With a subscriber list you have direct access to point out the best content on your site, and the chance to get live direct feedback from customers.

Summary

List building for a magazine site is something very powerful that allows you as an editor to be more in touch with what your readers. With this sort of list you’re never selling directly, unless you do have a paid subscription plan.

The key here is soft sell with normal methods of blog monetization. When you write reviews of new products put links to the best places to buy the gadgets, and don’t be afraid to use affiliate links in these situations. Have you noticed how offline magazines are now putting in QR codes, I’m pretty sure that these links will be earning someone an affiliate commission somewhere along the line.

Just remember that if you do need someone to create and install a form on your site I’m available for hire

Andrew

We’ve all heard the phrase “The Money Is In The List” but how can you actually start list building and see profitable results? Well first of all you need to find someone to learn from, and understand the basics rather than trying to re-invent the wheel from scratch.

Next time you find a website where you find yourself adding your email to an opt-in form bookmark the page, and take the time to reverse engineer the process, and see if the list owner has a good marketing funnel, and if this marketing is someone who you could learn from.

In all honesty I have followed many brilliant list builders over the years, and my style involves part of them all, and this post covers most of the basics.

What Is The Lead Magnet?

What are you getting in return for your e-mail address? A pdf report, audio, video, blog updates, newsletter, free chapter of a book, pre-launch of a new product? Will you be able to do something similar and use it to generate your own list?

So many people fail at this first stage, if you want to build a list you need to invest time and effort into creating something of value. Don’t be afraid to spend some money at this stage, the better quality lead magnet you produce the easier it will be to convince people to enter their name and email address.

Look at the page you’re away to enter your email into, do you know exactly what your away to download, and did you know that people over at fiverr can create awesome ecovers in < 24 hours.

The Technical Stuff

To build your own list you will need to invest some money and have your own website, or if this really scares you then invest in a service such as Adkreator which allow you to do everything you need without any html or ftp knowledge.

Have a look at the page, how has it been put together? Does it have graphics that draw your eye’s to the opt-in button, take a screen capture of the page using a snipping tool, and save it in a swipe file. Once you’ve joined the list ask the owner how they created the page, were they using special software, or a template?

If it’s a video squeezepage, how are they hosting the video, did it autoplay, how long was it, and was it a slick powerpoint presentation or simply the list owner talking to a flip / web camera?

Now you’re ready to press submit it’s time to see which autoresponder company is being used, and study the process. I personally use aweber and the double opt-in page they provide. They provide a video page which will explain how to confirm your email and ensure the list I’m building is valid.

Other companies are available, and not everyone will use double opt-in, the entire process you set up is entirely up to you. Just remember that although single opt-in may make your list appear to grow faster, it won’t be can spam compliant and the deliver-ability of the follow-up may be lower as typo’s and false email address’s will bounce and harm the long term value of your list.

Lastly remember that if you’re using aweber and have a screen capture of a form you want I’m available for hire at fiverr

The Marketing Funnel

Watch what happens next when you hit confirm. Where are you redirected to, are you given clear instructions, are you presented with an offer, a blank page or even worse a page that has nothing relating to what you thought you were getting in return for your email?

Personally I use this page – http://www.buildabiggerlist.com/NickelMania/offer.html

It thanks the new lead for taking the time to confirm, gives me the chance to introduce myself, and lets my new subscriber know that I will try and sell information products to them. This is important as I don’t want a list of people who are never going to buy an information product. If someone decides to immediately unsubscribe because I’m trying to sell them information then it’s no great loss as I know a smaller targeted list of buyers is better than a large list of people who just want free information.

Not everyone will agree with that last point, but as you’re building your own list if you’re not comfortable selling straight away or it doesn’t fit the niche you’ve targeted then do your own thing. Even if you send them directly to a download page I would do some branding and at least a mild cross sell.

Branding can be as simple as linking to your social media profiles, and the cross sell is a banner advert underneath for an affiliate programme that matches / compliments the content of your lead magnet. Don’t use flashing banners for over hyped crap, take some time to think about the first impression.

The follow-up / broadcast messages

The great thing about an autoresponder is that you can preload it with content that will go out automatically. How you use this is entirely down to you, and what you feel comfortable with. If you ask over at the warrior forum you will get hundreds of different responses, some will tell you to send a message every day for the first week trying to sell a product / service, others will tell you to send pure content every third day for a month.

My own preference is to have a couple of preloaded messages relating to the lead magnet, and use the broadcast button when I have something I feel is worth saying. I also strongly advice against just using the copy & paste email marketing that was prevalent a few years ago during the boom years of the product launch.

If I see the same email in my inbox from 2 marketers I immediately unsubscribe from both, if they can’t take the time to write an honest reason on why I should buy the product it shows they’re just treating me as a cash cow.

Similarly if I don’t hear from a marketer for 3 months and they start pitching again I’d want to know why and what they’d been doing in the missing period?

The power is in your hands

Anyone who is prepared to put in some hard work and learn some basic skills can generate a list and sell information products. You will make mistakes, but the key thing to remember is to learn from these mistakes and keep on going, if you stop and give up then go back to working a job.

 

So I’ve just had a whole week off and it’s been great fun just being at home doing DIY jobs and playing with the kids.

We also spent a wonderful day in Anglesay living it up in the most fantastic house overlooking the beach, it was the kind of surroundings that I wish we could do more often.

It’s becoming more and more obvious that working for “the man” isn’t going to get me anywhere, so here’s how I’m going to fund my lifestyle.

Keep On List Building

More Safe-Swaps – Over the past month I’ve added over 500 new members to squeezepagesecretsrevealed and earned lots from all the sites build into the marketing funnel Note these messages will start to be sent with [safe-swap] in the title and I’ll put the name of the marketer at the top line.

These swaps are done with no affiliate link and go straight to the other person’s squeezepage, if you were to join via my link and stay a member for over a month I’d be up for swapping with you. My criteria is that yopu have an internet marketing freebie and the squeezepage is clear about what is being offered.

As a current subscriber / follower I trust you to make the judgement about what type of things you want to download, and who you give your e-mail address to. If you want to keep your personal e-mail free of marketing then I suggest you set up a gmail account just for your online business.

Investing In Myself

So beside adswapping creating a product and getting Joint Venture partners onboard is the next best thing. I’ve invested in John Thorhills 72 hour madness for $97 just to get access to John and record an interview with him so that I can leverage his contacts and get them to mail out for me.

For the record this physical disk arrived within 24 hours of payment, much better than waiting up to 3 weeks like some of the expensive courses I’ve bought in the past.

The plan is turn the interview into a front end product that will sell for < $10 utilise the same concept that buildabiggerlist.com is based upon. I may even try to put it onto clickbank – although I’m not sure if they accept list building products? Is that one of the many IM myths?

What Would You Like To Know?

Before I interview John I would be curious to know what you would ask him?

I’m not sure to ask him about list building, the blueprint behind his sold out coaching programme, or the process behind getting that all important first product into the clickbank market place ready for affiliates to find.

Anyway it’s getting late now and I will definately have the Monday Morning Blues when you read this.

If this has helped you to realise that you need to have sort of “lead magnet” and then a “paid product” then the next and more difficult step is to take action and get it online.

Happy List Building

Andrew