So being the conscientious person you are, you would have also added a subscription form to your website.

BUT, just having a website with an opt-in form is not by any means a guarantee that your online business will succeed.

You have to also BUILD that list. And it needs to be a targeted opt-in list — not a general list with “all kinds of everything” in it, to take a line from that lovely old song.

Basically, a targeted opt-in list is a list of email addresses of people who have agreed to receive emailed information from online businesses such as yours. The term “opt-in” means they opted in. So you now have their permission to send them whatever newsletters, brochures or promotions you have in your online business.

IMPORTANT: You must get their permission before you send them information because unsolicited emails is regarded as spamming, which is an illegal activity on the web.

EQUALLY IMPORTANT: Your mailing list will soon become your most treasured business asset… because of its power to generate an income. How?

By creating an opt-in list, you can maintain contact with your previous buyers at the same time as boosting your sales. Assuming you provide quality content and promote quality offers to the folks on your email list, they will pay attention to your next email. If you continually bombard them with junk offers, you’re shooting yourself in the foot.

HOW TO BUILD YOUR LIST

For people who are aware of the importance of building a highly targeted opt-in list but aren’t sure how to build them, here are some tips that could be very useful.

1. Decide on your target market. Define your niche.

Having a defined market brings focus to your business (and therefore to your marketing campaigns) and you will derive better results because you have directed your emails to people who would most likely be interested in them.

2. Be sure that your selected target market is available on the Internet.

Choosing a market or a niche is where it starts. It’s necessary but not sufficient, as they say. You must make sure you can find these folks on the internet. The concept is simple — how can you promote your online business if your niche market is not available in the Internet?

3. Confirm that your chosen target market is an income-generating market. That is, have they got money? Are they proven spenders? If not, building your list in this niche will be a waste of time and effort.

So how do you know if the keywords for this market are associated with spending? Easy. Look up the topic in Google and see if there are paid ads in the right hand column. People are paying Google for those ads because others are buying that type of stuff. No ads = there’s no money in that topic.

4. Find relevant products (or create your own if you’re clever) to solve the problems your target market has. How? Various ways — search the Internet forums, search Google, search Amazon or ClickBank. Just to name several ways.

Visiting the topic-related forums (which you can find through Google) will often help you find the solutions that answer most of your target market’s problems… because people go to forums to ask for help and often they get the help they need.

5. Use the answers you found to build your opt-in list. How? By offering them the info you came up with in exchange for them joining your mailing list. People with problems want answers — provide them and they will join your list.

6. Create a squeeze page (which is another name for an opt-in page) that tells them in short form what they will receive when they join your list. A list of bullet points is often the way this done. It’s easy on the eye and it works.

If you’re looking for an easy way to create sharp looking squeeze pages, then check out this squeeze page generator which I found. The site is FREE to join and they give you squeeze page templates as part of the free software. Pick a squeeze page template that feels right for your particular subject and follow the instructions.

7. Then add traffic. How? One way is by writing articles (or re-writing other people’s articles).

And did you know that you can get your articles published immediately at GoArticles.com? Sure can. Unlike EzineArticles.com, there is no human review of your content before publication at GoArticles. Dont abuse it, but do use the free GoArticles service to get your promotions out there onto the internet so your prospects can find them when they search Google for their terms (which we marketers call ‘keywords’). People in your target market will find your article (which you have published at your site or at a free service such as Blogger.com or or WordPress.com).

On your site, you will have included a subscription form (created by the squeeze page maker in point #6) so these folks can join your opt in email marketing list.

8. Finally, which mailing list management service to use? The top two, from all I read, are GetResponse and Aweber which are paid services (GR is cheaper). But you can also use a free mailing list management service such as Ymlp.com.

Whichever you use, they provide the code for your subscription form. You just paste their form code into the HTML code of your webpage. Even Blogger.com allows you to “edit the HTML” (that’s the name of one of the links inside your free blogger account) so you can grow your email opt in list.

QUICK SUMMARY

Website - use your own or get a free one at Blogger.com or WordPress.com
Mailing list service – GetResponse, Aweber or Ymlp.com
Squeeze page generator – Click here, it’s free
Traffic - your articles posted free at GoArticles.com

If You Don’t Have Your Own Massive Mailing List Yet…
Get Your FREE “Optin Page Generator” Software Here To Create Powerful Opt-In Squeeze Pages Quickly And Easily: CLICK HERE