Build an Opt-In List: Hey! It’s Harder Than You Think

When all you want to do is earn a little extra cash in a work at home business opportunity, the last thing you want to hear is that extra work is involved. After all, how can you have fun working on your personal home computer in your spare time if it means putting in the same (or more) effort than you put into your regular “day job”? All you really want to do is simply earn a few extra bucks — you don’t really want to get involved with building the relationships that come with building a list. And you definitely don’t want to burden yourself financially with a monthly $20 – $50 sibscription to an autoresponder or professional marketing system.

Online marketing is a relatively simple business that’s easy to get into. In fact it’s such an important business model that schools like Columbia Southern University, Capella University, Strayer University, and others offer degree programs in it. But you don’t need a college degree to be successful at selling things online. In fact, anyone can start inexpensively — or even free — as an affiliate marketer and become a financial success. All you need to do is follow a few simple principles, one of which involves the purposeful building of at least one list of people willing to receive email messages from you.

Building a list is hard work. At least that’s my conclusion. If list building were not so difficult more people would be doing it, right?

The act of building an opt-in email list has a reputation for being a “questionable practice”. After all, no one likes the idea of being put into somebody else’s database. Newbies enter the online sales and marketing arena every day with the lofty notion that it’s more virtuous to rise above the usual sales tactics that exploit others. With an attitude like that, those online marketing amateurs can make better use of their time doing volunteer work at the local soup kitchen.

Being an online marketer involves selling products, promoting programs, and informing others about useful services. Even when a product or service is “given away” as information in a free ebook or video the implication is that somewhere along the line someone will make a profit.

But you’ve got to engage an audience first. Once you’ve done that you can offer that audience both free items and things they have to pay for. You’ve got to start, however, with a list.

By building a list you’re primarily creating a set of people who…

• Agree with what you have to say
• Need or want your advice
• Will probably agree with you enough to eventually buy something useful based on your recommendation

Over the next few days I’ll go into how the task of building a list of opt-in subscribers can be simplified.  You’ll even learn how to make money at it before you turn a profit in your primary business.