How to Build Your Subscriber and Contacts Lists

One of the keys to the rapid expansion of the modern internet marketing world has been the use of focussed contact and email lists.  Some list-builders gave internet marketing a bad name by some of their products and schemes to steal money.

Others, like me, have built lists only by writing quality content for online magazines and newsletters, giving refer-a-friend bonuses, and giving away a lot of business cards to people who want them.  I don't (that I know of) sent information to people who do not want it.  Sending unsolicited information is called SPAM, and there are very clear regulations about what must be done for emails to not be classified as SPAM.  Sending of SPAM can get an internet business and email addresses shut down.

I want to share two of my tools that help me grow and manage my maillists. 

First. I use an online newsletter advertiser that allows me to write content for specialized online publications, and also to run ads about my newsletter in those publications.  List-Opt worked for me. In two days, I had about 65 subscribers.  And, they all subscribed to my list because they wanted to!
The downside?  It costs some money.  But, it is much cheaper (for me) than running ads in print media because I only pay for subscribers that see my article or ad and sign up for my newsletter. 

You can rapidly build an email list that is focused on your particular business.  You will gain many subscribers who really want to be on your list, and you only pay for those subscribers. Good deal, I think.

Here is first tool that I use, List-Opt or ListMachine.com.  A source of higher-quality and tested emails is from Estrella Marketing. Ask for John Keith and say that Jon Gresham suggested that he work with you, especially for business-to-business marketing leads.

The second tool I use is AutoresponsePlus-3.  This "autoresponder" manages my list of subscribers, manages the information that I send out to subscribers. and allows me to quickly remove subscribers if they ask me to. (This does not happen often, but when it does, I attempt to unsubscribe them as quickly as possible.  AutoresponsePlus directly and automatically adds subscribers from my website, my emails, and from List-Opt.  It really simplifies my mailing list management. 

P.S.:  I write about tools that I use, and not about tools just because someone else thinks that they are cool.  I give new products the best test that I can, including buying the tool and using it myself.  I suggest that you, also, always check out products for yourself before you recommend them to others, especially if you want to do that to make money from the sale (commission).  If you have not personally paid for and used a new tool/software/video/mp3/book/etc., then you may not be treating your own customers and clients with respect.  Buy it, use it, then recommend it.  Those who accept your recommendation will thank you for investing the time and money to make sure that your recommendation will be reliable, and they may not sign up as affiliates themselves to cut you out of your commission.