I see alot of poeple talking aobut how money is in the list. Can someone expand on this for me? THis is how I picture it. Let say you are an affiliate for a product and you have a landing page that talkes about that product and leads later to a sale. Would you then have a landing page with a couple feilds where the user will enter t hey e-mail and such and then proceed to the product or a subscription for more information on that niche? I'm confused. Are most of thises landing pages made so when they enter their information they will be then subscribed to get more information on that niche perodicaly? How does this all work and what are poeple doing. Is building a list the only way to make good money out there or is it just another way or approach of getting to more other poeple. I just don't see the point in building a list when you can just have a blog with bannes and stuff on the side with offers there. Is this one of those things where you can eaither do this or that. A landing page to get poeple or make a blog kinda thing? Please someone clear my confusing in this so I can somehow move forward.
Think the idea with a list is that it's already targeted, people have come to your landing page and those that are interested in your product/niche have signed up (usually people give out freebies to entice them) so when you create a new product/eBook/article/whatever you already have a list of people who would be interested in said product and would quite happily buy from you again. Don't limit yourself though you can still set up a blog but restrict some of the information in a "Subscribers only" area, if you're great with writing you can tease them into signing up and bam!, so long as you supply quality information to the subscribers and "Exclusive Offers" via e-mail coupled with Adsense and various banners for the non-subscribers then you have a nice stream of income.
This is just like a good sales person. Generally you want a more seasoned sales person; you aren't buying them, you are buying their list or connections. Same thing online. If you build a targeted list for 1 product you can them promote similar products to the same list. Then as you promote other products your list gets bigger and bigger.
List building works for people who are building an online business, which is far from the only way to make money online. When you build a list, it has to be targeted to a specific interest group. It is best to offer something for free to get people on your list. Then, offer them something cheap to get them purchasing from you. Back end products can be higher. The idea is that after they have purchased from you, they begin to trust you. Loyal customers are the best. You should be able to make $1 per month for every person on your list. Some people have huge lists, and offer a $5 product every month to their list. They frequenly get a 40% to 70% conversion. It's a great way to make money. Keep in mind is that it's not a set and forget method. A business means work. Also, it's statistically proven that most people dump their email address after a year to a year and a half. So, you've got to stay on top of that, and continually build your list.
If you are going to build a real business, offline and online should be part of it. I know more than one IMer who uses classified adds and regular mail to enhance their online business. Offline mailing lists can be very lucrative.
If your wanting to create some real income, yes building a list is perfect. If you wish to start up a memebrship site and already have a targeted list then your conversions will be ALOT higher than just advertising else where and ALSO it saves you time from advertising.. Just say you had 4000 subscribers for a pet related niche, even if 1% (a VERY LOW example) of people sign up at $20-$30 per month that is 40 people at $20-$30 and your already making $800-$1200 a month without doing anything else. As I stated, 1% is an extremely low conversion rate, especially if your list is targeted.