What is an email list and why is it so important?
An email as shown in Wikapdia can be defined as, “…..a special use of email that allows for widespread distribution of information to many Internet users…..”
And it’s as simple as that.
In much the same way as real bricks and mortar companies carry out traditional direct marketing campaigns using their subscribers name and postal address, internet companies can do much the same using their subscribers email address. Easy.
Never-the-less, asking a business to start or grow a list of email subscribers may be considered somewhat old-fashioned nowadays given the rise of social media in recent years. But nothing could be further from the truth. After all, doesn’t every social media platform that exists require you to have an email account!
Although social media such as Facebook and the like are excellent resources you don’t control them in the same way you control your email list. Facebook can, and does, change its algorithm regularly and you may or may not like the changes. The point is you have no choice. You may have spent a long time growing your community with them but now you must accept the changes forced on you or say goodbye.
And who is to say that the current social media giants will be around in years to come. Remember back in the day when MySpace ruled. The big kids on the block are now Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube etc to name just a few, and they are all superb organisations, but where will they be in years to come.
Through all the turbulence and the coming and going of such organisations there has been one constant – email marketing.
With your email list, you have total control.
You can decide how to collect those important email addresses, decide where to keep them. You can decide which members of your list to email, when to email them and what to promote to them. And unlike the traditional direct mail companies who spend thousands of dollars on postage, you only need create one email that can be sent out to hundreds of thousands of people on your list for minimal cost. The versatility of your list is amazing. You can decide which subscribers you want to keep and which ones to lose.
But how do you create a list of subscribers?
Although there are many, many ways to build a list of subscribers, there is one specific tried and tested method that has been used by internet marketers for years which goes something like this:
1. Find a niche where people have a problem and where they are spending money to resolve it
2. Create a landing page or squeeze page to capture the email address of visitors landing on that page
3. Give away a valuable product to the subscriber in return for them providing their email address
4. Create or find further products to promote to the subscriber
5. Communicate with your subscribers
Whilst this strategy is not set in stone, it is reliable and it is especially good for the somebody new to email marketing to adopt.
And if all this seems like hard work, well, it can be. There is no magic money button. Get your list building and emailing marketing right and there is a lot of money to be made online
