Email list building is both simple and complex. The general principles of list building are simple but it is in the details where mistakes are made. The devil is in the details. While there are dozens of mistakes you can make when building your email list, there are 3 major mistakes you can learn to avoid by reading this post.
If you are new to email list building you should definitely read my free ebook that many people find helpful: The Basics of List Building.
If you don’t want to download it through the above link right now, which I recommend you do, you can decide to do it while reading any of the following posts about list building:
Email List Building Ebook, How To Build Email List In Any Market
Email List Building, Opt In List, Not Just For Internet Marketer
Learn How To Build Your Email List Using Online Giveaways
Avoid 3 Email List Building Mistakes Now
After learning the Basics of List Building you will have an opt in form on your blog and perhaps a squeeze page on your product download site. You will have started collecting leads to your email list. I will not be covering any of this in this post.
What I will discuss in this post is the major mistakes people make in how they treat the people on their list because that is the part of list building that is crucial, that doesn’t get talked about much and that can completely negate any efforts put into list building.
Email List Building Mistake #1
Sending Pitching Emails Too Frequently
Many internet marketers send promotional emails virtually every day to their newly acquired subscribers. They have hardly built any relationship with the people on their list and they ruthlessly bombard them with one sales pitch after another.
The product that they raved about the day before is trumped by the product they promote today and so on.
This very quickly leads to the subscribers being burned and upset and they either hit the unsubscribe button or they become immune to any emails from this particular marketer and never bother to read them.
Email List Building Mistake #2
Not Giving Good Value For Free
While informing your subscribers of great offers that they have shown interest in receiving and getting paid a commission if they decide to buy them is a good and legitimate service, the people on your list also expect value from you that is free to them.
If you only send emails to your subscribers when you have something for sale, they will not be very responsive to your offers.
Giving away free value in your emails to your list more often than sending emails with paid offers will cultivate a much better and responsive list.
Email List Building Mistake #3
Neglecting Your Email List Subscribers
Pay a close attention here too. This is the least discussed mistake and one of the most prevalent ones right next to the two mistakes listed above and one that I’m most guilty of.
People who commit this mistake are those that are afraid of making mistakes #1 and #2.
The consequences of this mistake are less damaging to the subscribers because they aren’t bothered by your emails. A few of them will be bothered by not getting emails from you but most of them will just forget about you completely.
So how does one neglect their subscribers?
I my case I hate bothering people with too many emails. I tend to hesitate very much before I email them any offer. And I ponder a long time about whether they’d find what I feel like sending them for free of great value.
I was astonished recently after sending an email about a free webinar when one of the people who unsubscribed left a comment saying “I don’t remember who Vance is”.
When I thought about it though I quickly realized that not keeping in regular touch with the people on my email list will inevitably lead to them forgetting about me altogether.
So it is important not to be too shy in getting in touch with the people on your email list. After all they want to hear from you.
What To Do Next?
Let me know what you think about the 3 email list building mistakes.
Have you made any of them yourself?
Which mistake do you think is the worst one to make?
Your comment is very important so do go ahead and make it.
Don’t forget to tweet and bookmark the post to notify others to join the conversation.
.
Authored by Vance Sova
Subscribe to Vance Sova.com by Email
Filed under: Email List Building, Opt In List
Hi Vance,
First of all great blog.
Vance you brought up interesting points that most of us have done at one point in our IM life.
Myself have been guilty of neglecting my subscribers and as a result had to begin building my list from scratch.
I guess it is the last one which is the worst as you said well people will forget you as if you do not keep in touch with them and I can tell you from my own experience.
Steve Sant´s last blog post ..5 Easy Ways To Profit From Autoresponders
Vance Reply:
October 12th, 2010 at 9:54 am
HI Steve,
I’m glad you like my blog. Thank you for commenting and sharing your experience and your views.
All three points that I mentioned are really best to be avoided. Sending offers to your list and doing it day after day is probably the worst thing to do.
But neglecting your subscribers as you an I have both done is the close third worst thing to do or maybe even second as far as the results for the marketer.
Finding the right balance as to the frequency of the emails and their content is an art that very few people get right. All we can do is keep on tweaking it.
I look forward to your next comment.
Vance
Hey Vance
OMG I am so number 3!
I really don’t email on a regular basis so probably run the risk of the “who the heck is Sally” problem too.
I think it’s because I don’t feel I have enough to offer in value right now, so I don’t email at all.
I had a list of just under 10,000 from eBay then I disappeared for a whole year, not suprisingly that list is super cold now and very unresponsive.
So I am going to remember your post and make sure I try to email more often.
Super post, thanks for the reminder, Sally 🙂
Sally Neill´s last blog post ..Return of The Blog Hopping Queen…
Vance Reply:
October 12th, 2010 at 2:10 pm
Hey Sally,
Good to know we have more in common than just being online. Being number 3 is not cool although I’m glad that it annoys only us and not too much the people on our lists. The number one mistake is very common these days and it annoys thousands of people.
I believe that you do have a lot of value to offer and I have some too. We just aren’t bold enough yet to recognize that. Things of value don’t have to be huge. A video here, an article or a paragraph there. Just keeping in touch.
I didn’t know you used to be so prominent on ebay to have gathered 10,000 subscribers.
People won’t remember us if we don’t stay in touch with them. The person who didn’t remember who I was opted in only about 3 or 4 months ago.
It’s probably at least patly because of people getting so many emails these days. To stay on their mind they need a reminder of you more than just once a month.
I’ll be sending an email to my list telling them that what I told them in my initial email is being changed.
I’m glad you liked this post and thanks for the comment.
You always make a great contribution and I look forward to your next one.
Vance
Hi Vance,
I’ve been spending a lot of time looking at this very subject recently and trying different things.
I used to email a few days every week, but I now email pretty well every day.
I mix emails with sales messages as well as lots of free content … two weeks ago I sent 7 consecutive days of exclusive free stuff in my mails.
I think you also have to watch how many new opt-ins you’re sending people to … that can give subscribers fatigue very quickly, and I think that’s a danger of ad swaps.
I have started to add details of when and where subscribers signed up to my list to remind them why they’re reciving information.
I have also offered my subscribers a ‘slow track’ list that they can resubscribe to … so they get another option other than unsubscribing if I’m sending out too many emails.
It’s not an exact science I don’t think, and I do think we’re all just getting too many emails these days … but I’m not sure what the alternative is 🙂
Paul Teague´s last blog post ..5 great resources I use everyday free resources
Vance Reply:
October 13th, 2010 at 12:39 am
Hi Paul,
Thanks for the comment. What you share is valuable. If you send lots of free content perhaps people on your list don’t mind the frequent emails. For me, getting emails every day would be too much no matter how great they’d be. I removed your link as I don’t allow links within comments. I’ve ever made only one exception and don’t intend to make any more. My blog is dofollow and has Comment Luv and Keyword Luv. That should be enough.
How does it go with the slow track list you offered your subscribers to resubscribe to? It’s a good idea if people actually do resubscribe to it if they don’t want to be getting emails every day.
Vance
Thanks for this most informative post – I have often felt that email marketing is an underutilized weapon in our firm’s online marketing arsenal and with the knowledge above it is easy to understand how this can happen.
Matthew@Online Bingo´s last blog post ..Home Banner
Vance Reply:
October 14th, 2010 at 10:22 am
Hi Matthew,
I’m glad you liked the post. Do you do any email marketing at all?
Vance
Matthew@Online Bingo Reply:
October 14th, 2010 at 10:22 pm
We try to engage with webmaster’s via email – complicated link building arrangements – a link on two/three of our sister sites in exchange for a HP link etc.
Matthew@Online Bingo´s last blog post ..Home Banner
Vance Reply:
October 15th, 2010 at 1:25 am
Hi Matthew,
Thank you for coming back and replying to what i wrote in response to your first comment.
It seems to me that you just have an email list of different webmasters and try to do link exchanges with them. That’s a bit different from email marketing and building an email list for that.
I’m glad that you are commenting here and I hope that you’ll keep coming back.
Vance
Matthew@Online Bingo Reply:
October 15th, 2010 at 1:33 am
Well yes and no. It is marketing via email in that we are offering exposure and downstream search engine benefits based on the perceived online value of our site’s presence for commercially viable exposure elsewhere. Whilst it is a B2B “transaction” – I still need to engage the person on the other end, as a business to customer interaction would seek to do.
Matthew@Online Bingo´s last blog post ..Home Banner
Vance Reply:
October 15th, 2010 at 1:40 am
OK, it seems a bit different but as long as it’s working for you it’s good.
Cheers,
Vance
Thank you very much for your advice and i am looking forward to implement it in my work so as to avoid those kind of mistakes in in future… be back to read more of it…….
Vance Reply:
October 14th, 2010 at 10:19 am
Hi Jason,
Thank you for your comment which I was inclined to put into trash because it looks like spam comment. Very general, lip service like saying really nothing. I visited your blog and since your WP hosted content is pretty good I decided to give you the benefit of a doubt. Just know that the next time you need to leave a comment of value.
At the end of my posts I usually give some ideas as to what I want people to comment on. Those aren’t set in stone and don’t have to be adhered to if you want to express something else of value that adds to the conversation.
Your comment above is only left here as an example of a comment that is completely useless.
I know you can do much better.
Vance
Hi Vance, how true that no one really gets into how to treat your list. I think the worst thing you can do to your list is try to sell something to them all the time.
The best thing you can do to your list is provide value that’s free. If you did that most of the time and sell in between that’s a good thing.
I believe neglecting your list is also very bad not just so-so bad. Not remembering who you are is really bad. You must keep your list active otherwise it’s going to turn into a dead fish in terms of people getting to know who you are. It’s very important people know who you are.
With all this said your list is one of the most important things you can have as a marketer. Don’t let it turn into a dead fish. Be creative do what you can in a good way and keep it active.
One idea that comes to mind is pre sell your list with good valuable free info and then sell your back end product. Thanks for letting me rant. I hope my comment gives insight to anyone reading.
Terry Conti
Terry Conti´s last blog post ..How to Kill Information Overload
Vance Reply:
October 15th, 2010 at 1:19 am
Hi Terry,
Yes, it seems that people don’t get into the subject of how to treat your email list that much. It always seems to be more about getting as many subscribers as possible. I know that I made a mistake by trying to avoid the worst mistake which we both agree on which it is.
Having an email list turn into a dead fish is the last thing I want. I’m thankful to the person who commented about not remembering who I was. That was a wake up call for me. I know that there are people on my list who stay in touch with what I’m doing. But for those who opted in and then went about their business I probably ceased to exist.
I’ll be changing my approach completely to make sure that whoever is on my list won’t be neglected because I’ll be increasing my email frequency to them.
It’s no good to be afraid that people will unsubscribe. Some inevitably do no matter what. My focus will be to provide the best I can to my list and hold back nothing. Those that will stay will then be much more responsive.
Thank you for your rant and great input. I’m sure that there will be people benefiting from it beside myself.
I look forward to your next comment.
Vance
Agree with 1. People hate spam and pitchiness or acts of desperation like “please join me…”. Point 2 I find a bit hard as how do you know what is really true value or whether it will assist your list since you don’t know their experience levels etc. If you try send value eg 7 tips to list building yet they already know them, it will seem like a waste of time for them reading. 3, another toughie. You don’t want to send too often as people already get too many yet you want to stay in their minds…
Sam´s last blog post ..Are You A Resourceful Leader and Entrepreneur
Vance Reply:
October 15th, 2010 at 7:39 pm
Hi Sam,
Welcome to my blog and thank you for commenting. I think that most people would agree with us on point 1, at least when they are on the receiving side of things.
Point 2 is about knowing your subscribers well enough to know what they are likely to find valuable. But I know what you mean. I wouldn’t worry too much about sending information that some people on your list may not find revolutionary or new. If they find themselves too advanced for it they’ll just skim it and move on. As for me I don’t mind looking at the basics again, especially if they are shown from a different angle. If I don’t have time to look at something I feel i don’t need to then I’ll just ignore it.
Point 3 is tough too but I’m beginning to lean towards erring on the side of higher rather than slower frequency.
I look forward to your next comment.
Vance
How Do Vance,
Can I just add that you need to treat your list how you would like to be treated. Also I find that if you are honest and let your list know what you are going to be offering them with your updates is a good way to start.
If you are using Aweber which I highly recommend make sure you use all the features that are available to you. If you want to keep in touch with your list have a news letter going out once a week with quality free advice (follow up).
Then use the broadcast feature to send them new up and coming events, promotions etc… instantly, but don’t bombard them it is a fine line to be over doing it.
Cheers
Craig
Craig Sowerby´s last blog post ..Using Private Lable Right Or Original Products
Vance Reply:
October 17th, 2010 at 5:46 am
Hi Craig,
Good suggestions. I’ve done things in a similar way. In my thank you email I also outline what the new subscribers can expect from me. I do use AWeber too and I use broadcasts. I haven’t done the weekly mailings which will change soon. I’ve changed the thank you email and an email will go out this coming Tuesday advising of the changes.
Thank you for the visit and comment and I’ll see you soon here and on your blog.
Cheers,
Vance
I’m the same as you Vance, point 3 is my problem because I want to avoid points 1 and 2.
I’m not ready to email anything to my(few)subscribers, and I won’t send any old rubbish. However, reading this has made me realise that I should inform my subscribers of this policy, if only out of courtesy. 🙄
I shall slowly build a list and imediately inform my subscribers of my “no email contact” policy. THEN when I am ready to start eMail marketing, I will remind my subscribers who I am, and that my “no email contact” policy is about to change, with one email per week.
John
John McNally´s last blog post ..What is an ALEXA Rating
Vance Reply:
October 17th, 2010 at 5:58 am
Hi John,
Good to know that we have more in common than we might have suspected. We are the nice guys and don’t want to annoy people. It’s a good idea to inform your subscribers about your infrequent emails policy but it may be good to send them something about what you are doing often enough so that they don’t completely forget about you. Reminding them when you are ready to start emailing them may not happen soon enough before they forget who you are. Then they may not even open your emails.
Nice to hear from you and read your comment. I look forward to the next one.
Vance
John McNally Reply:
October 20th, 2010 at 11:22 pm
You’re right about the subscribers forgetting who I am Vance. 🙄 I think I will have to come up with something to send every month, preferably a freebie. That way they will have some idea of who I am when I start promoting products. Thanks for bringing this issue to my attention. 8)
John
John McNally´s last blog post ..Happy Sheep and Happy Artist
Vance Reply:
October 20th, 2010 at 11:53 pm
Hey John,
I’m glad that I could be of help. It really was a surprise to me that somebody who has downloaded my ebook and hopefully read it could forget totally who I was within a couple of months but apparently that is what happens. It happens to everybody regardless of how good their product is or who they are. Keeping in touch with the people on your list is more important than one would think. Being too careful not to send too many emails can have drastic consequences. People forget that they opted in and they forget that they got a product for free, they even forget that they bought a product very quickly and easily.
Thank you for the comment and talk soon.
Vance
Hi Vance,
All 3 points are spot on.
It’s always said that “the money is in the list”, but I think the money is in the relationship you build with your list.
I’m still in the process of building mine and as such i try not to send to many promo’s. I have one promo as a follow up only because it’s such a great opportunity for some people. I do like to send freebies as much as possible especially if they’ll help my subscribers in some way, but no more than once a week.
I had someone email me last week and ask if i would promote their latest product. I said that i would have a look at it, which i did (look at it) and i noticed they didn’t have any swipe files so i pointed it out to them. I got a reply saying that they would be writing them over the weekend and offered some advice……..
….start sending pre launch emails and when its time to launch the product email my list every day. They then pointed out that my list would probably react between day 5 and 7.
I value my list and think that if i emailed them every day for 7 days their reaction would be to hit the bottom line of the email (unsubscribe). Especially if they’re on other lists and getting the same emails, word perfect.
Needless to say Vance that product didn’t get promoted by me.
R&R Barry
Vance Reply:
October 18th, 2010 at 10:24 am
Hi Barry,
I’m glad I got the 3 points right. It’s an ongoing learning process and knowing what the biggest mistakes to avoid are will help in correcting and avoiding them.
I think that you made the right decision in not promoting that particular product launch. You probably couldn’t even review the product before they asked you to promote it. Promoting a product that you haven’t tried is a bad idea, especially if you don’t know the track record of the product creator.
Even if you know the product creator it’s a good idea to check out the product first anyway.
A good example of a mass promotion to avoid is the recent launch of Kajabi. I got emails about it from virtually every internet marketer. Most of them have not even tried the product. And they were promoting it very heavily and to everybody on their lists as if they absolutely had to have the product. Bad move.
The product is for advanced marketers and product creators and it has only been used for a handful of launches. It is very expensive if you want to be able to use all the features they have available and the cheapest version is close to $100 a month anyway. The company has no proven support record and by the looks of it considering the promotion they’ll have to support thousands of new customers. Clearly, most of the promoters of this didn’t think of the best interest of their subscribers first.
Putting the interest of your subscribers first, even ahead of your own is the only way to build a good and long term relationship with them.
Thank you for sharing your views with me and the readers of this blog.
I look forward to your next comment.
Vance
I am also in no.3 I belong. I never thought that this thing would be affect greatly. I should change my perspective about this one. Thanks for reminding me my mistake.
Vance Reply:
October 19th, 2010 at 10:02 pm
Hi Cristine,
Welcome to my blog. I hope that you can tell me more the next time you visit. If you find it too hard to write a longer comment in English you can write a couple of sentences in Spanish after the first few in English. I’ll be able to understand that and then reply in English so the other readers can know what your comment said. But even better, you can write your comment on paper first in English and perhaps have it checked out by a friend if you’re don’t feel confident about it. It’s great that you are trying and I appreciate your comment. I’m glad my post was helpful to you.
Vance
Great blog post on email marketing. You know it takes us a long time to build a good list. It would be a shame to throw it all away by being overly spammy in our emails or losing people in other ways
Vance Reply:
October 22nd, 2010 at 11:05 am
Hi TA,
Thanks for the visit and comment. I think this is the first comment from a blog in your industry. Can you leave your name the next time? It makes it more personal and friendly.
I’m glad you like my post. It does take a long time, usually, and effort to build a good list. Knowing how to build a good relationship with the people on the list is what matters the most after you’ve build the list.
Vance
Hi Vance,
I have done a combination of the 3 points I think because I didn’t know what I was doing.
Last year I placed the optin on my blog, not sure why, but did it anyway. I didn’t send any emails what so ever and then when JT was promoting his new coaching program I sent out a promotion.
Well guess what happened. I had 5 unsubs. Couldn’t blame them, they hadn’t heard from me and then I just send a letter promoting someone.
Bring me forward a year. I just finished going through Martin Avis course on writing newsletters and and basic list building.
I have sent an email to my list every week for the past 4 weeks, even if it is just to give them an update on my new blog posts.
I have named the email so that people see that it is from me and what it is about. Plus in the subject line I use the same 3 words at the beginning.
This was suggested in the course so that people get used to seeing the same email title and same subject line at the beginning. Therefore they will actually start looking out for your email if they enjoy reading it.
I must admit I am blind now to all those emails with those shocking headlines. I don’t read them. If the subject line sounds like a sales pitch I bin it.
A weekly email to our lists is the best way to communicate even if we are just telling our list what we did for the week in growing our online business.
People sign up to our lists for a reason. They DO want to hear from us. As long as we supply good content and freebies when we can they are more likely to stay on our lists and become a lot more responsive.
I despise the current trend of marketers that just promote promote promote. I know people say “The money is in the list” However I believe the money is in the value you give your list!
Plus I have also noticed a lot of marketers just promoting products and then not giving a good enough reason for you to buy through their link.
I know they say it is a numbers game. However I believe that is the attitude of the door to door salesman. That is not the attitude of genuine customer service.
Hope everything is going well.
Speaking of which I have to email my list today and let them know I wrote 2 blog posts during the week! 😀
Cheers
Jacinta 😀
Jacinta D´s last blog post ..Introducing Internet Marketer – Roy Carter – Another Great Audio To Listen To!
Vance Reply:
October 23rd, 2010 at 5:02 pm
Hi Jacinta,
I’m so glad to hear from you and this comment is just great, contributing so much to the discussion.
What you are saying is right on. Your subscribers do like to hear from you if they opted in for the right reasons. Once in a while there are people who opt in just to get my free ebook and they unsubscribe as soon as they download it. People like that are collectors of free products and care only about themselves and hopefully aren’t much worse than that.
But people who opt in because they like what you have to say on your blog and also want to get what you have to offer as a gift will definitely not mind hearing from you and most of them will welcome it.
You and I won’t keep sending one sales pitch after another to them. For those people who lose interest in what we have to say it actually is better when they unsubscribe. It is also better for us. If people aren’t opening and reading any of your emails anyway they might as well unsubscribe.
The majority of people will welcome if we keep in touch with them and let them know what we are up to. They will be glad to receive tips, tricks and good free content. They will not get mad if we also send them some offers that aren’t free as long as we send them offers that we have reviewed and would recommend them without hesitation to our brother or sister too.
As for the marketers who keep on promoting any and all the products they can without making sure they are of great quality and without making any effort at building a relationship by keeping in touch and giving some free content of value instead of just selling and selling, they are just using people on their lists as numbers and have no relationship with them. They don’t care about their subscribers at all.
The only reason they give you to click on their affiliate link is some bonus at times that you don’t really need. They give that bonus because that is the only way they know how to differentiate themselves from the large number of other marketers who promote the same product. All the other marketers usually have a bonus too so they compete based on bonuses, who has a betteer bonus.
Even if the bonus is good I will prefer to buy through a marketer that I know and like, that I have some relationship with, one that doesn’t batter me with offers all the time, with offers that make them money and never any free content of value.
In fact 99.9% of all emails I get from other marketers are never anything else than sales pitches. They have no relationship with me. They don’t care at all about me unless they make a commission. To them I’m just a number.
You and I do care about our subscribers and one way of showing it is to keep in touch with them through email.
I hope that you are doing well and everything is coming along nicely for you.
I look forward to your next comment.
Take Care,
Cheers,
Vance
Hi Vance:
You probably do not even remember me. Well I had sometime on hand I started thinking what to do. I decided to write few comments and came here.
I was glad to read your blog post. From time to time I do number 3 a lot. But since I have great respect for everyone I do not do one and two. It is hard to find time for everything and then I do not connect with my list. I am feeling I am missing big times, I have to over come this.
Thanks for the timely reminder that I needed before it is too late.
Talk again
Fran
Fran Aslam@Kw writer´s last blog post ..Online Affiliate Marketing – 5 Tips To Increase Total Revenues
Vance Reply:
November 5th, 2010 at 1:26 am
Hi Fran,
I do remember you and I’m sorry for not replying to your comment sooner but it was Akismet’s fault. It put your comment in the spam folder. It does happen more often than I would like. I just retrieved two other people from there.
I’m glad that you found my post helpful. Mistake number 3 is committed by nice people like you and me and there are fortunately a lot of us.
I mean it’s fortunate that there are nice people like us but making the mistake is not a requirement for being nice. People who don’t want to hear from us at least once a week are not likely wanting to read what we have to say anyway. The people who are interested in hearing from us may not be too happy if we neglect them.
It’s true that sometimes we get too busy to keep in touch but for the most part it’s really being afraid to send emails too often. At least it was so for me. I’ve realized that being afraid serves nobody.
I’d rather have people who don’t want to receive my updates once as week unsubscribe than have people who love to hear from me feel like I don’t care about them.
Talk soon,
Vance
Hey Vance,
So glad I found your blog, well in all honesty I`ve seen your comments floating around on other blogs but never followed through1
However…
I`m here now, yeah listbuilding is a faverite among favourites when it comes to IM, at the moment I am creating a viral report on ‘listbuilding’, focused on a how to put a follow-up sequence in place covering a twelve month period!
Ill let you know more on that when the time comes with a *free* viral copy!
As to your 3 points of what not to do, well you`re on the nail, as you say in you`re post you have to treat your subscribers with intelligence as well as respect and value, you know a lot of internet marketers treat subscribers a little like cattle, they make the mistake of thinking these people are so nieve to the game!
BUT….
They`re not, if they where they wouldn`t un-subscribe, you have to have a mindset on their level in the sense of as you are teaching them the game so to speak, you also provide them with the tools they will need to play the game they are the affiliate paydays!
BUT..
They are genuine offers, that are really part of your teachings that they really need, that way they are of value, they will create trust in you as a brand attached to that niche, and obviously the list is targeted to that product gaining greater conversions!
Thats listbuilding as I see it!
Great post Vance, and its really good to cyber meet you….Ed.
Vance Reply:
October 26th, 2010 at 12:47 am
Hey Ed,
Welcome and thanks for the comprehensive comment. I’m glad to cyber meet you too and that you finally stopped by. Let me know when you have the free viral copy.
See you soon,
Vance
Ed@The Ed Files Reply:
October 30th, 2010 at 11:23 pm
Hey Vance,
No problem, will start to visit more, fantastic blog!
Ed.
Vance Reply:
October 31st, 2010 at 10:48 am
Hey Ed,
I’m looking forward to your visits.
Vance
Hey Vance,
Your right, no body likes to get one email after the other especially for promotions and its a good way to lose subscribers quick when others do that.
I hope some people can learn from this!
Dan Lew´s last blog post ..How To Make Money With Keyword Winner
Vance Reply:
November 5th, 2010 at 1:11 am
Hi Dan,
It’s so nice to have you visit my blog. Welcome here. I know about your from your comments on other blogs and have visited yours too.
I’m glad you seem to agree with my post and I too hope that at least some people will pay heed and learn from it.
Cheers,
Vance
Hi Vance,
Just came across your blog and really liked the info you provide. My number one list building tip is be original and don’t follow the crowd. Write a report rather than grabbing a PLR product. Do not just send out email swipes as promotions, chances are your list will have received the exact same email 5 or 6 times.
Best regards
Luke M
Vance Reply:
December 11th, 2010 at 10:56 am
Hi Luke,
Thanks for commenting and for liking my information. Being original is not always easy but it definitely helps. I too believe that having your own product is so much better than using a PLR. Sending a swiped email doesn’t work. I’ve only done that twice and the results were dismal each time.
Best Regards,
Vance
Hi Vance,
Your blog was really informative especially for the list building topics. I’ve just found out that buying or renting an email list will not work best, unlike collecting a targeted bunch of emails. Or maybe I can relate this to the movie “300” where in 300 Outstanding Spartans.
Regards,
Rachel
Vance Reply:
December 11th, 2010 at 11:19 am
Hi Rachel,
Thank you for commenting. I’m glad you find my blog informative especially on list building topics.
Regards,
Vance
Hey Vance,
I am guilty of mistake# 3 for sure. I’m just getting into list building so my lists are pretty small right now, however I do have 1 list of about 200 people that have downloaded my free ebook.
It’s about weight loss and what I was doing to lose close to 5 pounds a week. The problem is that there are a ton of weight loss products to sell to them but I have yet to find anything worthy of sending them. It’s difficult to make money with a list if you have nothing to promote.
Any suggestions?
P.S I am on your email list, I do see your emails very infrequently but still remember who you are 🙂
Steve
Vance Reply:
December 21st, 2010 at 10:07 pm
Hey Steve,
Mistake #3 is quite common and not so harmful to others. It seems that you’re are on the right track. If you can’t find good products to recommend to your list which shows that you really care about the people on it you can do two things: one is to be on a look out for good products and two, which is the best thing to do anyway, is to make your own products. This time don’t give them out for free but sell them. Even for $7 or $10. That way you’ll feel good about providing value and you’ll be building a customer list. This is what I’m working on right now as well.
I have not sent that many emails to my list and especially in the last few weeks I have not sent any. I was away and also don’t feel like promoting things that I don’t buy myself.
Thanks for being on my list and for remembering me. I’m continuing to learn as I go along, including from my subscribers like you.
I appreciate your comment and look forward to your next one.
Vance
Good tips Vance! I think I hate number 1 the most, it’s great to find useful info from them once in a while instead of just constant sales pitch every time you open up your email. Maybe it would be better if they do it weekly instead of everyday, it’s much more tolerable that way.
Janis Gagliardi@condos for sale in ormond beach´s last blog post ..Daytona Beach Realtors Offer Advanced Website Features to Home and Condo Buyers
Hey Vance,
Good tips, I believe Mistake #2 is the biggest one. Although I am new to online marketing I feel that people would go for value, I mean that is what I would do. I am subscribed to other online marketer’s email list and I only pay attention to them who sends good offers probably once or twice a week.
Last week I read on another blog that you can build your list with jv giveaway events by giving out free gifts in exchange of name and email I have never heard of it before. I looked around and found this website easyjvgiveawayscript.com/ which has some kind of script to hold giveaway events for list building. I would like to know if that is effective and how would you suggest we go about it.
I would work with the thought that no one likes a daily bombard of email so the best thing to do would be to be on a schedule and send free offer in between paid pitches.
Thanks a lot for sharing, look forward for more good stuff.
David
Great article! Two key points giving away something of value and not being to pitchy. You defintely need a good balance between the two. I think people don’t opt-in because of marketers being to pitchy. Content rules!
Dennis@Top Gun Internet Marketing´s last blog post ..Immediate List Builing Pro Review…
I’ve got another one to add – its a big mistake not to create a list from people who have already bought from you…. It’s often said that the best converting list is the list of people who have already purchased.
Vance Reply:
March 12th, 2012 at 11:11 am
Hi Alex,
That’s right. A buyers list is much more valuable than a prospect list.
Vance.
Hey Vance, I was one of those who sent emails periodically (no schedule, no system).
I did get serious and implement daily value training, AND a weekly newsletter. Can’t say enough about being consistent with your subscribers.
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Vance Reply:
October 12th, 2012 at 12:03 pm
Hi Glen,
I’m glad you can do it that frequently. It certainly works. Thanks for the visit.