What is List Building?



In its simplest form, list building a two step process: the one step is the act of ?capturing? a potential customer's name and email address and the second step is to use that information to create a relationship with that person. Notice I said ?create a relationship? not to sell. I'll get back to that in a minute.

You want to use your list building process to collect the names and email addresses of as many people who have shown an interest in you and your business as possible. Basically you want to put a list building link (subscription form or something like it) in front of as many visitors as you possibly can. Put subscription forms or a link to a subscription page on every page on your website.

List Building and Relationships

Old time sales guys love the saying, ?Nobody likes being sold, but most everyone likes to buy.? And this is true for the most part. People have become very immune to hard sells and fast ball pitches. They don't like being pressured and will put up a lot of resistance to the idea of being ?sold? something.

Now on the other hand, almost everyone loves to buy things, myself included. If you look at the national consumer debt figures, spending money is not most people's problem. They want to buy things that remove pain, increase pleasure or make their lives a little bit better and they want to enjoy themselves while doing it! That's why shopping with friends is so much fun!

That is what you want to happen with your list. You should think of your list as a community of like minded people looking to ?buy? things to solve their problems or make their lives more pleasant (like a virtual shopping center). And they want to buy those things with the input of their trusted friend and advisor, ?YOU?.

List Building for the Long Term

List building should be renamed relationship building. People like to buy things from people they know, like and trust. You want to create an environment of trust for your list members. Trust is the cornerstone of all business interactions. No one is buying anything if they feel they are going to lose money or be tricked. So creating trust is vital to the welling being for long term list building.

So how do you create trust? Just like in face-to-face interactions; be honest and be yourself. Being honest is simple; don't lie to people to get them to do something. They will find out, get angry and they will go away?and bad mouth you in every email and forum they can find. Let folks know who you are and what your business stands for.

List building is one of the most important elements of any online business and now that you understand why it so vital, you should be ready to start work on list building on your own.