In any form of business on the internet you need to capture the names and emails of the people who either buy from you or who are interested in your product. This is known as list building. Most people's lists are built by using a simple email capture form on their websites often giving away a free report or newsletter to entice people to subscribe to their list.



Most of the different forms of list building are common knowledge for anyone who participates in internet marketing. The usual way as stated above is to give away a free eBook, report or newsletter to people who subscribe to your list.

The best list to have however, is a list of paying customers. Anyone can build a list of thousands of freebie seekers quite easily but how do you know they will spend any money on your products if they are known to have opted in wanting the free stuff?

Most people who sell a product ( if they are savy enough) will put an email capture on their product's thank you or download page. They may offer free updates or special bonuses for signing up from that page. Whilst you are offering something for free, you are also capturing the email of a paying customer.

With the current crazy of seven dollar products sweeping the IM world, a lot of people are asking if this is devaluing their products. Personally I would rather sell a report for a dollar rather than give it away for free. This at least shows that the person who has joined your list is at least able to spend some money even if it is a small amount.

A personal favourite I use to build my list of paying customers is to make people subscribe to my list after buying a product before they can download it. Before you shout “that's unethical” let me give you a few reasons why.

1. I password protect my downloads. Piracy is rife on the internet and what little measures there are to eliminate it will never work fully. Rather than password protecting the PDF eBook or report, I password protect the .zip file. Whist this won't stop file sharing, it will stop people downloading my products straight from my website without paying.

2. Even thought it makes the customer jump through another hoop so to speak, there is always the option to un-subscribe in every email I send out. The customer can sign up, confirm their subscription and get the password and then un-subscribe forever.

3. I ALWAYS have a support desk linked on to my sites. If someone for some reason doesn't want to sign up and get the password, they can spend two minutes submitting a ticket and they will be sent one straight away.

The idea of the above is to protect my work AND to gain a paying customer to my list. 99% of people will not have a problem with any of the above. I've actually never had anyone question it personally. If you wish to build a profitable list then selling a product (for a cheap price) is the way to go.

The secret to selling cheap products to build a profitable list is all in the back end systems you have set up. With a good back end newsletter, one time offer or future blog posts then you should be well on your way to building the list you've dreamed of, one that brings in money.