If you have a big list you have tremendous marketing leverage. But there's no single way to build your list; there are several ways, and if you combine them you can build a list of subscribers, many of whom will become customers and clients.

Here are the strategies that have been successful for me:

In the good old days it was a lot easier to get search engine positioning. Use the right keywords in the right place on your site and you'd appear at the top of Google.

But nowadays, the best keywords are more competitive than ever. Everybody wants them and more and more people are optimizing their sites. So I'd recommend a different direction.

For years I've promoted the concept of writing articles. And the more articles you get out there on web sites, the more exposure you have. Your articles on complimentary web sites will drive qualified traffic to your site.

But finding all these sites could be a full time job. Your best bet is to get your articles posted and distributed by syndication sites such as www.thephantomwriters.com and www.isnare.com. You give them your article and they'll get it distributed to online networks who are looking for articles.

Another way to get information out there is through the use of online press releases. This has emerged as one of the most powerful ways to drive traffic to your site. I'm about to launch a program myself and will let you know the results. In fact the person who's working with me will be co-leading a teleclass on this topic on April 25th (noon Pacific). So mark your calendars!

I built the first few thousand subscribers to this eZine through giving talks and presentations to professional groups. At the end of each talk I'd offer a free report along with a subscription to my ezine. Don't want to be on the list? No problem, but I can't give you the report! I'd get a lot of signups from this technique alone.

But when I took my business more virtual, I started to give more teleclasses and got invited to give teleclasses to other groups. My only condition is: At the end of the teleclass I get to offer my report and eZine subscription to attendees. And just as with live talks, teleclasses helped to build my list.

What good is it to get a lot of people to visit your site if they don't sign up for your eZine? Let me tell you a secret. The ONLY real purpose of my site is to get new subscribers. So my home page, navigation, sign-up page - everything - is geared to visitors getting my Marketing Plan Workbook and signing up for this eZine.

Take a look at your web site. More often than not, it's difficult to find out where to subscribe. And if you do have a subscription form, where's the free report? Very few people will sign up for an eZine by itself anymore. Everyone gets too much email already. But they will request information if it's perceived as valuable.

So make your primary offer your report or white paper or assessment, or whatever you call it. And don't just say: "Get this free report" You need to sell it. That is, you need to offer several benefits of getting this material. Yes, even giving stuff away these days is a challenge!

When I used to do workshops, I'd ask how people learned about Action Plan Marketing. I knew they were all subscribers, as that is the only group I promoted the workshop to. But how did they become subscribers? I was rather surprised to learn that the majority were from good old fashioned word-of-mouth.

Someone else had told them to visit my web site and suggested they subscribe. And why did that happen? I like to think it's because the eZine is useful, the workbook is valuable, the web site contains a ton of useful information and the products and programs perform as advertised.

In other words, success in this vast online world comes down not to things like hype and flash and questionable joint venture partnerships. It comes down to things like quality and consistency, good products, programs and customer service.

Want more subscribers? Develop a solid business and put your focus on getting valuable information out there. I promise that all that work will ultimately pay off.