Your Own Mailing List

Full information on Mailing Lists at this Squidoo page

Having your own mailing list is great, it's a little like having an instant source of traffic whenever you press "send". And it's perhaps the best quality traffic, beyond targeted - since the people here have done more than look for your site. They have actively joined it, and over time will get to know you.

There are a number of ways to store and use your mailing list. The first is simply to keep the addresses in a file and send them manually via your e-mail program. Of course that would quickly become unworkable.

The other main options are to host your own mailing list software at your website, or to use a third-party, external service.

The benefits? Firstly - cost. With a self-hosted script you pay once for the script, or maybe even get a free one. You also have all control at your end. And you can usually use it more flexibly, such as import subscribers directly, etc.

But with a third party Autoresponder you'll have the benefit of better email deliverability, and in the end that is what may sway you, regardless of cost. Services such as Aweber and Getresponse are professional email companies and spend a lot of time negotiating with email service providers to ensure their mail gets delivered, and keeping their names off the spam lists.

They are not so flexible as your own script, because they're unlikely to allow you to import subscribers, and are more likely to come down heavily if they think you are abusing their system. However, if you send emails yourself it becomes your responsibility - if any user complains of spam (which they probably will, regardless of whether they subscribed themselves or not) it may mean your domain enters the major spam lists.

Once you have your choosen provider and you are ready to start building your list, how do you accomplish that? Simple: Put a form on your site.

This form can simply say "Please Join Our Mailing List" or you can go much further! Offer a bribe, for one. Say they can have a free membership, access to a special report, or a free ebook for joining. Or you can use a squeeze-page. This is essentially form that the user HAS to pass through before they are even allowed to enter the site.

You can also joint venture with other list builders, so you share each others traffic: for example "Thank You For Joing My List. Please Try xxxxx". Or you can join even bigger events where every marketer will promote the same page or service - that page being where visitors can sign up.

You can even buy a mailing list directly. This is a somewhat dubious area, though many people have had success this way. The main point is you need to tell these new subscribers why they are now on your list, anad how they can remove themselves - but of course, why they shouldn't :). You are more likely to be accused of spam this way.

Which ever method you use an email list is well worth building. If you have a service or website you can do it on the side, or you can build sites that specially designed JUST to build a list. But this list will be one of your major assests, so it's up to you to nurture and look after your subscribers.