Building a Profitable Opt-In List

There are opt-in lists and then there are profitable opt-in lists. Having an opt-in list is, without any doubt, essential to the success of any Internet business. Everybody who has been in Internet marketing for more than fifteen minutes knows that. What many don’t know is that JUST an opt-in list can be nothing but a lot of work. What you really need is a profitable opt-in list. One that will produce sales and even better, repeated sales.

Building a profitable opt-in list is based on several basic principles of selling in any medium. Long before the Internet was even a twinkle in Bill Gate’s eye, people were selling things to other people. This selling often took place, as it does today, in brick and mortar stores. There were (and maybe still are) door-to-door salesmen as well that sold everything from pots and pans and hair brushes to encyclopedias and burial insurance. These door-to-door salesmen went from city to city and house to house selling their wares. Internet marketing is very much like the door-to-door salesmen of old. We build our good and faithful customer base one customer at a time by collecting names and email addresses of those who are our best prospects.

The door-to-door salesmen of old knew that they could waste a lot of time (not to mention shoe leather) trying to sell to those that would never be interested in their products so they concentrated on those that were their most likely customers. Encyclopedia salesmen concentrated on households that had school age children. Door-to-door salesmen who sold pots and pans concentrated on housewives.

Internet marketers need to take note of that bit of wisdom and make sure that they aren’t just collecting a long list of email addresses that will never produce any sales. Opt-in lists are built from your traffic – PROFITABLE opt-in lists are built from your TARGETED traffic. Never waste time trying to build your traffic – and your list – by any and all means. Stick to the proven methods of driving targeted traffic, like article marketing, blogging, etc. After all, it’s the only way to get the maximum return for all the hard work you’re putting into your online business – and the profits you so richly deserve!