Did you know that the first email marketing blast was sent in 1978? It was sent to 400 recipients as a promotion for computers, and it actually resulted in $13 million in sales.
Since then we haven’t had a single year without someone declaring email marketing as dead as the dodo.
And sure, plenty of things like social media, influencers, video and Instagram stories are way sexier than plain old emails. When you look at the cold hard numbers though, none of them come even close to being as powerful as a good email list.
A recent study showed that email campaigns on average make $42 for every $1 spent… that’s three times higher than the number for social media.
You only have to look as far as right here on JVZoo to see why any internet marketer, new or seasoned, should be building their own email list.
If you look at the list of active affiliate contests, you can be sure that 99% of the affiliates you’ll ever see on those leaderboards got there because they had an email list to promote to.
And if you look at the top selling vendors on the JVZoo marketplace, the ones with thousands of sales of a single product. They all got to where they are because they had their own list they could launch their product to… and because they have friends with lists who helped them promote it.
This may seem unfair… How are you supposed to break into this “old boy’s club?”
Don’t worry though, building your own email list is not complicated at all. This article is #1 in a series that will show you everything you need to know to get started.
From getting your first subscriber, to getting free traffic and more importantly how you can turn all of this into more money in your pocket.
That said… before we get to part 2, we need to look at some of the reasons why you should start building your list today.
The Big Money Button
This is the holy grail of internet marketing, everyone is looking for the magic button that spits out money when you press it.
However, that button already exists… it’s called the “send” button in your autoresponder. When you have your own list you can press it every day and basically print money on demand.
Pay Once & Earn Forever
Think about… if you are spending money on, for example, Facebook ads to sell a product. Well, those ads may be profitable. However, everytime you want to make another sale you need to spend the same amount of money to reach the same people.
What if you instead used those ads to build your list… you would only have to pay once and then you can market to an ever growing list of people forever… for free.
Instead of spending money to maintain an income, you’d be investing in scaling and growing a business.
Control Your Assets
Social networks and ad spaces come and go… nobody under 30 remembers MySpace these days and what works on Facebook today could very well be banned tomorrow.
If you only rely on 3rd party sites and social media for your marketing you are putting your eggs in a single basket that could be yanked from you at any time.
Your email list is your asset though. It’s a list of names and emails you can export from and upload into any email service or autoresponder. It has real value, it can be sold and nobody can take it away from you.
The Ultimate Diplomatic Weapon
Having your own email list gives you leverage, it’s something you can bring to the table.
If you’ve tried launching your own products without building a list first, you’ve probably banged your head against this brickwall… none of the big vendors were interested in promoting your launch… Why would they be?
They have other vendor friends with big lists who can help them launch their products and in return they promote theirs.
When you start building your list though, you’ll slowly start creeping up those leaderboards… you’ll be noticed. You’ll have something they want, a way to create more sales at the click of a (send) button. In the “I scratch your back, you scratch mine” world that is affiliate marketing, your email list is both your entry ticket and your most powerful weapon.
The Million Dollar Question
If you want to make money with internet marketing, this is where you really need to pay attention.
The secret to success is to ask yourself one simple question over and over again…
“How will this build my list?”
Whatever you’re working on, it needs to be actively building your email list. If you are working one something right now and it won’t add emails to your list… then drop it or at least figure out how to make it get more names on your list.
Your ads need to gather leads, your sales need to capture customer details… always.
That shiny new gadget over there might be sexy… but can it build your list? If not it’s a distraction that you should pass on.
On the other hand… if you can tie an email list building component to any of these new strategies and gizmos, you’ll give yourself a major advantage over your competitors.
If you can put yourself into this mindset (and stay there), you’re more than halfway to the top of the internet marketing world.
And in the next article, we’ll dive into the details showing you how you can get started building your list while avoiding most of the common pitfalls.
