List Building Explained 101
Posted by kimbo on March 22, 2010 under Strategies | 
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The more you learn about internet marketing, the more you will find the importance of list building being emphasized. But ask them what a list is (or should be) and how it should be used and many of them will be at a loss.
A list is nothing more than a database of your potential customers; and list building is simply increasing the size of that list so that the number of people who may buy from you increases – and that is list building explained in its most basic form. Or, to put it simply, the list is your market and list building is expanding it.
The reason why people come to your site (how they come there is another subject) is because they find something there that interests them and they want to learn more. But just visiting your site does not mean that you will get their business – in fact, very rarely does a first visit result in any sales being concluded.
Sales will only come with building up your website (or building up your brand) and the only way to get this done is by keeping yourself in the front of people’s minds so that they are constantly reminded of what your business is and what products you are selling. The only way you can do this is by communicating with them on a regular basis and sending them information that will interest them and also details of why they need what you are selling
The key to online business success is building trust and the only way this can happen is to get your potential customers to know you and this is done by staying in communication with them in other words, using your list. The email addresses that you use for this communication is your list and is the key to your market.
Many newcomers make the mistake of thinking that the bigger the list they have the better. Always remember that it is not the size of the list that matters but how focused it is – there is no point in having a list of 10,000 addresses for a business selling skis online if 9,900 of them are people who live in the tropics.
A good list is one where there can be a good conversion rate, not one that is simply full of email addresses – a conversion rate of 20% with a focused list of 1,000 addresses will be far more profitable than a list of 10,000 that results in a conversion rate of just 1%.
