5 Steps to building a large list.

In order to build a profiable list, you have to have the right foundation in place. You need:

1. A domain name.
2. A hosting account.
3. Squeeze/lead capture page.
4. Auto responder.
5. Advertising and marketing.

Actually, the first step is to identify your niche and choose a domain name that relates to your niche. For instance, one of my niches is Day Trading. My domain name is easyonlinetrading.net.
To identify a niche to start with, think about the things you are passionate about. What do you like to do? Next, you will need to do some market research to see if what you've chosen is a profitable market. (More on this in a subsequent post.) If it is, now you are ready for a domain name. I register all my domains at http://www.1and1.com/?k_id=14116024. They have the lowest prices I've seen and good support. I never have any problems with them. Once you have a domain, you now need a hosting account. Your hosting account is the place where you will begin building your webpage, your online empire. There is cheap hosting, there is expensive hosting and then everything in between. The best way to go is with a private hosting account. These run about $97 per month and are well worth it. However, there is a way to get good, private hosting without the montly fee. Again, more on this later.

Features of private hosting include:

1. Lots of hard drive space tohouse your sites.
2. Ability to create an unlimited amount of emails.
3. Unlimited number of sites and subdomains you can add to one account.
4. Your own IP address.

Next, you need a short webpage with compelling, easy to read copy and a sign up form. Your goal is to drive people to this page and with copy, compel them to sign up on the form. This is actually subscribing them to your autoresponder (ezine, newsletter) which allows you to market to them over and over again. Many people would like to charge you $15,000 or more for a well written page like this. I am here to tell you that you don't have to spend a dime on a page that makes you money. You just need to know how to write good copy. You can either learn to write good copy or get someone to write it for you. Lastly, the autoresponder. When a visitor fills inthe form on your webpage, his name and email will be captured in your auto-responder which is where you will have pre-written email messages set to follow up with him at an interval you set. The messages can be written by you or someone else. It is important to include good content related to your niche, or market you are targeting plus, offer promotions periodically to generate income. Occasionally, you will send out a mass email to your whole list, generating instant cash when done right.
There are three types of auto-responders:

1. Desktop autoresponder. Software stored on your computer.
2. Third party autoresponder. A service you pay a monthly fee to use and login to gain access to your list.
3. Server Based autoresponder. Also software but not installed on your computer, it's installed on your hosting account and you have complete control of your lists.

The type I highly recommend is the server based autoresponder. These usually run about $195 one time, then you own it.
Features:

1. Total control over when your subscribers receive your emails.
2. No waiting in queue for your emails to go out as in third party autoresponders.
3. IP based. In a third party autoresponder, everyone who uses that serviceshares the same IP address which means if someone sends out 50,000 spam emails and gets caught, not only does he get shut down but it affects everyone else too. With your own IP, the only one who can get you in trouble is you.

Now your foundation is laid and you are ready to start marketing, driving traffic to your webpage and building your list. I will devote a whole post just to advertising and marketing soon.

The Money is in the List.

If you've been online trying to earn income for any length of time, you've probably heard the phrase, "the money is in the list." Selling ebooks, products etc. online is great and you'll make some money but what about down the road. You need long term, repeat customers. With a large, responsive list, you can market to your list anytime over and over again. You can earn money anytime you need it. Think about this. You have a list of 10,000 subscribes to your list (ezine, newsletter). You send out a $1 promotion to the whole list. If only half of them buy (who can't afford $1?) you just generated $5,000 with one email usually within 24 hours. Plus, you own the list so you can do this over and over again forever. That's exciting.