Skip to content

List Building Basics#

If you take nothing else from this entire course...:

Your list IS your business.

There's a reason why you constantly hear within our industry sentences like:

"The money is in the list" or "always grow your (email) list".

It's true: Especially in the long-term, having a great relationship with the people on your (email) list will put you in the position to create "push button profits" at will.

"Pushing the button" in this case refers to "sending out an email or email campaign".

But in order for that to happen you first have to establish some level of trust and credibility with your list.

A few great starting points for that:

  • Only recommend products/offers that you can stand behind/put your name to ("would you recommend this your mother?")
  • Only work with vendors who handle customer issues in a professional and responsive way
  • Create and offer a lead magnet to your readers that's really great and helping them
  • The same is true for any follow-up with your list: Truly help them. Make their lives better through your emails. (could be an entertaining story, could be actionable advice, could be the recommendation of a great, new product, or a mix of everything)

The Role/Function Of Your Website#

Some new affiliates make the mistake of thinking that their blog or their website is at the center of their online business.

That's not true.

At the center of your online (affiliate marketing) business is the relationship with your list.

A small but highly engaged list can be better than a huge, unresponsive list.

Obviously, having 10,000 engaged subsribers on your list is better than having only 1,000 same-level-engaged subscribers.

But coming back to the role/function of your website:

Your website is like "the storefront" to your business.

You'll use your website/blog to attract new potential clients (traffic) to you, but as we pointed out earlier in the training:

99% of the people (traffic) visiting your website will NOT buy (right now).

That's why lead generation (list building) is so important.

It gives us the ability to follow-up with our traffic. Otherwise these people are gone and will have forgotten your website before you finish saying:

The money is in the list.

Therefore: Use your website as a storefront, have an about-me page where people can find out a bit more about you, have a contact-us page, and publish content that attracts the right kind of people (your chosen audience) to you.

But never confuse your website with the center of your online business: Your list.

Lead Generation & Your Core Offer#

Your chosen (affiliate) core offer - the offer you present immediately after your lead magnet - needs to be highly relevant to your chosen niche and your lead magnet.

Your chosen core offer will convert best if it is of high quality and free (on the front-end) or offers a free trial.

In some cases you can even go as far as skipping the lead magnet alltogether and using your core offer as your lead magnet.

In those cases you still want to make sure that you collect the traffic's information first. (lead generation)

Just in case you skipped the entire first section of this training:

Your list (email list) IS your business.

The following guidelines are true for your lead magnet as well as your core offer:

  • keep it simple
  • focus on one niche
  • include monetization options
  • always collect the leads first

Recap: What Is A Lead Magnet?#

The lead magnet promises to your traffic something of high perceived value in exchange for their contact information.

This process is called lead generation or list building.

It only works if the topic/headline of your lead magnet is highly relevant to your chosen niche.

You can monetize a great, free lead generation offer (lead magnet) by choosing a great core offer and offering that within your lead magnet.

If this process is new to you or you don't have a great lead magnet yet, consider getting the UMV here.

This will simplify and speed up the whole process for you.

Recap: Choosing Your Core Offer#

When choosing your core offer to monetize your traffic (and ideally recoup any costs for paid traffic as fast as possible), make sure you choose an ethical, professional product vendor with a high-converting (entry-type) offer.

This is an excerpt of headaches we had as affiliates with vendors in the past:

  • The "11th email headache" (high ticket BS offer - no credit for the affiliate)
  • Not reachable, not responsive for days/weeks
  • No direct (live) chat/contact option (real live chat/voice)
  • No product updates, ever
  • No replies to clients' emails, no follow-up with people
  • No product improvements, or new launches every month or two
  • Product with plenty of "dead links", dead backend offers, outdated backend, etc.
  • "Serial product launchers" - already "mentally onto the next thing" and gone with the wind...

Take these points as warning signs when choosing an offer as your core offer.