5 Ways to Quickly Start Building a

Mailing List

Of all the things that an Internet marketer can do, building and

maintaining an email list is one of the most important – it’s right up there with maintaining a blog and social

network profiles.

That is because unlike many other methods of communication (including

said blog), email is much more effective and has better results for

campaigns than just about anything else.

The reason for that is that email is one of the more personal ways of

communication, and if a person gave you their email address, they already

have a certain degree of trust towards you or your product, which makes it easier to offer them new things that

they may be interested in.

But how do you build an email list and increase the number of subscribers on

an existing one? Here are 5 ways to quickly start building a mailing list:

Offering something to people in exchange for their email address is

practically the most popular method of building an email list.

Building a Mailing List | Offer free stuff.

It’s easy to set up, and it’s pretty straightforward to both parties: you

give away something useful or entertaining, the subscriber gives you their email address and by definition, consent to receive occasional emails

from you.

Of course, you shouldn’t just blast them with marketing emails afterwards, or

they will unsubscribe pretty quickly. You can offer a free eBook, report, app,

template or anything else that is easily downloadable (physical products would

work, too, but it’s very difficult and expensive to manage and ship them).

If you offer people great information on your site, you can set up an email list that would further send them more

great information, as well as stuff that is not available on your site.

Building a Mailing List | Offer useful information.

This is a great way to get loyal subscribers, because if they like the content on your site so much that

they’re willing to subscribe to an email list, they’ll most probably open most of your emails, including those where you

offer something for sale or for which you get a commission.

If you have some insider information about your niche or industry, offering it

to email subscribers could be a great way to get more people to sign up.

Building a Mailing List | Offer secret information.

Of course, you must have some credible sources, not just make up the stuff, but if it’s verifiable (like a secret discount at

HP’s online store, for example), the word will spread pretty quickly and you

may get more subscribers than you originally planned for.

People have a lot of reasons to do things, but there are some that will always work and will get everyone

interested. Exclusivity and popularity are two of those motivations.

Building a Mailing List | Give them popularity or exclusivity.

If you can give people exclusivity or popularity, they will subscribe and tell their friends, as well. How do you do that? Well, you could have them join your secret forum automatically, give them the ability to post on your blog (with your moderation, of course),

provide exclusive content that no one else will know, and more.

Come up with something unique and you can get a lot of subscribers very

fast.

A contest or giveaway is one of the best things you can do online. If the prize is worth it and you market the event well (on Facebook, Twitter and your blog), there can be thousands of people that

will spread the word to thousands more.

Building a Mailing List | Run a contest/giveaway.

You should give away something substantial enough, like an iPod Touch

or a tablet on a tech blog, for example – the cost is not that high, as it’s only one prize, but you can make a killing out of the list that you’ll build thanks to that.

An email list is one of the most important assets any Internet marketer can have, but as with anything else, it needs regular maintenance and more

importantly, it needs to grow – the bigger your list, the higher the chance that you will be heard and the higher your revenue will be, it’s as simple as that. Use the above tips to get started

and keep at it!