Myth or Fact That You Need Your Own List To Be Successful Online?

[captkirk]

Hi Fellow MC Members and Guests,

 

Tommie Kirkland (Captkirk) here...

 

For me, it has been a complete lie that you need your own list to be successful online.

 

I have NEVER depended on a list than or now for my success that I have had online.

 

What I depend on, is my ability to generate traffic to my sites.

 

To me, it has always seen silly to believe that we have to have our own list to be successful online.

 

In fact, who started that nonsense that you have to have your own list?

 

Myth or Fact That You Need Your Own List To Be Successful Online?

[incomeskills]

I agree completely. People that parrot this concept are usually marketers trying to sell you list building tools.

 

Lists cost money to build, to maintain and if you don't have good offers to send, lack copy writing skills, etc you will most likely lose money.

 

Direct linking still works in 2017, albeit not nearly as well as 2007!

[Darren Olander]

I think it is extremely important to have your own list... it is something you can always go back to in order to get immediate referrals into any program. However, you will never build a list unless you know how to generate traffic - so of course generating traffic is equally if not more important.

[Clare Bowen]

It took me a really long time to decide to build a list. I just look at my email inbox and all the stuff that people send me, mostly affiliate toolbox copy, some up to 3 or 4 times a day, and it put me off the whole concept. But anyway, about a year and a half ago, I wrote a 7 day e-course targeted to traffic exchange users, and rotated a self made squeeze page around some sites. I gathered an average of 3 subscribers per day. Then I got involved with my zubee team, and stopped. I started to use my autoresponder to send update emails to my team, and I realize now, stupidly I guess, deleted the other list, and my e-course and squeeze page. I'll never use the list of my team members though to promote my things, I promised them that I wouldn't. I'd need to start from scratch again.

 

I can definitely see the value in building a list, but I think that the way the subscribers are treated is important. Building a huge list of people who don't have a clue who you are, and bombarding them with spammy type subjects is not really the way to go. I feel that those people are potentially creating a negative reputation for themselves. Some people have a really bad style.

 

Building my list is on my to-do list for the coming months :-)

[Guest mrclean0325]

List building has been a bone of contention for me. Most of the courses you find (as was previously mentioned) are trying to sell you list building products. The whole course is nothing but a thinly veiled way for the marketer to get you to sign up under them. Some are even so blatant as to say the fastest and easiest way to make quick commissions is to get people to sign up for the autoresponder you are an affiliate for using a "course" on email marketing. The blind leading the blind?

 

To my way of thinking, list building is an "add on" to enhance whatever you are already making money doing. I have read too many well known marketers bios where they say, "I should have started list building sooner" or "I didn't start building a list until after I was selling my product" to discount this idea. From my observation, the people who have successful lists use them to enhance an already existing money producing product or service. The list is not THE business though it is an asset to enhance the profits. You see this a lot for blogs and product creators who use the list to enhance traffic to their already working main monetization method. 

 

Since there is money being paid for the autoresponder you have to be able to at least recover the cost from it somehow. I often wonder if a lot of these people who continually do the blind ads just to get a signup to build their list actually create a profit or even get many sign ups at all. Especially the ones who use paid solo ads and don't really have much in the way of monetizing on the back end. It is funny to me when I get on a list building course persons email list, either free or paid, to see how they run their own list - very few actually practice what they preach in their course.

 

Just like anything else you hear online, I think you need to take list building with a bit of salt. It seems the nuances and the "IT factor" plays heavily in successful list building, at least from what I have seen. Sure anybody can build a list; but, not everybody makes any money from doing so. Many of the big name marketers have moved their list to their own site yet still promote commercial autoresponders...hmmm

 

In the end it is like so many other marketing methods out there; do you have enough money to fund it until you figure it out. You see a lot of people doing it, but you don't know if they are actually making any money doing it.

[Bruno Duarte]

I have made more money by having a list than by just sending traffic to affiliate offers, the fact that I can send different offers and have campaigns automatically setup so I can promote without additional efforts to my list, is more than enough for me.

 

It does costs money if you want to build a list fast, but I think a lot of people missunderstand the entire concept of list building and how profitable it can be become because they see only on the short term...Anyway...I personally build my list and it works for me

 

Cheers!

Bruno

[Clare Bowen]

To state the obvious I guess, every time we promote any membership site as an affiliate, we're building someone's list. Maybe one of the best ways to build one then is to have a site with any useful free product, tools, traffic etc.  I noticed Carl Bailey getting very irate in his mails though today. I guess someone or some people had reported his admin mails as spam.

[mistracy39]

A list is almost a "must" because there's a proven sales copy formula that takes visitors through the selling process from the moment they arrive to the moment they make a purchase.  With a list this can be a daily routine.  

[john566]

This topic is subject to personal opinion, which i've read everyone's reply and agree with the people saying list building is important, made 2 sales from a list of 100 people on clickbank and wouldn't of got those if i didn't have a automated email sequence or list. I feel you don't get as much a return if you direct link to your affiliate offers, for one you don't get an lead, which means your not able to market to that person ever again, plus most traffic networks don't allow direct linking to a clickbank product anyways.

 

Honestly just send traffic to a capture page, include a lead magnet and setup an email sequence of valuable content and include your affiliate links in the email, but make sure you read your email marketing services terms and policy, so you don't get your account locked/deactivated. From experience  

[rpsmith]

I tend to believe that list building is essential to online marketing. The key to having a profitable list is to create easy to understand and follow content. Not just a collection of sales letters or (as someone said thinly veiled sales material). AS I see it, why not include affiliate links? Maybe not like some have done, but two or three. BUT, the bulk of your messages should not be sales related, but instructional. In situations like this the quality of the content can make or break a list.

[captkirk]

For me, it has been a complete lie that you need your own list to be successful online.

 

I have NEVER depended on a list than or now for my success that I have had online.

 

What I depend on, is my ability to generate traffic to my sites.

 

To me, it has always seen silly to believe that we have to have our own list to be successful online. 

 

In fact, who started that nonsense that you have to have your own list?

[weblord]

they just say it because they are selling autoresponders.