Let’s continue our discussion on viral list building, including a list builder I like, and a trick that I’ve rarely seen used.
There are a number of list builders that I like. There are various viral tools that I would say are on the short list, and they come in different flavors. I won’t go into all the different types here, nor will I list all the ones I like, but let’s explore the concept a little.
I happen to like List Inferno, so I’ll use that one as an example. They have an easy three step sign up process, and this tool doesn’t have to be a pop up, although it can be.
Some people don’t like pop ups, or they may conflict with the terms of service of some ad and affilate programs. Also, unlike some other list builers, List Inferno offers the ability to promote ezines on topics other than Internet Marketing. All of the above makes LI a good choice.
How does it work? Basically, your traffic is used to show several ezine subscription forms on your site. Somewhere else on the web, your ezine details are presented as well. You simply enter your ezine subscription details in the List Inferno list builder and copy their code into your web pages. The more times you show a page with the code, the more chances you have of getting another subscriber.
This means that for every visitor to your page, you get the opportunity to gain another subscriber. In my experience, the sign up rate with viral list builders is rather high. My list building efforts, once started with these viral tools, just seem to spin off on their own without my having to actively do anything. I like that, and you will too. If they slow down for any reason, I simply ramp them up a bit with a few techniques and there they go again gathering subscribers.
I offer an ecourse on beginning list building in which I cover the basic elements that you need to properly build a list. One element that most list building courses tend to gloss over, is a way to reach potential subscribers.
One challenge, however, is that many people find it hard to drive traffic to their websites, or they don’t want to spend the money on a website at all. While I highly recommend that you build a website and develop a number of ways to drive traffic, viral list builders like List Inferno can be used with free websites, and once you get a few visitors, the viral effect begins to build your list for you.
There are a number of things you can do to increase the power of a viral list builder. One simple technique is to create a number of relevant keyword rich pages on your site, and place the list building code on each of those pages.
You can drive traffic to those pages in the usual ways in order to generate the viral effect of the list builder. Then, during your auto responder sequence or broadcast emails to your subscribers, systematically send your visitors to those pages.
In this way, each visitor from search engine results will help build your list. In addition, each subscriber can be responsible for producing several opportunities for you to gain new subscribers, a technique that will make you a viral list building champ.