List Building: Message Mania

Many Internet marketers look at list building with dollar signs in their eyes. "The Money Is in the List." How many times have you heard that one? "Get a dollar a month from every person on your list." Yep. Another one equating the people on your list with money.



There's just one thing you forgot. Your list isn't made up of breathing leather wallets. It's comprised of people, just like you and me.



I won't say that I don't mail out to people on my list a lot because I do, every day. The reason I do it is obvious. Of course, I'm in the Internet marketing business to make money, and yes, I enjoy an enormous income from being an entrepreneur. But here's the difference between what I do and what some people do, just to make money...



I give people something interesting to read---a story.



Have you ever gotten a message from me that hasn't included a tidbit of personal information or some story that interests you? I mean, even when there are product links in the email that you may or may not click on, you still get a story. It's not a bunch of hype and drama, it's a story.



If you want your list building efforts to pay off, this is what you have to learn. Tell a story, anything that will get people to read your message, and then, to keep reading it. If you knew how many of your messages went straight into the trash, you wouldn't be very happy. I guarantee it. But if you write a headline like "thump, thump, thump," or "The Day the $3 Million Plug Was Pulled," don't you want to know what those messages are about?



Once they're in, you have to keep them reading. So, tell a story:



If you are a mom,

then a big, giant

Happy Mother's Day

to you!



Jodi (my partner) is having

her first Monther's Day today

and so far it has been pretty

cool...



we watched cartoons in the

morning...



went out and had some mexican

food for lunch



got a new car-seat for Torger

and picked up a bunch of

GeoCashing gear (you will hear

more about that in the next few

weeks)...



OK. What do you think? Will people click on the links in my email to find out what's going on? Trust me, a majority of them will. It's not the usual hype and crap that you see flooding your Inbox, day after day.



Will you need talent? Some, no doubt. But you can learn to write better. Take a creative writing course to put you on the right path. Or, just write interesting things about your own life and people will be enthralled. If you don't get people involved, your email will be right in the trash with all the others. You have to get them involved.



List building can be automatic, but maintenance of your list shouldn't be. You need to fertilize a garden to see it grow and you'll have to find ways to make your list building efforts to take root. Communicate with your list members on a human level and watch your profits grow, too.



Internet marketing master,Tellman Knudson, is CEO of Overcome Everything, Inc. Pick up his Free CD about list building, which includes a potential one-on-one consultation, at his newest website http://listbuildingpower.net