If you are new to affiliate marketing, you might not yet be aware of the greatest resource at your disposal. No, it isn't the latest guide to using Adwords to drive pay-per-click traffic to your promotional efforts. It's not a great product, either. It's not a great copywriting style or a good collection of product testimonials. It's your list.

The list to which we are referring is your list of potential product buyers. You generate that list the first day you start working in affiliate marketing. You find ways to build a healthy mailing list of people who may later become customers (and those who have already made purchases. When you come across a great product to promote, you can pitch it to your list instead of relying on site construction and finding ways to generate traffic to your sales sites.

How do you assemble a good list? There are a lot of tactics. One popular strategy is to offer a free giveaway and to require an email address to get them. The person obtaining the freebie is required to opt-in to your mailing list in order to get access. Freebies may consist of anything from an on-topic report to a piece of software. You can be creative or stick with the tried and true.

Most successful affiliate marketers spend a great deal of time keeping their list happy and developing a level of trust and credibility with those on it. They may supply a regular free newsletter that provides both valuable content and sales efforts relating to products they may find useful. A great newsletter can develop a loyal following of readers who will trust the affiliate's judgment with respect to product recommendations.

The results can be amazing. Instead of waiting months to build adequate supplies of site traffic, the affiliate marketer can instantly access a horde of potential buyers with a simple email.

The list is an affiliate marketer's lifeblood. One of the reason those who are already established seem to have the "Midas touch" every time they choose a new product actually owe their success to having built a strong list to whom they can sell. The list becomes their route to impressive fast sales.

Building an enviable list will can take time and effort, but the end result is more than worthwhile. You end up with a list of people you know to be interested in the kinds of items you are promoting and are able to tailor a message to their overall needs.

It's never safe to say that any sale is easy. However, sales do tend to come a bit faster and bit easier to those who have cultivated a great list. Veteran internet marketers like to say "it's all about the list," and there's a reason why that saying is true. The list is any affiliate marketers best sales tool.

David Cooper is the editor of the Affiliate Marketing Articles Newsletter. David specializes in helping affiliate marketers understand the importance of building their email marketing subscriber list. Subscribe to his FREE newsletter at: http://www.affiliatemarketingarticles.com