Starting an Online Business - Develop a Mailing List

If you're like me, you're pretty skeptical of all those claims you hear about people making loads of money on the internet. Oh, I knew there were people out there making cash, but I had many excuses for why I couldn't do it. That all changed as I watched a friend become wildly successful in his internet business. I thought, if he could do it, so could I! It all started for my friend about seven years ago as he started selling various products on e-Bay. He learned mostly through trial and error. But, after working at it for two hours a day for only nine months, he was able to quit his day job! I sat back and watched figuring he was "just lucky". I reasoned that he'd soon be going back to work at his 9 to 5 job. Well, seven years have gone by and I'm still waiting! What's more, he's recently bought a vacation home and is showing no signs of slowing down. (For more information on this friend of mine, visit my web page and look for "Little Known Minnesota Man.") Now, while I don't necessarily expect to achieve the same success as my friend, he has given me confidence that I can achieve at least a good "hobby income" via the internet. I've learned that perhaps the most important first step in internet marketing is developing and cultivating a mailing list. This may sound counter-intuitive, but many times it makes more sense to develop your list even before you create a web-site. A good way to do this is by starting an electronic magazine (i.e., "ezine") in the subject area you want to do business in. Pick a topic that is targeted, but not too narrow. For example, instead of choosing "pets" (too broad) or "shih-tzu training" (too narrow) as topics, you may want to settle on something like "dog training" (just right). An ezine provides quality content for your subscribers. You can either write your own content or pay someone else to write for you. I'd recommend that you publish your ezine on a weekly, bi-monthly or monthly basis, whichever you feel you can sustain comfortably. Whatever the case, the important thing is that you give your subscribers useful information. You can place a small banner advertisement for one of your affiliate products in each issue of your ezine. Every so often, you can even send a special advertisement to your entire list. However, keep in mind people didn't sign-up for your ezine to get bombarded with advertisements. If you send too many, you'll find people unsubscribing in droves. So, use discretion in promoting to your list. Remember, the list you are building is the foundation to your internet business. You're not trying to get rich quick here. Slow and steady is the guideline. How do you get people to sign up for your ezine? One way is to pay a "co-registration service" to get subscribers for you. For a specified fee, these services will guarantee you a certain number of subscribers, no matter how long it takes. This removes some of the risk for you. A couple of free ways to generate a subscriber base would be to participate in internet forums which allow you to post a resource box (where you can advertise your ezine) or submit articles to article directories which will also allow a small advertisement. No matter which method you choose, start building your business foundation by developing that list!