List Building for Beginners

It is said that when it comes to online business, the gold is in your list. This is true in the offline world as well, where a company’s database is one of its most valuable assets. List building for beginners is a topic many people discuss, but doing what actually works is much more important than simply discussing the topic on a regular basis.

When I came online more than a decade ago I was like all new entrepreneurs in that I had no list at all. I added a couple of email addresses to my empty list so that it wouldn’t be blank, but these were two alternate emails that belonged to me. Then a few people I knew personally joined my list and I was ready to move forward. This was only a psychological shift, as I really didn’t have a list or even a business at that point.

Now this was before social media, so there were few places to connect with the people who might be your prospects and potential clients. One strategy I started using quite by accident was to introduce myself on teleseminars I was attending. The host would open up the line for a few minutes before that training began, and this gave us all the opportunity to say our name, our city, and our website. You had to be fast or you would miss out and I learned quickly how to say everything without taking a breath. It went something like this:

“I’m Connie Ragen Green from California teaching people how to write and market eBooks at eBook Writing and Marketing Secrets do com”.

And yes, this was an effective way for me to pick up five to ten subscribers every day. But that strategy is not scalable. I soon learned that creating relevant content to distribute on the internet was a much better way to connect with my prospects and clients. I wrote blog posts and articles and then repurposed those into short reports. When people read something that helped them in achieving their goals they were anxious to get on my list.

Soon I began hosting my own teleseminars and allowing people to introduce themselves at the beginning of my calls. This was my way of paying it forward to the next wave on online entrepreneurs. And my content became the basis for information products and books, further reinforcing the importance of creating something that will be available for years to come.

List building for beginners does not have to be a challenge if you approach it properly. Choose your niche carefully, begin blogging and writing on the topics related to your niche that can eventually become books, and begin hosting teleseminars that you can eventually turn into a podcast. All of these methods will work in unison to attract the people who want and need to be on your list. Always remember that business is about serving others and you will be on your way to success as an online entrepreneur.

I’m Connie Ragen Green, online marketing strategist, bestselling author, and international speaker on the topics of entrepreneurship and inner game mind shifts. Let’s connect to see how I may best serve you in the near future. And please be sure to check out my Really Simple List Building training course to get started today.