List Building is the single most important task you’ll undertake as your build your Information Marketing business. It encompasses everything you do to convince people to sign up for your mailing list, join your client list (by making a purchase from you), and become one of your VIP customers (by spending even more with you).

No list building means no business.

The first step to undertake in building your list is to entice those in your target market to sign up for your mailing list. There are basically two ways to do this:
1. You can offer something of value that they’ll receive when they opt-in to your list. This is sometimes called a forced opt-in.

2. You can give them something of value, then let them know they can sign up to your list for even more. This is generally referred to as the reverse opt-in.

Rule of thumb: use both methods.

On-line, when someone raises their hand and indicates they want more information by clicking on a link in one of your articles or blog posts, send them immediately to a page where they can join your mailing list.

You can increase your conversion rates on forced opt-in pages if your article, blog post, forum post, or whatever message the reader saw with your link tells them that they’ll be signing up for something. Here’s an example: “For more information on increasing your opt-in conversion rate, sign up for my free Breakthrough Marketing newsletter at http://thebreakthroughmarketer.com/info/marketingtips020003.htm.”

On the other hand, if someone is coming to your site with no idea of what you have to offer, allow them to see what they’ll be getting by signing up to hear from you regularly. Sending “cold” traffic to your content site serves to put your visitors at ease.

One way to maximize the reverse opt-in is to use pop-ups and pop-unders so that the visitor can still see the content, but they’re reminded to sign up for your list. There’s even a special tool that presents an opt-in page after a visitor has browsed several articles on your site (go to http://thebreakthroughmarketer.com/info/reverseoptinoptimizer_01.htm to see it).

As a side note, be sure there is an opt-in form on every page of your content website and blog. You can place it in the sidebar directly above your navigation menu, but make sure it’s displayed on every page. You don’t want visitors to have to struggle to find a way to sign up for your mailing list.

In both cases, your goal is to leave your new prospect thinking, “Wow! If this is what I get for free, I wonder what I’ll get when I buy something!” The key is to consistently deliver quality and value to your prospects.