If I hear that phrase, “The money is in the list” one more time, I think I’ll scream. Let me make this perfectly clear. The money is NOT in the list. The money is in the list that is carefully constructed and marketed to. Trust me, I could build a list of 100,000 people and not make a single dime from it. If you’re wondering how that’s possible, keep reading and I’ll explain.

Okay, let’s say that we’re in the gaming niche. We decide that we want to build a list for it. We decide to target a popular game online and in order to build our list, we give away hints for that particular game. We offer a brief report with all these hints in order to get gamers to opt into our list. Okay, that’s great…now what? How are we going to make money off of this list? Unless the game has an affiliate program (many do not) what are we going to sell them? And even if it DID have an affiliate program, the people who opted in to get the hints probably already have the game. So again, how are we going to make money off of this list?

This is one of the biggest mistakes that marketers make. They offer a product to a list, for free, and have nothing to sell them on the backend. Or, they build a list of people who are notoriously known for wanting nothing but free information. In other words, they never spend any money. Or, they are targeting a segment of the population that has no money to spend, like little kids. Sure, they could try to sucker their parents into shelling out a few bucks on what you’re selling, but how many will be able to pull it off?

You need to understand who your target market is, what they want and most importantly, are they willing to pay for the information. If not, you’re just wasting your time. That’s the biggest hazard of building a list.

Another big hazard is trying to build it through promotional means that aren’t going to reach the people you’re trying to reach. For example, if you’re in the health niche and have a free report on treating cancer, it is unlikely that you’re going to get many prospects by promoting through channels that are reaching income opportunity seekers. Sure, some of them MIGHT have cancer, but the audience just isn’t targeted enough. You need to go to where the cancer victims are, such as an ezine that caters to this niche.

So as you can see, the money isn’t in the list. It’s in a list that’s properly constructed and marketed to.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Tired of not getting your emails delivered, read or opened? Sick of not making any sales from your email marketing efforts? Visit my site at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/emailmarketing/index.html and get your hands on 5 years of my personal experience with email marketing…experience that has earned me tens of thousands of dollars yearly