Honestly, everyone making money online has an email list. It’s the one thing above all else that matters most. After it’s built, it’s yours to use any time you want. Just push a button and print money – literally.

Now you now why.

Here are the three components of list building:

• Your Landing Page
• The Incentive
• Your Confirmation Page

The Squeeze Page – The landing page is the page that has your opt-in form on it. This is where they will enter their email address. That’s why it needs to look like a professionally designed page. It’s also got to be free from distractions. You’ve also got to make a strong “close”.

The biggest mistake you can make is not having a clear call to action. This is a definitive message that tells your visitor what to do. And if you don’t include it, they won’t opt in. The funny thing is that people just don’t know what to do unless you tell them.

You can take your opt-in page to the next level if you make it a video squeeze page. Adding video will help keep your visitors attention. And you can repeat the call to action several times int he video. And after the video, you can make it just say “fill in the form now”.

Now, don’t worry if you have no idea how to make videos. You can hire freelancers to do this for you for a few hundred dollars. Or you can get email list tools that give you squeeze page templates.

The Incentive – The next thing you need is an incentive to subscribe to your list. People won’t give you their email for nothing. Email privacy is very important to most people. So you have to give them a good reason to do it.

The key to a good bribe is that is has value. Then it becomes something people want to get from you. And can benefit from. Here’s some examples:

• A PDF report
• Some useful software
• Training videos
• An email series

Basically, you just need some content. Something that’s useful and helpful to your visitors. And of course it has to be free. If you make it good enough, they will give you their email in exchange.

Now, if you don’t know how to create the bribe don’t worry. Here again, you can hire freelancers to create this for you. Just give them a topic and they will write the content. A 5-part email series is a good freebie. Each email will cost between $20 and $25. So, you’ll get the whole series written for under $150.

There are also list building products that include the follow up email series. Two things to keep in mind when writing (or buying) and email training series. First, it must provide value to your subscribers. And second, it needs to make you money. One very easy way to make some money from your list is with affiliate marketing. Affiliate products are easy because you don’t have to do anything at all. And it enables you to generate cash right away from your new list.

Your Confirmation Page – The “thank you” page is the final piece of the puzzle. After subscribing to your list, your visitor is redirected to this page. A great thing to do here is provide some immediate value. That way, they feel glad that they gave you their email address. It also helps to build the relationship. So when they get your email, they’re happy to hear from you.

This is another case where you can get a complete marketing package. You can also put the whole thing together on your own. You can either write the content pages on your own. Or have someone ghost write for you.

Final thoughts

Whether you decide to build your email funnel yourself. Or if you hire people to do this for you. Or if sign up for a “complete package” solution. The key is to start building your list. Because once its built… You’ve got a license to print money!

Technorati Tags: email marketing, internet marketing, list building, seo for beginners