Thursday, May 29, 2008

Internet Marketing and List Building - Using JVs to Make Your List Blossom

Here's the deal: To put your list building efforts on another level, especially when you start going to Internet marketing conferences, and such, and you're meeting people. Try to find people in your niche. That's first. Then, try to find other people who have just started list building and have about 2 - 3,000 people.

Then, there are two things you want to do. First, set up a cross-promotion with them. Do it for that same week, preferably that day or the next. A lot of people won't have the flexibility in time that you do, about when they'll be able to send out. Put some pressure on them. Internet marketing people are usually so busy that you just have to keep on them to get them to do what you want them to do.

So, once they agree, say to them, "I'll promote your product or service, if you'll promote mine. What d'ya say? Can you mail out to your list on Tuesday or Wednesday this week? Great! So can I. We'll cross-promote each others' stuff. Send me two of your emails, and I'll send you two of mine, and let's join each other's affiliate programs. Here's my link."

And then, you join each other's affiliate programs. At first, you'll probably struggle to find a link for the other person, but that's one of the things that Internet marketing requires. You'll get used to it. Right now, aim to work with people who have 2 - 3,000-person lists because they have equal promotional power to you, and by cross-promoting, you'll each have the benefit of faster list building.

When they agree to do this, then throw in a Golden Rule offer. Say, "I really think you have some great stuff. How about some ongoing traffic?" Everyone in Internet marketing knows that's the key, so 9 times out of 10, they'll agree to this deal.

So, you say, "I'll do the one-time promotion for you, and I'll put two emails for you into my autoresponder series, if you'll do the same thing for me." Now, you're not just doing a one-time deal, you're leveraging it into continued list building and traffic.

There's no doubt that you'll get that one-shot thing nailed. Most people who have lists smaller than 10,000 people are usually only looking for that one-time deal. Many of them aren't thinking beyond that into the future. In fact, with a small list, they're probably just starting out with Internet marketing, too. I'm sure there are tons of people with lists the size of yours who will be will to make a deal because they also need to be list building.

Most of the people you approach with the Golden Rule deal won't have heard of it because only my private coaching students know much about it. Then, what you say is, "I'm going to put two messages into my autoresponder series for you, and when anyone joins my list, you'll get traffic forever." There's the key. The ongoing traffic doesn't stop.

You really need to think about joint ventures to get your list building much more quickly. If you know of some Internet marketing folks who are just starting out or who just started with list building, you probably have a great shot of working with them. They need to be list building and selling their products or services, too.

Tellman Knudson, CEO of OvercomeEverything, Inc., is a master list builder and well-known for his first project, List Crusade. Tellman teaches you his system for explosive list building at MyFirstList.com.