How to Build a List with Article Marketing

One of the smartest things anybody can do when marketing on the internet is to build a list of pre-qualified prospects. These are people who have already shown an interest in what you have to offer. Collecting the contact information of visitors to your squeeze page is the most common and acceptable way of compiling a list of email addresses. What we are going to speak about here today is how to build your list of email addresses by writing articles. It is a simple but highly effective process that involves a little effort and diligence on your part. Here are the 5 steps you will want to follow to build a list of targeted prospects for your business when you write articles and submit them online. Article Content When writing articles to promote something attention must be paid to ensure that the content is relevant to what it is you are representing. You also want it to be useful to your readers in some form or fashion such as informative, humorous or thought provoking. If you consistently write articles readers find is worth their time to read you stand to gain a larger following offering you greater traffic potential. The Resource Box This area of your article is usually the only place you can 'plug' your business or cause and is found at the bottom of your article. You are only allowed a limited amount of space, usually about 3 lines, so it is important to make the best use of this real estate. A brief bio about yourself followed by why the reader should visit your site is what this box will contain. An obvious 'call to action' is what is needed here to encourage/motivate readers and this is generally accomplished by the offer of a free giveaway. The Squeeze Page The squeeze page is where readers will land after clicking the link in your resource box. On this page you will keep your text very brief and focus ONLY on why readers should leave their contact information. This is where you actually 'exchange' the free giveaway for their email address. Focus on nothing more than a brief review of the benefits the reader can expect to experience by visiting the next page. That is it and nothing more should be mentioned since it will only distract people and disrupt their focus on what it is you want them to do. Auto-Responder Email Series Develop and schedule a series of follow-up emails to be sent out at different intervals to the people who subscribe to your list. This is best accomplished by the use of auto-responder service of which there many available online. Staying in contact with your list is of the utmost importance in order for you to conduct any type of business with them in the future. Building a Relationship Your initial contact with anyone subscribing to your list should be a thank you for their subscription and to ensure they receive the gift as promised. After this you start to build a relationship with them by supplying them with information and resources that they may find useful. You do not want to give them the impression that every contact you make will be an attempt to sell something. If you do they will likely unsubscribe and then you have lost them forever! A primary objective of anyone marketing on the internet should be to build a list of people who have already shown an interest in what you offer. Through the use of a squeeze page this can be accomplished quite effectively by writing articles. By following the simple 5 step process above you can compile a list of email addresses which you can use to grow your business well into the future.