Two Methods of List Building - Pros and Cons

If you're reading this article you must have some idea of the importance of building a list.

There's two methods you can use. Both are effective but require different resources.

The first way is to invest is advertising using pay per click on Google or one of the other search engines. There's also ezine advertising where you run an ad in an ezine that is sent out to the subscribers. While these methods require an investment in dollars they don't require a lot of time.

The second way of building a list is to find low-cost methods that really work. Although these methods require little or no investment in dollars they do require an investment of a fair amount of time.

So which way is better.

The answer depends on whether you have the time or the money.

If you have the means to finance an advertising campaign you'll want to consider pay per click advertising with Google, Yahoo or MSN. You will need to spend some time doing keyword research, writing your ads and monitoring your results. You also will want to split test your ads so you can optimize your results. If your ads work well you'll get a lot of clicks which you can send to your squeeze page. Remember to reinvest your profits back into your advertising campaign so your list will grow exponentially. The advantage of this method is that it can build your list fast. The disadvantage is that it can be very expensive.

Another means of paid advertising is through ezine ads. The publishers of ezines will sell ads which will appear in their publication when it's sent out to the subscribers. The bigger the list of subscribers the more the ad will cost. The secret here is to start small and test the results. Make sure that the subscriber list is targeted to what you are promoting. The advantage is your ad will reach highly targeted subscribers. The disadvantage is it will cost you some money, although probably not as much as pay per click advertising.

If you're short on funds but have the time then you'll want to consider article marketing.

Write articles that are keyed to your niche and submit them to the various article directories. The articles should be between 400 and 700 words and include a link at the end which sends the reader to your squeeze page for a free report, free ebook, a course or a free sample. The advantage is it doesn't require money. The disadvantage is that it requires time and the submission process can be tedious.

Lastly, you can spend time in forums and answer a lot of posts with solid valuable information. Include a link to your squeeze page in your signature never in the post. Advantage is no cost other than your time and eventually you will establish yourself as an expert. Clicks are from quality people. The disadvantage is that it's time consuming and it takes a while for the traffic to grow.

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