Ask any direct mail business owner where the money is and you'll get the same answer. The money is in the list. The same holds true for internet business owners. The money is in the list.
The difficulty with building a quality list is, it takes time and money. You can advertise on PPC search engines, conduct ezine ad campaigns, work joint ventures with other publishers and generally work yourself half to death trying to get potential subscribers to your free sign up page.
But what if there was a more profitable system that eliminated the freebie subscribers? What if you could generate a subscriber list that was made up of proven buyers from day 1? And each new subscriber paid you $1.17 to be on your list. That makes better business sense.
Sound like a pipe dream? It's not. It's a proven system that builds your list at the same time it adds a cash flow to your business.
The system works like this:
Potential subscribers are offered something of value for free. But instead of being the typical eBook or free report it's a product like an interview or PC video presented on a CD or DVD. The new subscriber is offered the CD for free if they pay the shipping and handling. In actual fact, the price of shipping and handling covers the cost to produce, package and ship the CD and leaves you with a profit.
Let's take a look at a real life example. To increase subscribers for my newsletter, I offered a 1-hour audio interview with Kacper Postawski, a niche marketing genius. The interview was valued at $97, but I offered it as a free CD if the new subscriber paid the postage and handling of $6.95.
Postage and handling charge $6.95
- credit card processing 0.38 (5.5%)
- credit card processor fee 0.45
- $4.95 CD production, packaging, and postage
= $1.17 profit
This offer generated an average of 100 new subscribers per week with minimal promotion.
The drawback to this kind of list building is it's not automated. It takes about 2 hours per week to maintain the database and as it grows bigger it requires more time. In the short term, it's nice to get paid upfront to build a list.
Another variation of this method is to do everything online. After your new subscriber signs up for their freebie, you direct them to a One Time Offer page that allows them to buy an add-on product to enhance their free product. For example, you could offer your new subscribers a free transcription of an interview with an industry expert. During the sign up process, you offer them the audio of the interview for $4.99 or $9.99 or whatever price you wish.
If you generate an average 1% - 2% response to your $9.99 offer, you'll make approximately $10 - $20 per 100 subscribers. It's not a fortune, but it adds up quickly.
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