The Basics of Building a Mailing List

First of all, let’s recap on the basics. How does one go about building a mailing list? And
what are the best marketing techniques to ensure that it keeps growing?

The Autoresponder

Of course to begin with, you need the most important tool for building and managing a
mailing list: an autoresponder.

An autoresponder is essentially a piece of software that manages a mailing list on your
behalf. It saves you a ton of time in the long run and really it’s not an option to go
without.

Specifically, an autoresponder is what you will use to create your opt-in form. This is
where your visitors will enter their names and their email addresses in order to
subscribe. From there, the autoresponder will then be where the database of users is
stored and it’s where you will send your messages. These tools allow you to message
huge lists without using the BCC function of your email.

What’s more, autoresponders also give you lots of information regarding your emails –
for instance they can tell you what percentage of them are actually getting opened. They
also provide you with other powerful features, such as the ability to include the
recipient’s name inside the messages. This way, your email can say ‘Hey John!’ instead
of being generic and the same for each subscriber.

Autoresponders also allow you to implement a ‘double opt-in’, meaning that subscribers
need to respond to a confirmation email to confirm their interest. This protects you from
spam and from people who aren’t really interested in reading your messages. More
important, autoresponders allow people to automatically unsubscribe, rather than
requiring you to manage it manually.

For all these reasons, an autoresponder is an absolutely essential tool and not
something you can do without.

Three of the bigger autoresponders out there are MailChimp, GetResponse and
AWeber. Unfortunately, these tools aren’t free so you will need to pay.
Also unfortunate, is that the prices are not set fees – which makes it quite hard to
directly compare the value on offer.

Free List Management System here