If you’re ready to take the plunge into affiliate marketing but haven’t created a listbuilding strategy, now is the time to get started. If you’re ready to take your business up to the next level, here are 7 do’s and don’ts of listbuilding:

1.    Do put listbuilding at the top of your list.

Listbuilding is the lifeblood of any affiliate marketer’s business. Your money lies in the list, so you want to tend to it in a way that fosters the growth of your business. Make listbuilding one of your top priorities. Study successful marketers and do what they do. Follow their leads, and their actions will pave the path for your success.

2.    Don’t focus on making money before you build customer relationships.

Build relationships first. Make money second.  If you’re a serious affiliate marketer, you know that making money over the long term is dependent on the quality of relationships you build with your prospects and current customers.

Too many newbies are laser focused on making money and, ironically, miss out on golden opportunities to build relationships with the people they depend upon to buy their products.

3.    Do stay consistent with your efforts.

Keep your listbuilding evergreen. The success of your list is directly related to the consistency of your efforts. Building a good quality list is not a one-shot deal. You’ll have to keep the ball rolling in order to create a targeted list of subscribers that become customers. There’s more than one way to build a list, so be creative in your efforts to attract people to your subscriber list.

4.    Don’t engage in spam.

No one likes to be spammed. Engage in it, and word will get around quickly and turn off potential customers. Operate your business with the utmost integrity, and you will build a solid foundation for long-term success. Invite people to subscribe to your list. Don’t show up unannounced in their e-mail accounts.

5.    Do make it easy to subscribe to your list.

Make it easy to opt-in to your list. Place your opt-in box conspicuously on the page. Avoid fancy graphics and animation that distract website visitors from your opt-in form.

6.    Don’t buy leads.

The problem with buying leads is that you end up contacting people who may not know who you are. They’ll likely perceive your e-mails as spam and perceive your marketing efforts as an intrusion.

People don’t want to be sold to, but they do like to buy products. You’ll have more success if customers feel as if they’ve made their own buying decisions, and this includes what e-mail marketing they subscribe to.

7.    Do compelling marketing.

In order to remain competitive, you’ve got to stand out for all the right reasons. Keep your marketing compelling. You don’t have to reinvent an existing product. Instead, create a unique marketing angle that grabs your target market’s attention and keeps it.

Listbuilding takes a little trial and error and a lot of consistency. The most important thing to remember is that there is more than one way to build a list, so get creative and focus on attracting the qualified leads that will sustain your business over the long run.