Why You Need a Landing Page and a List

There’s a saying among Internet marketers, “The money is in the list,” and it’s true. In all but a few niches, it’s possible to make much more money from having a regularly-read list than it is from one-time sales. Here is the basic why and how.

A list lets you keep selling to the people who are already interested in products in your niche. When you just sell them a product without putting them on a list, you make a commission and product owner makes his cash–and probably adds them to his own list. Without a list of your own, you’re giving away a lot of cash.

Someone who buys from you once is likely to buy from you again–especially if they liked what they bought the first time. This is such an important factor that many marketers will only break even or even lose money in order to get customers to buy that first product.

As an example, dating guru David DeAngelo pays affiliates 200% commission, because of all the money he’s sure to make on the back-end. Many dating and other monthly membership sites pay their affiliates for driving free sign-up members to their sites. They’re willing to pay a cost for leads because of the repeat business they end up getting.

How can you use your list once you’ve got it? First off, you can sell more products in your niche. If your lead-in product is a dog training e-book, why not find someone’s video course to sell as well? Niches like natural health offer a variety of products you can affiliate market, and are constantly coming out with new ones you can tell your list about.

Of course, you want to do more for your list readers than just give them the opportunity to buy good products from you. Giving away free information and the occasional free product makes you into a trusted and valuable source. Back on the dog training example, perhaps you could give away a free “sit” lesson with every sign up. This makes the people on your list more likely to open your emails, and makes them more sure about buying any future products you promote.

Keep in mind that everyone likes to buy, but nobody likes being sold. Keeping your emails conversational, while giving away good information, will turn you from a salesman to a trusted friend–or at least an associate–who also knows how to find a good deal.

Most importantly, you’ve got to make sure that you only promote quality products. Your reputation is worth everything in this business. A customer who buys crap from you isn’t likely to want to buy anything from you again, no matter how good it sounds.

A customer who knows you only promote products that are worth his or her time, however, is more likely to buy from you–and also more likely to recommend you to his or her friends.