It seems that many people, when asked the question ‘do you think you are successful with your online business?, will not reply with a straight answer, and for good reason; it would appear that these people believe that merely having an online presence, such as a website, is good enough to claim success!

Unfortunately, simply having a website is no guarantee of internet marketing success since, unless you take further positive action, then it is unlikely that potential customers will even be aware that your website exists.
The key factor to online marketing success is getting your business noticed.

A good way of attracting notice is to build what is know as an opt-in list, mailing list or, simply, a ‘list’. It is likely that the truly successful internet marketers will confirm that having a highly targeted opt-in list is the most important weapon in their IM armory.

Essentially, an opt-in, or mailing, list is a compilation of email addresses of people who have agreed (by opting-in) to obtain any kind of relevant information from online businesses like yours. Since these people have confirmed their opt-in, you have their explicit permission to send to them whatever newsletters, brochures, or promotions that are relevant to your online business. Receiving this explicit permission is important since, without it, and mailings could (and probably would) be considered as spam and therefore illegal

Building such a list of potential customers is reasonably straightforward and the exposure the list gives your business means that it should become your most valuable internet marketing resource. You will be able to maintain contact with previous buyers as well as promoting products to potential customers also on your list.

The following points will enable the newcomer to start and develop a list in the most effective manner:.

1. Select a niche market / target market.

It is important that, before starting list building, you select a niche or target market to develop your list around. This way any promotions that you mail to your list will be relevant to the people on that list.

2. Verify niche / target market is available online.

This may seem obvious but before settling on your niche / target market, it is essential that you verify that the market exists online since the nature of list building is peculiar to the internet.

3. Verify niche / target market is commercially viable.

A highly targeted list will, of course, be wasted if there is not serious income generating potential associated with your chosen market. You can verify the commercial viability of the market by carrying out checks on the search engines using your chosen keywords.

4. Investigate the common problems of your target market and generate solutions.

This can be typically carried out on forums associated with your market. By identifying common problems raised by your target audience you can provide solutions for people to use thus establishing yourself as an expert and giving your business increased exposure.

So the success of an online business can largely be determined by the size and quality of a highly targeted opt-in list. The list provides the marketer with, essentially, a life-long resource for promoting products and generating additional income online.

Keith Blackburn