In this age of Facebook and Twitter, many people sometimes forget your most important marketing tool is still list building. Actually, in these days of instant messages, viral videos, fan pages and Twitter tweets; the importance of building a list has increased, rather than decreased. Having a list of contacts which you can communicate with at a moment’s notice is still a very effective marketing tool.

One which online marketers have used to their advantage for years to further their interests, especially in the online arena. In the not so distant past, it was simply a matter of throwing up a subscription form on your site and contacting these subscribers with a weekly or daily newsletter. Not any more, list building has become much more complex, especially with regards to social bookmarking and networking sites.

The simple subscribe box is still a vital element, but you have to take a much more multifaceted approach to your contact building. You must make it easy for visitors not only to opt-in to your list or newsletter, but you must also make it easy for them to bookmark and recommend your content to all their friends and colleagues. This social list building has to be a prominent feature of your online marketing.

No doubt you’re probably sick and tired of hearing the expression – The Money Is In The List – but this is also just as true today as it was in the past. Building a list of interested prospects and clients is still an effective way to make more sales. And using an autoresponder to do follow-up marketing will definitely increase your sales because studies have shown that many buyers will only purchase after being contacted 6 or 7 times.

These follow-ups can be more information on the major benefits of the products you’re selling or promoting. It doesn’t really have to be all hard-sell, many marketing experts say the list should be really used for pre-selling a product or service, and then letting the site or company do the actual selling. Regardless, building your list of prospective customers is a vital part of your marketing funnel and should not be ignored.

For the online marketer and/or webmaster this means making your site and webpages more ‘social media friendly’ and providing a simple way for your visitors to bookmark your site. Including a bookmark tool like the Addthis button is a given, so too is adding a Twitter Addme button. Plus, visitors should be able to easily become a member of your blog and subscribe to your RSS feed.

In addition, visitors should be encouraged to add you as a Facebook friend simply because Facebook is quickly becoming the most dominant site on the web. You should also start building your list of contacts in such places as Linkedin, MySpace, YouTube, Yahoo Groups, Google Groups… and similar sites.

Marketers should go one step further and seek out specific sites related to their product or theme. You must seek out related communities and join them. For example, if you’re into web marketing and SEO, then you would seek out and/or become a part of sites like WebProNews, SiteProNews, Site-Reference… and become involved in online marketing forums to help build your list of contacts. In many cases, these sites will also let you contribute unique content which can be used to build your list.

Don’t forget the viral element which can be extremely effective in building your list on today’s web. A popular video which goes viral can be a great way to attract visitors and subscribers to your list and all the social bookmarking sites mentioned above. Getting a first page link to a popular post or article on sites such as Digg can be a great way to get visitors and subscribers. Using viral ebooks and PDF Reports is another effective way to draw visitors and subscribers back to your site and onto your list.

Perhaps, what is truly called for, is a change in attitude when it comes to building your list on this new more socially empowered web. The simple old subscriber box just won’t cut it anymore. You must take your list building to a much more involved level, one that is closely connected to all the social communities and sites on the web. In other words, you have to become more pro-active and actually seek out your future subscribers and friends. Go get ’em!

Author Bio: To Get a Step-by-Step Guide that will show you How to Start, Build & Manage your OWN HUGE Opt-In List! Click Here: list building To check out the latest marketing tools go here: Click Here: marketing tools Copyright Titus Hoskins. This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.

Category: Marketing
Keywords: list building,build your list,online marketing,marketing tools,email list,opt-in list,