Thread: How to create a targeted email list from scratch

*WARNING* Not for those who are looking for an easy way out.

I have personally fielded three questions in the last 24 hours on this topic (not on this forum) about ways to build a list so I figure the universe might be telling me to share some information.

Create something someone wants and trade it to them for a few pieces of data (email, first name, last name); sounds simple right? It is.

I always love these ziggler/robins 'esc inspirational quotes that explain concept but never give practical examples.

1.) Find a commodity community (i.e facebook, Wordpress, Drupal .... etc)
2.) Create some user contributed utilities (apps,plugins, modules .... etc)
3.) Structure the utility so that it requires a 'free registration' of a first name, last name and email address.
4.) Have the utility record the data to an email list service like ConstantContact aWeber ... etc via an API.
5.) Have the utility record the data to a database or something that the utility can verify against ... etc

I have employed such methods before and I built a targeted list of 523 subscribers in 48 hours. Now, not everyone will give you valid or 'real' email addresses, so expect some attrition.

In my example list I had about 53 'bad' addresses' on the list. I also had a 73% conversion rate on that list. In total, I set the whole system up in a weekend.

Thanks,

Ryan

That sounds like a great idea, but how do people find the website with your contributed product?
How do you drive traffic to it? To me it's like the chicken and the egg.

bateati: I created several plugins for Wordpress; my latest example is: WordPress › WP Complete Backup « WordPress Plugins

TommyBoy: In most commodity communities there are pre-established directories that you can list your utilities in ... etc. That is the beauty of something like this, no marketing.

It's a classic value proposition - I have a software utility you precieve to have value. I propose that I'll give you that value for a few pieces of your data.

The list is prequalified because the I know why the addresses are on the list and what they were interested in when their address was added.


Thanks,

Ryan