Why? What are the successful list-builders doing differently?

1) They are using squeeze pages to force new traffic to opt in to get into their web site. This is much stronger than just adding an opt-in web form on every page of your website. What is your new visitor conversion rate to opt-in to your mailing list? 5%, 10%? With a squeeze page that offers the only access to your web site, that number can range anywhere from 40% to as much as 80%, depending on the value of the information in your web site and the effectiveness of your squeeze page at conveying that information. Wow! Talk about a huge increase! 800% at the top end. Even if you are just getting 10 subscribers a day, imagine if that were 80 a day, with no change in your traffic! That is 2400 subscribers per month--do the math for the yearly number.

2) They utilize the power of numbers. They know that if they are getting 100 leads a day, they can track their advertising much more effectively and certainly faster, than you are getting 10 leads a day. They are willing to take extra steps to make those extra numbers happen.

3) They test everything they do. They know what sources convert at 10%, at 20%, at 60%, into subscribers. They know the cost-per-subscriber of every source they use. When you track things, they tend to improve.

4) They treat their subscribers as if they are worth money. What is your average subscriber worth? 50 cents a month? What are you willing to pay for a subscriber that is worth 50 cents a month? How about a dollar a month? And you are struggling with paying 50 cents to get a new subsciriber?

5) They are backending their new subscribers. After the subscriber opt-in, the thank you page is a high-converting sales page. It has been said that with the right thank you sales page, 100% of the opt-in cost can be recovered on the spot.

6) They are single-minded. It is far better to become highly successful at one or two sources of traffic than to be mediocre at 10 different sources. Become an expert at one source of traffic and the necessary conversion tactics for that traffic source. You see, one squeeze page may be highly effective at converting a particular traffic source, but lousy at another. Test different sources differently. Focus, focus, focus.