The money is in the list, but if you don't know how to build your list for free, then that list can cost you a lot of money! Before I learned how to start building my opt-in lists for free, I was paying about $2.50 for each one of my double opt-in leads. Depending on your list, this may not be a large price to pay, but for every 1,000 people, that was costing me $2,500 for every 1,000 people who joined my list. Now, those days are over. I refuse to spend much money at all in order to grow my lists, and my businesses are doing great!

So, the question is what are some really great ways to build that huge opt-in list for free? How can you avoid paying $2, $5, $10 or more for each of your double opt-in leads?

My first secret is to make sure that I grow and maintain great blogs which contain opt-in boxes for more free info. Some people have started growing blogs, but they don't include opt-in boxes, and other people haven't even discovered how great blogging can be for their business. Frankly, if you haven't created and optimized a blog for your website, then you are missing out on a whole lot of free website traffic. This is because creating even just a mediocre blog can generate a great amount of traffic for your sites, so make sure to start growing those blogs and then provide your visitors with great offers in exchange for a name and email address.

O.K., so here's a second way to grow that list for free: always make sure you are providing people with a free offer in your social and web 2.0 marketing. If you haven't noticed, many businesses have started to use social marketing to grow and improve their online presence. One simple technique that businesses have used is to provide people with valuable content on the many video sharing and social networking sites.

Here's how this works: each time I create a video for a video sharing site or create a page on a social networking site, I make sure that I provide my viewers with good free content, and I then make them a compelling offer to visit my site for even more free info. This offer is usually in the form of free eBooks, conference calls, and a mini course. In order for people to get the free info, they just need to visit my homepage and sign up.

The third and most effective way to get free double opt-in leads for your site is to set up your site so that it will easily attract word of mouth and viral marketing. If you create some really great content to share with people for free, then they will easily become attracted to your site and will then join your list. Also, these people will likely tell others about your website or decide to promote your site through any affiliate programs that you may have.

The absolute easiest way to start this viral marketing for your site is to make certain that you are providing people with the best information for free. Whenever a website has achieved the feat of "going viral," they have always had something great to offer. So, give away whatever you can for free to your target market, make that website great, and watch and see how your businesses flourish!