You probably read and heard a lot about list building before you realized the power in it. When you did, you may have gone all out, learning everything you could about list building, and you may have built a pretty good list. But though you followed the gurus' advice to the letter, though you're paying for an autoresponder service and you may even be growing your list fast with co-registration, you still can't make enough to cover the expense. You start to wonder, "Where did I go wrong?"

A common mistake is that you didn't research the niche you're list building in thoroughly. Though it might be your passion, how many other people consider it their passion, too. I mean, how many people are interested in Tibetan yak butter tea? There might be a lot, but you won't know that, until you learn how many people are actively searching for "yak butter tea" in the search engines. But let's say that you did the work and the niche is powerful. That still doesn't mean that you'll make money just because you built a list. You need to build a rapport with your audience. Here are some tips to get you going in the right direction:

1) Be generous. Give information away. Turn your list on to free products that are useful for your niche. Give them quality stuff that will improve their lives or their businesses, and they'll love you. To further enhance your standing as an expert in your niche, write some articles and get them into the article directories. Also join forums so that you know what the people in your niche want and think. Stick around and answer some questions, too. People will see you as an expert, if you help them. People will begin to trust you once you start building a reputation, and when that happens, they'll buy the products you recommend.

2) Find product to sell that are a) in line with your niche and b) that the people in that niche want. Let's say you're in the Persian cat niche. If you try to sell the people on your list dog toys, it won't work. Oh, you might make a random sale or two because cat people sometimes have dogs as well, but the solid cat people won't be remotely interested. You're wasting your time. But whatever the product is be sure to buy it first and try it out. If you sell a bad product to the people on your list, you'll regret it. Not only will you get mail, you may have to make some refunds, but the worst thing is that it will damage your credibility and all your hard list building work is out the window. Sales pros say that every person that's unhappy with you tells an average of 27 other people. That can add up, so you don't want that to happen.

3) Become friendly with people your niche who have big lists. Go to conventions and meet people, and see if you can make connections. You can get great advice on dos and don'ts from people who have already been list building in your niche and are making money. When you've grown your own list, you can become joint venture partners and share the benefit, making it a win-win proposition.

Even if list building and making money from list building seems impossible to some people, you can make a million dollars in a day when you take the time to build a list of buyers that you've established a relationship with. When you fail to bond, your list building efforts just sink. Be sure to maintain the quality of information you give to people and that the products you recommend are good ones. When you do those things, your list will become the most important asset in your business and list building the most important activity.