People often talk about leads. I got 500 leads from XYZ or I got a new lead here, there, who knows? But let me tell you, there’s a HUGE difference between a lead and a subscriber.
First, when you buy leads, you’re buying a bunch of junk. Those people are nothing more than names and email addresses. They don’t know you. They don’t care about you, and you’ve just wasted a pile of money.
Why?
Because even if the list of people double opted-in somewhere, as some lead generation services tell you, they didn’t opt-in for you. So why’s that different from co-registration?
At least with co-reg, you’re able to describe your offer. Your description, which you wrote yourself, is placed on a page with four to maybe twenty other offers. (Lower is better.) But it’s your description and people choose to opt-in to YOUR list.
When you’re list building the right way, personal choice is involved. What might make someone sign-up for your list? Maybe they like you or maybe they like your message? They might want to learn more from you and will come to trust you, if you give them good information.
There lies the difference between a subscriber and a plain lead. Your subscriber has seen your offer and opted-in by choice. A lead has no connection to you other than the fact that you have their name and email address. In fact, you might be breaking the law. It’s spam, pure and simple. They didn’t ask for you specifically. Don’t waste your money on these.
You need to be smart about list building. People who sign up and like your message will want to do business with you. Strangers collected by strangers won’t help.
If you have a list of leads that you bought and paid for, that’s too bad. Forget them. Move on and build your list the right way. Ethics say that people on your list should know what you’re all about. If you’re new to Online Marketing, you probably don’t even recognize the difference. It’s just not list building. It’s list buying. It may seem like a quick solution to a problem, but it won’t get you were you want to go.
Don’t base your business on sand. You need a solid foundation. Collect leads by putting up a squeeze page, by having opt-in boxes on your site, through joint ventures, etc. When you’re giving people what they truly want, you’ll achieve much greater success.
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