How-To Discover Your Target

I don’t know about you, but when I first started out with list building, I wondered one thing: How can I be successful with Internet Marketing? I had about $50, and didn’t know much about being online. I didn’t know how to put up a web page. I didn’t know how to get traffic. I didn’t know anyone at all!

So, I found the most successful people online and I just studied them. I wanted to know what they all had in common, what made them successful. So, I looked at people like Jay Abraham, Alex Mandossian, T. Harv Eker, and many others, and what I discovered, the common thread was that they all had these gigantic lists. Just these huge lists of people who they could email, write, or call anytime they wanted to, offer them something of value, and make money. It was just that simple, and apparent to me that I had better start list building.

But I had no idea where to get a list, and maybe you don’t know where to get one, either. My method was through joint venture and List Crusade, and of course, the rest is history. But the secret is to keep list building, to always be list building.

You may have your own secrets. But more of you are probably scratching your heads wondering how to gather a list of people who will be hungry for your valuable offers.

The first step in list building is to define your niche. What’s important to you? Are you a parent? A gardener? A crossword puzzle fanatic? What do you do on weekends? Are you into sports? Do you like to watch NASCAR? Or do you just like to shop at the mall? Every one of these activities has the potential for list building. You can find people who have similar interests and those people will be your target market.

And now, you’re wondering where to find them, right? Well, it’s actually pretty easy because we have something called, “The Internet.” It’s not like you have to go to garden club meetings and schmooze with other gardeners. Well, you can, and if you’re passionate about gardening, you probably do, but I doubt that you ever stray far from your circle of gardening friends. But the Internet not only makes other gardeners available to you, it makes the whole world of gardeners available to you!

The first thing you should do is go to Google Groups (http://groups.google.com) and type in “gardening” or whatever your niche is. A list of different newsgroups available in a part of the Internet, called Usenet, will come up on your screen. You can access them right through Google, or you can use a stand-alone newsreader, like Outlook Express, Forte’s Agent, or other software to access them.

So you plug in “gardening,” for instance, and the search will provide you with lots of different groups populated by gardeners. If you do this in Google, it will tell you how many people belong to the group and when the last message was posted. I’d opt for joining the discussion in an active and more heavily populated group.

Read through the posts before just jumping in, though. If you post something that’s slightly off kilter, Usenet is a no-holds-barred situation and it can get ugly. Find one of the more civilized groups where you have a chance to thrive before posting. In your signature or “sig file” use the URL to your squeeze page. Make some relevant and interesting comments to the group, and if people like what you have to say, they’ll probably join your list.

Another way to find people in your niche is to find online forums. This time, go to Google and type in “gardening forums,” and you’ll come away with a whole list of places. Though forums are similar to Usenet groups, they’re usually moderated. Still, you shouldn’t go lumbering into a forum and start posting. Read through the posts and see what the atmosphere is like. It may not be for you. If so, find another forum, and introduce yourself. Then start posting there. Do it every day. Become a “regular,” and when you post great comments, people will see your signature, where you’ve included the URL to your squeeze page, and click to find out more about you.

You can send your offline friends to your website, too. Why not add them to your list? They may not even know about your gardening newsletter. Perhaps the leader of your group could announce it in a meeting.

So, who’s your target audience? Anybody that’s interested in the same thing as you are interested in. Whether you find these people online or off, it really doesn’t matter. Still be list building. These are the people who will be interested in your offers and information. I mean, you wouldn’t try to sell fishing rods to golfers. That would be silly. Find the people who are interested in what you’re interested in. They’ll probably want to be on your list, too.

All About Squeeze Pages

Tagged as: google, marketing, niche, traffic