Okay… Today I was checking out this new traffic site where your sites are viewed and commented on by other people. They call it social browsing… Pretty cool site for testing ads, but I’ll get back to that in a bit. Anyhow, you can look at all of the comments people left about your page and get feedback as to how effective your message is.

I had submitted a squeeze page for a free copy of my Viral Traffic Automator submitter software. One of the comments left was: “Why do they always want your email address?”… WTH? Okay, if you have to ask why someone would want your email addy in exchange for a free product you are either a newbie or you have been living under a rock somewhere, because if you are not building a list yourself: You are going to fail in this business!

You may be able to make a little money, but sooner or later all of that surfing, ad posting, solo mailing, etc gets old. Using free traffic sites are okay, but use them to build a list. Then use that list to sell your products or send your offers to. Most people on those sites will never take the time to read your long sales letter or watch your video. So, give them something of value in exchange for them subscribing to your list, instead.

With a good list, you never need to surf for credits or post ads or send solos. If you have a product to sell, you just log into your autoresponder account and send the offer to your list! They are there because you have given them something of value in the past and if you are offering something in the same niche, they should be interested… Right?

A list gives you the ultimate targeted traffic. You have people who want to hear from you. They trust your opinions (at least they should). They decided beforehand to let you send them offers in your niche when they subscribed.

My most important thing that I try to do on a daily basis is build my marketing list. Its more important than creating a new product or website. Its more important than the latest JV offer. Why? Because with that list, I have a targeted audience to sell my product or pitch some other’s that I am working as an affiliate for!

Frank Kern said in one of his videos that your list is the most important source of traffic that you can have. Better than SEO, PPC, exchanges, whatever. SEO is fickle because the search engines are always changing the rules. PPC can be cost prohibitive in a competitive niche. Exchanges do not provide targeted traffic. Your list is highly targeted and full of eager participants in your niche!

About exchanges… I’m not saying to not use them. I still run ads on click exchanges, safelists and text ad exchanges. They are highly untargeted and most of the people there are just viewing your site so that others will view theirs. So why would I use them? Because my list is my number one priority and I have added over 500 targeted subscribers to my lists in a 30 day period just using free exchanges. Wouldn’t you like an extra 6000 subscribers per year?

If your ads are short and to the point with a good call to action, you can attract subscribers… Even using the traffic exchanges. That is why I checked out Sweeva today.

Like I said earlier, Sweeva is a bit different than your standard click exchange. People actually stay on the site and look at your ad and give you feedback on it. If your ad is positively received with this highly untargeted audience, just think how well it will do with targeted traffic. I would recommend you checking it out, just to use as a site to test your ads on… If you’re testing squeeze pages, you will probably add some subscribers as well.

There are many more aspects to it that keep people glued to your page, but its too much to go into right here. You can sign up for free and then they have a nice info page that comes up and explains how it works when you log in for the first time so be sure to read it closely. There  is also at least one video in the members area to explain the bidding process used to get your site viewed. It should be a worthwile tool in your bag of tricks.

So get out there and build your list… Whatever advertising methods you choose to use… Always be building your list.

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