by Tellman Knudson

One question that people often ask me is, "Tellman, I want to start list building like you suggest, but I don't know where to start."

OK. Let me give you the 7 simple steps to follow:

1. Choose your niche: What are you passionate about?

I mean, what really gets you going? What can you get excited about and what will keep you that way? It could be anything from knitting to knees. It really doesn't matter, as long as people are searching for terms that surround your niche, you should do well. First, figure out what it is you have a passion for.

2. Do some research: Write a list of words that are used in your niche and then, go to http://inventory.overture.com/ .

Type the words into the blank, one at a time, and see how many searches are done for the terms. If your primary keywords generate 3,000 searches or more per month, you probably have a niche to work with. If you see there are 20,000 to 30,000 searches, then you definitely have a winner.

Just be aware that the very heavily-searched niches are probably very competitive. You may want to start list building around a smaller niche

3. Create a unique domain name: Your domain name should have something to do with what you're list building around.

For instance, my site, MyFirstTraffic.com, is for my beginner's traffic course. Makes sense, right? It makes it easy for people searching to find my site and buy my product, and it makes it easy for the search engines to figure out what my site is about for indexing.

Just be sure the name you choose isn't too long or difficult for people to remember.

4. Choose a web host: The most important factor here is dependability.

Don't ever base your choice of Web host on price because the cheapest hosts may just close shop and leave you hanging. You also want to be sure they have nearly 100% uptime. It's impossible for a host to have no downtime at all because upgrades and repairs are always needed. Just be sure that they have a good uptime reliability factor.

You may want to delay buying your domain name until you choose a Web hosting company, too. Many of them include a domain name or two with your hosting package. If you're just starting out, you may not need a very complicated plan, but if you're starting a membership site, say, where you'll need to use PHP extensions, then, you'll want something a bit more expensive.

If you don't know what you need, you'll probably have a tech person working with you anyway, so you can always ask them for a recommendation.

5. Build a squeeze page: Now that you have an idea about the niche you want to pursue, you want to start list building.

In other words, you want to gather a group of people who are hungry for information or products in your niche. To do that, you need a squeeze page, which is nothing more than a great headline, 3-5 bullet points of copy detailing the benefits of joining your list, and an opt-in box, which leads to...

6. Your autoresponder: Autoresponders are services that collect and house the names from your E-mail marketing list.

They also send out your confirmation messages. When someone signs up for your list, they have to click on a link in the confirmation message, which verifies that they actually signed up to your list. Once they do this, you can send email to them anytime you want.

This double opt-in process is important. If someone accuses you of spamming, you can get yourself into trouble. You can lose your ISP or, worse, face charges for violating the CAN-SPAM act of 2003, if you're in the U. S.

Autoresponders protect you from spam complaints. Choose a service that you can afford, but also find one that provides uninterrupted service and maximum deliverability. If nobody gets your E-mail, how can they read it to buy something from you?

7. Put your list building page on your server: The easiest and quickest way to put your list building page up is via FTP because it makes uploading quick and easy.

Wise FTP and Cute FTP are two programs that you can use, but there are many others. Using FTP is something you should learn more about if you plan to do business online.

If you follow these 7 steps you'll be list building in no time. Choose a great niche, create a memorable domain name, build a squeeze page, get an autoresponder, and upload your page and BOOM! You're list building.

How easy is that?

List building master, Tellman Knudson, is CEO of OvercomeEverything, Inc. and he has built a massive, responsive list in a short time. Learn his "Get a List Quick" system when you visit MyFirstList.com at http://www.myfirstlist.com/)