List Building - What the Heck Is Co-Registration, and Should I Care?

When you think about co-registration, don't think about it as buying "leads." That's a whole different ball game, and has nothing remotely to do with co-registration.

Co-registration is one really great tool for list building, and you should definitely be using it, if you're new to Internet marketing. Co-registration means that you're advertising your newsletter, ezine, special report, or other offer along with other businesses at the same time. Beside each of the offers on the co-reg page is a checkbox, so that people can decide which offers they're interested in subscribing to. Once they sign up via a co-reg form, they're asking to become subscribers to one or several lists at the same time. You'll pay co-registration because the co-reg service advertises for you and guarantees you a certain number of optins each month. It's definitely the fastest way to be list building when you have no list to start.

But there are two things you need to consider. First, do you want the checkbox filled in or left to the viewer's discretion? If you let the box be filled, you'll build your list faster, but the people may just be signing up because they were really interested in something else. If you leave the checkbox unchecked, and make the viewer decide that they want to be on your list, you'll probably have a much more responsive customer; however, this method of list building is much slower.

The other thing you need to consider is whether you want to use single or double optin for your leads. That means they will either get nothing to confirm or that they'll receive a confirmation message from your autoresponder that they'll have to respond to before they become part of your list. Single optin is undoubtedly a faster way to be list building, but double optin will help you to avoid spam complaints.

The quickest way to build a list is undoubtedly with single optin and the checkbox filled in. Is it the best way for you? You'll have to decide when you set up your co-reg account, but you can always go back and change it later.

The biggest issue with co-registration is that the people you're building your list with didn't join because they know who you are and want to be part of your world. They're strangers. So, you have to make them your friends.

Write to them once or twice a week, minimum, and give them great stuff. Send them to free things that they can use and enjoy. Give them tips and tricks you've learned. And then, offer them something you've tried and use every day, but that's not free--an affiliate product. They'll be much more inclined to buy.

Using co-registration is an awesome way to build a list quickly, but you have to decide how you want the co-registration to work and then, you have to train your list to be responsive. If you're new to list building and Internet marketing, you may not understand co-reg and be afraid to try it. You shouldn't be. Co-reg is one of the easiest and quickest way to build a list and you should definitely consider it.

As CEO of OvercomeEverything, Inc., Tellman Knudson has become a list building ninja since starting List Crusade back in 2004. Pick up his Free list building CD and get a free one-hour consultation with a list building expert from Overcome Everything when you visit http://listbuildingpower.net