In traditional marketing, the large companies knew the secret to success was having a huge pool of prospects and customers to go to again and again. If someone requested information, or made a purchase from you, chances are you could turn them into repeat customers. The key was staying in touch with them through a variety of methods.

That same philosophy applies more than ever in today’s technological world as well.  

Blogging is great. So is gaining followers on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn. But what happens 5 years from now when Twitter isn’t the top way of communicating? What happens when attentions move to Twitter to “Insert new name here”?

Your followers no longer stay in touch with you on the old media. They move onto something new – something that you may no longer be using yourself.

But if you maintain a web/blog presence, and have your own in-house list offering free reports, free white papers, or a free e-class, you’ve now brought prospects back to your own sources. And you have full control over how you maintain a relationship with them. You can email them regularly with ezines. You can send out new offers and put them on new, more segregated lists. You can ask for more information, and put them on a snail mailing list. The options are endless.

I’ve been reading a lot of interviews from bloggers lately, and most wish they had started their own email lists sooner rather than later. If you have a business and are trying to attract customers, you have to build your own list. I’ve been using aweber for years and love their service. You can create an unlimited amount of lists, and can send as many times as you desire for the same low monthly fee. You can also have autoresponders as well as ezines, giving you two services for the price of one.