I am on a lot – and I mean a LOT – of mailing lists because it seems like almost every blogger or marketer has some great info to share but in order to get it, they want your email address. Now that’s not a bad thing. List-building is one of the best things you can do for your blog or business. Its a win-win situation for both sides. You get some (hopefully) valuable information and they have a better way of reaching their target market more directly.

Some of the lists I’m on, though, are the result of a big JV (joint venture) giveaway. If you haven’t seen one of these, it’s basically a collection of a ton of free products – ebooks, graphics, memberships – contributed by Internet marketers trying to reach more readers and customers.

Unfortunately, I spend the next few weeks UNsubscribing from most of them. Did I sign up just to get the free stuff? Nope. Believe me, the last thing I want is a bunch of unnecessary email. No, when I entered my email address in exchange for whatever info products on the list grabbed my attention, I had every intention of seeing what else this person had to say by continuing to be a subscriber. But when they fail to deliver and I find myself deleting their newsletters without even reading them, its time to remove myself from their list.

Give ‘em the good stuff

Willie Crawford explained it perfectly in a recent email he sent to his own list. “Deliver genuine value and they will stay on your list. Then, if you offer things that they need, they will buy from you because they feel a connection.”

So when someone offers a promising info product, I am more than willing to hand over my email address in the hopes of getting more good quality products and content from them even if I have to pay for some of it. But when it feels more like a bait-and-switch, its disappointing.

Keep ‘em coming back for more

I am by no means any kind of list building expert. In fact, I don’t even have a list yet because I’m still working on trying to figure out what kind of stuff I would even put in a newsletter and I don’t feel comfortable asking people to sign up for something when I’m not even sure what I’m asking them to sign up for! So this is strictly from a consumer’s view: don’t just BUILD a list…KEEP it. Don’t be a one trick pony. Don’t giveaway your best quality for the sake of gathering email addresses. (In fact, if its your best stuff, you should be selling it anyway!)

Take that old movie quote “If you build it, they will come” and expand on it. “If you keep up the good stuff, they will stay.”