I feel really... really stupid.

I've known about the power of a list for a long...long time. It's the "holy grail" of internet marketing.

I just completed a 4 week experiment and the results are in. Figures don't lie. I still don't believe them. It's like Christmas day all over again.

Over 125 subscribers in less than 4 weeks, 22 sales, over $450 in income... only 1 un-subscriber... not one returned product or refund.

I've done it!

This whole new breakthrough strategy I owe not to a internet marketing guru but to a common house fly on my window.

In Mississippi we have a great supply of three insects. Ants, flies and mosquitoes.

Sitting at my keyboard one day in utter disgust about my dismal sign ups for my ezines, e-courses, eBooks, or anything else with an e in front of it, this one little fly was getting on my nerves. It kept flying into the window on the inside trying to break out. I can still hear the insanity of the buzz in my ears and the constant thump of hitting that window head on. I admire it's persistence but God must have not blessed the little bugger with much common sense. It kept banging it's little head over and over up against that window like something had changed about the window in the last 3 minutes. What an idiot. If I could have communicated with the little fellow I might have yelled out "hey stupid!!! Quit banging your head against the window.. you ain't getting out!" No dice. He did it again and again and again. I came to respect his persistence but not his common sense. At some point you have to quit trying and start doing... little fellow.

Eureka!

That's what I was doing with my online strategies! That's what I was doing with my opt in list. The audacity of calling that little fly an idiot. Don't we do the same things sometimes. Don't we bang our heads on a window trying to make a break through?

Oh, I know we humans sometimes justify it with stuff like "at least I tried" or "don't quit" or that really dumb saying "quitters never win". I even know that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over with the same result and expecting something different and I plead guilty to head banging. But at some point we have to stop trying and start doing.

I have news for you. Sometimes quitters do win... when they quit doing losing strategies.

I got to thinking about my list building strategies. Guess what? Having a button or a sign up now form on your website is banging your head against the window. I also hate to tell you that offering a free gift for people to sign up is banging your head against the window. Finally, building a website and giving away all your good stuff is banging your head against the window. And the biggest "head banger"? Not selling a reason to sign up.

I had to re-think my whole strategy. I had made the mistake of not adjusting to the new wave.

The internet is fluid. Always changing. What's hot now may not be next year.

So 4 weeks ago I tried to think how to break out of the measly 2 or 3 sign ups per week to my ezine, newsletter, ecourse or anything else that helps build a list of loyal visitors. I found it and am on the outside looking in and laughing at my past head banging behavior.

I wish I could find that little fly... I'd thank him. I still admire his persistence even though he doesn't have a lick of common sense.

Until next time...

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About the author: Paul Ellis has been building websites since 1997. He is known as "The Mad Webmaster" and his blog includes simple yet power strategies for building and promoting your online web business The Mad Webmaster Blog. Paul's Free E-course "Article Writing" is jam packed with tips and techniques for getting a tsunami of traffic and back links to your site. Subscribe for FREE: http://www.fyipromo.com/article-writing.html