For beginning list building, I often recommend viral list builders, and I still use them successfully myself. Some marketers, even ones who are good at viral list building, don't like viral list builders. Not all these tools are created equal, however, and I suspect that some who don't like them, simply don't put them to good use.

What's a viral list builder? It's simply a way to leverage your list building efforts. Basically, it uses existing subscribers and visitors to get more subscribers and more visitors. These are true set and forget advertising techniques, and they're often zero cost.

If you want to make every visitor count, these tools can help you acheive that at no cost. Some viral list builders work on page, some work as popups, and some replace a page entirely, such as a thank you page. Before I continue, I want to be sure that you understand that zero cost is referring to money only.

While these tools can be free, or free with an upgrade option, there are other costs involved. The fact that you're often building someone else's list or traffic as well as your own is a trade off I'm willing to make. I suspect most people don't use these tools to full advantage, and so they feel the trade offs are not worth it.

I happen to like List Inferno, so I'll use that one as an example. They have an easy three step sign up process, and this tool doesn't have to be a pop up, although it can be. Some people don't like pop ups, or they may conflict with the terms of service of some ad and affilate programs. Also, unlike some other list builers, List Inferno offers the ability to promote ezines on topics other than Internet Marketing.

The basic premise is that you enter your ezine details in the List Inferno list builder and place some code on your web pages. Each time you show a web page with the viral code on it, it will display a selection of ezines to which your visitor can subscribe. In return, your ezine subscription information will appear on another web page on someone else's site.

This means that for every visitor to your page, you get the opportunity to gain another subscriber. In my experience, the sign up rate with viral list builders is rather high. My list building efforts, once started with these viral tools, just seem to spin off on their own without my having to actively do anything. I like that, and you will too. If they slow down for any reason, I simply ramp them up a bit with a few techniques and there they go again gathering subscribers.

Obviously, one of the essential requirements of list building is a way to reach new subscribers. Without that, you simply can't build a list.

A big challenge, however, is that many people find it a big task to drive traffic to their websites. Even worse, new marketers often don't want to invest money in a website at all. The good news is that viral list builders like List Inferno can be used with free websites, and once you get it going with a few visitors and subscribers, the viral effect takes over. The bad news is that you really should get yourself a top level domain name and real website.

One rather simple technique you can use to enhance the viral effect is to create several pages on your site, all of which have good information and proper keyword density. Place the list building code on each of those pages.

Next, begin driving traffic to those pages through all of the means in your marketing arsenal. During your auto responder sequence or broadcast emails, send your visitors to those pages that offer more information on the topic at hand.

In this way, not only will you have natural traffic working for you, but each subscriber as well. In fact, if you do this right, each subscriber can be responsible for producing several opportunities for you to gain new subscribers. Using this type of system, you'll be a champion of viral list building in no time.

About the Author

Author Kurt Schmitt works with and teaches email marketing solutions that work. If you're interested in generating more traffic and more subscribers through leveraged list building pick up a copy of his ecourse.