* Should something happen to your websites or online content, you don’t have to start over and find new people to sell to. You already have a ready-made group of people who have decided that they want to hear what you have to say and have probably already bought from you.

* Typically, if you’ve built a targetted list and treated your subscribers well by sharing valuable information (as opposed to continually promoting to them), the bigger your list, the more money you can make.

* If you are an affiliate marketer, having a responsive list can help you to become a Super Affiliate, which not only equates to more income – it also means that you may have a chance to win cool prizes in affiliate contests. Being a Super Affiliate also means that you can becoming sought after for large launches.

List building requires effort to bring traffic to your website and convert visitors to prospects on your email list. Here are three ways to get targetted traffic to your website and build your email marketing list.

1. Give them something for free when subscribing to your list

You are asking your prospects to give you their email address and name – your prospects know what this is worth to you and they are less likely to provide their details unless they see value in doing so.

By offering something for free, you are overcoming this objection to begin with.

Downloadable audios are great gifts. Consider creating a podcast (mp3) of an expert interviw, yourself sharing some great tips about your niche, or an interview with yourself sharing great information about your niche.

Another idea is to create a video demonstrating a ‘secret technique’ or discussing some of your strategies in a visual way?

If your software developer, why not give away some software in exchange for their email address?

As an affiliate marketer, you can write a review of the product or service you are offering explaining how you use it and how it helps you. In fact, you can record an audio or video doing the same thing.

Whatever you choose to do, make sure that you give phenomenal value with your free item.

2. Post on your blog regularly – using your chosen keywords.

Search Engines love fresh content and the more often you post on your blog, the more traffic you will get.

Write a blog post every day for 2 weeks and check your traffic stats – you should have more traffic!

Ensure that you have your lead capture process set up to convert visitors to subscribers – make it easy for your visitors to join your list.

3. Ad Swaps are certainly an excellent way to grow your list fast and effectively.

Find another business in your niche that has a similar size list (or similar response) and send each others offers of a free item to your own list.

The key is to plan your swaps with offers that will appeal to your niche and not to do it too often, as you will ‘desensitize’ your list.

These are just three ways that you can generate traffic to your site and build your list . They all require some work from you – success doesn’t happen overnight and whilst you can outsource a lot of the work, understanding the basics will definitely help you. Building your list will most certainly help you create a sustainable, and profitable business.