Probably the single biggest thing you can do for your long term web site monetization model is to be building an opt-in email list. Your list is the biggest asset that your web site and your business will have over the long term, so building an opt-in email list should be a top priority.

Why? Simple.

90% plus (maybe even as many as 99%) of your site visitors will never come back. But if you have their contact information, you can remind them to come back, or let them know when you have special deals and special promotions going.

Now, you can build your list several ways. The most obvious is to have an opt-in form prominently displayed on every page of your web site. Popups also work well, and are said to increase opt-ins sometimes as much as several hundred percent.

Another effective way to build your list is to publish articles at places like EzineArticles.com and then link back to your site in your resource box at the close of the article. Better yet, instead of linking to your home page, why not link to a squeeze page for your opt-in form?

Until summer, 2006, you could buy inexpensive pay per click web site visitors, and drive it to your opt-in form, but that is no longer true. Well, not exactly, anyway. You can still buy PPC traffic, but it needs to go to a page that delivers the nebulous "visitor value" (which can also include an opt-in form) by offering articles, links, and other content.

Recently, there has been all kinds of buzz about lead generation using coregistration services, which is an entirely viable way to go about list building, especially in the aftermath of the "Google Slap".

In fact, probably two of the best methods of lead generation to build a list with purchased web site traffic is to buy coregistration leads or to attract inexpensive pay per click traffic to landing pages

No matter how you get increased web site traffic, remember to at least post an opt-in form on every page of your site, and if possible offer some sort of incentive for people to fill it out and respond to the confirmation message. Offer them a free report, a discount coupon, or whatever you can to get them on your list.

Long term, the money really is in your list. Build one!

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