In case you haven't heard, people only buy things from people they know and trust. It's pretty difficult to gain that trust with just a sales page on the Internet. What you need to do is build a mailing list and provide the people on that list with something useful (other than requests for their money).

List building is a pretty straightforward process. People are looking for information on almost any topic you can imagine. You decide to be that provider and now it's your job to convince the prospect that what you have to offer is worth the price of their email address. That's the basic transaction involved in gathering names for your list.

You'll need a few software tools to make your list building efforts work - one of which is a piece of software called an autoresponder. An autoresponder manages your list for you and lets you send follow up messages on autopilot (once you write the follow up messages). You'll also need a place to host your web pages that you use to gather leads. All of that may sound complicated, but it really isn't all that tough to do - and after you've done it once, well, the rest is gravy.

Once you've chosen a topic and have all your tools in place, you'll suddenly realize that it's time to write some follow up messages. Getting a lead's email address is just the beginning of a process of relationship and trust building that you need to engage in before you try to collect anyone's money. You build that relationship and trust through repeated contact via email. What should these follow up messages look like?

Well, first of all, lucky for us, a lot of this has already been figured out. There really is no need to run out and re-invent the wheel. I learned pretty much all I know about list building from "someone" else. Unless you're eager to spend a lot of time and money experimenting, you too should learn list building from someone who has clearly succeeded with that process.

My list building mentor taught me a few basic things about writing effective follow up messages to a list. The first and possibly the most important thing you need to do is write like you speak. Sounds pretty simple, right? Normal, informal, conversational writing is the most effective way to connect with your leads. Don't try to fool them - it won't work. Honest value is the only thing that you can provide to your list if you expect your leads to trust you enough to spend money.

You can get the same set of tips and "how to" advice I started with to build my first list by visiting http://HowToStartOnline.com/ and entering your name and email address in the box that appears there. You'll get a series of 21 Tips on list building (for free) that may be all you need to get your first list off the ground - and remember, after the first one, the rest is gravy.