Building a list is an essential component of any online business development strategy and is something that can be done without spending one red cent. Most successful online businesses have learned that the best online marketing strategy hands down is collecting website visitor contact information. Being able to promote directly to people through email is probably the most cost efficient business development strategy used by anybody online. However you can not collect names unless you have traffic and this too can be done very cost efficiently. 

Here are just 5 very effective and cost free ways in which to generate the traffic needed in order to build a list for your online business. 

Article Marketing 

Circulating article around on the internet is a great way to create a wide exposure for yourself and your business and can also be longer lasting than other methods. Most successful online businesses used this strategy and it is an almost foolproof way of generating traffic. 

Social Networks Sites 

Anybody who has been online for more than a week is fully aware of the popularity social networking has gained within the internet community. Twitter automatically comes to mind as being one of the most popular and fasting growing social network sites around but there are many others to choose from as well. These communities contain large population bases that present great potential as far as website traffic is concerned. Social networking is now regarded as a viable component of any online business development strategy. 

Blogging 

Creating a blog is simple enough to do but for business purposes this particular platform offers great potential and many benefits. In terms of traffic generation a blog offers you multiple streams of visitors from different origins. People find your blog by searching for content like you post, while others come based upon referrals from your current subscribers. In fact even search engines help to increase your traffic by positioning you favorably in their rankings due to your frequent updating. In any case once people are on your blogging platform you can direct then either to another site or even an opt in box on your blog. Blogs are one of the best online marketing platforms you can use to build a list in terms of their effectiveness and ease of use. 

Forums 

Finding forums online that focus on your particular field of interest is easy enough to do by conducting a simple search. Visiting and participating at these sites not only increases your own knowledge but also presents to you a targeted and focused community of people for your business purposes. When participating in any discussions always have a business link in the signature file you leave. This helps to maintain the possibility/probability of forum members clicking on your link to visit your site or in this case your squeeze page. 

RSS Feeds 

On your blog always prominently display an RSS tab where visitors can subscribe to your feed allowing them to easily return. This will increase the chances of theses people possibly leaving their contact information, if they haven't already, because they will have repeated chances to do so. In addition if people continue to return to your blog the content must appeal to them therefore the likelihood that they eventually opt in is that much greater. 

Building a list is an important first step towards establishing an effective business development strategy when working online. As most successful online businesses are aware, collecting email addresses you can promote to is one of the best online marketing strategies you can use on the internet. But in order to build a list you can promote to you must have traffic and the 5 suggested ways offered above are both cost free and highly effective at generating all the traffic you will need. So if you have long terms plans of marketing on the internet costs should not be a factor as you build a list.