One of the oldest and perhaps most well known Internet marketing adages states: "The money is in the list" and this is just as true today as it was when it was first coined. The first thing you should do after creating your online home based business is begin to build your email list. For the uninitiated the list is a collection of names and email addresses of people who visited your website expressing an interest in your product or service.

You can gather this information in a variety of ways but the most effective method seems to be using a squeeze page on your home page. Webmasters persuade visitors to leave their contact information by offering a gift or a freebie in exchange for their name and email address. This allows you to follow up with your list members to try and convince them to become paying customers.

Here are 5 proven tactics you can use to help build your list and facilitate the longevity of your Internet enterprise:

1. Article marketing is a tried and true strategy for building back links to your website and driving traffic to your squeeze page. By writing fresh and informative editorials on a regular basis with your website link included in your biography box and by distributing them to the major article directories online you can create an endless flow of targeted visitors to your website. People who enjoy your writing will click on your link looking for more information which will direct them to your website and your landing page.

2. Interest in the social network is exploding on the web as demonstrated by the popularity of such websites as facebook and twitter. By building a list of followers on twitter you can advertise your home business by making regular comments aimed at helping people who have similar interests and then directing them to your squeeze page via your link contained in your signature file. Facebook is another tremendous vehicle you can use to help build your list by targeting people with similar interests who you can parlay into visitors to your website.

3. Internet forums or chat rooms provide another tremendous opportunity for attracting people to your email list. By joining forums which are dedicated to Internet marketing and or home business opportunities online you can make regular posts providing valuable information and perhaps help people who are experiencing difficulties with their business. of course your website address will be included in your signature file and people who enjoy your comments in the chat room will click on your back link and visit your squeeze page.

4. Video has taken the world wide web by storm as evidenced by the popularity of video sharing websites such as YouTube. By creating informative and entertaining videos on a regular basis and distributing them to the various video websites online you're creating a back link network for your website and your landing page. People have no problem providing their contact details in order to access information they think may be of value to them and may contribute to their Internet marketing success online.

Uploading videos to these websites regularly also provides the possibility that one of them may go viral on the web and generate a torrent of visitors to your squeeze page. A viral video has been compared to offline word-of-mouth advertising with the difference being people on the web discover an entertaining video and email it to their friends and family who do the same and so on and so on. It's very easy to see how this effect could generate a steady stream of visitors to your website on a regular basis for a lengthy period of time.

5. Joint venture marketing can be another effective list building strategy when implemented properly. Joint ventures occur when one Internet marketer approaches another for the sole purpose of forming an alliance whereby they will create a product jointly and share in the costs and profits equally. Each marketer will promote the finished product to the other's email list which provides the opportunity of adding new members to your list from the other business.

By implementing some or all of these list building strategies you not only have the opportunity of building a highly targeted and responsive email list but these tactics also allow you to increase your home business traffic, sales and profits.