How Many Email Opt-Ins Do You Need Before You Start Making Money

In early 2010, I launched a blog/website with the intent of building up my own online business.

I had been doing SEO consulting successfully on my own for a couple years at this point, but I didn't want to be just another SEO guy that didn't even have his own web property.

In short, it was time to start working for myself.

So I created a website around a topic that both inspired me and I had expertise in: search-engine optimization consulting.

After selecting a niche, picking a domain name, setting up a website, and all that other fun stuff I began collecting email opt-ins to identify visitors that might be interested in getting involved with SEO consulting or starting their own full-on business.

And slowly, the email opt-ins started coming in...

The only problem was I didn't know how big of a list I should have before launching my product.

I didn't want to short change myself by not building a big enough list and then feel disappointed because so few people wanted my product. But I didn't want to spend a year (or more) nurturing a list without making any offers either.

From what I'd read online from numerous list building experts, they recommended having some pretty big numbers before launching to their lists:

Yaro Starak (One of my favorite marketers by the way), said I should get AT least 5,000 people on my list before doing a product launch and making money.

That seemed like way to long for me to wait. Especially when I wasn't even sure there was a demand for my product.

After a few months, I had about 200 email optins and decided it was time to launch my product.

There are a few reasons I decided to launch at 200 opt-ins:

1. I figured if I can't get even one sale out of 200 people, this probably isn't a niche I should be in.
2. I've read a few internet marketers say that a 1% conversion rate for an email list is pretty average. Since I had 200 people, the law of averages says I should probably get one or two of those people to buy.
3. I had to find out if there actually was a demand for my product.... sooner rather than later.

Results: I released the product for only 2 days. The product was priced at $87 and was able to sell just over $600 worth of my business kit to a list of just 200 people.

I plan to do my second launch in October with what is now a significantly larger list (although I'm still not up to that 5,000 mark yet).

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