Like I said, and I don't think you need any proof, email is the key. You need a good email service provider like Aweber.
Why? Because once somebody visits your site, whether they got there through a search engine, social media, or directly, they may never come back.
If you can entice them to sign up for your list (offer them something cool in return for their
email address and permission to continue to market to them), then you can continue a dialog with them even if they don't bookmark your site or visit again.
Then, you can send them back to your site or send them valuable information.
This is critical.
So choose Aweber. It's an easy decision.
Now, getting people to sign up for your list is another matter altogether. Sure, you can mess around with your email service provider's generic
forms (admittedly, Aweber's are pretty good, and there are a lot of them), but you won't get the beautiful output Thrive Leads gives you.
It's a plugin that you activate on your WordPress blog that makes creating truly impressive and beautiful opt-in forms SUPER easy.
No coding needed. Plus, really good stats on how many visitors see the form and fill it out (that's called "conversions,"
folks).
Thrive Leads is the opt-in form creator I'd been looking for over 10 years. Creating
forms in HTML is a PITA. Plus, you have no idea how well they're working.
Last, you need a blog. Your online business needs a home. Your blog is its home.
Plus, you can't really put an opt-in form on twitter. So you drive traffic to your blog, present your visitors with a beautiful opt-in form with a solid offer (checklists work great), and have them sign up.
And then the magic begins when you email every single
day.
