Need help in getting started with list building

I am familiar with most aspects of blogging and affiliate marketing but when it comes to connected two of them together then I am not too sure where to start with. Here are a few questions that I have in my mind -

#1. When is the right time to start with building an email list? Like what are the basic things (certain amount of traffic) that you need to get started?

#2. Is it necessary to create a product yourself for giving away or can I just give away any product (that comes with MRR) related to my niche?

#3. How easy or difficult is it to get started?

#4. What are the basic WordPress plugins and other non-WordPress tools that are a must have?

#5. Aweber or MailChimp, which one to choose?

#6. Is there an auto-responder tool that takes only one time payment and is good enough? I am cool with the monthly expenses but they can be discouraging in the first couple of months.

I will be glad if someone could answer me in detail and motivate me enough to get started. Thanks in advance.

#1 right away, even you have traffic of 5 people one of them can sign up, so i don't see any reason to wait
#2 PLR is better IMO, just so you can rebrand it so it will look like a brand new one
#3 depends on your skills, you need to create a good salesfunnel and there are some wp plugins that will make it easier
#4 dunno, did them all with html... surely there are some guys here that can suggest a few good ones
#5 both are good, i think aweber is better
#6 as long as the list is small it's free in mailchimp, when you'll have to start paying you must be doing enough to pay it. I'm sure you can find some one-time payment autoresponders, but i believe they will not give you the same features

Rbagaming,

There is no right or wrong time to get started. I suppose the only time that could be considered wrong is when you aren't prepared to start. I don't think traffic has much to do with it. Yes you will not gather a lot of emails without a lot of traffic but that shouldn't stop you from having a process setup in the first place.

Whatever you give away in exchange for email addresses should either have broad appeal (although expense goes up) or is should be useful and related to your niche. For instance many internet marketers may give away a white paper or something similar that talks about marketing tips. Whatever it is, remember that you shouldn't spend a lot of money on it otherwise it won't be worth it.

Here is a list of free list building plugins for wordpress,

http://www.makemoneyinlife.com/6-free-email-list-building-plugins-for-website.html

I only have experience with MailChimp and they have been good to me. I would investigate them further on your own though. I don't have a lot of experience with auto-responders so perhaps someone else could be of some use here.

Hope that helps,

Shawn

Shawn knows what he is talking about!