3 Important Tips for Building an Email List
This article is for those of you who have just started your email list or are about to.
If you haven’t started an email list yet, I recommend using ConvertKit as your email service provider and I’ve got a training course on how to use ConvertKit you can check out called ConvertKit Made Simple.
First off, what is an email list?
It’s a group of emails you’ve been collecting on your website using email capture forms. When visitors see these opt-in forms on your website, you want to offer some sort of freebie in exchange for their info like a free eBook or coupon.
Once they join your list, you can market them products or services by sending weekly emails or automated newsletters you’ve pre-written.
If you’re brand new to email marketing, your list likely has a solid 0 subscribers so far and you’re wondering how to grow your list to 10,000 subscribers.
But let’s start small first, okay?
How about getting your first 10 subscribers? Sound reasonable?
Then you can repeat this process, building your list to 10,000 email subscribers. Baby steps, but you’ll get to the bigger goal eventually!
Knowing what I know now compared to when I first started my email list, I wish I could go back in time and make these adjustments.
But since I can’t go back in time and help myself, I can relay this information to you since you’re starting at the beginning.
If you happen to have more than 10 email subscribers already, no worries my friend. These email list building tips will surely help you out as well.
3 Email List Building Tips for Beginners
Email List Building Tip #1: Content Upgrades Specific to Each Blog Post
A content upgrade is a premium piece of content you offer someone but only if they exchange their contact information with you via an email opt-in form or pop up box.
Here is my example content upgrade I add to blog posts related to Pinterest:
Every day you sit down to write a blog post, take a few minutes and think about a content upgrade you could create that is related to the topic of your blog post.
For example, if you’re writing a blog post on building the triceps muscle, then you could offer a 3 day triceps workout program as a free content upgrade.
Near the beginning, middle, and end of the blog post, I want you to create a call to action statement informing them of the content upgrade you’re offering.
Insert links or buttons that take the reader to an opt-in page where they can fill in their information in exchange for getting access to this premium piece of content you’re offering.
Once they opt-in, your email service provider (ConvertKit) can be set up to automatically email them access to their free content upgrade.
I recommend doing this strategy for every blog post you write!
Yes, it will take some work but you’ll see a higher opt-in rate and growth to your email list than another blogger who doesn’t implement this email list building strategy. Trust me, I know from first hand experience of not doing this for many months initially before finally understanding how powerful it is.
Email List Building Strategy #2: Offer a Free Email Course
Another great strategy for building your email list and getting those first 10 subscribers is by offering a free email course like this one here. The types of people reading your blog are probably the types of people who love to learn and self develop themselves.
An email course is a great educational tool for teaching someone something about a particular topic. It has that “premium content” feel to it, making it desirable to your reader.
It’s also convenient because they can just check their email each day for the newest lesson in the course.
Your email course doesn’t need to be long so don’t stress about how much work it will take to create. Simply write 3 to 7 emails. Each email can be 300 to 2,000 words long, whatever gets the lesson across and provides value to your subscriber.
Another reason I love the email course method is that it builds your trust with the subscriber. They see you as the expert with all the knowledge after taking your email course. This is great for up-selling them to a paid product or course once they complete the short free course.
Check out my Free 7 Day Email Course
Email List Building Strategy #3: Partner with Another Influencer
This one takes some balls on your part to get out of the comfort zone and reach out to other bloggers on the internet. Building relationships with other bloggers and online influencers is one of the best ways to grow your brand. Just look around at all the big influencers and you’ll see how they have this insane network going where they’re all interviewing each other on their podcasts, YouTube channels, etc. to grow each other’s brands.
For example, Lewis Howes runs an amazing podcast where he simply interviews other important and famous people in the world. Lewis’s audience gets exposed to everyone he brings on the show, and Lewis gets exposed to all the famous people’s audiences when they share the podcast episode with their fan bases.
Start small and look for other small time bloggers you can network with. You’re both in the early stages of online business, motivated to grow your brand and motivated to help each other grow. Then work your way up to bigger and bigger influencers, getting introductions from previous influencers you’ve networked with.
Networking is the quick way to getting your brand known and in front of a larger audience than you could have done on your own. Don’t take this strategy lightly and put it off.
Recap of Today’s Email Subscriber Lessons:
As we discussed, you need to start an email list right away when you begin your online business. Start building that list because it will ultimately be tied to your success and your income you earn as an online business owner!
Start out crafting valuable blog posts that you publish on a weekly basis and make sure to offer content upgrades in each of your blog posts so that you can capture your readers and get them on your email list.
Once they are on your email list, send them valuable content to build their trust and see you as an expert in the field.
A great way to do this is by offering a free email course. It also primes them to expect future emails from you because they get in the habit of checking their inbox each day for the latest and greatest content from you that will solve their problems and help them in some way.
Lastly, speed up your online business and email list growth by networking with other influencers. Cross promote each other’s brands so you get exposed to new audiences.
If you want to learn how to drive massive amounts of traffic to your email opt-in pages to quickly grow your email list size, then make sure you check out my course, Profitable Pinterest Traffic.
It comes with worksheets, checklists, and lots of training videos to help you set up your Pinterest profile and drive traffic back to a website page or email landing page. Discover the strategies to rank your pins higher in the search feed so they get found by Pinterest users.
Get started driving traffic to your email list
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Don’t have an email service provider yet to manage your email list? I recommend ConvertKit for their great selection of list building tools and features compared to MailChimp, Aweber, and other email services.
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