So you’ve heard all the stories about how “the money is in the list” and the importance of building an email list. But how do you actually do it?
Pop-ups that say “Subscribe to my newsletter” are probably the most boring and closed pop-ups in the email marketing World. Nowadays, people are more and more conscious about giving away their personal data.
People only give their email address to someone who they feel will give them something back. Nobody wants to receive spam and unfortunately the word “newsletter” sounds a lot like spam.
In this article we have put together a step-by-step plan on how to grow your list.
6 Steps to build your mailing list
STEP 1 Define what your Audience wants
The biggest mistake I ever made with my mailing list was to not identify what my ideal audience might want. I created multiple sign up incentizes and then after one year I had a list of 3000 people with mixed interests.
Some wanted to know how to find cheap flights (my first incentive) but didnt’t care about monetising Instagram, which later became my area of expertise.
So, before you do anything, think about your ideal audience. What are their struggles, pain points, their dreams and goals? What can you give them that will help them?
STEP 2 Give them a reason to care
You need to give people a reason to care enough for them to join your list. There needs to be some incentive for them to give you their email address. Realistically, not many people beyond your best friends, closest family and stalkers, care about weekly updates in your life.
To get people excited about joining your email list you need to create a free resource that will really help them solve the problem they are experiencing. What is the main struggle of your ideal audience?
Here are some ideas for a perfect freebie:
- Detailed information such as a map with restaurants
- Checklist such as packing list
- Free email course on your area of expertise
- Free printable design
- Free e-book
An example of a freebie we offer on From Zero to Blog Hero – our SEO checklist
STEP 3 Design an Opt-in and Landing Pages
LeadPages is where it’s at for beautiful landing pages. LeadPages is a paid tool but it’s so easy and looks so professional that it’s our personal favorite.
We use LeadPages for:
- lead magnet, opt-in pages, thank you pages
- sales pages
- and more!
They have ready to use templates that you can use to create a gorgeous looking opt-in page.
STEP 4 Share your CTA multiple times
If you want people to take action, they need to see your CTA (call-to-action) multiple times. Studies show that on average a person needs to see something 7 times to really notice and take action.
That’s why you should place your new beautiful optins in multiple strategic places – such as in your sidebar, top of your home page and couple of times throughout a relevant blog post.
Screenshot of the landing page for our 2020 goals planner freebie
STEP 5 Pin it
Pinterest isn’t only a great source of traffic, it can also be used to grow your email list. Once you’ve created a perfect freebie & corresponding landing page and opt-in form, you then want to create pins that will lead people straight to your free resource.
Instead of driving pin clicks to your blog, you are driving them directly to your landing page. That way people can sign up directly without getting distracted by the other content on your site.
STEP 6 Promote it on your socials
You already shared your freebie through Pinterest, but it won’t do any harm if you also promote it on your Instagram and Facebook account.
Jump on stories, tell your audience all about the super cool FREE resource you created for them and ask them to tag you on stories in case they find it useful.
Add the link to it in your bio and pin it to the top of your Facebook page or group. Mention it at least a few times in a month.
A sample pin we used to share our free 2020 goals planner
These are just six simple tricks you can implement to start building your email list today! People won’t give you their email address just because you asked nicely, you need to give them a reason to sign up to your mailing list.
Once you figured out what your opt-in freebie is, make sure to market it properly with a professional landing page and by sharing it on all your social media channels!
Enjoyed reading how to drastically grow your mailing list? Pin it!
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