Building Your List by Yank Elliott – How To Blog And Profit

Building Your List
by Yank Elliott, MBA & IAHBE Staff Writer

You may think that, because you have a good Web presence, you really don’t need an e-mail list. Not so! You must still be able to promote your business, special parts of your opportunity, and individual products, and that can’t be done well with general advertising. You need to be able to advertise to a targeted market–and that’s where building and expanding a good e-mail list comes in.

E-MAIL MARKETING IS DEAD

This article says that most of the answers to the question, “Why aren’t you building an e-mail list?,” are that e-mails are dead while social media is very hot.

For those who feel that e-mail is dead, consider this. Every social network and every request for any kind of information on the Internet requires your e-mail address before giving anything away. If e-mail is dead, why would they want this information? People check their in-box at least once a day; these are much less crowded than a Facebook newsfeed, and e-mail has been the backbone of the Internet ever since it began.

And consider this. Social media tend to come and go; they don’t totally disappear, they just become less popular to those who use them. Take, for example, FriendFeed, Plurk, MySpace, Buzz, and a lot of others. Right now Facebook is the most popular social media site, but there is research showing that teenagers are moving from Facebook to Instagram and Vine. All this is an indication that time and money spent on building an e-mail list is a longer lasting investment than similar effort building your Facebook image.

Why do e-mail lists work better than other platforms?

E-mails are Direct. You don’t have to fight the Facebook Edgerank. Email marketing allows for your message to be delivered straight to the inbox.
E-mails are Meaningful. To signup to your email list, the person has to type out their email address, wait for a confirmation email, and then verify their address. Anyone going through this double-optin step really wants to receive your message.
E-mails are Private. People are afraid of asking questions in public, but in private they can be themselves.
E-mails are Targeted. With the technology that we have available today, you can build highly targeted email lists.
E-mail works better than anything else out there. This is why large brands spend their money on social media marketing to get people to join their email lists. Why? Because these large brands are smart, and they understand the long term value of an email list.

BUILDING AN E-MAIL LIST #1

Things you need to build your e-mail list:

A good e-mail marketing service like Aweber or MailChimp.
Create great opt-in forms, such as those at StudioPress.com, or other providers of unique forms.
To really boost e-mail signups, consider using OptinMonster.com.
Use freebies, like a product coupon, special e-book, or something else; people love free stuff.

Regardless of your business, be it a designer, developer, massage therapist, financial planner, wedding organizer, author, musician, or any small business, you need to be building your e-mail list at once.

BUILDING AN E-MAIL LIST #2

Here is a discussion of all the conversation about the benefits of Social Media Marketing. So, why do large companies pay all this attention to social media? Because you can get a tremendous amount of traffic from these media platforms. And, what do these smart companies do with all this traffic? They turn it into an e-mail list.

Assuming you already have a list provider, here’s how you build a list.

First, you need to plug three leaks that will lose you subscribers:

Turn your About page into a lead generation machine. Rather than just a page that tells who you are. spread several e-mail sign-up forms around your About page. Continuously ask for e-mail addresses. No matter what visitors are looking for, they will run into a well-designed sign-up form.

Convert visitors into subscribers after they read your content. Most Website owners miss out on this convenient opportunity to get more subscribers because they don’t provide anything else on the Website for the readers to do when they finish reading your article. Often there is an ad for something, or a link that takes you away from the Website entirely. If you fail to recognize this as a perfect time and place to build your list, you are missing many signups. If your visitors have read all the way through your article, they are prime prospects to sign up for your e-mails. To avoid losing these people, you should place several attractive e-mail sign-up forms around the end of all of your articles, including blog posts. You may say you are losing readers by not showing ads or promoting other articles; but, isn’t it better to keep loyal readers well into the future?

An additional feature you may want to try is a pop-up e-mail subscription form at the end of an article. This should not offend a reader who has just spent time reading all the way through your article.

BUILDING AN E-MAIL LIST #3

Take a look at your sidebar. Do you have all kinds of widgets, badges, links and other stuff there? All these are distractions and may cause you to lose valuable list signups. Here are some things that may get you some more e-mail signups:

If your signup form is not at the top of your sidebar, move it to the top. There have been reports that some bloggers have increased their sign-ups by at least 26% after moving the sign-up form to the top of their sidebar.

To prove the value of your articles, you need some kind of social proof in your sidebar. Rather than boast of your large number of subscribers, you can just say something like your articles are “popular.” If you have been published in a well-known publication, you should mention this as a way to build credibility.

Your sidebar should have very few distinct sections; the two you must have are your e-mail sign-up form and a section for popular posts. If you monetize your site with ads, then you may need an ad section; you also may want to include a search bar. But. less is better; don’t give your readers too many options, because they are easily confused.

BUILD YOUR LIST USING HIGH-CONVERSION FORM PLACING

With your own Website, it is a simple matter to increase your sign-ups–just add more sign-up forms. It is possible to add too many; this is what we will discuss in this section.

On your Website you need a feature box which calls attention to your e-mail sign-up form. Some feature box users say they have had almost a 52% increase in sign-ups after using such a box. You can set the box to display site-wide and full-width above the content and sidebars. If your needs are different, you can always select the configuration that works best for you. You can see one way to create a feature box here.

We have already discussed why it’s important to place an e-mail sign-up form at the top of your sidebar.

Another important placement we have discussed is a sign-up form below every single article posted on your site.

Visitors who have stayed with you all the way to the end of your Webpage are obviously very interested in your content. The best way to pick them up is with an e-mail sign-up form in your footer.

With so much traffic, your about page is another place we have said where you need an e-mail sign-up form.

The bar across the top of your site is a perfect place for an e-mail sign-up form. You have a chance to catch your visitors before they become involved with other things.

The very last thing you may want to do is to use a Lightbox pop-up. Many people are annoyed by pop-ups, but if your visitor missed all of your other sign-up forms, this may catch their attention.

MORE LIST BUILDING STRATEGIES

Here is a discussion of several strategies you can use to build an e-mail list. Read them and see if one of these is suitable for you.

One strategy is to build your list the slow and steady way. Many people begin building their lists this way. It’s the default way to build up an audience, and it’s not bad but it does take time. This is a perfect strategy to help you build your traffic and list over time, because it’s consistent: you create content, blog, guest posts, apply SEO techniques, get word of mouth responses, and repeat on a regular basis. This is ideal if you’ve got an actual business to run, or maybe you have a day job and this is your side project.

You can also build your list with short focused bursts using several different techniques.
For this strategy, you set aside a month or two dedicated to traffic and list building. During these few months, you put everything you’ve got into building your list. Because it’s timed, it has more of an immediacy factor, and it feels more urgent and fresh. The types of tactics you’d use for a short focused burst are putting on a live webinar or livestream, running a contest, doing a joint venture, or running ads to your opt-in. All of these things have an end point, so you can set aside time in your yearly calendar to focus on traffic and list building.

Another list-building technique is to make a big splash with some kind of launch. A big splash is usually attached to a product launch and it seems to take over a corner of the internet for awhile. You know someone is doing a launch when suddenly you see their name everywhere at once, they’re being interviewed, guest posting, showing up left and right on social media. To understand how to pull off a launch, you need to know exactly how much time goes into it. The reason a big splash is different from a short burst is because there are usually months of time dedicated to the launch leading up to it. Securing all the guest spots, interviews, affiliates, and making sure all the buzz goes live at the same time is no easy feat. When a launch comes together, it really has the potential to drive so much traffic and grow your list like nothing else.

You can also focus on new vertical markets. A vertical market is a market in which vendors offer goods and services specific to an industry, trade, profession, or other group of customers with specialized needs. It is distinguished from a horizontal market, in which vendors offer a broad range of goods and services to a large group of customers with wide range of needs, such as businesses as a whole, men, women, households, or, in the broadest horizontal market, everyone. This is an often overlooked strategy for list building. To use it you must step outside of your immediate market, and get known in new verticals. Take for example, a vertical that works for bloggers can also work for photographers, dentists, and jewelry designers. You can actually choose any of the previous 3 strategies to go into new verticals.

DO YOU WANT A LIST IN 30 DAYS?

This is a way to build a good list in a very short time. Look at it and see if it is something you can do.

What is required to make this work is a trade of some skill you possess to a list owner in return for their mentioning your Website in their posts for some length of time. Some possible skills you may have are writing, web design, programming, SEO, or anything a list owner might need. For those who work this plan, the rewards can be amazing with the new visitors you will receive as a result of all the posts that go out. The only problem is, how do you hook up with possible list-owner partners? Here are some things you can try:

Use social media, like Facebook, as a networking medium. Seek list owners and get to know them on the Internet. Even if a social medium list owner does not need your services, it is probable they can introduce you to someone who does.
Ask business owners you know for list owners who may need your services.
Participate in forums where list owners may hang out. Don’t pitch your trade, just be helpful in order to build relationships. Eventually you will be able to form a partnership.
Don’t overlook small list owners. They will likely be easier to sell on your plan than the larger ones. The posts they send are just as effective as those sent by larger lists.

Become effective at list building with trades, and people will begin to notice your successes; when they do, you will no longer have to ask people to use your services. They will begin to ask you.

BUILDING YOUR OWN OPT-IN LIST

Many companies rely on sending a free e-mail newsletter to build an opt-in e-mail list. There are other ways to do this which you may want to use. What do you think? Here are a few other ways to create an opt-in list:

Run a simple contest, puzzle, or game; ask for an e-mail address at the end.
Give away a free e-book; it need not be a long one, five to 10 pages are enough.
A customer survey is a good way to obtain e-mail addresses. In addition to the address, you can find out what they like or don’t like, as well as problems they may have.
Use an e-zine or classified ad to let people know about your offer.
Put a link to a free report in your e-mail signature.

CONCLUSION

A large e-mail list is necessary for any business to succeed. It allows you to freely tell all your subscribers about new products and services so they can decide whether to buy them or not. Without your list, you may be accused of spamming which will destroy your credibility.

A large list will also increase your visibility among your peers. Your credibility will be greatly enhance among you customers, and it’s a win-win for everyone.

We have presented a long list of ideas for building your e-mail list. Study them carefully and use all that you think you can do. As we have seen, it is imperative for you to have a list, so do whatever you can to build one. Most of these plans require little or no money, so go ahead and try one.

Yank is a home-based entrepreneur and freelance business writer living in Hurricane Alley, North Carolina, USA. His Website is (http://www.alternate-choice.com) and you may contact Yank at (mailto:newideas@alternate-choice.com).