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Home » The Famous Blog » 5 Problems You May Run Into When Building Your List

5 Problems You May Run Into When Building Your List

May 3, 2011 - Last Modified: May 3, 2011 by Mark Thompson

Building Your List

I know if I could do it all over again, I would have started building my list from day ONE.  The problem is that when I first started blogging, I really didn’t know anything about monetization or realizing the value of a list.  When I first started, I was more worried about just making sure the post was readable and that I could publish it properly.  Obviously after years of practice, it became second nature and now writing/publishing content to my blog is easy.

However, while I was “learning the ropes” of blogging, I neglected actually trying to have my blog make money for me.  I didn’t know about lead generation, list building, email marketing, etc…  Now that I have been doing this for a while, I have really begun taking my passion for blogging and internet marketing and turning it into a real business.

As you have probably heard, the money is in the list, and that is true.  If you have a responsive list of buyers who will basically do anything you tell them to do, that is extremely powerful. Being able to recommend a product you use and make hundreds or thousands of dollars off one email is very powerful!

Since I have started growing my list, I thought I would share a few problems I came across that will hopefully alleviate some of the pain you may be feeling while you are trying to build your email lists.

1.  Traffic 1st, List Building 2nd?

OK, there are two parts to this and there is a reason I put a question mark to this sub-headline.  In order to build a list, you need traffic.  If you want to organically grow your list, you are going to need to have search engine rankings for relevant terms related to your blog.  The hardest challenge is getting those first 1,000 subscribers on your list.  When you start from nothing, it is hard to get found and heard and to build authority.  Make sure you stick to your guns and write regular content, guest post, blog comment, tweet, FB update, etc…all of the things you need to do to grow your traffic and reputation.

HOWEVER, the other side to this is finding ways to build your list without traffic.  Ad Swaps are a nice way to build your list without having to work at driving traffic to your site.  This is where you agree with another person who has a list (usually of similar size) to send an offer (usually free content) on behalf of the other person, to your list…and vice versa.  This can be a great way to build your list quickly, however, you can loose credibility with your list if you keep sending them offers where they have to sign-up.  Also, you need to build your list to at least 500-1000 subscribers before you can actually do an ad swap.

The other thing to consider is that even though you may not have a lot of traffic, its still important to have an Opt-In form with a free piece of content on there  so that for the small number of visitors that do come, you can try to build your list gradually.

2.  Optimize Your Opt-In Form

By all means, don’t make your visitor jump through hoops to Opt-In.  Keep your forms short and sweet.  Only ask them for the necessary information.  Ideally, if you are giving away a free piece of content, just ask for their name and email.  The more information you request, the less likely they are to fill out the form, and you will see your conversion rates start to drop.

3.  Use List Building Tools & Plugins

There are a ton of awesome tools out there that will help you to grow your list much faster and easier.

One that I use are PopUp Domination, which many of the top marketers use on their blog.  It is a light-box popup that shows a nicely designed offer and Opt-In form when the user enters your site.  Even though this pop-up is a big obtrusive, it does work and will increase your list size.

I also use List Eruption, which is a new plugin I created that launched TODAY!  This plugin was designed to allow your subscribers to build your list for you.  By leveraging friend referrals, social media, and reward bonus content, you entice each subscriber to refer their friends in order to gain more bonus rewards for the more people they refer to your list.  I was able to easily double my list once I used the functionality that this plugin provides.

==> Discount Offer: List Eruption – The NEWEST List Building Plugin

4.  Give Them GREAT Content

Whatever you do, don’t just rehash or steal some crappy content from somewhere and put it into a PDF.  You can actually negatively impact your subscribers, and it will lead to immediate unsubscribes!  Make sure whatever you give away is your BEST content.  Odds are this is going to be the first thing a new subscriber is going to receive from you, so make sure you start the relationship off on a good note.

5.  Create a Killer Auto-Responder Sequence

Where I failed (…AGAIN) was when I thought just adding an Opt-In form and a free offer would do the trick.  Nope, I was wrong again.  I realized that without an auto-responder sequence, I wasn’t really building a relationship with my audience.  If you don’t know what an auto-responder is, it basically automatically sends out emails to your subscribers on set dates after they Opt-In.  The key is to provide 80% valuable content, and 20% offers.  This way the majority of what you are giving them is useful, free content.

How my Auto-Responder Looks:

  • Day 1: Content
  • Day 3: Content
  • Day 5: Content,
  • Day 6: Content
  • Day 8: Offer
  • Day 11: Content
  • Day 13 Content
  • Day 15: Content
  • Day 17: Offer

You don’t need to follow this exact formula, but this as worked for me.  Feel free to tweak it based on the type of subscribers you have and their responses.

What type of other list building problems are you running into?   Are you finding it hard or easy to grow your list?  Would love to hear about your stories and experiences.

 

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Filed Under: Email Marketing

About Mark Thompson

Follow @m_thompson

Mark is a full-time Internet Marketer and creator of the popular IM blog called StayOnSearch. He also JUST launched List Eruption, the newest list building Wordpress plugin.

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{ 15 Responses }

  1. Hai Tran says:
    Thank you for this informative article. I'm a newbie in list building field and this helps me a lot to consider where I should start with. Might be technical skills like optimizing my opt-in form, making squeeze page and making a good relationship with subscribers. You mentioned about popup plugins. Sometimes I feel really annoying with that but no offense I saw the potential in some cases., that the information was really good and I felt it can help me so I didn't hesitate to fill in my information right away to get that.
  2. Toshiba Burton says:
    I am really loving this post at one time I really thought it was hard building a list because I couldn't get anyone to opt in...what I did do was take a few steps back & figure out what I was doing wrong one thing I did figure out was that I had to increase my value over & over again. Now I don't have any problems getting Opt ins.
  3. Mark says:
    Mark, That list eruption plugin looks awesome. What a great idea...an affiliate program for your list building efforts. Much like yourself, I started building a list later in my career...a definite mistake. Thanks for this article. I am definitely going to check out that plugin. Mark
  4. Fran Aslam the Onlinewriter says:
    Good pot about email marketing and it really works. Without a list it is very hard to get results. It is the well written strategically planned emails that pursue the long and short term goals that create a cool relationship with your list to show results. Thanks for the informative post Fran A
  5. Justin says:
    I see that many blogs have pop up opt-in form I do find them a bit annoying. But if that would increase my newsletter sign-ups then maybe I should consider getting it.
  6. Dean Saliba says:
    I'm starting out with my list and I think the main problem is I have nothing to offer people to entice them to join the list.
  7. Dennis Edell says:
    Will you be using the two plugins together or getting rid of PD?
  8. Dana says:
    Thanks for the tips. It is surely a big help to my blogging tips blog's building list. It is stack so far since I do not have idea how to build it.
  9. Ryan Biddulph says:
    Hi Mark, I'm loving your tips. Adding value with each email is critical. Even your offering email should be value-packed. Offer value - non-stop - to build a responsive list that converts. Consistency is another key. Some people sign up 6 months after first contact. Others, a year. Everybody is different and moves at a different pace. Keep churning out the top shelf content and everything takes care of itself. As for tools the short, sweet, clear forms work best. Tell people what they're getting so they know what they're signing up for. As for contact information, most of my forms ask for name and email address but one squeeze page requests a phone number as well. I figure if the person includes this, they want a follow up call, so I call them. Thanks for sharing Mark! RB
  10. Mark Thompson says:
    Thanks Andrew!I wish I could take credit for the video! I actually hired an awesome video company in my local area (raleigh, NC).
    • Andrew Bailey says:
      well, the video really roks! I take it you wrote the script for it? how did the process work, did you send them the audio and let them create or was it a lot more involved than that? congratulations on your first product launch btw, it must feel great! I'm on the last module of Jeff Walkers product launch course which I'm absorbing ready for when I launch CommentLuv premium, it must be exciting/nerve wracking and stressful all at once eh? :-)
      • Mark Thompson says:
        Well I worked with a copy writer to crank it out, so we did kind of a rough outline of how we wanted the video to look and wrote for that.I did the voiceover in a sound booth, which was a neat experience. The quality is AMAZING, however I must admit I'm not the most animated person for voiceover.After that they put the animations in place, then finally the music and sound effects :-)Thanks, it was a lot of work and a new experience for me. Look forward to creating more products!Good luck with CommentLuv premium. Send me an email about it so I can help promote. Mark
        • Andrew Bailey says:
          thanks for the info Mark! I will be sure to let you know when CommentLuv premium is ready and good luck with sales! if your product helps someone to build a list fast then I'm sure there'll be loads of interest in it
  11. Andrew Bailey says:
    great post and product Mark! I love the video on your sales page, did you make the video yourself?

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