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Home » The Famous Blog » Don’t Let Your Email List Die!

Don’t Let Your Email List Die!

July 27, 2010 - Last Modified: July 27, 2010 by Lisbeth Tanz

Email List

You’ve probably heard one or two people say, “the money is in your list.” List? What list?

If you have a blog but don’t have an email list, or if you have one that you don’t promote, then you’re totally missing a chance to gain a loyal following of people who will be interested, excited about and clamoring to read your insights and buy products and services you create or recommend.

Do I have your attention now?

It’s one thing to have a loyal blog following. But it’s entirely another when it comes to an email list. After all, anyone can get to your blog site, but to be on your list, the person has to give up a prime piece of real estate – their email address. It takes a certain amount of trust for many people to hand that over.

There are a number of programs you can use to collect your list. What you don’t want to do is manage your list manually. Not only is this a pain to do, but you lose the effectiveness and automation potential offered by many companies. I prefer Aweber because it’s easy to use, affordable and is reliable. But there’s also MailChimp, Constant Contact, AutoResponse Plus, Yahoo Groups, etc. A good search will give you even more ideas.

Whatever you use, choose wisely upfront. It’s projected that you can lose up to 90% of your list if you have to migrate your list to a new service. Given the work it takes to build a list, you don’t want to risk losing even one person simply because you didn’t think your initial decision through – or initially made your decision solely based on price. (Cheapest is not always the best.)

Make people aware that you’re Building a List

Once you’ve selected your system of choice, you’ll want to make people aware that you’re building a list. There are many ways you can entice, lure and otherwise cajole people into signing up for your email list. Here are a few ideas:

  1. Put a subscription form on every page of your website – this is by far the easiest thing you can do. While the upper right side is considered the primo spot for your subscription form, you can experiment to see just what placement works best. Keep in mind, though, that just because it’s there doesn’t necessarily mean people will subscribe.
  2. Create a compelling reason to subscribe – offer an ebook, assessment or something else that your blog/website visitors will just have to have. While something unique that you’ve created is optimum, there’s no rule that says you can’t offer something someone else has created (as long as you have permission to use it).
  3. Use social media to promote your newsletter – when you publish a newsletter, be sure to put it out into social media. Tweet about it, write a blurb on your Facebook profile and/or business page, let your LinkedIn connections know about it – just don’t keep it a secret! It’s definitely OK to ask your friends and family to join your newsletter list – just be sure to thank them when they do. In fact, be sure to thank everyone who joins.
  4. Only put unique content in your newsletter – this creates an aura of “mystique.” Really. If you’re saving your best stuff for your newsletter, people will want to see what’s “over there.” Don’t simply rehash a blog post, that’s not going to cut it. But you can water down a newsletter article for use on your blog, just as long as that’s done weeks after the newsletter was published.
  5. Guest post on other blogs and promote your newsletter – this probably doesn’t need any more explanation except be sure you’re doing this in places that reach your target audience.
  6. Participate in forums where your target audience hangs out – you don’t want to be all about your email list here, so there’s a fine line between extreme self-promotion and being a good forum participant. But if you’ve created relevant content in your newsletter that supports what the forum is about, then judiciously market your list and be a quality commenter.
  7. Create a squeeze page (separate signup) page on your website – you can use the link to this page in your email signature as well as direct people to it from forums, when commenting on other blogs, etc. You’ll want to explain why people should sign up for your list and, perhaps, give them some examples on this page.
  8. Ask people to share – so simple, but rarely done. Ask your subscribers to pass on the newsletter if they found it helpful. Nothing is better than a referral; people tend to trust what their friends send them to read.

By no means is this list exhausted! What other means can you think of that would help grow your email list?

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Filed Under: Marketing, Money

About Lisbeth Tanz

Follow @lisbethtanz

Lisbeth Tanz, the founder of Savvy Freelance Writers toils as a copywriter and editor at The Hired Pen. She's a devoted animal lover as well as a bit of a geek (and proud of it). She also has a wicked sense of humor and is a lover of a well-turned phrase.

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{ 19 Responses }

  1. Myka says:
    I would rather say that Money depends on the quality of your list, the more targeted the better :) Have a nice day Myka
  2. Hung says:
    Money in the targeted list.People said I am also using Aweber.
  3. Justin Germino says:
    Excellent information, I myself have a hard time maintaining my list and keeping it fresh and inciting people to join. I do entice people with product giveaways and contests since I don't have my own eBook yet. I also focus on delivering a newsletter that just provides good content and links to read, I don't use my newsletter to just push affiliate sales of products.
  4. Richard Chidike says:
    i agree with all the points in this articles. As blogger one needs to ensure that attention is paid to mailing list cos this is how you know if your blog posts are truly relevant to your target audience or not. Great post.
  5. carrie says:
    These tips are great, and as I mentioned on Lisbeth's Facebook wall, another great way to grow your list is to ask the people you meet at networking events and such if it's OK to add them. Most people are agreeable, particularly if you just publish a monthly e-news, for example, and it's not a ton of emails. I also want to thank Lisbeth for posting my blog post yesterday about video marketing, on her Wall. I got a new e-news subscriber from it, so another great tip!
  6. Dev - Technshare.com says:
    Hey Lisbeth, Super-awesome post Lis. These are some great tips. List building is something that no blogger should miss. Thanks for sharing this great Post. Great work Lis. ~Dev
  7. Cindy says:
    I tried installing Aweber but it says my header or header title isnt valid. I'm not sure why. Maybe have your site put up some free downloads. People love free stuff, that should also get them to subscribe so they can be notified early on.
  8. Jakes says:
    Hi Lisbeth, Awesome post. I would also like to add one more method to boost the subscriber count by conducting some 'Subscribe and win prize contest'. Many sites have gained many followers by using this strategy.
  9. Jeannine Clontz says:
    Great information, Lis - I do most of what you suggest but will be incorporated one or two more. Thanks so much! ;)
  10. Larura Davis says:
    I think building an email list is great, and it is relatively simple to do. It can even make you some serious money. My problem comes with figuring out exactly what to put in a newsletter. Maybe I just need to creatively brainstorm.
  11. James Pruitt says:
    I agree with you here. building a list is one of the most cirtical parts of building your business. But, the problem I see is most peopel confuse what is valuable and what isn't. Perhaps it is just my point of view, but if all you ever send me is products, and opt ins for other peoples lists, I feel like you dont care about me. send out helpful emails, and links to cool stuff related to the topic of the niche( not just opt in stuff that you have some monetary compensation for) and be willing to give a little, especially in competetive markets like IM.
  12. Hesham says:
    Thank you Lisbeth for the very useful post of today, I actually started to build my list and have a lot of energy to do it! Would you plz login to your account while replying to comments? this will make things look different, more nicer ;)
  13. ashok says:
    I'm curious about when in the life of a blog you feel it prudent to create an e-mail list. I'm not sure my authority is one that would be sufficient to get e-mails; I'm pretty sure a few people would see the "enter your e-mail here" field for me and laugh up a storm.
  14. Ana says:
    I can't imagine running my blog without a list. That's how I connect with my readers, let them know about new posts, answer questions, and yes, promote products. I will have to stress though that you need to be prepared to give away something really valuable for someone to give up their email address. It'd better be something that stands out and will be of great benefit to your subscribers. Thanks for sharing your tips, Lisbeth! Ana Hoffman 202 Bite-Sized Tips To Insanely Increase Your Blog Traffic
  15. Nabeel says:
    Hi, Great tips on list building. I also use Aweber, and would recommend them too. They are the 'Rolls-Royce' of auto responders. I would add that you could also increase your list by other traffic methods like article marketing, video marketing and blog commenting. Kindest, Nabeel
    • Lisbeth Tanz says:
      Good point, Nabeel. Article marketing is an excellent way to do this and a topic I'm tackling in a f*ree teleseminar I'm holding in a couple of weeks. Learn more here: http://www.savvyarticlemarketingsuccess.com/
  16. Ryan Biddulph says:
    Excellent tips Lisbeth. List building is based on building value. Make your giveaway attractive and make sure that it's advertised effectively. Ryan Biddulph
    • Lisbeth Tanz says:
      Ryan, Thanks for the compliment! Your point is well-taken, too. If you offer nothing of value, what's to keep them around? Thanks for adding to the conversation. Lis

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