How To Build An Email List From Scratch (How I Did It)

how to build an email list sproutmentor

They say that “the money is in the list.”

What do they mean? In simple words, they are trying to tell you that building an email list from the beginning is very important, especially when you want to make money blogging.

In this blog post I will share the strategies I use to build my email list.

There are online millionaires making a living by sending emails.

For example, master online marketer, Matt Bacak has built a 7-figure online business with just email marketing.

He did it WITHOUT creating a product, without fulfilling services and without running ads. Ever!

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Recommended Readings…..

 
 

 

Disclaimer

This post might contain affiliate links. I may earn some commission if you click on such links. You shall not incur any extra cost if that happens. Please read our full affiliate disclosure here!


 

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 The Four Strategies I Used To Grow My Email List


 

 

1. I choose one of the best email marketing service provider

 

There are many email marketing service providers out there, such as Mailerlite, MailChimp, Get Response and Aweber among others.

I first started out with MailChimp, but I found it was limiting in several ways, so I switched to Convertkit.

 

Five reasons why I love Convertkit

 

A) I can complete all tasks on one dashboard. This is one of those reasons which made me shift from Mailchimp to Convertkit because I find such an interface time saving and easy to use. For example, when creating an email sequence in Convertkit you will be able to perform all the changes and settings from one location without moving from one tab to the next.

 

B) Convertkit helps me to create forms and landing pages to gather subscribers. 

 

C) In Convertkit I can group my email list subscribers into tags and segments. This helps me to send relevant broadcasts and information to each group. 

 

D) The RSS feed function in Convertkit helps me to automate the sharing of my new blog posts to my email list subscribers. I can send a single broadcast or a digest of all posts weekly, monthly or annually.

 

E) You get analytics for everything. In Convertkit you can be able to track the conversion rate of your forms, landing pages, sequences, and Convertkit gives data on the open rates, click through rates, and number of new subscribers/unsubscribes among other statistics.


 

 

2. I created several freebies and lead magnets

 

Lead magnets and freebies are the incentives that you must offer your readers and target audience for them to join your email list. For example, a free ebook, checklist, course, planner, worksheet, and guide among others.

The bitter truth is that no one will join your email list unless they get something in return, such as a discount, a free guide download/course, checklist and any other digital offer.

 

Four freebies I created to get subscribers to my email list

 

A) A free 7-days email course

 

B) A downloadable PDF toolkit for online entrepreneurs

 

C) A downloadable SEO checklist

 

D) The ultimate guide to starting and building a blog which you can get by filling the form below;

Recommended Reading: 69 super effective lead magnets to grow your email list.

 

Tips for creating better email list lead magnets

  • Keep it specific and targeted to your target
  • Use clear calls to action and make them stand out from the rest of the text or graphics.
  • Use attention-grabbing design and emotional headlines and descriptions to increase conversion.
  • Do not give false expectations
  • Always give your best to keep them coming back and motivate them to sign up for the next offer.
  • Use A/B testing to discover which lead magnets to appeal to your audience and business type more.
  • Stay on brand

 

 



  

 

3. I placed the email signup forms on strategic locations on my website

 

You may create attractive lead magnets and highly valuable freebies for your email subscribers, but if they are not placed on strategic locations on your site/blog, you are hindering your email list from growing.

 

Five locations I use to market my email sign up forms on my blog

 

A) I add them to my blog posts with similar content or subject. For example, on my recent post on how to do keyword research, I added the SEO checklist form.

 

B) Below every blog posts, I market the free email course. To achieve this, I use Bloom from Elegant themes, a WordPress plugin which will allow you to create and embed optin forms on several locations on your website. I love Bloom because it supports integration with Convertkit where you will be able to link every form to a specific list or form in Convertkit.

 

C) I use popup and fly in forms on every page to market the free online entrepreneur’s toolkit. Just as I mentioned above, I use Bloom to create my pop up and fly in forms.

 

D) I place some of the sign-up forms on the sidebar. I think you see the newsletter and free email course forms on the sidebar as you read this post.

 

E) I add at least one sign-up form on the footer. Visit any page on this website, and you shall see the newsletter form on the footer.

 

F) Floating bar mostly placed above the primary menu: You can create such with several tools, such as Hello Bar, Right Bar, Viper Bar and Optin Monster among others.

 

G) Homepage header: You can make it the first thing your website/blog visitors see when they visit your site.

Recommended Reading: 14 highly converting locations to place your email sign up forms


 

 

 

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4. I promoted the freebies, landing pages and lead magnets on multiple platforms

 

Yes, you have done a great job placing the sign-up forms on the right locations on your website. Unfortunately, if your traffic and page views are still low, you need to promote on other places.

Four places I use to market my sign up forms

Facebook: I use Facebook groups, which allow self-promotions, such as Bloggers promotion.

Twitter: I use Twitter cards to pin one of the landing pages at the top of my profile. I use to promote the freebies on the main Twitter timeline.

Pinterest: I create pins for each landing page and pin them to relevant boards weekly. Read how I get at least 2000 pageviews daily from Pinterest.

Google: I write blog posts which rank on page 1 of Google such that I get high traffic to this blog.

Email signature: At the end of every new email broadcast I add a link to the course and toolkit.


 

 

How To Build An Email List Conclusion


 

Maybe everything I have mentioned in this post, you have heard it elsewhere on the countless guides on how to build an email list.

My primary goal was to show you that indeed those strategies work!

I ignored most in my first three months of blogging (March to May), and in June and July, I have hope that my email list will keep growing further because I have the right strategy in place.

Over to you now!

Feel free to leave a comment sharing your experience of building an email list or email me for any clarifications of further assistance.

 

Recommended Readings…..

 
 



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3 Comments

  1. This blog is outstanding. Email marketing helps you market your products and services with the use of the email channel with the best chances for making a profit and reaching your goals. Thanks for sharing such valuable information. Keep it up.

    1. Hello Dora,

      Thank you for a thumbs up on my blog. I really appreciate the love and appreciation.

      Yes, email marketing is very important to an online entrepreneur. I am happy that you found the post useful.

      I wish you all the best.

      Cheers!

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