If you’re just starting your blog or online business, then you are probably aware that one of the first things you want to do is build your email list. Your email list is extremely valuable, and you want to take very good care of it.

 

But first, you need to build it. And that takes consistent action, valuable content aimed at a particular group of people – or niche, and a compelling reason for people to join your list (your opt-in offers).

 

There are some creative things you can do to jumpstart your list-building efforts besides the typical regular blog post. Here are 10 ideas to help you get your list-building juices flowing.

 

1. Lead Magnets

 

Offering a lead magnet with every blog post is a great way to build your list. It requires a little extra work, but the payoff will be huge if your lead magnets are valuable to your readers.

A lead magnet is a giveaway that your readers will have to opt-in to your email list for in order to receive. It can be a checklist, printable, report, recipe or eBook.

 

2. Free Webinar

 

Offer a free webinar on a hot topic that your ideal audience would be interested in. Use Facebook and other social media to promote (make sure people opt-in to get access!). If you have some budget, run Facebook ads to drive traffic to your webinar opt-in page.

 

A free webinar can really grow your list if you partner with someone who has bigger reach than you currently have. Get creative. Who could you partner with to do a training on your topic?

 

3. Joint giveaway

 

A joint giveaway is great if you can partner with several other businesses or blogs who have a bigger, yet similar audience. Each business offers a free product or service as part of the giveaway “package”. With each of you promoting the giveaway on social media, you’ll gain more exposure to more of your potential tribe members.

 

4. Guest posting

 

Yes, guest posting is still a good idea, but only if you find blogs with lots of relevant traffic. Make sure you can include a link back to your site (preferably a special offer on an opt-in page).

 

5. Expert interviews

 

Step into your expert status by finding influential people to interview you on their blogs or podcast. Make sure their audience is your ideal audience.

 

6. Conduct a 30-day challenge

 

Have people opt-in to a 30 (or 10 or 14 or 20) day challenge on a topic that fits your audience. What does your audience want to achieve in a short timeframe? Guide them through making it happen and watch your tribe grow. Make sure they opt-in to join the challenge and encourage sharing the challenge on social media.

 

7. Be a contributing writer

 

Offer up custom articles to larger media sites or blogs that have authority. Include a link to your opt-in page in your author bio (if allowed). Write something awesome.

 

8. Comment on other high-traffic blogs

 

Be part of the conversation happening on other, relevant, yet high traffic, blogs. Always use your website when registering to make a comment on a blog, and only comment if you can offer something of value to the conversation.

• At least once per week for general information
• Occasionally remind folks about archived information
• Always make a timely contact when something significantly affects your tribe
• Whenever there is a notable sale or special
• Leading up to a big product release or event
• Touch base frequently when a sale or promotion is time sensitive
• If possible, touch base on important anniversaries or milestones of business

Savvy business owners realize the importance of email marketing even if they do not know how to run an effective email marketing campaign. Simply stated this means a business owner may realize it is imperative for him to run an email marketing campaign to help him meet the needs and expectations of his target audience but he may not know how to orchestrate an email marketing campaign which is truly effective.

Fortunately for these business owners they do not have to know a great deal about email marketing because there are plenty of Internet marketing consultants who can assist them in planning and running an effective email marketing campaign. This article will provide some tips for finding a consultant to assist you in orchestrating an email marketing campaign.

One of the most important criteria in seeking a consultant to assist you with our email marketing campaign is experience. Specifically it is experience which has resulted in past success. This is important because one of the best indicators of how well a consultant will perform for you is how well they performed in the past. This means if a consultant was able to help a variety of past clients to attain their goals through email marketing, the consultant will likely be able to assist you in the same way.

Another important criterion when hiring a consultant to assist you with your email marketing campaign is the opinions of past clients. Before committing to work with a particular consultant you should request references from past clients.

 You should not only request these references but also contact each of the past clients provided and question them about their experiences with the consultant. It is important to keep in mind the consultant will likely only provide reference he is confident will offer a positive opinion of his services.
However, you can still learn a great deal about the consultant’s style, personality and techniques through these references. This is important because the consultant’s personality as well as his skill and abilities is also very important.

If you do not get along with the consultant and have difficulty talking to him, it can be difficult to work with him. Additionally, it might be hard for you to meet your business related goals because you are likely not providing the consultant with enough information or offering feedback which could help him to adjust his strategies to better meet your expectations.

While it is true that skill, knowledge and ability are all important sometimes none of these matter if personality conflicts prevent you and the consultant from communicating adequately. Therefore your personal opinion of the consultant should always be carefully considered before making hiring a consultant.

Although consulting references is a good idea, you should also consider contacting the Better Business Bureau (BBB) as well and also seeking out independent reviews of the consultant you are considering hiring to assist you in your email marketing campaign. The BBB can provide you with a great deal of information regarding the past performance of the consultant. If the consultant has been in business for a number of years and does not have any unresolved complaints with the BBB, this is a good indication the consultant performs adequately and treats clients fairly. Conversely a consultant with a number of unresolved complaints against him is not likely going to be a good choice.

Similarly a consultant who has a number of independent reviews raving about the quality of his service is likely a good choice to assist you in your email marketing campaign while a consultant who has a number of poor reviews on the Internet is not really a good choice for assisting you with your email marketing campaign. Likewise, you can assume if past clients were not happy with the services he provided, you will likely also not be happy with these services.

Before revealing the secrets of the trades, here are myths and fallacies that need to be cleared before one indulges into building an opt-in list. These marketing misconceptions could pose so much of an obstacle towards your profitting well from your business.

Not a lot of people use email

Email marketing is one of the most effective marketing methods nowadays simply because virtually almost all people use email. Check on those email fields or blanks required to be filled up on various forms needed in processing different transactions. A person without an email address is tantamount to a person without an online home, which is one big shameful truth for this generation.

Email marketing campaigns can offend a lot of people

The not-so secret way to surmount this dilemma is through permission-based advertising. There's no harm in trying after asking for permission.

It's stupid to send email to all the people

The key to this predicament is to have a very discerning eye on who to email and who to not email. Better look for some metrics on how to know which group of people would give you high ROI or return on investment.

The Real Deal with Building Opt-in List

After clearing the fog regarding email marketing myths, here's how one can benefit from employing the power of email marketing campaigns - building an opt-in list.

However, building an opt-in list is not a piece of cake particularly for the uninitiated. Here is a roundown of tips on how to succeed in this kind of marketing endeavor.

1. Strategic Collection of Data

Know which information from your audiences will help you in lowering expenses and/or make sales flourish. Devise a tactic to make people voluntarily provide you with the information necessary to create higher conversion.

Overload of data is not good. Ask only for opt-in, with their full name and email addresses. Make sure that the profiles that you gather are updated to aid in improving the relevance, timeliness and satisfaction from each deal you make.

2. Good Implementation

Old adage says it all - 'action speaks louder than words'. This easily translates to the difficulty one has to undergo during the execution of his or her email marketing efforts. It's a good thing that various methods, often low-cost, abound to hasten and facilitate the building up of one's opt-in database.

Tracking your email marketing results can pose great hardship, too. Technology and relevant sources should be employed in making this aspect of your marketing a lot manageable. Your high traffic groups of opt-ins with the greatest result should be taken noted of.

The following are the most widely used methods to leverage channels without overspending:

1. Make use of websites.

It is an excellent tool for data collation and providing you with relevant info regarding your email offers. Use forms that solicit your visitor's email address and consent.

2. Make use of print ads, brochures, TV, radio and direct mail.

These are the more popular ways of marketing aiming to lead traffic to one's site. You may want to ask for signups for email services. Make your website more visible through these media. Offering free electronic newsletters and or rewards program can do well in making it easy to win the nod of your audiences, too.

3. Maximize your sales force.

Customer service associates can help a lot in making you benefit more from your email correspondence. Sales people with proper education on how to aid you in this endeavor can very well contribute to higher ROI. Techniques like offering account updates and special programs through email can easily land you those lists of valuable visitors.

4. Don't make your point of sale pointless.

Forms for signup located at cash registers and other high-traffic and highly visible spots can be very excellent venues for your business to collect email addresses. Notification of upcoming sales through their email addresses and names can coax them to supply you with the information you need.

5. Conferences or trade shows can work, too.

Giveaway offers or entries on sweepstakes are great for opt-in to volunteer their contact details.

These tactics should be applied with adequate caution and should focus on earning the trust of your opt-in list instead of simply collating data for your sole own benefit. Always make sure that the forms that you will use and other methods that you will employ will not necessitate too much fuss to subscribe. This is for people to not be annoyed during the process of data supplication.

With that bunch of information, who can ever go wrong with the feat of building an opt-in list?

Most people who run a website don't seem to realize just how valuable their traffic is. Don't believe me? Then just look at all the people using Google AdWords and similar PPC adverts on their pages. These ads will fill up their pages and literally direct traffic away from their site, but all they'll get in return is usually a few cents. It doesn't take a genius to realize that if those advertisers are willing to pay that much for your visitors, they must be worth more than that.

While PPC might be a good way to make some easy cash from your visitors then, it's far from the most effective way to generate profit from traffic in the long-term. A much better thing to do with your traffic would be to get them to sign up to a mailing list which will then enable you to bring them back to your site again and again, and to promote any products or services you have to them directly. But how do you get them to sign up? Here are some tips on how you can get your visitors to willingly  give you their contact details and the permission to e-mail them. 

Give Something Away

One sure fire way to make people more open to the idea of giving away their details is to give them something in return. The easiest option here is to offer an e-book which works well because it's free to copy and doesn't require any mailing costs. If you aren't a prolific writer then don't worry, you can easily create an e-book by compiling a few of the articles on your website (it's free after all) or by commissioning someone from a freelancing site to do it for you.

To benefit even more from this you should make sure to include your brand and URL in the e-book. This way if your visitors decide to give the book away and share it with others, it will still act as a good promotion for your site and products. Of course, you can also subtly pitch your various offerings throughout the content - again it's okay as you're not charging anything for it. 

Note though that you should make it clear that your visitors are signing up to your mailing list and not just giving you their e-mail address so that you can send them the book. If you don't first get permission to send them marketing material, you will find that they are psychologically much less open to your messages and so will be far more likely to just delete them. 

Design Your Site Around Your Mailing List

Your average site with AdSense ads on it will place these incredibly prominently and regularly in order to get the maximum number of clicks on them. Getting people to sign up to a mailing list is no different, so if you want to maximze the number of leads your site generates you should make sure that you have your sign-up page somewhere prominent and that you push it at every available opportunity. If your site is built to sell a product or service and you value lead tracking and generation then you should turn the whole site into a 'funnel' that directs your traffic to this page.

Ask yourself this question: what is the action you want your visitors to take when they land on your site, and what are you doing to ensure that happens?