10 Simple Smart Tips To Build An Email List

1. Keep your opt-in form 'above the fold'
Getting subscriptions isn’t simply a matter of sending thousands of visitors to your site. It involves both traffic generation and conversion strategies. 

 

One such strategy is to place your opt-in form above the “fold”or the imaginary line that separates the content that visitors will see when the page loads from the content that they won’t see, that is further down the page.

Whenever the opt-in form (and your pitch) is placed above the fold, visitors are more likely to see it before leaving the page; and are subsequently more likely to use the form to subscribe to your list and get your free incentive.

2. Ask for and offer guest articles
Another strategy to keep your list active, energized, and interested in spreading the word is to periodically get guest posts for your newsletter and offer to write for other marketers' newsletters. 

 

You can select prominent individuals from your niche or outsiders who have relevant information. Whatever you do, make it sure it's a win-win-win situation, like all Joint Ventures should be. 

 

Good content, and a reciprocal event between you and JV partner. Keep the information relative, interesting and engaging; and it will make your newsletter readers want to stay and look forward to getting more.  If it's really good, they may post the article to their site (if you give permission) which can bring you more traffic and subscribers.

3. Run or participate in a Joint Venture give-away
Running a product give-away is an excellent way to generate attention, improve your relationship Joint Venture partners, and gain new subscribers.

A JV giveaway is where many marketers contribute a free gift at one website and everyone promotes that one website and marketers share the sign ups. Running a JV giveaway is a pretty big project but the rewards can make it pay off. First, you'll need to get a website up where the giveaway will be held. 

 

There are several website scripts that have been developed especially to run these JV giveaway events. Here is a simple Plugin that works with Word press that allows you to run your own JV giveaway. You can purchase the plugin with a one-time fee and use it unlimited websites. 

 

It’s really easy to use and the results you get from using is will pay for itself many times over. Once you have your site going, you will need to find some marketers in your industry who have a product they can add to the giveaway. The more JVs you can get on board, the better your giveaway will go. 

 

But the real success comes when everyone promotes the giveaway. Make sure there is enough incentive for all who participate to promote the event. For starters, the easier way to benefit from JV giveaways is to just be a contributor and add your free gift. 

 

There are new JV giveaways running all the time so keep a look out for JV invites for them or find them by searching Google.com. But when you think you're ready for it, run your own giveaway as the benefits for running one are many times greater than for just the contributors.

4. Buy ezine solo ads
Ezines offer a wide variety of different advertising options, but most of them amount to taking up a small portion of the total ezine. In the case of an ezine solo ad, you actually purchase the rights to all of the content in a single mailing. 

 

Now, you might be tempted to rush to the closest ezine solo ad broker, buy up a bunch of solo ads, and then send off the first mailer you can draft, but this is definitely not the best approach. And, in fact, most who do it ultimately end up getting almost no traffic. 

 

So, instead of doing this, here’s what I suggest: start by finding a copywriter. Since you’ll be writing a short solo ad, it won’t cost much (in, comparison, say to 15 pages of long copy).

Working with your copywriter, come up with a great deal to offer readers; and an accompanying great piece of copy. Once you have your copy in hand, begin methodically seeking out good ezine matches.

 

 Start by subscribing to relevant ezines, and taking notes on the content style. For instance, is it typically loaded with ads? And how frequently does it send solo ads? And finally, is the content typically good? Answering all of these questions is an important part of selecting your ezines. 

 

Once you have done this and have made your choices, either proceed with a purchase (if the option is available) or contact the list owner to see if he/she is willing to allow you to purchase a solo ad.

As a final word, I personally suggest that you run only one ad at a time, wait for the results, and then decide whether to proceed with the next ezine solo ad submission. Again, Google has a huge list of ezines that sell advertising space and solo ads. Search for "ezine solo ads" or "ezine ads" to find them.

5. Cross-promote with banners
If you don’t have a lot of resources to sink into expensive forms of advertising, cross-promotion may be your best option. Simply put, cross-promotion involves finding other webmasters or list owners; and forming an agreement to promote each other’s sites to your own visitors. 

 

Say you agree to puts banners that promote each other's websites on your thank you pages. Then your new subscribers can join your JV's list and vise versa. In addition to an informal arrangement like this, there are also more formal ways to exchange ads. 

 

For instance, there are banner exchanges, website, which gives you promotion credits to go towards your banner displays whenever you promote someone else's (via a banner they add to the system). In general, cross-promotion provides an inexpensive alternative to other methods of list advertising. 

 

If you're in the "internet marketing niche" traffic exchanges like Trafficswarm are great places to exchange ads and traffic for free or little cost. Trafficswarm has a built in banner and text ad exchange system.

6. Word of mouth advertising
While paid advertising and formal cross-promotional methods are an excellent way to boost subscriptions, informal word of mouth advertising is often the lifeblood of both small and large businesses. 

 

And when you start building your list, you can encourage your subscribers to tell their friends about you. How can you do this? First, make sure your content is worth sharing. Ask yourself would you want to share this with your friends? Next, suggest that they promote your newsletter or website; and give them incentives to promote your list. i.e. a free product, cash or prizes. 

 

If you want to improve the chances of a good outcome, you might consider sending people through “tell-a-friend” system in order to automate it and make it easy, and also to deliver access to a product download page. 

 

With social marketing dominating the web these days, it's easier to share content than ever before. Put a Re-Tweet button and a Facebook like button on your web page f or your readers to click and share.

7. Ask your readers to forward good emails
Every few emails, suggest and allow your readers to forward your newsletters that they like to friends. Additionally, make sure that these emails contain links people can use to subscribe to your list. 

 

 If your readers like the email, and forward it to friends as a result, then you may easily be able to pick up some extra readers without putting in much additional work.

8. Use 'Thank You' pages effectively
Another good way to build subscriber rapport and this word of mouth advertisement is to send new subscribers to a “thank you” page after subscribing to your list. 

 

Usually, you would have the download link of the free report or info you offered on the front squeeze page, but it's a good idea to have additional freebies to show you are by 'over-delivering'. 

 

This page might contain free unadvertised bonuses, such as reports, audio content, and video content. Reaping this unexpected windfall of benefits for simply subscribing will encourage your new subscribers to pay you back via promotion. And having a tell-a-friend form or Re-Tweet button or Facebook button will make it easy for them to share.

9. Add more subscription forms

In general, adding more subscription forms to your sites gives visitors more pathways through which they can find your list and join it. So take some time to work through your sites and decide where you can add new subscription forms. 

 

To save time, you might think of adding it in the same place on each page (i.e. on the right margin). If there is no place suitable, you could have a pop-up or slide in window with your opt in form in it. If you use a Wordpress blog, there are several plugins that will do this.
 

10. Eliminate barriers to signing up
 

In many cases, we c an make it difficult or confusing for visitors to become subscribers. Through complicated or long forms, poorly-written instructions, or misplacement of the sign-up form, we make it harder for people to subscribe. Remember: when it comes to list-building (or any other type of marketing), simple is best. 

 

So keep it simple and concentrate on getting all of your visitors to become list members. Once they’re on your list, let them decide whether or not they want to stay, and whether or not they want to buy. 

 

If you treat your list well, follow the strategies outlined on this blog, and work hard to build and retain subscribers, you’ll find that having a list and sharing great value offers to your readers will be more profitable than any other marketing technique you will likely encounter. And with that—I leave you to build a list with the methods I've outlined on this Site. All The Best !