Are you struggling with subscriber shame? Come on, fess up! We all get it at some point.
Are your subscriber numbers well below 4-5 figures?
If you frantically shook your head yes to either question, either secretly or not so secretly, you’re about to be cured.
First, a little tough love…
STOP wasting time increasing your social media followers and START implementing list building strategies.
The thing is, a thriving email list and kick ass opt-in offers will increase your social media exposure by default, so it’s not like you’re giving up one for the other.
Having an email list is non-negotiable because:
1. It’s an asset YOU own.
2. Its gives you access to someone’s personal space, their inbox, which is a lot less distracting than social media.
3. It’s the cheapest and most reliable way to stay in front of your leads, and build a cult like following of fans who keep buying from you.
4. It’s an easy way to organize your leads so they only receives content that hits the spot for them, which will drastically reduce unsubscribes and list bloat.
Your list is the station where the money train starts!
Look, I’m not saying social media doesn’t have its purpose or that you shouldn’t bother with it. What I’m saying is social media is simply another pipeline to the real ocean of opportunities: your list.
I mean come on, would you rather wade in a small stream or frolic in a vast ocean, in terms of possibilities?
I’m going to assume you’re all about an ocean of opportunities.
Social media is secondary to an email list because:
1. You don’t own your social profiles, the social networks do, so they can close your account anytime they want…no questions asked.
2. If your social accounts get hacked, which isn’t nearly as unheard of as you might believe, you’re going to have no choice but to close them down.
3. There are a lot more distractions that you have to compete with to get people to notice you on social media.
Social networks are fickle and may decide to make you pay to play in the not too distant future …Facebook ringing any bells?
To get you off and running towards that ocean oasis of opportunity here are 11 battle-tested list building strategies from pros who are on top of their list building game.
They’re going to share with you what opt-in offers they’re using, how they’re promoting those offers, and what results they’ve seen, so you have a clear picture of how to take their strategy and make it your own!
Mike Allton
List Building Strategy:
Last year, I wrote an article called “The Ultimate Guide To The Perfect LinkedIn Profile” (http://thesmh.co/PerfectLinkedIn) which was a thorough look at every available section within the LinkedIn profile and how you can use and position each one to enhance your personal brand. The post was extremely well received and by October, was ranking very well in search.
I revisited the article once a month for a while and made some minor improvements, but then in February of this year I got serious about it. I grabbed new and more screenshots, added more sections and tips, and then turned the entire article into an eBook.
First, I used MailChimp to handle the details of accepting subscribers and delivering the digital content.
Next, I embedded a customized subscribe form onto the bottom of the article and invited readers to grab a free PDF of the entire article for later reference.
And then finally, I used the MailChimp pop-up option to add a site-wide pop-up to leverage the daily traffic I was getting to all of my articles.
MY Results:
The response was incredible.
Within 30 days, I had added over 1200 new subscribers to my mailing list!
I wasn’t thrilled with the MailChimp pop-up since it was an immediate upon entry style with few options, so after a few weeks I disabled it and left only the invitation to download at the bottom of the article, which still gets me an average of 10 subscribers per day.
I plan to look into better pop-up options for my site – ones that will provide exit-intent options and custom styling – but until then, the steady drip of new subscribers is great.
Ana Hoffman
LIST BUILDING STRATEGY:
The best (and the most underused, I might add) list building opportunity is to catch your readers right when they are thinking ‘Now what?’ – for instance, after they left a comment on that epic blog post you just published.
Here’s what I do at Traffic Generation Café:
When a commenter leaves their first comment at TGC, I redirect them to a Thank You page, where I… well, say ‘Thank you’, plus encourage them to join my email list.
That’s a very logical ‘Now that you liked my stellar content, here’s what you can do next’ step to suggest.
You can use Yoast’s brand new Yoast Comment Hacks plugin to do the redirection for you. Also, as an example of what you can do with your Thank You page, checkout mine HERE.
MY RESULTS:
How well does this work for list building? Just to give you an idea, that Thank You page form currently converts at about 8% – a lot better than my sidebar optin.
Dennis Seymour
List Building Strategy:
I’ve run a bunch of opt-in offers over the past years for different niches but the most recent one I ran was for my SEO checklist post.
It’s basically a simple funnel of having something that your audience needed, offer a targeted lead magnet and add some traffic.
I used LeadPages mainly to deliver the lead magnet. I also had fun with Bryan Harris’ “List Goal” Chrome extension to track the opt-ins.
The offer was a PDF checklist that they could print out plus bonus things that weren’t in the post nor in the infographic.
I mainly added it at the end of the post. I mentioned it earlier in the post just to get people to scroll down. I don’t use sidebars for my main posts at the moment.
With the offer set up, the main goal now was to get it traffic, by any means necessary.
I did the usual promotional work (roundups, influencers, etc) but I allotted a lot more time to one on one targeted outreach by doing the following:
- I Googled people that ranked for SEO checklist. Scraped the first 3 pages.
- Listed all the people that left comments to them
- Took all the backlinks that linked to those pages
- Contacted each one
The best part of this is that these people are already interested in the content. Better chance to get a link or get it shared out.
MY RESULTS:
I got 500+ people on the list within the first week. I use double opt-in so it’s surprising to see only 2 people not confirm the subscription.
It could’ve been better if the offer was more visible at the top or with a customized pop-up specific for that post. I opted to not do that until later on when I do a full content audit so I can batch up creating custom pop-ups for the other posts.
Julie Harris
LIST BUILDING STRATEGY:
My most recent opt-in offer was a 60+ Page Free Brand Expansion workbook called Brandsanity. Structured like your traditional workout routine (and named after the popular workout Insanity), except instead of strengthening our physical muscles, we’re strengthening our brand’s muscles. Focusing on the top 5 areas of online business: Core Content, Cardi-SEO, Engagement Intervals, Social Circuits, and Visual Toning. Plus, just like any other workout program and starting and finishing Fit test to evaluate progress and growth. The workbook includes examples, worksheets, exercises, audits, stat trackers, and goal setting calendars to help manage and maintain your brand’s fitness.
BONUS OFFER! Along with Brandsanity, anyone who subscribed was also invited into my private Facebook Mastermind Community, The Creative’s Corner, where we work through each chapter together and hold each other accountable for growth and progress.
With my blog as the primary landing page of my site, I placed my opt-in offer in my sidebar, close to the top for high visibility, with visual mockups of the workbook and an invite to the private mastermind group.
I also have opt-in options at the bottom of each of my posts, on my home page, and throughout my posts as it relates to the content I share there.
I talked about it all the time. I took advantage of emphasizing each chapter through out my blog content, I announced it across all my social networks, I did a number of guest posts on relating content and brought it up organically in conversations with other bloggers.
Another successful marketing choice I made was to add a “Click to Tweet” in my “Thank You for Subscribing” page, giving my new subscribers an actionable chance to socially declare their commitment to brand growth, allow me to thank them personally for subscribing, PLUS it let others know my opt-in existed and allowed for natural promotion similar to word of mouth marketing.
MY RESULTS:
Just before the launch of Brandsanity in March I had 140 subscribers, by April I had over 300 new subscribers, more than doubling my list in one month, with a continued list growth of over 100 subscribers each month since.
Having a free at-your-own-pace product, with a community of support and accountability, and a social actionable promotion method, I was able to double my list and bring a consistent flow of subscribers monthly to my Creative Genius monthly newsletter.
Ashley Faulkes
LIST BUILDING STRATEGY:
The best thing anyone can do to build their list right now is to make a relevant offer to their audience.
Sounds obvious, but in many cases people are offering the same thing all over their site. Imagine being offered vanilla ice cream with your fries – that is what people are doing (and maybe you are too).
So what is better than vanilla ice cream with fries you might be wondering? Vanilla ice cream with strawberries my friend. Now they go well together right? And the same applies to your list building offers.
So what is my best offer to date? It was, and still is, a simple SEO checklist to fix on-page SEO for the DIY blogger or website owner. Not a 20 page ebook or 30 minute video course. Just a checklist! KISS – keep it simple stupid!
But the trick is – I only offer it on my SEO related posts. Why? Because people don’t want vanilla ice cream with their fries! Yes, you got it. They want it with strawberries.
So I offer them SEO related goodness on my SEO related posts.
But how to do you get them to opt-in to this offer while reading my amazing SEO goodness?
Well there are a number of ways.
- I entice them during the post with in-blog offers, which are links to a popup where they can opt-in (this is called a 2-step optin)
- I bludgeon them with a popup during the first 10-15 seconds (works very well, but is not everyone’s cup of chai!)
- I also add an end-of-post opt-in form, that is very obvious and gets those that made it to the end of the post (aka very motivated readers)
Ah, but now you are wondering what amazing tools I use to do this (yes I know you are not all talented web designers like myself and Dre).
I use a simple, yet powerful optin plugin for WordPress called Thrive Leads. You can check out my review of Thrive Leads here. But the short version is: it enables you to put optins anywhere (or even hide them) based on posts/pages, categories/tags and more. And you can choose what kinds of optin forms you want for each of these filtered pages/posts, which means you can tune your optins very easily and get that vanilla ice cream to the right people (the ones with the strawberries, not the fries).
Oh, and not only that, but this plugin allows you to A/B test your forms so you can get even more optins by trying new ideas (headings, colors, optin types) over time.
MY RESULTS:
And the results – this method has increased my list by over 20% with almost zero new content (my best SEO posts is nearly 2 years old). And that is only on my SEO posts. I have used this trick elsewhere too.
So what is the lesson here:
- offer something relevant
- make multiple offers throughout your content
- tune your offers with testing
- use your old content too
And remember, when they ask “do you want fries with that”, make sure you are not holding a bowl of strawberries!
Brandon Schaefer
LIST BUILDING STRATEGY:
My most successful list building strategy was my “90DayChallenge” which provided one small business action step (for 90 days) to anyone that became a new subscriber.
I created a simple landing page using LeadPages, and then published it… it took all of about five minutes to do.
I promoted the “90DayChallenge” the same way I promote everything else, by sharing the benefits that a person will receive by taking action on what I share. I always talk about benefits, because that’s what everyone wants.
The social channels I used were, Instagram (video) only, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. The one channel that gave me the most action was definitely Instagram. I did do some advertising on Facebook, but the results were pretty lame… sometimes it’s tough to pick the right demographics, and I definitely didn’t pick the right ones.
As I always do, I wrote a ton of helpful, useful, and engaging blog content around the “90DayChallenge” as well. This is one of the best ways that I picked up a lot of FREE traffic.
MY RESULTS:
Since the challenge was free if they entered their email address, I didn’t capture any money immediately, but the relationships I built through the (90 day) period of small action step emails, ultimately turned into multiple, very beneficial, sales opportunities.
Penney Fox
LIST BUILDING STRATEGY:
My most successful list building strategy has been a free ebook called 10 Social Media Time Management Strategies. This social media strategy ebook is for small business owners and bloggers who are overwhelmed with all this great social strategy information they’ve learned and can’t figure out how to implement it into their daily to-do list.
With the 10 Social Media Time Management Strategies ebook, I’ll walk you through everything you need to know to create a social media routine that works with your crazy busy world. Because it’s not about just learning some new ideas. It’s about turning these cool things that you’ve learned into a habit. It’s about learning social media skills to make your time online efficient and effective.
I use the Hybrid Connect plugin that pops up after a visitor is on my site for longer than 10 seconds. I love this plugin because it allows me to customize the look of the pop-up box to match the look of my site. Plus, it’s super easy to make simple changes like text or changing out the image.
I tested out the Hello Bar program that runs across the top of my site but most people rarely noticed it and it caused some issues with site programming. Once I switched to the pop-up plugin, my email opt-ins doubled in the first month that pop-up box was installed.
Other than the pop-up box that people see when they visit my site, I also promote my ebook in my social networks. Most of my traffic has come from creating promotional pins for Pinterest and posting a link to the sign up page in my Facebook groups.
MY RESULTS:
According to my analytics, I have a conversion rate of 40% – meaning 40% of the people who visit my site, download my ebook. I see sign ups every day but I’m still tweaking the process by reviewing my copy or changing out the time the pop-up box comes up. I know the content is great for small business owners and bloggers, now it’s about creating the right marketing message to get more people to see it.
Marianne Manthey
LIST BUILDING STRATEGY:
My most successful list-building strategy is a combination of two things: being as helpful as I can be and having a really good opt-in offer.
Being super helpful naturally helps your list grow because people are drawn to those that take an interest in them and show that they care. I make it a point to help people, first by providing AND sharing really useful content and also by answering questions and offering feedback.
My opt-in offer is an ebook on 3 Ways to ROCK Your Blog’s Design. It’s 40 pages chock full of super useful, actionable advice that readers can start using right away. I placed the opt-in and offer on my Facebook page and in all the recommended spots on my blog: front and center of home page, top of sidebar, blog footer, individual post footer and about page.
I have yet to place ads anywhere for it, so I promoted the offer on my Facebook page, as well as on Twitter and Pinterest.
MY RESULTS:
Having an opt-in offer has been instrumental in helping my blog grow to over 1000 subscribers in its first year and keep growing steadily. Another great benefit to having a quality opt-in offer is that it helps raise sales of future ebooks because people have already become familiar with the quality of your products, which makes them less hesitant to spend money on another one.
Sue Anne Dunlevie
LIST BUILDING STRATEGY:
The very best way to build your list is to convert your blog visitors to subscribers.
There are several ways to do this. An exit-intent popup or a slider works well. I find that a feature opt-in box at the top of your site is the best converter to get visitors to become subscribers. I have one on my blog and Jon Morrow has one front and center at Boost Blog Traffic.
MY RESULTS:
Sidebar opt-in boxes get ½ of 1% of your visitors to enter their info. A feature opt-in box will get 5% – 10% conversion. That’s huge! I went from just 3-7 signups for my free gift each day to 25 – 40 a day with a feature opt-in box. I highly recommend having one!
Tor Refsland
LIST BUILDING STRATEGY
My most successful list building strategy is guest posting.
I love guest posting, because it`s a win-win situation. You will offer to write an awesome post for another blog. The blog owner gets great free content, and you get exposure, backlink to your landing page, build a relationship with the blogger AND get email subscribers ; )
It`s like being in a new band and you get the gig for warming up for a BIG band. How awesome is that?
You will get massive exposure, playing for the big band`s audience.
The only thing you got to do is to bring your A-game and blow the audience away ; )
I offered my free eBook, Insane Productivity Hacks – helping people to DOUBLE their productivity in 7 days. When I guest post, I get a link to my landing page in the bio at the end of the post.
The blog owner is promoting my guest post to his existing audience on all his platforms.
MY RESULTS:
My best guest post so far, has given me 87 signups (66% conversion rate).
Daniela Uslan
LIST BUILDING STRATEGY:
My best guest post so far, has given me 87 signups (66% conversion rate).
My most successful list builder so far has been my 15 Day Blog Makeover Challenge. It’s a 15 day event in which I’ll be sending out daily emails and posting prompts in my private Facebook group as well. The goal is for bloggers to do one challenge a day that will take 15 minutes or less to improve their blogs.
I created a landing page for the challenge, and also wrote a blog post about it. I put it in my blog’s menu as well, and created a pop-up for it using Leadpages.
I’ve promoted the event in a number of ways:
- Pinterest Promoted Pins
- Facebook Ads
- Tweeting about it
- Sharing in Facebook groups
- Highlighting it in my Twitter profile
- Posting in Google+
- Emailing my list
MY RESULTS:
So far, I’ve gotten 170 sign-ups for the challenge. I’ve been promoting it for 7 days, and I have 3 to go, so I don’t have my final numbers yet!
I think it’s been so successful because people are excited about challenges. It’s not only a great list builder, but a community and relationship builder as well!
WRAP UP
Now you’ve got a choice.
Which strategy are you going to implement first?
Don’t make the mistake of tackling all of these list build strategies at once, that’s just foolish. Choose one, get ‘er done, THEN move on to the next.
Choose a strategy that you can implement within TWO days. Don’t get fancy, get it done. Don’t let tools, or resources be your barrier. Work with what you’ve got and bask in the mentality that ‘done is better than perfect’.
There will be plenty of time to perfect things and get fancy down the road. Right now you need to focus on diving into that ocean of opportunity that is your list and finding the subscriber sweetspot that works for your brand.
Remember, it’s a vast body of water with currents that can take you in whatever direction you choose. You’re the captain manning the wheel, so it’s time to target your first destination.
Here’s to there being no shame in your list building game!