Build your List Like a Pro. (All the steps Are in the right order)

byTheCatherine

14.5K followers

Updated 2 years ago

Regardless of what strategy or technique you're focusing on in online marketing, you'll often hear someone tell you to do something but feel inept at carrying out the task without more guidance.

These might include starting a blog, monetizing your content, or building a list. List building is crucial to monetizing your blog because it is much easier to utilize existing leads than to create new ones.

When you build a list of loyal subscribers who appreciate what you have to offer them, they will reward you by listening to your advice and purchasing through your links.

List building isn't a step you want to delay or implement haphazardly. Instead, it needs to be done right – not only for your benefit but also for the benefit of your subscribers.

Below, you'll find the steps you need to take (in order) to allow you to quickly and easily build a list of targeted subscribers. You'll also gain insight into how you can keep them happy and convert them into buyers by following the same tasks professionals use every day.

Create a Lure That's Worthy of an Opt In

Before anyone signs up for your list, you have to have something to offer in exchange for their contact information. So start by checking to see what lead magnets the competition has in your niche.

You'll want to ensure that your freebie far outweighs what others offer. Never offer updates as your only way of enticing people onto your list. Unless you are already at a level where people are hanging on your every word, this isn't going to be enough of a draw.

You want to hit the ground running with a lead magnet that delivers an immediate sense of satisfaction to your new subscribers. Ideally, it will be so valuable that you could have easily charged for the information.

You can go broad and be comprehensive with your report, hone in on a specific pain point or strategy, and focus on covering something in detail that will serve as a game changer for them.

First impressions are everything in the world of online marketing. So if you try to get away with a minimal offer, this is how they'll remember you from then on – as someone who does just enough to get by instead of someone who likes to knock the socks off their followers.

Your opt in offer can be an entire course done through video modules. It can be a short or full eBook that motivates, educates, or teaches your audience how to do something. It can be access to a webinar recording or interview you've conducted that has value.

The pros know that it's a good idea to have multiple lead magnets online that will cater to the needs of different segments of their audience. From newbies to advanced customers, men and women, all age groups and skill levels, plus a variety of goals and pain points – their lead magnets will harness as many subscribers as possible. However, if you are new to list building, just create one lead magnet to get going. You can always build more landing pages or even blocks in WP at the end of every post later.

You can deliver your opt in freebie all at once as a download or web-accessible offer. Or, you can drip feed it to your target audience over time. For example, you might have a 14-day weight loss jumpstart program, and more content is delivered each day.

This does two things. First, it prevents the recipient from getting overwhelmed by too many tasks at once. Second, it gets them used to hearing from you regularly – and looking forward to what you have to say. Also, if your content is top notch, you encourage your subscribers to open your emails daily.

Get Set Up With a Trusted Autoresponder System

Imagine going through all the hard work to build a list, and they're responding well to what you send them – only to have it dry up because the system you built your list on was run by an unethical marketer looking to make a quick buck.

You will see email autoresponder systems launched frequently. They'll promise all of the bells and whistles you can imagine, and it will be priced attractively – such as a one-time fee instead of ongoing monthly payments.

But what inevitably happens is that after the launch, they allow spammers to ruin the platform and the emails quit getting through to the inbox of your recipients. They may get blacklisted by companies, and all communication will be sent to spam.

The creator doesn't care – he made his money. Sometimes, they simply walk away from the entire project and let it fall apart, knowing they can reel in more unsuspecting buyers in their next launch.

The features and system quit working properly, and you have no way to communicate with the very people who signed up to hear what you had to say. You must start out with a reliable email system such as Aweber or GetResponse. Your list is your most important asset, don't build it on the cheap.

Free autoresponders such as mail chimp also end in the spam box, it may seem an attractive idea to start with a free email list, but it is counterproductive in two ways. The first is that your emails will not get delivered. Secondly, when you need to transfer your list to a paid autoresponder, then you are prevented from doing so by spam laws. All that work of creating a list is wasted.

You want to sign up (where your payments will increase as your list grows, so it allows you to start earning before your price increase hits) and start a list for your niche topic. Whenever possible, have as few lists as you can so that you don't have trouble managing dozens of different lists.

Ensure you set up a welcome email that delivers the promised free gift they signed up for. If you have follow-up emails, you'll want to make sure they all provide value to your readers and help prevent them from unsubscribing. Also, start writing a follow up sequence. Ideally, start with twenty emails. Always use the same template for email and always state in the subject line which the email is from. This means that your subscribers recognize your emails.

Once you've done this task, create the form that will allow you to collect the contact information for each of your subscribers. You can use a readymade template form or customize one yourself.

Create a High-Converting Page to Send Prospective Subscribers to

With your lead magnet created and your email system set up, it is time for you to now create the page that will host your form and copy to convince people to sign up to your list, hopefully.

The opt in page, also known as a lead magnet page, is a short copy letter or video that is presented to the audience entirely above the fold. That means the visitor will not have to scroll but will see all the benefits of downloading your free gift immediately.

Because you don't have a lot of space to work with, you want to choose your words carefully and ensure they are primed to convert people into subscribers. Just because the gift is free doesn't mean you have enough of a reason for individuals to want to hand over their contact information.

The email inbox is a very sacred place for many consumers, just as their telephone number is. No one wants to be on the receiving end of endless spam, and until they get to know and trust you, they have to assume the worst about your intentions.

It's imperative that you help eliminate their hesitations by focusing on what your free gift can do for them. If it eliminates a pain point, stress that to them. If it helps them achieve certain goals effortlessly, make sure they understand exactly what it can do.

If you are not comfortable with text, you can always use a video instead. But do understand that many people will not watch the video because they prefer to skim for the benefits.

You can use a hybrid model if you choose so that the information is presented to people who have certain media preferences. At the very least, you will have a headline that pulls them in, a short list of benefits, and a call to action that leads them to enter their first name and email address into your autoresponder sign-up form.

Make sure you do not ask for any more information than that because it will be an extra hurdle to get them to agree to enter that additional information. At a later date, you can extend and add more information through surveys or interaction. I tend to ask everyone for their birthdays in an email and then set up an individual message to say "Happy Birthday." In my PLR niche, I send them a custom code to get $25off from anything in the store.it is a small price to pay to make them feel special.

Once you have your page set up and hosted on your account, you want to test the system with your own name and email address to make sure it works correctly and that you receive the welcome email along with any follow-up email campaigns that you have set up.

Drive Traffic to Your Lead Magnet from Outside Sources

You can build a list in two ways as the pros do. The first is to drive traffic to your sign-up page, and the second is to pull visitors to your site. Let's focus on driving traffic first because it's often a quicker way to succeed than waiting for your site to get indexed and rank well in the search engine results pages (SERPs).

Professional marketers send traffic to their lead magnet page in many different ways. Some of them prefer to shell out money and purchase things like solo ads, social media ads, and search engine ads.

But you may be a marketer on a shoestring budget, so you can use the other tactics they employ until you have the funds to reinvest into your business. The one thing you never want to do is buy a list of subscribers from someone who is selling out their people. This is a complete waste of money on many levels.

This is also, in my opinion, an unethical strategy and will reflect poorly on you as a marketer. The people who sell these lists do not do so in good faith. They know their list is worthless to anyone else. You will have paid for a list where 95+ percent don't open your emails. They don't know who you are, for a start.

Secondly, in many countries, sending emails to people who have not expressly opted into your list is illegal. When you do everything correctly, you will get enough people sending you emails that you are sending them spam.

If you send out too many spam emails, reputable autoresponders send your emails straight to the spam box.

For free traffic generation to your lead magnet page, you want to discover where your potential subscribers are active online and immerse yourself in those platforms. That way can become known as a valuable and helpful person in the community with links people instinctively want to follow.

You can start by joining specific niche forums for your topic. Whether you are in the make money online niche, relationships, parenting, pets, or any other topic, there are usually forums that allow you to participate and expose your signature file with a link below every comment you make that leads to your sign-up page. Facebook groups are also worth checking out. It goes without saying you read the rules of each group BEFORE posting.

Another thing you may want to do is go to various social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, and others and begin building an audience who is interested in your niche so that your bio and links can direct them to the free gift you have to offer on your opt-in page.

You may also want to pair up with another marketer in your niche for a webinar or interview so that you can leverage their success to help you build a list when your URL is mentioned in the content or event.

Many successful marketers are constantly on the lookout for others they can introduce as an expert because it reflects well on them to pull in outside sources. Be available to others for these events and consider even hosting your own because the people joining in will still let their list know about it.

Pull People Into Your Blog for Sign Ups

In addition to driving traffic to your domain, you want to work on positioning your blog posts for optimization in the search engine results pages. This is easy to do when you are targeting longtail keywords and taking time to create stellar content that certain search bots will find valuable and effective for their users. In other words, if you are following the training here, then you will have organic traffic.

Make sure before you are using this technique, like the pros, that you have an opt in form in your sidebar as well as below each blog post that you publish. You want users to see the opportunity to sign up for their free gift any time they are consuming your amazing content.

One way to begin getting listed at the top of the search engine results pages is to focus on creating pillar blog posts. These are comprehensive pieces that are longer than usual, but that cover a topic thoroughly for the reader, and it's not about length per se but about delivering full coverage of the topic. In WP this is known as cornerstone content, and you have the option

This is one thing that search engines are looking for when they present results to their users. You want to be very targeted when you are using this strategy. For example, you don't need to write a blog post that has every single detail about a keto diet in it.

That would take up enough room to fill an entire library. However, you could take one specific topic about the keto diet and write a comprehensive blog post about that single issue.

An example of this might be to create a blog post about the difference between counting net carbs and overall carbs. You can discuss all of the pros and cons of pursuing each method of this diet and also teach the readers how to go about calculating net carbs if that is the solution they choose to follow.

You might even make a list of low net carb foods that they can eat and compare it to typical foods people eat when they're not calculating net carbs, but are instead adding up all carbs.

Or if your blog targets new vegetarians, or vegans, write a post called "Is a plant based diet, vegan? Then you write about the difference between a vegan diet and plant based diet.

If you want to know what is your current in your niche at the moment, have a look at the magazines in your local store, and what are they talking about on their front page.

Make sure you are strategic in using your keywords and phrases, along with variations of them. You want to use these so that they are woven throughout the content, used as tags for the blog post, and also used as alt tags whenever you have an image embedded within the content.

You also want to make sure that at the end of your blog post, you give a specific call to action that invites your reader to sign up to your list and download the free gift. This is especially beneficial if it is highly related to the posts that you are publishing.

The #1 Reason Your List Will Succeed

No matter which business model you're pursuing or what niche you are in, there is one primary reason your list building efforts will sink or swim - and it's whether or not you are providing value.

There are hundreds of email lists your subscriber could get on, but they chose you. The instant, downloadable free gift was the first opportunity you had to prove your worth to the subscriber.

Hopefully, you took the time to create a lead magnet that wows your audience. If not, they probably instantly unsubscribed from your list. But the profitability that you seek is not in just getting those initial sign ups.

The real money comes from cultivating a loyal following with your subscribers who look for your email every day, can't wait to open it, and enjoy the messages and recommendations that you're providing to them.

Does it work Emailing every day?

Yes, it definitely does, but with a caveat. If you have only got four emails in your follow up sequence, then you can't and shouldn't email every day. What you can do is research a topic in an aspect of your niche. Make sure you know ALL the problems in the niche and then each day, write an email promoting one product.

The way I do this way is a result of years of resting. I write three to five emails on the topic, each promoting the same product. As it is a series, it does draw people in to buy. Like any sales page, there are some people who click the buy button after the first paragraph, and others will read the series of emails before hitting the buy button.

For new products, you may find that the buyer has created a swipe file of emails already written for you to copy and paste. I would say rewrite them totally, you want to stand out as a unique marketer. But at the very least, change the headline. If your subscriber gets four or five emails with the same heading, one of two things will likely happen. They won't open any of them, or they will go with the person they trust the most. if your list is new, there is a good chance that this won't be you.

If you fail to continue serving their needs after that initial download, you will see your unsubscribe numbers soar and the profitability will never materialize for you. It's a good idea to always listen to the feedback of your target audience.

They will often reply to your emails with commentary about what they need or what they enjoyed. You can also survey them using a tool like SurveyMonkey to find out what they need from you in terms of guidance or tutorials.

There are many different types of successful marketers who don't necessarily brainstorm and create email content that is a value to the readers. However, they may be known for publishing good products or for having excellent blog posts.

Therefore, their list is more forgiving when it comes to emails that are sent out that simply push products and recommendations to them because they know the person provides value in other ways.

If you are a newer marketer and you have not carved out a reputation for yourself as someone worth following, you may find it harder to earn money by simply sending your list offer after offer – even if you see others doing it successfully.

Instead, they will be looking for you to give them a reason to stay subscribed. You can do this by giving them motivation and inspirational content. Or, you may want to send out tutorials that walk them through an issue many are struggling with.

You can educate them or inform them about changes in the niche - such as new findings or tools. As they begin to get comfortable with the fact that you truly care about their success, they will appreciate your recommendations more.

Send Your Subscribers STRATEGIC Affiliate Promos

Once you have established your worth as an email marketer, you can begin making more recommendations than you did in the very beginning. You don't want to spam your readers with any and all affiliate links you can find.

This will come off as spammy and desperate on your part. You need to have a system for finding the exact products that not only meet the needs of the people on your list, but also serve you well as an affiliate with an adequate commission.

You might be able to send out a recommendation once every couple of weeks or even every day, depending on the niche and availability of products that are worth risking your reputation over.

If you begin sending links to vendors who are unethical or products that are lacking, your subscribers will no longer turn to you for guidance on what they should be spending money on.

In fact, it can ruin your reputation as a vendor as well because they will no longer trust what you seem to think is quality content. When it comes to strategic affiliate links, you want to help your subscribers get the best deal possible.

That means keeping an eye on upcoming launches in your niche so that they are able to pay less than they will after the launch ends. In fact, many vendors will also throw in additional bonuses during the launch.

Your people will appreciate getting those extras because of the fact that you alerted them to the sale. You also want to cater to your list by filling in the gaps you find with other people's products.

For example, if you are promoting a product about survival for beginners, but you notice it left out self-defense, you can create a bonus report for those who buy through your link that will address the content that you feel is missing.

This helps them get past any hesitation in buying the other product and they will usually purchase through your link over the option of buying through someone's link who does not have a bonus that helps complete the information being sold.

Rake in Launch Money By Listening to the Needs of Your List

When it comes to the profitability of being a list owner, there are many different ways you can monetize the fact that you have loyal subscribers. Affiliate marketing is just one method.

Solo ads are another, although this is compromising the information your subscribers agreed to receive from you unless you are diligent in screening what is sent out. One way that you can heavily increase the amount of money you are bringing in is to create a product of your own and host an official launch for it.

Not only does this deliver profits if you create a valuable product, but it also gives you the opportunity to greatly increase the number of subscribers you have when your affiliates send all of their subscribers to purchase your product.

Every time someone buys the product, they are sent a confirmation email giving them the opportunity to opt into your list and receive your free gift. If you recruit the right affiliates, you can add hundreds or even thousands of subscribers with one launch.

These will contribute to your overall profitability in the weeks, months, and years to come if you are able to keep them as loyal subscribers. When you create a launch, you want to make sure you are basing it off of what your subscribers have said they need most that is missing from the marketplace.

By doing this, you will ensure that when the launch goes live, you can email your list and send plenty of sales in the first couple of hours. Depending on the platform you're using, this can often boost you onto the bestseller's list, where both consumers and affiliates will spot your offer and either sign up to promote it or purchase it for themselves.

Set Up Deals No One Else But Your Subscribers Can Get

Subscribers should be receiving perks that the general public does not have access to. You have a wide range of flexibility in what you allow them to access that is closed off to the public.

You can start with gated content. These are blog posts and other areas of your site that people need a password to log into. You can have subscriber only content that will make people want to sign up to your list just so they can access the additional information.

All you need to do is password protect the content that you publish and send it out to your subscribers so that they can read your posts. This will not only get more people to sign up to your list, but it will make subscribers feel special that they are receiving something else for free that's exclusive.

You can also create downloadable reports that are free gifts for subscribers only. For example, if you are creating multiple lead magnets that you are split testing, you may want to upload the other ones as free gifts that are periodically dripped out to other subscribers who did not yet receive these particular lead magnets.

This will work if you have a segmented list based on which opt in freebie they signed up for. You can do many different things such as webinars or live events for your subscribers.

But not everything has to be at no cost. You can also set up paid deals for your subscribers that the general public does not get access to. This can be for a product that you are launching or a special on something that you have launched in the past.

If you are already a successful affiliate, ask the vendor if they will give you a bonus or a price reduction just for your list.

You can also go to your competitors and see if they will set up a special coupon or discount code that your subscribers can use for a limited period of time or indefinitely if you want to promote their product.

Even if they don't have a specific launch listed, you might be able to look at their product line and ask for one or more products to be bundled up for a special deal for your subscribers that can go into your follow-up campaign for current and future subscribers alike.

Review and Tweak Your Emails to Convert Higher for You

Professional email marketers know that there is only money in the list if you are capable of analyzing the data that you get after emailing your list so that you can improve on whatever it is you are doing.

No one is a perfect email marketer from day one. You will need to split test things like your headlines, the length of your content, the types of offers you are sending out, and even the style and layout of your email to see what users respond best to.

You will even be able to see if people are unsubscribing from your list whenever you send out an email about a particular vendor for their offer, and you will know that this is either not relevant or an unsavory option for your readers.

Every time you send out an email, you will have the opportunity to split test what goes out. While you don't have to do this every single time, it is wise to do it periodically so that you can gauge what your audience wants most from you.

You might even split-test your tone in the email to see if your readers prefer a lighthearted approach or something more serious. After you send out your emails, make sure you check the results either later that day or the next day so that you can see what your conversion rate was, what your complaint rate was, and whether or not you had anyone unsubscribe.

You can also try to see what links people clicked on so that you know if they are buying the products that you are launching and recommending to your email list. Split testing and analyzing your emails is something you should be doing from here on out.

This is not a one off and done task. All good email marketers know to look for new strategies and techniques for getting their list to convert better, so you will not only be testing your own list, but you will be in a phase of continual learning where you are researching email marketing techniques and applying them to see what works best.

Well, this post is 5000 words, so I am going to finish this post here. However, I can talk about list building all day long, it is a fascinating topic. One of the reasons it is fascinating is the fact it brings in a lot of money. After the initial hard work, it is mainly passive. You may want to change your sales funnel every four or five years. Once your list-building techniques work then, you can afford to leave well alone and just keep sending out the emails.

if there is anything more you would like to know, or if you have any specific questions, go and buy an email course. Of course, I am only joking here pop your question in the comments below or ask for specific training. I am hoping this makes sense to most of you. It is never too late to build a list, even if you haven't done so for years. It doesn't matter how late you come to list building, it is never too late to start.

When I build a new site, I build my list on day one. Now that is too early if you are a newbie. I pay for my autoresponder anyway, so I might as well. I would recommend myself that you build a list before you monetize your site. Others may well disagree, but I would say that is the correct way round