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If you have done any research on how to drive traffic to your blog or website you know that building an email list of blog or site subscribers is key.
And, it follows that knowing how to grow to your email list means knowing how to grow your traffic. And what does more traffic mean? Well, hopefully, more money!
If you are looking for ways to grow your email list read on! Plus, discover the email list building tools you need to make it easier!
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Why do you need an email list?
Well, like we said above, you need an email subscriber list to ultimately to make more money off of your blog or website. More affiliate link clicks, more ad impressions, and more product sales!
So, having a list of email addresses of your readers and potential readers is crucial.
Building an email list is important because it helps you increase website traffic and product sales by turning one-time visitors into repeat visitors. Not building an email list is a common amateur blogging mistake you should avoid.
When someone visits your site from that cute Pinterest pin of your latest post, chances are they will read that post and then bounce on back to look for more pins on Pinterest.
But, if you are able to get them to sign up for email communications from you, then you have a way of influencing them to come back to your site for more.
You can email them about your latest blog post that they may be interested in. Or, you can email them a coupon code for an affiliate that will earn you money. And someday, you can create your own product like an ebook and email them a promotion of it.
So knowing how to grow your email list quickly has a direct affect on the success of your blog and the size of your earnings.
Try these 8 ways to grow your email list faster for your blog or business!
It is never too early or too late to start building your blogger email list. Here are 8 list building hacks you can use to start email marketing for your blog or webiste!
Ummm, what is an email list and email marketing?
Well, simply put, it is a list of emails of people who have visited your blog or website. Or, might want to visit your website. When readers or customers come to your site, you want to capture and save their email so you can promote to them later.
Email marketing just refers to how you communicate with your email list of blog readers and visitors. It is how you use email to promote your blog, products and more to your audience.
It helps you foster and maintain a relationship with your readers. And, most importantly, it can help you grow your blog traffic and make more money. Which is the whole point of your blog or website right?
How do you create an email list?
In order to start an email list, you need a way to collect names into a list automatically. The right email list building tools will help you do this.
This is why you need to sign up for an email marketing service.
Thankfully, there are some great companies out there with email list building software you can make use of.
Signing up for an email marketing service isn’t one of my 8 email list-building tactics so much as it is a must-do, starting point. Before you can start building your email list, you need an email automation platform to help make it easier.
Two Email List Building Tools
In order to grow an email list, you need email list building services. There are two email automation platforms I suggest to help you build a list of blog subscribers.
ConvertKit Blog Marketing and Email Growth Tool
One of the best email list building tools I can suggest is ConvertKit.
ConvertKit is an all-in-one email marketing, blog marketing, email list building powerhouse. Best of all, you can grow your email list for free with their free plan!
In addition to email marketing, you can also use ConvertKit to create unique landing pages for your blog to sell products, courses or anything you want! You can even collect payment with ConvertKit on your landing pages, so you don’t have to pay for an additional service or plugin.
ConvertKit makes growing your email list easy with embedded forms you can add to your website. You can also gain new email list subscribers on your social media.
ConvertKit even offers an email list building course you can take!
Their easy-to-use email designer lets you quickly create beautiful email templates. You can use these templates over and over again.
Another important feature of ConvertKit is that you can send personalized content and you can also set up automation to send specific emails to specific subscribers.
So for instance, if you build a freebie landing page with ConvertKit for a budget planner, you can set it up that they receive personal finance related emails.
There are 3 pricing plans available for ConvertKit
If you want a free email list, you can opt for the free plan from ConvertKit which allows up to 1,000 subscribers! This is a great plan if you are just starting your blog.
Or, you can opt for the Creator or Creator Pro plans for even more capabilities like Facebook custom audiences and free migration. Check out the pricing plan details and features here.
Constant Contact for Building Your Email List
Another email list building tool I suggest is Constant Contact. They have many tools and options to make email marketing easier and to help build your list of emails and subscribers.
A drag and drop editor with tons of available templates makes it easy to create beautiful emails that are on-brand for your blog or business. (Haven’t started a money-making blog of your own yet? Start here!)
Plus, this way you can track the results and see what emails are working and replicate your most successful tactics. A/B testing lets you determine what subject lines perform best as well.
More than a simple email list building service, Constant Contact includes some extended marketing capabilities you can incorporate. Landing pages, pop-up forms, and social media ads just to name a few.
Most importantly, it is all automated. So you can create for instance a “Welcome” email that is automatically sent whenever someone new signs up. Nothing better to save you time than a set it and forget it option!
How to build a pre launch email list
Did you know you can build your email list without a website?
It is true! You can use ConvertKit to build out a single landing page to gain blog email subscribers even before you start your blog!
It is an awesome blog pre launch activity that will help you gain readers and tease out your blog before you hit publish.
You can use this tactic to build an email list for affiliate marketing before even signing up to be an affiliate!
Create an Opt-in Freebie to grow your email list
One of the most powerful tactics for growing your email list is offering an opt-in freebie. Also called a lead magnet, a freebie gives people a reason to sign up because they want what you are offering.
People will be much more likely to give you their email address and opt-in to your communications if you give them something in return.
You can offer something related to your niche, so if you are a personal finance blogger than offer a free budget or financial planner. For a beauty blogger maybe a pdf of your best beauty tips.
The main ingredients for a successful opt-in offer is that it solves a problem for your readers and it is quick and simple to download.
Here are some ideas for a freebie you can offer to readers in order to grow your email list:
- eGuide that is helpful or solves an issue
- Worksheet to help your reader’s meet a goal or track something
- Report of data and facts your readers are interested in
- Online Course or tutorial
- Coaching session with you
- Contest for a prize
If you need help creating the freebie yourself there are a few sites that make that part easy as well. Here are some blogger tools to help you create an email list-building, lead magnet:
Canva: An easy-to-use design tool
Picktochart: Helps you turn statistics and data into a visual.
Gleam: If you want to run a contest or give-away Gleam helps run that process.
Fiverr: Online marketplace with affordable designers that you can pay to do an eBook cover or infographic, whatever format you need.
In-line email sign up form
Constant Contact is an ideal email marketing company to sign up with because they give you the ability to easily create forms that are designed to grow your list of email subscribers.
You don’t have to have technical knowledge or be able to create html codes yourself. You can create and customize the form right in your Constant Contact account dashboard and then drop it into your blog or website.
When new visitors check out your blog, the forms will help you capture emails so you can keep them coming back. And, as me mentioned already, growing your email list will help grow your blog traffic.
Email ribbon form and widgets
No matter what, you want to make sure you have an email subscriber form that permanently resides on your blog or website. Make it as easy, and as obvious as possible for people to sign up for your blog email newsletter.
You want to give every visitor to your site the option of subscribing, that way you can make sure they return by sending them emails of your new blog posts or offers.
I have had a lot of success with a standard ribbon form at the top of my page. It is simple and clearly visible. You can also create a widget email sign up form for your sidebar that appears on every page.
Here are 3 different ribbon form examples:
Create a lead generation landing page
Having a dedicated landing page that is custom built for the purpose of growing your email list is a must-do tactic. A landing page is almost like a stand-alone, single page website.
You can make the whole page about opting in and design in to maximize the number of sign-ups you receive.
For instance, if you have a new eBook you are offering, a landing page gives you the ability to really “sell” the ebook.
You can talk about the benefits and include relevant images or testimonials from people who loved the ebook. The more reasons you can give someone to want your ebook or course, the more subscribers you will get!
This is another reason to sign up with Constant Contact since they have the option to help you quickly and easily create a landing page!
Once you have the landing page created, you can create a short, bitly link to it and drop it in the bio of your Pinterest profile, or create a Facebook or Twitter post and drive more visitors to sign up!
And, as mentioned earlier, you can use a landing page to build your email list without a website!
Facebook Join My email List App
How can you grow your email list with social media? One tactic is the Facebook join my list app.
When you sign up with an automated email marketing service like Constant Contact you get a lot more features than just the email. You can also easily grow your email list with Faceook and Instagram.
For instance you can add the Facebook app integration into your Facebook page. You can customize it with your logo and decide what list you want any new sign-ups to go on. It provides an easy, fast way for visitors to your page to sign up for your email list.
You can also create a Facebook lead ad to grow your audience of subscribers. You will need a little budget to run an ad, but it is a quick way to grow your email list.
Pop-Up Sign up form
Another successful opt-in to grow your email list is a pop up form. You can create one of these in Constant Contact as well and specify how and when you want it to show up on your blog.
For instance you can set it so that when someone is about to leave your website, the pop-up form appears. Grabbing their email address before they leave is a way to turn them into a return visitor instead of losing the forever.
However, I suggest using this feature sparingly. Maybe only in certain situations.
While this was successful when it first started, now I feel like I’m immediately annoyed if I land on a website or blog and a pop up appears before I even have a chance to look at the site!
Text to join
Another way to make it easy for people to sign up for your blog emails is with text to join. This is another included feature with Constant Contact.
You create a keyword of your own choice and all your readers have to do is text that keyword to a number and they are in!
You can promote the text number on social media or the blog itself.
Use a list builder app
This may not be applicable for your blog or website because it is a way to take email sign-ups in person.
If you sell products or services and will be physically present at a trade show or fair, the list builder app allows you let people in person sign up.
Even if you have a blog, you could just use the list builder app at the next happy hour you are at!
No matter what you do, don’t wait! Even if you aren’t getting a lot of traffic now to your new blog or website, you want to be getting every possible email subscriber you can!
So, as soon as you publish your site, make sure you are incorporating a way to get emails from each and every visitor.
More Blogging Tips and Tricks:
How to Write a Blog Description
7 Must-Have Tools for Beginning Bloggers
15 Blog Post Ideas for Beginners
175 Lifestyle Blog Post Ideas and Topics
My favorite blogging tools:
ConvertKit for emailing subscribers
Keysearch for keyword research
Blue Host to start your blog
Elegant Themes for design themes
Tailwind for Pinterest to help boost your blog traffic
Canva for graphic design
Stupid Simple SEO course for SEO tactics
Long Tail Pro keyword research
Fiverr for freelance designers
