There are 3 important steps in blogging:
- Building your blog/ Upgrading your blog.
- Generating traffic to your blog.
- Monetizing the traffic to your blog.
Without traffic, blogging can be frustrating. So today, I want to expose one of the surefire ways you can generate steady traffic to your blog.
And its called your Email List!
According to Jeff Goins, the international bestseller author of “The Work of Art“, when he approached his publisher about marketing strategies for his next book, they asked him one simple question:
how big is your email list?
When a publicly traded company approached Derek Halpern to buy out one of his popular blogs, he could have asked for 7x to 10x their original offer: If he had an email list!
Why is email so important
- Get more traffic to your site: When someone gives you their email, they have given you the permission to contact them and inform them about the latest posts or product on your website. Research has shown that people who gave you their email are 2x more likely to click on your links than someone who liked your page or followed you on instagram. So if you want more traffic, more pageviews and therefore more revenue (especially for bloggers with google adsense) then you need to start building your email list.
- Its personal: There are no middle-men like Facebook determining whether your email will be seen and when your reader will see it. Its just between you and your reader. No distractions. No new kitty pictures to drag their attention away. And often times, when you send an email to your list, its like beginning a conversation with them and enticing them to continue that conversation by visiting your blog
- Social media messages get swallowed up: I handle two different facebook pages and a twitter account and I have noticed something peculiar: Your updates get swallowed up. Your updates are competing with an ever-increasing newsfeed and most times it does not win that battle. But an email is different. It stands a 42% chance of being seen, unlike social media which has less than 10% chance of your updates reaching your fans/followers
- Gets more clicks than any other social media tool: When your message is seen, it increases the chances of click-throughs. That is why email records more click-through rates than social media.
- Easy to monitor: I run different campaigns on social media and on email. The stats I get for my email list is so detailed and know who (right down to their names) clicked my links, which links they clicked and those who haven’t bothered to check my mail. This is not yet possible with social media. Due to privacy concerns, no social media giant will give you the name and email of people who clicked on links in your updates/timeline.
- Easy to segregate and target specific groups: When a person clicks on a link on your email, you can easily transfer that person to another list, and later target that person with specific sales copy meant to convert that person to a paying customer. Not so with social media.
But I have got news for you. Building an email list is no longer as easy as it was in the golden era of 2001. Terrific content is no longer good enough because everyone is creating wonderful content and readers are spoiled for choice. Pop-ups are so common that many readers now ignore them.
So how do you cut through the competition and build an impressive list in 30 days?
6 surefire ways to build your email list:
1. Run A Giveaway:
Eric of BeardBrand used a giveaway to spike his email list and increase his plateauing sales. Prior to running a contest using Gleam.io, they had 135 subscribers and little sales. After running a week-long contest, BeardBrand had 1001 subscribers. The day they launched the contest, they did about 4x their daily normal sales.
Noah Kagan grew the email list of AppSumo with the first month from 0 to over 30,000 subs with just giveaways! In 10 months he grew his list to 147,973 subscribers; with just giveaways.
Rohan of Wet Shave Club saw how giveaways shot BeardBrand’s email list and revenue. He decided to use it for Wet Shave Club which was a new company he just bought and rebranded.
The results? 2000+ new email subscribers and $100k revenue in 6 months. I don’t know about you but that is pretty impressive. How did they get $100k with their email list?
Simple. By contacting them directly with an discount offer.
Pro Tip: Running a giveaway is an easy way to build your list and increase your blog’s revenue generation. But there is a wrong way to do this and a right way to do this. A wrong way is to offer an iPhone as the prize. Everyone will enter but chances are that most of them are not your target audience. The right way to do this is to give a prize that will appeal only to your target audience. Also promotion of the giveaway is as important as the prize you are giving. Get influencers in your niche/marsupial niches to promote your giveaway and your email list building will skyrocket!
I highly recommend Gleam. I have used them and a few other giveaway software and I completely love their service. You can even start with the free plan.
So if you are too busy to do other methods listed below, a giveaway might be your magic lamp. If you need ideas for a giveaway, drop a comment and I will gladly help out.
2. Guestpost For Influential bloggers/Popular Blogs:
Dan Faggella of CLVboost was able to use guestposting to grow his email list to 10,000 subs in a matter of months. He used guestposting as a watering hose to drive traffic to his site. You can read all about his expert marketing strategy.
Pro Tip: Want your guest posting to result in an avalanche of email subscribers? Then you absolutely must read Henneke’s post on CopyBlogger: Unleash a Surge of Email Subscribers from Your Guest Posts With This Simple Landing Page Strategy
3. Launch Your Website:
When I did my book launch, I made over $3,000 in one day. Launching a product or a service is an effective way of capturing people’s attention.
So why not launch your website and capture emails?
This is exactly what Harleena Singh is doing with her personal website. And her results are spectacular! The traffic to her site must be enough to have spiked her Alexa ranking, even without a single post published.
Ramsey recommends this method and shows how you can do this in this blog post. If you have a tight budget, then you should follow Jon Morrow’s method. While contributing to copyblogger, he was building an email list for his blog. He used a coming-soon software to capture leads. The day he opened his blog for the first time and wrote the first post on his blog, the avalanche traffic was incredible. However, Jon’s method is a slower process of building trust through continuous guestposting/contribution to an influncer’s blog. It might take longer to get 1000 email subs this way but it will be totally worth it in the end.
Tools you can use:
To make this method so much more effective, you can use these tools that will lead to a viral sharing of your launch date and a spike in your email subscription rate.
Launch Rock: A simple tool for launching your website.
SeedProd: I have personally used SeedProd and I absolutely love/recommend them.
4. Content Locking or Article Upgrades:
A article upgrade is an extra material complimentary to the article you just published. If a web visitor loves the article and knows article upgrade will benefit him, he won’t mind parting with his email address, just to get the upgrade. Probloggers like Neil Patel, Bryan Harris have used this technique to increase their email list.
Content locking is more prevalent in subscription sites. A glimpse of the full article is shown (like the first three paragraphs of the article). Then the rest is hidden and only trading an email address will unlock it. This works extremely well in industries where information is not readily available online.
Pro tip: For content locking I highly recommend using OptinLock
For article upgrades consider Optin Monster
5. Free ebook on Smashwords:
This is a smart method and I encourage people to use it too. This is how I found Bryan Harris of videofruit.com and ended up on his email list.
I was simply looking for an ebook on entrepreneurship strategies. In the search results, I saw an ebook with more than 10 contributors who gave great tips on how to upscale your online business. Bryan Harris was one of the contributors. I was sucked in by the practical advice he gave that I immediately clicked the link to his website.
I was not disappointed. His website had more practical advice on how to get customers and build an email list. Long story short, I subscribed to Bryan’s list 3 hours after downloading a free ebook on Smashwords.
Pro Tip: Publishing an ebook on Smashwords or Amazon is great. Making it free is even better. Want to attract 1000s of downloads? Co-author the book with 5 to 20 more experts in your niche.
6. Contributing to another Problogger’s Freebie:
Mary Jaksh optin “The (Nearly) Ultimate Guide to Writing is how I discovered the Freddy Krugger of blogging, Danny Iny and ended up on his email list.
Gone are the days when you see other bloggers as your rivals. If you can collaborate with another blogger, (especially one who has more traffic than you) to contribute to his/her optin, you will be increasing the chances of being found on the blogoshere.
There you have it: 6 simple ways to grow your email list.
Over to you. In the comments, tell me what ways you use to grow your email list. If you are stuck and want to know ways you can grow your own email list, peculiar to your niche, ask me in the comments. I reply to every comment and will gladly help you out.
- 6 ways to get 1000 subscribers in 30 days - August 13, 2015
- How to Start a Lucratively Successful Blog - August 7, 2015
- 10 steps you should take to become successful in life - July 7, 2015
Hi Chioma,
“Did you enjoy the article?”
Are you kidding me? ABSOLUTELY!
I wanted to glance through the note before settling down to read it, and then my eyes caught the point you made about making $3000 in one day on book sales. Are you for real? Hehe. That launch thing must be the magic I need. I am going to check out the links you gave for launch. Funny I have already shared the post with a friend of mine who is equally a blogger.
I don’t understand what you mean by content locking and article upgrade. Care to throw more light?
Then about the sixth point, how do I get accepted to contribute? You know guest posting is almost becoming herculean, especially if you are still a newbie.
Please please answer ASAP.
Thank God for people like you. This post is the bomb. It may just be the secret ingredient I need to break through. I wonder where I am on the Alexa rank. Maybe 3 million.
I know I can make it with your help.
Thanks for not hoarding your secret Chioma
Hi Toby,
So glad you enjoyed this post :). Yes I made that much, though it was back in 2012. Though it all happened in a day, it took about two weeks to plan and organize the event. It was an exciting and exhilarating moment. Plan on redoing it again. You can achieve the same thing too.
Read this article to get an idea of what content locking is all about: http://www.searchenginejournal.com/adding-content-locking-into-your-traffic-monetization-mix/64801/
An example of article upgrade is shown in this website: http://www.writersincharge.com/110-websites-that-pay-writers/ (In this article, Onibalusi provides 70 websites but if you want the full list of 110, then you have to pay with your email).
For the sixth point, I would advise you make good friends in ABC (with bloggers in your niche or a marsupial niche). The sixth point works only if you approach bloggers who you have built good relationships with.
Thanks for sharing my article with your friend. That’s really nice of you. Thanks for visiting too. I do enjoy your visits.
Hi Chioma,
I believe we all would like to increase our email list and you gave some excellent examples. I must admit some I never heard of before.
Often when I visit other blogs and it gets real good to me as I’m reading then all of a sudden it ask me for an email to continue reading. I don’t like that :D:
But I never thought of using that technique on my blog. And there are many more you mentioned that I will try.
Thanks!
Hi Vernon,
Its a pleasure to see you here. I know how irritating pop-ups can be. But despite that, they do have a high conversion rate when compared to other forms of capturing emails. I do use it on my blog as well.
I do urge you to try some of the methods mentioned in this post. They have worked immensely for top internet marketer and I am sure it will work well for you.
Thanks for visiting. Do have a splendid day.
Hello Chioma,
First time I have visited your blog. Every blogger wants to build an email list which is very important for getting success from a blog. This is an excellent article where you have discussed almost all the ways to build an email list. Basically I support all the ways which have been discussed here. So I cannot say any particular way. Hope in future I will also read more excellent article from your blog.
Thanks and regards,
Moumita Ghosh
Moumita Ghosh recently posted…Is it Possible to Rank Well in Search Engines Even the Website is Not Optimized?
Hi Moumita,
Welcome to my blog. You are right that every blogger wants to build a list, as it is important for the success of the blog. Thanks for your kind words about my article. I hope to see you in future too.
Do have a splendid day 🙂
Hey Chioma,
I’ve heard of these ways before apart from contributing to another blogger’s freebie. Not sure how that would work out. I don’t think I would like to include another blogger’s freebie unless it was going to be reciprocated. I had a guy once contact me about adding his detox report to mine on the download page. I didn’t agree with what he was saying in his report so I didn’t use it. I’m not sure it would have added any value to my report even if I had approved of it. It might have worked if his report was on another but related topic. I’ll have to ponder a bit more on that one.
I am interested in doing a giveaway but am not sure how this works. I know you’ve recommended Gleam but wonder how and where they promote it. How would you get influencers to promote it? Wouldn’t they be asking what’s in it for them? Not sure what I could give away. Would an ebook be suitable?
Certainly a great article with plenty of food for thought.
Sandy Halliday recently posted…Should You Detox Your Body From Glyphosate Weedkiller?
Hi Sandy,
If you go to writetodone.com, you will see the freebie on their sidebar. Mary, the owner of the blogger, compiled writing advice from other internet marketers, editors, copywriters and made ‘the nearly ultimate guide to writing’.
How does this method work? I have been following Mary’s blog for years now and she was introduced to Danny Iny in an event. Now if you want to use this method, it has to be you contributing your best content to a well-known influential blogger in your niche, who has a very good relationship with you. This method only works out for bloggers who are friends and close.
I understand your experience with the guy who approached you with his report. Firstly, the guy was not really close to you and you did not enjoy the material be presented to you, so you knew your audience won’t.
With giveaways, yes some influential bloggers would ask “what is in it for them?”. But influential bloggers you have a good relationship with might not. I have run 5 giveaways to date. The last one was for a client who owns a fashion blog that she needed to build a list quickly for. I approached some bloggers in the fashion niche, specifically those whose audience were 25-35yrs. I approached about 5 bloggers and 2 agreed to help me out free of charge. The others wanted compensation while one stated she was not yet ready to start advertising to her audience. The traffic from those two was worth all the trouble I went to. So if you want to run a giveaway, plan to do so like during a festive season, start following the bloggers now and being friendly with them. Then 1 or 2 weeks prior to your giveaway, approach the bloggers and tell them how offering this giveaway during this festive season to their audience would make their readers love them the more.
A successful giveaway depends on the prize as well. Most times it should be something that costs money which your ideal audience would love to have. Is there a detox product you recommend that costs good money, that your target audience would love to have but have to save to get? That product would be ideal for a giveaway.
Thanks for visiting Sandy. Glad you enjoyed this article 🙂
Hi Chioma!
Great article with really good information! While I knew about most everything you were talking about, you gave me a new perspective on some that I really needed. And, I also liked knowing how you used Smashword that I had heard of but didn’t know what they did until you explained about finding books out there.
Thanks!
Hi Quinn,
Thanks a lot for stopping by. I am glad you got some new perspective. Smashwords is really good for building a targeted audience. If you have the time and energy to write and publish a book from scratch, then you should give it a try.
Really nice to have you. Do have a wonderful day.
Hi Chioma,
Wonderful post indeed, and thanks for the kind mention, which made me stop here to comment 🙂
I’d say that the ways you mentioned are simply quintessential to getting subscribers to your blog. I don’t have to re-emphasize the importance of have an email list but I’d be frank to admit that I didn’t know that when I started blogging. It surely does all that you explained in this post and gives you advantage. While giveaways, guest posts, free ebooks, and freebies are fantastic ways to build your list, you surprised me by including my Facebook post about my new upcoming blog.
I’d just say that I’ll reveal the entire story of my new blog breaking the Alexa barriers and climbing high without a single post being published on it yet. Well that’s another story but yes the method I used on my new blog does help to build your list.
I completely agree with your concluding statement that these are the times of collaboration among bloggers and create win-win situations.
Thanks for sharing this wonderful post, and have a great weekend ahead too! 🙂
Harleena Singh recently posted…Blogging Basics: CRUX of Blogging Tips for New Bloggers
Hi Harleena,
I was so surprised and pleased when I saw that update on your Facebook page. Sure means you must have an impressive list to have gotten that amount of traction without a single blog post. I don’t know about others but I am sitting on needles waiting for your first post 😉
Thanks for your quintessential words. I also made the mistake you made with my earlier blogging attempts. When I started this blog I was a whole lot wiser and wasted no time in putting a sign-up form.
I would love to read about your whole story of breaking Alexa barriers. The technique you used to build your list often works best when one is already in contact with a heavily trafficked site. In this case the years you spent building and growing ABC tenderly really paid off for you.
Yes, i agree, these are times of collaboration among bloggers and not rivalry. Collaboration like you said, really creates win-win scenarios.
Thanks so much for taking time off you busy schedule to visit my blog. I really enjoy whenever you stop by. Do have a wonderful weekend too. 🙂
I love what i have read. I think the giveaway can work for me. I will try to follow the steps and please incase i can get more on that giveaway thingy i will be glad
Bamisepeters’ blog recently posted…Eliminate Your Fears And Doubts About Woman.
Hi Bamisepeters,
Glad you enjoyed my post. The giveaway method can work for anybody. It all depends on the prize you choose, the planning and then the promotion. For a really successful giveaway, you must do these three things right: Prize, planning, promotion.
Prize: It should be something your audience desires. It most probably will cost you money. Your blog seems to be a lifestyle blog. Do you know the sex that reads your content more? is it males or females? If it is males, offering a giveaway of a laptop bag or similar would be very popular. if it is women, then a fashion item like jewelry or perfume would be great. If you want to go neutral, try recharge cards or something similar.
Planning: You have to determine if you will run the giveaway on your blog or on another more influential person’s blog. Then you have to know the influential bloggers in your niche and marsupial niches you can reach out to, so that they can tell their audience about you. Some bloggers will ask for compensation. But if you are really chummy with an influential blogger, he/she will be willing to do this for free for you. Choose your date. Will it be on a normal or festive period?
Promotion: A giveaway is only as effective as its promotion. So you need to promote it. You should have at least two influential bloggers promoting it for you. Want better results? then you need to have more bloggers promoting it. I prefers bloggers to ads or promo sites because when a blogger promotes it, you are sure they are promoting it to your target audience.
Hope this helps. Thanks for stopping by 🙂
Hello Chioma,
Great tips on how to grow your email list. That’s something that I am still working on. I have a subscription box on my sidebar. I was thinking about getting pop up but I added this popup that recommended some of my previous blog post and I thought it would be too much to add both.
I did a giveaway on my natural health blog which I have to get back to. I really enjoyed it. I would like to do it again because I did pretty good. Thanks for sharing this with us!
Maketta recently posted…LinkPlug-Advertise On Any Web Content! No Matter What It Is!
Hi Maketta,
Its such a joy to have you here. A pop-up is a great idea. I use a pop-up as well. When you are using a pop-up, go for simplicity. The blog post recommendation beside the sign-up form will lead to poor conversions. Instead only the sign-up form and your lead magnet should show on the pop-up. This way people are clear on what you expect them to do.
I am glad you recorded success on your giveaway. Giveaways are really effective especially if you are too busy to guest-post and follow the traditional route of building an email list.
Thanks for stopping by. hope u have a great weekend 🙂
Hi Chioma,
I see everyone talking about email lists. Any suggestions for a new blogger?
While I feel that the methods like giveaways, free ebooks and guest posts are a great way to increase email lists, but how much are they feasible for a new blogger, who isn’t popular at all?
Sourav recently posted…How To Turn On Cortana For A Windows 10 PC In India
Hi Sourav,
For a new blogger, who is not popular at all and who has a very tight budget, then you should publish a book on amazon or Smashwords with a bait that leads to a landing page in your website. This method will take time to produce some really good results but it will stamp your authority in your niche.
Want a fast route and have money to spend (like $100 -$200 minimum)? then try giveaways. I see you are in the tech niche. There is always a software there that loads of people will want to have. Many atimes these software are not that expensive. For example Josh Earl gave away a license to Sublime Text, a tool for programmers which cost just $70, and yet the giveaway grew his email list to nearly 200k people in 11 days.
The key to a successful giveaway is the prize, planning and promotion. Start being friendly with influential bloggers in your niche. Building relationships with them will help you when you want to promote your giveaway. Also your giveaway should have viral sharing so that entrants can share it with their friends and bring more entrants back to your giveaway. More entrants = more emails for you.
Hope this helps 🙂
I am checking out Smashwords at the moment.
You guessed right about the tight budget. Will definitely want to try out a giveaway when my blog grows a bit.
Thanks for the detailed reply. 🙂
Hi Chioma!
I’m so glad I came by your blog! The topic of your post was spot on for me as I’m trying to grow my subscriber list as well :).
You’ve shared some great suggestions with us. Some of them I’m doing but others like a free eBook is a new idea for me and I just might look into that one. Actually, it gave me an idea so right after I leave my comment and share your post I need to write down what I just thought of so I don’t forget :).
Hope you’re having a great weekend!
Take care,
Cori
Corina Ramos recently posted…Work-from-Home Job Lead Round Up
Hi Corina,
I am really thrilled that you came over to my blog. Thanks so much for your kind words and I am glad my article gave you the spark of an idea.
An ebook is a really powerful tool. I have savvy internet marketers like Danny Iny and Bryan Harris use it effectively. When it comes to things like list building, it might be nice to come up with creative ideas but it is always better to use ideas that worked for others. That way you know there is a greater possibility that it will work for you.
I am having a delirious weekend. Probably will be sad when its over ;). Hope you are enjoying your weekend too.
Talk soon,
Chioma
Hi Chioma
I enjoyed reading your post from start to finish. Using practical examples made it all the more believable that this is at all possible. I would also add that not all of the strategies will work for everyone but they are certainly worth the try.
I started just recently to focus on list building. I know it is not too late but it is a lot harder when your blog is already made its 3rd birthday as opposed to have done it when it was in its infancy. When I started my blog I had not idea about getting readers to opt in in the ways you have explained. While I see the need to build the list, I personally do not like to ‘twist’ people’s arms to get them to buy in if you understand what I mean. My articles I believe should be convincing and convicting enough to want that person to hop on to my sign up sheet to subscribe so they never miss a new post.
Please don’t get me wrong, because I love the idea but sometimes the pop ups on some blog are just a bit much for me and can be a bit annoying. Some people have them set that as soon as you land on their page here comes the pop up to sign up for newsletters.
My question to you though what if someone follow all these strategies you have given and after 30 days they did not get 1000 subscribers? I would love to hear your thoughts on this.
Thanks for sharing this post. You have given great suggestions and I will look into adopting them. Have a great wekend
Yvonne I. Wilson recently posted…Your Determination To Win Is The Best Part Of Winning
Hi Yvonne,
List building is important but I understand it can be a bit challenging. I do enjoy the messages on your blog and from the way you write, i know you want your readers to feel at home, to feel like they are visiting an old friend and having tea while learning things that will make their lives brighter and lighten their hope. I am not surprised that you are not willing to twist people’s arms to opt-in.
But sometimes people need a little nudge, just to do something they even want to do. Some people I know rush to buy groceries when there is a discount but put it off for as long as they can when there are no discounts. Sometimes a little nudge is what’s needed to get people to do something that will benefit them. I understand your distaste for pop-ups. Many people feel the same way too. I suggest using sign-up forms at the end of your articles or a slide-up form on the right-hand side. These are not too offensive but they are more efficient than a sidebar sign-up form.
I agree that all these methods won’t work for everybody, nor will they have the same results for everybody. Some steps are better suited for some niches while some other steps won’t work at all for some niches. I do agree with that. I also do not guarantee the results will be the same for everyone. But I do know that if you combine methods applicable to your niche and work vigorously focused on the results you intend to have (1000 subs) you will get there. I am in the process of conducting a case study on this topic in the fashion and lifestyle niche. I am documenting my findings. I will definitely publish them when I am done because I will be using some of the techniques mentioned here in my list building.
Thanks for your visit. It really is a delight to have you over 🙂 .
Hello Chioma,
This is really a very lovely post and I enjoyed every bit of it.
Email marketing is a very important aspect of blogging and that’s why every blogger and internet marketer out there should take it serious.
Facebook is good, twitter is good, SEO is great get, none of them can be compared to having an email list. Its just like having all your customers contacts in one place where you will be able to reach them anytime.
All the methods you mentioned above have also proven to work for many people and its still working.
Talking about content upgrade, I just discovered a cool tool for that yesterday and its called Content Upgrade Pro, I think you should really check it out.
I’ve also read Jon Morrows launch story and its really intriguing. He’s really a big deal and I enrolled for his Serious Bloggers Only course sometime ago, are you also a member of the tribe?
Thanks for this post Chioma, I’ll be visiting often.
Hi Theodore,
Thanks for your kind words.
You are right. Email marketing is an extremely important aspect of blogging. While social media platforms are great, they do not replace the relevance of email. I will check out the Content Upgrade Pro.
I was once a student of Jon Morrow’s serious bloggers only (SBO) course. Glad to know you enrolled for the course too. I learned a lot from that course. I have bought courses from a lot of internet marketers from Brian Moran to Nathan Barry. Some were pricey, yes. But they opened my eyes to strategies that work. I have been using the strategies I learned in these numerous courses and discovering what works for certain niches and what does not.
Thanks for your visit, Theodore. I really enjoyed it and I look forward to seeing you again 🙂
Absolutely Chioma,
I’ll surely be sticking around. I guess you’re based in Enugu right?
Happy new week
Used to be in Enugu. But been working in various states in northern Nigeria for the past year. From the look of things I might change base to southern Nigeria before the year runs out. Do have a great week too.
That’s ok.
I also used to be in Enugu but presently at Taraba state.
I studied in IMT, graduated last year and currently waiting for NYSC.
I’m sure I’ll get to meet you soon.
More strength to your elbows
Hey Chioma,
What a post! This is where I am at now. I have saved your link so I can refer to it like a bible. I have three subscribers and I am one of them. LOL, I did not even know I had the other two.
But the ideas and stories you present are very inspiring and easy to understand. I am excited by reading this post. And over the next couple of months I am going to go down this list and try each one.
I espeically liked how you shared the information on what your email information tells you. Thank you so much for this useful information.
Rachel.
Hi Rachel,
Am I glad to see you ;). You are doing the right thing by focusing on building your email list. It really is important as then you can build a steady source of traffic to your site. Its ok if you have only 2 other subscribers to your blog. With time and effort, that will increase and one day you will find it difficult to believe you had a modest number of subscribers once.
I do encourage you to try out the ideas in this post. I even think starting with guestposting and content upgrades will be a terrific starting point. As your subscribers grow and you interact with them and expand the scope of your blog, then you will be able to try more complicated methods.
Thanks so much for your nice words and for visiting too. Blogging aint a stroll in the park but it all becomes worth it when our efforts start working.
Regards,
Chioma
Hi Chioma,
Very detailed post, and is evidently shown that you’ve done enough research before writing this piece of content.
There is no doubt about it, your email list is your best online asset that no one can take away from you. Your social media account can be deleted without any prior notice, Google can strike at any giving time but your email list of subscriber is for you to keep forever.
Most points you gave are very effective for list building, especially give-away and effective guest posting.
However, my concern with give-away is that in some cases, it brings along with it many tourist that doesn’t really interested in your topic after the give-away is over.
Thanks Chioma, nice reading.
Shamsudeen recently posted…What is Affiliate Marketing and How Does It Work?
Hi Shamsudeen,
You are right about tourist subscribers attracted by giveaways. That is why a giveaway should be tailored to provide solutions in line with your business. For instance Sue of Successfulblogging.com did a recent giveaway in collaboration two other female bloggers. The giveaway offered free hosting, website branding (which is the direct product of one of the collaborators), website consulting (Sue’s product) and a few other prizes. These prizes are meant for new bloggers or bloggers finding it difficult to achieve their blogging goals. The result is that the number of tourists will be greatly reduced!
The truth is that some subscribers you get via guestposting will still unsubscribe from your blog one day. Because a need today might turn out to be useless tomorrow. For instance if I signed up for a beginner’s course in blogging many years ago, I will find such a blog useless to me now (especially if they are still talking about how to begin a blog). So either way, via guestposting or giveaways you will still experience unsubscribes. But while giveaways help you reach your email list goal faster, guestposting takes you there gradually.
Thanks for stopping by. I really enjoyed your contribution to this topic. Do have a wonderful week.
Hi Chioma,
When it comes to list building, we have to do it from the start. I have to admit when I first started, I was so confused about this but live and learn!
I do most of my list building via marketing. When it comes to my blog, I do need to start building there more often. I like the idea of offering a free ebook or something to my wonderful readers and it is about time I do.
I’m currently working on an ebook as a free source of building a list. My problem is that I have a few segmented lists from product creation. Keeping up with that via email is a job as you well know. But my blog is important also and you have successfully given me a push to get on track with that.
I do have opt-ins there for my list, but I think I need something that wows my readers – back to the drawing board and thank you for these awesome ideas.
-Donna
Donna Merrill recently posted…Are You Chasing Fast Money Or Building A Solid Business?
Hi Donna,
Its always a pleasure to have you here. You are right, list building is really important and should be started from the get-go. For my first blogs, i never understood the importance of an email list. But before I started this blog I had gone through professional training and knew the money is in the list.
A free ebook will be great. I do admit that it can be a tiring process to keep up with a segmented email list. My list is really complex, with new subs entering a different pool, then subs that read my content often filtering to another list, then subs that bought something from or through me filtering to yet another list. It does get complicated but segmented lists make data-driven marketing a tad easier. At least when you have a product, it makes no sense pitching it to folks who rarely open your mail. You will get more results when you pitch to subs who hang on your every mail.
I am glad to help anytime. Would definitely love to know about your new opt-in.
THanks for stopping by. Do have a merry week.
Hey Chioma,
I am really impressed with this blog post here. Although I’m getting subscribers on a weekly basis, I would definitely would like to do it on a daily basis or just get 1000+ within a months time.
The fast way I’ve grown my list was through paid strategies such as PPC and Solo Ads. Although I was building a nice targeted list and getting the sales, the sales didn’t cover the cost of the paid strategies. This was a bummer for me, but then again I learned what my mistake was which was not tracking.
I really like the idea of giveaways, guest posts, and free ebooks. I’ve started giving away my free ebook and also this year I started doing guest post. I would be interested in doing giveaways, especially after you talked about the results of Eric of BeardBrand, Noah Kagan, and Rohan of Wet Shave Club. That’s amazing at what all it can do!
Thanks for sharing these tips Chioma! Have a great week ahead!
Sherman Smith recently posted…Why Your Blog Traffic Generation Strategies Suck
Hi Sherman,
I agree that Ads are one of the fastest ways of growing an email list. I have used them and got a 33% conversion rate (used facebook ads) but you are absolutely right on how expensive it can quickly become. A way I have found that has a quick ROI is using JVs. While this method can spike your list, it definitely comes with a price. JVs are only effective with influential bloggers and most influential bloggers will not tell their list about you if the compensation they will get is not worth it.
Giveaways are great, especially when done rightly. Bryan harris, Noah Kagan and even Sue Anne of successfulblogging.com have used it to grow and engage with their lists. Guestposts are terrific too, and even though they can be tasking, the results does build up after a while.
Thanks for stopping by. Its always a pleasure to have you here. Do have a great week too.
Hi Chioma,
Great list of ideas and I endorse them all… but I’m starting a new approach using a survey process that I’m really excited about and recently stumbled upon.
Soon, you’ll see me doing some neat things with them that will build my list quickly as well as provide massive, targeted content for people’s needs that are both free and paid.
Nonetheless, there is no question that building an email list is important to our growth and opportunities as a strategy.
I hope you have an awesome week Chioma!
~ Don Purdum
Don Purdum recently posted…Are You Known by Your Words? Marketing is More Than Just Content or Images
Wow, Don. You have put me on a cliffhanger here. I am quite curious to know what your new marketing strategy to build an email list is. Using a survey to grab new subscribers is definitely a new spin. Can’t wait to read about your results on that.
You are right though: A list is a super important tool in every blogger’s arsenal. Its through your list that you can grow your blog and see untapped opportunities.
Thanks for stopping by and do have a splendid week too.
Hi Chioma,
All of those ways are very effective, I do agree with you.
I don’t really like the giveaway approach though because I’ve found a lot of freebie seekers end up on your list and eat up your space. I applaud anyone though that’s able to build a responsive list in this method all while still making plenty of sales. That’s very impressive.
I haven’t gone to any special lengths to build my list quickly because I do believe in quality over quantity. I’m sure for a lot of people though they can have both but then again we always need to be testing different methods right!
I sure do appreciate you sharing all of these with us. Thanks Chioma and I do hope you’re enjoying your week.
~Adrienne
Adrienne recently posted…Who Should You Really Connect With In The Blogosphere?
Hi Adrienne,
Its always a pleasure to have you here. I do agree that giveaways can attract freebie seekers. But it always depends on what you are giving away. For instance, if I am a fitness coach & trainer and wanted to run a giveaway, it would be one of my products like a month of free fitness training/coaching or a DVD of work-outs that burn belly fat. Stuff like that. However, it really does take some work to make giveaways work and bring in nice results.
Quality does trump over quantity always. But trying out new ways and methods is not a bad thing. Like you said, we do need to be testing different methods to find the sweet spot for our blogs.
I really am enjoying my week. I feel its flying past too fast ;). Hope you are enjoying yours too?
Chioma Anozie recently posted…6 ways to get 1000 subscribers in 30 days
Hey Chioma,
I am visiting your blog first time today.
This is an effective article to read and follow. Building your email list is somehow a hard task. Bloggers need to attract their readers to get added into their email list.
I like the idea of organizing a giveaway. I have noticed at my blogs that during the time of a giveaway more and more people visit that blog and try to engage into that.
Knowing your audience is very important. You should know which type of people you want to target?
Its about newbies or else?
Thanks for the post.
Enjoy your day.
~Ravi
Ravi Chahar recently posted…How To Backup WordPress Database Using phpMyAdmin?
Hi Ravi,
Welcome to my blog :). You are right, building an email list is hard. It does not happen by chance and takes some dedicated work.
Giveaways are a quick way to increase your email list. Especially when the right prize is chosen. Glad to hear you had some really great results with giveaways.
You are right on the money about knowing your audience. This is crucial in building an email list. Though it is possible to have different groups of people visit your website, you should be sure about your core audience. This helps greatly in planning how to build your list rapidly.
Thanks for visiting. I really enjoyed your contributions. Do enjoy your day too.
Hi Chioma
Thanks so much for your helpful post. Great ideas here. Of the strategies listed the one that interests me the most is guest posting which is something I’ll be doing in the future.
But for now I’m happy to be simply doing some blog commenting and building relationships with people I admire.
Up until now my main sources of traffic have come from paid ads. I still use platforms such as Facebook and Bing, and will soon run some ads on You Tube. From time to time I also buy solo ads, but the quality of lead is invariably less when I compare the results with Facebook ads.
I also get a small number of high quality inquiries from a few of my ranked blog posts and You Tube videos.
Thanks once again for your great post, Chioma.
Hi Kim,
Its such a delight to have you here. I really am glad you enjoyed the post. I agree that guestposting is highly effective. I do intend to write about how to maximize the traffic from guestposting and convert a good percentage too.
You are on the right track Kim. Building solid relationships with bloggers of character is absolutely necessary to build a successful blog. It really helps you in the long run. Kudos for taking that step.
I have used facebook ads to build my email list and while the conversions were good, the costs can really add up. Facebook ads can be a bit tricky too as poor copywriting and targeting can really have an effect on the results you get. Glad to know you are getting good traction and conversion with facebook ads.
Thanks for stopping by. I really enjoyed the conversation with you. Look forward to seeing you again. Do have a splendid weekend.
What a truly awesome post Chioma!
You totally hit it out of the park!LOL! I’d say you could very easily have a
90 minute free webinar on the front end and paid one on one three to four week Coaching product
on the back end if you want!
Because look at some of the specific follow up questions it produced!
That simply means you have definitely over delivered on the goods here!LOL!
And I’ll definitely have to re-read this a couple of times, in order for it to really sink in,
plus read some of your resource articles!
You could easily turn this post into some type of how to course and or do it yourself kit/cheat sheet
info product and or free bonus giveaway product for purchasing a more expensive product or service!
Great job! I definitely enjoyed this and got several solid ideas to inexpensively test!!
Mark recently posted…Entrepreneur How Come Your Six Year Old Knows More About Really Effective Marketing Than You Do?
Hi Mark,
Thanks so much. I am working on a course right now. But creating a course really takes time, but I don’t mind. I want it to be the best possible value for my students. You did give some really interesting advice too. I did plan on using a free info product to build a targeted list for my course. I will however be considering adding the cheat sheet you mentioned. More work but I don’t mind.
You really got my creative and business juices flowing :). I really am glad about that. Your articles are an inspiration as well and every serious entrepreneur should read them.
Thanks for stopping by and pumping up my spirits. I do hope your weekend has been wonderful so far?
Email list is a real asset of blog.
Nice tips to increase email subcribers.
Yes Sharad,
Email is important. Glad you agree too.
Hey Chioma,
Great post here.
An email list is certainly important and you shared some excellent tips to help build one in 30 days.
I always hear people talk about running a giveaway or a contest and I know it’s a really great way, but I just haven’t come up with a worthy enough contest to run. But I’m still brainstorming it.
Great post. Great points.
– Andrew
Hi Andrew,
Its a joy to have you here. Thanks for your kind words too. You are absolutely right: An email list is really important. Every blogger should be focused on how to build one as it greatly helps in your internet marketing efforts.
Giveaways are a great way to build an audience. A lot of internet marketers like Sue or Successfulblogging.com, Nathan Barry, Bryan Harris have used giveaways to grow their email list. I have tried it on one of my projects and it created a spike in my email list and social fanbase. The key is making sure you are using a prize that only your target audience will find useful.
Thanks for stopping by Andrew, I really enjoyed your visit.
Hi Chioma,
This is very insightful and thanks for sharing.
I once had a serious discussion with a lady that would love to get into blogging and “make money from it”. From my observation, she has the passion to get her through the though time, what she doesn’t understand as hard as I tried to explain was the fact that blogging is the same as any other offline businesses.
You invest TIME and MONEY on blogging, just like any other business.
Take for instance, setting up a blog cost money (you pay for hosting and design e.t.c.), it cost another fortune to get premium templates and theme or a custom design and logo.
Making your blog popular cost another great deal of time, money and effort, take for instance these ideas you shared about building email list, for a serious giveaway you should have atleast a $100 budget to start with. Which is another investment that would later on pay off.
If newbies and oldies handle blogging like offline businesses, life would be much more easier for everyone who is willing to make money in the long run.
I was hoping you would talk about using Facebook to build email list especially if your audience are in the third tier countries like Nigeria, and other African countries, where fb ads is ridiculously cheap.
Thanks for making this blog post worth my time.
Augustus recently posted…Ultimate Guide to starting a blog: What to Blog About
Hi Augustus,
You are spot on there: You invest TIME and MONEY in blogging, just like every other business. I often times find it amusing when people think blogging is easy and the surest “Get Rich Quick Scheme” there is. I have been blogging long enough and on many platforms to know that there is no shortcut around it. Blogging takes Time and Money. If you are not ready to invest these then you are not ready to grow a successful blog.
Exactly! A serious giveaway will eat at least a $100. And that’s on the cheap. I have run many giveaways and I know that giveaways, while they can be effective, they can also fail if not handled properly.
I use facebook ads, facebook retargeting and conversion pixels. Yes, facebook ads can be ridiculously cheap, but I measure the resulting conversions. For instance while I can get traffic from facebook ads at $0.06 per click, my conversions(people who subscribe to my list) from that click can be as low as 5%. So if I get 100 people to visit my blog, 5 of them subscribe. This is very poor in my opinion. For facecbook ads to work very well, they have to be used in conjunction with any of the methods I mentioned above. Another way of maximising Facebook ads effectiveness is to send the cold traffic to a webinar signup.
Retargeting however has proved to be the most effective for me. But retargeting only works when those people have already visited your blog and liked what they see but were a bit reluctant to share their email the first time.
Thanks for stopping by, dear. As usual, your contribution made this topic even more interesting. Do have a splendid day 🙂
Chioma, you are the bomb. Your writing style is simply amazing and you simply a product of the classics, Alexander Pope and Co. “drink deep or taste not of the pyrean spring” . You have really drank deep. Our blog is nearing completion and I would be more than happy to feature you.
Chioma, you are the bomb. Your writing style is simply
amazing and you simply a product of the classics,
Alexander Pope and Co. “drink deep or taste not of the
pyrean spring” . You have really drank deep. Our blog is
nearing completion and I would be more than happy to
feature you.
Hi James,
I am really sorry this reply is coming late. I have been so caught up in so many things (currently working on some new projects which I will reveal in this blog in the future). Thanks for your kind words 🙂 and if the offer for a feature still stands, I will be delighted to accept it.
Chioma Anozie recently posted…6 ways to get 1000 subscribers in 30 days
Hey Chioma,
surely, there’s nothing more stable in Online Marketing than having a good email list.
So far, article upgrades has worked out really well for me. I have tried this method with giving away an ebook to boost up my list subscribers! I have seen massive growth of my list and it works pretty much on all niches.
I haven’t tried content locking, something I prefer not to do.
When I used to guest post very actively I saw a good rise in my email list. Even now, whenever I guest post on a popular blog, I see a spike in subscriber numbers.
Additionally, auto-responder series helps in keeping the subscribers active. I love to keep a really long auto-responder series, thus making sure the new subscribers are taken well care off even in the longer run,
thanks,
Uttoran Sen,
Uttoran Sen recently posted…$1800 Yearly Budget for Daily Cash Contest
Hi Uttoran,
Such a pleasure to see you here. You are absolutely right: there is nothing that beats a good email list. Because a good email list will definitely help you attain success in online marketing.
Article upgrades are effective yes and they do work well across all niches as you pointed out. Content locking is more apt for membership sites. For instance, you can give access to people to your exclusive membership site but unless they pay for full membership, they will not be able to access some classes/tutorials/whitepapers. Digital Marketer uses this technique a lot. and why it works is that this gives people a chance to see what your membership site is like and the goodies just beyond their reach and hence creates a desire in them to have those goodies.
Guestposting is an awesome way of growing an email list and I am glad to know you have seen good results from it too. Your tip about a really long autoresponder is a good one, as many internet marketers soon forget their new subscribers after a little while.
Thanks for stopping by. I really enjoyed your contribution to the article. Do have a wonderful day too.
Chioma Anozie recently posted…6 ways to get 1000 subscribers in 30 days
Hi Chioma,
Great post!
As someone who had always ignored list building, this post is a waking call.
Content upgrades are a great way to get respective emails and I am installing them in some of my articles.
I wonder if giveaways are a good way to collect emails, because these are still a bunch of people who are just interested in getting rewards and even most unsubscribe after the giveaway.
Great post.
-Swadhin
Swadhin Agrawal recently posted…Best SEO plugins for WordPress (2016) to boost your rankings in SERPs
This information is impressive..I am inspired with your post writing style & how continuously you describe this topic. After reading your post,thanks for taking the time to discuss this, I feelhappy about it and I love learning more about this topic
Hi Chioma,
So sweet of you for sharing such incredible ways to get more subscriber in less time. 🙂
Seriously saying, today you have informed very well on the importance of Email. I like the views and ideas of your’s which you have explained here on building a email list. Every blogger needs to have more traffic in his/her site and therefore, he tries his/her best to ger more traffic.
Your these tips are really great useful and I was unknown before about such ideas to build a huge email list.
Your tip on launching a website is awesome and motivating me do like this. The tools which you have instructed here are wonderful and I must use Launch Rock and SeedProd tools.
It’s not over and I’m looking forward to your next informative post, Chioma.
Thanks.
– Ravi.
awesome post with plenty of tips. at last i got some pro tips to build email list. will try this on my niche blogs. hope i would get some subscribers.
thanks for the wonderful article.
regards,
kathir.
Keeping a clean database of subscribers is a good way to keep an active blog engagement.
You did a good job of giving details, Optin Monster is a very good plugin every serious blogger must have. When looking out to reduce cost, MailChimp and Sumome will also help you in building that subscriber list.
Great Post!
Benny Mark recently posted…How to use Whatsapp on browser from your PC
Hey
Chioma,
Happy to read such a great article. Really, building a big and responsible e-mail list is very important for blog to get more traffic. I was far away from this amazing idea to build big email list. And here you mentioned very useful examples of this.
Many point you listed here are very effective for building e-mail list like run a giveaway and content locking and articles upgrades
Thanks for sharing with us.
Praveen verma
Hello Chioma,
Great Info 🙂
After all these years e-mail list building is among one of the most important strategy to attract more and
more subscribers to our blogs. Indeed building e-mail list always open a great opportunity for the bloggers
to attract more amount of traffic to their blogs. The ideas you lightened upon the facts are very easy and
one can grab the opportunity to rate their blogs well in the eys of the google.
The tools you laid emphasized upon are really great and seriously I was unaware of the tools like Launchrock
and Seedprod. Eagerly waiting to lay my hands upon them.
Thanks for this wonderful post.
Keep Writing.
Shantanu.
Hi, Shantanu,
You are right, email marketing is very important in today’s marketing strategy. And there are many tools currently available to help you build your list. I will be doing an update of this post sometime in the future to include new tools too.
Thanks for stopping by and do visit again.
Chioma
Chioma Anozie recently posted…6 ways to get 1000 subscribers in 30 days
Hi Chioma,
It’s great to read your post. I was busy with my projects, that’s the reason I was inactive a bit, specially reading & commenting was completely off.
But Anyways, Thanks for the interesting & informative read. Keep up the good work and enjoy the holidays.
A Very Happy New Year Chioma! Cheers
~ Donna
Donna Merrill recently posted…Top 7 Best Electric Griddles for Pancakes 2018
Hi Donna
Thanks so much for your kind words. I do hope your projects are doing well.
Thanks for stopping by. And I do look forward to reading about your experiences while offline.
-Chioma
Chioma Anozie recently posted…6 ways to get 1000 subscribers in 30 days
Hey,
Here after a long time and like always loved your post. I do missed reading your posts as I was busy with one of my new projects, but will be regular from now on.
Keep up the good work.
~ Donna
Donna Merrill recently posted…Best Fastpitch Softball Bat for 12u – Top 5 Reviews