online business Archives - Simply Quintessential

6 ways to get 1000 subscribers in 30 days

email list growth — Photo credit @London Scout||https://unsplash.com/

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.

How to Start a Lucratively Successful Blog

There are two types of people in this world.

People who wait for opportunities to drop from the skies into their laps and those who go out there, to create their own opportunities.

In the same vein: there are two types of bloggers

Bloggers who wait for something to happen to make their blogs successful
Bloggers who work and face the storm to ensure that they create the opportunity for their blogs to be successful.

Now, I will be frank with you: Blogging is no walk in the park. In the past decade, blogging got so complex, technical and competitive that starting a blog these days is like enrolling into an university; there is just so much to learn.

So how do you start a blog you are absolutely sure will help you fire your 9-5 boss? How do you ensure you don’t fall into the unfortunate pool of bloggers who have never been able to make a cent from their blogs?

I compiled a list of articles that will help you build a profitable blog. Afterall, making some extra money from something you love is never a bad thing. Nor is it a bad thing if your blog can bring in 6-figures each month, so you can spend time with those that really matter in your life.

1. Planning:

Before you jump into building a blog, you must first know what your blog will be all about. You must also know how you can turn a profit with your blog. Fail at this step and your blogging will be a horrific experience to put it mildly.

Greg Narayan explains all you need to know in about planning your blog in his recent article: Guide Part 1: How to plan your new blog perfectly

I love how Don Purdum showed how planning can triple your sales in weeks in this post: Why my Business trippled in 6 weeks.

Don reveals that clarity + focus =execution. And I agree completely with him because lucrative blogging requires intentional efforts. Profits don’t just automatically spring from blogging.

2. Content:

We all know Content is king. But many bloggers do not know how to package their really useful blog posts in a way that will attract, entice and seduce their target audience. If you want to be a popular blogger, then I do urge you to learn how to speak to your readers in a personal manner, like you are having a conversation with them. No matter how knowledgeable you are, your content must never sound like you are speaking down to your reader.

Sue Anne is good at building an engaged audience with her unique content. In this post on her blog, you will find out why. Proven Ways to write Killer Blog Content and get more readers.

3. Build a platform:

When Neil Patel started his food blog, he first started by building a Facebook page for the blog even before he had written a single post. Its very frustrating when you watch your wonderful content gather dust because nobody is reading it. I recently started work on a blog project (will write about my experiences one day) and the first thing I did was to build a Facebook following for this blog. Micheal Hyatt shows just how important a platform is in this video

For the blog project, I knew that building a platform is extremely important. I first created a facebook page, acquired followers and shared other people’s content with them. I shared other bloggers content so that I can tell what my facebook followers loved. I then built a blog and only created content similiar to those that had many likes and shares. The result? Constant traffic and a daily growth of the email list. And the blog is just three weeks old. I do intend to intensify on my platform building efforts on that blog and will share how I did it all when I have attained my targets.
You should focus on building your platform even before you start creating constant quality content. These articles below will help you know how to go about that:

Why you need a platform to succeed

The best first steps to develop your online platform

Dennis Wakeman goes more in-depth in her article: How do i start building my platform? #AskDennis ( a must read for anybody serious about how to develop a platform)

4. Relationships.

Ever been to Adrienne’s blog? Have you noticed how many comments and social shares every single one of her posts have? This is because she is a master at building relationships. If you want a blog that won’t die out, then you need an engaged audience who hang on your every word.

Adrienne shows how you can do this in this post: How to build relationships through blogging

5. Promotion

Building relationships and a platform is only part of the equation. If you really want a successul blog, you must be ready to promote your blog content 80% of the time. That’s Derek Halpern’s theory and this strategy is adopted by most successful bloggers. Nobody will know you have great content sitting on your blog if you don’t share that content with your email list, social media followers and other connections. There is an on-going debate about whether you should blog daily, weekly or monthly. My take is: it all comes done to the revenue. If you run Google ads on your blog, then it makes sense to blog regularly. If you don’t have google ads on your blog, but want to sell your services and products, I say spend less time writing articles (20%) and spend more time promoting it (80%) so that people who will pay for these services and products can hear about you and visit your blog.

6. Revenue

Now we can talk about one of the reasons you started blogging in the first place. Now making money with a blog is pretty easy when you have an engaged platform who trust and hang on your every word. There are various ways of making money from a blog and they can be broadly categorised as follow blogger enstine muki s:

Ads: This is the easiest way to monetize your website. From Google Adsense to Product reviews, anything you do on your blog that involves praising/showcasing another person’s product for monetary gains falls into this category. Enstine Muki does a terrific job of explaining 15 ways you can use this method to make money as a blogger: 15 ways bloggers can make money blogging

Courses: Brian Harris made more than $200,000 from the launch of just one course. Want to create a course? Then you absolutely must read this post on Danny Iny’s blog. Think you are cut out for creating a course? Better read this first.

Consulting: According to Jon Morrow of BoostBlogTraffic, selling ebooks on your blog is a waste of precious time if you have not undergone this step first. Leading internet marketers like Neil Patel, Brian Moran, Jon Morrow all underwent this step. They offered consulting. Some still do till date. Consulting is really interesting and is only a right fit if you know your onions. In this post, Jon Morrow lets you know that a surefire way to make money from your blog is to start with services, then expand to products. Make Money Blogging: 20 lessons going from 0 to $100,000 per month.

Freelance Gigs: This is the way I currently make money from this blog. By getting writing gigs for high-profile clients. All I have to do is show them what I am capable of writing and they are interested. To do this with your blog, you will need to join a number of job boards so that you can be aware of writing gigs for bloggers. Some job boards I recommend are:

Problogger
BlogExpose
Upwork
Not a writer? Maybe you are a designer or developer? Check out these sites for good-paying freelance jobs

Notice I did not talk about SEO, traffic generation, email list building. Why? Because these are tactics in a strategy. Some bloggers chase after the latest SEO fad or traffic generation trick without knowing the underlying strategy. Build a platform first, create really helpful content for this platform and work on developing a strong relationships with this platform and things like SEO, traffic generation and email list growth will happen as a result of this. People will become repeat visitors of your blog and happy customers of your services/products not because Google told them to but because you gave them what they wanted and built their trust in you.

Notice how I put revenue last. Trying to sell to people who don’t know and trust you is trying to put the cart before the horse. There is no way you will be able to sell a consulting service of $1000/hr or an online course of $10,000/yr if no one knows if you will be able to deliver what you promised.

So over to you? How have you been able to build a lucrative blog? What plans do you intend to use and build a successful blog?

They lied about Online Business

I can imagine the look on your face; like what is she about to say? Is she not one of those that canvasses about the online business model? Or is she about to finally confess? So the truth will set her free!

Sorry to disappoint you guys. I am not about to start shouting on the rooftops that all every internet business should be rejected. Nor am I going to say that internet business is scam.

Not when Jumia and Konga are there to prove me wrong. (By the way if you never shop for Konga, I don’t understand again ooo! Even with the N1000 flat rate delivery to any part of the country?)

No, when I talk about Internet or Online Business I mean those sleazy internet marketers that promise that once you buy their ebook, or pay N3500 or pay $25 (the latest scam I found) you will become a millionaire in 3 days or less than a week.

But these desperate 419ers do not stop at that. For where? they go ahead and tell you that you don’t need computer or even internet, in fact you don’t need to do anything at all. Just own a phone and a bank account. Then pay for their millionaire secret and vavavooom! you don hammer be that.

I can almost hear you say, “Nobody can fall for that trick. Not in today’s time!”

I was thinking like that before ooo, till one of my friends became a victim. As you rightly guessed, I took to my blog to alert other people before they fall victim.

How do you know scam artists:

1. They do not have functioning websites themselves: When next you are browsing on facebook and you see an ad that promises to reveal secrets of how to be a millionaire, be careful. When you click the ad and you land for a website that doesn’t have any other content, does not have a menu, nothing except gist about how the self-named guru will reveal millionaire secrets to you, run! You have entered one-chance. DO not buy anything. Do not copy any account number and go, so you can pay into that account.

2. They promise you don’t have to break a sweat: Like seriously? I do online business and have engaged in most forms of online business from Freelancing to e-consulting, and I have one thing to say; it is work. Not even small work ooo. Sometimes I have to wake around 4:30am just to write a meaningful article for you, my lovelies. I spend a minimum of 1 hour writing the article. I spend hours spread across separate days just to research the material, because I don’t like to vomit rubbish. And someone wakes up from the moon and says all you have to do is switch on a phone and the millions will troop into your account. Story for the gods.

I understand that the rate of poverty in this our beloved country has made it impossible for many people to think straight. Coupled with scarce jobs and the easy-peasy, grass-to-grace story our musicians are spreading (more on that in another article), so many people are desperate for money. But you should be careful. Some of these scammers actually want your account number and they put payment buttons that can be used to get your account details.

So be extremely careful. Before you believe a word you see, make sure of the following:

1. The website has other content. He must demonstrate his skills and this can only be done when there are other articles to show that this guy actually works for his money

2. The guru has authority: has he published a book? Is he networked with well-known experts? Is he learned or dedicated to improving his knowledge

3. He is willing to offer his knowledge free: Or at least a sneak peek of it. You have to taste the pudding and be sure its worth paying for.

Scamming is real in Naija. Shine your eyes my lovelies. Till my next post remain fruitful.

P.S: Have you ever fallen victim to 419 guys or any type of online scam? Do you know anyone that has? Tell us about it in the comments and help others avoid the same fate.