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Building your email list on a budget

Here’s what you’ll learn in this module.

How to use basic tools like an autporesponder and list cleaner

How to get the same features entirely for free!

  • How to get people to join your list freely and with minimal incentive – because they WANT to!
  • How to build a highly effective squeeze page
  • How to send people to your squeeze page in their droves without needing to pay for advertising
  • How to create a rapport and relationship with your subscribers
  • How to sell from an email autoresponder sequence
  • How to avoid the spam box and even the subfolders!
  • How to get emails from real-world interactions!
  • And much more!

 

Introduction 

Building a mailing list can be one of the most effective ways to  increase your turnover and profits as an online business.  

That’s because each email on that list represents a potential  customer to market to and to sell to. Depending on the value of  your product, this can represent a lot of money. 

The only issue? Building that list in the first place can take a lot  of time, effort, and financial investment. In other words, you  need a big list to make a lot of money as a marketer… but you  also need a lot of money as a marketer to build a big list! 

Or at least this is what was once thought. Today, it is possible  to build a massive email list without spending a cent. And not  only that, but you can do so without investing hundreds of  hours into the project too. After all… time is money!

This book is your comprehensive guide to everything you need  to know about building a huge mailing list on a budget. This is  your first step toward building your own digital empire.

 

Chapter 1: Why a Mailing List? 

The first question you may have, is why use a mailing list at all?  

Essentially, a mailing list will give you a direct line of  communication with a large number of potential customers – something that no other form of marketing can offer you. 

When you use social media marketing and build a Facebook  page with thousands of likes, you are ultimately at the mercy of  Facebook. Facebook could decide to delete your page  tomorrow, and you would instantly lose all of the hard work you  put in! While that might sound unlikely, it is actually not a  hypothetical and it happens all the time.  

Remember: this is Facebook’s took, and it is up to the  company how it uses it. It is not required to provide you with  any explanation for shutting down your operations – meaning 

that you might not get the opportunity to clear up any  misunderstandings or mistakes. 

The same goes for Instagram, and for Twitter.  

Unfortunately, relying 100% on a website or a blog is actually  no safer. Here, the risk is that Google could change its policies  at any moment, thereby removing your site from its listings.  Most websites that rely on traffic will get the majority of that  traffic from Google searches. So when Google changes its  advice as to what is a good way to get to the top of a particular  search page, this can instantly cause sites to drop down the  ranking. 

Just ask any of the countless businesses that were struck down  by the Panda or Pigeon updates. Imagine going from the top  spot on Google to being completely absent in searches  overnight. 

With email marketing, you have a direct line of communication  with the audience you have worked hard to build. As long as  the internet exists, so too will email – meaning that you’ll be  able to reach them. 

Here is what 99% of internet marketers don’t understand… 

The other reason that email marketing really matters, is that it is  a particularly engaged form of communication.

Here is what 99% of internet marketers don’t understand, and  what can make ALL of the difference when it comes to your  success. 

The most important thing is not how many followers your brand  has. Rather, it is how engaged those followers and, and how  much they buy into your brand. 

In other words: do people get what your brand is all about? Do  they respond to your USP and value proposition? Do they buy  into the lifestyle that you are promoting? 

Selling is emotional and so it is all about cultivating a feeling  from your brand, while at the same time developing a  relationship of trust with your audience. 

That is why brands that have Facebook pages that simply post  about their latest offers don’t drive any sales. 

On the other hand, brands that post about things that matter to  their audience, and that create amazing content, can drive  sales with the click of their fingers! 

Email marketing is the ultimate expression of this. When  someone hands over their email address, they are inviting you  to contact them in a manner that is normally reserved for their  close friends and contacts. 

People only sign up to mailing lists if they are highly engaged  with what you are doing. And then, when they see an email  from you in their inbox, they will listen. 

This is before we’ve even touched on the fact that email  marketing is instant and will even result in a notification on your  recipient’s device! That means you can choose the precise time  of day they receive your message, which helps to control a  number of important variables when it comes to driving sales. 

Or how about the fact that email marketing can be seamlessly  integrated with a number of other marketing strategies, such as  Facebook marketing? You can even use your mailing list to  control who sees your Facebook Ads PPC campaign! More on  this in a moment. 

Your objective then, is to build this kind of highly engaged list – a list of potential customers or clients, that you can monetize  whenever you need to. And to do so without spending a dime. 

Summary: Benefits of email marketing

 

• Email marketing is not reliant on a third party for your contact 

management 

• Very personal and direct 

• Timing is possible 

• Engagement is typically high 

• Integration with other marketing strategies

• Powerful tools greatly extend potential

 

Chapter 2: Crucial Tools for Building Your  Mailing List 

So now you understand the importance of mailing lists, the next  question is how you go about building one of your own. Essentially, you are going to need two things: a website and an  autoresponder. 

A website is something that you should hopefully already be  familiar with. Most businesses owners reading this will already  have a website of some kind, but in case you don’t, it is  recommended that you create a site using WordPress  (www.worpdress.org).  

WordPress is a completely free Content Management System  (CMS) meaning that it lets you control how content is displayed 

on your website, as well as easily add and remove posts at  your leisure. 

Essentially, this works like a skeleton or template for your  website, providing you with pages and a layout that can then be  customized or refined using a little bit of coding or a free theme  installation. You’ll need a hosting account to store the files, but  other than that, the tool is completely free and endlessly  powerful. More importantly, it has a lot of integration with major  autoresponders and other software that we will be using. 

Autoresponder 

An autoresponder meanwhile, is a piece of software that will  allow you to collect email addresses and then manage them  along with the messages that you choose to send out.  

This is something that you simply can’t do without if you plan on  building and using a large mailing list. That’s because the  admin involved would otherwise be overwhelming.  

Imagine for a moment that you have a mailing list that you are  managing manually that has over 1,000 subscribers. Every day,  new people are signing up, and old people are leaving. Simply  responding to every request to unsubscribe and then removing  that person from your mailing list would start to become a full  time job!

Autoresponders handle all these types of things for you – hence the name. Not only that, but they can also provide a  number of other useful functions that help with marketing.  

That includes such things as being able to see whether an  email has been opened or not, and even being able to identify  which members of your list is “most engaged” and thus most  likely to buy from you. 

You’ll also use an autoresponders in order to collect your  emails in the first place. This is because you will use an  autoresponder to create your opt-in form. That form is where your visitors will fill out their details when they want to sign up. 

Most autoresponders will provide you with a basic designer  where you can choose what fields you want (this will include  the name and email address but might optionally also ask for  other details such as sex, age, etc.).  

You’ll then be given a small snippet of code to add to your  website, and once you do that, the form will appear in just the  same way on your page. Now, whenever someone goes  through the process of adding their details and hitting submit,  their address will be added to your list. 

All that’s left for you to do then, is to direct visitors to that page  in the first place, and then convince them to hand over their  details. We’ll discuss that over the rest of this book.

 

Choosing the Right Autoresponder 

When it comes to picking an autoresponder, there are a  number of popular options: 

Aweber 

(www.aweber.com) 

In many ways, Aweber is the biggest email autoresponder out  there and is favored by many of the bigger organizations. A  good option that will provide you with all the features you could  need. 

GetResponse 

(www.getresponse.com) 

GetResponse is a professional-grade tool similar to Aweber but  the main difference is that it is focussed more specifically on  autoresponder sequences. This gives you the most control over  scheduled emails and automated responses. 

MailChimp 

(www.mailchimp.com) 

Favored by many new start-ups and smaller businesses. This  tends to be a little cheaper and has a slightly more welcoming  interface. It also has some more advanced features missing  however and is a little slower and less polished than the  competition.

Infusionsoft 

(www.infusionsoft.com) 

Infusionsoft combines an autoresponder with a sales platform,  allowing you to integrate your sales with an email campaign  that can utilize cookies and other advanced features in order to  respond dynamically to the actions of your audience.  

This is great if you are selling a digital product but isn’t the best  ‘pure autoresponder’. It’s also more expensive. 

Drip 

(www.getdrip.com)  

Drip has recently become more popular among online  publishers and large blogs. It has all the features you could  need and is particularly well suited to creating multiple different  campaigns and broadcasts, each with independent data  recording and analytics. 

However, while these are all good options, they also involve a  fee. If you choose GetResponse for example – which is actually  considered one of the most affordable autoresponders - then  you will need to pay $15 per month for the most basic package,  which will only give you up to 1,000 subscribers!  

You’ll need to pay $25 for 2,500 subscribers, or $65 for 10,000.  This might not seem like a huge amount of money, but if you’re 

truly trying to build your list on a budget, then it might be more  than you want to afford.  

This can become more of an issue then as the list grows, and  our hope is that we’ll very quickly start to reach those higher  numbers. 

For those that want a completely free tool, one of the best  known options is: 

i-Autoresponder 

(https://www.i-autoresponder.com/) 

It’s not terribly feature-rich, and the interface and design is  immediately off-putting… but if you’re looking for a free  autoresponder that has been around for a long time – then this  is it. It will certainly do the job when you are starting out, and  you can then export your list to use with a more powerful tool in  future. 

Other good choices include: 

SendinBlue 

(https://www.sendinblue.com) 

This is a somewhat well-known name among email marketers.  It offers a fully-featured service, even if it is a little bare bones.  While you’ll pay more for the higher subscription counts, the  free tier is still generous in terms of what it offers. The main 

restriction for the free version is that you can only send 300  emails per day. 

Cakemail 

(https://www.cakemail.com) 

This is a tool built specifically for small businesses. It is  designed to be quick and easy to use, while also offering the  best pricing. 

Before you decide to go for the free options though, keep in  mind that $15 a month is still a relatively small investment.  Other free autoresponders such as ListWire ended tragically by  going out of business, which lost some users large lists with  thousands of names on them.  

When it comes to online tools like this, the free options are  normally vastly inferior to the paid alternatives. 

I can assure you, that as you read through the rest of this book,  you will not be required to spend much more than this small  upfront investment. Should you wish to start building your list  entirely for free though, then using i-Autoresponder is your best  option. 

More Uses for Autoresponders 

As well as simply allowing you to build your list, an  autoresponder can also open up many new marketing 

possibilities that simply wouldn’t have existed otherwise. Some  examples include: 

Thank You Messages 

You can set up an autoresponder to send out all kinds of  automated messages. One example is a thank you message,  which you can send after a visitor makes a purchase – or even  once they join your mailing list.  

The latter creates a great opportunity to help increase  engagement and make sure that your members feel wanted. They’ll keep checking their inboxes for future messages, all  because you took the time to show your appreciation! 

Sending a thank you message when someone buys from you  on the other hand, can help to improve buyer satisfaction and  reduce returns/complaints. What’s more, is that this is the  perfect opportunity for you to upsell and try to shift more items  or added value in order to gain more profit from the transaction. 

Courses 

You can create an email course that sends multiple messages,  each containing a separate “lesson.” This can then be used as  a product in itself, or as a free incentive for your visitors. 

For example, someone might pay in order to receive your “10  month course to building the perfect body,” or they might be 

willing to sign up for that email list for free – which you then  also use in order to sell from. 

Scheduling Messages 

Another powerful feature of autoresponders is the ability to  schedule a message. This means that you can decide to send  a message at a set time in the future. This might be the same  time for everyone, or it might vary depending on various factors  (most commonly time zone!). 

One of the big advantages of email marketing is that you can  choose when your recipients receive your communication – they don’t have to open an app. That in turn means that you  can reach them just as they’re getting in from work, which is  when they will statistically be most impulsive and thus most  likely to buy something from you! 

You can also use this feature to send out Christmas messages  or similar – which will help to build your engagement and trust.  People appreciate these small gestures, and the personal  nature of email makes it the perfect fit! 

Strings 

A string in computer talk means a sequence of alphanumeric  characters that can be changed dynamically. In this case, you  might be referring to a person’s name.

That is to say, that an autoresponder will let you create  messages with unique differences depending on the recipient  and a number of other factors. By sending messages that  include the recipient’s name, it’s much easier to stand out in a  crowded inbox, and to create a feeling of familiarity.  

Even if the recipient knows that you didn’t really hand-write  every single message, it still makes a psychological difference! 

Follow Up Messages 

If you’re trying to sell a product or service and you don’t get a  response, it can be useful to send another one after a short  wait in order to remind the recipient. While nobody wants to be  a pest, this strategy really can work. Very often, people will  intend to make a purchase and then just forget! 

Not only that, but if someone considered buying and then  thought better of it, a reminder email can be what clinches the  deal! 

Sales Funnel/Sequence 

A sales funnel is a series of steps intended to encourage  people to buy a product. This is accomplished by gradually  increasing the amount of commitment that the person makes to  the brand and scaling up the engagement.

This can also be accomplished through a sequence of emails.  By sending emails with ever-increasing amounts of detail about  your new product, you can take someone from being vaguely  interested, to ready to buy. Which is where the next part comes  in. 

In short, you can use an entirely automated sequence of  messages each time someone signs up for your mailing list,  and you can then use this in order to sell to them. 

This can work like so: 

1. They sign up for your mailing list 

2. They receive a thank you message 

3. They start receiving interesting information every week

4. They notice a special offer for a free online seminar – they  attend 

5. They are offered a short eBook for $10 – they take the  plunge 

6. They continue to receive useful information 

7. You tease that you have an exciting offer just for them

8. You give a few more details 

9. You hype the offer – an exclusive retreat for your top  readers where they will receive a one-to-one masterclass

10. You launch the offer 

Every new subscriber receives the exact same sequence,  which you will have prepped in advance. Thus, each new  person who signs up will be taken through a series of steps  perfectly designed to provide value, build trust, and ultimately  sell a “big ticket” item.

This system works so well, that you can make a living by  creating multiple static websites, with pre-prepared  autoresponder sequences, and then just wait for the cash to roll  in! 

Lead Management 

Earlier, we briefly touched on the notion that an autoresponder  could be used to identify which users were most engaged. This  is accomplished by getting certain metrics from their behavior.  

An autoresponder can – for example – tell when someone  opens your email. It can also tell when someone clicks on a link  that’s in your email.  

Why is this useful? 

Well, if someone never opens any of your emails, then the  chances of them buying something from you are slim. If you  send that person a marketing message, they might well see this  as spam, and actually decide to unsubscribe – or to avoid  opening your messages in future. 

But if your autoresponder tells you that someone is opening every single email and clicking on every link within those  emails, then there is a very good chance indeed that they might  buy from you! 

They’re ideal to market to in future, and you can even get your  autoresponder sequence to do this automatically once a user  crosses a certain threshold of messages opened! 

Summary: Uses of Autoresponders 

 

• Sending batch emails

• Collecting details via  a form 

• Integrating with a  website/social media  profile 

• Double opt-ins 

• Unsubscribing 

• Monitoring open rates  etc. 

• Scheduling messages

 

Chapter 3: Getting People to Sign Up

Now you have your autoresponder, and you’ve created an opt in form that you can begin directing traffic toward. Great!  

The next step is to make sure that the people who land on your  page and see your opt-in form actually go ahead and sign up.  When describing the percentage of visitors that go on to  become subscribers, we typically talk in terms of “conversions.”  The more visitors convert, the higher the percentage that will  become members of your list. 

It is my advice that you place your opt-in form of every single  page of your website or blog. Make sure this is visible  throughout your content, and each time someone reads  something you wrote, they may be tempted to sign up.

But what’s really going to drive sign-ups is your “squeeze  page.” This is a page on a website that has a singular goal: to  get people to join a mailing list. Here’s how it works. 

How to Build a Squeeze Page 

Because your squeeze page has just one very important goal,  it’s going to be structured a little differently from the other pages  on your website. Importantly, a squeeze page should do away  with all other navigation. The idea is that there is nothing  distracting your visitors away from opt-in form and the copy  convincing them to sign up. 

The opt-in form should be immediately visible, and you should  include as much text as possible convincing your visitors to  sign up. This is where skilled persuasive writing can come in  extremely handy!  

Persuasive Writing for a Squeeze Page 

To do this effectively, try to think about the ‘value proposition’  that you’re offering. This means focussing on what it is that  people get out of your email list and how it makes life better. 

People want to subscribe to fitness lists because they hope to  have better abs and more confidence. 

They want to subscribe to money-making lists because they  would love a bit more financial freedom and to have fewer 

money-stresses. Maybe this is why you’re reading this right  now! 

Focus on this in your pitch and get your audience to really  imagine the benefits of being a member. 

At the same time, talk about the value you’ll be providing for  your readers and how they’ll be “exclusive members.” This last  point is important as people love feeling like they’re members of  something. 

Of course, for any of this to work, it’s important that your emails  actually do provide some kind of value and that they ideally  have some kind of USP. It is best to think of your mailing list in  a manner similar to a blog in many cases – as a way for you to  provide exclusive and valuable information to your most  dedicated followers. 

But likewise, special offers, breaking news, and other  “exclusive” updates can also provide value. 

Addressing Concerns 

You should also address any concerns that your readers might  have head on. People don’t like sharing their contact details because they’re afraid of spam. State clearly that you don’t  pass on details and that they can unsubscribe at any time.

Then talk about your incentive (more on this in a moment) and  use this to close the deal. 

While you do this though, it’s very important to make sure that  you aren’t misleading your audience in any way and that you’re  being upfront. 

The objective is *not* to get as many subscribers as possible.  Instead, the objective is to get subscribers who want to be there  and who might actually buy something. 

Are you going to be providing special offers and deals in your  emails? Great: then make this a big focus of your pitch! It might  put some people off but that’s fine as they wouldn’t have been  potential customers anyway! 

Using Incentives 

One of the most important tools in your arsenal though is the  use of incentives or lead magnets. These are free giveaways  that you are going to use in order to encourage people to sign  up for your mailing list – the kinds of digital products that don’t  cost you anything, but which a visitor would normally have to  pay for.  

That might mean an ebook, a report, or even a short online course.

So you offer a free ebook, or a course, or an app or anything  else in exchange for people signing up to your mailing list. In return, you’ll then get a lot more people signing up because  they’ll be motivated by the idea of getting something for nothing. 

But while this can be a very powerful strategy, it’s also an easy  one to get wrong. That’s why you need to do it right. 

A bad incentive is any incentive that causes people to sign up  who wouldn’t otherwise. If someone signs up for your mailing  list purely to get the incentive, then this will mean they’re likely  to download their free ebook or report and then never read  another email again. As you can imagine, this isn’t terribly valuable to you… 

Instead then, you need to make sure that you aren’t using your  incentive as a bribe and that it isn’t such an amazing offer that it  motivates people to sign up who wouldn’t have any interest  otherwise. Mention the incentive at the bottom of your squeeze  page and make sure it is something somewhat small like a free  report. 

This serves another purpose in that reports quickly provide  value and don’t involve giving away something too big. 

If you give away a whole ebook, then you are essentially  showing your audience that eBooks aren’t worth anything and  can be given away for free. This in turn makes it much harder 

subsequently when you come to try and sell future eBooks.  Why would someone pay good money for something they have  recently been given free? 

What’s more is that many free eBooks will go unread. This  further undermines their value: why would someone pay for  another ebook when the last one never got used? 

Instead, consider using a free report as your incentive. Or  better yet, how about making the emails themselves the  incentive which will encourage future opens.  

This can be achieved by increasing the production value of  your emails so that they include high quality images and lots of  in-depth articles. Think of them more like newsletters. 

It can also be accomplished by including giveaways and special  offers. 

The Quality of Your Brand 

Ultimately though, what really encourages someone to sign up  to your mailing list for the right reasons, will be their  experiences with your brand PRIOR to this point.  

That is to say, that people sign up to mailing lists in most cases because:

A)They love the brands and products that the company sells and they want to be the first to hear about them. 

B)They have loved the content they’ve read on the  website/blog and they want even more of it.

Usually, this happens after months of interaction!  

To that end, what’s crucial is that you understand how to keep  your audience engaged with useful and interesting content on  your site, and that you think about customer satisfaction  whenever you create a product or service.  

Let’s face it: if you aren’t interested in a brand, then no amount  of great sales patter is going to convince you to sign up to their  mailing list! 

What’s important for every brand to recognize then, is the role  of emotion: of creating a feeling when trying to sell an idea. 

The best brands are those that have a clear mission statement  and a bold visual design that speaks to that mission. In other  words, simply interacting with that brand makes you feel a  certain way, such that you want to do it more. 

You do this by targeting a specific niche and a specific type of  person. You can’t appeal to everyone, so what is important is  that you find out the kind of person who is most likely to visit  your website, and then you create a brand and an ethos that  appeals to them. 

Design a brand to create fans – not just customers – and they  will be eager to sign up in every way they can! 

How to Drive Subscribers 

• Create a squeeze  page – use a web  

page with no external  links 

• Promote with PPC potentially 

• Embed your form into your sidebars/around  your site 

• Create a great free blog where you demonstrate the kind of value you will be offering via the mailing list

• Talk about your mailing list regularly  in your other content 

• Make it sound exciting  – refer to subscribers  as “VIPs” 

• Offer a freebie called a  “lead magnet” or  

incentive 

• Don’t make it too  good or you risk only attracting people who  want free stuff!

• Make the emails themselves the  incentives 

• Create a newsletter

• Or offer discounts/news

 

Chapter 4: List Hygiene and Writing Emails  That Get Opened 

 

No matter how good your email marketing technique and no  matter how engaging your subject headings, you’re not going to  have much luck getting buyers and building a relationship with  your fans if no one ever sees or opens your messages. 

Perhaps the most important aspect of your email marketing of  all then, is simply getting past the spam filters so that your  messages can get read. This is something that a lot of  marketers struggle with though, so read on to see how you can  go about doing it… 

The first important key is to avoid using marketing language.  Words like ‘buy’ and other related terms (hey, I’m trying not to  get filtered here!) will risk sending your email to the spam folder 

because it looks like you’re just trying to make money. What’s  more, is that words like that will make your readers filter you out  as well and ignore you. 

So now you know to keep that to a minimum, the next step is to  try and ensure you aren’t making a few other key mistakes.  One such error is to use too many exclamation marks, or to  write in all caps. 

Likewise, if you’re going to be using lots of images then make  sure that you give them alt tags so that the email client can  work out what they’re about.  

Try to keep the length of your emails short too. If your email is  several thousand words long this is a quick way to get yourself  banned. 

A simple trick though? Ask your recipients to add your email to  their “allowed senders” list. This will help ensure you never end  up in their spam. 

List Hygiene 

Something else to consider is blacklisting. If your IP gets  blacklisted by Google, Yahoo or Outlook, this can mean that  none of your emails get through to those addresses. This  happens if you keep sending emails to addresses that  constantly bounce – so make sure that you regularly ‘clean’ 

your email lists to prevent this from happening. This is what we  call “list hygiene.” 

You want to look for “list hygiene tools” in your autoresponder.  These can be used to check for typos like “bob@gmailcom” and will sift through your contacts automatically. You can also  do this manually to a lesser extent. 

Looking at your bounce rates from time to time is also a good  idea. Look for ‘hard bounces’ which are permanent delivery  options. Finally, look out for inactive subscribers. If someone  hasn’t opened a message for a year, you may as well remove  them from your list. 

This is a list of contacts that has zero connection to you. 

This is also why you should never BUY a list from someone.  Buying a list of emails means most likely buying emails that  have been scraped off of the web or tricked into signing up for  things they didn’t want.  

Even if that’s not the case, you’ll still be using someone else’s  audience. This is a list of contacts that has zero connection to  you, and that you haven’t built trust with. In short, they have no  reason to be interested in what you have to say. 

PLUS buying lists is expensive! And we’re trying to build this list  on a budget!

 

Preventing Spam 

When you think of spam and email marketing, you’ll normally  think about the kinds of spam messages that recipients and  subscribers find clogging up their inboxes. Email spam is  notorious and one of your most important jobs as a marketer is  to differentiate yourself from that spam. 

But what about you? As the email marketer yourself, you’re still  not safe from spam! 

That’s because there are plenty of scripts out there that will just  scour the web for anything they can sign up to. Likewise, there  are people who will enter fake e-mails to get into gated content,  or just because they can. 

Less malicious are people who accidentally enter typos when  they’re trying to sign up. Or people who abandon their old e mail accounts. Of course some people on your mailing list may  no longer be among the living! 

Again, it’s your job then to try and keep your mailing list “clean” in order to reduce bounce rates and to make sure all your  messages are being delivered to the intended recipients. 

You can even add a spam filter to the opt-in form itself – most  autoresponders should allow this feature.

 

Double Opt-In 

One great solution that can help you to deter people who sign  up for anything and everything AND that can help you to  combat spam, is to use a double double opt-in. 

This means that people who sign up will be asked to confirm  their interest via a follow-up e-mail, in turn meaning they have  to engage with the message and prove they’re human. This  also forces a person to not only sign up, but also look out for  your message in their email.  

This will catch everything from people who can’t really be  bothered to read your messages, to people who unwittingly  entered their email incorrectly! 

Even with the best will in the world, it is still possible for a well meaning internet marketer to end up getting blacklisted. If it  does happen, you’ll need to search for “unblacklisting” forms  online for each of those clients. Usually, it’s possible to get  yourself removed from these lists. 

And remember: ideally, list hygiene doesn’t JUST mean  removing emails that are there mistakenly. It also should mean  removing anyone that doesn’t want to be on your mailing list.  These people are only serving to hurt your analytics, and to risk  getting you blacklisted.

Bottom line: it is FAR better to have a list of 10 people that  hang off your every word, than 1,000 people who never open a  single email! 

Cleaning Tools 

One of the most important reasons to use strategies like double  opt-ins to keep your list clean, is that this is the free option for  list hygiene. Otherwise, you might need to pay for a list  cleaning tool, which can get a lot more expensive. 

Still, this is a useful option to have in your back pocket. While autoresponders might include list hygiene tools, these are far  more powerful and will be better at finding inactive subscribers  and faulty addresses. 

Good choices include: 

Kickbox (https://kickbox.com/)  

NeverBounce (https://neverbounce.com/)  

BriteVerify (https://www.briteverify.com/) 

 

Keeping People Engaged 

Of course, a lot of your ability to keep your audience hanging  off of your every word is going to come down to your ability to  write compelling emails that they want to read in the first place! 

It’s very important that you are careful with balancing out the  informative/entertaining emails with the sales emails (there’s a  slight exception if the value you are providing is primarily in the  form of discounts and offers!). 

Make sure that you space out your big sales pushes, and that  you provide lots of genuinely useful and valuable information  meanwhile. Likewise, try to take a more personal tone with your  subscribers that shows you value them letting you speak to  them directly in this manner.  

If you notice that your engagement is slipping, then think of  ways that you can draw attention back to your messages. One  of the best options? Give away a big freebie! This works just  like the incentive/lead magnet, except this time it is going to be  delivered to people who are already on your list.  

Doing this will give them a great reason to open up that email,  but it will also make sure they feel valued and even grateful  toward you. This can drastically improve your relationship with  those members going forward.

 

The Best Subject Headings 

Other than “avoiding the spam folder,” the role of a great  subject line is to immediately pique interest. This is a fine line to  walk while avoiding being bombastic, but the first tip is to  ensure that your emails each have something genuinely  interesting and unique to say. If that is the case, then you  shouldn’t have to lie about what’s inside! 

That said, try to speak again to the emotional side of your  readers. That means using a little bit of mystery in your  headlines, so that they are compelled to click to learn more  about what you’re saying. You should also look for topics that  haven’t been covered over and over again, and that therefore  sound inherently new and exciting for people interested in the  niche. 

Finally, try to use questions where possible, and always refer to  the readers by name. 

For Your Convenience: A List of Spam Terms to  Avoid in Your Emails 

• Online dating

• Credit 

• Cost 

• Price 

• 100% free 

• Subject to credit

• Chance 

• Remove 

• Satisfaction

• Maintained 

• Dear 

• Free 

• Buy 

• Earn $ 

• Meet singles 

• Handbags 

• Money making

• Viagra 

• Opportunity 

• While you sleep

• Work from home

• Online degree

• Guarantee 

• Member 

• Name brand 

• Long distance

• Message contains

• No disappointment

• Gift certificate

• Deal 

• No gimmick

• No obligation

• No selling

 • Prize

 • Per day 

• Vacation offers

• Unlimited

 • Per week

 • Off shore

 • Winner 

• Free consultation

• Promotion

 • Great offer

 

 

Summary: Writing Emails That Get Opened 

• Don’t use spam words

• Ask to be moved to  the inbox

• Write subject lines  that are personal, engaging, and eyecatching 

• Use double opt-in 

• Avoid images and  large attachments 

• Don’t make emails too long   

• Make unsubscribing  easy 

• Avoid overly tempting  lead magnets 

• Manually remove non engaged emails 

• Don’t buy lists! 

• Use a spam filter on  your form 

• Build up to selling

• Keep providing great value!!

 

Chapter 5: Getting People to Your Opt-In  Form on the Cheap 

Now that you have your squeeze page and you know how to  write amazing emails that stay out of the spam folders, your  final hurdle is getting people to the squeeze page.  

This is the point at which many guides would recommend using  PPC (pay per click) advertising in order to send people to the  list. However, as we’re looking for the most cost effective  strategies for building a list, we are going to stick to the free  options instead. 

Fortunately, there are a number of free ways to get people to  find your list.

 

Run a Blog 

By now, you should have picked up on the fact that you should  be running a blog. This is one of the single most effective ways  to create a brand and to build trust, authority, and recognition  with an audience.  

Think of your blog as the first step in your sales funnel. This is  how your audience finds you (through SEO and social media – which are also free) and then slowly come to discover that your  content is of the very best quality. The next step is the email  list, which can then lead to those big sales. 

Creating a blog is free and simply involves an investment of  your time. But you can make surprising progress with just a few  short articles a week – as long as you have something new and  interesting to say.  

For bonus points, try vlogging instead! This is a brilliant way to  create a more personal relationship with your audience. They  will be far more likely to feel as though they know you, and thus  they will be much more open to the idea of receiving emails  from you! 

Web Design 

When looking at your web design to assess if it is fit for  purpose, you should always ask yourself what the primary  objective of your design is. This is something that many 

webmasters and business owners simply can’t answer, which  demonstrates a severe lack of planning and strategy on their  part. 

A good web design in 99% of cases, should be one that directs people to the  mailing list. 

A good web design in 99% of cases, should be one that directs  people to the mailing list. If the whole site is designed to guide  people to this page, then no matter what the entry point, they  will ultimately be likely to find your opt-in form and start signing  up. 

Competitions, Giveaways, And Tools 

We’ve talked about incentives as a method to get people to  sign up for your mailing list, but what about using them to bring  people to your brand in the first place? 

If you have a really great giveaway, then this can even get  shared by people who want to help out friends. This is why it  can pay as a business to occasionally take a hit with a big loss  leader. If you have something on your site that you normally  sell for $20, try giving it away for free for 24 hours. This could  potentially lead to a lot of buzz and new traffic. 

Likewise, why not get people to enter a competition by  providing their details? This is something people again might  even tell friends about!

Finally, many people will happily hand over their details when  signing up for an online service. Any website can add a service  or tool with just a little bit of basic coding, and this can be a  great way to build a bigger list! 

In-Person 

Every now and then, the digital marketing world gets the  chance to crossover with the brick and mortar side of your  business. For instance, if people buy from your store, why not  ask them if they’d like to receive their receipt by email and also  sign up for your newsletter?  

Use a Pop-Over 

Finally, consider using a pop-over or a light box that will appear  on top of your blog content. This should appear when someone  scrolls a little way down your page. While it can be a nuisance,  

countless studies show that this strategy is immensely  successful when it comes to getting people to sign up for lists. 

Summary: Getting People to Your List 

• Use a blog combined  with SEO

• Design your site to  “point” at your opt-in  form/squeeze page

• Give something away  as a limited deal 

 

• Collect emails in person 

 

• Provide some kind of  service

 

• Add a pop-over

 

Conclusion: List Building On a Budget

Using the strategies outlined in this module, you hopefully now see  that it is extremely possible to build a large and extremely  targeted list on a very small budget. You will accomplish this first  by ensuring your branding is on point and that people are really  excited by what you are doing. 

Next, you get an autoresponder (free or otherwise) to create an  opt-in form. Place that on your website, and make sure it includes  a double opt-in and spam filter. 

Now create a squeeze page that you use in order to convince  people to sign up. Combine this with an incentive (freebie) but make sure it’s not “too good.” The main selling point will be the  quality of the emails themselves! 

Write regular great content, making sure to mention your mailing  list regularly. Write amazing emails that people love reading. And  occasionally give the whole thing a boost with a bit of old fashioned promotion like a competition or deal! 

And that’s really all there is to it – you’ll build a massive and (more importantly) highly TARGETED list. All without spending a dime!

 

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Creativepreneuher

16.03.2021

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