This might possibly be the most important aspect of building an online business. How to grow your email list. If you are looking for a list of free ways to build your email list, you are in the right place! What is a list, you might say? Your list is your audience, it is the collection of email addresses of your adoring fans. And guess what? If you received notice of this post as part of an email, you are on my list (thank you, btw).
How do you strategically and intelligently grow your audience?
Anyone can go out and buy email addresses instantly having a list of a million subscribers. But that’s not what you want, you want an engaged list that cares about you and loves all the incredibly informative content that you provide. Building your list is the nitty, gritty tough part of getting your business into the world, no one else can do it for you. You’ve got to choose the strategies on your own, get super creative, and put your ass on the line over and again. You will get frustrated, you will likely be rejected many, many times. Just keep going…invoke your inner Dory and “just keep swimming”. However, if you’re committed to changing lives and having a long term profitable business, you MUST build an engaged audience.
There’s two types of traffic, paid and free.
If you are paying for traffic and it works for you, by all means, carry on my wayward son. Free traffic is available to us all, although it does take some work. However, once free traffic starts to build upon itself it becomes this unstoppable monster, whereas paid only continues as long as you are paying for it. You work hard to create an engage community that knows you, loves you, and trusts you- they want more! I say it over and over, building a business is a marathon, not a sprint. Build that trust and transactions will follow.
Okay, let’s dive in.
Below is a list of 10 free ways to build your email list, choose at least one idea, and focus on it for 90 days. If you have the bandwidth to focus on more than one, than more power to you!
1) Make it easy for people to share your content.
Use social sharing plugins for Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Google+, etc, so you can encourage your audience to spread the word.
2) Use a lightbox pop-up.
You might hate them, and that’s okay, but I strongly suggest you give them a try because they work like magic.
3) When creating free content keep SEO in mind.
Yoast has a free WordPress plugin to help you get started. You can pay for the upgrade but I find that the free version works just fine.
4) Create something so amazing and valuable for your market that everyone just has to share it.
Think about quizzes, guides, or mindmaps. Again, you’re only limited by your creativity here.
5) Lead a regular meet-up or event in your town to support your fellow creators, business owners, your community.
Leaders naturally gain more traction, attention, and referrals. It lets you meet people face-to-face which is always ideal! Of course, COVID has put a damper on this but once we can all get together again give this one a shot!
6) Get interviewed about your business, products, social mission, your team, your journey, your message, etc.
You get the idea. You are outstanding and it gives people great stories to write about!
7) Guest post on engaged blogs that serve your ideal customers.
8)Be a guest teacher in someone else’s paid program.
You can find tons of teaching opportunities in your industry if you really look.
9) Be helpful and kind on forums and in groups.
You always want to offer insight and genuinely help people. Remember, when you offer insight and genuinely help people will take notice and you will likely win new subscribers and referrals. If you do this from your heart and from a genuine desire to serve people they will want to know more about you!
10) Be featured.
Send samples of your product to bloggers or brands you love who have engaged audiences. Don’t send anything you need returned. Remember to follow up!
People need that gift that you offer, but they just don’t know how to find you. Make it easier for them!
Have fun with these free ways to build your email list- approach them with curiosity and release emotional attachment to the outcome.
Share this with your entrepreneur friends. We are all in this together! (See how I am using Number 1? (Just hit one of those social media icons below!)
Do you feel overwhelmed just by thinking about these ideas?
Stress no longer! Sign up for a free coaching session and we can chat more about them. Figure out which one(s) would work best for you! Click here to find a day and time that works best for you!
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