If you would have told me 10 years ago that I would have an email list with thousands of amazing people that I could email at a moment’s notice, I would have laughed in your face!
Email marketing is a vital part of any business. Many businesses attribute a large portion of their revenue to email marketing. This is made possible by building your email list. There is tech that automates this and makes it easy to do.
In this guide, I teach winning steps for how to build your email list. I speak from experience so I know firsthand that every single one of these methods works, and are best stacked on top of each other for faster results.
How to Build an Email List
Here are the winning strategies for building an email list.
1. Sign up for Email Marketing Software.
If you don’t already have one, you will need good email marketing software to automate this process and a place for the email addresses to live.
This article will help you select the best one to complement your needs.
2. Use Optin Monster for Pop-Ups.
Strategically place email capture popups on your site through Exit Intent and sticky bars on ALL pages of your website all capturing email in exchange for your freebie, masterclass, or incentive.
3. Scrape Your Contacts.
Export contacts from your phone, as well as contacts from your email accounts. Considering doing this with your spouse’s (if you have one) contact information if it makes sense and you two would be working together. Scrub the list, and remove people you don’t want from your list. Now you have a starting point. You can google how to export contacts based on your phone and/or email service provider for exact instructions.
4. Fill With Your Powerbase.
Check your phone contacts lists, as well as your email account. Who are people in your sphere of influence, that maybe you don’t talk to daily, but have been a part of your journey? For example, any real estate agents, attorneys, close friends, people who do your hair, business owners, and entrepreneurs that you have met at conferences, and will meet in the future. If you only have their cell, get their email. Create a special list in your email marketing software called Powerbase and fill it with these people.
5. Create Freebies and Use One Landing Page Per Freebie.
You should have a freebie, also known as a lead magnet, to solve every problem your prospect is facing. There should be a separate landing page for each freebie, so only one call to action on the page. You can list your different freebies throughout your content marketing (i.e. blog posts, social posts), in your Youtube description box, in your social media platforms, and in your link tree and you can run ads to the popular freebies. You can usually create landing pages within your email software platform, but I don’t recommend it in case you change platforms. Something like Clickfunnels or Leadpages is a more long-term solution.
6. Place An Optin Form on Every Page of Your Website.
EVERY page. Some pages more than once. I can’t tell you how many times I go to a website and have to search hard to find an optin. It’s such a missed opportunity for email list building.
7. Place An Optin Form on The ABOUT page of your Website.
I bet you didn’t realize that this is an EXTREMELY popular page on your website, is one of the most viewed pages. Make sure you weave a freebie throughout your text and ensure you add a different freebie near the bottom of the page.
8. Gate Your Content.
Meaning require an email in exchange for free PDFs, checklists, and select training videos on your website. I’ve seen too many times where people arent doing this and they are missing out on the opportunity to build their email list.
9. Leverage Social Media.
You can do this many ways, for example, using a
Linktree, or utilizing URLs individually in your profile section depending on how many you can have, Swipe Up content linking, guiding people to your freebie link(s) in your post at least once or twice a week throughout your content marketing process, going live and dropping a freebie like at the end, to name a few. You are creating content right? If not, that needs to become part of your process to build a tribe filled with your ICA (ideal customer avatar).
10. Polish Your Profiles.
Make sure you have fleshed out & polished ALL of your social platforms and added relevant current active links. Ensure your website is updated, and you add more text & pictures to the About page of your website. I’ve seen so many times people have years old outdated content, and they are missing out on email list-building opportunities because of it.
11. Leverage Link(s) in Bio.
Make sure to use the link posting opportunities of each platform, and make sure your old links are still active… It totally sucks to hit a ‘404’ page not found when you want someone’s free thing. So embarrassing on the business side.
12. Youtube Description Box.
This is a golden opportunity to place 3 – 4 links to build your email list. You are building trust by making the video, so many people will see what else you have to offer and stay in touch with you by visiting your Youtube Description Box. Make sure you have a few different freebies that are relevant to the type of audience you want to build.
13. Past Customers & Prospects.
Consider your past or current customer & prospect list. Past customers are more likely to buy from & engage with you than strangers because they have already built that trust factor up with you.
14. Running Paid Ads to Freebie.
15. Ask For It.
If you are in person with a prospect or are networking, ask for their business card to establish a future connection this way. If you are on the phone with a prospect, ask for it, that way you can stay in touch regardless if they purchase or not. It’s not a matter of if, it’s when you can solve a problem for them so be sure to email list build at every opportunity.
16. Collaborate.
Consider a collaboration with another business owner in a symbiotic industry, something that compliments their business with your product or service. It should be congruent and relevant otherwise it won’t work that well.
17. Website Chat Software.
Installing website chat software provides a feature that can require a prospect put their email in so you can contact them if you get disconnected, as well as invite them to join your email newsletter. A percentage of people will take you up on this offer, don’t be afraid to try it, even if you have your status set to away.
18. Blog Comments.
If you have a website, you should have a blog where you are sharing your expertise and building your credibility at least monthly (ideally once per week but at minimum, once per month). Turn on your blog comments, and add a tick box to sign up for your email list. Be sure to incentivize them, and don’t call it a “newsletter.” No one wants to be added to another spammy newsletter so you must be creative in your words to have a higher conversion rate. A percentage of people will sign up for this, don’t miss out on the opportunity!
Email List Building FAQs
Should You Rent or Buy a List?
Not unless you want your email software to shut down your account and email service providers to issue your domain an ugly spam score. I always advise AGAINST list purchase and renting, and I always recommend building out your list the right way. Shortcuts will lead to account bans and headaches. The best time to start building an email list was yesterday. The next best time is NOW 😉
How Do I Make an Email List For Free?
Utilize most of the tips above. There may be some software costs associated but many companies I love have free tools up to a certain number of contacts which is really helpful when you are starting out. So no excuses.
How To Build an Email List – Summary
Whatever your industry niche or business is, building your email list is a basic requirement to be in business these days. Don’t let this overwhelm you, it’s actually easy once you get started. Prospect contact info is the only internet asset you will own aside from your website, so don’t miss out on the opportunity to build your list.
Here’s your ONE action step for today to push this forward and get more eyeballs on your brand. In this order, perform Step 1, Step 4, then Step 3. The world REWARDS action takers. This will put you ahead of many in the game and far ahead of where you were yesterday.
Do you have any questions about how to build an email list? If so, go here to contact me.
