Click here to view the embedded video.

Offer a Freebie

Give them something for their email addresses. People are handing something valuable over, and they want something in return. Some examples might include a free reports, or how to videos, or providing the answer to their problems. It’s even better if you can put the material in an e-course, which you break them into parts, and send a lesson every week. This gets them to expect emails from you and actually open them, and finally click on the links in the body. Basically you’re training them on a new habit. Make it smooth and natural, and your list will grow and multiply like bunnies.

Make sure you’re offering something relevant. Don’t simply ask people to sign up for your newsletters. People aren’t that interested in simply hearing about updates of your website. It has to be something useful and make an immediate impact to their lives.

Make it Visible

The signup form should be above the fold in your readers’ faces without them having to scroll down and look for it. If they don’t see it, they obviously not going to sign up. It’s location, location, location. Your site is like a real estate. You need to position your signup form in a visible area. This won’t hurt your readership because If you have good content, people will scroll down for it.

Include a Privacy Policy

You should have a comprehensive and thorough privacy policy. This protects both you and anyone who signs up for your emails. If you aren’t sure how to write up a privacy policy, you can visit a number of websites that will either give you tips on how to do so, or there are sites that will generate it for you for free. www.the-dma-com is a popular site which you can use (though you will have to sign up as a member), or you can search for a number of other resources online.

Once you have created your privacy policy, make sure that you post up links to the policy all over your website. Most websites will provide a link at the very bottom of every page. Make sure that this link is also included on the page which will be used to collect your customer’s information.
Use a Popup

Here’s one that’s a bit controversial. We thought long and hard before using it. Put up a popup for new visitors who’ve been there for over 30 seconds. Give them an option to sign up and stay in touch. Make sure the offer is there for them to download the free report or watch that cool video. It can be a bit aggressive, so make sure you do it for first time visitors only. You don’t want to show this every time people revisit your site, otherwise they might annoyed, and stop coming.
It really works. So far it has the best opt in rate of all the methods that we tried. Now aweber, also who we use to manage our email list, makes it so easy to create & customize forms. We’ve tried a lot of companies and think this is the best one. If you’re not using Aweber, go BlogSuccessJournal.com/Aweber to try it one month for only $1!

Self-Installed Software:

In the remote case that you want to host your own list, you can install software directly onto your website that will both help you with list creation, and list management. It’s incredibly easy to send messages out to customers with this type of mailing list manager, and it’s easy to maintain the data.

If you think that you will be having a fairly large list, then you will want to make sure that whatever software you choose will be able to handle a large amount of data. You don’t want to have to be switching over to another list manager due to size limitations (this will cause you a huge headache), nor do you want to lose data. Continue to back up your information regularly to avoid this.

Another consideration you will have to make when it comes to your mailing list is to see if your web hosting service requires that your customers have to do what is called “double opting in” to your mailing list. What this means is that any customer you have will need to reply to an email that is generated by your list manager program prior to them being added to your mailing list. The purpose: to ensure that customers are not being signed onto lists that they don’t want to be on. It’s a form of SPAM protection that many web hosting companies perform now which can make it more difficult for you to build your mailing list.

Landing Page

Another great way to get people to sign up for your newsletter is to create a professional landing page for your website or blog. If you have some web design background, this should be a simple step for you. If not, there are programs available out there that will help you build a fantastic, professional looking page, or you can splurge a bit and hire on a professional web designer.

Once you have people on your mailing list, you want to make sure that you keep them engaged so that they will stay on that list. Have a regular ezine or newsletter go out, and make sure that you’re providing quality material. It doesn’t have to be a long newsletter, but having maybe 2-3 news articles and/or a video and images that are related to your site and what it’s about will keep them coming back and trusting you as a source of valuable information.

So what tips do you have to grow your email list?

Email Marketing Software

For any good marketing campaign, you are going to need an email marketing service like Aweber. Companies like Aweber allow you to collect and store and manage customer email addresses in their database, automatically respond to newly signed up customers, schedule newsletters in advance, and track the results of all of your campaigns.

How To Get Email Subscribers

You cannot have much of an email marketing system without subscribers! Before you get rolling, you’ll need to think about what you are going to do to get them to sign up to your list.

Will you give them some kind of freebie for signing up?
Will you offer a drawing for some kind of giveaway?
How about an eCourse – teach them something over email?

You don’t necessarily have to give something away for them to sign up. If your site is interesting enough, they may sign up without a freebie of some kind. However, it sure doesn’t hurt to have an incentive!

Make Your Subscriber Form Prominent On Your Website

You will also need to have the form for them to sign up for updates somewhere on your site, preferably somewhere prominent so that once they have read something interesting, they are willing to sign up to get updates and have the opportunity to do right in front of them.

Most email marketing software companies make this fairly simple. With their code, you can put the form wherever you fancy on your site such as the sidebar or in the header. Once you put the code in place, all the subscribers have to do is enter the required information, and they will start getting updates!

Set Up Your Follow Up Emails

It is smart to go ahead and have a few messages in place before you even have subscribers. That way they begin to receive updates from you almost immediately without you having to race to get some content out to them.

Email marketing companies like Aweber allow you to send previously written messages to subscribers either immediately or at a later scheduled time.

Use Catchy Email Titles

How many emails do you skip over in a day? For me, I skip a lot. If you do not want to fall into that group with your subscribers, then make sure you use catchy titles for your messages. Do not make them misleading, just make them something that you would want to click on if you saw the headline.

Rather than “Joe’s Newletter – Issue #1″, try something like “5 Ways to Make Money With Your Email List” – which one would you rather read?

Be creative here and have some fun with the titles. People will be more likely to open your message if your title is something that stands out from the rest of the junk in their inbox.

Don’t Overdo It

Be careful not to email your customers too much. What constitutes “too much” is a bit different for every group, but just put yourself in their shoes. How many times would you want to get a newsletter or eCourse? There are some email newsletters that I look forward to receiving every day. There are others that I get a couple of times per week, and if they came every day, I would probably start to ignore them after a while or just unsubscribe if it got too intrusive. You can also test and see how many readers open your messages at different intervals. Once you’re list starts to grow, you can even ask them what they prefer!

Don’t Underdo It

Don’t let your subscribers forget about you, either. You want to have your name and/or product in front of them regularly so that it stays in the front of their minds. You do not want them to see your email and wonder who you are and why they are receiving it. Again, each group and industry may be different in this respect, so some testing is probably in order to see what works the best, but I generally recommend contacting your list at least once per week.

Don’t Just Sell, Sell, Sell

If your readers know that all they are going to hear from you is a sales pitch, they will probably start to unsubscribe or just ignore you altogether. Make sure that much of what you send is useful, helpful information so that your customers or readers look forward to hearing what you have to say. That way when you do have something to offer, they’ll be much more receptive to buying…

Remember – they are aware that you are going to be selling something to them, even if it is just an invitation to come back and visit your site. They signed up, so they do not mind a new sales pitch. Just make sure that’s not all you’re doing.

Email Split Testing

Many email marketing software services allow you to “split test” your messages. In other words, you can send one version of an email to a part of your list, and another version to the others. Then you could track exactly how many opens and clicks each message receives. This is a great way to see what titles and content work the best in getting your audience to respond. You could also use this to test the duration between emails that we discussed in the sections above.

If you will follow these steps, you will likely see a good response to your email marketing campaign along with more traffic and sales!

Try Aweber for yourself for just $1 and you’ll find out why they’re the only email marketing software or service we trust with our own email list. (They also have a REALLY good knowledge base and newsletter to help you make your campaign successful once you sign up)

AWeber – our favorite email marketing software – gives you the ability to create newsletters and sign up forms, and to manage your subscribers – quickly and easily. They are the only company that we trust with our own email list…

And it’s a fully managed, hosted service – which means they worry about all the back end system and software stuff, leaving you to focus on growing your list. Which is where you want to be.

Here is a breakdown of the main features AWeber provides, and why we like them:

Set Up Is Super Easy

AWeber is easy to set up, which means that you can use it for many different purposes, including newsletters, ezines, email courses, etc. Your emails can do anything you want, including drive readers to a blog post, a video, a sign up page or anything else!

Free 24/7 Customer Support

Aweber customer service is the best support you can get from an email marketing software. It offers complete customer support that not only provides 24/7 assistance, but it also uses customer feedback to improve the email service according to the user-base.

They also have a support blog that continually provides valuable resources focused on their new developments and tools. Plus, you have the Live Chat support feature with minimal wait time, where trained representatives help you during business hours and beyond.

Flexible Campaign Customization

AWeber also delivers flexible campaign customization, which makes it very easy to use various content and resources (e.g. video, audio, etc.), which fits perfectly if you are managing multiple mailing lists, each with different needs.

The service provides a smart scheduling and sequencing option that helps you better organize and launch strategically targeted marketing campaigns. So, you can send your mailing messages on certain days or after a specified number of days, weeks, months, etc. You also get unlimited autoresponders with unlimited length and fully integrated HTML creator and plain text message options.

Accurate Tracking And Monitoring

The service also delivers accurate tracking and monitoring tools that help you change and boost your mailing campaigns where needed. One of the features allows you to track who opened the marketing email, which makes it so much easier to see whether your email is reaching your target market. When a subscriber clicks on a link within your message, the information is tracked and determines which strategies works so you can concentrate on that area.

Affordable Pricing Structure

AWeber offers a $1 trial for 30 days (click here to try it for yourself), so it’s basically a risk-free experience. The only real complaint we have with them is that they seem to overcharge their high end customers, (e.g. instead of giving you a discount over 50,000 subscribers they increase the rate). However, for growing your customer list to that level, it’s totally affordable.

AWeber offers the following current pricing structure based on number of subscribers:

• 0-500 $19 a month
• 501-2500 $29 a month
• 2501-5000 $49 a month
• 5001-10000 $69 a month
• 10001-25000 $148 a month
• Over 25000 Contact For Price

Your customer list, follow-up and communications are the backbone of your online business, so it’s safe to steer clear of any free email list services, as chances are you’ll end up with your email address labeled as spam and it’s just not worth it!

Automated Blog Posts

Aweber also works great in blogging, where subscribers play a huge role in your success. The more you engage them, the more they read, the more they comment and syndicate. So it’s in your best interest to encourage people to become subscribers to your blog. One way to do that is using an RSS feed and another option is the blog newsletter.

Think of your posts as sales letters for your blog and every new subscriber as a successful conversion. Sales letter won’t be effective if you don’t have a strong call to action, right? Ask people to subscribe!

AWeber magically converts your blog posts into emails. Not only that but they also take your feed and convert your RSS to email newsletters. All you need to do is give them your feed and tell them how often you want your message delivered. It doesn’t matter what blog software you use, Aweber will take your posts and send them as emails.

Contact Management

The system allows you to import contacts from Excel as well as cut and paste directly into the online address book. However, you cannot import directly from Outlook or any email provider, but they do allow you to automatically respond to any incoming emails. Another great thing is that AWeber automatically removes unsubscribers and puts them off of your list while allowing unsubscribers to provide feedback as to why they unsubscribed.

High Reliability

As we mentioned above, with free email list services your genuine marketing campaign would often get labeled as spam. AWeber is known for its high end performance. It also alerts you in case your messages appear “spammy” so you can make the necessary adjustments to get through the spam filters.

If you choose AWeber or any other email marketing tool, you should first make some time and go through the entire system, see how everything works. Then spend the next few days creating several squeeze pages and use the rest of the 30-day trial period to build up enough of a list to allow Aweber to pay for itself. Another benefit of using Aweber is that the web hosting is covered by Aweber so there should never be installation or others problems.

If you’re looking for a complete solution to sustain your marketing efforts by email marketing with newsletter updates, AWeber is the software of choice. It’s easy to set up, you benefit from free live video seminars, it’s easy to integrate other software (e.g. PayPal) and it’s also extremely affordable. The $1 test run is a bargain considering all the benefits and support you will get for your online business.

Try Aweber for yourself for just $1 and you’ll find out why they’re the only email marketing software or service we trust with our own email list. (They also have a REALLY good knowledge base and newsletter to help you make your campaign successful once you sign up)

When you’re just starting to learn how to start a blog – regardless of your industry – your main focus should be on creating your mailing list. Here are 5 tips to help you understand the fundamentals, and get more subscribers to your list.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Give-Aways

People love free stuff. People love instant gratification. If you give someone something free for signing up for your list, everyone wins. So give away something. Anything! They give you their information in exchange to some kind of content or product.

Make sure to offer something of genuine value like a free ebook, report, e-course or podcast. The implicit question you need to answer clearly for your visitor is, “What’s in it for me if I subscribe?”

Members Only Benefits

People love being part of exclusive clubs and we all know they love deals. So offer subscribers of your list something no one else can get. Exclusive content is just like your free stuff, only it’s kept for those special readers that complete a certain task you ask of them.

Just as an ebook or free report helps build your email marketing list, exclusive content offers readers something more and provides the bribe needed to get them to complete a call to action. Make them feel privileged by including exclusive courses and opportunities to buy before the general public, discounts or promotion codes in your newsletter.

Continue to remind them that they are an exclusive group of insiders that gained special access to exclusive content and offers as a reward for subscribing to your list. This makes them feel special and adds value to your list. There is nothing greater but to make readers feel they are valued and are part of something that values them.

Make Your Subscription An Aspirin, Not A Vitamin.

Vitamins are great, they boost your energy levels, but you don’t have to take them. But when you have a headache, you NEED an aspirin. Make your subscription indispensable. Fill it with real value that people want and need.

Pack every issue with valuable content, information about the hottest information in your industry, interviews with top-tier experts and insightful tips and strategies that actually improve the lives of your readers.

Always go the extra mile and try to get into your readers’ minds and overcome their fears and objections. Spare them of:

• Too many updates
• Messages that aren’t in line with what was originally promised
• The worry that their personal data will be sold to spammers

Also, find out what your readers want and need. Include interactive quizzes in your newsletter and gain valuable insights on who your readers really are. Address their concerns and you’ll find that they will be happy to give you their address. Over-deliver and remember that going the extra mile is never crowded!

Try Pop Up Ads

Though it’s controversial, big pop ups prompting people to sign up for your list can work wonders. Our personal experience – we added a hover over opt in list at askdanandjennifer.com that we only show only once to new visitors – increased our opt-ins by over 200% with very few complaints.

A direct call to action converts a lot better than a soft one that is trying to please people.

For example:

• Soft: “Why not subscribe to our list?” vs. Direct: “Enter your information today and get started!”
• Soft: “Get a free ebook!” vs. Direct: “Download your free ebook now!”

When people are given strong calls to action, they often feel more secure because they believe the person knows what they are doing. When you use direct orders for subscriptions, you are conveying the message that they are doing the right thing.

Build Your World Around It

Your list sign up should be a big, noticeable part of your web design. People should feel compelled to sign up and not be able to miss the signup section. Let them know that it’s important to be on your list…

Make it as easy as possible, so place your opt-in form at the top of the page where readers’ eyes go first. Most site owners have an opt-in form in all of their web pages. This is the best way to convince people that they really need to be part of your list.

You can put a line saying what your readers can get for subscribing. You can say, “subscribe to a free informative newsletter about…” or “subscribe to a valuable report packed with the latest tips in the industry.”

Studies revealed that this is a very effective way to get more subscribers to your list, because the benefits are stated loud and clear. Never leave people hanging without offering them your enticing products or information. By creating an attractive ad for sign up, they will eventually become part of your list and even advocated of your brand.

Get Out There And Do It!

The golden rule of email marketing is always present all the benefits your readers will get by subscribing to your list. Tell them what you want them to do, exactly how to do it and that you want them to act now. Praise your subscribers, as they are a more valuable metric than any other measure of site success, including page views and traffic.

Needless to say, you must use a powerful email marketing service  like AWeber and a professional web hosting company. Remember, loyal subscribers are the life blood of any successful business and learning to create genuine relationships and respond to their needs will get yourself a goldmine.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Wait, why email? Isn’t social media the cool new thing these days?

Well, that’s true. Social media is all the rage these days, and for good reason. It’s probably the most effective form of marketing on the planet today, maybe the most effective form of all time. It does wonders for your traffic.

But consider this: 90% of the people who get to your website, however they find you (via word of mouth, social media, search engines like Bing! or Google, for example), don’t come back. They visit once and leave forever. That’s kind of a problem if you want to start a website that generates ad revenue and ultimately generates you an income. You want them to come back and come back regularly.

How do you get those visitors to come back to your site?

It’s quite simple: you get yourself an email list set up – and get your visitors to sign up to it. The trick is to get people to give you their email address willingly, so that you can contact them regularly and entice them to come back check out all the cool stuff you’ve been writing about. All that is known as email marketing.

How do you get people to give you their email address?

So now you know you need an email list. But how do you get someone to give you their email address? Simple: you don’t. No one is just going to hand you that information.

Way too many people already have their email address and they are already overwhelmed by the sheer amount of legitimate emails they receive on a daily basis (and we’re not even mentioning the spam emails they get). Just think about your own inbox… you know what we’re talking about here. So they aren’t exactly in a big hurry to hand their email addresses over to someone who is going to pile even more emails into their inbox.

No one gives that info away all willy nilly, but they WILL give it to you, if you know how to ask. How do you ask? By giving them something. Saying things like “sign up for our email list in order to get this FREE (insert e-book, free credit report, free Aardvark calendar or anything else you think they just can’t live with out)” works a lot better than saying “please sign up for our newsletter or email list (which probably contains absolutely NOTHING that they’d want to read anyway).

The term some marketers use here is an ethical bribe… you bribe people to give you a chance to contact them over email by offering them a great incentive they ACTUALLY WANT in order to get on your list.

Tip: No one cares about your “newsletter”.

This leads us to a very important point. We want you to say the following out loud with us: Nobody gives a damn about your newsletter. It’s harsh, I know, but it’s true.

No one wants to hear about all the fancy new office layout or the new site redesign or whatever. People are busy and selfish. They don’t care about YOU, they care about THEM. They have problems and they want to know how to solve them. Focus on what they need. More importantly focus on how YOU are the one to solve their problems for them.

Send your subscribers great content to establish yourself as an expert.

Now that you’ve got them subscribed to your list, it’s all up to you… and it comes down to 2 main things: quality and consistency.

Quality: Don’t email people junk, send them useful stuff. It’s that simple.

If you expect someone to read what you have to say regularly and not immediately unsubscribe, then send them somehthing that’ll actually have some value to them. Maybe the best tips of the week for whatever topic of newsletter they signed up for, be it puppy care tips or whatever. Do it right, it’ll be worth it in the end. This is not to say you can’t send them offers for quality services they can use, that’s fine. But for every offer you send, plan to send 3 to 5 useful pieces of information that makes them feel your email is worth opening.

Consistency: Send out your newsletter regularly so your readers know when to expect them.

Sending your newsletter messages out consistently is crucial.

People (and search engines) like consistency, a reliable, predictable schedule that shows them “you’re serious” and in this for the long haul, not some guy out to make a quick buck.

Over time your email list will grow, and so will your customer base.

It will take time, but it is a moral imperative that you become a trusted expert in their minds. Why? Because when they want more information on a particular topic, or more importantly, if they want to buy something on the topic who do you think they will be turning to? Some random guy who sends out an email once a month. Are they going to ask themselves “What would Yoda do?” No, no they won’t. They will turn to their trusted expert on the subject whip out their wallet and hand that trusted expert some hard earned cash. Now do you see why you want to be their own personal Yoda (aka trusted expert) on the subject? That’s what we thought. Now you have seen the light, young grasshopper. Now go out and prosper!