In this article, am going to show you how to build an email list from scratch.
In fact, I’m going to share with you the same strategies I used to build my email list to 527 subscribers in just 180 days.
Growing an email list email is not easy to attain; but if you provide value to your readers, are authentic and creative, and offer them free resources, you just might win the email list growth battle.
It takes time and bearing to get people to sign up on your email list, and I’ll give you some to-go tips that can help you achieve this for free.
Two years ago when I had just started, I thought providing an email list opt-in was sufficient, not knowing that it actually takes more than just an email opt-in form for your visitors or readers to join.
This is where I picked inspiration for this blog; to share with you some of the best practices tips that have helped me acquire at least 2.9 subscribers per day.
What is an Email List?
In simple terms, it’s a collection of emails with a similar interest.
It could be an email list of family members, workmates or followers.
An email list allows you to reach out to your audience directly into their inbox; with a 95% surety that they’ll get your email and a 5% chance of it being sent to the junk/spam folder or that your contact has no email access at the moment.
Either way, the odds of reaching your target audience are way higher than if you had to get to them via their social media or other platforms.
Several platforms can help you build an email list for free or at a price.
One that I use is Mailchimp which enables you to build an email list without a website.
Email list building platforms are also known as autoresponders; they allow you to send a single, personalized email to a large number of recipients.
Autoresponders also enable you to collect, create, design, schedule and publish emails on the go.
That said, let’s dive straight into how to build an email list really fast from scratch.
1. Provide Valuable content
One of those things that kills it online is being resourceful and providing value to your readers.
Ever since I put in time to write very detailed guides; writing case studies with nice graphics and a custom layout, I saw a massive growth in the email opt-ins.
Yes, it is tiresome to read very long blog posts and as some of you will say, no one has time to read a 4000+ blog post.
But you may be wrong to some extent.
The trick in writing very detailed case studies and guides so that if someone searches for a specific topic they’re more than happy to read only your piece of content and then they can simply implement it in their projects.
Additionally, when you write a detailed guide like that, you allow someone to read in phases, bookmark your page and always refer to it.
And the beauty is that they can just always jump to a specific section which they’re most interested in and read that.
But the most rewarding is that you’ll be loved by search engines.
Search engines love content that greatly provides value, NOT thin content.
This is where long and detailed pieces of content win in the search engine results pages.
To bring the whole point home; 90% of all search results on page one of Google are over 1000 words and that simply indicates that there is no space for 300-800 word blog posts.
Results displayed in the top 3 spots in the search results are almost all 1500+ words.
But hey, reading/consuming the content is hard, but curating the content is even harder.
What makes it hard is the fact that you’ll have to simplify the information and make it digestible to the reader.
In most cases, it requires you to use a lot of visuals including videos and graphics to bring out the whole point.
That aside, the whole process is fulfilling when you start to read responses from your visitors.
Because simply writing a 500-word blog post is not the same as writing a 5000 guide.
So value, value, value.. provide value.
2. Get Super Creative
Because there is no scale to measure creativeness, I will help you create a bar at which you can measure that.
- “Spy” on your competition and study what they’re doing that you are not.
Try to understand the techniques they’re implementing in their business.
You can join their email list and be able to learn from the inside. - Investigate why successful people in your niche create or design email opt-ins a particular way; why their blogs are designed in a particular way, and what promise they offer at their opt-in boxes.
This will help you imagine, prepare and create your email opt-in boxes in a way that will work for you.
DO NOT copy what others are doing, just do what works for you, your business and your readers.
That way, your website visitors will appreciate your uniqueness and will gladly join your email list and community with ease.
3. Offer Free Valuable incentives (Downloads, Hacks, Resources)
Who doesn’t want free stuff in this world?!
Free valuable downloadable content for your readers will be one of the greatest tools you’ll ever use to build your email list.
I’ve done this before and still do it.
About 6 months ago I offered free downloadable resources on my blog that promise my readers certain value.
Once they opt-in to my email list, I send them the resource.
Only that single offer has brought me over 351 new subscribers.
If you want to grow your email list fast, this is something you should give a try.
4. Be Real, Keep It Short
What I couldn’t miss out on mentioning in this post is the fact that your visitors want you to be authentic.
When you promise something, make sure to provide/fulfil it and surpass their expectations.
The mistake we make is to think of our visitors as just traffic and NOT people.
But when you sit back and imagine your traffic NOT being just search visitors but real people, you’ll appreciate every single eyeball that visits your your digital work.
Being REAL starts with whatever you write in your blogs and proving what you’re talking about with evidence and screenshots.
That way, it’s easy to grab your visitors’ attention and earn their trust.
And once they join your list, please keep it short.
No one has time to read a 300+ word email newsletter!
Keep your email shoutouts simple to read and digest, with a nice and quick call to action on why you actually wrote them.
I use a plain template when writing newsletters and just make it look like a real email someone sends out to a friend.
I keep my lines very short and precise.
Making your email shouts as short as possible (below 300) will increase your email open and click-through rate.
Even if am still struggling to raise my open rate, I’ve seen a massive improvement ever since I reduced the clutter.
Also read: /how-to-create-business-email-use-it-with-Gmail-for-free
Here is a video I made on how to create email marketing campaigns using MailChimp.
In closing
Hopefully, these tips will help you increase your email subscribers and your website’s engagement if implemented well.
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