How To Start Building Your Email List | Toilet Paper Entrepreneur

1. Offer Free Email Courses

Set up an auto-response through MailChimp or other service and offer a FREE automated 3, 5 or 10 day email course about some aspect of your business. Do this rather than just offer a free, one-time ebook to be downloaded. Use the same information that’s in the book, but disperse it over several emails. This gets your readers used to receiving emails, on your list and looking forward to the next day’s content. Don’t sell, tell. Use GOOD content. You can send the ebook at the end of the course.

Thanks to Becky Blanton of RSBPublishing

2. Comment On Other Sites

Comment on sites that you like, where potential clients might be found, and include a link back to your site in your .sig this drives traffic and creates SEO backlinks, too. Be sure to be thoughtful, and have a point of view, don’t just write “great post” or “this sucks.” Your smart comments will attract the people who want to learn more about you. Back at your site, have a cool offering in exchange for joining your email list.

Thanks to David Kaiser of Dark Matter Consulting

3. Measuring With Unique Landing Pages

Measurement of your efforts is key in building your list. Many email list services have this functionality included in their product, but you can enhance the measurement.

Place your email list registration forms on unique landing pages so that you know where the most email list registrations are originating. For example, I have one link on my Twitter profile and another that I am using for an upcoming expo. I will then know which one is most useful in building my list.

Thanks to Laura Rolands of My Attention Coach

4. Building Your List

One of the best ways I have found to get potential people to your site to build your list is by using videos. Make sure in the videos you list your website both verbally and in writing. Also, make sure you are using great keywords for SEO to make sure you are seen.

Thanks to Carol Coots of Practical Cost Reduction

5. Make An Irresistible Offer

When your site traffic is in the building stages and you are working on building your mailing list it is important that you give yor site visitors a compelling and irresistible reason for signing up for your email list. Free tips, special offers and premium content or information can all be used to build your email list. Get started today and start building your list!

Thanks to Jonathan Mast of Blue Rooster Group LLC

6. Are You Being Found?

If the purpose of your website is to capture customer data from opt-in forms, make sure your opt-in form is easily found on every page of your site. This means no scrolling and no clicking around to find the form. The attention span for most internet users is so limited and if you start making them think about how to contact you, you’ve lost a potential lead. Make sure your web designer knows to make your opt-in form jump off the page and don’t hide it below the fold!

Thanks to Pam Pennington of Roofing Arlington TX

7. Claim Your Expertise

I have found that one of the quickest ways to build a list – with the right people – is get out there and claim your expertise. Once you’re confident and out there, you can take advantage of all the joint venture and speaking opportunities. Each time I speak as an “expert” either on a teleseminar or live and in person, I grow my list by 20%. For this to work well you need to have a couple of things in place: confidence, an opt-in page with a free book, CD or workbook, and a follow up plan.

Thanks to Katy Tafoya of Success For Solopreneurs

8. Make It Exclusive

Asking people if they want to sign up for your standard email marketing newsletter isn’t exactly compelling or unique in 2011. However, asking site visitors if they want to below to your “Savvy Investor Insider Group” or if they want to “Become a VIP” has a completely different ring to it and will convert visitors at a much higher rate. It’s all in the wording. Make it exclusive and stand out from the crowd when it comes to mailing lists.

Thanks to Archie Hammons of Hammons Window Cleaning of Dallas

9. Get Friendly With It

One of the best methods that I’m currently seeing benefit from is to have a Facebook Fan Page with a great Welcome/Landing Page. Embed the opt-in into the landing page that gives away a valuable bonus and watch your list grow! This is an especially great tactic if you have low traffic on your website because you can run very affordable FB ad campaigns to drive traffic to your fan page, and grow your list and your FB presence simultaneously! It’s double the results with half the effort!

Thanks to Laura Waage ofEntrepreneurSuccessTools.com

10. Content Is The Golden Key

Fresh content is the key. We obtained a huge email database not on purpose, rather by offering amazing exercise information and content that people wanted to gain further access to. We looked down one day at our site statistics and said “wow”! So keep your content NEW and be willing to lead the pack, be the website in your field that people consider the ” go to” for real information, Do the extra work to satisfy the hunger for worthwhile info and your email list will grow!

Thanks to Brian Collins of Life In Synergy

11. Collaborate In Anyway!

One of the most effective ways I have found to build my contact and email list is through collaborating. Sometimes it’s blog post collaboration – be both a guest blogger and have others be your guest. Other times, cross promoting a similar but non-competing product – my ebook on networking follow-up fits nicely with people who focus on networking or sales. I’ve also done radio show interviews where the guest and I each promote to our lists. Any type of collaboration usually builds lists quickly.

Thanks to Patricia Weber of Business Coach For Introverts

12. Ask For Permission, It Goes Much Further

In Mexico we are very proper, always saying Buenas Dias or Buenas Tardes, Como estas before starting a conversation. In the same spirit we call people and ask for their E-mail address before E-mailing them text. It takes longer, but… when the person receives the E-mail they open it and read it. This builds an E-mail data base that is strong and when someone enters our Web Site or Blog, they stay longer and read more. This is not the only way to build an E-mail data base, but… it is good.

Thanks to William Michael of Vallarta Escapes

13. Give Me Something

Nearly every website is after your email address. Most people, like me, are sick and tired of having to give up my email address whenever I do anything online. As such, I’ve set up, what I call, spam catcher accounts. It’s a valid email address, that I rarely check and is used for all these “sign-ups”.

So, how do you catch someone like me (I’m not that unique)? GIVE ME SOMETHING in return? I don’t mean something tactile. Give me information, inside stories, coupons, something I can use.

Thanks to Joe Randeen of 3 Penguins Design

14. N E T W O R K … And More !

Funny this should be the topic…I am working on this right now.
My website is still under construction so I am not collecting emails that way now…
I do lots of networking and ALWAYS ask for a business card, and permission to add the folks I meet to my list.
Currently I am working on a flyer that will be hand distributed, at a train station, asking folks to come to my place of business to get a gift, in return I only want to get their email address…sound fair?

Thanks to LeeAnn Hopkins of Just Hair

15. Mine Your Existing Contacts!

Go through those piles of business cards you’ve collected over the last year or so & email each person – tell them about your newsletter or whatever it is you’re doing; ask them to join & say how it will benefit them. Make sure you give some kind of premium for signing up, such as a tip sheet, discount, info doc, etc. Don’t forget a link to your sign-up form.

These are people who have already expressed interest in you & what you do. And ask them to spread the word to their like-minded peeps.

Thanks to Lizzy Shaw of Lizzy Shaw Public Relations

16. Steal The Show & Other People’s Subscriber Lists

Yup, swipe other people’s hard-earned subscriber lists. Here’s how. *Invest* the time, energy and $ to create a fantastic, cant-believe-it, type of free resource teaching something the target audience can practically use right now. Solve 1 of their problems or painpoints.

Then approach email list owners (bloggers, stores, etc) and let them offer it free co-branded to their list. They promote a link at your site for the free download. Require email address.

Voia! Instant list building.

Thanks to Kenny Jahng of Social Media Advisor And Coach

17. Want Subscribers To Your Email List? Ask!

Because it is so simple, we often forget to ask people if they’d like to join our email list. I’ve found this technique to be quite powerful. As a business consultant who helps companies build strong leaders, teams, and cultures, I always ask workshop attendees if they’d like to join my list. If they do, they receive my free Building Trust Assessment and occasional tips for increasing their workplace effectiveness. I send around a form they can put their email address on if they wish.

Thanks to Michael Brenner of IdeAgency

18. Build A Landing Page That Converts

People will subscribe if it’s useful. What you need to do is effectively communicate HOW your newsletter is useful to get people to opt-in. So build a landing page with the following formula: 1.) Here’s what I’ve got for you, 2.) this is what it’s going to do for you, 3.) who I am, 4.) what you need to do next (enter your email below to subscribe).

Getting people to opt-in is just a matter of helping them identify the utility that your newsletter is going to deliver. Do that, and you’re good.

Thanks to Ricardo Bueno of [RicardoBueno.com]

19. Past Customers & Potential Customers

Asking your past customers if they would like to receive information from your company is the best way to start to build a solid email contact list. Also, working with a company like Constant Contact to add a newsletter button on to your website is helpful as well. Potential customers, coming to your website can sign up for your newsletter by giving their email address and Constant Contact will manage your email list for a very low monthly rate!

Thanks to Christy Cook of Teach My

20. Find Groups And Borrow From Job Seekers

Hi Mike:

Low traffic sites usually indicate a new organization or a niche company. Here are a few suggestions:
-Put an e-mail sign up on everything you send out: E-mails, blogs, comments, Quara, etc.
-Use first degree social media sites to locate new potential audiences. Particularly, LinkedIn where you can find appropriate groups or create them. Remember Twitter and Facebook, too.
-Explore the hundreds of smaller first degree social media sights to see if they have relevant groups or members.
-Determine if second degree social media sites are helpful: Facebook has BeKnown and Branchout. Consider Visible.me, Mixtent, Daxtra, and CRM-Gadget, and Nimble. Several of these sites are ‘professional networking tools’ for job seekers, but this strategy is identical to build a professional network.
-I particularly like Nimble’s approach to social-CRM

Hope this helps,
Daniel

Thanks to Daniel Shostak of Strategic Affairs Forecasting LLC

21. Pay Your Employees For Emails

In our retail shop we actually pay our employees 25 cents for each email. Over the course of a week they might make $5 or $10 extra.
Email addresses are worth a lot to me, and paying 25 cents ea. is a great deal compared to other
means of acquisition.

Thanks to Champe Granger of My Design Guide.com

22. Be Relevant To Target Audience

Offer something your target audience wants or needs. A free eBook with tips, tricks, information about your product or industry is a great offer. Be sure it is relevant. Keep it current. Update it every 6 months or so – encourages people to re-opt in and to tell their friends. In the offer, include the copy for a Tweet and / or a Facebook post so that people on your list can easily tell their friends about it.

Thanks to Heidi McCarthy of Toughest Customer

23. Build List Of 5000 In 3 Months

I built a list recently of 5,000 in less than 3 months. I recorded 4 videos of 7-10 minutes in length and put them out on video sites (like YouTube). Each video offers viewers something of value for free (e.g., free tips on managing anger). The videos push the viewers to my main site where I offer my self-help book in PDF format for free. This directs the individual to a double opt-in squeeze page where they can enter their name and email, followed by email ASAP to get book.

Thanks to John Schinnerer, Ph.D. of Guide To Self, Inc.

24. Build Your Sales Funnel & Give Away Valuable Content

The key to building your email list is value. About five to ten percent of website visitors will actually make a purchase of your product or service the first time they visit your website. Give away valuable content, a free report, tutorial, etc. that showcases your expertise AND provides email subscribers with information that helps solve a problem. Include a solid call to action with your opt-in. Build your sales funnel by offering MORE value with each email you send.

Thanks to Therese Pope of Zenful Communications

25. Produce Great Content With Calls To Action!

One of the best ways to increase e-mail subscriptions is to create unique and valuable content (e-books, blog posts, webinars, videos, infographics). Host this content on your site, promote it on other blogs, in social networks, and make sure it is findable in search engines. The second piece to the puzzle is making sure that each piece of content has a call to action to sign up for the e-mail list. There needs to be a compelling reason why someone would sign up for your list such as a freebie.

Thanks to Nick Robinson of Social Media HQ

26. Give Then Recieve

You really need to give before you recieve. Give your prospect a compelling reason for them to give you their email. The key word is compelling, not just any reason. Free reports work best! Offer a free report about what you offer or the work you do. That way you are more likely to get an email from some one and they take something of value as well.

Thanks to Edwin Soler of Libreria Berea

27. From 0-1000 Contacts

From 0~1000 contacts by finding companies of intrest in magazines and at trade shows. Most companies list at least one email (the VIP email) address and their phone number that you could call if not listed. Just call and ask! Paid ads list the most valuable email address that they monitor for new clients. Business cards are a great source also! For new vendor information, trade shows sometimes list the vendor email on the show web site. Also~Use a service to manage the list.

Thanks to Shelley Horton of Christians In Action Trade Shows

28. Add Value To Other Online Communities

One of the simplest and cheapest ways to build traffic & get people to sign up for your emails is to add thoughtful and valuable comments to active blogs and/or forums that are relevant to your area of expertise. Of course this means you have to spend some time coming up with useful tips and suggestions – but if you engage and help others, they will come to your site and engage with you.

Thanks to Julie Broad of Rev N You with Real Estate

29. The Old Fashion Way….

Normally I would suggest several strategies at one time to work together. When your website is not receiving the traffic which could potentially be your e-mail list, you have to think out of the box. The best suggestion I offer is “The Old Fashion Way”. Ask everyone you meet if you can add them to your newsletter list. Tell them you would love their opinion and ideas about articles to include. Ask them to “share” your newsletter with others via e-mail forwards, social share buttons,or blogs.

Thanks to Cindy Watts of Outta The Box Marketing

30. Will Tweet For Email Signups

Effective participation on Twitter — sharing information with people who are interested in the subject matter — could lead those people to click on your Twitter profile link to go to a page with your email optin box (with special free offer). While most of the time you should not tweet about people signing up, you can occasionally tweet about the free offer for people who optin. Tip: Directly link to a stand-alone optin page and not to your home page with distractions surrounding the optin.

Thanks to Phyllis Zimbler Miller of Miller Mosaic, LLC

31. Go To Events Outside Your Industry

Build your contacts outside your industry. You’d be amazed that someone who doesn’t seem like a direct client may have avenues into new people, and new introductions that help you scale. Your ideas and services will be new. Only going after people in your industry risks them being inundated by similar information.

Build your lists by being unique.

Thanks to Pamela Hawley of UniversalGiving

32. 80 Proven Viral Videos To Grow Your List!

I am the co-producer of http://www.TheDashMovie.com which has been viewed over 25 million times, sold hundreds of thousands of books, generated millions of dollars in revenue and now YOU can use the Dash movie and 79 others to grow you list for less than the cost of producing one movie on your own. Just use this link to meet my partners Doug and Mark and our new tool – https://ccd.infusionsoft.com/go/bn/daveb/

Thanks to David Boufford of David Boufford, Business Growth Consulting

33. Give Away Something Of Value

The best tip we can give for generating emails for your list is to give something away. This something needs to be an in-demand item that people can’t get anywhere else but your email list. For us, we created an in depth gas-saver guide that we send to people once they sign up with our email list. It’s a perfect guide to have during this terrible economic time where everyone is trying to save every last penny. This item doesn’t have to be a guide, but it should be useful to those obtaining it.

Thanks to Michael Pesochinsky ofGovernmentAuctions.org

34. Let Them Eat Cake

One idea is to offer something to subscribers in return for signing up, such as a useful ebook or in-depth “how to” video. The rest just falls into place nicely: you get people on your email list, and people are happy to receive their free ebook or video.

Thanks to Ken Coleman of Limekwat Media

35. Through A Reputable Targeted List

A great way to get a list quickly is by buying a targeted opt-in list from reputable companies like InfoUSA. These services are relatively inexpensive and they drive a large amount of targeted traffic to your mailing list. For some, it’s a tough task to accumulate a large group of people on their list through regular marketing. This opt-in list would be perfect for any start-up or small business that is looking to widen their list.

Thanks to Elik Aaron of SaleRacks.com

36. Giveaways In Exchange For Emails

Our formula for generating new email list members is pretty simple. Basically, you create a mega-prize giveaway and make either the initial entry part of the mailing list or obtaining secondary entries part of the deal. People will have to join your email list if they want to have a chance at owning some great prizes. In reality, you aren’t forcing these people to sign up either. They are simply trading off their email for the opportunity to win a great item.

Thanks to I. Aronovich of Awardable.com

37. 3 BIG DON’TS

DON’T ….

1) use a free back link/reciprocal link site service…Google now has tech that penalises this action

2) create reciprocal links to sites with less traffic than yours

3) be careless of your branding …your free link on a bad/wrong site could screw you

Thanks to Susan Lowe of online counselling jamaica

38. Ask Ask Ask

I have a sign up sheet at the register in my chocolate shop, and most people see it and sign up. However, I encourage my staff to ASK people, it has taken a few years to get only 2000 email addresses. I add to that list daily but could have more if we all remember to ASK!

Thanks to Lucille Skroce of Matisse Chocolatier Inc.

39. Physically Asking For Emails

A smart way to get an email list for your business is by physically asking people to add their email on the list. We have a soccer store in San Diego called Sport Zone. We tried by many different ways to create an email lists, but they weren’t that efficient. Then, we tried going to local soccer leagues, putting a booth stand with our merchandise and music, and we asked people to add their name to the list to receive information of new arrivals, special prices, etc. It worked fantastically.

Thanks to Edgar Mondragon of Sport Zone

40. Speak For Leads

Anytime you do a presentation to a professional organization ask if you can hand out an evaluation form. On the bottom of the form ask if people would like to subscribe to your newsletter. Then add them when they check yes.

Speaking is one of the best ways to grow not only leads for your email list but also to find clients.

Thanks to Arden Clise of Clise Etiquette

41. Give It All Away- Seriously!

We started our email list from nothing but a few of my own contacts but have built it to include tax professionals (our target market) around the world in a short time. We did this by creating tutorials that walked readers step by step through popular topics in our market- we specifically focused on giving away tutorial information that others charged $100+ for and built a big list in the process by encouraging our small list to share it with their own contacts.

Thanks to Dominique Molina of Certified Tax Coach

42. CAN I SHOW YOU SOMETHING ELSE?

Very often at shows and markets I stress to customers I am very limited in the things I can bring and ask my customer’s to leave their e mail address with what they collect or what they are specifically looking for.
This not only generates new business but helps me to tabulate an address book if I ever decide to send out mailings with new items.Naturally,I also collect business cards as well with the same intention.

Thanks to Jeffrey Byer of Reminicents Penny Bracelet

43. Give Em What They Want!

The key is not to sell to people,but give them something that soothes their “pain” or problem they are having. You’ve got to think like a customer not like an owner of a business. Once you know their pain points provide useful and real solutions. Dangle that as your carrot to get them to opt-in to your mailing list (i.e. Sign-up Now to Receive 5 Tips to Get Out of Debt Fast!). Don’t stop there, it’s easy to get them in now you’ve got to keep them with great content on a continuous basis!

Thanks to Nicole Bienfang of www.nicolebienfang.com

44. Speak And Ye Shall Find

Giving a speech–even if you’re not paid for it–is one of the best ways to build your email list. Weave into your speech some freebie – a list of 10 ways to de-stress, for example. Then, tell people to leave their business card and you will mail them the list. You could even offer to put them on your newsletter mailing list, assuming you have a newsletter.

Thanks to Marlene Caroselli of Center For Professional Development

45. Use Your Newsletter

When I meet people at business events, they usually give me a business card. On the follow-up e-mail I ask them if they would like to be on our newsletter e-mail list. This helps get people on the newsletter list that truly are interested, and may want and need your services down the road. Getting those e-mails is worth its weight in gold and when people forward my newsletter those people opts in to the newsletter as well. Great way to build your client and your e-mail list.

Thanks to Eula M. Young, COO of Griot’s Roll Film Production & Services Inc.

46. Ask For Help To Grow Your List

Enlist the help of your loyal clients and followers. Give them a special offer for their help.

Thanks to Liz Heiman Zagorodney of Regarding Sales & Marketing

47. Affiliates Can Build For You

Try researching online and find websites that are high traffic suited to your markets. They may well allow you to advertise on relevent pages. Offering some useful free report or infomercial video with an email opt in is the way many marketeers generate a large email list.

Thanks to Chris Longley of Web Designers Kent