Professional Pixie: Email List Building
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Lesson 1: Getting Started With Email List Building
An email list is a collection of email subscribers. People opt in to your newsletter or sign up for something with their email address, and that email address becomes a part of your email list. Your email list is different from your social media followers because you own your email list, while the social media platform owns your social media followers. If the social media platform closes shop, they take your followers with them. With email, you can download your email list, and if your email provider closes shop, you can take your list with you elsewhere.
You collect emails with your email service provider (also called ESP - not to be confused with the other kind of ESP! lol). Your email service provider stores your email list, and it’s what you use for creating and sending emails. You can’t use a regular old email account like Gmail. You have to use a provider specifically for this, otherwise you can get marked as a spammer. You usually pay based on the number of subscribers you have (a subscriber is a person on your email list), so the more you have, the more you pay. But because you can make so much from an email list, that’s generally not a problem!
Once you’re building your email list, you can send your email list, well, emails! You can send them lots of things, but the main purpose for your email list is to sell your products and/or services. The goal being, when you’re selling something, enough people will buy it!
So how many subscribers do you need to have a profitable email list? It generally depends on the cost of whatever you’re selling is and the number of sales you need to make to hit your target. The average conversion rate (percentage of your email list who buys) for email is 1 - 3%. 5,000 seems to be the average number people feel that their email list turns really profitable (including mine!). This is the number that many will throw out as being the number you need to hit with your email list. You may find success doesn’t hit for you until a higher number, or that you start seeing good sales with a lower number. But it does seem to be the middle ground number where everyone averages out, and getting to 5,000 can really increase the power of your email list. When you’re just starting out, 5,000 subscribers may seem like you’re trying to climb Everest, but you don’t need to get it in a week. Stick with it and you get there eventually. 1,000 can be a good goal as you’re starting. It’s a smaller, more doable, less daunting number, and you can start to get a feel for how powerful your email list is when you get over that 1,000 mark.
How do you get people to sign up for your email list? Sure, you can create a popup asking people to sign up for your email list or newsletter - but you’re not going to get much that way! To really build up your email list, you’ll need to create opt-in offers (also called lead magnets). An opt-in offer or lead magnet is something that people have to sign up to get. You offer it for free, they get it by submitting their email address. You’ve probably done it a million times, we all have! Visit a site, they offer you something, you’re interested so you input your email and get it. There are many different opt-in offers/lead magnets you can create to get people to sign up.
Once someone signs up for your email list, you should then send them emails afterward that prime them to buy. It doesn’t have to be right away; you start by sending them whatever they gave you their email for, and can provide extra relevant information they may find helpful. This helps cultivate a connection. Then you can move into something that goes directly to your products/services.
I do recommend that you try to pick a regular schedule for sending regular emails (that aren’t part of a launch or sequence). Some people choose once a month, some choose every other week, some choose weekly, some choose bi-weekly, some choose daily, and some choose every 5 days, every 10 days, every 3 weeks, etc. It’s entirely up to you how you want to craft your schedule. Be realistic about how much you can do, and don’t feel you have to do more than you realistically can. If you can only handle once a month, then start there. That’s what I started with when I first started list building!
Some say that you should send out an email at least once every 2 weeks so people don’t forget about you, so I would recommend doing that as quickly as you can fit it in your schedule. You can do it as a specific every other day (like every other Monday), or on specific dates of each month (like on the 1st and 15th of the month).
If you feel adventurous enough and truly can handle taking on more, weekly is probably your best option. More often than that can sometimes become obnoxious and annoying to the people who receive your emails, and can cause serious burnout for you.
What you can send more often are sales emails, if you have a shop or sell many different products, courses, e-books, services, etc. These emails have a singular focus to showcase specific products/courses/ebooks/services.
Your sales emails do NOT count as your regular emails though. And if you only send out sales emails, guess what? People won’t want to read your emails after a while, and you’ll have a lower open rate and a higher unsubscribe or spam rate. Boo to that! Sales emails can be sent out whenever you’d like, but they don’t count toward your regular emails, so don’t replace regular emails with sales emails (there can be an exception to that if you’re offering some sort of special deal, discount, or exclusive offer - then people generally won’t mind you sticking that in!).
I also recommend you try to provide some exclusive content in your emails. Have you ever wanted to go somewhere special, or get something special, simply because it was exclusive? Sure, we all can try to be inclusive, but there’s something tantalizing about the exclusive. We interpret it as being special, and if we’re there or we have it, we therefore think WE’RE special too. It’s that whole psychology thing.
How does this relate to the emails you send people? Send them EXCLUSIVE CONTENT. If people can read what you’re sending them on your blog, your website, your Facebook page, your Instagram account, your Twitter account, it’s just not special. But if it’s ONLY available in that email, guess what? It’s special!
This helps make people not only open up your emails, but make it so they can’t wait to read it. It’s that special thing in their inbox that they know they won’t get anywhere else, and that isn’t available to the broad public like stuff posted on your very-public website, very-public blog, or very-public social media accounts.
And ask yourself - have you ever signed up for the newsletter or subscribed to the email list of someone you liked, only to find that all they ever sent you was links to their blog, website, or social media accounts? You’re already a follower, right, so it’s kind of lost on you, and you’re left disappointed, and eventually, you don’t bother opening their emails anymore. It isn’t special.
Now, not everyone who gets your emails is a regular follower, so including some links and recounting/rehashing some stuff already out there for the public can be a good thing to include, BUT the people who buy from you will usually be regular followers, not someone who just stumbled onto your website or blog two days ago.
Another thing you need to do with your email list is actually train them to click (kinda like training a dog! LOL). Part of your success is incumbent upon whether or not people actually click on the links in your emails to your sales page. The great sales page doesn’t matter if no one in your email list bothers to view it, right? SO it becomes important to train your audience to click on your links.
Make sure you’re including links in every email you send. Even if it’s just a quick email talking about your morning today! Include links to blog posts, to parts of your website that may be relevant to what you’re writing about, to other stuff you sell, to your about page, to how to contact you, or whatever you feel fits. Now, you don’t want to go link-crazy because then people can get link-overload and won’t click. There’s a delicate balance that needs to be struck in the amount of links you put in an email. But when people feel that the links you’re including are helpful for them, it fosters trust and makes them more likely to click on sales links in your sales emails. You should try to include one thing linked to in each email.
You’ll also want to make your links stand out. If they blend right in with the text, how will people know it’s a link and something they should click on? They won’t! So make sure the link text is a different color than your regular text. Bold it, and even make it a different text or italicize it (if you can). If you’re up for it, try creating a simple image to help links REALLY stand out.
If you create an image, make it horizontal if you don’t want to eat up too much space (do this if your email is long to avoid your message being clipped - don’t want that!), or vertical if you reeeeally want it to pop. If you’re not up for creating an image, you can use a button instead (a lot of newsletter providers have a button option built in). Make the button a bold color to stand out from the rest of your email. Use one button in an email, unless it’s very long (say, over 750 words). Then you can use two, but no more than that.
In sales emails, include more than one link to your sales page. Sales emails are a little different, so they require more links. You can go link crazy with these!
You collect emails with your email service provider (also called ESP - not to be confused with the other kind of ESP! lol). Your email service provider stores your email list, and it’s what you use for creating and sending emails. You can’t use a regular old email account like Gmail. You have to use a provider specifically for this, otherwise you can get marked as a spammer. You usually pay based on the number of subscribers you have (a subscriber is a person on your email list), so the more you have, the more you pay. But because you can make so much from an email list, that’s generally not a problem!
Once you’re building your email list, you can send your email list, well, emails! You can send them lots of things, but the main purpose for your email list is to sell your products and/or services. The goal being, when you’re selling something, enough people will buy it!
So how many subscribers do you need to have a profitable email list? It generally depends on the cost of whatever you’re selling is and the number of sales you need to make to hit your target. The average conversion rate (percentage of your email list who buys) for email is 1 - 3%. 5,000 seems to be the average number people feel that their email list turns really profitable (including mine!). This is the number that many will throw out as being the number you need to hit with your email list. You may find success doesn’t hit for you until a higher number, or that you start seeing good sales with a lower number. But it does seem to be the middle ground number where everyone averages out, and getting to 5,000 can really increase the power of your email list. When you’re just starting out, 5,000 subscribers may seem like you’re trying to climb Everest, but you don’t need to get it in a week. Stick with it and you get there eventually. 1,000 can be a good goal as you’re starting. It’s a smaller, more doable, less daunting number, and you can start to get a feel for how powerful your email list is when you get over that 1,000 mark.
How do you get people to sign up for your email list? Sure, you can create a popup asking people to sign up for your email list or newsletter - but you’re not going to get much that way! To really build up your email list, you’ll need to create opt-in offers (also called lead magnets). An opt-in offer or lead magnet is something that people have to sign up to get. You offer it for free, they get it by submitting their email address. You’ve probably done it a million times, we all have! Visit a site, they offer you something, you’re interested so you input your email and get it. There are many different opt-in offers/lead magnets you can create to get people to sign up.
Once someone signs up for your email list, you should then send them emails afterward that prime them to buy. It doesn’t have to be right away; you start by sending them whatever they gave you their email for, and can provide extra relevant information they may find helpful. This helps cultivate a connection. Then you can move into something that goes directly to your products/services.
I do recommend that you try to pick a regular schedule for sending regular emails (that aren’t part of a launch or sequence). Some people choose once a month, some choose every other week, some choose weekly, some choose bi-weekly, some choose daily, and some choose every 5 days, every 10 days, every 3 weeks, etc. It’s entirely up to you how you want to craft your schedule. Be realistic about how much you can do, and don’t feel you have to do more than you realistically can. If you can only handle once a month, then start there. That’s what I started with when I first started list building!
Some say that you should send out an email at least once every 2 weeks so people don’t forget about you, so I would recommend doing that as quickly as you can fit it in your schedule. You can do it as a specific every other day (like every other Monday), or on specific dates of each month (like on the 1st and 15th of the month).
If you feel adventurous enough and truly can handle taking on more, weekly is probably your best option. More often than that can sometimes become obnoxious and annoying to the people who receive your emails, and can cause serious burnout for you.
What you can send more often are sales emails, if you have a shop or sell many different products, courses, e-books, services, etc. These emails have a singular focus to showcase specific products/courses/ebooks/services.
Your sales emails do NOT count as your regular emails though. And if you only send out sales emails, guess what? People won’t want to read your emails after a while, and you’ll have a lower open rate and a higher unsubscribe or spam rate. Boo to that! Sales emails can be sent out whenever you’d like, but they don’t count toward your regular emails, so don’t replace regular emails with sales emails (there can be an exception to that if you’re offering some sort of special deal, discount, or exclusive offer - then people generally won’t mind you sticking that in!).
I also recommend you try to provide some exclusive content in your emails. Have you ever wanted to go somewhere special, or get something special, simply because it was exclusive? Sure, we all can try to be inclusive, but there’s something tantalizing about the exclusive. We interpret it as being special, and if we’re there or we have it, we therefore think WE’RE special too. It’s that whole psychology thing.
How does this relate to the emails you send people? Send them EXCLUSIVE CONTENT. If people can read what you’re sending them on your blog, your website, your Facebook page, your Instagram account, your Twitter account, it’s just not special. But if it’s ONLY available in that email, guess what? It’s special!
This helps make people not only open up your emails, but make it so they can’t wait to read it. It’s that special thing in their inbox that they know they won’t get anywhere else, and that isn’t available to the broad public like stuff posted on your very-public website, very-public blog, or very-public social media accounts.
And ask yourself - have you ever signed up for the newsletter or subscribed to the email list of someone you liked, only to find that all they ever sent you was links to their blog, website, or social media accounts? You’re already a follower, right, so it’s kind of lost on you, and you’re left disappointed, and eventually, you don’t bother opening their emails anymore. It isn’t special.
Now, not everyone who gets your emails is a regular follower, so including some links and recounting/rehashing some stuff already out there for the public can be a good thing to include, BUT the people who buy from you will usually be regular followers, not someone who just stumbled onto your website or blog two days ago.
Another thing you need to do with your email list is actually train them to click (kinda like training a dog! LOL). Part of your success is incumbent upon whether or not people actually click on the links in your emails to your sales page. The great sales page doesn’t matter if no one in your email list bothers to view it, right? SO it becomes important to train your audience to click on your links.
Make sure you’re including links in every email you send. Even if it’s just a quick email talking about your morning today! Include links to blog posts, to parts of your website that may be relevant to what you’re writing about, to other stuff you sell, to your about page, to how to contact you, or whatever you feel fits. Now, you don’t want to go link-crazy because then people can get link-overload and won’t click. There’s a delicate balance that needs to be struck in the amount of links you put in an email. But when people feel that the links you’re including are helpful for them, it fosters trust and makes them more likely to click on sales links in your sales emails. You should try to include one thing linked to in each email.
You’ll also want to make your links stand out. If they blend right in with the text, how will people know it’s a link and something they should click on? They won’t! So make sure the link text is a different color than your regular text. Bold it, and even make it a different text or italicize it (if you can). If you’re up for it, try creating a simple image to help links REALLY stand out.
If you create an image, make it horizontal if you don’t want to eat up too much space (do this if your email is long to avoid your message being clipped - don’t want that!), or vertical if you reeeeally want it to pop. If you’re not up for creating an image, you can use a button instead (a lot of newsletter providers have a button option built in). Make the button a bold color to stand out from the rest of your email. Use one button in an email, unless it’s very long (say, over 750 words). Then you can use two, but no more than that.
In sales emails, include more than one link to your sales page. Sales emails are a little different, so they require more links. You can go link crazy with these!
Lesson 2: Email Metrics You Need to Know
There are a couple of numbers that you need to keep track of when you’re building doing email list building. Why? Because if you understand the numbers, you can better use your list - and make it work for you.
Email Metric #1 to Know: Open Rate
Open Rate is the percentage of subscribers who open your email (meaning, they click on your email in their inbox and view it; it’s calculated as number of subscribers who open divided by the total number of subscribers multiplied by 100). For example, if you have an email list of 1,000 people, and 250 of them open your email, that’s a 25% open rate. A lot of people ask, what’s a good open rate, especially when you’re starting out. It’s a frustrating answer to hear/read, but it really does vary! It depends on two things: the size of your list, and the niche that you’re in. Smaller lists can see large open rates (50-60% for lists under 1,000). The larger your list becomes, the lower the number goes. Many with large lists are quite stinkin’ happy with a 20% open rate. And some niches seem to do better with open rates than others. Niches where people have been primed to open emails can have higher open rates. Oh, and how many emails you send and the type of emails they are can also impact open rates. Sales emails tend to have lower open rates, and sending emails daily will usually result in lower open rates (so can sending them less than monthly). A consistently good open rate tends to be tied to two things: writing good subject lines (through being compelling, interesting, controversial, hinting at something, etc.) and having consistently good content (so once someone opens once and is impressed, they’ll continue to open again and again).
Email Metric #2 to Know: Engagement Rate
Engagement Rate is the percentage of subscribers click on a link in your email (clicks divided by emails sent multiplied by 100). This is also called the Click Through Rate. Like with the open rate, this can vary as well, but you generally want to see at least 10% of the open rate engaged. This means, that if you have a list of 1,000 people and 250 of them open, you want to see at least 25 of them click on a link (10% of 250 = 25). If you have an email with many links in it (like one that’s a list of articles with links), this will usually give you a much higher engagement rate. You can track this number with each email you send to test out the best placements and format for links (so you can send out emails with links at the top, middle, bottom, within text, in images, and in various colors, fonts, or styles and see which perform best to get you more clickthroughs).
Email Metric #3 to Know: Unsubscribe Rate
Unsubscribe Rate is the percentage of subscribers who unsubscribe from your email list (number of subscribers who unsubscribe divided by the total number of subscribers multiplied by 100 is your unsubscribe rate). This is obviously a bad number! SO you want to keep it as low as humanly possible. The best way to do that is to consistently provide quality content via email. If you mostly send sales emails, you’re going to have higher unsubscribes because they’re not seen as really providing anything for the person getting it. Your regular emails should have a lower unsubscribe rate than sales emails. You usually want to combine your unsubscribe rate with your bounce rate (the next metric), and keep that total number to under 0.5% (half of a percent).
Email Metric #4 to Know: Bounce Rate
Bounce Rate is the percentage of emails sent that bounce (number of emails bounced divided by the total number sent multiplied by 100 is your bounce rate). This is the other bad number! So you also want to keep it low. The best way to do that is to regularly purge your email list (suppress or delete subscribers who haven’t viewed and/or clicked in a certain period of time). You should also make it clear how people can unsubscribe if they don’t want to get your emails anymore (it’s better for them to unsubscribe than get bounced), allow people to opt out of certain sales emails (like if you’re doing a big promotion for a big launch that may be sending out way more emails than you normally would), and suppress/delete a subscriber after a hard bounce (there are hard and soft bounces, and the hard bounces are the baddies because ISP’s - internet service providers - factor bounces in when determining if you’re legit or not; many newsletter service providers already automatically suppress/delete someone from your email list if they have a hard bounce, but try to check with every email you send to make sure of that).
There certainly are other numbers you can keep track of, like the percentage of shares or forwards of your emails, or the percentage of people who perform a specific action (like clicking on a link in your email and signing up for a series or promotion, or buying a certain product or service you offer). But the four listed are the ones you should ALWAYS keep track of, with every email you send. You should know those four numbers off of the top of your head, and constantly compare each email you send with the previous emails to gauge how well you’re improving or where you may need to put more attention.
Email Metric #1 to Know: Open Rate
Open Rate is the percentage of subscribers who open your email (meaning, they click on your email in their inbox and view it; it’s calculated as number of subscribers who open divided by the total number of subscribers multiplied by 100). For example, if you have an email list of 1,000 people, and 250 of them open your email, that’s a 25% open rate. A lot of people ask, what’s a good open rate, especially when you’re starting out. It’s a frustrating answer to hear/read, but it really does vary! It depends on two things: the size of your list, and the niche that you’re in. Smaller lists can see large open rates (50-60% for lists under 1,000). The larger your list becomes, the lower the number goes. Many with large lists are quite stinkin’ happy with a 20% open rate. And some niches seem to do better with open rates than others. Niches where people have been primed to open emails can have higher open rates. Oh, and how many emails you send and the type of emails they are can also impact open rates. Sales emails tend to have lower open rates, and sending emails daily will usually result in lower open rates (so can sending them less than monthly). A consistently good open rate tends to be tied to two things: writing good subject lines (through being compelling, interesting, controversial, hinting at something, etc.) and having consistently good content (so once someone opens once and is impressed, they’ll continue to open again and again).
Email Metric #2 to Know: Engagement Rate
Engagement Rate is the percentage of subscribers click on a link in your email (clicks divided by emails sent multiplied by 100). This is also called the Click Through Rate. Like with the open rate, this can vary as well, but you generally want to see at least 10% of the open rate engaged. This means, that if you have a list of 1,000 people and 250 of them open, you want to see at least 25 of them click on a link (10% of 250 = 25). If you have an email with many links in it (like one that’s a list of articles with links), this will usually give you a much higher engagement rate. You can track this number with each email you send to test out the best placements and format for links (so you can send out emails with links at the top, middle, bottom, within text, in images, and in various colors, fonts, or styles and see which perform best to get you more clickthroughs).
Email Metric #3 to Know: Unsubscribe Rate
Unsubscribe Rate is the percentage of subscribers who unsubscribe from your email list (number of subscribers who unsubscribe divided by the total number of subscribers multiplied by 100 is your unsubscribe rate). This is obviously a bad number! SO you want to keep it as low as humanly possible. The best way to do that is to consistently provide quality content via email. If you mostly send sales emails, you’re going to have higher unsubscribes because they’re not seen as really providing anything for the person getting it. Your regular emails should have a lower unsubscribe rate than sales emails. You usually want to combine your unsubscribe rate with your bounce rate (the next metric), and keep that total number to under 0.5% (half of a percent).
Email Metric #4 to Know: Bounce Rate
Bounce Rate is the percentage of emails sent that bounce (number of emails bounced divided by the total number sent multiplied by 100 is your bounce rate). This is the other bad number! So you also want to keep it low. The best way to do that is to regularly purge your email list (suppress or delete subscribers who haven’t viewed and/or clicked in a certain period of time). You should also make it clear how people can unsubscribe if they don’t want to get your emails anymore (it’s better for them to unsubscribe than get bounced), allow people to opt out of certain sales emails (like if you’re doing a big promotion for a big launch that may be sending out way more emails than you normally would), and suppress/delete a subscriber after a hard bounce (there are hard and soft bounces, and the hard bounces are the baddies because ISP’s - internet service providers - factor bounces in when determining if you’re legit or not; many newsletter service providers already automatically suppress/delete someone from your email list if they have a hard bounce, but try to check with every email you send to make sure of that).
There certainly are other numbers you can keep track of, like the percentage of shares or forwards of your emails, or the percentage of people who perform a specific action (like clicking on a link in your email and signing up for a series or promotion, or buying a certain product or service you offer). But the four listed are the ones you should ALWAYS keep track of, with every email you send. You should know those four numbers off of the top of your head, and constantly compare each email you send with the previous emails to gauge how well you’re improving or where you may need to put more attention.
Lesson 3: Choosing an Email Service Provider
There are a ton of email service providers out there, a ton! Which you choose is really up to you. I’ll quickly outline the 4 most popular providers here for you:
Mailchimp
I think Mailchimp is the most commonly used ESP for those who are just starting out because they offer the biggest free plan, up to 2,000 subscribers. They also work with a ton of other services if you end up branching out to selling products and subscriptions and the like. While I still recommend them when you’re starting out for that reason, they recently changed the way they count subscribers to include people who haven’t confirmed their subscription and people who unsubscribe. And you’re not sending those people any emails! Nor should you want to. So that’s a big knock against them. They also limit the number of lists (though you have more groups - they have them different which is a little confusing) and the number of automations (explained later) in the free plan. So you can start with them but ultimately you’ll need to start paying once you get to probably around 500 subscribers (whether with them or someone else). I also found them very difficult to use when I was first starting as a tech idiot (I find them easier now but some of it is still a little confusing).
Mailerlite
Mailerlite is second to Mailchimp when it comes to the number of subscribers you can have in their free plan (1,000), but they offer much more functionality (more lists, more automation). I also find their interface is a lot easier to use than Mailchimp. They have a strange way of counting subscribers though (how many people you sent an email in a month rather than the number actually subscribed). There is one thing I absolutely loathe about Mailerlite though and it’s the only reason I don’t recommend them over Mailchimp - you have to be approved in order to use Mailerlite. I actually applied when I was first starting with list building and got rejected. They’re totally closed-lipped when it comes to how to actually get approved (and they don’t even really say that you have to be approved now so I thought they had changed it, but it’s still the same, they’re just more hush about it!). From what I can tell, you have to already have an established website or blog, and have already started building your email list (that one gets me, I mean you’re joining an ESP to start, if you’ve already started, what do you need them for, aye!). Beyond that is a mystery. And apparently, when you upgrade to a paid plan or to a higher plan once you’re paying, they have to approve you every time, so you can get rejected at any point! It’s a shame they’ve kept it so exclusive because I really like their functionality. If you can get approved and stay approved, they seem to be a great option.
Mad Mimi
This is the ESP that I use! Unfortunately, they no longer have a free plan, so you have to pay right away, BUT they’re paid plans are definitely the least expensive. Perhaps their biggest appeal though is how EASY they are to use! That was what appealed to me when I first started, I needed something simple and Mad Mimi is super simple. You are limited in what you can hook up with it though because of that (I’ve found ways around that though). They count subscribers in a straightforward way (the number of people signed up for your email list - no unsubscribes, no unconfirmed, and unlimited emails can be sent). I haven’t run into any limits with groups or automations. But I did find when I started approaching 20,000 subscribers that there started to be issues with deliverability. To be fair to Mad Mimi, I’ve heard the same thing about Mailchimp and Mailerlite at that tier (these three are best for smaller lists, up to around 15,000). If you need something really easy and are okay with paying a little, Mad Mimi is your best option.
Convertkit
Convertkit offers a ton of functionality and hooks up with a ton of services like Mailchimp does, but is pretty expensive! They do offer a 2 week free trial, but they are pricey even with a small list. But once you’re at about 5,000 subscribers, you’ll want to consider moving to Convertkit until you get over 30,000. They’ll move your whole list and everything with it for you if you have over 5,000 subscribers, and I hear their customer service is great.
Honorable mention #1: Aweber (more in league with Convertkit, but their free trial is for a month; they can be used up to about 30,000)
Honorable mention #2: Constant Contact (in league with Aweber and Convertkit, their free trial is for 2 months, but they are pricier)
Once you start getting to that 40,000 mark (which I’m sure most or all of you are nowhere close to!), Infusionsoft is pretty much the standard for big email lists (unless you have your own service, which you can do if you’re huge - maybe someday!). They’re super expensive and super hard to use, but once you’re at that point with that size of an email list, you should be making so much money from your email list that you can afford the Infusionsoft price tag and hire someone to deal with it!
When you choose which to use, they all have helpful articles for how to use them, and you can find tons of videos on Youtube that will show you how to do whatever you want.
Mailchimp
I think Mailchimp is the most commonly used ESP for those who are just starting out because they offer the biggest free plan, up to 2,000 subscribers. They also work with a ton of other services if you end up branching out to selling products and subscriptions and the like. While I still recommend them when you’re starting out for that reason, they recently changed the way they count subscribers to include people who haven’t confirmed their subscription and people who unsubscribe. And you’re not sending those people any emails! Nor should you want to. So that’s a big knock against them. They also limit the number of lists (though you have more groups - they have them different which is a little confusing) and the number of automations (explained later) in the free plan. So you can start with them but ultimately you’ll need to start paying once you get to probably around 500 subscribers (whether with them or someone else). I also found them very difficult to use when I was first starting as a tech idiot (I find them easier now but some of it is still a little confusing).
Mailerlite
Mailerlite is second to Mailchimp when it comes to the number of subscribers you can have in their free plan (1,000), but they offer much more functionality (more lists, more automation). I also find their interface is a lot easier to use than Mailchimp. They have a strange way of counting subscribers though (how many people you sent an email in a month rather than the number actually subscribed). There is one thing I absolutely loathe about Mailerlite though and it’s the only reason I don’t recommend them over Mailchimp - you have to be approved in order to use Mailerlite. I actually applied when I was first starting with list building and got rejected. They’re totally closed-lipped when it comes to how to actually get approved (and they don’t even really say that you have to be approved now so I thought they had changed it, but it’s still the same, they’re just more hush about it!). From what I can tell, you have to already have an established website or blog, and have already started building your email list (that one gets me, I mean you’re joining an ESP to start, if you’ve already started, what do you need them for, aye!). Beyond that is a mystery. And apparently, when you upgrade to a paid plan or to a higher plan once you’re paying, they have to approve you every time, so you can get rejected at any point! It’s a shame they’ve kept it so exclusive because I really like their functionality. If you can get approved and stay approved, they seem to be a great option.
Mad Mimi
This is the ESP that I use! Unfortunately, they no longer have a free plan, so you have to pay right away, BUT they’re paid plans are definitely the least expensive. Perhaps their biggest appeal though is how EASY they are to use! That was what appealed to me when I first started, I needed something simple and Mad Mimi is super simple. You are limited in what you can hook up with it though because of that (I’ve found ways around that though). They count subscribers in a straightforward way (the number of people signed up for your email list - no unsubscribes, no unconfirmed, and unlimited emails can be sent). I haven’t run into any limits with groups or automations. But I did find when I started approaching 20,000 subscribers that there started to be issues with deliverability. To be fair to Mad Mimi, I’ve heard the same thing about Mailchimp and Mailerlite at that tier (these three are best for smaller lists, up to around 15,000). If you need something really easy and are okay with paying a little, Mad Mimi is your best option.
Convertkit
Convertkit offers a ton of functionality and hooks up with a ton of services like Mailchimp does, but is pretty expensive! They do offer a 2 week free trial, but they are pricey even with a small list. But once you’re at about 5,000 subscribers, you’ll want to consider moving to Convertkit until you get over 30,000. They’ll move your whole list and everything with it for you if you have over 5,000 subscribers, and I hear their customer service is great.
Honorable mention #1: Aweber (more in league with Convertkit, but their free trial is for a month; they can be used up to about 30,000)
Honorable mention #2: Constant Contact (in league with Aweber and Convertkit, their free trial is for 2 months, but they are pricier)
Once you start getting to that 40,000 mark (which I’m sure most or all of you are nowhere close to!), Infusionsoft is pretty much the standard for big email lists (unless you have your own service, which you can do if you’re huge - maybe someday!). They’re super expensive and super hard to use, but once you’re at that point with that size of an email list, you should be making so much money from your email list that you can afford the Infusionsoft price tag and hire someone to deal with it!
When you choose which to use, they all have helpful articles for how to use them, and you can find tons of videos on Youtube that will show you how to do whatever you want.
Lesson 4: Choosing an Opt-in Offer
When choosing your opt-in offers, the main requirement is that it should tie in to a product or service you want to create. This is important for monetizing your email list. If your opt-in offer doesn’t make sense as a lead in to your product or service, this makes it harder for you to pitch what you offer to the people on your email list, and to get them to buy in. If your opt-in offer ties in to the product or service, this both shows people that you know what you’re talking about when it comes to this particular product or service (therefore building trust), and it makes them want more from you.
Now let’s review the different types of opt-in offers:
1) Checklists or Cheat Sheets
This is perhaps the easiest type of opt-in to do. It’s as simple as it sounds - create a checklist or cheat sheet of something related to what you sell and use it as an opt-in offer. A checklist or cheat sheet should only be one page. Statistically, checklists and cheat sheets convert the best (get the most people signed up) so they’re great when you’re starting out and need to build up your email list.
2) Worksheets
A worksheet is designed to be filled out. You can either create one to be printed and filled out, or create a fillable form using Adobe Acrobat (paid) or Google Drive apps (free) that someone can fill out on their computer. Worksheets are usually 1-3 pages.
3) Single Page Printables
A single page printable is one page that is meant to be printed up. The content in a single page printable can be all over the map - anything from a list to a colorful drawing to a DIY mini zine. You can be as creative as you want with a single page printable.
4) Mini e-books
A mini e-book will be like a regular e-book, but much shorter, covering just one small tip, takeaway, or lesson. It can also be a small compilation of articles taken from your blog (to make it easy!), but they should all be focused on the same thing. Mini e-books should be 5-15 pages.
5) Workbooks
Workbooks are like worksheets, except they’re longer in length (up to 30 pages). Workbooks should be designed to be able to be filled out on a computer since they’re longer and people may not want to print that many pages.
6) Mini Courses and E-series
A mini course and an email series (e-series for short) are essentially the same thing content-wise - both focus on one specific lesson or topic and break it down into 3-4 lessons (longer than that, and you’re likely trying to do too much or teach something too complex for a mini course or email series). A mini course can be distributed via email, through your website, or through an online course management platform (like Teachable or Thinkific). Mini courses can be text, audio, or video. Email series are distributed via email, and are text.
Mini courses and email series can also contain extras for people to use - worksheets, checklists, cheat sheets, and printables. No matter what, your mini course or email series should allow people to have mini victories, small goals that they can achieve immediately or almost immediately. This makes people want more from you and trust you.
7) Video Series
A video series will be similar to an email series, except they’ll be videos. They also focus on one specific lesson or topic and break it down into 3-4 videos. The length of the videos can depend on how expensive what you’re selling is - the more expensive it is, the longer you can make the videos. Minimum length should be 5 minutes each, and maximum length should be 30 minutes each. These are usually dripped out, and you give access to one per day.
8) Webinars and Workshops
Webinars and workshops are terms that tend to be used interchangeably, but to be technical, a webinar is an online lecture while a workshop is a discussion group (so essentially, if you just want to talk and share your information, it’s a webinar, while if you want to interact with participants, take questions, have others involved, it’s a workshop). They’re held at a specific date and time online using video, which can be pre-recorded or streamed live using platforms like Hangouts on Air (free) or WebinarJam (paid). Length can vary, but they can be as short as 20 minutes to over 2 hours long.
Often, a replay of the webinar or workshop will be provided to participants afterward to re-watch or view if they missed it live, and this is usually only available for a limited time for free. You can then have the option to sell the recording if they want to view it after that period (usually for $10-50, depending on the length and content), or you can use that period as a way to sell your product.
When it comes to webinars and workshops, you can also opt to do a dual webinar or workshop, where you host a webinar or workshop with another person in your niche, and then share your email lists with one another. This can be a great way to increase your email list quickly, and it works well for both of you. Try to find someone who has an email list size similar to yours (if you try approaching someone with a huge list and yours is tiny, they may just ignore you).
9) Challenges
A challenge usually lasts for 3 - 7 days, and prompts the people who sign up to take specific action steps outlined throughout the challenge. Challenges usually have one specific purpose, one transformation/change that you want people to make during the length of the challenge. Some challenges are really long, up to a month, but 5 days seems to be the sweet spot. Long enough for people to feel like they’re getting something out of it but short enough for them to stick with it and not lose focus. Most challenges are sent out as emails to participants each day with their action steps for the day, and there is usually a free FB group for participants to come together for extra help or to engage with one another.
10) Ultimate Guides
An ultimate guide is an e-book that outlines every little detail of one specific topic. Most often, ultimate guides are first published as blog articles, and then offered as an e-book download with the blog article. Ultimate guides tend to be super long, at least 10,000 words, up to 50,000, so basically like novelettes or novellas. Ultimate guide articles tend to be great for SEO on your website/blog because they’re so long that they’re full of keywords, so it’s a double win.
11) Virtual Summits
A virtual summit is an online event where you gather together a group of experts to provide content that revolves around one specific focus. It’s usually done via video as various workshops (which can be pre-recorded) or interview sessions with you as the host and the other person providing some useful information for participants. You’ll usually get a group of 10-20 experts in your field and focus on one topic, each video is usually 20-60 minutes in length, and participants get access to 1-3 videos each day of the summit (usually 3-14 days long).
Virtual summits take a ton of work and you may not be able to get many experts if you’re just starting out, BUT they can be amazing for generating a ton of new email subscribers in a short period of time (hundreds-to-thousands in a couple weeks). People love participating in virtual summits because they provide a lot of content and people can see lots of experts in one place. Another upside of virtual summits is you can have it so people only have access to the content for free for a certain period of time, and offer a paid upgrade for them to be able to download the videos so they retain access (usually for anywhere from $25-75). This can be very successful particularly for larger summits (which can convert 10-20% of participants).
12) Resource Libraries
A resource library is a collection of content that can be accessed in one place that is password protected. When someone signs up, they’re given the link to the library and password to access the content stored in the library. Resource libraries are usually filled with lots of smaller opt-in types - checklists, cheat sheets, worksheets, workbooks, mini e-books, and printables. You’ll want to have about 20 before you start the library.
Resource libraries usually depend on something called a content upgrade. A content upgrade is used with articles and are an extra freebie related to that article that someone can get in exchange for their email address. For example, let’s say you write an article about the health benefits of yoga, and then offer a printable list of the best yoga positions for beginners as a content upgrade. People can access the printable in the resource library.
You can also use content upgrades separately from a resource library. The content upgrade can be accessed using an image in the article that links to an opt-in form that’s been configured to automatically bring someone to the download page for whatever the content is. You can do this for free on your own by creating your own image (and you can use a free service like Canva), linking it to an opt-in form you create with your email newsletter provider, and link completed submissions to a page you’ve created on your website to download the file, or to an external location to download, like Google Drive, OneDrive, or Dropbox. You can also simply use an opt-in box right with the article and text that says what you’re getting, no image required, and link completed submissions to the download.
Here are links for how to share files to be downloaded with Google Drive, OneDrive, and Dropbox:
Google Drive: https://support.google.com/drive/answer/2494822?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en
OneDrive:
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Share-OneDrive-files-and-folders-9fcc2f7d-de0c-4cec-93b0-a82024800c07
Dropbox:
https://www.dropbox.com/help/167
If you don’t want to deal with all of this yourself and are willing to pay, Leadpages is the standard used, but it can be pricey, especially if you’re not really making much money yet. Following the free steps I outlined works just as well and only requires a little extra elbow grease, so it’s perfectly fine until you’re making good money.
A super easy content upgrade option is to simply create a PDF file of the article and provide that as a download - that may seem silly since people can just read the article on your website or blog, but many like having the ability to view it anytime they want, including offline. As an alternative, you can offer the article as an audio or video file, or as a slideshow. You can also group together multiple articles on the same topic (anywhere from 5-20, depending on how long they are), and put them together in a PDF mini e-book that can be used as a content upgrade for all of the articles that are used in the e-book.
Another good content upgrade idea is to write an article in 3 parts, publish part 1, and then make parts 2 & 3 available as a content upgrade. This can be a really great idea for any articles you write that are super long (say, over 3,000 words).
Content upgrades can also be used on social media to get people to view your articles and sign up for your email list. By mentioning there’s a freebie to be had with the article that is on your website or blog, that’ll make people more likely to view.
If you don’t have a blog and don’t publish articles, you can still use content upgrades on a website. Just assess what is on each page, and what freebie extra you can offer that is related to it and gets people to sign up for your email list.
A single content upgrade may not get you very many opt-ins, but once you have a big group of content upgrades, it can add up. Once you get up to 20, you should switch to a resource library instead of offering them separately, if you start by offering them separately.
Now let’s review the different types of opt-in offers:
1) Checklists or Cheat Sheets
This is perhaps the easiest type of opt-in to do. It’s as simple as it sounds - create a checklist or cheat sheet of something related to what you sell and use it as an opt-in offer. A checklist or cheat sheet should only be one page. Statistically, checklists and cheat sheets convert the best (get the most people signed up) so they’re great when you’re starting out and need to build up your email list.
2) Worksheets
A worksheet is designed to be filled out. You can either create one to be printed and filled out, or create a fillable form using Adobe Acrobat (paid) or Google Drive apps (free) that someone can fill out on their computer. Worksheets are usually 1-3 pages.
3) Single Page Printables
A single page printable is one page that is meant to be printed up. The content in a single page printable can be all over the map - anything from a list to a colorful drawing to a DIY mini zine. You can be as creative as you want with a single page printable.
4) Mini e-books
A mini e-book will be like a regular e-book, but much shorter, covering just one small tip, takeaway, or lesson. It can also be a small compilation of articles taken from your blog (to make it easy!), but they should all be focused on the same thing. Mini e-books should be 5-15 pages.
5) Workbooks
Workbooks are like worksheets, except they’re longer in length (up to 30 pages). Workbooks should be designed to be able to be filled out on a computer since they’re longer and people may not want to print that many pages.
6) Mini Courses and E-series
A mini course and an email series (e-series for short) are essentially the same thing content-wise - both focus on one specific lesson or topic and break it down into 3-4 lessons (longer than that, and you’re likely trying to do too much or teach something too complex for a mini course or email series). A mini course can be distributed via email, through your website, or through an online course management platform (like Teachable or Thinkific). Mini courses can be text, audio, or video. Email series are distributed via email, and are text.
Mini courses and email series can also contain extras for people to use - worksheets, checklists, cheat sheets, and printables. No matter what, your mini course or email series should allow people to have mini victories, small goals that they can achieve immediately or almost immediately. This makes people want more from you and trust you.
7) Video Series
A video series will be similar to an email series, except they’ll be videos. They also focus on one specific lesson or topic and break it down into 3-4 videos. The length of the videos can depend on how expensive what you’re selling is - the more expensive it is, the longer you can make the videos. Minimum length should be 5 minutes each, and maximum length should be 30 minutes each. These are usually dripped out, and you give access to one per day.
8) Webinars and Workshops
Webinars and workshops are terms that tend to be used interchangeably, but to be technical, a webinar is an online lecture while a workshop is a discussion group (so essentially, if you just want to talk and share your information, it’s a webinar, while if you want to interact with participants, take questions, have others involved, it’s a workshop). They’re held at a specific date and time online using video, which can be pre-recorded or streamed live using platforms like Hangouts on Air (free) or WebinarJam (paid). Length can vary, but they can be as short as 20 minutes to over 2 hours long.
Often, a replay of the webinar or workshop will be provided to participants afterward to re-watch or view if they missed it live, and this is usually only available for a limited time for free. You can then have the option to sell the recording if they want to view it after that period (usually for $10-50, depending on the length and content), or you can use that period as a way to sell your product.
When it comes to webinars and workshops, you can also opt to do a dual webinar or workshop, where you host a webinar or workshop with another person in your niche, and then share your email lists with one another. This can be a great way to increase your email list quickly, and it works well for both of you. Try to find someone who has an email list size similar to yours (if you try approaching someone with a huge list and yours is tiny, they may just ignore you).
9) Challenges
A challenge usually lasts for 3 - 7 days, and prompts the people who sign up to take specific action steps outlined throughout the challenge. Challenges usually have one specific purpose, one transformation/change that you want people to make during the length of the challenge. Some challenges are really long, up to a month, but 5 days seems to be the sweet spot. Long enough for people to feel like they’re getting something out of it but short enough for them to stick with it and not lose focus. Most challenges are sent out as emails to participants each day with their action steps for the day, and there is usually a free FB group for participants to come together for extra help or to engage with one another.
10) Ultimate Guides
An ultimate guide is an e-book that outlines every little detail of one specific topic. Most often, ultimate guides are first published as blog articles, and then offered as an e-book download with the blog article. Ultimate guides tend to be super long, at least 10,000 words, up to 50,000, so basically like novelettes or novellas. Ultimate guide articles tend to be great for SEO on your website/blog because they’re so long that they’re full of keywords, so it’s a double win.
11) Virtual Summits
A virtual summit is an online event where you gather together a group of experts to provide content that revolves around one specific focus. It’s usually done via video as various workshops (which can be pre-recorded) or interview sessions with you as the host and the other person providing some useful information for participants. You’ll usually get a group of 10-20 experts in your field and focus on one topic, each video is usually 20-60 minutes in length, and participants get access to 1-3 videos each day of the summit (usually 3-14 days long).
Virtual summits take a ton of work and you may not be able to get many experts if you’re just starting out, BUT they can be amazing for generating a ton of new email subscribers in a short period of time (hundreds-to-thousands in a couple weeks). People love participating in virtual summits because they provide a lot of content and people can see lots of experts in one place. Another upside of virtual summits is you can have it so people only have access to the content for free for a certain period of time, and offer a paid upgrade for them to be able to download the videos so they retain access (usually for anywhere from $25-75). This can be very successful particularly for larger summits (which can convert 10-20% of participants).
12) Resource Libraries
A resource library is a collection of content that can be accessed in one place that is password protected. When someone signs up, they’re given the link to the library and password to access the content stored in the library. Resource libraries are usually filled with lots of smaller opt-in types - checklists, cheat sheets, worksheets, workbooks, mini e-books, and printables. You’ll want to have about 20 before you start the library.
Resource libraries usually depend on something called a content upgrade. A content upgrade is used with articles and are an extra freebie related to that article that someone can get in exchange for their email address. For example, let’s say you write an article about the health benefits of yoga, and then offer a printable list of the best yoga positions for beginners as a content upgrade. People can access the printable in the resource library.
You can also use content upgrades separately from a resource library. The content upgrade can be accessed using an image in the article that links to an opt-in form that’s been configured to automatically bring someone to the download page for whatever the content is. You can do this for free on your own by creating your own image (and you can use a free service like Canva), linking it to an opt-in form you create with your email newsletter provider, and link completed submissions to a page you’ve created on your website to download the file, or to an external location to download, like Google Drive, OneDrive, or Dropbox. You can also simply use an opt-in box right with the article and text that says what you’re getting, no image required, and link completed submissions to the download.
Here are links for how to share files to be downloaded with Google Drive, OneDrive, and Dropbox:
Google Drive: https://support.google.com/drive/answer/2494822?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en
OneDrive:
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Share-OneDrive-files-and-folders-9fcc2f7d-de0c-4cec-93b0-a82024800c07
Dropbox:
https://www.dropbox.com/help/167
If you don’t want to deal with all of this yourself and are willing to pay, Leadpages is the standard used, but it can be pricey, especially if you’re not really making much money yet. Following the free steps I outlined works just as well and only requires a little extra elbow grease, so it’s perfectly fine until you’re making good money.
A super easy content upgrade option is to simply create a PDF file of the article and provide that as a download - that may seem silly since people can just read the article on your website or blog, but many like having the ability to view it anytime they want, including offline. As an alternative, you can offer the article as an audio or video file, or as a slideshow. You can also group together multiple articles on the same topic (anywhere from 5-20, depending on how long they are), and put them together in a PDF mini e-book that can be used as a content upgrade for all of the articles that are used in the e-book.
Another good content upgrade idea is to write an article in 3 parts, publish part 1, and then make parts 2 & 3 available as a content upgrade. This can be a really great idea for any articles you write that are super long (say, over 3,000 words).
Content upgrades can also be used on social media to get people to view your articles and sign up for your email list. By mentioning there’s a freebie to be had with the article that is on your website or blog, that’ll make people more likely to view.
If you don’t have a blog and don’t publish articles, you can still use content upgrades on a website. Just assess what is on each page, and what freebie extra you can offer that is related to it and gets people to sign up for your email list.
A single content upgrade may not get you very many opt-ins, but once you have a big group of content upgrades, it can add up. Once you get up to 20, you should switch to a resource library instead of offering them separately, if you start by offering them separately.
Lesson 5: How to Create Your Opt-in Offer
Once you’ve chosen what you’re going to use, now you have to create it! Checklists, cheatsheets, single page printables, and mini e-books are the easiest opt-in offers to create. All you need to do is figure out what the focus will be, which is going to be something very simple and easy, and put it together as a PDF file. I recommend either using Google Docs or Canva, both of which are free. Google Docs is great for simple PDF files and e-books, while Canva is great for anything that may be more image-like, is a single page, or should be printed. Anything you create in either Google Docs or Canva, you can download as a PDF file. Super simple!
Worksheets can also be created in Canva and workbooks can be created using Google Docs just like the others, but you will have one added step, and that’s making them fillable. This allows for people to fill them out on their computer without having to print them up. You can also do this for free in Google Drive, using the app DocHub. Simply upload the PDF file to Google Drive, right-click on it, select Open with, and if you don’t already have DocHub connected, click on Connect more apps, and choose DocHub. The file will load in DocHub, and you can then add fillable Fields wherever you’d like by clicking on the Fields icon or hitting Shift + f. The fields you can add will pop up on the left, and you’ll usually use a Text Field, Paragraph Field, or Checkbox Field. You select the field you want, and choose where on the PDF you want the field to be and the size of it with a simple click and drag. When you’re done, click on the hamburger icon in the upper right corner, click on Download, and select Download as PDF (lossless). Fillable PDF worksheet or workbook complete!
You should include your website URL on any and every checklist, cheatsheet, worksheet, printable, mini e-book, and workbook you create. Putting it in the header or footer in small print is usually enough. You may also want to include your logo, but for files that are a single page, there may not be enough room, so don’t sweat it. For mini e-books and workbooks, create a cover for the first page that includes the name of whatever it is, your website URL, and your website logo. You may also want to include a thin banner in the header or footer with the name of whatever it is and your website URL or logo that appears on every page except the first page.
For anything printable, keep in mind that your printable should look good whether someone prints it in color or not. Many people may opt to print in black-and-white (we’ve all run out of color ink, it happens!), so be mindful of this when creating something printable. You may want to minimize the colors and images used in the printable, and maintain contrast between colors so even if it’s printed in black-and-white, images will still stand out. Some of the best printables can simply be a good use of font with just a hint of color.
Also keep in mind font sizes. For anything printable, you may want to stick to a font size of 10-18pt. Anything smaller may be too small to read, and anything larger may seem way too big. For files meant to be viewed on a computer, you’ll want to use larger font sizes, generally 14pt or larger, so it’s still readable no matter how someone has their screen set.
For mini e-books and workbooks, consider including page numbers in the header or footer since they’re longer than one or two pages. It just makes it easier for people to be able to come back to it and know where they left off or on what page something they want to remember is. If the mini e-book or workbook is pretty long, say over 20 pages, consider a table of contents as well.
Most opt-in offers are pretty straightforward, simple, one-stop and you’re done, but email series or mini courses are the ones that require a bit more effort, yet they can have big payoffs for list building, so let’s go into the steps you need to take to create an email or video series or mini course.
First, you must decide what you’re going to focus on. The email series or mini course should have ONE focus. Not two, not three, not ten, ONE! Doing more than that only makes it more complex so people won’t end up using it, or they’ll see you as offering big stuff for free and want everything from you for free. Bad for your business! So choose one focus, one topic, one issue to cover. This focus should tie into the product or service that you offer so it naturally leads in. Think about what your product or service does, and come up with ideas from it. Try focusing on the ideas that solve a problem quickly. When you help someone solve a problem quickly or accomplish something quickly, you greatly increase the odds that they’ll buy your product or service. Think about each step in your product or service, the questions people ask you, and what someone needs to know right from the beginning.
Once you’ve chosen your one focus, break it down to 3-4 lessons, and determine what each lesson will cover. More than 4 lessons means you’re doing too much and people are most likely not going to follow along, but if it’s only 1 or 2 lessons, people may not see much value in it. 3-4 lessons is the sweet spot, so address your focus, topic, or issue in 3-4 lessons. They don’t need to be too long either. Everyone can appreciate something that teaches but doesn’t drone on!
After you have the basic layout of your email series or mini course, you need to decide how you want to deliver the content to people who sign up. You can choose to use any of the following:
If you opt to have content downloadable, you can use a service like Dropbox, OneDrive, or Google Drive to upload the files to and give links via email for people to download.
All of these options are via email. You can also choose to create your mini course via a platform like Teachable or Thinkific, which will give people access at the intervals of your choosing. Doing it this way can be more work than doing it via email though, and you have to pay in order to have content dripped out, otherwise people who sign up will have access to all lessons right away. But it is another option you can consider.
Then you just need to create the content! Written text in emails will be the easiest, of course. Just write it and go. If you opt to use PDF’s, you can create them for free using Google Docs. That’s as simple as writing it in Google Docs and downloading it as a PDF file.
For audio, you’ll need a microphone, recording software, and editing software. That sounds a little complex, but you can get a good microphone off of Amazon for $100-200 and use free recording and editing software like Audacity. If you’re not going to be on camera, you can even just use your cell phone - modern smartphones have pretty good microphones built in, and you can download free or inexpensive apps to record and edit right on your phone. If you’re not going to be on camera, you should also get a pop filter, which helps reduce the pah sound and reduces noise. You can buy a pop filter for $10 or less on Amazon, so they’re pretty cheap, but if you feel industrious, you can also try making your own with a metal hanger and pantyhose.
For video, if you’re going to be on camera, you’ll need a camera, but you can go super high tech and build a studio to record with fancy equipment, or super low tech and just use the webcam on your computer (I’ve actually seen some pretty good videos recorded on iPads!). You’ll also need editing software; Screenflow for Mac and Camtasia for PC are good choices. You can opt instead to do screen capture videos which record the screen on your computer, and these can be good with slides or for lessons that require people see what you’re doing on a computer. You can do this for free using Hangouts on Air or Screencast-O-Matic (Screencast-O-Matic was used to the screencast videos in this course). Or you can opt to create animated videos that don’t feature you or capture your screen. Some services you can use for animated videos are Animaker, Powtoon, GoAnimate, or Moovly.
The content is usually going to be dripped instead of given to someone who signs up all at once. Dripping the content means people who sign up will only get access to one lesson at a time, usually one per day. You may have noticed if you’ve signed up for free email series or mini courses that they’re usually dripped out, and this is so you can keep people’s interest going over the course of about a week instead of having them sign up for something and then forget about it in a day or two. If you can keep their attention for the week, you stand a better chance of getting them interested enough in your products or services to buy from you. So dripping the content of your email series or mini course is preferred to giving them access all at once.
Putting your email series or mini course together via email requires you to put together an autoresponder or drip series of emails. Every email newsletter service provider has their own way of doing it, so do a quick search with your provider, or contact them directly for help. Once it’s set up, it’ll be automatic so you don’t have to manually send the emails and give access to each person. It’s done while you’re sleeping!
Creating a webinar or workshop means streaming live video, so you’ll need the same basics you’d need for creating a recorded video that features you: a microphone, a webcam, and software. You can use the webcam on your computer if it’s not too grainy, otherwise you can buy one fairly inexpensively. You do need to buy a microphone for webinars and workshops because the one on your computer usually isn’t going to work well enough for the broadcast. You can buy a good microphone for $100-200 off of Amazon. For software, you can opt for Hangouts on Air, which is free and is probably the most used for webinars, but you will have the added extra step of signing people up. You can do this with an opt-in form you create with your email newsletter service provider that automatically pushes everyone who signs up to a list or group you designate in your newsletter account, and then send them an email with a link to the webinar or workshop when it’s going to go live. If you’d like it streamlined, you can use a service like WebinarJam or GoToWebinar, but you do have to pay for those.
Like with an email or video series or mini course, you should pick ONE focus for the webinar or workshop and break it down to 3-4 pieces of information for people to learn. Spread this information out over 30-90 minutes. It’s a good idea to make it a little interactive and set up a chat area for people to ask questions, or remind people of your email address so they can send questions during the webinar or workshop that you’ll answer at the end. If you use a webinar service, they usually have a chat area built in to the webinar. If you opt not to use a webinar service, you can remind people of your email address, or add in a chat box yourself.
Prepare what you’re going to cover before going into the webinar or workshop. If you want to have a full script, you may want to use a teleprompter so you’re not shuffling through pages or don’t have to memorize a full script. You can turn your smartphone or tablet into a teleprompter with free or paid apps. Just writing down the key points you want to cover on some index cards will likely be more than enough for most of you.
If you want to use slides, you can create them for free using Google Slides. They don’t need to be super fancy either. Just make sure they highlight whatever point you’re covering as you go along.
Once you’re done with your presentation and answered questions, if you opted to, you can end the webinar or workshop with an offer for your product or service. Webinars and workshops work great to sell products and services, not just as something to get email subscribers, so you can use them as an opportunity to make sales by putting together a limited time offer for one of your products or services. This can be a discount, a special bonus, or some other incentive. They tend to have much higher conversion rates than anything else (10 - 20%).
Worksheets can also be created in Canva and workbooks can be created using Google Docs just like the others, but you will have one added step, and that’s making them fillable. This allows for people to fill them out on their computer without having to print them up. You can also do this for free in Google Drive, using the app DocHub. Simply upload the PDF file to Google Drive, right-click on it, select Open with, and if you don’t already have DocHub connected, click on Connect more apps, and choose DocHub. The file will load in DocHub, and you can then add fillable Fields wherever you’d like by clicking on the Fields icon or hitting Shift + f. The fields you can add will pop up on the left, and you’ll usually use a Text Field, Paragraph Field, or Checkbox Field. You select the field you want, and choose where on the PDF you want the field to be and the size of it with a simple click and drag. When you’re done, click on the hamburger icon in the upper right corner, click on Download, and select Download as PDF (lossless). Fillable PDF worksheet or workbook complete!
You should include your website URL on any and every checklist, cheatsheet, worksheet, printable, mini e-book, and workbook you create. Putting it in the header or footer in small print is usually enough. You may also want to include your logo, but for files that are a single page, there may not be enough room, so don’t sweat it. For mini e-books and workbooks, create a cover for the first page that includes the name of whatever it is, your website URL, and your website logo. You may also want to include a thin banner in the header or footer with the name of whatever it is and your website URL or logo that appears on every page except the first page.
For anything printable, keep in mind that your printable should look good whether someone prints it in color or not. Many people may opt to print in black-and-white (we’ve all run out of color ink, it happens!), so be mindful of this when creating something printable. You may want to minimize the colors and images used in the printable, and maintain contrast between colors so even if it’s printed in black-and-white, images will still stand out. Some of the best printables can simply be a good use of font with just a hint of color.
Also keep in mind font sizes. For anything printable, you may want to stick to a font size of 10-18pt. Anything smaller may be too small to read, and anything larger may seem way too big. For files meant to be viewed on a computer, you’ll want to use larger font sizes, generally 14pt or larger, so it’s still readable no matter how someone has their screen set.
For mini e-books and workbooks, consider including page numbers in the header or footer since they’re longer than one or two pages. It just makes it easier for people to be able to come back to it and know where they left off or on what page something they want to remember is. If the mini e-book or workbook is pretty long, say over 20 pages, consider a table of contents as well.
Most opt-in offers are pretty straightforward, simple, one-stop and you’re done, but email series or mini courses are the ones that require a bit more effort, yet they can have big payoffs for list building, so let’s go into the steps you need to take to create an email or video series or mini course.
First, you must decide what you’re going to focus on. The email series or mini course should have ONE focus. Not two, not three, not ten, ONE! Doing more than that only makes it more complex so people won’t end up using it, or they’ll see you as offering big stuff for free and want everything from you for free. Bad for your business! So choose one focus, one topic, one issue to cover. This focus should tie into the product or service that you offer so it naturally leads in. Think about what your product or service does, and come up with ideas from it. Try focusing on the ideas that solve a problem quickly. When you help someone solve a problem quickly or accomplish something quickly, you greatly increase the odds that they’ll buy your product or service. Think about each step in your product or service, the questions people ask you, and what someone needs to know right from the beginning.
Once you’ve chosen your one focus, break it down to 3-4 lessons, and determine what each lesson will cover. More than 4 lessons means you’re doing too much and people are most likely not going to follow along, but if it’s only 1 or 2 lessons, people may not see much value in it. 3-4 lessons is the sweet spot, so address your focus, topic, or issue in 3-4 lessons. They don’t need to be too long either. Everyone can appreciate something that teaches but doesn’t drone on!
After you have the basic layout of your email series or mini course, you need to decide how you want to deliver the content to people who sign up. You can choose to use any of the following:
- Written text in emails
- Written text in PDF files that can be downloaded
- Audio that can be listened to on a web page and linked to via email
- Audio files that can be downloaded
- Video that can be watched on a web page and linked to via email
- Video that can be downloaded
If you opt to have content downloadable, you can use a service like Dropbox, OneDrive, or Google Drive to upload the files to and give links via email for people to download.
All of these options are via email. You can also choose to create your mini course via a platform like Teachable or Thinkific, which will give people access at the intervals of your choosing. Doing it this way can be more work than doing it via email though, and you have to pay in order to have content dripped out, otherwise people who sign up will have access to all lessons right away. But it is another option you can consider.
Then you just need to create the content! Written text in emails will be the easiest, of course. Just write it and go. If you opt to use PDF’s, you can create them for free using Google Docs. That’s as simple as writing it in Google Docs and downloading it as a PDF file.
For audio, you’ll need a microphone, recording software, and editing software. That sounds a little complex, but you can get a good microphone off of Amazon for $100-200 and use free recording and editing software like Audacity. If you’re not going to be on camera, you can even just use your cell phone - modern smartphones have pretty good microphones built in, and you can download free or inexpensive apps to record and edit right on your phone. If you’re not going to be on camera, you should also get a pop filter, which helps reduce the pah sound and reduces noise. You can buy a pop filter for $10 or less on Amazon, so they’re pretty cheap, but if you feel industrious, you can also try making your own with a metal hanger and pantyhose.
For video, if you’re going to be on camera, you’ll need a camera, but you can go super high tech and build a studio to record with fancy equipment, or super low tech and just use the webcam on your computer (I’ve actually seen some pretty good videos recorded on iPads!). You’ll also need editing software; Screenflow for Mac and Camtasia for PC are good choices. You can opt instead to do screen capture videos which record the screen on your computer, and these can be good with slides or for lessons that require people see what you’re doing on a computer. You can do this for free using Hangouts on Air or Screencast-O-Matic (Screencast-O-Matic was used to the screencast videos in this course). Or you can opt to create animated videos that don’t feature you or capture your screen. Some services you can use for animated videos are Animaker, Powtoon, GoAnimate, or Moovly.
The content is usually going to be dripped instead of given to someone who signs up all at once. Dripping the content means people who sign up will only get access to one lesson at a time, usually one per day. You may have noticed if you’ve signed up for free email series or mini courses that they’re usually dripped out, and this is so you can keep people’s interest going over the course of about a week instead of having them sign up for something and then forget about it in a day or two. If you can keep their attention for the week, you stand a better chance of getting them interested enough in your products or services to buy from you. So dripping the content of your email series or mini course is preferred to giving them access all at once.
Putting your email series or mini course together via email requires you to put together an autoresponder or drip series of emails. Every email newsletter service provider has their own way of doing it, so do a quick search with your provider, or contact them directly for help. Once it’s set up, it’ll be automatic so you don’t have to manually send the emails and give access to each person. It’s done while you’re sleeping!
Creating a webinar or workshop means streaming live video, so you’ll need the same basics you’d need for creating a recorded video that features you: a microphone, a webcam, and software. You can use the webcam on your computer if it’s not too grainy, otherwise you can buy one fairly inexpensively. You do need to buy a microphone for webinars and workshops because the one on your computer usually isn’t going to work well enough for the broadcast. You can buy a good microphone for $100-200 off of Amazon. For software, you can opt for Hangouts on Air, which is free and is probably the most used for webinars, but you will have the added extra step of signing people up. You can do this with an opt-in form you create with your email newsletter service provider that automatically pushes everyone who signs up to a list or group you designate in your newsletter account, and then send them an email with a link to the webinar or workshop when it’s going to go live. If you’d like it streamlined, you can use a service like WebinarJam or GoToWebinar, but you do have to pay for those.
Like with an email or video series or mini course, you should pick ONE focus for the webinar or workshop and break it down to 3-4 pieces of information for people to learn. Spread this information out over 30-90 minutes. It’s a good idea to make it a little interactive and set up a chat area for people to ask questions, or remind people of your email address so they can send questions during the webinar or workshop that you’ll answer at the end. If you use a webinar service, they usually have a chat area built in to the webinar. If you opt not to use a webinar service, you can remind people of your email address, or add in a chat box yourself.
Prepare what you’re going to cover before going into the webinar or workshop. If you want to have a full script, you may want to use a teleprompter so you’re not shuffling through pages or don’t have to memorize a full script. You can turn your smartphone or tablet into a teleprompter with free or paid apps. Just writing down the key points you want to cover on some index cards will likely be more than enough for most of you.
If you want to use slides, you can create them for free using Google Slides. They don’t need to be super fancy either. Just make sure they highlight whatever point you’re covering as you go along.
Once you’re done with your presentation and answered questions, if you opted to, you can end the webinar or workshop with an offer for your product or service. Webinars and workshops work great to sell products and services, not just as something to get email subscribers, so you can use them as an opportunity to make sales by putting together a limited time offer for one of your products or services. This can be a discount, a special bonus, or some other incentive. They tend to have much higher conversion rates than anything else (10 - 20%).
Lesson 6: Maximizing Opt-ins on Your Website
So once you’ve created your opt-in offer, now you’ve gotta get people to sign up for it! If you followed along with getting traffic from unit 1 via Pinterest, you should already be getting some traffic to your website. You want to grab every eyeball!
First, use opt-in boxes. Opt-in boxes are placed on your website or blog so people have a way to opt in to your email list or newsletter. One of the rookie mistakes is to not put many opt-in boxes on your website or blog. Or worse, to only have one! Here’s the deal - when it comes to opt-in boxes, more is more. Is more is more! You want to put opt-in boxes all over your website or blog. If you worry this will annoy people, think again. It’s more likely to be seen as being helpful so they don’t have to go to a designated page or scroll way up or way down and all around trying to opt in. You want to make it as easy as possible for people to sign up, which means putting opt-in boxes everywhere.
Put an opt-in box at the top of the page, above the fold, on every page. Above the fold means you can view it when the page loads without scrolling down at all. If you can put it in the header of your website or blog, it’ll appear above the fold of every page or blog post automatically. If you can’t put an opt-in box in the header, a button linked to where they can sign up can work as well. On a blog, if the blog post is very long (over 1,000 words), you can put in two, one near the top and one in the middle. If you have a website and the page is very long, consider putting extra boxes as well so there’s a total of at least 4-to-5.
A little tip on mobile traffic - when someone views your website on their cell phone, the very first item on the left is what loads first on their phone, so try to place an opt-in box as the first thing on the left on the pages of your website. If you use a sidebar, try to put it on the left and put your opt-in box as the top item.
Make sure people know what they’ll get for signing up. Writing it as text is fine, but images may work better, if you can include an image (even just a mock-up). You might want to play around with the text on the button that they click on to subscribe as well. Usually, text that’s a verb or describes action is better than a simple ‘Subscribe’ (like “Gimme my free e-book” or “Click for the worksheet”).
It’s amazing how many more opt-ins you can get by simply having more opt-in boxes and making sure people see them. Also, if you don’t want to have the actual opt-in box right there, you can instead create an image that links to the opt-in page for your opt-in offer or use a button that links to the opt-in page (if you don’t like the look of the boxes).
Pop-ups can be very helpful for getting opt-ins. Opt-in pop ups are those boxes that “pop up” on a website or blog when you visit it asking you to sign up for something free. This is a way of getting people to sign up for your email list. It’s notoriously something people complain about and feel is annoying, but you know what? It’s used so much because it WORKS, and the reality is, it doesn’t annoy people enough to stop visiting your website or blog (unless you set it to keep popping up - then you’ll drive them away!). You can usually choose when the pop up will appear when someone visits - the most commonly used is as soon as they come to your website or blog, when it appears they’ll be leaving, or 3-10 seconds after they’ve come to your website or blog. You can (and should) choose to have the pop up NOT appear for someone once they’ve already signed up, and choose to have the pop up appear again after some time (1-7 days - it shouldn’t pop up for someone more than once per day, but not less than once per week either).
Mailchimp has a pop up in their platform that you can integrate into your website or blog; you can also use Sumo’s List Builder for free. Hellobar also offers a free popup (but limits the number of pageviews to 5,000, so if you’re over that each month, try Sumo; if you’re still below 5,000, then you can give Hellobar a try, I do find their options are very pretty and simple to use).
Another way to opt in is using a welcome mat. A welcome mat is like a pop up, but it fills the entire page instead of being a smaller box, and it automatically loads as soon as someone visits your website or blog (hence the name, welcome mat!). Because it fills the entire page and loads as soon as someone visits your website or blog, it can’t be missed, and can result in very high opt-in rates. Welcome mats can be excellent with larger opt-in offers and grab a lot of people. The one downside of welcome mats are that they can be seen as more intrusive than pop ups and really get on people’s nerves, so I don’t recommend using a welcome mat permanently. Sumo and Hellobar both offer welcome mats.
You may find that ideally, you’ll have the necessary amount of static opt-in boxes on every page of your website or every article on your blog, as well as a pop up, as well as a periodically-used welcome mat. Yep, you probably want to use all of them! This will help you to get as many people as possible to sign up for your email list.
First, use opt-in boxes. Opt-in boxes are placed on your website or blog so people have a way to opt in to your email list or newsletter. One of the rookie mistakes is to not put many opt-in boxes on your website or blog. Or worse, to only have one! Here’s the deal - when it comes to opt-in boxes, more is more. Is more is more! You want to put opt-in boxes all over your website or blog. If you worry this will annoy people, think again. It’s more likely to be seen as being helpful so they don’t have to go to a designated page or scroll way up or way down and all around trying to opt in. You want to make it as easy as possible for people to sign up, which means putting opt-in boxes everywhere.
Put an opt-in box at the top of the page, above the fold, on every page. Above the fold means you can view it when the page loads without scrolling down at all. If you can put it in the header of your website or blog, it’ll appear above the fold of every page or blog post automatically. If you can’t put an opt-in box in the header, a button linked to where they can sign up can work as well. On a blog, if the blog post is very long (over 1,000 words), you can put in two, one near the top and one in the middle. If you have a website and the page is very long, consider putting extra boxes as well so there’s a total of at least 4-to-5.
A little tip on mobile traffic - when someone views your website on their cell phone, the very first item on the left is what loads first on their phone, so try to place an opt-in box as the first thing on the left on the pages of your website. If you use a sidebar, try to put it on the left and put your opt-in box as the top item.
Make sure people know what they’ll get for signing up. Writing it as text is fine, but images may work better, if you can include an image (even just a mock-up). You might want to play around with the text on the button that they click on to subscribe as well. Usually, text that’s a verb or describes action is better than a simple ‘Subscribe’ (like “Gimme my free e-book” or “Click for the worksheet”).
It’s amazing how many more opt-ins you can get by simply having more opt-in boxes and making sure people see them. Also, if you don’t want to have the actual opt-in box right there, you can instead create an image that links to the opt-in page for your opt-in offer or use a button that links to the opt-in page (if you don’t like the look of the boxes).
Pop-ups can be very helpful for getting opt-ins. Opt-in pop ups are those boxes that “pop up” on a website or blog when you visit it asking you to sign up for something free. This is a way of getting people to sign up for your email list. It’s notoriously something people complain about and feel is annoying, but you know what? It’s used so much because it WORKS, and the reality is, it doesn’t annoy people enough to stop visiting your website or blog (unless you set it to keep popping up - then you’ll drive them away!). You can usually choose when the pop up will appear when someone visits - the most commonly used is as soon as they come to your website or blog, when it appears they’ll be leaving, or 3-10 seconds after they’ve come to your website or blog. You can (and should) choose to have the pop up NOT appear for someone once they’ve already signed up, and choose to have the pop up appear again after some time (1-7 days - it shouldn’t pop up for someone more than once per day, but not less than once per week either).
Mailchimp has a pop up in their platform that you can integrate into your website or blog; you can also use Sumo’s List Builder for free. Hellobar also offers a free popup (but limits the number of pageviews to 5,000, so if you’re over that each month, try Sumo; if you’re still below 5,000, then you can give Hellobar a try, I do find their options are very pretty and simple to use).
Another way to opt in is using a welcome mat. A welcome mat is like a pop up, but it fills the entire page instead of being a smaller box, and it automatically loads as soon as someone visits your website or blog (hence the name, welcome mat!). Because it fills the entire page and loads as soon as someone visits your website or blog, it can’t be missed, and can result in very high opt-in rates. Welcome mats can be excellent with larger opt-in offers and grab a lot of people. The one downside of welcome mats are that they can be seen as more intrusive than pop ups and really get on people’s nerves, so I don’t recommend using a welcome mat permanently. Sumo and Hellobar both offer welcome mats.
You may find that ideally, you’ll have the necessary amount of static opt-in boxes on every page of your website or every article on your blog, as well as a pop up, as well as a periodically-used welcome mat. Yep, you probably want to use all of them! This will help you to get as many people as possible to sign up for your email list.
Lesson 7: Getting Opt-ins Outside of Your Website
Once you have your site set up, you can look outside of your site to get subscribers. Online communities can be a great place for you to meet people interested in what product or service you have to offer, so once you’re a member of one, put up links to an opt-in form or page on your website for them to sign up.Many online communities will have a designated area in the community for people to plug their stuff, and you can mention your opt-in offers. Many communities also allow you to put links in your bio, profile, or in the footer of all messages you post, which can constantly put your links out there without being in people’s faces, but they’re only worthwhile for you if you’re contributing to the community in valuable ways. Answer people’s questions, be friendly and personable, offer good advice, and people will be more likely to click on those links and sign up for your email newsletter. You can also see if anyone is asking about something that one of your opt-in offers specifically address. You can give them a little feedback or information and casually mention you have this free offering and all they need to do is sign up for your newsletter. Being helpful to others is what really helps you and your business in online communities.
Another thing you can do is ask the people you know to sign up, and to ask them to ask other people for you to sign up. That may seem a little odd, but chances are, at least some of the people you know would be interested, and even if none of them are, some of the people they know may be. This can actually be a really quick way to get some subscribers. Ask people you know personally in real life, and people you know online. Keep asking them to spread the love. It’s amazing how much this can easily multiply, but make sure you’re asking people you think would be interested. The goal with an email list is to have a group of people who are interested and will eventually buy from you, not just seat fillers.
Another way you can use other people to help you is to ask other people to link to your opt-in form for you. They can mention it on their social media accounts with links to sign up, mention what you do and how they know you, and this can help other people to sign up because they may trust someone else telling them to over you (social proof). Make sure you give them your free opt-in offers before they do this so they can give their own insight to make it more genuine (and make sure they approve!).
Linking to your opt-in form or newsletter signup page on social media is a simple thing you can do to generate some new subscribers, but that does result in just a few. To go bigger, you’ll want to actually promote your opt-in offer on social media. You can choose to pay for advertising on your chosen social media platform, but you don’t necessarily have to do that. We’ll review some options that are free of charge.
One easy way you can promote your opt-in offer on social media is by putting short blurbs or samples actually on social media. You’ll need to adjust this depending on the platform since they all have limitations. On Twitter, this may mean breaking it down over many tweets throughout the day with links to your opt-in page. On Instagram, this may mean creating it as an image. On Facebook, you can post full text, so this one’s a little easier. On Youtube, you can create it as a video (if there aren’t already videos) and upload.
You can also post content on social media that is related to your opt-in offer to help get people to sign up, something that gets them interested in what you’re offering. It can be a mini lesson, infographic, sharing studies, or whatever creative idea you can come up with.
Another good idea is to host an event on social media and make it focused on something your opt-in offer covers or make it related to your opt-in offer. It can be as simple as sitting down for an hour and answering people’s questions on your chosen platform. Give people a 1-2 week warning for when it’ll be coming and what it will focus on so they can be prepared for it and participate. You can then ask them to sign up for your opt-in offer. This can result in a high percentage of people who participate signing up. It’s likely not going to be worth the effort for smaller opt-in offers, like something that’s just a worksheet or printable, but can be excellent for your bigger opt-in offers (mini courses, email series, video series, webinars and workshops).
And Pinterest! If you’re using Pinterest to generate traffic, you can also use Pinterest to drive traffic specifically to your opt-in pages. You can create lots of Pinterest images for your opt-in offers, link them to the pages to sign up, and not only share the images in your account, but also share to any Pinterest group boards you belong to as well as Tailwind Tribes. Make sure to include in the image that it’s a free offer (this will get more attention). You can create a new image for an offer and upload to Pinterest as often as you’d like (at least 1-2x’s/month, up to 1-2x’s/week).
Another thing you can do is ask the people you know to sign up, and to ask them to ask other people for you to sign up. That may seem a little odd, but chances are, at least some of the people you know would be interested, and even if none of them are, some of the people they know may be. This can actually be a really quick way to get some subscribers. Ask people you know personally in real life, and people you know online. Keep asking them to spread the love. It’s amazing how much this can easily multiply, but make sure you’re asking people you think would be interested. The goal with an email list is to have a group of people who are interested and will eventually buy from you, not just seat fillers.
Another way you can use other people to help you is to ask other people to link to your opt-in form for you. They can mention it on their social media accounts with links to sign up, mention what you do and how they know you, and this can help other people to sign up because they may trust someone else telling them to over you (social proof). Make sure you give them your free opt-in offers before they do this so they can give their own insight to make it more genuine (and make sure they approve!).
Linking to your opt-in form or newsletter signup page on social media is a simple thing you can do to generate some new subscribers, but that does result in just a few. To go bigger, you’ll want to actually promote your opt-in offer on social media. You can choose to pay for advertising on your chosen social media platform, but you don’t necessarily have to do that. We’ll review some options that are free of charge.
One easy way you can promote your opt-in offer on social media is by putting short blurbs or samples actually on social media. You’ll need to adjust this depending on the platform since they all have limitations. On Twitter, this may mean breaking it down over many tweets throughout the day with links to your opt-in page. On Instagram, this may mean creating it as an image. On Facebook, you can post full text, so this one’s a little easier. On Youtube, you can create it as a video (if there aren’t already videos) and upload.
You can also post content on social media that is related to your opt-in offer to help get people to sign up, something that gets them interested in what you’re offering. It can be a mini lesson, infographic, sharing studies, or whatever creative idea you can come up with.
Another good idea is to host an event on social media and make it focused on something your opt-in offer covers or make it related to your opt-in offer. It can be as simple as sitting down for an hour and answering people’s questions on your chosen platform. Give people a 1-2 week warning for when it’ll be coming and what it will focus on so they can be prepared for it and participate. You can then ask them to sign up for your opt-in offer. This can result in a high percentage of people who participate signing up. It’s likely not going to be worth the effort for smaller opt-in offers, like something that’s just a worksheet or printable, but can be excellent for your bigger opt-in offers (mini courses, email series, video series, webinars and workshops).
And Pinterest! If you’re using Pinterest to generate traffic, you can also use Pinterest to drive traffic specifically to your opt-in pages. You can create lots of Pinterest images for your opt-in offers, link them to the pages to sign up, and not only share the images in your account, but also share to any Pinterest group boards you belong to as well as Tailwind Tribes. Make sure to include in the image that it’s a free offer (this will get more attention). You can create a new image for an offer and upload to Pinterest as often as you’d like (at least 1-2x’s/month, up to 1-2x’s/week).
Lesson 8: Segment Your Email List for Sales
Segmenting your email list means you separate people into different groups or lists, and the point of this is it gives you the ability to target different people for different things to help monetize your email list even more by focusing on the people most interested in what you’re offering.
Segmenting your email list usually is done in 3 ways:
1 - By clicking on links
2 - Through the ways they signed up
3 - If they’ve bought something
When you include links in your emails or newsletters to your subscribers, you can create it so that when they click on that link, they are added to a group or list. That group or list can then be targeted for products and services that tie in to the link that was clicked on. For example, say you’re a tarot reader and you put in a link to an article on your blog about the top five tarot cards for love, and anyone who clicks on that link is added to a separate group. You can then send promotions to the people in that group for special offers (like discounts on your tarot services, exclusive tarot reading spreads, or early bird offers for e-books, courses, workshops, etc.).
When someone signs up for your email list or newsletter, they can also be segmented depending on how they sign up. You can create separate groups or lists for each web form you use so each group has a different sales funnel or gets different promotions depending on how they signed up. If you have more than one opt-in offer, you’ll want a group/list for each offer.
When someone buys something, you can then add them to a separate group or list that funnels them into different products or services. Actually, you can do this even with people who don’t buy from you, and if someone is in a group that gets a sales funnel but they don’t buy, you can then add them to another group or list that puts them into another sales funnel for a different product or service. Sales funnels tend to be most effective when paired with segmentation, and you can ensure you’re targeting the right people at the right stage of buying.
One of the best ways you can make more money through segmentation is by targeting people who show an interest in a product or service, but don’t buy in, especially in a limited-time launch. You can put everyone who clicks on the sales page into a group or list, remove anyone who buys (another list!), and then give the people who clicked a special limited-time offer on a smaller version of whatever you offered. This is a simple way to make more sales. I have done this and it’s a great way to add an extra 10-20% profit to your launch without any extra work for you (plus turns more people into buyers, and once someone buys from you once, they are more likely to buy from you again!).
Segmenting your email list usually means you’ll be targeting small groups of your email list at a time instead of the one big list, but you can see a higher rate of conversion this way, and waste a lot less time and effort (and money since you may be paying more for sending more emails to people who aren’t interested in that product or service!). It can also cut down on annoying people on your email list because they’re getting targeted emails they’re more likely to be interested in rather than general emails for all.
I personally have around 150 groups (as of writing this, but it can grow larger!). So don’t worry about having too many. Segmenting the crap out of your email list is a good thing! I have groups for every product I’ve ever sold (because even if I never sell it again, I could sell something else that the people who got that might want). If there was a payment plan offered versus a one time payment, I’ll split them up as well. I have groups for every opt-in offer I’ve ever had (some group together so I can target specific groups for specific promotions). I have groups for people who opt out of hearing about certain promotions (and will make sure to not send them any related promotions in the future). When I do a special promotion that I may run again later, I’ll put the people who got the first promotion in a separate group so they don’t get it again (and so on). And I have the groups for the people who click on links to sales pages but don’t buy (as mentioned).
Now, don’t fret about having a million groups right off of the bat! You’ll want to give yourself a little time to get used to this list building thing. So when you’re starting, just try to have the separate groups for your different opt-ins, and then go from there eventually.
Segmenting your email list usually is done in 3 ways:
1 - By clicking on links
2 - Through the ways they signed up
3 - If they’ve bought something
When you include links in your emails or newsletters to your subscribers, you can create it so that when they click on that link, they are added to a group or list. That group or list can then be targeted for products and services that tie in to the link that was clicked on. For example, say you’re a tarot reader and you put in a link to an article on your blog about the top five tarot cards for love, and anyone who clicks on that link is added to a separate group. You can then send promotions to the people in that group for special offers (like discounts on your tarot services, exclusive tarot reading spreads, or early bird offers for e-books, courses, workshops, etc.).
When someone signs up for your email list or newsletter, they can also be segmented depending on how they sign up. You can create separate groups or lists for each web form you use so each group has a different sales funnel or gets different promotions depending on how they signed up. If you have more than one opt-in offer, you’ll want a group/list for each offer.
When someone buys something, you can then add them to a separate group or list that funnels them into different products or services. Actually, you can do this even with people who don’t buy from you, and if someone is in a group that gets a sales funnel but they don’t buy, you can then add them to another group or list that puts them into another sales funnel for a different product or service. Sales funnels tend to be most effective when paired with segmentation, and you can ensure you’re targeting the right people at the right stage of buying.
One of the best ways you can make more money through segmentation is by targeting people who show an interest in a product or service, but don’t buy in, especially in a limited-time launch. You can put everyone who clicks on the sales page into a group or list, remove anyone who buys (another list!), and then give the people who clicked a special limited-time offer on a smaller version of whatever you offered. This is a simple way to make more sales. I have done this and it’s a great way to add an extra 10-20% profit to your launch without any extra work for you (plus turns more people into buyers, and once someone buys from you once, they are more likely to buy from you again!).
Segmenting your email list usually means you’ll be targeting small groups of your email list at a time instead of the one big list, but you can see a higher rate of conversion this way, and waste a lot less time and effort (and money since you may be paying more for sending more emails to people who aren’t interested in that product or service!). It can also cut down on annoying people on your email list because they’re getting targeted emails they’re more likely to be interested in rather than general emails for all.
I personally have around 150 groups (as of writing this, but it can grow larger!). So don’t worry about having too many. Segmenting the crap out of your email list is a good thing! I have groups for every product I’ve ever sold (because even if I never sell it again, I could sell something else that the people who got that might want). If there was a payment plan offered versus a one time payment, I’ll split them up as well. I have groups for every opt-in offer I’ve ever had (some group together so I can target specific groups for specific promotions). I have groups for people who opt out of hearing about certain promotions (and will make sure to not send them any related promotions in the future). When I do a special promotion that I may run again later, I’ll put the people who got the first promotion in a separate group so they don’t get it again (and so on). And I have the groups for the people who click on links to sales pages but don’t buy (as mentioned).
Now, don’t fret about having a million groups right off of the bat! You’ll want to give yourself a little time to get used to this list building thing. So when you’re starting, just try to have the separate groups for your different opt-ins, and then go from there eventually.
Lesson 9: Automation and Scheduling Are Your BFF's
When it comes to list building, it can be easy to get overwhelmed by all of the work that actually goes into it, especially in the beginning, and you can get in over your head quickly trying to do everything yourself. This is where automation and scheduling become your BFF’s. They can save you a heck of a lot of time and help you keep your sanity (or most of it).
Automation and scheduling are resources available through your email newsletter provider that allow you to schedule emails in advance that will automatically go out on the time and date and to the people in your email list you specify. This means you don’t have to manually send out the emails when you want them to be sent. They can be sent while you’re fast asleep, dreaming about unicorns!
Automation and scheduling frees up your time so you can spend more time focusing on the content of your emails instead of sending them. You can usually choose to either have the emails sent on a specific date and at a specific time (which is good for your regular email newsletters that go to your entire email list), or to have the emails sent a certain amount of time after someone signs up for your email list or is added to a group or list (which is good for segmenting your email list to optimize monetization). You’re going to want to use BOTH, because they each work for different needs.
You’ll want to plan ahead when you want emails to be sent out, which are emails that are for your regular email newsletters and which are part of your sales strategy, and who will get each of the emails in your email list. Your regular email newsletter should go out at a regular time or regular intervals, whenever you’ve chosen, and to your entire email list. Your sales emails can go to your entire list or to specified groups at certain times or at certain intervals, usually as part of a sales funnel.
It can be helpful to have a welcome email set up to automatically go out to a subscriber once they sign up, either immediately or a day or two after. This welcome email can be automated, and can include links that, if clicked on, will put a subscriber into another group or list that will funnel them into sales emails for products or services related to whatever they clicked on that have already been put together to create a drip campaign, which sends out emails to the people in lists or groups you’ve specified at intervals you’ve specified (so for example, if someone clicks on a link in the welcome email that puts them in a group you’ve specified should receive a drip campaign that starts 3 days after they’ve been added to that group, they’ll get the first email in the drip campaign 3 days after clicking on the link in the welcome email). It can be a good way to make sales on autopilot. This may be something you work on as you get more familiar with using emails though, and every email newsletter provider has a different way of doing this. Here are links to dealing with automation with MailChimp, Mad Mimi, and Convertkit:
MailChimp: https://mailchimp.com/resources/guides/working-with-automation/html/
Mad Mimi: https://help.madmimi.com/how-do-i-set-up-a-drip-campaign/
Convertkit: http://help.convertkit.com/article/13-convertkit-automation
Lesson 10: Purging Your Email List
Purging in email list-building lingo means eliminating subscribers from your email list that have not opened, clicked, or otherwise engaged with your emails in a certain period of time. You can do this through suppressing them (which keeps them on the list but they won’t get any emails) or through deleting them (which takes them off the list but they can sign back up later).
Purging is EXTREMELY important in list building. It may not seem like it is at first because you’re getting rid of subscribers, and you feel like every one of them is soooooo important when you’re starting out. But it’s not necessarily the size of the email list that matters (ha). It’s how engaged and responsive that email list is to you and what you offer.
If a subscriber hasn’t opened one of your email newsletters in six months, they clearly don’t care about you or your brand or your products or services. They’re not going to buy from you. Plain and simple. That may be hard to comprehend, and you may feel compelled to work harder to make them more responsive, but that’s just not going to happen with some people. They just won’t do it. Which means they’re wasting your money. Yes, they are - you have to pay for the newsletter email service provider you’re using and the amount you pay is usually based on the number of subscribers you have, which means you’re paying for every one of your subscribers, and if they don’t care enough to even open an email from you, they’re wasting your money. When you start viewing it that way, it becomes a little easier to purge subscribers from your email list. This is a business you’re running, after all!
There is no hard-and-fast rules for who you should purge, but in general, you can use these as loose guidelines:
If you send an email once per month, purge anyone who hasn’t opened in 1 year
If you send an email every other week, purge anyone who hasn’t opened in 9 months
If you send an email once per week, purge anyone who hasn’t opened in 6 months
If you send an email once per day, purge anyone who hasn’t opened in 3 months
These are really just to give you an idea. You don’t have to follow them specifically, so play around with it and see if a time period that’s a little longer or a little shorter works better for you to create an email list that’s highly engaged.
There’s another idea for purging, and that’s eliminating anyone who hasn’t CLICKED on a link in your emails in a certain period of time rather than not opening. This can be very helpful in making your email list super uber engaged because you’ll only be keeping the people who actively click on your links (and are usually the most likely to buy from you). But it can also eliminate people who may view and would buy from you but just haven’t clicked for one reason or another. Some people require a longer courting period before they’re willing to trust you with their hard-earned dollars. SO it’s really up to you if you want to factor this one in.
Purging your email list also helps to lower your unsubscribe rate and your bounce rate. If people don’t open your emails, those emails are more likely to eventually be bounced, or for them to eventually unsubscribe. You’re also more likely to end up in the SPAM folder. And THAT is a very, very bad thing for list building!
You should purge your email list, at the very least, once per year. I like to do it quarterly, but if you’re still early in the game and have a small email list, you don’t need to do it as often. It’s not sexy, and it might make you twinge inside when you see your email list suddenly become a little (or a lot!) smaller (don’t be surprised if it comes out to 25-30% of your email list needing to be purged, especially if it’s been a while or it’s the first time). But all of your email metrics will improve from it, you’ll have a better list of followers to reach out to, and you should make more money from your email list that way. Now that’s some good list building ;)
When you’re going to purge your email list, I recommend you make a list of the subscribers who haven’t opened (or clicked, if you’d rather use that metric) in the amount of time you’ve chosen. You can do this on your own through your email newsletter service provider with some of them, and with others, you may have to request they create the list for you. Once you have the list, shoot a quick email to everyone on that list. See, sometimes email newsletter service providers don’t register if someone views or clicks for a variety of reasons (for example, if someone blocks images in their emails, that may not register as being opened even if they view every week). SO you want to give the people on the purge list a heads-up just in case they’re one of those people for whom it isn’t being registered. Let them know you’re cleaning up your email list and give them the chance to opt to stay on. You can have the reply back letting you know, or set up an automation where they click on a link in the email newsletter that adds them to a save list in your account. Give them a few days or a week, and then remove everyone who opted to stay on the list from the purge list. Then purge everyone left. And take deep breaths!
It may be jarring, especially if you’re not used to doing purging and seeing the number of subscribers drop in a flash, but you should feel a lot better when you started sending out more email newsletters to your email list and see all of your email metrics go higher.
Purging is EXTREMELY important in list building. It may not seem like it is at first because you’re getting rid of subscribers, and you feel like every one of them is soooooo important when you’re starting out. But it’s not necessarily the size of the email list that matters (ha). It’s how engaged and responsive that email list is to you and what you offer.
If a subscriber hasn’t opened one of your email newsletters in six months, they clearly don’t care about you or your brand or your products or services. They’re not going to buy from you. Plain and simple. That may be hard to comprehend, and you may feel compelled to work harder to make them more responsive, but that’s just not going to happen with some people. They just won’t do it. Which means they’re wasting your money. Yes, they are - you have to pay for the newsletter email service provider you’re using and the amount you pay is usually based on the number of subscribers you have, which means you’re paying for every one of your subscribers, and if they don’t care enough to even open an email from you, they’re wasting your money. When you start viewing it that way, it becomes a little easier to purge subscribers from your email list. This is a business you’re running, after all!
There is no hard-and-fast rules for who you should purge, but in general, you can use these as loose guidelines:
If you send an email once per month, purge anyone who hasn’t opened in 1 year
If you send an email every other week, purge anyone who hasn’t opened in 9 months
If you send an email once per week, purge anyone who hasn’t opened in 6 months
If you send an email once per day, purge anyone who hasn’t opened in 3 months
These are really just to give you an idea. You don’t have to follow them specifically, so play around with it and see if a time period that’s a little longer or a little shorter works better for you to create an email list that’s highly engaged.
There’s another idea for purging, and that’s eliminating anyone who hasn’t CLICKED on a link in your emails in a certain period of time rather than not opening. This can be very helpful in making your email list super uber engaged because you’ll only be keeping the people who actively click on your links (and are usually the most likely to buy from you). But it can also eliminate people who may view and would buy from you but just haven’t clicked for one reason or another. Some people require a longer courting period before they’re willing to trust you with their hard-earned dollars. SO it’s really up to you if you want to factor this one in.
Purging your email list also helps to lower your unsubscribe rate and your bounce rate. If people don’t open your emails, those emails are more likely to eventually be bounced, or for them to eventually unsubscribe. You’re also more likely to end up in the SPAM folder. And THAT is a very, very bad thing for list building!
You should purge your email list, at the very least, once per year. I like to do it quarterly, but if you’re still early in the game and have a small email list, you don’t need to do it as often. It’s not sexy, and it might make you twinge inside when you see your email list suddenly become a little (or a lot!) smaller (don’t be surprised if it comes out to 25-30% of your email list needing to be purged, especially if it’s been a while or it’s the first time). But all of your email metrics will improve from it, you’ll have a better list of followers to reach out to, and you should make more money from your email list that way. Now that’s some good list building ;)
When you’re going to purge your email list, I recommend you make a list of the subscribers who haven’t opened (or clicked, if you’d rather use that metric) in the amount of time you’ve chosen. You can do this on your own through your email newsletter service provider with some of them, and with others, you may have to request they create the list for you. Once you have the list, shoot a quick email to everyone on that list. See, sometimes email newsletter service providers don’t register if someone views or clicks for a variety of reasons (for example, if someone blocks images in their emails, that may not register as being opened even if they view every week). SO you want to give the people on the purge list a heads-up just in case they’re one of those people for whom it isn’t being registered. Let them know you’re cleaning up your email list and give them the chance to opt to stay on. You can have the reply back letting you know, or set up an automation where they click on a link in the email newsletter that adds them to a save list in your account. Give them a few days or a week, and then remove everyone who opted to stay on the list from the purge list. Then purge everyone left. And take deep breaths!
It may be jarring, especially if you’re not used to doing purging and seeing the number of subscribers drop in a flash, but you should feel a lot better when you started sending out more email newsletters to your email list and see all of your email metrics go higher.
Lesson 11: A Quick Note on the Great Email List Size Debate
I wanted to add a quick note about email list size. You’ll see a lot of numbers out there about how big your email list should be (and in truth, as mentioned, I really started to feel it around 5,000 subscribers, and hear that a lot from others as well). But here’s the thing - a huge email list means nothing is it’s full of people who don’t buy whatever you’re selling!
I made a huge mistake when I was first building my email list. I focused pretty purely on the number of subscribers rather than the QUALITY of subscribers. Quality beats quantity every time! So I eventually wound up with an email list around 20,000 subscribers, which should be super amazing for your business. But it wasn’t for me! Because I didn’t go about it the right way.
Since I was so focused on the number of subscribers, I was just trying to get people on my email list any way possible. I had way too many opt-in offers, and none of them really lead to anything I was selling! As a result, I had an email list full of freeloaders (the dreaded result all of us hope to never have). People would literally complain to me about having to pay for anything, even readings!
So I made the command decision to cut down my email list to get rid of the freeloaders. Over the course of 6 months, I went from 20,000 to 7,000. It hurt to get rid of 13,000 subscribers! And you’d think that purging so many would’ve hurt the bottom line too. Nope! IMPROVED it! I wound up making more in the next quarter than I had in the last 2 combined. And it was because I was able to focus on the people who were really interested.
During the 6 months I was purging, I also decided to just pull back from email list building completely so I could rethink the strategy. I started to follow the advice more strictly that every opt-in offer should lead to something you sell, whether it’s readings or products or whatever. It needs to be a direct link. And it needs to make sense for where you’re putting the opt-in offer on your website. It all needs to tie in!
I very, very slowly got back into building up my email list again, so I’m still only around 10,000 (as of this writing), but it’s starting to pick back up again as I’ve found strategies that work and can push them into overdrive.
One thing you should be mindful of is your conversion rate (the percentage of visitors to your website or blog each month who subscribe to your email list). Some niches, it’s as high as 10% (golly!), but I find that’s mostly for business-to-business. For the rest of us, 5% is a more likely ceiling (and I’m still working on getting that high actually!). But, this isn’t the same as the number of subscribers. You could convert 50% of your website visitors and still have a crappy email list!
So remember, it’s not so much about how many subscribers are on your email list, but how many quality subscribers are on your email list. Choose good opt-ins that tie into what you’re selling!
Oh, and also - don’t think you have to get it right the first time. Chances are, the first opt-in offer you create won’t be a winner! But that doesn’t mean you don’t do it. You need to get started so you can get the bad ones out of the way! I think I’ve created like, at least 50 so far. Your work will always be a work in progress. Can’t be idle in this sphere!
I made a huge mistake when I was first building my email list. I focused pretty purely on the number of subscribers rather than the QUALITY of subscribers. Quality beats quantity every time! So I eventually wound up with an email list around 20,000 subscribers, which should be super amazing for your business. But it wasn’t for me! Because I didn’t go about it the right way.
Since I was so focused on the number of subscribers, I was just trying to get people on my email list any way possible. I had way too many opt-in offers, and none of them really lead to anything I was selling! As a result, I had an email list full of freeloaders (the dreaded result all of us hope to never have). People would literally complain to me about having to pay for anything, even readings!
So I made the command decision to cut down my email list to get rid of the freeloaders. Over the course of 6 months, I went from 20,000 to 7,000. It hurt to get rid of 13,000 subscribers! And you’d think that purging so many would’ve hurt the bottom line too. Nope! IMPROVED it! I wound up making more in the next quarter than I had in the last 2 combined. And it was because I was able to focus on the people who were really interested.
During the 6 months I was purging, I also decided to just pull back from email list building completely so I could rethink the strategy. I started to follow the advice more strictly that every opt-in offer should lead to something you sell, whether it’s readings or products or whatever. It needs to be a direct link. And it needs to make sense for where you’re putting the opt-in offer on your website. It all needs to tie in!
I very, very slowly got back into building up my email list again, so I’m still only around 10,000 (as of this writing), but it’s starting to pick back up again as I’ve found strategies that work and can push them into overdrive.
One thing you should be mindful of is your conversion rate (the percentage of visitors to your website or blog each month who subscribe to your email list). Some niches, it’s as high as 10% (golly!), but I find that’s mostly for business-to-business. For the rest of us, 5% is a more likely ceiling (and I’m still working on getting that high actually!). But, this isn’t the same as the number of subscribers. You could convert 50% of your website visitors and still have a crappy email list!
So remember, it’s not so much about how many subscribers are on your email list, but how many quality subscribers are on your email list. Choose good opt-ins that tie into what you’re selling!
Oh, and also - don’t think you have to get it right the first time. Chances are, the first opt-in offer you create won’t be a winner! But that doesn’t mean you don’t do it. You need to get started so you can get the bad ones out of the way! I think I’ve created like, at least 50 so far. Your work will always be a work in progress. Can’t be idle in this sphere!
Navigate:
Go to Unit 1: Creating Your Online Home >>>
Go to bonus class, Using Pinterest >>>
Go to Unit 2: Growing a Profitable Client List >>>
Go to Unit 3: Going Beyond Readings >>>
Go to bonus class, Email List Building >>>
Go to bonus class, Using the Spiritual Woo-Woo in Your Business >>>
Go to bonus class, Using Pinterest >>>
Go to Unit 2: Growing a Profitable Client List >>>
Go to Unit 3: Going Beyond Readings >>>
Go to bonus class, Email List Building >>>
Go to bonus class, Using the Spiritual Woo-Woo in Your Business >>>