Lots of small business people make email list building sound both time consuming and difficult but here are 10 easy ways you can build a list to increase traffic to your website, increase revenues and decrease the number of “click-aways” on your site; all with very little effort on your part.
(1) Place a simple sign-up box on every page of your website. Make it easy for people to build a list for you. Let them know you are offering to give them even more great information or keep them in the loop of happenings with your business.
(2) Send out regular emails to your list. I am on lots of email lists. I get one e-newsletter that can run as long as 5-10 printed pages! I love’em. I get another newsletter “post card” that is only 200-300 words long. I love’em too. It’s not the length; but the “constancy of purpose”. Keep in contact with your list.
(3) Encourage your readers to forward your emails to their friends and business associates. If you write useful and interesting stuff, this is a free and easy way to build a list. People will naturally want to share your newsletter with their friends. But at least a 2-3 times a year, ask for help from readers when doing a “membership drive”.
(4) Make changing email addresses easy for reader. Place your change of address link in every email. The harder you make people work to change an email address, the more likely they are to just “delete” your message when it comes to the wrong inbox. Plus if someone is changing jobs and addresses and wants to take your newsletter along with them, let them!
(5) When people sign up for any of your services or buy your products, tell them they will receive your emails, too. Most people are more than willing to receive “Upcoming Events”, “Product Updates” or “Customer Service” messages from someone who they have done business with in the past. This is a great way to subtlety build a list without using a hard sell.
(6) Bring a hard copy sign-up sheet to all of your face-to-face events or at your front desk. I attend lots of conferences and other small business events and most everybody has a sign up sheet. But with tiny little lines! So naturally, by the time I crammed in everything, it was mostly illegible. So I started leaving my business cards instead. And you know what? No one ever follows up! Get people’s email addresses and use them!
(7) Collect business cards at face to face presentations or meetings. If you do lots of speaking events or presentations, tell your audience that you have even more information available, if they would be willing to leave their card with you and let you add them to your email list.
(8) Build a List by Asking For an Email Addresses On All of Your Forms. If you use contracts, letter of agreements or service agreements or forms of any kind for your business, change them to add email addresses to them. If people are filling out “name, rank and serial number” already, they will not balk at giving you their email.
(9) Offer a special download on your website. You don’t have to create an ebook or anything big. If lots of people come to your business asking the same kinds of questions, then you can create a mini how-to guide, checklist or FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) with the answers. You can then direct them to the website and get their email address in exchange for the information.
(10) Sponsor a contest or drawing. Place the contest sign up sheet proximately on your website and encourage people to register to win” and get your free newsletter.
Bonus: The most important tip of all: Create great content! If you write useful and relevant articles for newsletters, people will become hard core fans and spread the word about you and your business.
To your list building success,
Bill Portnova
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