Expert list building tips concludes with a final installment with seven more ideas you can implement to to build your list and increase the number of people you can serve. If you missed the first three posts, you can catch up here:
Expert List Building Tips – How to Build a Responsive and Lucrative List
Expert List Building Tips – Part 2
Expert List Building Tips – Part 3
The question: What's your #1 tip for building a responsive and lucrative list?
The answers…
15. A master at building community by offering tremendous value…
Video transcript:
Hey, this is Jeff, and I want to show you a quick blueprint about list building. And you see five steps here, and it's list building with articles.Step one, obviously, is you create your article, and it's the way you create your article when you do the things that you need to do and create a direct response article, which includes a CTA.What's a CTA? The call to action. You're asking them to take an action at the end of reading your article, then you're sending them to an opt in page, where they enter their name and e-mail address to get some goodies from you, some information from you.Now most people just do the first three. I don't want you to be most people, because most people are broke.I want you to add these next two, and that's good follow-up with the people that have joined your list. Following up with auto-responders, broadcast e-mail, tele-seminars, webinars.And the fifth step is TGC, taking great care of your list. And part of taking great care of your list is asking them questions, answering their questions, and offering them resources. Yeah, taking great care of your list is offering them ways to invest with you.By doing this simple five step process, I've been able to build a list of — what I call a list community of people that are very, very responsive. And it's basically money on demand. You ask them to invest with something, and they spend the money with you.So follow this five step outline to create a very highly responsive list community and not only in this guest blog post do you have this video, you'll have a link to the transcript as well.Thanks, Denise, for having me on, and as always, folks, go use this stuff.~ Jeff Herring, JeffHerring.com
16. One of the authors of Facebook Marketing for Dummies, offers a tried and true method for moving your Facebook fans to your list…
My #1 tip for building a responsive and lucrative list is to take advantage of list building opportunities inside Facebook. When you create a thriving community on Facebook, your fans begin to trust you and are more likely to give you their name and email in exchange for valuable content. The key here is knowing what your Facebook fans find valuable as it relates to your niche.Do some research first to find out what they will respond to most. Once you know what your fans want, you can create a highly successful Facebook lead generation campaign.Here are step-by-step instructions on how to create a list building opportunity on your Facebook page:1. Brainstorm ideas on giveaways or opportunities you know your audience will find valuable. For example, do a webinar, offer access to a free video series, create a newsletter, offer free consultations – there's so much you can do here, so get creative!2. Once you decide on your offer, create a custom landing page highlighting your offer on your own Facebook page. This is where you will include a form to capture name and email in exchange for your free giveaway or opportunity. Here's an example of a lead generating page that produces some great results on a daily basis.3.Now that your custom page is up and running, you need to get people to see it! Each custom landing page has it's own unique URL, so you can use that link to send traffic directly to it.One of the best ways to drive traffic to a custom page inside Facebook is with Facebook ads. You can laser focus your ads on your target market and send them to a custom page that offers an opportunity you know they will find valuable. They get great, free content and you get their name and email. This formula makes it a win-win for you and your fans!~ Amy Porterfield, AmyPorterfield.com
17. Next up is an example of "the digital product giveaway"…
This is an approach to list-building that has worked for me and that I'm seeing people using more and more often.Target a specific niche (real estate agents, coaches, solopreneurs, etc.) and organize a group of service providers to participate in a digitial product giveaway for a limited period of time.How it would work:
- Each service provider would have a digital product to give away for free (e.g. ebook, audio course, video course, email course)
- They would each build a landing page for that giveaway that included a way to opt-in to their list (in return for the product)
- The event organizer would host a page that markets all of the giveaways with links to the individual landing pages
- Each "service provider" promotes the event to their mailing lists, on their websites/blogs and via social media
- A person who is interested in the digital products would decide which ones they wanted and then would go each opt-in page to register and claim that particular free product
- Each service provider would then build their list – each person who got their giveaway would become a list subscriber
A hybrid of this model is one in which the organizer charges a small amount for a set of products – combining list-building with the ability to make an immediate return.~ Tom Treanor, Right Mix Marketing
18. This marketer knows how to simplify and focus on what works…
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIv7Of0TTaU[/youtube]~ Sydni Craig-Hart, Smart Simple Marketing
19. A word to the wise…
DO NOT BUY LEADS! I can't say it louder than that. Do not buy a list. Do not buy leads. Do not buy a bunch of email addresses to feed into an autoresponder. It is worth the time and effort to build it authentically because you WILL get the responsive list.The other tip I have (that hasn't already been mentioned) is that Tell A Friend is pretty powerful. If you can encourage someone to get a free ebook or free report by telling a friend, this can increase your list.
~ Devon Brown, Renegade Success
20. I include this simple tip because nine times out of ten, it's missing from sites I review…
Make sure to add clear calls to action (subscribe banners/links) on your website. This may seem rather obvious, but it's amazing how many forget.
~ Linda Ursin, Linda's Realm
21. Finally, take it offline (this tip can be applied at conferences, speaking gigs, seminars, networking events, lunch and learn events, etc.)…
I attended a trade show where many of my "sweet spot" readers — overwhelmed marketing directors — were in attendance. I targeted specific booths, introduced myself and asked if I could add them to my blog list. That was my main goal for each stop. Added 30 new names by the end of the show, and all had met the real person behind the blog.
~ Carro Ford, WordScience
That's it for now. There were many, many more contributions, and I appreciate everyone's input. Most of the tips offered similar advice all of which is important to incorportate into your list building routine:
- Target your audience
- Provide excellent content
- Don't pitch too much
- Make sure content is relevant to the target audience
- Create a plan to target and bulid your list
- Be consistent
- Use video on your squeeze page (opt in page)
- Ask questions
- Be generous with your free gift
- Solve the problems of your target audience
- Give more than you ask for
- Listen to what your audience wants
What tip would you add to this list?
As I was putting this list together, I decided I would create a report including all the tips. If you have a great tip that has generated results for you, add it below and it may be featured in the ebook too!
Rana Shahbaz
Great list of tips and most of these are really easy to implement but the challenge is to implementing these simple things consistently.
If you can take this challenge list building will be a breeze 🙂
DeniseWakeman
Thanks for stopping by, Rana. Implementation is always the challenge, it seems. It’s also important to implement a multi-prong approach. Using only one way to build your list won’t get very far but if you use multiple tactics, your list will grow quickly.
Sarah Arrow
A action packed article 🙂 with a lot of great advice. I like using WP Subscribers, it adds the email address of someone in the box. Combined with a powerful call to action and a strong, ethical incentive this plugin converts it’s socks off. I built a small but responsive list of 250 names in 10 days using this. I was impressed.
I understand that there is a tool called Subscribers Magnet? that does a similar thing, I used WP Subscribers with the pop-up and the underpost option combined.
DeniseWakeman
Thanks for the tip about WP subscribers, Sarah. Do you have a link where we can see it in action?
Sarah Arrow
I will have in about 60 minutes. I disabled it as another plugin was causing me problems and never reactivated it. (Was also testing Pippity to make a comparison post)
Sarah Arrow
Ok, here it is in action on a client site – http://howtowritebetter.net/not-the-brightest-sparks-in-the-bonfire%E2%80%A6/ that took approx 24 minutes to put into place. with a little more time it will look more polished and much more inviting.
DeniseWakeman
I think I’m missing something because I don’t see any option to opt in to a mailing list. Also I can’t find WP Subscribers plugin. Is that the correct name? Is it a paid plugin?
Sarah Arrow
Hi Denise, glad you have found it. I have the opt-in set to show after 30 seconds and after the post content on that site, we found the delay allows people to start reading the content and get a flavour of it before we ask for the email address.
DeniseWakeman
Still don’t see the opt in on that post, even waiting and refreshing the post. In any event, I received your guest post and it’s great! It will be a valuable addition to this series and I’ll queue it up for later in the week. Thank you, Sarah…blog on!
Sarah Arrow
Interesting, I will investigate why it isn’t showing there. Glad you liked the post, shall look forward to promoting it 🙂
DeniseWakeman
I did find the plugin info and it looks like a comprehensive solution for creating multiple optin options. Thanks for the tip.
Carro Ford Weston
For every blogging brain, there’s at least one good idea on how to blog better. Great to see some of those gathered here.
DeniseWakeman
Thanks for your contribution, Carro…blog on!