Efficient email list building strategies for every budget

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Email list building strategies are a constant hot topic among bloggers and online entrepreneurs. What’s working, what’s not working is always being discussed and tested.

Email list building is essential if you want to maximize your profits and be able to pitch your products and services to an audience. It’s especially important if you don’t want to completely rely on social media, which might go dark at any moment. Therefore, many online entrepreneurs and bloggers pay special attention to different email list building strategies.

There are several email list building methods. However, the two main types are building your email list organically versus building your list through ads such as Facebook, Youtube, Google, etc.

So which option is better for you? Very simply, one is not better than the other. They both work. There are many marketers and bloggers out there who have tried one of the other and had massive success with email list building. You just need to determine which method will work best for you. You’ll need to evaluate your goals and financial means to know which option will work better for you.

Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links to products and services. This means that if you click on my link to make a purchase, then I will get a small commission at no extra expense to you. I only align myself with products and services that I use and love. You can read my full disclosure for more details.

Email List Building Strategy By Using Ads

Ads used to be something that was available to people who had money. They were pricey, which meant that an average marketer or blogger could not afford to use ads.

However, times have changed. Ads on social media and YouTube are no longer so expensive as to be out of reach for most people.

Therefore, due to these changes, certain aspects of email list building have changed as well. It’s a lot easier to reach big group of people via ads than it is through organic means. However, you have to know your way around ads to be able to do them properly. Otherwise, you’re throwing your money away.

If you’re a complete beginner, ads will present a certain challenge for  you. It will be increasingly difficult for a beginner to find their target audience through ads and build a loyal email list. If you’ve been growing your audience slowly, and already have some social media presence, ads will work better for you.

If you intend to advertise on Facebook, you can create a custom audience for your ad, and they can be targeted based on whether they visited your website, or liked your social media page, or engaged with your content at all.

A word of caution, however. Although ads can be a quick method of building your email list, they can also be expensive in order to keep them running. Even though creating and running an ad on its own is not expensive, and you could, let’s say, designate a budget of $5 a day, in the long run it would add up.

If you’re  a newbie, you first have to create brand or personal recognition. Then you have to establish the like factor with people. Then the trust factor has to exist before people start signing up for your email list. Imagine how long this process might take, and even with minimal spending, you can expect to spend anywhere from $400 to over thousands of dollars a month.

The reason for this is because when you create ads, you want to create more than 1 set to run them against each other, give it time, and see which one performs the best. Then, even after you select a winner set, you still have to run more than one ad. Imagine if you have 3 lead magnets (some people have more than 10!), and you want to build your email list ads. Then you have to run ads for your lead magnets.

Ok, before I go off a tangent, the point I am trying to make is that creating an individual ad is not expensive, but to keep it running to see results and conversions is gonna be expensive in the long run. If you have money to spare, and can afford the added cost, then ads are amazing for building your email list. But if you don’t, then continue reading to see how else you can do it.

Email List Building Strategies for Organic Growth

As discussed above, ads are definitely a working method of growing your email list. However, not everyone can afford to keep ads running for a long time to see the type of results they want. Also, sometimes, it’s not even about the money. There are people who prefer to reach their audience through organic means.

There are various email list building strategies for organic growth. You have to experiment to see what works best for you. However, having a few different strategies in place is better to maximize your list building efforts.

Build Your List Through Live Videos

One of my favorite methods to build your email list through organic means is by using Facebook/Instagram live video abilities. I’ve written a post on building a massive email list by using Facebook Live.

Related: Read how to build your email list by using Facebook Live

If you’d like to know how to build your list organically and quickly by using Live videos on Facebook and even Instagram, then you’re in luck! Scroll down to the end of this post and sign up to get my Blueprint on how to grow your email list by using Facebook Lives.

There are other methods that work very well for building your email list organically, aside from Facebook Live videos.

Free Resource Library Works Great As An Organic Email List Building Strategy

One efficient method is to create a Resource Library for yourself. I’ve learned about this from Jennifer Maker Marx of Jennifermaker.com. Her resource library works different from many other ones I’ve seen. The way she actively and intentionally promotes her lead magnets is very effective. She still promotes each individual lead magnet, and doesn’t just say “Subscribe to My Resource Library”. That’s the key to her success. I’ve recently followed her example, and created my own resource library.

If you’d like to learn more about Jennifer Maker’s email list building methods, you can download her free e-book called List Love Introduction to List Building (affiliate link). This is an introductory mini-course in an ebook format. Get this, this book contains a coupon to her List Love Master Course, which is phenomenal. The Master Course is available only a few times a year.

I’ve done this for my own opt-ins. Look at the end of this post to see an example and sign up if you’d like. Essentially, you promote every single lead magnet you have the way you would promote them without a resource library. However, on the opt-in form let them know that they are gonna have access to your library as well.

Having a resource does two things for you: (1) it attracts potential subscribers because they only need to opt-in once and get access to everything; and (2) it enables you to take a more relaxed approach with your email marketing.

I love emails-writing them, getting them, and coming out with a strategy for email marketing. In fact, recently I published a detailed post that shows you step-by-step how to write the perfect welcome email series that will take your reader from subscriber to a loyal fan.

Related: Read How to Write Absolutely Irresistible Welcome Email Series.

However, there are people who don’t enjoy the process of email marketing quite as much. For those people, a resource library can provide a much needed respite. When you have a resource library, you can choose to have only one welcome email series. Each opt-in does not have to have it’s own separate email or nurture sequence, especially in the beginning stages of your email list building.

You can create one amazing welcome email series that is general to your resource library, and obviously you must give out information on how to access your library. You will only need to create separate email sequences if you have tripwires or other types of upsells/downsells.

Promotion Is Key to Succeed With Your Email List Building

If and when you adopt the organic method of building your email list, keep in mind that the key to succeeding is in your promotion. I don’t mean paid promotion, as that’s part of the paid ads method.

I mean just spreading the word about what you’re offering. Being active on social media, and above all, on Pinterest. Pinterest works wonderfully well to bring you in traffic and subscribers on a relatively regular basis.

Should you just rely on Pinterest if it’s that good? No, absolutely not. Like with anything else concerning your business, spread out your options and resources. Pay attention to SEO, as in the long run you’ll benefit from it. However, Pinterest, and other social media platforms can work great and give you much needed initial boost.

It doesn’t matter how great your lead magnets, blog posts and other content are. If no one knows about them, no one will sign up. You have to put your material in front of people.

You have to be extra prepared to promote your content to your audience, to get audience through social media and word of mouth when you’re growing organically. As opposed to growing with paid ads, your content won’t appear in front of thousands of potential customers. You have to do the heavy work, promote your content, make sure it’s visible.

Conclusion

Building your email list is essential for succeeding as a blogger or an online entrepreneur. However, most can get caught up in determining their email list building strategies before they start.

The major approaches-organic vs. paid ads are discussed above. If you have money and want to build your list in the shortest possible time, then invest in ads, and your list will grow in no time.

If however, you don’t have extra money, or are in no rush, and prefer a more personal approach, then start growing your list organically. You’ll find one of my favorite methods to grow your list organically is offered as an in-depth blueprint to you at the end of this post. When you sign up to get the blueprint, you’ll also be granted access to my entire Resource Library.

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