Back in 2006 I decided it was time to build my first email list.
I had been blogging for just over a year at that point, and had over five years experience running websites already under my belt, yet I had never created an email newsletter or list of any kind.
Finally, after repeat recommendations from countless internet marketing experts stating that the “money is in the list” and similar comments from successful entrepreneurs, claiming your “business is only as good as your database”, I realized there might be something to this idea.
I went out and did some research on what methods I could use to create an email newsletter. I concluded after reading forums and blogs that using a third party service was the best option if I wanted to minimize spam complaints and maximize deliverability. Deliverability, which means how good your email list service is at actually getting your messages out to your subscribers, turned out to be a very critical component for successful email marketing, so this became my top priority.
Although there were many reputable providers in the email autoresponder market, including GetResponse and Constant Contact, AWeber consistently demonstrated the best reputation based on my research.
I made up my mind and paid the roughly $20 to register an AWeber email autoresponder account, which I still use to this day.
My First Newsletter
My very first newsletter, the blog traffic tips newsletter branded under the blog traffic king name (which I ended up retiring because I got sick of the jokes from my friends), started off well enough. I had my blog redesigned to include an opt-in box, and created my first landing page at BlogTrafficKing.com, coding the entire page myself, making the process much more painful and slow than it needed to be.
My blog had over 1,000 RSS subscribers when I launched my list, and roughly 500 to 1,000 unique visitors dropping by each day as well. This translated into 10 to 20 newsletter opt-ins a day, which I considered pretty good, though at the time I hadn’t optimized the opt-in area of my blog with good copy or video like I have today.
I continued to write my blog posts and started to write one email newsletter a week as well.
Slowly but surely my list grew. At the start of 2007, about a year later after adding the newsletter to my blog, I had 3,000 email subscribers. It was a good start, and I had a platform to grow my business from.
Ramp Up Lead Generation
I don’t like the term “lead generation” because it dehumanizes the relationship between you and your subscriber.
People who join your list can be considered leads, and when you talk business talk with business folk, this is the language people understand. However I believe it’s much better if you look at each of your subscribers as a real person who has stuck up their hand as interested in forming a relationship of mutual benefit with you. These people are “members” of your community, not leads.
Regardless of the terminology, you’re going to need to figure out ways to increase the number of people who join your list. This was the challenge I faced, though at the time I was happy that I could simply keep blogging and people will continue to find me and join my list.
In 2007 I launched my first product called Blog Mastermind, which you very likely know about already as it’s plastered all over this blog and promoted by my affiliates on countless other blogs in the internet marketing and blogging industries.
As part of the launch process for this course, I wrote what has become the most well known report on how to make money from blogging, the Blog Profits Blueprint. To this day I continue to receive feedback from people that the Blueprint is the best document they have ever read about the subject of profitable blogging. Considering it’s three years old now, that says a lot about how foundational the Blueprint is – it really stands the test of time.
I wrote the Blueprint in five weeks, spending a couple of hours every single day writing one to two thousand words of the report. Once I released the Blueprint, the number of people who joined my email list ballooned. I went from 3,000 people at the start of 2007, to about 5,000 in the next few months leading up to the release of the Blueprint, to 15,000 subscribers after the launch of Blog Mastermind and the Blueprint.
What I didn’t see coming was the impact after I released the report. Having never done a launch before I didn’t understand the ripple effect post launch. Prior to launch I was maxing out at 30 to 50 new opt-ins a day. After the launch I was up to 100 to 150 a day.
Enter Social Media
In 2007 Twitter didn’t exist and Facebook wasn’t on my radar. Social media as a marketing force didn’t come into play for another year or two. From my perspective I was content simply writing blog posts and leveraging my free report to bring in new subscribers.
Over the next few years the online marketing landscape, and the blogosphere, became a whole lot more crowded. Facebook and Twitter became significant new sources of email subscribers, not to mention LinkedIn and other niche specific social community sites. Social recommendation tools like Digg, Stumbleupon and Delicious, which have the power to send hundreds of thousands of eyeballs at websites in a matter of hours, surfaced as powerful exposure tools.
And let’s not forget the mother of all social media sites – YouTube. Video wasn’t common when I started building my newsletter, but today it’s almost a mandatory requirement for every blogger and internet marketer to make use of. In fact it’s so powerful, you can leverage just exposure on YouTube, by publishing a consistent stream of videos and driving the viewers back to your blog to opt-in to your email list, as your main lead generation method.
(If you want more details on how to do this, I highly recommend Gideon Shalwick’s Rapid Video Blogging report and three-part video series. Gideon breaks down the marketing process for you in very finite detail. If you’re not capturing new subscribers from YouTube, this is the resource to check out.)
Did You Read Between The Lines?
It’s now four years since I started my first email newsletter. Today I have almost 70,000 email subscribers and I continue to attract an average of 100 new subscribers every day.
These people come to me by conducting a google search, coming across one of my blog articles and then opting-in for my report and newsletter. Or maybe they get referred by one of my affiliates. Perhaps a friend recommends my blog or report in real life in the traditional word of mouth fashion. Maybe they watch one of my videos on YouTube at my Yaro.TV channel and then come to my blog. Perhaps they read one of my tweets spread by my followers, or stumbleupon my content, or follow a facebook share, or read about my work in a forum.
Online lead generation – or list relationship building – is a very holistic process today. This is a good thing, as there are countless channels of traffic you can get in front of if you’re willing to do the legwork. There are fundamentals you have to lay in place in order for the machine to work, but there’s never a shortage of audience if you’re in a niche people care about.
You truly can diversify your exposure points and construct a very stable source of new subscribers that requires very little effort to maintain. I’m living proof of this concept, as our countless other bloggers who have followed similar content and marketing strategies.
If you read between the lines in this article (actually I made it blatantly obvious), I’ve talked about 14 methods to attract new subscribers to your email newsletter. In case you can’t figure it out, I’ve listed the methods for you below.
14 Methods To Grow Your Email List
- Register an AWeber account and start your first email list
- Add an opt-in box to your blog
- Create a dedicated landing page for your newsletter
- Giveaway a free report
- Create a product and promote it using a launch process
- Recruit affiliates to promote your resources
- Create a Facebook fan page with an opt-in landing page
- Build a Twitter following and release great content to encouraging retweets
- Create a LinkedIn profile and interact in the community to build your network
- Become a quality user of Digg, Stumpleupon or Delicious to build your reputation power
- Start a YouTube video marketing campaign to drive traffic back to your blog and newsletter
- Buy a specific domain name just for branding your videos (like Yaro.TV)
- Encourage word of mouth and viral distribution by creating content that changes your industry
- Participate in on-topic conversations in leading forums in your industry
If you enjoyed this article, please tweet it, share it on Facebook or on your preferred social network. And of course, if you haven’t done so already, please join my email newsletter on this page (enter your name and email to join).
Yaro
List Builder
This is an excellent post Yaro and one that I believe will help a lot of people start their online business “career” (it’s more of an adventure in my opinion).
You laid out the basic steps above and I think it is great! I hope many people will find this and learn from it. In the end, the number of people you help is more important than the dollars you earn and I think this post will help many people!
Thank you for the great post Yaro!
I totally agree Michael.
This basically summarized the whole of Internet Marketing IMHO.
Yaro shared his valuable experience, which I am thankful for.
Even though I am currently building my list, I learned some great new stuff from this post, which I didn’t know previously.
It’s great to have this kind of information from an expert in this field.
Yaro, thanks a lot for listing these tactics, and in a very attractive and easy-to-read way.
Kindest,
Nabeel
I had one question Yaro.
Regarding Point No.10 “Become a quality user of Digg, Stumpleupon or Delicious to build your reputation power.”
Yaro, could you please elaborate on how will this help for a squeeze page/landing page and builing a list? I mean what happens when we have build our reputation power? What do we do after that? As I have never used Stumbleupon/Digg for this purpose.
Thanks,
Nabeel
Once you have reputation at those sites, you have more sway in terms of content you submit to the network, which means you can start directing traffic to certain content-rich pages.
To be honest I don’t think the effort is worth the rewards since it’s very challenging to find a way to endorse your own content without getting into trouble, however some people use these social voting services every day because they enjoy it (that’s not me), so if that’s you, you may as well keep in mind how it could benefit your list growth as well.
Awesome Tips! I’ve recommended your blog to so many people now.. Thanks for providing great advice time and time again 🙂
By the way, I run a guitar blog (thedailyguitar.com). How much would you charge to have a look and give me advice on how I could monetise it better?
I’m thinking of selling products ect.. but would love to get your advice before I do.
Hey Danny,
If you want to chat with me directly the best way is to join Blog Mastermind and then join us for our monthly group coaching call and ask your questions then.
Make sure you study the Blueprint first though!
If you feel aweber is costly, you can go for profollow which is much cheaper. It is a PLR of aweber and is owned by Jeff Walker.
Hey Yaro,
I’m just in the begining process of starting up with building my email list. This post came to me at the perfect time. I will be implementing some of these that you mentioned as I take action on my email list building. Thanks.
Baker
Hey Yaro,
I finally had the courage to set up an Aweber account, and now will barely get started with building up my list, with a relaunch of my eBook. Thanks again for the tips your present here, look forward to learning and applying more of your great tips that you’ve mustered up over the years!
Regards,
Baker
How have your product launches increased your connection to people. I’ve heard that’s the side benefit of doing launches – they automatically increase your list. Do you have any advice about doing launches to grow your list?
Hi RevTrev,
Have a read of my other free report, The Membership Site Masterplan, where I talk quite extensively about doing online launches.
http://www.membershipsitemasterplan.com
Thanks Yaro,
Another homerun in terms of content and delivery.
Keep the great posts coming.
J Gib!
Yaro
I wish to thank you for another “Simple” but powerful article. Not only do I read your articles…I study them.
It has motivated me to write my next post for my site on a subject that I have been toying with “Making Money on the Back end”. To get this message my fellow renegades will have to read between the lines.
No worries Colin, I’m glad I could inspire you to produce content.
This is another great post from yours I can study to increase my subscribers. By the way, I’m a fan of yours, and your Blog Profits Blueprint is my guide in my online ventures.
Hi Yaro — Do you do any “Membership Site MasterMind” training? I’d like to join.
That’s a silly question Brett, yes I do Membership Site Mastermind training, that is my course after all!
https://www.laptoplifestyleacademy.com/signup/
Hi Yaro!
Great content, thank you! I just have a quick question – I use 1ShoppingCart as my autoresponder, and will be using it as my shopping cart, so I was thinking of delivering my ezine through that system (to save having to transfer data). Have you heard whether 1ShoppingCart is OK for deliverability?
Many thanks!
Joanne
Hi Joanne,
I’m not a huge fan of the 1SC autoresponder, but I they definitely do a good enough job to run your business off.
It’s also nice having their shopping cart integrated, making it a lot easier to get people on to lists after making purchases.
Yaro
As usual great insight. Thanks for the tips. I will gladly inform others who may not have already discovered you.
Excellent post and advices. I love your ideas on building lists and 14 Methods To Grow Your Email List is awesome! Gave me a few ideas I never thought off before.
Thanks Yaro!
Yaro,
You are a good man. Thanks for continuing to provide us with valuable and actionable content.
In looking at your list, I have about 10 things that I still need to do for the sites I have. Some sites are farther along than others. It is cool to have a list so I can write stuff down for each site and take action. I’m on it!
Merci bien.
http://www.cruisinaltitude.com
http://www.cookingwithkerwin.com
Excellent post, Yaro. If I could turn back time, I would make building a list, and developing a great relationship with the people on it, my top priority. You can do so much with a list aside from just making money from it.
I have to admit that I haven’t used social media as much as I should be to build my list, but that’s one area I’m working on.
Email delivery is a vital factor to consider, which is why I also use AWeber. The likes of AWeber do a good job at getting our emails delivered.
But one issue that doesn’t get the attention it should when talking about list building is a whitelisting strategy. In other words, getting subscribers to add you to their Address Book, Contacts or list of Safe Senders.
Email marketing services will get most if not all of your mail to subscribers’ email service, such as Yahoo! Mail, Hotmail, Gmail, etc. But then it’s the email services that decide where to deliver your mail – to the inbox or to the junk or spam folder?
They look for signs to help them decide. If you’re in the Address Book, Contacts or list of Safe Senders then that’s the sign to deliver mail to the inbox. Clicking the ‘Not Spam’ button also signals that the email is wanted and isn’t spam.
The Address Book and list of Contacts are becoming more and more important. This is why Yahoo! Mail introduced the feature of sorting mail from people in your Contacts. The new Hotmail also has a similar feature. No doubt others will follow too.
With increasing spam, and the less than perfect spam filters that email services have in place to filter mail, email services are looking to their users to tell them where to deliver mail. If you look at their help pages, they actually tell their users to add senders to the Address Book and Contacts to ensure mail is delivered to the inbox.
So having a whitelisting strategy should also be included within your list building strategy. After all, more of your mail will be delivered to the inbox, opened and read. Plus whitelisting helps to build a bigger list (more people confirming their email after opting in) and a more responsive one since more subscribers receive your emails. Not forgetting it can reduce customer support – people not receiving new account log-in details, order confirmations, receipts, etc. because they are lost in the junk folder.
Whitelisting isn’t a ‘sexy’ topic like list building and generating traffic. However, if people aren’t getting your emails after you invest time, money and effort into driving traffic to your site and getting subscribers onto your list, only for your emails to end up in junk folders and deleted, then it’s a waste.
Great points Mickey – thanks for adding value with your comment.
There’s definitely more things we can do with our lists to encourage people to whitelist/safelist our address, which I can honestly say I don’t do at the moment.
Simply asking people to do it is a good start!
Yaro.. what’s up bro
Thanks for this great post – lots of valuable gems for listbuilding..
I noticed you didn’t mention adding a pop-ups.. how do you feel about those?
Hector
I’ve tested some lightboxes and they definitely increase opt-in rates, but they also mean some people have trouble reading my content, which I don’t like at all, so I’m going without one for now.
Hi Yaro,
Building a list is the most important aspect of any online business, it gives you a database.
Too many marketers abuse it though, constantly promoting, it just puts you off them eventually.
Building relationships for me is the most important. The money is in the list for sure, but I think that the value you create will override everything.
List building should be priority, but relationship building should be higher.
This is where bloggers win, as they are used to building relationships with their readers.
I would expect that you have a better relationship with your list than most as you provide daily content, therefore providing a perceived value.
Pete
I think that these are great ideas to grow your list. There are so many ways to promote your information around the web to create that funnel.
Youtube is great, if not the best, and there’s also squidoo, hubpages, scribd, flickr, and several more depending on what type of information you are promoting.
PS I agree that Aweber is definitely the best responder to use. There was more competition just a couple years ago, but aweber now has better templates, opt in box, and a much easier interface to use
Yaro, you have Yaro.tv yet you only have the domain pointing to your Youtube channel. Any reason for that?
Gerry
Because that is where I put my videos for the moment.
I might point it at the video category on my blog eventually, but right now I just want people watching my vids on youtube.
Have you tested and tracked yaro?
I dont know your readers as much as you do, however i do believe you will get more out of your yaro.com domain not by redirecting it to youtube, or even to EJ – but by setting up a special landing page site, designed specifically for your videos – just a thought.
Eminems new video clips are great example of a video landing page http://www.eminem.com/lovethewayyoulie/ – you watch his video and then he throws the facebook like button in your face and you click it 🙂
with youtube, the share buttons are small – you dont have an option of including an email subscribe form, and one of their main goals is to send YOUR traffic to other peaples videos.
I don’t do any testing or tracking Chris – it’s all randomness 😉
At the moment I’m looking to simply make sure people know my name and when it comes to Yaro.TV I want them to see videos at that address.
You’re quite right that a specific landing page that includes an opt-in with more videos would be the best option at this point, however I haven’t decided on the strategy to follow-up behind that list nor is it a priority to set up the landing page and email sequence etc.
It’s usually a case of what I enjoy doing more than what is the smartest thing when it comes to how I work, which isn’t necessarily advice to follow me in that regard!
That’s an interesting point, a landing page optin to get more videos, but I think Youtube is a better idea. It’s really is an untapped resource by most bloggers. Some of the biggest Youtubers like mysertyguitarman, davedays, ray william johnson, are making well into the five figures a month.
The dichotomy between youtubers and bloggers and how the same principle apply is is really interesting. I would stick with youtube, its a new traffic and exposure source, and its always helpful to practice talking into a camera.
Hi Yaro,
I actually think your approach to your blog, doing what you like, is a great way to work. The sheer volume and quality of your blog posts are a testament to your approach of working on your inspiration first. I tend to work the same way and this is how I overcome the tendency to do what I like plus what I have to do. I am in your blog mastermind and it is highly structured so I believe you do process planning and priorities at least intuitively.
I have a background in Lean and Continuous Improvement so this helped me develop my method for planning my work out and then doing whatever I was inspired to do at the time. By looking at the entire process of blog monetization, I create a complete list of things that I have to do to build my blogging business. Then I look at my entire body of work from a set of inter-related processes with sub-lists and work. I review the list and work on whatever I am inspired to do at the time. I overcome the things I prefer not to do by keeping them in front of my and working on them a little bit at a time between the things I like to do. Some items have a much higher priority, like making regular posts, so I focus on a task like this first whenever possible.
Yaro, while you clearly do some form of what I describe, I hope my explanation can give everyone a little insight on how to be productive mixing up small pieces of what your prefer not to do with work you really like so you do not get stuck in a rut working on something you prefer not to do for days because you have no inspiration.
To anyone considering the Blog Mastermind, I highly recommend it if you are serious about making a full time income from blogging.
Hi Yaro,
Thanks for post, it’s very on time for me.
I am reading your post because you mail started: “Hi, my latest blog post tells the story…”.
I like this mail very much. It works!
I am one of your rss subscriber but I have not noticed your post in rss reader chaos.
Lately I’ve heard advice to hide RSS subscription button and allow to subscribe only by mail; allowing rss is – according the men– loosing clients. What do you think? I do not like idea of completely hiding rss, but I agree that rss builds very weak or even no relationship. Of course, when you have so huge exposure like you blog, there is no problem, but for someone at the beginning of the journey is it good idea to concentrate only on list?
There’s definitely some good food for thought there regarding the usefulness of RSS.
I still think you should have all three options, a newsletter/free report, RSS and a blog updates only email list, but focus on promoting the main newsletter the most as I do here on this blog.
Some great tips there Yaro. As they say “the money is in the list” and you’ve proven that with the success you now enjoy. I have always wanted to start building a list, but the thought of it seemed a little overwhelming. With these tips, one could do one of them per week and in just over 3 months have a decent list built (hopefully) esp if using the social media sites. If you give away a free report and a reader opts in, is it better to use a double opt-in structure?. I read conflicting views on this all the time.,,,,it’s been years since I opted in here so can’t remember if yours is a one time opt-in or double opt-in.
This post came at the perfect time for me. I just started my email newsletter for my blog, and the first one goes out tomorrow morning. I’ll definitely be trying these ideas. Though I went with MailChimp rather than Aweber, since it’s free up to 500 subscribers and 3000 emails a month. Cash is tight right now, and the interface works for me.
Thanks again! This was my first visit to your blog, but I’ll be back.
Beaut, I don’t think you missed anything. Lol. Massive mailing list and I know it makes sense but still procrastinating and using excuses like Copyblogger doesn’t have one! Sad really, I will get on to it. Please can we see the link to your special landing page and tell us how people get onto that? Where do you provide the link from?
Muchas gracias Senor Starak:)
You know copyblogger does have a list, but I think Brian is focusing more on building the blog than the email newsletter so he doesn’t have to worry about writing emails on top of blog posts 🙂
A special landing page is just like this – http://www.blogprofitsblueprint.com – a page dedicated to just promoting your lead resource.
Hey Yaro, great post.
I’ve used a lot of these with my free report for my blog.
Another great way to market and build a list is to find large groups of people who are all interested in your subject matter – Forums!
Forum marketing is great as it requires you to give back to your community rather than outrightly selling your stuff to them. Places like The Warrior Forum are great for the IM market.
Also, adswaps and autoresponder swaps with other list owners are awesome once you start growing your list. I love autoresponder swaps as they allow you to get continuous sign-ups for as long as that person is building their list.
Thanks for the reminder about some of the other list building methods.
Matt
With time, effectiveness of internet marketing and other types of marketing will blend and all ways to make money from nothing, will be loosed. Why, because when our community is growing fast, is very big risk that not one will buy something or other do action, because big part of subscribers in your email list are not potential buyers, but sniffers (moneymakers), who just analyzing your moves.
Sorry for my eng
That’s an amazing post – thank you very much. And I think, the various steps you listed not only apply to list building but also to SEO, branding… and internet marketing in general. I’m also wondering: most people recommend AWeber as autoresponder service – is there really a big difference between AWeber and Get Response. I’m using GetResponse for about 7 months now and I’m quite happy with it, but most of the top internet marketers seem to recommend AWeber, so I’m starting wondering if I should switch? Anyway, thanks for that great post.
Bob
I doubt there is a compelling enough reason to swap if you are established with GetResponse.
I’d say most marketers recommend what they use – like I do – so in this case the market leader is recommended the most and maintains the leadership position, as long as they don’t screw up too often.
Hey Yaro
I’ve watched your blog mature over the last year and it’s been pretty cool to see it go from really good to better!
The fundamentals remain the same but the nuances really polish it up well.
I have mixed emotions about pop ups as the numbers speak for themselves, but they do seem a bit intrusive
Keep up the good work
Thanks
Mark
Yaro,
Thanks for the great tips regarding building a massive list. I like the way you intereact with your list. Making the point that it’s more than just building a list,but actively communicating with said list and treating it like the humans that they are,as opposed to just seeing them as a ” list”.
love,love,love your stuff ALWAYS, without a doubt. Reading your posts is so refreshing b/c I know if is real, intelligent and extremely helpful Yaro.
i have a question…do you simply set you Yaro.tv up and re-direct to your you tube channel, rather than saying ‘hey,m visit my youtube channel?”
Thank you.
Hi Lisa,
Yep I promote the brand Yaro.TV and that’s what I want people to remember. At the moment it goes to my YouTube account, but I have the flexibility to change what it points to anytime, even my own website one day as a possibility.
Yaro,
Awesome encapsulation! And obviously, with 70,000+ subscribers, you know of what you speak.
I was wondering where you feel guest blogging falls in the list-building realm? It’s a strategy I started working with a month or two ago, and then really got fired up about when Jon Morrow released his guest blogging training videos, but I’m curious if you’ve ever tried it and how it’s worked for you.
Thanks,
Justin P Lambert
Hi Justin,
Guest blogging – and guest writing for other publications – is something I have done in the past, proactively asking to write and also being invited to write once I became more established.
I view this simply as a sound marketing strategy, which you can use to drive traffic to your blog or landing page or whatever site you use to build your list.
Thank you for a great post, Yaro . . . Last weekend, I read “Crush It!” by Gary Vaynerchuk. You mentioned some of the points he raised (and some he didn’t). Now, I’m ready to “get this party started”!!
AWeber, here I come!!
If your site is focused on entertainment/content rather than commercial/business, how important is a LinkedIn account? I can’t see how that would help me connect with my audience. Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube are great, but is LinkedIn necessary?
Morning Yaro. Great post with lots of good information. Am also following your advice and following Gideon on RapidVideoBlogger…. I often prefer watching videos rather than reading … especially with a niche like mine: Women Golfers…. am about to purchase a .tv domain name that will redirect to my youtube channel – building a video library for my readers… need volunteers to film though… any women golf instructors reading this who want to become a youtube star? instruction in action! 🙂
These are great tips for getting more email subscribers, its a great thing to have. Thanks for sharing these tips.
OK Fine, I give in.
I will now follow each and every step that you have mentioned here, and give it a shot.
I have been ‘following’ you since you were the *ahem* blog traffic king and have been an ex-member of your wonderful Membership Mastermind program (I am the one who offered you a free ‘non alcoholic’ drink…I wonder if your assistant let you know of that? 🙂 )
But yeah, I will implement this as part of my ‘Blogstarta’ Experiment. List building is now a priority, as this post of yours is the heavy feather on the lame camel’s back. 🙂
Hi Yaro,
I’m in the process of writing an ebook to build my e-mail list, I’m about 3/4 of the way through and can use some help with ebook writing resources. Do you have any in mind? Also what about landing pages? Have you document how you went about these processes and the sources you used to set them up in regards to building your list? Any help is appreciated.
Thanks,
Thu
Than you Yaro for all the great information you share.
Every time I visit your blog or read your emails I learn something new. I’m just getting started on setting up my blog and am slowly implementing your 14 strategies for lead generation. I look forward to learning more from you.
Cheers,
Juniper
Great message Yaro. You especially nailed it on the head with the Social Media aspect.
In my opinion, bloggers really can’t afford to be just writers anymore. They have to be content generating machines and then know how to market that content across multiple platforms. Not just articles but audio and video too.
If you supply quality content (and this is key – it has to provide value), the power of social media will only help to skyrocket your efforts!
Yaro,
Thanks for the great information regarding Aweber and Blog Traffic King. As I am working to increase my readership and traffic, I’ sure both of these would be useful in that context. I am looking at using YouTube in my blog, but haven’t worked out the details.
Any additional advice for blog promotion would be most appreciated. My numbers are pretty low right now. I have submitted to all the seach engines (just recently), and working to create links with successful sites. It sounds like I need to periodically re-submit to the search engines?
Thanks so much,
Regards,
Mark D. Moeller
Freshworks Marketing & Media
http://freshworks-mediamarketing.blogspot.com/
markm.freshworks@gmail.com
I found this post really easy to read and filled with quality ‘foundational’ content Yaro. Thanks for sharing.
Chris
That’s such an outstanding success story of yours. 70k is a lot more users and I can see the efforts required to get them. Aweber is a new software for us and I have figured out that $1.00 is very cheap for email marketing. Thanks Yaro!
Thanks so much Yaro, this was indeed a helpful article. I have just recently started to put some time and effort into creating a list. I also settled with Aweber, they really do standout from the rest with their customer service and features. I am still in the process of setting my squeeze pages and optins up, but I believe some of your tips will help me to get more signups. 🙂
I can not create my email list just because, i don’t have enough money for this, i have heared about mailchimip but I think most of the experts recommend aweber for email list. But talking about your tips these are great.
I highly recommend Gideon Shalwick’s Rapid Video Blogging
i think you mistyped the link under Rapid Video Blogging it’snot RapidVideoBlogging.com but RapidVideoBlogger.com
Both domains point to the same website.
I have joined this Internet adventure since 2005 and in five years I was able to climb to the eBay Office of the President. It means I have read quite a few times articles lilke this one and learned by heart things like: “the money is on the list”, “content is king”, etc…
I have applied this and lot other advices in several sites I have built and I have to confess they did not work at all. I have joined several Forums and communities, I participate intensively in eBay forums and other forums, I have more than 1300 Twiters followers and about 5000 Facebook fans (most of then spammers that want to sell me their products and hardly read my Tweets or my articles in Facebook), I ran countless ADword campaings, I hired native english journalists to write articles for me, (I consider articles are superb), I joined more gurus than nobody else (I receive more than 200 newsletters a week; off course I can not read them all) and bought dozens of eBooks (telling everyone the same but with different format)
After all that effort my daily visitors hardly go over 50 or 60 (somtimes I made a pick to 200, but next day goes back to 50-60)
Off course I have a conclusion already: In orderto succeed you need to have a desirable product on your hands to sell. Otherwise you will finish repeating exactly the same thing than all other marketers (with another format), until you realize there is lots of people in your list but no money at all in your pockets.
I have to say also that I also launched several sites targeting Spanish speakers users (USA, Lateinamerica and Spain) and that made a first difference: Internet is designed to be in English, all those tools you mentioned do not exist in other languages (Stumbleupon, delicious or Digg, for instance). So, outside english speaker world, Internet has to be still designed, your tips do not apply at all.
Sorry if I sound dissapointed… I am just tired after 5 years of applying this and other methods without success.
Yaro,
As a member of your blog mastermind program (and fellow resident in Brisbane) I would like to assure anyone reading this, and is considering joining your program, that the content you provide is EVEN BETTER than your public posts!
Cheers for getting me on the right track with my blog and continuing to provide new written, audio and video content as well…great value.
Thanks mate…
Write on!
Thanks so much,Its seems to be areally amazing info. I have just recently started to put some time and effort into creating a list. I also settled with Aweber, they really do standout from the rest with their customer service and features.
Yaro, you rock my man! I am a professional speaker and have made millions of dollars doing that over the last 11 years or so, and I will continue to do so. However, I really want to master this blogging thing. I enjoy it immensely. I have no idea what I’m doing, but my new blog is doing well, thanks to your mentoring program. My blog is one month old, and already I have nearly nearly 600 subscribers who have opted into my email list. I wanted to thank you for what you are doing. Looking forward to your next article. CSH
I have tried several times to launch a mailing list but I’ve always failed. My failure to stick with it is probalby the main reason for it not working.
I love the way you build from a firm foundation and drive from there … yet you always find a way to test your results and pave new paths.
You’re like an effective “solution architect” (that’s the name we have for software architects that help customers put the leggos together and building apps and solutions.)
It’s timely that you’re covering email lists (in that I’ve had more people recently tell me I got to jump on the bandwagon) … yet it’s timeless, and you always connect back to your common threads or themes across time. You’re like a snowball of success that gathers momentum.
> I hadn’t optimized the opt-in area of my blog with good copy or video like I have today.
Is it the copy or video that makes the diff, or is it everything you do outside of it … your “surround sound” effect?
> I don’t like the term “lead generation” because it dehumanizes the relationship between you and your subscribe
I like the way you keep it real.
> List relationship building
Great reframing.
I do have a couple of specific questions related to your prescriptive advice, and I’d like the benefit of your hindsight and foresight:
1. Is being a quality user in Digg, Stumble, and Delicious true ROI if it’s not your core game, or is it better to find friends in your tribe, or extended tribe … the vital few mavens for exponential results?
2. How do you find effective forums? I see a lot of forums, and I see lots of specific niches of forums, but how do you know whether the forum will be a good fit in the long run? (Basically, what is your gut check or test-for-success before you invest your time.)
Thanks for any insight
Great information. I always appreciate the personal perspective.
Great post, Yaro. Look forward to trying these steps out soon. It’s amazing how quickly things come about. I too can barely remember when Twitter came about and back in 2007, even though I knew about Facebook and had just created an account, it was merely something of a novelty to keep up with the Jones, so to speak.
Yaro,
I have been hearing that newsletter and list building is important. However, when you are starting out, putting out content, link building, twitter, facebook, comments on your blog, commenting on other blogs and other activities can be very time consuming. Unless, people automate the process or hire some assistant, one can be work horse, do you have any suggestions for that? how to do it all?
One step at a time in the most efficient order possible. The lowest hanging fruit to eliminate the most immediate constraint, and so on…
Yaro, this is the best tip for me at this moment. Thanks. The article is nice as always. 🙂
Hi Yaro
Every time I read your blog posts I’m always amazed at the information that you freely give, and how genuine and sincere your posts are.
This is what to me, makes your posts worth reading.
Thank you
Graham in UK
Excellent, well laid out post (as usual). Thank you!!
This will come in very handy as I’m ready to begin building my list now.
I enjoyed a fair amount of success in the offline world in different realms, and I must say I have a huge amount of respect for what you’ve done in the online IM realm. I only hope I can follow your lead without falling down too many more times. 🙂
Thanks for your post,
As somebody that’s on ‘your list’ for a pretty long time, I was wondering how
‘Me myself and I’ ended up on ‘your list’.
Thinking back, and taking ‘a walk down memory lane’ I realised
that it was Nr. 4, the Give away – the Blog Profits Bluepint – Free Report
BTW I think that it’s one of the best Reports on this subject
I have ever read!
An other tactics that I also like, and that you probably could call
a Giveaway also is a Mini-course, like for example a ‘7-Day Mini-Course for Getting Traffic to your Site’ or something like that. I do think that it has the advantage that
you directly can Start to get the readers ‘tight attention’ for a few day’s in a row and instantly have them in an ‘Information Absorbing’-State.
All the Best,
To your Happy Inspiration,
HP
These are good tips, but I still find I get 90% of my subscribes from offering something free in exchange for their email.
Hi Yaro,
First of all let me say that this article has reached me in time of launch of my new website. Secondly, why is every blogger all of a sudden talking about email subscription and using email marketing? There seems to be a drastic shift from web marketing. Is there any reason for this?
Hi Yaro,
Awesome post…
:]
The best way i have found to incite people to register to newsletter is to offer exclusive reductions or private sales for the subscriber, and event with this tip it’s still very hard to have them give a valid e-mail address !
Great stuff, Yaro. I have a couple questions. First, what’s your approach to writing email titles (subject lines)? Have you experienced more success with vague titles – “You have to see this…” or more specific ones – “Product XYZ is fantastic and here’s why…” ?
And second, I’ve noticed too many internet marketers send an email, then follow up an hour or maybe a day later with something saying “I sent the wrong link last time, here’s the right one.” Is this an honest mistake or a sales tactic to send the same message more than once? If it’s a mistake, it happens an awful lot.
Thanks,
RJ
For email subjects I find shorter and personal ones work well, but they still need to be on topic.
The good old “how to…” always works well.
I would not want to send two emails to a list after screwing up the link, so it wouldn’t be a ploy by me because it would hurt my open rate and increase unsubscribers.
Love the list of 14 specific things to do, Yaro. I missed a few. Guess I’d better print out the list and use it as a “To Do” resource. Great useful info!
Once again you have come up with another great blog post. In my opinion your blog is the best on the internet. Keep up the good work Yaro. I’m heading to put some of these tactics to work right now!
Sean
Hey Yaro, awesome post and I think your blog design and theme is killer I know I am already on probably more than one of your lists. What a good idea to come up with a weekly newsletter. Right now I am offering a “free gift” for people that sign up as a subscriber. And you’re right to think these people are not just leads but real people. All I can say is never give up cause you’ll never know if you quit!
Joseph D
Great post Yaro, very insightful.
I think that the greatest tactic for attracting Email subscribes, however, cliché it might sound is providing great content. Without the content in place, there’s now point in employing these tatics. The first thing any blogger should concentrate on is their content, they shouldn’t worry about monetizing their site.
You can only be truly successful in business if you are doing the things that you find most passionate. If your passionate about what you do then this will come across in your content. Your passion for the content you provide, should not be centred around money, because ultimately this will not come across in your content and no matter what tactics you employ you’ll never be able to attract new Email subscribers.
Thanks, for the post, I will be trying out a few new things myself.
As usual Great post Mr Starak! I have recently finished reading your BPB (I must say its still a great Yarn) again before setting up my new blog at Internet Marketing 101 and on there I have my default AWeber form and a graphic (That I made myself) that reads “want a blog like this? download my FREE eBook “Blogging the easy way!”” as well as something very similar on my FB Fan Page!
I am slowly building a following though for it finally! but not many people are opting in I find! I think my book has some great content and have had some good feedback from it!
Lots of bloggers have said to me that in order to get that optin I need to provide something of value to incentivise that person to optin! Are there any other ways I can promote my book and build that list?
On a totally different subject what are your thoughts on Mobile/Cell list building? I am just testing this out! I have created a new list relating to the Health and Weight loss niche and have created a Splash/Squeeze page for mobiles using the aweber form and optimized it for mobiles by using some free software (have actually left out the name field and turned off the double optin)!
On the follow up emails I am providing 2 free PLR eBooks on the subject and on the 3rd am promoting a clickbank product all related to that same niche! and set up 2 advertising campaigns in both adsence and admob by targeting women and who have IPhones and Android Sets!
I Figured that there are 6 billion on this planet and 5 of them have mobiles! That’s a lot more than people who are actually online! The way I see it is like this: some 20somthing girl tanning on a beach in California gets out her IPhone and see’s my add. “177 ways to burn those calories” “enter your email to get this book for FREE”! i think she will enter her email to get my book and then 2 days later i send her another free book relating the the same niche!
Whats your thoughts on this Yaro
I think having an app for your blog is a good way to increase your opt-ins, this is something I want to test soon by getting an app made for my blog.
I have registered with aweber from the first day I started out online, everywhere I read about email marketing and building your list says that you should start early rather than later.
Therefore my list can grow all the while my Blog does too.
Stuart
Great Post
Great info… just in the planning stages for my first blog! Thanks!
Great article! I’ve been running my own email lists for years but this article gave me insight into the latest trends. I’m just too old school 😛
An excellent tips for preparing email list for marketing. Thx for sharing your experienced techniques and advices to start successful marketing.
One thing that worked really well for me to get subscribers is to put out surveys of upcoming services or offers. People had a good idea of what it is that’s coming. After the survey I gave them an option to subscribe to the newsletter if they wanted to hear the announcement. Over the last four months, with similar approaches I have doubled my subscribers.
Also, I like your approach of talking about people, and not leads.Your Message
Hey Yaro. Thanks for the awesome advice on getting your first email list up and running. I have several small websites and blogs that I have been trying to build lists on and have not had any success with them so far. Your success is very inspiring and it pushes me to continue to work hard and build my subscriber list. You said in the comments here that you weren’t using a pop-up but when I visit your site now there is a pop-up box. You should write a post sometime about how this has helped build your list. Just a suggestion.
Great article yaro, thanks for the useful tips….
Hey Yaro
Thanks for the great post. Very helpful. I just have one question – and I can’t seem to find an answer anywhere on the web. What’s the connection between having an email list and making money? How do you make money from your email list?
Thanks
This is an excellent post Yaro ,
thanks for sharing.
I am building my first list, I need all the info that help me make it better.
Email Marketing is an important tool to help you get your business off to a solid start. With so many companies to choose from you’re sure to be able to find one that meets your needs and budget of your company. Thanks for sharing this great info.
Great article yaro, thanks for the useful tips….
Thanks.
Misbah Mumtaz
Yaro, I’ve been reading your blog for years now, ever since I got into internet marketing back in 2008. You’ve been a great inspiration to me so I just thought I’d say thank you! Now it’s time for me to stop reading and put your advice into ACTION. =)
😉 Great article. Thank you for the excellent tips.
Yaro, thanks a lot.
By reading your article, I ‘ve done my jumping forward now.
My God blessing you always
Shinta