Are you looking for new ways to grow your list? Or do you wonder why it is important to grow your list in the first place? I actually hear this one a lot. New biz owners will comment that they don’t understand why they need a list when they are active on social media. Or biz owners will comment that their particular product is a one and done product or service so they do not see the importance of continuing to build the relationship. Even if you understand that list building enhances and speeds up business growth, you might feel frustrated at the pace you are adding new names or wonder about the quality of names you are adding to your list.

After running my coaching and training business online for the past fourteen years, I sometimes assume that everyone knows how to build a list or understands the importance. Then, I go back to my first year in business when I truly had no clue about why a list was important or how to build my list effectively. When I understood how to build my list, my business grew exponentially.

First, let’s look at why list building is still important to business growth. When someone signs up for your free gift or newsletter, or special offers, you have the opportunity to build a relationship. This new person may land on your website or your social media profile and not be ready to buy yet.  When you receive his or her name in exchange for a free gift (a download of some type), you are able to communicate right to the person’s Inbox.

Your service may require trust-building through content marketing before a purchase is made. Even if you think people may only buy once from you, you might be surprised. You could create a new product or an add-on product or a 2nd edition.  When you keep in touch with people through emails, you also could receive referrals. Your list becomes a powerful tool for educating, sales, relationship building, and referrals.

Next, let’s focus on how to build your list. You will first need something to offer in exchange for that email and you will need something more than just “subscribe to my list or subscribe to my newsletter”. Your free gift should be something downloadable like a report, checklist, ebook, mp3, ecourse, etc. After you create your free offer, you will need an opt-in page. Here is an example.

(Note: this blog post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through one of the links, I may receive a commission. I only recommend what I believe in and what I use).

I use (affiliate) leadpages to create my opt-in pages. I have used this service for four years and am happy with how fast I can create a page. You can host the page on your own website or you can use a link from leadpages. They also have many templates that have been tested for high conversion rates.

In addition, you have the option for drag and drop design to customize many of the templates. Leadpages also has leadboxes and the capacity to collect emails. With some of the packages, you have split testing options.  If you have an email provider, you can integrate it with your leadpages using html code or a link to your opt-in form.

You will need an email service to create an opt-in form to build your list. I have used the email services Many different ones, right now I use activecampaign for my business. I have used mailchimp, constantcontact, icontact, and aweber for clients, too.  I also use popupally and integrated it with both 1shoppingcart and activecampaign.

When you put it all together, your person landing on your opt-in page will see the opt-in form, when they sign up, they will be directed to a thank you page and receive a prompt to opt-in to your list via email (this is called double opt-in), plus an autoresponder will automatically send an email with your gift download.

Basic steps to create an opt-in page:

• Free gift download (create your report, checklist, ebook, pdf, mp3, etc)
• Upload your free gift to a page so you can create a download link. I upload to my wordpress media and then copy that link. Here is an example of a download link that I might include in my email autoresponder if my free gift was a worksheet.
• Landing page for opt-in form. Example landing page.
• Opt-in form and autoresponder email using your email marketing service (for example active campaign, mailchimp, etc)
• Thank you page. When someone signs up, they will be directed to a thank you page. Here is an example of a thank you page.

Once you have an opt-in page, then you will want to drive traffic to that page so you can build your list. There are many ways to drive traffic: Social media posts, speaking gigs where you send traffic to the page, including the link to your opt-in page in your email signature, social media profile, blog posts, giveaways, and more.

Today, I want to talk to you about giveaway events. My favorite type of giveaway is the kind where you submit your free gift along with other contributors. When people sign up for the giveaway, they are directed to a gift page where all the gifts and descriptions are listed. If a person wants your gift, they click on your opt-in page URL listed in the description. Then, they sign up with you.

I have added thousands of names to my list over the years with this kind of giveaway. I have participated in large giveaways with hundreds of gifts and smaller giveaways with thirty or fewer gifts. All have been great for different reasons. All have been win/win experiences.

You may have experienced large giveaway events with hundreds of contributors. These are good for adding hundreds of names. However, the quality of the names might not be as great. The names may be people who only want the free stuff and you may end up with email addresses that are not great for relationship building (some people set up email addresses just for giveaways like these). I still participate in a few of these each year.

Small giveaways with 30 or fewer contributors are exciting because the contributors are highly curated and the collaborative and supportive attitude of all the partners is focused on creating a win for everyone. I find that when I participate in smaller giveaways, the quality of the leads is high, even though the overall number is lower than a large giveaway.

List building events are fun and they don’t require much time or energy when you are a contributor.

If you liked this, you will love my the article on growing your biz with quizzes

Sheri Kaye Hoff

Coach, Trainer, and Author, Sheri Kaye Hoff, is a Business Coach known for inspiring massive action and a catalyst for personal and business growth, joy, and profits in a way that is fun, relaxing, and fulfilling, Sheri inspires people to do the work they love and make more money. Sheri helps business owners and professionals to relax into success. She uses both spiritual and practical techniques to obliterate blocks and create dramatic change. She is a business, leadership, happiness, and inner game expert. She has overcome nearly dying, and the loss of her brother at an early age. She has made it her life mission to discover the keys to happiness and success and then share them with her clients and community. Learn More About Sheri