5 Ideas On How To Grow Your Email List Fast For Your Online Business

On my High Value Skills Podcast, I love answering questions from my audience when it comes to growing your online business. This weeks High Value Question comes from a very well known Yoga Nidra Instructor of over 20 years, Scott Moore and he asks: What are some ways that I can quickly grow my email list? 

Scott already has a newsletter and email list and clearly understands the power and the value of having one and also mentioned that it contributes to the health of his business. Unfortunately, most entrepreneurs neglect to start an email list or put it off for years and miss out on one of the biggest opportunities to increase their revenue.

Online marketing legend Amy Porterfield, in her New York Times Best Selling Book "2 Weeks Notice" she said her biggest mistake in business was not starting her email list for 2 years. It was also something that YouTube influencer Pat Flynn mentioned as well. As for me, I started my first online business in 2005 and was getting 5 to 15 orders per day with people who gave me their email list and I never started a newsletter where I let them know about new products! That was a huge missed opportunity!

In this article we are going to discuss:

• What exactly is an 'email list'
• Why it's important for online businesses to start growing an email list or newsletter.
• What are the 3 things you need to start growing an email list.
• 5 ideas on how to grow your email list quickly. 

What exactly is an email list and why is it important to have one? 

It's just like it sounds, a list of email addresses or a database of contacts that you can directly market to (email marketing). We often think of doing business online using social media which is  great way to grow an audience, but you are renting that traffic and could easily be cut off from that traffic if there is a change in the algorithm or you are banned from the social platform. I know so many people who have put years of work into growing an social media following and had it shut down for no apparent reason, losing all that time and energy and have to start over from scratch.

Building an email list is a way to 'own' that traffic instead of renting it on social media. In addition, email marketing is a great way to have a more direct line of communication and a more personal tone, and a great way to sell because email marketing has a much higher conversion rate than other forms of marketing. 

How to use an email service provider (ESP) and a lead magnet to grow your list. 

The first thing you need to start your journey of email marketing is to select an 'email service provider' (ESP) and there are many options available. An ESP allows you to collect email addresses, manage them and send emails or newsletters to them. There are many advanced functions as well like split testing, auto responders, automation sequences and more. 

Some of the more common email service providers include:

• Kajabi (my personal favorite and I'll explain why below)
• Convert Kit
• Active Campaign 
• Mail Chimp

The reason I love Kajabi the most, is because it's an 'all in one solution' for coaches, course creators and community managers. You can use one app to not just handle your email marketing but build all aspects of your online 'knowledge based' business. You can click here for a free 30 day trial and start building your list as well as creating your digital assets to sell to them in one place. 

Once you have your email service provider selected, then upload all of your existing email contacts and there is the beginning of your list!

The next step is to create a juicy 'lead magnet' which is something off value that you can offer your audience in exchange for their email address and a green light to market to them. Examples of lead magnets include: a free PDF such as a template, checklist, cheat sheet; or it can be a free training or a replay of a training, it could be registering to a live event, and of course anything that people can buy also is a great lead magnet. 

Don't skimp on your lead magnet, make it enticing and something that creates a quick win for the subscriber! I love to think 'what's in it for me' when it comes to the person on the other end. Give them a strong reason to opt in to your email list with a very attractive lead magnet!

5 Ideas To Grow Your Email List Quickly!

#1 - Social Media - Learning to use social media to drive traffic to your email list with an enticing lead magnet is the easiest and quickest strategy. Make sure to use CTA's (calls to action) in your content frequently. Don't be surprised if you are only getting a few people to opt in each time when you post, that's normal. Just be consistent and also make sure that all of your social media Also make sure that all of your social platforms (LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube) have a link to your lead magnet on your social media profiles. 

#2 - "The Cliffhanger" - One thing I love doing on my social media posts is creating FOMO to join the list by teasing what I'll be sharing to the people on my email list. Think about one of those TV shows or movies that absolutely leaves you hanging and makes you beg to see the conclusion on the next episode. Make your social media posts the 'teaser' to get on your list by talking about the problem and agitating it, then your call to action should be to let them know you'll give them the solution so they need to get on your email list to find out what it is. 

#3 - Becoming a guest on other peoples shows or groups - An excellent way to grow your email list is to be a guest for other groups or perhaps a podcast or live show, or even a live event. Try to work with people that have the same audience as yourself and offer to share your knowledge with them. At the end of the show, give them a clear call to action to grab your lead magnet and let them know what's in it for them. 

#4 - Do a 'summit' or a collaboration - Get with 2-5 other people who you are in the same industry with and host a live event with them. Each one of you will be marketing the event to your respective audiences but when people register, they are also coming from a joint audience and after the event is over you can share the 'master' email list with each other, its a great way to grow! 

#5 - Self Liquidating Offer - This is a more advanced strategy but the gist of it is you'll start running advertisements to your lead magnet but having some 'upsells' as part of the funnel. Obviously advertising can cost a lot of money so the strategy here is to get this funnel producing low ticket sales and a few mid ticket sales to help offset or even cover the cost of ads (but not to make a profit). A big mistake people make with advertising is trying to sell mid or high ticket offers to a cold list which doesn't convert well. The strategy should be to sell low ticket offers to cover the cost of ads, then bring them into your list and start making that cold audience turn into a warm audience!

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