List-Building Tips (Part 11)

To continue on our list building series, here are three more techniques that you can employ to help build your list. 

They are all pretty simple to implement and apply. If you want people to sign up, make sure that your opt in form or lead form (where people can add their name and email address) are available and visible on your site. You can have pop ups or slide in windows to add to your site to capture the information.

Do keep it simple and easy to read, so people won't need to read too much or be confused on what you are offering. Another is to provide a free sample of your report. You can give away say 10% of the work and have them sign up to get the rest.

Here they are:

29. Add more subscription forms

In general, adding more subscription forms to your sites gives visitors more pathways through which they can find your list and join it.

So take some time to work through your sites and decide where you can add new subscription forms. To save time, you might think of adding it in the same place on each page (i.e. on the right margin).

If there is no place suitable, you could have a pop-up or slide in window with your optin form in it. If you use a WordPress blog, there are several plugins that will do this.

30. Eliminate barriers to signing up

In many cases, we can make it difficult or confusing for visitors to become subscribers. Through complicated or long forms, poorly-written instructions, or misplacement of the sign-up form, we make it harder for people to subscribe.

Remember: when it comes to list-building (or any other type of marketing), simple is best. So keep it simple and concentrate on getting all of your visitors to become list members. Once they’re on your list, let them decide whether or not they want to stay, and whether or not they want to buy.

31. Offer free examples

Before someone signs up for a list, they will want to have at least a rough idea of what they’re getting themselves into. That is, they will want to know if they’re signing up to be spammed legally; or whether they’re going to get regular, high quality, inspiring content that makes a positive contribution to their lives.

One way you can help to remove the doubt that people might have about your list is to give them free examples. For instance, you might consider creating a video that is free to view and then ask them to opt-in for the next video.

Another idea is to have an archive of all of your past newsletters or ebooks freely accessible. Visitors can then browse this archive to see how frequently you pitch products, how frequently you provide good advice, free products, and how good the quality of your content is.

So have you started building your list? What steps have you taken? It would be a good idea to reflect and assess on what you have done and achieved so far. Well, till next edition.