List Building Tips (Part 14)

All right, here are some more List Building Tips to help you grow your business online. This time around, let's talk about word of mouth advertising. 

I do believe I have previously mentioned about the use of social media sites to further promote your business and to grow your list of subscribers.

Here are more ways to add to that. Count on some friends to refer you or recommend you. Plus, take a look at some of the lists that you yourself have joined in the past and try to see what seems to work or not. Then try to see things from your readers' perspectives. What would you like to see more in your newsletters or emails? Read on.......

35. Add a “tell-a-friend” form to your site

As mentioned in earlier tips, word of mouth advertising very frequently forms the lifeblood of businesses. It often brings in higher quality prospects, since a close friend has told them they can trust your business. In short, it is effective method for advertisement.

One way in which you can do this—initiate a word of mouth campaign—is to use a “tell-a-friend” script. This should be available on your website and possibly linked to infrequently in your mailings. It will give your subscribers a quick way to tell their friends about something good or interesting you did.

36. Make a list that you would join and enjoy

To keep your subscribers happy, you need to be providing good content and communicate with them on their level and keep them active. If you don’t share good quality, your list will die off and it will be hard to get other’s to share your content.

So when you start building your list and writing newsletters, ask yourself whether or not you would sign up for your own list if it was someone else's list. Try to be as honest as you can with yourself.

In general, of course, it is difficult to evaluate our own work, and to understand how others might perceive it. For this reason, it is a good idea to look at old archives, so that you can feel a sense of distance and unfamiliarity—and evaluate it from the perspective of an outsider.

Finally, consider comparing your list content with other lists in your niche. Ask yourself the following questions truthfully about both your own list and competing lists:

i. How frequently does the list advertise?

ii. How much space do advertisements take up?

iii. Are there many solo ads?

iv. Are there high-profile guest writers?

v. Are there interviews with experts in the industry/niche?

vi. How frequently does the list give away reports and ebooks?

vii. How frequently does the list give away audio content and video content?

viii. How personal does the writing feel?

If you feel you can’t answer these items objectively, consider asking a friend for help. As harsh as it may be to hear someone close to you criticize your work, it’ll be worth it in the long run when your number of subscribers rise dramatically through word of mouth.