If I had to give you only one piece of advice related to growing your business, it would be: build your email list. Too often, newbie business owners leaving this critical step for later. Why is that so? The most typical answer is: “I will collect emails once I grow, and my offer improves”. The truth is that your business grows once your contact list grows. Simple as that! 

In today’s classes, we will set up an email list with a freebie.

Freebie

Who does not like free content? We all do. What is more, if a valuable gift can be received “only” for our Name and Email, then we are good to go.

Nowadays, we are bombarded with opt-in forms so often that we are providing our names and emails automatically. Another free thing received. Great!

Think about what your Freebie can be. The good ideas are reports, pdfs, e-books that are related either to content we are presenting or to the user preferences. There are separate strategies on how to build a good opt-in form – it can be a simple two-fields form; it can be in the form of video; it might be a quiz, and so on. 

Coming back to our Freebie, try to prepare either your report on the given topic or use some that are available for free, and you are allowed to share. Always check for copyrights if you are using third parties reports. 

If you do not have time to write one, you can head to Fiverr or Upwork to pay someone to write it for you. 

You can also try some of the Private Label Rights pages to find the one. However, keep in mind that once you are using the commonly shared reports or documents, the value of Freebie might lower your credibility.

The Email List

Why is it important?

There are at least two good reasons for building your email list. 

The first one is that your prospects become tangible and not only virtual. You can legally communicate with them, and they will not disappear once they leave your website. 

Imagine, Google changes its searching algorithm hundreds of times yearly. Instagram does it officially at least twice a year. In one moment, your reach and rankings can tank drastically. Where are you going to find your customers? The only proper answer is – The Email List. It does not change unless someone unsubscribes intentionally. 

The second reason is that you are getting right on the spot information about the engagement. Think about this. If someone wants to leave you their contact information, it means that, to some extent, he or she trusts you, or likes you, or knows you. Subscribers opted-in as they are ready to cooperate with you. They expect that you will give them more solutions to their problems. Through a couple of days or weeks, you would have to take special care of them before you offer them a deal. Do not forget about your new customers.

How to create an email list and automate campaigns?

The quickest way to start collecting emails is by heading to SendGrid.com or Mailchimp.com.

Mailchimp

These are the email marketing service providers specialized in mass-mailing, landing pages, and email campaigns.

Sendgrid

Example

Sign-up for free and connect your website with their services.

Once you create a “Thank you. Welcome New Subscriber” campaign using inbuilt wizards, you will be able to generate a “javascript code” to be copy-paste into your website’s sidebar as a widget.

During the creation process, you will be able to decide when and where it should appear.

After placing the code and publishing the page, it should start to work immediately.

Remember to include the “Privacy Policies” and “Terms of Use” so all is legally binding. Both tools give you control over this process. Nevertheless, this is you who is responsible for collecting the proper “tick” marks. 

Example: myfirstbusinessacademy.com

Having a new subscriber is just the beginning of your sales funnel. If you are planning to have complicated sales workflows, I am suggesting you to consider setting up your emailing marketing strategy on clickfunnels.com or kartra.com.

P.S. Here’s a summary of what the article is about.

  • Firstly, you have learned what Freebie is and how to create it.
  • You understand the importance of having an Email List.
  • Finally, you know what tools to use to set up an email workflow and have an Email List widget working on your website.