when i first started my online business (aka blog) i was where many aspiring entrepreneurs found themselves…
broke…
winging it…
and hoping someone (anyone) would somehow just find my site.
after 18 months and over 350 blog posts later, i hadn’t made a single dollar on my site.
fast forward to today and I’ve turned an underachieving blog into a $1M passive income business that serves over 20K newsletter readers weekly.
now if you had asked me back then if building an email list was the key to making money with my site, i would have said – “what’s so magical about an email list?”
so how did i go from no email list and making ZERO dollars to my first 10K subscribers and 100K+ year?
today, I’ll share with you the entire journey so you don’t have to make the same mistakes i did with.
AND I’ll give you a bonus tip on how i scaled my list to 20K and $1M in passive income online.
now i know that growing and making money from a newsletter may not seem like the cool or sexy thing to do when it comes to making money online.
i mean e-commerce, YouTube, Etsy, Instagram, Amazon — that’s where the money’s at right?
well, i’m here to tell you that your email list is one of your greatest assets as an entrepreneur and that without one, you could be leaving thousands, even millions on the table.
so today, i’m going to share the EXACT strategies i used to turn my newsletter into a passive income machine.
i asked my mentor for help:
when you are new at anything, many times you just don’t know what you don’t know. and one of the things i didn’t know when i first launched my blog was how important building an email list was.
it wasn’t til i was ready to throw in the towel that i got the courage to step outside of myself and ask what i was doing wrong.
are you building an email list, my mentor asked me?
“an email list”, i replied??????
now there were quite a few things that i could have been doing better, but the most glaring misstep (which my mentor pointed out) was not growing an email list.
why?
after getting schooled (and scolded by my mentor) i soon realized that email lists are important because it allows you to connect with people who are already interested in what you have to offer. they are literally giving you permission to contact them.
an email list is a community you get to grow, nurture, and OWN. it’s not a rented community like Facebook or Instagram where if something goes wrong like the platform disappears or worse, deletes your account, you have some type of recourse. with your own email list, you get to decide what you do with it, how you promote your products and services, and how often.
as a business owner, your primary goal is to sell more of whatever it is you sell. that may be a product, a service, a course, an affiliate program, or a network marketing opportunity.
your secondary goal should be to grow your email list + online community so that you have people to sell your products and services to.
and if your business coach or mentor has not been telling you just how important building an email list really is – get you a new mentor!!
i added ConvertKit to my business toolkit:
from Constant Contact to Aweber, Mailchimp and Drip — i’ve tried just about every email list provider out there but when i decided to make the leap to ConvertKit, the game changed.
choosing your email service provider is like choosing the engine for your car. sure, most engines will get you from A to B, but if you want a well-oiled machine, ConvertKit is the high-performance ESP you need to take your passive income business to the next level.
beautifully crafted, feature-heavy, and full of customizable functionality, ConvertKit gave me everything I needed to build the sales automation I wanted.
and the ConvertKit customer support team even helped transfer all my contacts and funnels over free of charge.
within a few weeks of switching over, i saw a huge jump in our passive income.
how did i do it?
i set up automation and email flows that streamlined and supercharged my promotional power on autopilot. (more on this in a second).
your email list is a huge part of your community and the source of your cash flow. it is important to invest in it, nurture it, grow it, and take care of it!
i created extraordinary lead magnets:
creating a wow-worthy lead magnet can be a game-changer for your business! it’s not just about transforming followers into super subscribers; it also paves the way for increased sales in the long run.
a lead magnet is essentially the creation of an irresistible offer or bonus in exchange for your customers’ contact information when they subscribe to your email list.
this tactic typically “leads” them through a passive income funnel that ultimately leads them to discover your signature products and offerings.
when creating a wow-worthy lead magnet, it’s important to offer something of genuine value to your customers. the key question to ponder is: what’s in it for them?
✪ need lead magnet ideas? download the complete spreadsheet of 200 Freebie Ideas To Grow Your Email List grab the Airtable app here then copy the spreadsheet above to save this amazing freebie for yourself.
i added content upgrades to my blog posts:
one of the best ways of growing your email list is with a content upgrade.
i have used this strategy to exponentially grow my list, and it’s really easy to do!
how to create a content upgrade
- the first thing you want to do is log into your Google Analytics and find the blog posts that are driving the most traffic. copy those URLs.
- the next step is to create a freebie or bonus piece of content for each of your most popular posts! this could be a checklist, a resource library, a tool, a template, or bonus audio content from an interview.
- create an opt-in form inside of ConvertKit where readers can give you their name and number in exchange for your content upgrade. make sure you embed this opt-in form somewhere inside of your related blog post.
- redirect subscribers to a specific URL where they can download your .PDF or get instructions on how to access your bonus.
- you will also want to follow up with an incentive email or welcome email that reminds them to get access to the content upgrade if they have not accessed it already.
i focused on providing high value evergeen content to my subscribers
people opt-in to your email list because they want more. they want more solutions, they want more guidance, they want more tools, they want more of you.
so feeding your subscribers content that educates, informs, and entertains is one of the best ways for you to grow your list and convert subscribers into sales.
your work doesn’t end when you get someone to sign up for your email list. in fact, that is when your work begins.
that is why evergreen content is so important.
what is evergreen content?
evergreen content is content you create that is always relevant. it’s not time or date bound and in the context of ConvertKit, you want to create sequences that are designed to be evergreen. that means that anyone can sign up for your sequence at any time, and two different subscribers would receive your emails in the same order, but on different days.
what’s amazing about an evergreen funnel or sequence, is that anyone can purchase at any time. ConvertKit makes setting up evergreen funnels (what i like to call passive income funnels) easy.
you don’t have to worry about the logistics of time-sensitive promotions or cart closings! you just create high-value content, add it to your funnel, and cap it off with a CTA to join your program or service.
bonus : i started to segment my subscribers with a survey
talking about topics such as passive income, digital products, content creation, making money online, and building a profitable business can attract all different types of people.
the diversity of the leads I attract with my content is one of my greatest assets but also one of my biggest challenges.
50% of my leads join my email list because they want to start a digital product business
25% of my leads join my list because they want to scale their business and income with automated systems
25% of my leads join my list because they want to learn how to grow their audience and find customers.
so those subscribers that already have a business but want to learn how to scale it, do not necessarily want or need to be fed content on how to find their niche. they want information on passive income sales funnels, multiplying their income with order bumps, and strategies for converting more subscribers into customers.
and vice versa
a new solopreneur with no offer and zero sales doesn’t want content on scaling because they are still in the beginning stages of their entrepreneurial journey.
switching over the ConvertKit allowed me to overcome these issues by using their segmentation feature.
what is segmentation?
segmentation is when you divide your email list to make it easier for you to target a specific group of people within your overall list.
segmentation helps us feed people content based on what they tell you they are interested in not based on what you think they need.
so when someone joins my email list, they will receive a welcome email and in that welcome email, there is a survey that asks what topics they are most interested in.
this helps my team and i to personalize the entire subscriber experience. so at the end of the day all your reader cares about is “what’s in it for me” and if your content is not feeding them in the way they need, they are not going to engage and an unengaged subscriber, is a lost customer.
how to survey your subscribers based on their interests using Tags
when a subscriber clicks a survey link, they will be added to a Tag that remembers their choice. this way, you can set up follow up emails to be sent only to subscribers who have (or don’t have) certain Tags.
step no. 1: decide how to segment your subscribers
for example, if you write about building an online business, then you could segment your subscribers according to their levels of experience:
- i’m just getting started
- i’ve been building a business for a while
- i’m a seasoned pro
alternatively, you can also segment your subscribers based on their interests.
for example, if you write about building an online business, you could then let subscribers decide whether they’re interested in receiving emails on digital product creation, growing an audience, sales funnels, or something else.
step no.2: craft your survey question and response options
if you are surveying your subscribers on their online business experience, for example, your survey question could be: “where are you at in your entrepreneurial journey?”
you could then map your subscriber segments to the following survey response options:
i’m just getting started → “i’ve never launched an online business before, but I want to learn!”
i’ve been building a business for a while → “i’ve been actively building my business but not where i should be ”
i’m a seasoned pro → “i’ve been doing this for a while and know what i’m doing. now it’s time to turn things up a notch!”
step no.3: create Tags for each subscriber segment
the next step is to create new Tags for each of your subscriber segments. make sure you pick a name that succinctly describes each segment.
following our online business example, we could name our Tags like this:
“just getting started → “online business: beginner”
i’ve been building a business for a while → “online business: intermediate”
i’m a seasoned pro → “online business: seasoned pro”
step no. 4: set up a Link Trigger for each survey response option
a Link Trigger is a special link that automatically carries out certain actions when clicked.
we want subscribers who click your survey response options to be added to the right subscriber segment Tag—and a Link Trigger is what’s going to help you get that done.
here’s how to apply tags to link-clickers in emails:
step no.5: add the Link Triggers to your survey email
the final step is to put your survey in an email!
your survey email can kick off your welcome email series if you want to automatically prompt new subscribers as they opt in.
alternatively, if you’re doing a one-off survey of your existing subscribers, then send your survey in a Broadcast email.
best practices for creating a survey for your subscribers
- make it obvious: share with them the benefits of why letting you know what topics they are interested in is in their best interest (“personalize the tips, offers, discounts, etc, we send to you”)
- make it easy: you do not want to make it seem like an extra step. don’t give them 100 options to choose from. it should take them 15 seconds or less to tell you what they like.
- don’t require your readers to fill anything out or type anything in: ConvertKit makes this easy with their one click tagging and link trigger features. your reader clicks the topic they are interested in and ConvertKit automatically tags or adds them to a targeted email list.
segmentation when done right will change the way you do business!
i scrub my my subscriber list regularly
the first time i scrubbed my email list, i removed almost 10,000 subscribers.
scary huh?
seeing 10K people disappear from your list in a matter of hours can be traumatic but when i tell you it was the best thing i could’ve done – it was the best thing i could have done.
cleaning and managing your list is a very important aspect of email marketing—one which is overlooked by many.
an engaged list is more important than a large list.
if you see that your open rates, click rates and campaign conversions have fallen, it may be time to clean up your list. especially if you have been building your list over a long period of time.
here’s why you should focus on quality over quantity:
improved deliverability: if your email list is made up of engaged subscribers then email service providers will recognize your reputation. this means your emails are more likely to land in your subscribers’ inboxes rather than in the spam folder.
engagement: removing inactive subscribers from your list will likely push your open and click rates up.
when i cleaned my list, i went from a 43% open rate to upwards of 67.3% open rate.
value: why would you want to pay for subscribers who are not engaging in your content? when you clean your list you will be paying less for a better list! cleaning your list might drop you down into a lower pricing tier while still providing that more engaged list. that’s a win-win.
if you have some subscribers who have stopped engaging with your content then it’s time to let them go.
bonus: i monetized the opt-in experience
adding a tripwire to your lead generation strategy can help you multiply your profits and upsells on autopilot.
what is a tripwire?
a tripwire is a low-priced offer designed to convert new subscribers into customers by enticing them with a valuable product or service, often leading to further upsells or engagement opportunities.
tripwire offers are exceptionally powerful, delivering both immediate results and long-term benefits.
why do tripwires work so well, you ask?
well, it’s simply easier to get someone to invest in your products and programs once they’ve already taken that initial step and made a purchase or opted in to your lead magnet.
a tripwire is designed to generate an immediate sale after someone opts-in to your email list, so if you want to make sales with your tripwire, it is imperative you provide a high-quality, low-cost product or service that’s directly related to the solutions your dream clients are seeking.
the higher the perceived value and the lower the price, the better your chance of converting a new subscriber into a customer!
i’ve offered tripwires that have been priced between $7 and $47 and while you get more profit per sale with a higher-priced tripwire, i’ve found that over the long term, the lower-priced tripwires convert at a higher clip and lead to higher conversion rates for upsells and order bumps too.
adding this one strategy to my passive income sales funnels is the reason why i was able to scale from $100K a year to $1M in passive income online.
next steps ::
✪ hey! I’m Andrea Bolder, Founder and visionary behind The WomanpreneuHER University Coaching Program & Community. i help women entrepreneurs hit $100K in 12 months with community-based courses, coaching programs, and memberships that drive recurring passive income they can scale to $1M a year.
passive income can be a great way to supplement your earnings or achieve financial independence. hopefully, this blog post has unlocked some ideas for you!
to learn more about creating your own passive income streams with profitable digital products, coaching programs or online courses check out the following resources, and let’s work together to grow your business to $10K+ passive income months.
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