Building a high-converting email list is a major priority in my business, probably my top priority but it was not always that way…
I’ve made tons of mistakes over the course of building my online business, like a gazillion….but if there was ONE mistake that I could erase and take back it would be that I did not start my email list right away.
It’s hard to understand the value of an email list when you’re just trying to get products created, put content out, and find a way to stay relevant on social media. But not fully understanding the power an email list could bring to my business cost me tens of thousands of dollars! Maybe more…
There are a lot of things we can do to grow our businesses, but building and using your email list effectively is at the very top.
And that’s why I am so freakin’ excited that you are here!
Email changes everything!
do you have an email list yet?
Let me ask you this question…
Have you been actively working on growing your email list?
You’re creating blog posts, posting to social media, and shooting videos but for whatever reason your email list is stale, stagnant, and subscriberless.
What do you think the problem is?
Maybe you feel overwhelmed by all of the different ways to build an email list…
Maybe you are confused about the right tools to use…
Maybe you feel like the only way you can grow your list fast is with paid ads… The lies they tell!!
Maybe you have been trying….but just haven’t #1 taken the time to set up your email marketing system or #2 optimize your email marketing system to maximize the results yet…
So whatever it is and wherever you are, we are going to help you get into a routine today because I do not want you to leave here dazed and confused about what to do next to grow your email list.
Alrighty…
the two assets you need to monetize online ::
There are two assets that will dictate the amount of money you make in your business ::
- The first one is YOUR BRAND :: Your ability to increase your visibility and attract the right people to YOUR business with personality-driven content, products, and services
- The second one is YOUR EMAIL :: Your ability to increase your leads and build a highly engaged list of subscribers who are ready to buy your products while you sleep.
Let’s talk about YOUR BRAND first….
Your brand is all about presence and visibility.
It’s what generates your image and determines how your audience will perceive you. Branding is where you show up, how you show up, it lets people know exactly who you are, what you do, and how you do it and it sets yourself apart from the crowd by grabbing their attention with your own unique awesomeness.
This is where you establish credibility and authority in your field so that people look at you and think, “WOW… This is clearly a person who knows what they’re doing, so THIS is who I need to be listening to, this is who I need to be working with”.
The impression that your brand leaves on your target audience?
It’s SO valuable and If you brand is not on point then you won’t be able to attract the attention of your ideal clients.
Related :: 25 Ways To Grow Your Email List (gain followers, subscribers and clients fast!)
The second asset you have for creating money and momentum in your business is YOUR EMAIL and this is what we are focusing on today…
Why email? Why now?
email marketing vs. social media marketing ::
The reason why I get so excited about email is because it is my #1 source of sales. My email list is the way I put money in my bank account and because of email, I am able to sell my digital products and courses on autopilot… every single day I am making sales. Every day!
All successful businesses know that the real profits are not in how many followers you have on Instagram, Facebook, or even Pinterest. The real path to profits is through your email list.
→ People may or may not be on Facebook but they’re checking their emails everyday
→ People may or may not be on Instagram but they’re checking their emails every day
→ People may of may not be growing YouTube but…you got the point!
And that is why EMAIL. The one platform you can control is so important.
But, here’s the deal when it comes to creating a money-making email list.
It’s not a magic pill and it doesn’t work by itself.
to build a successful business, you have to have both. The front end: BRAND (and this is where social media, visual graphics and your brand voice come into play), and THE BACK END : Business machine aka your email marketing engine.
Your backend is the machine where all the behind-the-scenes magic happens. This is what people don’t see – the marketing campaigns, the automated funnels, the traffic generation strategies….
It’s what backs up your branding, supports your content, makes you LEGIT in your field and it’s where you make your money. This is where the real power is.
start growing your email list ::
When it comes to making money with your email list and being able to capture subscribers there are some basics that we’ll need to cover ::
#1 it’s important to choose the right email service provider for you and your business!
You can’t send emails via gmail or yahoo y’all.
If you don’t yet have an email autoresponder service provider you’ll want to get one ASAP.
I prefer ConvertKit but Mailchimp, Get Response, Aweber, Ontraport…they all work and all you have to do it pick one.
#2 the purpose of your email list is to convert readers into subscribers and subscribers into sales.
And if the goal is to build a profitable business at the end of the email rainbow you have to have something to sell.
→ This may be a signature product you created
→ A service you provide
→ Or if you don’t have a product of your own yet, you can still build a profitable business by promoting a business opportunity or becoming an affiliate where you promote many different products within a specific niche.
Even if your ultimate goal is to have your own product to sell, don’t let not having one right now stop you from making money. The system will be the same, the only thing you’ll need to swap out is the product you’re promoting.
Now that we have the basics out of the way I want to break down the 5 steps you need to take to monetize your email list.
5 steps you need to take to monetize your email list ::
NO.1 YOU NEED TO CONNECT ::
Who are you trying to reach and how are you going to reach them?
Most online biz owners end up attracting the wrong people into their email list because their content (what people read, watch, and hear) is not connecting the right people to what they are ultimately trying to sell. You can’t create Prius commercials and expect someone who wants a Bentley to buy your car, right?
Well, the same holds true for your business.
You have to lead with content that attracts the right people to your business.
If no one is signing up to your email list or Nobody is buying your products and services then your content is not connecting with the right audience.
Without great content, your visitors will have no real reason to come back to your blog or social media sites and they most definitely will not be signing up for your email list. So the content you create should be your TOP Priority when trying to grow your email list!
When done right…your content should…
- bring in a rush of new readers to your site.
- make your visitors want to explore more of your site.
- bring in more readers over time as you and other people share it with your networks, even though it may be buried in the archives of your blog.
- bring in traffic from search engines.
- stay relevant and popular for months, even years.
- boost your email list.
What are the best places to post content that connects with your ideal customer and drives traffic directly to your opt-in pages?
→ Your blog
→ Pinterest
→ Youtube
And you may be saying hey…you left out Instagram and Facebook.
Well, let me tell you why!
With sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram people are on here to be social, to be entertained. They are not primarily there to buy…
Facebook and Instagram change their algorithms like I change my underwear…every damn day! And as a business owner, these changes diminish your ability to reach a broad audience WITHOUT paying for ads.
Organically only about 2% of your social media followers are even going to see your post when you post it. WTF!
And that is just what it is. Facebook and Instagram are in the business of making money and what they have done is reduced the reach of any free or organic posts if you want to reach more people on their platform, then you have to pay.
But when you talk about blogging, sharing content to Pinterest and YouTube. By nature these platforms are different. They aren’t social media sites but platforms that leverage search engines, smart feeds, and targeted keywords – so they are built to drive traffic organically.
For example with Pinterest – it’s algorithms and the way it’s set up gives you an amazing opportunity to reach a huge audience.
Pinterest loves it when brands and content creators share their pins because that is what Pinterest is all about – pinning and saving other people’s content.
People are on Pinterest, Google, and YouTube to find stuff. So their behavior is just different because they are actively looking for things to buy or learn more about. They are looking for brands, they are looking for products and services, they are looking for tutorials and how-tos and they are looking for new ideas to create better versions of themselves.
Regardless of what platform you are using, the rules are the same. You have to know how to create, share, and optimize content people are interested in and searching for.
If you are looking to build an email list of BUYERS then it just makes sense to focus on the sites that attract people with “buyer behavior” right? And this is why I love Pinterest.
That’s why it’s so important to know not only what your ideal customer wants but where they are hanging out online and their buying behavior.
That way you can create/write/record content on topics that are related to what you sell and the solutions you provide your ideal customer.
NO.2 YOU NEED TO CAPTURE LEADS ::
Once you begin attracting fans to your business you need a way to extend the connection with your target audience.
The best way to do this of course is to ask them to join your email list or take the next step with you through a CALL TO ACTION that leads them to an opt-in box or lead page.
A call to action is an invitation to learn more, get more, see more, experience more. It will encourage your readers to join your email list so they can get more of the amazing value you have to offer and it will also give them a reason to stick around.
If the content you create resonates with your readers, all they have to do is click the CTA box or link, enter their name and email and they get instant access to your freebie.
BUT not all Call to actions are created equal. You need to entice your reader to opt-in with an irresistible freebie. Something that will increase your conversion rates and make the new subscriber happy.
Now my favorite tool for capturing leads is LeadPages. You can create links, opt-in boxes, landing pages, webinar pages and sales pages. LeadPages is a paid tool but hands down converts the best.
There are multiple places to set up your lead capture system:
#1 on your Blog or website
- add a feature box
- add a CTA button on your Homepage (typically above the fold near the top)
- Navigation menu
- Sidebar
- In your blog posts
- Link pins to opt-in box, product pages and sales pages
- Add text links
- CTA at end of a blog post
- Pop up box
- In your about me page
- add a hello bar at the top of at the bottom of your website
#2 Capturing leads on Social Media:
- On Facebook you can add links in status updates, on your business page, in your FB group
- On Instagram you can add a live link in bio
These links can drive people back to the following ::
- Blog posts
- Landing pages
- Product pages and sales pages
- On Youtube, you can capture leads in the following way:
- from a link in your bio
- link in your video description
- Link to blog posts
- Link to landing pages
- Link to product pages and sales pages
- On Pinterest you can capture leads in the following way:
- Link from your bio
- Link pins to blog posts
- Link pins to landing pages
- Link pins to product pages and sales pages
NO.3 YOU NEED TO CONVERT YOUR SUBSCRIBERS ::
Once you have interested fans on your email list the next step is to convert those subscribers to sales with dedicated email series and broadcasts. And this is where your money is made.
So I want to share with you 5 monetization paths or sequences that you can begin to use today to monetize your email list…
#1 Welcome or nurture sequences : A welcome sequence is a great way to acknowledge your new subscribers and give them the chance to learn more about you and your brand and what to expect. Use this opportunity to tell your story, share some tips, and then gently lead into a soft sales pitch while your subscriber is still hot.
You do not have to do a hard pitch. In fact you may not want to sell anything until you actually have a product launch of some sort. I like to do an 80% off introductory offer so it’s a no-brainer.
#2 Freebie follow up sequence : This is where you will be providing value over the course of a 3-5 day email series, that ends with a strong CTA to purchase a product of yours, typically at a discounted price for new subscribers. Here I like to do a 30-50% off special offer. Not as aggressive as the welcome sequence offer but something people can still feel was a really good deal!
#3 Sales sequences : These email sequences are designed to increase your cash flow and you will be doing a hard pitch to sell your product offering. This could be a 24-hour flash sale, quick money sequence, or product launch sequence. I have email templates and a done-for-you series inside of WomanpreneuHER University under the tab Email ER!
#4 Webinar sequences : This is another popular sales sequence where you invite people to a workshop where you pitch your product offering at the end of the webinar then follow up with a series of 2-3 emails to try to close the deal to those that did not buy on the webinar. This is a sales process that can be automated as well with evergreen webinar tools like Webinar Jam.
#5 Lastly we have Broadcast Emails : Make sure you are monetizing your broadcasts, individual emails, with the passive promotion of your product offerings. You can add affiliate links when sharing tips, strategies, and suggested tools on how to accomplish a goal, you can make soft suggestions in the PostScript of your email or you can simply send a one-off email where you pitch a product.
You’ll want to experiment with what works well with your audience and what they respond to. Test different variations of value to pitch emails. Test the frequency. You may choose to sell something every day or only pitch during a quarterly live launch. It’s up to you.
You could set up a funnel like this…
NO.4 YOU NEED TO CASH IN ON YOUR LIST ::
The key to creating a steady stream of income is to have multiple sequences set up and in play at one time. You can have many sales funnels selling your products and services at any given time.
- You can incorporate Upsells and Downsells during your launches
- You can also create a customer map where you sell a series of products and services to the same customer at different points in the customer lifecycle
NO.5 YOU NEED TO CONVERT YOUR SUBSCRIBERS ::
If you want to monetize your email list you have to be consistent with your launches and asking for the sale.
You want to optimize your sales sequences, see where you can improve conversion rates and then do more of what’s working.
This may be adjusting the price, playing around with different email subject lines to get a better open rate, changing your product graphics, adding scarcity to your launches or adding bonuses.
The great thing about owning your email list is that you control it and you can do what you want!
Now that you know what to do to get your email system in money mode you officially have no more excuses for not being able to grow your email list.
All you have left to do now is EXECUTE. Use the steps I give you inside of WomanpreneuHER University and use the tips I just shared in today’s blog post. Your email list doesn’t have to be set up perfect but it does need to be set up. You can tweak and change and optimize later.
Building my list is my #1 priority and the number of engaged, responsive subscribers is the key to a profitable business.
next steps :: build your email list with me!
✪ 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 how to take your online course to the next level or how to create your first profitable digital product, coaching program or online course, check out the following resources, and let’s work together to grow your business to $10K+ passive income months.
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