How To Build Your First Email List From Scratch

If you have a social media account like Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest and you are super proud of the huge number of followers that you have, then BRAVO.

If you do not have an email list then you better get to it.

The biggest mistake that I see online entrepreneurs make is having a healthy social media account but no email list to back it up.

Why is that a mistake?

Because you do not OWN your social media account.

All you can do is manage it.

The only people that own your social media accounts are the providers.

Your account can be terminated at any time. The social media algorithm can be affected at any time preventing you from reaching your audience whenever you want to.

A great example is the biggest change in the Facebook algorithm, notoriously called Facebook’s Great Organic Reach Decline of 2014.

Facebook has been changing its algorithm so that Facebook fan pages’ organic reach is on the decline.

If you own a Facebook fan page, you would have noticed over a period of time that the number of people who can see your post for free is significantly lower.

According to Facebook’s VP of Advertising Technology, Brian Boland, businesses can still succeed on Facebook even though there has been a decline in organic reach.

He outlines that several businesses have done so by using Facebook ads.

So in a nutshell, you now have to pay for your audience to see your post.

This is counteractive because if you paid for a Like campaign to attract followers to your page, you also have to pay to reach those people with your post.

This is the reason why it is so paramount that you start building an email list.

What Is An Email List?

An email list is a list of people whose email addresses you have, that you can from time to time send an email about a product or service you offer.

You may also commonly hear the term, email subscriber.

Just like you will send your social media followers offers or products on their newsfeed, with an email list the offer is notified via email.

An email list belongs to you.

No one can take it away from you.

You can backup your email list using an Excel spreadsheet and use it across multiple email marketing software.

Companies that have something to sell also refer to their email list as online leads.

Leads are people who can potentially become your customer.

An email list is also a source of income for some people. If an email list is engaged to their owner’s content and regularly opens that content, then the owner can make multiple sales with one email sent.

How To Get Subscribers Fast

If your goal is to build an email list as fast as you can then there are a few key pieces of equipment that you need to start:

• An email autoresponder
• Traffic

What is an email autoresponder?

An email autoresponder is a software that automatically sends emails to your subscribers.

You collect email addresses with an opt-in form or lead page which is then connected to an autoresponder and it does the work for you by sending emails to those addresses.

What is traffic?

No one really cares about you.

Unless you already have an audience, no one is searching for you.

Traffic refers to people.

Therefore you have to go out and find people.

The easiest way to find people is to target those places where people hang out online.

People usually hang out on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram – that is where you want to be and that is where you want to share your content.

To start getting subscribers I would recommend the following email autoresponders:

GetResponse create beautiful opt in forms and you will be provided with a URL that you can share on the internet or code that you can embed in your website or blog.

MailChimp create simple sign up forms that you can customise and share to Facebook, a website or blog using a URL

Aweber create a simple sign up form that you can customise and integrate with several third party applications like Facebook or WordPress. This is useful if you already have a blog or website as you will be able to embed your sign up form. You can also use a URL directly to the sign up form if you prefer not to use a website.

What content should you write? 

Everyone wants people to read their content so when sharing your sign up form and to ensure you can make the most noise you need to start by creating valuable content that people want to read.

Next you want to get your content in front of the most people.

If you do not know what people want to read then you need to find out.

An easy place to start is by doing keyword research using Google.

In whatever niche you are in, go to Google and type in a key word or phrase.

Google then gives you six to nine other key phrases that people are also searching for.

You can then use these key phrases which will form the content of your sign up form.

On your sign up form give people a reason to provide their name and email address to you.

No one will willy nilly give over their deets so you want to be sure that you are offering something that will entice them to hand over their information.

Some examples can be a free e-book, a free mini email course, a free video series or tutorial.

Where to find people?

Once you have created your content it is time to find the people.

Head on over to social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or YouTube.

Search for those same key phrases on these sites and look for posts that have a lot of engagement on it.

Engagement will include people responding to the post with their own views.

Check out major influencers as well.

Here is where you will stick your little sign up form with the URL you are provided by the email autoresponders.

Essentially what you are doing here is marketing yourself. You did not think it was going to blow up by itself did you?

Now put the work into it over and over and have fun.

The key to growing your email list fast is to produce tons of relevant content to your niche and sharing that content online.

It will take work but just one piece of content shared with the right person can cause it to go viral leading you to a huge influx in subscribers.

How To Build Your Email List For Free

GetResponse and Aweber give you a free 30 day trial where you can test out their service.

MailChimp is a free platform which allows you to create an email list up to 2000 contacts. Anything more than 2000 contacts require a paid subscription.

Getting people to your sign up form is a free option however you have to pay for this with time.

There are other ways that you can get people to your sign up form a lot quicker and more effortlessly however these methods will include paid advertising.

How to set up an email list step-by-step using GetResponse

Sign up for GetResponse’s free 30 day trial.

Once you have logged in, your first email list will already be created and you will see this listed in Your Current Campaign.

Click on the Create Form button where you will be taken to the List Builder Wizard

Select the form template that you want to use.

Using the drag and drop features design your sign up form the way you want it.

When you are finished click on the blue Save & Publish button located in the top right hand corner of the page and select Save & Publish from the drop down menu.

When you are asked Who will publish this form to your website select GetResponse will host my form if you want to be provided with a URL to share your content.

If you already have a website and want to embed it there, select I will install the form myself.

Now that your form is complete you want to create the content that your email subscribers will receive once they opt in.

To do that click Messages from the menu on the black bar then Create Autoresponder.

Where it says On Day enter a zero so that when the subscriber opts in they will immediately receive your freebie if you are offering one to them.

Scroll down and click Create New Email

In the Autoresponder Settings complete your Message Name, Subject and From fields.

In order to use mass email software like Getresponse or MailChimp you must use a private email address.

Therefore public email addresses from yahoo.com, hotmail.com or gmail.com are not recommended as this can affect email deliverability.

Sign up for a private email using Namecheap where you must purchase a domain to start.

Once you have a private email, enter this in GetResponse and ensure that it is selected as your From email address.

Click Next Step.

Select a Pre-designed Template or Start From Scratch

Enter your content on the template then select Next Step.

Select Save & Publish on the final page.

You will notice that your first autoresponder message is displayed on a numbered grid.

You can repeat the process to add more autoresponders by selecting Create New so as the days roll by each of your subscribers will receive emails on the allocated days.

How to set up an email list step-by-step using Aweber

Sign up for Aweber’s free 30 day trial.

Once you have logged in, create your first email list by selecting Manage List then Create A List.

Set up your list by entering the required information.

Like GetResponse it is recommended that a private email is used in the Sender Email field.

Click Next Step.

Describe your list and click Next Step.

Customise your Confirmation Message.

This is where you will tell Aweber whether you want your list members to confirm their subscription before they are added to your list.

The benefit of this is that your list has higher quality subscribers who must confirm that their email address exists.

This avoids the potential for any fake email addresses to be provided and can increase open email rates.

Click Approve Message And Create List.

You must now create a sign up form within Aweber so that people can opt in.

Click Sign Up Forms then Create Your First Sign Up Form

Design your form using the form builder.

When you are finished click Save Your Form and then Go To Step 2.

Change your form settings if you wish.

Click Save Your Form and then Go To Step 3.

When you are asked Who will publish this form to your website select Aweber will host my form if you want to be provided with a URL to share your content.

If you already have a website and want to embed it there, select I will install the form myself.

Now that your form is complete you want to create the content that your email subscribers will receive once they opt in.

To do that hover over Messages then select Legacy Follow Up Series.

Select Drag And Drop Email Builder and start adding your content. Click Save & Exit when you are finished.

Your message will be added to the Drafts folder.

Click Send Options then Add To Followup Series.

Confirm that you want your message to be added to the follow up series.

Who Should Create An Email List?

I think that all online entrepreneurs, business owners and bloggers should start building an email list.

However if you never intend to sell anything, then you do not need to build an email list.

Cheers

P.S Do you have any questions about building an email list? Do you have your own? Tell me in the comments. What do you like or don’t like about this process?

P.P.S You can also subscribe to my email list below for more internet marketing tidbits to help you in your online marketing and network marketing journey.