As promised, it's May - and this month we're going to do a 31-day challenge to build your mailing list! You'll want to start by downloading the free 31 Day Guide to Growing Your List if you haven't already.
I'll use "31GYL" in the subject line, and also as a tag, for each post in this series. That way you can easily find or identify each of the 31 posts and follow along in your copy of the guide. You may also want to sign up for daily email notification so you don't miss a post in the series. You can do that by sending a blank email to clicknewzdaily@aweber.com
I'm excited about this challenge! Building a targeted mailing list for your site, product or blog is incredibly important. I'm guilty of letting this slide on the priority list too - so this will be a great project for ALL of us. 😉
Task: Read the Introduction and Day One (pages 1-6)
- Day 1: How to create the squeeze page.
- Day 2: What sort of “bribe” you should offer prospects.
- Day 3: Create an autoresponder series that builds a relationship.
- Day 4: How to avoid freebie seekers that are unwilling/unable to buy anything.
On Day One the task is to create a compelling squeeze page. This section makes two assumptions: that you have a mailing list manager (a way to build your list), and that you know how to create a squeeze page.
In general, the guide tends to focus on building a specific kind of list. You'll notice they mention JV partners and recruiting affiliates in section two. But don't worry - I'm going to fill in the gaps, and also help you apply this to your business model.
Let's start with your mailing list manager. I use and recommend Aweber, the industry leader in email marketing.
While there are other options out there - and you are certainly welcome to use them - just make sure that you are CANSPAM compliant, that you can customize each page and email associated with your list, and that you own your subscriber database (and can back it up anytime you please). Very important!
Once you have an account set up, or if you already do, read:
How To Set Up Your Mailing List With Aweber
You'll want to read that post even if you aren't using Aweber, as it covers some important steps for setting up any mailing list.
Choose ONE Project for the Challenge
I know some of you have multiple sites/lists, but for this challenge choose ONE project to work on over the next 31 days. I am going to work on two, as a means of showing you live examples for both product-based lists and blogs - which are different types of lists. I'll be working on the mailing list here at ClickNewz, and also the mailing list for www.EasyUniqueContent.com
Creating Your Squeeze Page
The guide does not give specific directions for creating the actual squeeze page, so we'll cover that here as well. You have several options, depending on your objective.
(You do have a very specific objective, right?)
Just posting a subscription form on your website isn't enough!
You need to give your visitors a reason to subscribe...
Well gee whiz, I'm busted right off the bat! You'll notice my subscribe box in the right sidebar is just that - an opt in form with no compelling reason to subscribe. I'll fix that today (Day One) of course. 😉
If you have a blog or a content site, you may want to put your opt-in form in the sidebar so that it appears across every page of your site. If you want to build a niche email list for targeted email marketing, you'll need a squeeze page. If you sell products online (physical OR digital) you'll also need a standard squeeze page.
If you're using WordPress, you can create a Page instead of a post - and with most themes, the new Page will be added into your site navigation. You can also create an HTML web page for your squeeze page.
You'll get the opt-in form code from your mailing list manager. You can copy and paste this code and put it into your sidebar or your new squeeze page.
Squeeze Page Design
You have several options for creating a standard HTML squeeze page. Even if you use WordPress, you can upload an HTML file to your root directory (or any folder on your hosting account) and link directly to that page.
Kidino offers Two Free Squeeze Page Templates as well as a case study you can download.
I often use Semmy of www.myminisitegraphic.com He does great work, has nice turnaround time, and it's super affordable to have him design a professional squeeze page for you. He has packages for a simple squeeze page, along with packages with product graphics & buy buttons.
Michael Rasmussen has a Free Video Course on creating mini-sites that is very detailed. Mini-site is another term often exchanged for Squeeze Page or Landing Page or Flycatcher Page. Don't worry too much about what it's called. You know what you're creating: a page to build your mailing list! 🙂
If you're creating your own squeeze page, you may need help making a professional header graphic. Check out xHeader (free download).
For a little inspiration, one of my favorite squeeze pages (and a great free download) is Gideon Shalwick's squeeze page.
Day One Task
Your task for today is to create a squeeze page, or compelling opt-in form on your site or blog, that has these three elements:
- Compelling Headline
- Copy - List of Benefits
- Call to Action
Don't worry too much over the details just yet. We are going to work on the opt-in incentive tomorrow (Day Two), so you'll have plenty of time to revise your headline or call-to-action. Just get started today by creating the page, or adding the form to your website or blog.
Refer to pages 5 & 6 in the 31 Day Guide to Growing Your List to work on the 3 elements listed above.
Best,
p.s. Elite Members: there is a new List Building section in the Private Forum where we will brainstorm and review your specific email marketing model and pages/messages. Be sure to check in at the Elite May Challenge thread too! 😉
About Lynn Terry
Quick question: I've seen a lot of people use Aweber,but how about Interspire? I've been using the latter for some time now and i'm pretty satisfied, do you think Aweber could have something more to offer? I'd be willing to try it.
I'm not familiar with Interspire. I used a lot of things before I settled on (and stuck with) Aweber, so it's been a few years since I've used or looked into anything else.
As Kirk mentions below, Aweber has a Blog Broadcast feature that is awesome - and also integrates with FeedBurner for combined subscriber stats (RSS/Email).
Is Interspire a self-hosted solution? If so, the main issue is getting shut down by your ISP for mass mailing through their service. Especially as you grow your list to a substantial size.
What fun! THink I will join in with my lil ol' blog- see if I can keep up with you experts 🙂
I'll keep it simple and try to cover all the bases.
Glad you joined us! 😀
Maria,
I use a self hosted system, and the one thing I was jealous of Lynn in her use of aWeber was her ability to have aWeber pull posts from her blog and send them in a scheduled email each week. Almost an automated repurposing of content. (One of her favorite words!) I don't know if Interspire has that, but it looked so useful, I had a custom coded add-on built for my self hosted system.
That's one feature I see that I think aWeber might have that would really be worthwhile.
For those looking for an alternative to AWeber, I highly recommend MailChimp. I love, love, love it.
When I keep saying to myself "it just doesn't have to be this hard" which was my ongoing response to AWeber's archaic system, I start looking for alternatives.
Tried several but absolutely fell in love with MailChimp. The only drawback is no phone support but honestly I haven't needed it. Did use their chat system when I was first setting up and it worked much better than I ever would have anticipated.
They get the mail through every bit as well as AWeber. They have awesome stats, will pull posts from blogs, archive emails, and integrate with shopping carts as well as social media.
Pricing is comparable to AWeber and if you don't have a list yet, it's free up to 2000 subscribers and I think 12,000 emails a month. You do miss out on a few features but overall good functionality with the free account.
Bottom line they do everything AWeber does only better.
Hi Susan,
Thank you for the personal experience details on MailChimp. I'm not familiar with it myself. When you say "only better" (last sentence) - can you explain that in more detail? What do they do better than Aweber, specifically?
Thanks!
Lynn - You probably won't be interested in Mailchimp as they specifically state affiliate marketing is not something they allow.
http://mailchimp.com/legal/terms/ is a link to their terms of service. Includes work from home and affiliate marketing.
For most Internet marketers that kills their service as an option.
Thank you Scott - I wasn't aware of that. Definitely worth noting!
Also, starting with a free email autoresponder service with the intention of upgrading to a premium service such as AWeber can kill your list. Why?
Because AWeber and other email service providers will not let you import a huge list without having your entire list double opt in again.
Most subscribers won't bother doing this and you're list disappears. I learned the hard way. If you're serious about building a list, choose a premium Email service provider right away (I too use AWeber and am pleased with their service).
I agree. Its a shame to wait and then lose (on average) 90% of your subscribers in the move!
Hi, Lynn
Before I signed up with Aweber I did the rounds of several autoresponder services, including MailChimp, iContact and a few others.
I ended up with Aweber because none of the others offered all the features of Aweber - and some even lacked basic features - like loading a series of messages for out sending over time!
So, as Peter says, if you're serious and thinking of the long run - don't shoot yourself in the foot and go for free/cheap!
Any additional comments, Susan?
Hey Lynn,
My time is limited and unfortunately, my work doesn't seem to be. lol
I'm going to save these posts, take some "time off" from other things and try to do them back to back without distractions later on. 🙂
FYI: Being an Aweber lifer myself, I'm itchin' respond to some above...you go first. lol
Feel free to share your thoughts 😉 Don't worry with saving posts - I'll wrap up the entire challenge into a free download at the end. 🙂
Crazy question. Instead of using the squeeze page to have someone join your mailing list, can you use the squeeze page to have someone join your Facebook Fan Page?
I prefer Facebook because of it allows more reader interaction and I find that blog posts spread faster on Facebook than they do with e-mail.
Hi Karen,
Facebook is a great tool, and should definitely be part of your marketing strategy. But it shouldn't replace an email list. They can interact very nicely though. I have encouraged people to subscribe from my Facebook Page, and engaged my email subscribers ON Facebook by sending them an email about a hot topic we're discussing there.
Your Facebook Page relies on people being ON Facebook, and *seeing* your updates in their stream. It's very time sensitive, and the content disappears quickly (depending on how many friends/pages they are connected with).
Email, on the other hand, is more personal and arrives in their Inbox - and stays there until they come online and choose to read it.
Cant wait to get started on this and back to my site which is long overdue for some new content!!
Lynn,
You have no idea how much I need THIS! (both content and a kick in the butt to get going) 🙂
I'm joining in, and catching up now.
Thanks!
~Kate
Hey Lynn, this 31GYL is right on time for me, as I'm in the middle of optimizing my list system.
So, Day one tasks done. Looking forward to day 2 tasks.
So glad I found this. I have some catchin' up to do! I'm working on redesigning my site, which currently has no opt-in, so this is perfect timing for me. Thanks!
Your challenge is awesome. I have learn a lot from your site. I started as a ZERO and now doing things I cannot imagine. Thank you Lynn for everything n I will do it
I wish I had this resource last week. I finally got my opt-in up yesterday and wondering if it is compelling enough to get subcribers to opt-in. I chose to use GetResponse and for a person who is technically challenged, it was relatively easy to get started.
I will still go through the information here and see what I can do to improve my opt-in. I just love Challenges. Thanks!
The entire challenge will be relevant no matter which list manager you're using 😉 Glad you joined in!
I've lurked on your site for a really long time, Lynn and this is my first post. I asked you a question on twitter and your prompt response was very instrumental in my decision to join this challenge.
I'm new to all of this. I've just started promoting my first JV and I was going to try to promote it without a list.
I've always been told that you'd need a list in order to succeed in JV/clickbank product. So I wanted to give it a try.
Since this is a month of new beginnings, I'm going to start my first sign-up list as well.
So thank you for the inspiration.
Great! I'm glad you joined us and left a comment 😀 If you have any questions along the way, just let me know. *cheers*
FYI, if you register quick you can get it on this detailed step-by-step training on creating master Squeeze Pages with Carrie Wilkerson and Paul Evans:
http://www.1automationwiz.com/app/?Clk=4297047
It happens tomorrow (Friday May 6th) but you'll want to register ASAP to get in! 😉
Indeed a very informative article. Mailing Lists are as integral part of attracting customers as link building for getting traffic and it indeed needs precision for getting the most out of it.
It's really important to have an effective squeeze page to be successful in online marketing. This is where you can build a list of buyers. Just promote your product and offer your buyers a freebie in exchange of their email addresses then watch your sales go up. It's very effective if set up correctly. Good Luck!
I am learning a lot from your blog and am thankful to you for taking time and writing such an informative article.
Do you think giveaway events as an effective way to build your list. Like with Ad Swaps, Solo Ads and Joint Ventures, you can usually build your list in no time.