When you’re starting out trying to build a mailing list, it can be hard to know exactly what the steps are you need to take to build your list. After all, you can’t just grab a load of random email addresses off the web. That would be unethical and could be looked at as highly spammy, ’cause these people have not given you permission to contact them.
Generally there’s a fairly simple, three stage process you’re to follow instead. First of all, you need to get an autoresponder account, which you’ll use to contact these people. Then you need to create a special page from which people can enter their email addresses. This is known as a squeeze page. Finally, you need to convince people that they are willing to give you their email address. When you put all these things together, you’ll have a valid mailing list, which you can use to contact people.
So step one of the process then is to get hold of an autoresponder account. There are many different services around which will offer you an autoresponder account. A couple of well known ones are AWeber and GetResponse. But there are many others and various price points. You want to stick with something professional, because your autoresponder will scale up in time. You may start off with a list of only a hundred prospects, but as it grows into the multiple hundreds, into the thousands, you want to know that you have a scalable service which is not going to cost you a huge amount more in money when you go for it.
So take a look carefully at what the different options are. Choose the one that works best for you. Make sure that it gives guaranteed deliverability; that there are workers there who make sure that your messages not end up in spam folders. If you need a lot of help, then you may wish to look at the standard of help and support provided, along with the autoresponder service. Most importantly, look at the tracking mechanisms provided. This will help you to develop a long term business plan using this autoresponder.
Once you’ve selected and paid for your autoresponder, you need to set up a special page that people can use to opt into your list. This is known as a squeeze page. Generally, a squeeze page is a fairly short page. It gives people information about what you’re offering and, below that, some form or box where they can put in their email address. This email address is one you’re going to use to contact them. It may also ask you for their name. Asking for their name can also be useful because it allows you to personalize messages that you send with the autoresponder system. By doing so, you have more of a one to one relationship with your prospect. A lot of them will not even realize that you are sending an automated message, and they may think that they’re written directly for them.
You want to capture the right amount of information using this squeeze page. Generally, you want to keep this as simple as possible, too. Because the more information people have to enter, the less likely they are to go ahead and to fill out the form.
Now the final part after creating a squeeze page is to work out when people are going to opt into your mailing list. Generally, they will not just opt in for the goodness of health. They have to be offered some form of ethical bribe in order to get them to opt in. Exactly what this ethical bribe should be will depend on your particular niche. You may want to give out some form of ebook; you might want to give out a video course; or, perhaps, some audio product.
It may just be that people want to find out more about you and to subscribe to your newsletter. That could be quite valid. A newsletter can be valuable in its own right. If you’re contacting people once a week with information that they want then this may prove to be enough of an incentive for them to opt into your autoresponder account.
But generally building a mailing list, you’re to make sure you have something that they want. You may choose to split test several different items and work out which one has the highest optin rate.
So that’s a very straightforward process you can follow any one to set up a mailing list. Start off by getting an autoresponder which guarantees deliverability and provides you with the scalable quality of service that you need. Then, inside the autoresponder, use its own coding mechanisms to create a squeeze page. This can often be done in a few clicks from inside the autoresponder account. And, finally, cut the list with whatever you need to give away to get people to opt into your list. It may be a simple ebook, or it may be something much more complex.
By following this three stage process, you’ll have set up a mailing list, and you’ll soon get people opting into it.