6 Email List Building Strategies: from Simple to Complex

Building an email list is one of the best things you can do for your blogging biz.

It will help you:

• Build a Tribe
• Get more Traffic
• Build Relationships
• Deliver Value
• Make Money
• Stay on Track

Check out my other article first if you are still unsure why you need to start building an email list now or have excuses for why you shouldn’t.

Hey guys, my name is Anna and I’m the blogger behind annasok.com and my art blog yourartpath.com. I started blogging in 2017 and it changed my life!

If you haven’t started a blog yet, read my step-by-step how to start a successful blog article!

Now, onto the 6 most effective tactics to get started with email list building (from simple to more complex):

Opt-In Idea #1: Newsletter

This is by far the most obvious and easy tactic.

All you need is an email service (I love and use ConvertKit), and an opt-in that prompts people to exchange their email addresses for updates on what’s new on your blog.

Usually, this kind of opt-in is present on the sidebar of your blog, or if it’s the only one you have (which I don’t recommend) then somewhere in a visible place on your site.

Tip: Make sure you have a “Welcome” email that is automatically sent off when a person subscribes. And that you do send those email updates as soon as a new blog post is up or people will forget who you are and why you are sending them emails.

If you don’t know what to send to your list and how to grow subscribers quickly, I recommend this FREE eBOOK on email marketing.

The only problem with this opt-in is that it won’t convert as well as if you were offering something valuable in exchange for their email adress.

Opt-In Idea #2: Article PDF

If you have a long article that provides a lot of value to the reader, you can always offer it in a PDF format in exchange for an email address.

Some people prefer reading things away from blogs, others just want to keep a copy to refer back to later and you can give them a chance to do so.

Putting something like this together shouldn’t take much time as you have all of the content pre-written and images good to go.

You can use Canva, Photoshop, Microsoft Word or any other software that is capable of saving files in the .pdf format.

Make sure you have a way of delivering those files to your readers! You can do so through an automated email or with a “Download” button that appears only after they have signed up to your email list.

This sort of opt-in should only be available through that one specific article. You can position it at the beginning, middle, end or all across your blog post.

Opt-In Idea #3: Content Upgrade

This is a similar tactic to the one above but takes a bit more work (and therefore could be more rewarding).

Content Upgrade simply means that they can get this information that’s within the article and more on the topic in a .pdf format.

For example, let’s say you wrote an article “10 Keto Diet Dinner Recipes”. Then your content upgrade could sound like this:

• Download 15 Keto Diet Dinner Recipes PDF.

or

• Did you like these 10 recipes? Get 5 more in your email box now when you subscribe to my email list!

As you can tell, you will need to create some extra content for this opt-in, but it’s a great way to build a list of targeted email subscribers.

With ConvertKit you can even set a rule to automatically tag them so you know exactly what the person is interested in (in this case keto diet).

One of such examples on my other blog would be an article I wrote about the 10 things every procreate artist needs to know. As a content upgrade, I offered them a PDF with 20 Things (+10 extra).

Here is a screenshot of what it looks like at the end of the article:

Opt-In Idea #4: Printable Freebie

This opt-in doesn’t have to be connected to any of your articles, but should be connected to the topic you are writing about on your blog.

Think about the people who are reading your content, what is it that most of them would like to know/read/do?

For example,

get this printable (something) for (your avatar) to help you with/to learn more about (what they want).

Here is what it could sound like:

Get this printable planner for busy moms to help you plan a week ahead, get things done and finally get some “me” time.

The key is to create something for people you want on your list!

For this tactic and the two below its’ a great idea to make pop-up email opt-ins, have them on a sidebar or when a person is trying to exit your blog.

To create pop-ups that get triggered when someone just enters your site, scrolls a certain percentage on your blog, or is trying to leave I use ConvertKit and Elementor Pro. Both do a great job!

On my art blog I have a pop-up that prompts readers to subscribe to my email list to receive a free PDF: 6+ Ways To Make Money Online as an Artist:

Opt-In Idea #5: A Challenge

Running challenges is an awesome way to build authority, grow your community and build relationships with people on your list.

I’ve had the most success with this strategy by far, and am planning to do more of them!

A challenge should solve a problem, build a habit or help in achieving a skill.

Again, think about who you want on your list and what they want to know/learn/help with.

A challenge is usually a few days long and delivers some kind of result to those who stick with it.

It could be a 30-day weigh-loss challenge, learn Photoshop in 10 days, become more productive in 21 days, de-clutter your home in 5 days, and so on.

On my first blog I run a 7 Day Email Drawing Challenge to Fight Art Block. My readers love it and always send me back happy emails 🙂

I have an opt-in for it at the end of relating articles, a pop-up and a landing page. Here is what one of them looks like (made with ConvertKit):

It takes some time to create, but you only have to do the job once and create an automated email sequence. And your job here is done!

Opt-In Idea #6: Free Course

This is by far the most complex strategy for building an email list, but when done well – the most effective.

People love free courses and they always want to improve in one way or the other.

Find out what they want the most and give it to them for free.

Seriously, one of the things I learned after over 2+ years of blogging is that the more value you create the more successful you will be.

Your free course doesn’t have to solve all of their problems, or be a few hours long – just enough for your readers to get the value you promised.

It could also be an email-sequence of valuable lessons, or you could create video lessons – up to you. Just make sure it’s good.

This tactic takes the most amount of time and effort, but you only need one good free course in order to build an email list of raving fans!

For example, I spend about 1-2 weeks to create the “How to Start a Blog 10 Day Email Course”.

I had to really think about the questions my audience would have, the things that interest them and how I could share my knowledge/experience in the most effective way.

Here is what I came up with:

• Day 1. It’s not too late! Why You Should Start a Blog ASAP
• Day 2. How to Avoid Starting a Blog that Fails
• Day 3. How to Choose the Perfect Niche for YOU
• Day 4. How to Come Up with a Great Blog Name and Where You Should Host
• Day 5. Why You Don’t Need to Buy an Expensive Theme
• Day 6. How to Write a Stunning “About Me” Page
• Day 7. How Much Does It Cost to Run a Blog and When You Will Start Making Money
• Day 8. How to Get Free Targeted Traffic to Your Blog
• Day 9. The 1 Thing You Need to Do On Your Blog NOW
• Day 10. When to Launch and What to Do After

In each email I share at least one valuable advice/experience/piece of knowledge I wish somebody told me when I was getting started.

Again, you only need to create it once and the results will keep showing.

(by the way, if you would like to subscribe to the free e-mail course you can do so below)

How to Get Started?

Before you run off creating some awesome email opt-ins content, make sure you

• Research your audience
• Find out what they want to learn/achieve/do
• Spend time creating VALUE
• Design irresistible opt-ins
• Create an Automated Sequence

As for the opt-ins, if you end up going with ConvertKit as you email provider, you can create forms or landing pages.

I suggest creating both.

So you can include opt-in forms in visible spots on your blog, and also link to the landing pages within your content!

At the end of the day, if you can get people to the landing page your conversion rate will be much higher.

That happens because readers are only given one choice when on the page, while as there are so many distractions when on the blog itself.

Then, create a sequence of emails and connect them to the opt-in form.

Again, super easy to do with ConvertKit.

Here is a little screenshot from my 7 Day Drawing Challenge:

And you are all set!

Automating your opt-ins and sequences is the best thing ever, because then you can focus on optimizing your conversion rate and creating more valuable content!

I hope you found this article helpful and feel inspired to go and create some awesomeness!

By the way, if you need more help, here are a few awesome email marketing webinars I suggest attending (they are free):

• 3 Steps to Your First 1,000 Email Subscribers
• 3 Steps to Raving Fans + Customers (how to write emails)
• 3 Steps to a Successful Online Business (make money with email marketing)
• 3 Steps to More Sales in Less Time (how to create email funnels that get you sales)

Cheers,