LIST BUILDING is one of the most valuable marketing activities you can use to grow your online business. Unfortunately it is also one of the things many people really struggle with. Here are 6 list building mistakes you should avoid.
Instead, rookie internet marketers invest their hard earned time and money into Facebook and other forms of social media. This is despite knowing e-mail marketing is where returns can be the greatest. The problem is many of them simply don’t know how to build a list, so they make mistakes and give up.
Here are a few list building mistakes you should avoid to get the most from your list building:
Not providing VALUE – you should carefully balance the amount of valuable information you provide with the amount of promotional emails you send to your list. If your emails are mostly blatant sales pitches people will quickly get bored and unsubscribe.- Not PROMOTING your list enough – to constantly build your list you have to ensure your marketing activities provide potential subscribers with plenty of opportunities to signup with you. You need to mention it whenever you can. Whether you have posted a new article to your blog, posted a new video to YouTube or posted something new in social media. This gives you a much better chance to build your list faster.
- INCENTIVIZING too much – if you make too much out of your freebie (more commonly known as lead magnet), your subscribers will sign up to your mailing list only to get your free stuff. They won’t necessarily be interested in what you’re actually saying in your emails!
- Not providing a ‘TASTER’. Your blog, social media posts and videos should serve as a free taster for the kind of value you’ll be providing within your emails. People have to read your content and decide if they want to hear from you. Always ensure what you publish is of really high value or you won’t get opt-ins!
- Not performing LIST HYGIENE. This is the process of removing broken emails, spam email addresses and readers who aren’t engaged. Too many people are focused purely on numbers and on trying to get the biggest list possible. However, engagement is far more important. Aim to build a list filled with highly engaged readers that want to hear more from you and spend time to remove those that don’t. Otherwise, you risk your email being blacklisted.
- Not COMMUNICATING – email is a form of communication. Think about different types of content you can provide in your emails. Consider asking your subscribers a question once in a while. Or, send them a survey to understand the ways they would like you to help them. This is a fantastic way to increase your subscriber engagement and trust!
You need to avoid these mistakes and know how to get the best out of your list. There are many excellent training courses available for email marketing, but I highly recommend the one from my mentor Michael Cheney. You can find more about his Email Black Ops course HERE.