7 Secrets To Build An Email List Without Spending Money On Ads

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The money is in your email list so build one today and start adding to your money pot. 

Build an email list and create relationships with potential customers of your online business. 

Problem is, you don’t have the money to throw at paid ads. Use my secrets to how I build an email list of subscribers hungry for my offer.

3 Reasons You Should Build An Email List Now

One of the smartest decisions you’ll ever make in your online business is to build an email list.

Whether your business is

  • Freelancing
  • Blogging
  • YouTuber
  • Affiliate Marketer
  • Social Media Influencer
  • Course Creator

You need to build that list as it’s one of the biggest assets you’ll own as a business owner.

The 3 top reasons why you need a list is because

  1. Social Media and YouTube Have Algorithm Changes So Your Followers May Not See Your Future Content Or Worse The Platform Can Shut Down At Anytime
  2. You Can Have A Direct Conversation With Your Email Subscribers
  3. Your Email List Is Yours And You Own It

77% of marketers have seen an increase in email engagement over the last 12 months. 

Even more reasons to get excited about email marketing is that it’s estimated to reach almost $11 billion by the end of 2023.

Now you’ve got these mouth-watering stats, it’s time to get the best tool for your first email marketing campaign.

email subject lines

Best Email Marketing Tool To Build Your List Of Subscribers

Email marketing software is a tool that you need so that you can get email addresses and monetize them.

Monetize your email list by following up with your lead. Pitch your services or products to them. If that doesn’t work you can continue to send newsletters that sell products you create or are an affiliate of.

If you’re not too sure what an affiliate is. An affiliate is someone who promotes a product that someone else has created. If a person buys the product through your affiliate link, you get a commission in return.

An Affordable Tool For Business Owners

You want something that’s affordable if you’re stuck for money or in the famine or feast cycle.

GetResponse is perfect for entrepreneurs who are seeking an affordable email marketing software.

With GetResponse, you can create

  • Landing pages
  • Autoresponders
  • Newsletters
  • Add files
  • Build a website

and so much more…

It really is the tool that entrepreneurs need to grab those leads and then follow up with them.

Claim Your Free Trial Of GetResponse

GetResponse will give you a 30-day free trial when you sign up.

With the free trial, you’ll be able to use GetResponse as if you were a paying customer.

Give GetResponse a go for free and turn your website into a lead-generating matching.

To get started, you can create a list inside GetResponse. Use the tools available and create an autoresponder so that you follow up with your leads.

But to get those leads, GetResponse has tools available to put popup forms onto your website. So whenever a lead lands on your website, you can get their email address to follow up with them.

By the end of your 30-day free trial with GetResponse, the email marketing software will be paying for itself.

Setting up your GetResponse account

Setting up a GetResponse account is easy to do.

Sign up to get your free trial using your email address and verifying your phone number. Also, give some basic details about you. Really, that’s all you need to open an account.

After you’ve opened your account, you need to set yourself up for success.

Firstly, you need to create a list. This is the list that will hold the email addresses of your leads that you can send emails to.

Create A List

build an email list with Get Response

Once you’ve clicked ‘Lists’ you can create your first list.

When naming your list, stick to lowercase letters, numbers, and the underscore. Otherwise, the platform won’t accept it as a list name.

Now you have a list, it needs filling up. But before you start filling that email list, you need an offer.

Your offer is the reason why the lead will give them your email address. This is known as a lead magnet.

See secret number 8 to learn more about how to create a juicy lead magnet your audience are hungry for.

5 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Buy An Email List

Wanting a sale but struggling, buying an email list sounds like an easy quick fix. Instead you’re spending money on a promise that never gets fulfilled.

Tempted by headlines telling you that their email lists are 100% compliant, the very best, or have 95% deliverability rate.

Don’t be fooled.

Buying an email list is dangerous…

  1. You don’t know how the email was obtained (web scraping possibility)
  2. The email list is out of date and the email addresses are no longer used
  3. You’re violating terms and conditions of the email marketing software provider
  4. You’re not the only one buying the same email list
  5. Violation of GDPR

If you want to buy an email list, think of these warnings, don’t be drawn in by big headlines, and use your critical thinking.

Check out these other email marketing mistakes you should be avoiding at all costs.

7 Secrets To Build An Email List

Get 15% More Subscribers With Exit Popups

Exit popups are popup boxes on websites that appear when you’re trying to leave the site.

Example of an exit popup by Neil Patel for trying to build an email list

Upto 15% percent of lost visitors can be ‘saved’ by using exit-intent popups.

So don’t lose any potential new leads by adding exit popups to your website.

You can add exit popups by installing a WordPress plugin to you site and configuring it with your email marketing software.

Get 9.7% More Email Subscribers With A High-Converting Landing Page

A landing page is a dedicated page for business owners to capture email addresses and grow their list of subscribers.

Tailwind app landing page example

Typically you’ll see landing pages being promoted on 

  • Facebook Ads
  • Google Ads
  • Social Media Campaigns
  • Business Cards
  • YouTube

In fact anywhere you see a promotion of some sort.

When entrepreneurs use landing pages they’ll get on average 9.7% more email subscribers.

To set up your own landing page for your offer you can use an email marketing tool.

With an email marketing tool you can create one using their templates and then add persuasive copy to add that extra touch of magic.

social media content planner

Create A Social Media Campaign To Build Your List

Social media is popular.

Popular to talk about your products, engage with your audience and increase brand awareness.

Creating a social media campaign

But (here’s the warning)

You don’t own the social media platform.

So if it goes down, you’ve lost your audience. That’s why you need tgo get your audience onto your email list.

5 places that you can create a campaign on social media is

  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Tik Tok
  • LinkedIn

Before you dive straight in with your campaign, choose which one is best for you.

Each of these platforms attract a different range of people and have a different reason to use it.

So make sure you do your homework as to where your target market is and then design a campaign that’ll attract them to your offer.

email templates

Do Offline Networking 

Offline networking is just as popular as ever.

It’s where business owners meet other business owners at an event meant specifically for networking.

Networking where you talk about your business, learn about other people’s businesses, and swap business cards.

Swapping business cards at a networking event

On a business card you have the NAP (Name, Address, and Phone Number) and also an email and social media details.

Use these details to connect with them online and continue the conversation.

But what you can also add on your business card is the web address. Not just any web address, but the one for your landing page.

Just make sure you add an enticing call to action so they do visit the link.

Be Mobile Optimized For Google To Build Your Email List

More and more we are turning to out mobile devices to do quick Google searches.

Wether we’re communiting or watching the telly, we’re attached to out devices asking Google questions we need an answer to.

number of mobile searches according to Oberlo

If you’re offer solves that problem the user has, then you want them on your landing page.

The last thing you want is for the user to click onto your landing page for them to only click away.

Even worse, this bounce can have a serious negative affect on your rankings in the search engines.

To stop this from happening, make your landing page mobile-friendly.

With GetResponse, you can make a landing page for computers and for mobile devices.

Having a mobile-optimized landing page allows you to drastically increase your email list.

Use SEO

SEO (Search engine optimization) is what entrepreneurs like you are using to get found on the search engine.

But typically, people find you by typing in a problem that they to have solved quickly.

So how on earth do you get onto the search engines?

You can do this with or without a website. You just need that landing page you create in GetResponse to grab those email addresses.

It all comes down to one thing as to whether or not you can use SEO and link building to build your email list.

What’s that one thing?

Keyword research!

With keyword research, you discover the exact keywords and phrases your target market is putting into search engines.

There are 3 different ways in which you use keyword research. These are

Yes Pinterest, because Pinterest is a search engine first. Popular belief is that it’s a social media platform, but in fact, it’s a search engine.

Offer Content Upgrades

Content upgrades are when you read or view a piece of content such as a blog like this and then you’re offered another piecde of content

This piece of content could have a price tag attached to it or a request for an email address to get for free.

These content upgrades are known as lead magnets.

Use a magnet that attracts people when you build an email list

What are lead magnets?

According to GetResponse, 58.6% of marketers claim that short-form written lead magnets (newsletters, checklists, copy examples, smaller files, ebook samples) make for the highest conversion rates.

Only 41.4% say that long-form written content (guides, whitepapers, reports, email courses, spreadsheets, curated or personalized reports) makes for the highest conversion rates.

Create a lead magnet

To build an email list, you need to give people a reason why they should sign up for your email list.

This is where lead magnets come in. Lead magnets are tempting offers that make people want to sign up to your email list and become a lead.

Lead magnet ideas

Has this data got your juices flowing?

Before you start creating a lead magnet, you need to look at the big picture first.

Take a look at the aim of why you’re getting the lead and what problem the lead is wanting to have solved.

For example, if you’re a freelance copywriter trying to get leads, you need to give a quick fix first to the lead. A quick fix can be a template to write copy or a list of power words to use.

Then to convert that lead into a client, you follow up with the client by pitching to them your copywriting services.

Check out these 5 high-converting lead magnet ideas.

Following up with your lead

For a successful follow-up, you need to include

  • Introduction to you
  • Pitch your services
  • Answer any questions people will have
  • Testimonials using storytelling

Whenever you write your follow-up emails, you need a call to action.

Call to action where the client can book a call with you to discuss further or something else that means they’re moving one step further up the pipeline.

But you need to get the right leads in your pipeline. You want targeted leads who will buy your services or products.

Using SEO will go a long way in helping you build a list of targeted leads.

In A Nutshell,

Now you’ve learned the exact steps entrepreneurs like you are taking to build an email list for free. Even better you’ve built an email list with people who’ve already got that know, like, and trust factor.

Take the next step and use these 39 email templates that have helped me turn email subscribers into sales.

About Post Author

Alison Wolf

Helping you to build an online business so you have an extra stream of income or quit the day job. Don't forget to follow me on social media using the handle @heyalisonwolf