List Building. Part 2.
Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.
List Building
Welcome to Part 2 of List Building. Again, this article is written for the Blogging Newcomer. If you’ve read Part 1, you’ll realize that there is no ‘overnight’ method to making money online. It takes determination and persistence. It also takes a fair bit of money. However, there are ways to start List Building without spending a fortune. Read on to find out about 3 basic methods…..
Getting Your First 100 Subscribers
Let me share the big secret to building a list with you. It’s all about figuring out how to get your first 100 subscribers. Once you’ve learned that, you can simply do more of what you’re already doing to build your list faster.
For now, though, I am going to share three simple strategies with you that you can use to build your list. Best of all, all three of them are free and won’t take you long to implement. Let’s get started.
List Building by Blog Commenting
One of the easiest ways to get traffic and subscribers to your list is to comment on other popular blogs. Find about 10 of them and visit them several times a week. When appropriate, leave a great comment. Don’t just write “Great post, enjoyed reading it.” Instead, add to the conversation and share something of value. This will encourage readers to click on your name and click through to your blog to learn more about you. From there you can start to get them on your list by having a signup box in the sidebar of your blog.
List Building by Forum Participation
Find 3 to 5 active forums in your niche and start participating. The important thing is to find forums that get quite a few new posts per day. They are the ones that get a fair amount of traffic and have a loyal readership. Look through posts and make sure there are at least 10 or so from today before you add it to your list of forums to start participating in.
Sign up for each of those active forums and spend a few minutes creating a profile that includes a picture, some info about you and most importantly a link back to your blog.
Answer questions and be helpful on the forum. If allowed, include a signature file that invites readers to check out your blog and sign up for your newsletter. I recommend spending 15 to 30 minutes a day on these forums. You should see a few new signups per week from this activity alone. As you start to accumulate more and more posts on these forums and become known as a bit of an expert in your field, you’ll see signup percentages increase.
List Building by Writing Articles
Last but not least, sit down and write a 400 word article on a topic that’s closely related to your blog. Make it helpful and interesting. At the end of your article, you’ll include an author resource box that will link back to your blog. I also like to encourage readers to sign up for my list. You can use the following template to write your own.
“Now that you’ve learned how to [insert topic your article was about] I would like to invite you to check out my blog at [link]. While you’re there take a moment to sign up for more tips about [insert what your list or newsletter is about].”
Submit the article to several article directories. You should see a steady little stream of new visitors to your blog and a percentage of those will sign up for your list.
Good luck with your List Building efforts. The simple methods outlined above are fun and interesting. Come back again as I go through the above methods for list building in more detail.
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