Getting Started with list building (for Non-techies)
Hi all,
I said I would give some info as to how I started my list. Nothing here will be new I doubt to anyone who is already up and running but I guess the thing to remember is, as always, taking action. It's understandable to get dismayed when you first start out - especially when you see other people's sites, hear of their success and think 'I'll never get there' but remember that we all start with NOTHING. Set an hour or 4 a day to FOCUS on list building alone and at the end of a week or month you will see some massive changes.
This is going to be a fairly long post so I'll split it up and put one technique at a time. Like I say, I doubt anything will blow your head away here but these techniques come from experience - they worked for me and helped me build 2k + names very quickly. My list is now at nearly 15,000 and growing every day using the very same techniques although I have tended to focus more on product development for the last 12 months and have done very little focussed list building. I suppose that's the beauty of this stuff - once you set the techniques in motion, a lot of them keep generating traffic. :-)
Actually, for this first technique, that's not true. This has little direct longevity but there are indirect benefits and it is certainly a fast builder. This is the technique I used first... FORUMS.... and this is how I went about using them...
1. Make a list of forums in your niche. For me, in teaching, that was quite easy - there are some big online communities.
2. Post questions to the forum members asking them things like "What is the biggest problem you are facing in .......?
3. Produce some free resources/brief reports to answer their problems and then post simple messages offering the free stuff.
4. Free report on....... here(link to your opt-in box) Be careful with this - some forums hate adverts of any kind - even for free stuff - but you can often add the link to your sig. I tended to add something like "In order to get the report you will have to give your name/email - sorry if that offends. If you still want the report but don't want to give your details just email me and I'll send you it anyway" (That way you are seen as less than a blatant marketer and not many people bother to email anyway. :-)
5. Have a separate opt-in page for each of your free reports/give-aways. That way you can test your most popular offers and see where your members are coming from. (In Aweber this is easy to do using their web form tutorial).
6. If you are selling an ebook GIVE COPIES AWAY. This got me started in sales almost immediately. My ebook was all about behaviour management for teachers (if you want a copy to see what it was like you can get it here without signing up: Classman - access ). I knew it was a hot topic with big demand so I offered 50 copies:
"Free behaviour Management Ebook" was the headline I used and then in the message I said "I've got 50 copies to give away. I'm afraid I'm using this as a marketing tool so you will have to give your email address tyo get the ebook but I'm sure you'll think it's worth it. :-)
The 50 copies went in about an hour as I recall (teachers don't like spending money so the free offer was very appealing to them!)
What I did next was slightly more creative: On the download page I said "Hi, thanks for requesting your ebook - here it is, I hope you enjoy it. All I ask in return is that you leave some feedback in the same thread on the forum saying what you thought of it."
That little tip got me loads of sign-ups and loads of sales because the thread stayed up there for ages with people adding feedback. In fact, this was so useful to me I think I gave away about 200 copies in the end.
7. After that I tried to make sure all my posts were either: HIGHLY USEFUL to members and had a link to some of my resources and/or ENCOURAGED FURTHER INPUT FROM FORUM MEMBERS. The trick on forums is to try and get a long/popular thread. You can do that in many ways. Here are a couple:
The first is exactly what you're seeing with this thread. You need to first have a popular title. I knew from the feedback on my last post - from $27 ebook to $12,000 in 2 weeks - that people were very keen to know how I built my list in the first place (And we all know traffic is quite a hot subject anyway:-). Then, you split the information up over several posts to stretch the time out that people will follow the thread. In actual fact I'm having to do that anyway because there's going to be quite a bit of info but you get the point.
Another way is to encourage feedback - as I did when I gave away copies of my ebook. Gradually the thread builds and builds and if you did a good job with your initial product and have chosen a popular forum you get lots and lots of referrals/traffic.
Another way is to ask for help and add a 'PS' to your message with your site details. Like this:
Can Anyone help me please?
I'm looking for extra tips to add to my 'classroom management tips' newsletter. I'm particularly looking for ideas to get boys to read. I have some good ideas of my own but I know there are a lot of very skilled people on this forum so I'd appreciate anything you can add.
Many thanks in advance,
Rob Plevin
PS
Any tips I receive will be added to our selection of free resources here: {link to your website with an opportunity to join your autoresponder}
8. Structure your posts for SEO:
Forum posts actually get indexed, and are available for reference anytime thereafter. This is GREAT news for you, because you can easily use this to your advantage.
First, you have to know what your most frequently searched keywords are for your chosen topic and then just use them in your subject line.
Here are a few examples:
KEYWORD: Classroom Management
SUBJECT TITLE: Classroom management question - do you use this technique with kids who swear?
KEYWORD: Classroom management tip
SUBJECT TITLE: A cool classroom management tip I just received...
KEYWORD: Noisy pupils
SUBJECT TITLE: How I settle noisy pupils every day...
(I cut those from a product I'm putting together on 'Getting Customers' for trainers/consultants hence the different text :-)
Hope they help folks. I'll put some more up when I get chance.
I said I would give some info as to how I started my list. Nothing here will be new I doubt to anyone who is already up and running but I guess the thing to remember is, as always, taking action. It's understandable to get dismayed when you first start out - especially when you see other people's sites, hear of their success and think 'I'll never get there' but remember that we all start with NOTHING. Set an hour or 4 a day to FOCUS on list building alone and at the end of a week or month you will see some massive changes.
This is going to be a fairly long post so I'll split it up and put one technique at a time. Like I say, I doubt anything will blow your head away here but these techniques come from experience - they worked for me and helped me build 2k + names very quickly. My list is now at nearly 15,000 and growing every day using the very same techniques although I have tended to focus more on product development for the last 12 months and have done very little focussed list building. I suppose that's the beauty of this stuff - once you set the techniques in motion, a lot of them keep generating traffic. :-)
Actually, for this first technique, that's not true. This has little direct longevity but there are indirect benefits and it is certainly a fast builder. This is the technique I used first... FORUMS.... and this is how I went about using them...
1. Make a list of forums in your niche. For me, in teaching, that was quite easy - there are some big online communities.
2. Post questions to the forum members asking them things like "What is the biggest problem you are facing in .......?
3. Produce some free resources/brief reports to answer their problems and then post simple messages offering the free stuff.
4. Free report on....... here(link to your opt-in box) Be careful with this - some forums hate adverts of any kind - even for free stuff - but you can often add the link to your sig. I tended to add something like "In order to get the report you will have to give your name/email - sorry if that offends. If you still want the report but don't want to give your details just email me and I'll send you it anyway" (That way you are seen as less than a blatant marketer and not many people bother to email anyway. :-)
5. Have a separate opt-in page for each of your free reports/give-aways. That way you can test your most popular offers and see where your members are coming from. (In Aweber this is easy to do using their web form tutorial).
6. If you are selling an ebook GIVE COPIES AWAY. This got me started in sales almost immediately. My ebook was all about behaviour management for teachers (if you want a copy to see what it was like you can get it here without signing up: Classman - access ). I knew it was a hot topic with big demand so I offered 50 copies:
"Free behaviour Management Ebook" was the headline I used and then in the message I said "I've got 50 copies to give away. I'm afraid I'm using this as a marketing tool so you will have to give your email address tyo get the ebook but I'm sure you'll think it's worth it. :-)
The 50 copies went in about an hour as I recall (teachers don't like spending money so the free offer was very appealing to them!)
What I did next was slightly more creative: On the download page I said "Hi, thanks for requesting your ebook - here it is, I hope you enjoy it. All I ask in return is that you leave some feedback in the same thread on the forum saying what you thought of it."
That little tip got me loads of sign-ups and loads of sales because the thread stayed up there for ages with people adding feedback. In fact, this was so useful to me I think I gave away about 200 copies in the end.
7. After that I tried to make sure all my posts were either: HIGHLY USEFUL to members and had a link to some of my resources and/or ENCOURAGED FURTHER INPUT FROM FORUM MEMBERS. The trick on forums is to try and get a long/popular thread. You can do that in many ways. Here are a couple:
The first is exactly what you're seeing with this thread. You need to first have a popular title. I knew from the feedback on my last post - from $27 ebook to $12,000 in 2 weeks - that people were very keen to know how I built my list in the first place (And we all know traffic is quite a hot subject anyway:-). Then, you split the information up over several posts to stretch the time out that people will follow the thread. In actual fact I'm having to do that anyway because there's going to be quite a bit of info but you get the point.
Another way is to encourage feedback - as I did when I gave away copies of my ebook. Gradually the thread builds and builds and if you did a good job with your initial product and have chosen a popular forum you get lots and lots of referrals/traffic.
Another way is to ask for help and add a 'PS' to your message with your site details. Like this:
Can Anyone help me please?
I'm looking for extra tips to add to my 'classroom management tips' newsletter. I'm particularly looking for ideas to get boys to read. I have some good ideas of my own but I know there are a lot of very skilled people on this forum so I'd appreciate anything you can add.
Many thanks in advance,
Rob Plevin
PS
Any tips I receive will be added to our selection of free resources here: {link to your website with an opportunity to join your autoresponder}
8. Structure your posts for SEO:
Forum posts actually get indexed, and are available for reference anytime thereafter. This is GREAT news for you, because you can easily use this to your advantage.
First, you have to know what your most frequently searched keywords are for your chosen topic and then just use them in your subject line.
Here are a few examples:
KEYWORD: Classroom Management
SUBJECT TITLE: Classroom management question - do you use this technique with kids who swear?
KEYWORD: Classroom management tip
SUBJECT TITLE: A cool classroom management tip I just received...
KEYWORD: Noisy pupils
SUBJECT TITLE: How I settle noisy pupils every day...
(I cut those from a product I'm putting together on 'Getting Customers' for trainers/consultants hence the different text :-)
Hope they help folks. I'll put some more up when I get chance.
Roger Davis