Are you ready to start or grow your email list but have no idea where to even start?

You probably already know that building an email list is something you need to be doing from the very beginning of your blog or business journey.

You may have hundreds of Facebook fans and Pinterest followers, but your email list is 100% YOURS. If your social media account was lost, you got banned from Pinterest, how would you connect with your audience?

Remember the time that Instagram broke?!

Your email list is your way of communicating with your target audience. It’s how you turn your readers into racing fans and from raving fans into buyers

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Focus on Building Your Email List

Building an email list is probably one of the most important things you can do as an online business owner. And there is no better time than right now to start building yours.

Many successful bloggers will admit that one of the biggest mistakes they made when starting their blog was not growing their email list from the start. Don’t let this be you! Start thinking about how you will build your email list from the gate.

Wait a minute, how do you grow an email list, anyway?

How to Grow Your Email List with An Opt-In Freebie

If you want to grow your email list, you better have something irresistible to offer your readers. Your opt-in better be something of enough value that they will hand over their email address for it. When I first started my business, Applecart Lane was a mommy/lifestyle blog. Since a “mom blog” is a very broad niche, It took me a bit of time to come up with a perfect opt-in that my readers would love, but I eventually came up with something that my viewers wanted!

Since starting my blog, I have made quite the pivot and now teach graphic design to online business owners.

Although being a “supermom” is no longer my focus, I still like to share the success I had with my very first opt-in that grew my email list to 700+ in just a few months.Get access to 20 printables to help you feel like supermom!

As I said, my blog was very broad at the time. I wrote for moms. Most moms I know want to be more organized. To help my readers, I designed my Mama Prints Mini Bundle. This little pack of printables was intended to attract moms of all kinds, and It went like hotcakes! As soon as I published it, the subscribers started rolling in.

As you can see in the screenshot below, most of my subscribers come from my Mama Prints Mini Bundle. On November 4th, I received 29 subscribers from that opt-in alone.

What Makes a Good Opt-In?

Most importantly, you need to be able to provide your readers with something of value. What are their pain points? What do they need help with? What can you offer them that will help them with their struggles? If you can figure this out, you can create a killer opt-in that will grow your email list exponentially! Read 10 Bloggers Killing it with Their Opt-In Freebie if you need some inspiration.

In addition to providing your readers something of value, your opt-in will be so much more successful if you can create something that looks relatively professional. Your readers will be much more likely to subscribe if the opt-in they receive seems like you put your heart and soul into it. Find out what all successful opt-ins have in common here. 

Enroll in my Free 30-Minute Graphic Design Traning to learn some great design tips for creating your opt-in freebie. YES, it’s only 30 minutes (cause I know you’re busy!) but you are going to learn SO much! You’ll also get a very brief introduction to six super important graphic design principles that will improve your graphics when you use them.

DIY Graphic Design Training

How to Collect Email Addresses

So you’re getting some traffic and you have a smashing opt-in, but how do you actually collect those valuable email addresses?

Thrive Leads is the ultimate list building plugin for WordPress. It is hands down, THE BEST plug in to use for collecting email addresses to grow your email list. Thrive Leads has at least nine different styles of opt-in forms you can choose from, so you’re sure to find something that works for you.

Thrive leads for email list growth This simple plugin is essential for growing your email list, and I highly recommend it if you’re looking for lots of options. It’s not free, but it is a reasonable one-time fee, and it’s totally worth it in my opinion!

Harness the Power of Pinterest

Monitor with Pinterest

If you’re underestimating the power of Pinterest then you’ll want to read on.

At the time of writing this article, Pinterest drives over 75% of my traffic and email sign-ups.

I take my time when designing Pinterest pins for all of my content, including specific pins for any opt-in I create.

I then hand them over to my Pinterest manager and she pins the pins to all relevant boards and Tailwind tribes. It all happens on autopilot, using an app called Tailwind.

Tailwind makes me look super active on Pinterest while bringing me valuable email subscribers on autopilot! The pins exist on Pinterest forever, so they can bring me website traffic and email subscribers for years to come.

If you use this link to sign up, you’ll snag a free 30-day trial.

Managing Your Email List

If you want to skip the BS and go right for the mailing system that is created for serious online creators, you need ConvertKit.

If it wasn’t for Convertkit, I wouldn’t have a way to deliver my opt-in freebie to all of my subscribers.

The best part? It’s easy to learn and understand.

Within about 30 minutes I was able to set up an email list sequence that delivers my freebies and welcomes my subscribers. And it all runs behind the scenes, so I don’t have to worry about it. It also allows me to send out segmented emails to certain people on my list with the use of tags and automations. Talk about a time saver!

That’s My Method, Now Make It Yours!

To sum it up, here’s what I did, and what you need to do to put your email list in high gear:

  • Come up with an opt-in that will solve a problem your readers have.
  • Complete my graphic design mini-course to get a handle on the graphic design principals and rules you need to follow to produce a professional-looking opt-in.
  • Use Thrive Leads to collect email addresses
  • Implement a Pinterest strategy using a Pinterest automation tool like Tailwind.
  • Use a mail program like ConvertKit to deliver your smashing opt-in
  • Sit back and watch your email list grow!

I hope this post inspires and encourages you to start growing your email list today.

I can’t wait to see what you create!

Kristin Rappaport post signature