E-newsletters: What's in a List? How to Build and Nurture Your Most Valuable Asset

You know that having a strong e-newsletter is key to create top-of-mind awareness for your clients and to capture potential clients as well. But how do you get good subscribers for your newsletter? It will take some consistency and some effort, but in a short amount of time it's possible to grow your list and reach many more people who want to buy your products and/or use your services. I know this since I grew my list from 100 to 1000 in eighteen months. With that said, I'd still go for quality over quantity in my list. Make sure you add people who want to be added and never hijack anyone's list from an email or sign-up sheet.

How to Grow Your List:

At every event or workshop you facilitate, be sure you have a sign-up sheet attached to a clipboard. Why a clipboard? When it gets passed around, the clipboard stands out and looks more professional than a sheet of paper. On the signup sheet have room for name, email and phone number. You may also want to state the frequency of your e-newsletter and that you never give out names to spammers.
Add a subscriber-capture box on your Facebook Fan Page (here's mine) and on your website. Mine is in the top right corner of my homepage. With this capture box, be sure to give information away with every new subscriber so that people want to receive you in their inbox! After each new subscription, I give away writing tips and writing market information.
In the e-newsletter itself, be sure to have a Forward option so your news can be passed on.When someone queries you, ask them if they would like to receive your free newsletter with free tips and if yes, you'll gladly sign them up today.

Now that you have your names, you need to add them in your newsletter program's contact page. Be sure to also add their names along with their emails. At this point, it's a good idea to separate new names into lists. Your lists can be "Local Only", "Out of State," and product and service-specific. You can also divide up your list my age and gender. TAKE THE TIME TO TYPE THE NAMES TO YOUR LIST! After you're done adding, go ahead and file the sign-up sheet in a safe place just in case something happens to your e-list. I'm so glad I did this, especially after my computer crashed along with all of my contacts.

When someone wants off of your list (even if they opted in), take them off immediately. The auto-unsubscribes really work here so you never have to interact with someone who wants out.

Finally, keep your list secure and never give out your list to anyone. You've worked very hard to build this list and this list will help build you and your business.

Reward your followers with good content and make them care so they'll anticipate your newsletter every month and share it with friends!

0 members like this

Comment by Leslie Flowers on November 30, 2010 at 2:44pm: Nice! Now how do I add the tab in facebook Alice! I spent 45 minutes looking to no avail. Thanks!