Regardless of your industry, current and potential clients are now connected online. They fire up search engines to look for products and services that would meet their needs. As such, having a strong e-mail list on your website proves to be an all-important factor in keeping in touch with your customer base, as well as in reaching your prospects.
With the number of people subscribed to your e-mail list, every message gives you the means to connect more and entice them with what your business has to offer. If you wish to maximize that particular online marketing strategy, here are 10 tips on building your e-mail list:
1. Give your newsletter a catchy name.
To many businesses, branding is everything. A brand that easily connects to your target clients gets you halfway through the ladder of success.
Instead of a generic and predictable name, baptize your online newsletter with a catchy yet professional-sounding one, enough that when your target market hears it, they will know that it is them you are talking to.
2. Create good content.
Once you decide on a name, follow through by producing invaluable content. A name, good or otherwise, will not last in the rat race if it is hollow or has mediocre content.
Some of the basic steps in producing good content are doing in-depth research, getting to know your clients (e.g. their needs), and sticking to an effective writing style. You can also form a team of expert writers that will help you produce the articles you need.
3. Put up the “Join Our Mailing List” box.
Putting up a website is like opening a restaurant. After making sure you have a groovy name and a fantastic menu, you are now ready to put up the “Come In, We’re Open” sign on the door and invite customers.
This is basically what you have to do with your website, only that you will be using “Join Our Mailing List Box” label sign instead. You have to place your sign where it is easily seen on every page of your website.
4. Be transparent.
Once people sign up to your mailing list, an owner-client relationship is established. Hence, this should be founded on trust.
Transparency is manifested with how you use the details you have in your hands. Many people still treat their e-mail addresses the way they would do their home addresses—they don’t just give them right away for security and privacy purposes. Simply put, let your subscribers know where and how you’re going to use their information.
5. Give them an incentive.
When people subscribe to your e-mail list, they assume that they will find whatever it is they are looking for, and you owe it to them to give them your best service.
Since they took the effort of subscribing and giving you their personal information, provide irresistible offers every once in a while that only subscribed clients can exclusively receive. Whether these are e-books, coupons, or movie tickets, give your clients something that will make them stay tuned to your website.
6. Collaborate with similar newsletters.
With the Internet giving every entrepreneur the chance to take advantage of its benefits, you can be sure that you’re not alone in your niche. But instead of dreaming to be the last man standing, consider collaborating with the best ones in the industry and promote one another in your respective websites. This way, you don’t only make yourself well-known, you also secure strong partnerships in the future.
7. Add the “E-mail to A Friend” button.
It is not hard for a client to love your website if you are producing the quality content they need and want to read. When you achieve this, you can already count on the possibility that they will want other people to know about what they read on your website.
Prep your site for this situation by adding a button that will allow your clients to e-mail each article to their friends. This option does not only help you popularize your website, it will also help you gain more clients.
8. Include social media.
Take advantage of the millions of people connected through social media by reaching out to the network of your clients. Aside from the e-mail button, you can also include sharing buttons for the most prominent online networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
9. Be platform-friendly.
Your clients, both in the present and in the future, access the Internet using different devices. Thus, it would be better if your website can be navigated easily whether your clients are using a computer, a smartphone, or a tablet. This means you should make your website available in different platforms. The easier it is to access, the more your clients will be eager to tell their friends to sign up for your mailing list.
10. Deliver your promises.
This is basically a catch-all term for all the things that you need to do in return for winning your target market. To have more people sign up to your mailing list, make sure that you stay true to your word, be it providing useful content, giving away freebies, or just being the site they can depend on.
Once they have subscribed to your e-mail list, the next logical step would be for you to give them what they expect from you. These tips may seem like a lot of work but if you think about it, that’s how businesses thrive and succeed in the industry—a lot of hard-work and outstanding service. Convert your site’s traffic into better income by building your list of e-mail addresses now.