To make real money online, you must build your email list, your best asset.
In this post, I will share how to turn your blog into a list-building machine and how you can use that list to make more money online.
What is a list?
A list is a collection of personal information ( in our case, an email and a name ) of the people interested in what you have to offer or say.
What is list building?
List building is a process of collecting personal information ( email, phone, location, etc.) from people interested in your service or product.
We offer something they need in exchange for their email address and sometimes a name and email address, and we will store that information in a software call and autoresponder.
What is an Autoresponder?
An autoresponder is a software with two main functions: first, to store the contact you collect from your prospects, and second, to send these people automated emails. These emails will include tips and advice about our niche.
In those emails, we can include links to products and services. These can be our own or affiliate products, and when those prospects buy, we will make money.
Which autoresponder is the best?
There are a lot of good autoresponders out there. I tried most of them. If you are a blogger or content creator, then Convertkit is the best autoresponder for you.
It is easy to use, it has a clean interface, you can sell your courses inside Convertkit, and your emails will be delivered to your subscribers.
You can start with Convertkit for free.
How does the list-building process work?
You create a video, a PDF, a course, or audio when you teach people how to do something.
For example, it could be building your email list in seven days to make money for an online blog, manifesting in 24 hours for a manifestation niche, etc. You create an opt-in form to offer them that information in exchange for their email.
When they opt-in, you send them a download link to get what they opted in for and introduce yourself, and you can send them emails about yourself and your business.
Imagine this: you have 2000 people in your email list. You find something you think will help them solve their problem and write an email.
Three hundred of them opened your email, and just 30 bought that product. You make $30 per sale, which is $900 for a single email.
I know people with many subscribers who make a lot of money. You should aim for at least 1000 subscribers in the first six months. With 5000 subscribers, you can make a full-time income.
If you do not want to send them emails about products or services, you can send them the latest blog post or a digest of them, and you can send them to your YouTube channel or a podcast if you have them.
Just do not abuse them and try to sell them everything you find online or send them millions of emails per day. Remember, these are real people with real problems. Never spam them.
How to turn your blog into a list building machine.
Now we know what it is, let us dive into turning your blog into a list building machine.
Create more great content.
You need to find out what type of content your readers enjoy the most and create more and better content.
Find out what type of content gets more views, social shares, and engagements. These metrics will be your guide to creating great content.
Do your research and make sure that the information you provide is solid, practical, and actionable.
People will start to see you as an authority in the niche, and they will subscribe to your email list.
Offer them an ethical bribe.
Find the problem most of your readers are facing, find a solution, and offer it to them, exchanging it with their email address.
Most bloggers add a form that says join my mailing list. This is better than nothing, but you can go one step further and get this guide to solve your problem. Just let me know where I can send you the download link. The second way is better.
Increase traffic to your blog.
You will never get subscribers if you have a great blog with great content, but no one is visiting it.
If your blog is new and you’re not getting enough traffic, you can increase traffic by participating in social media, Facebook groups, forums, SEO, etc.
Add sign-up forms to your blog.
If you have great content on your blog, you advertise it and get a lot of traffic, and you create great content to give away, but you do not have a signup form in your blog, you won’t get any subscribers.
Where there are you going to sign up? In the next section, I will explain where you can put your sign-up form in your blog to get subscribers.
Where to put your sign-up form on your blog to build your list.
I will share five places where you can put your option form to increase your email list subscribers.
On top of your blog before the content.
You can put your form on your blog below the logo and before the main content. This is the highest converting spot for me, and you will get more subscribers since this will be the first thing they will see when coming to your blog.
The negative aspect is that it will push your blog post further down the line, which might anger some visitors.
How to build this
In the image below is the opt-in form from one of my blogs. I built it using a free plugin, but it has not been updated for ages and does not work as it used to.
You can have someone design it for you and add it to the code of your theme in Fiverr, or you can buy a theme that supports these kinds of opt-in forms. With thrive themes, you can build an opt-in form like this.
Inside your blog post
You can put your sign-up form anywhere inside your blog post and decide where you need to put your form.
All you need to do is to create your form inside your autoresponder. After you finish, they will provide a code; you can add it anywhere.
If you use Convertkit, you can read their guide on creating forms here.
Convertkit has a WordPress plugin that you can install to your blog, which will help you display your forms on every blog page.
You can learn how to set up the Convertkit plugin here.
This is an example of the form I created inside Convertkit and added to my blog.
If you scroll down to this post, you will find another form like this.
Add a form to the top right corner of your blog.
Another great place to find an option form is the top right corner of your blog. I did this when I started, but I no longer do it.
I know many people who still have this and are having great success. You can create a form using your autoresponder and add a code there.
You can add a direct code or use a plugin to do this. Most autoresponders nowadays have plugins to help you place a sign-up form in your blog.
Create a pop-up.
Another great way to capture email subscribers is by using a nonintrusive pop-up, a small sign-up form that will show up when visitors have been to your blog for a certain amount of time or intend to leave it.
I use a free plugin called Sumone, which you can find in the plugin inside your WordPress. All you need is to install it and activate the plugin.
Then go to forms, create one, select your goal and form type, put your headline, the content, and call to action, indicate where you want them to go after joining, connect to your autoresponder, and click save.
Create a squeeze page.
You can create a simple squeeze page. The main function of this page is to collect emails.
You can include the link to the squeeze pages inside your blog posts, and when your readers click those links, they will go to the squeeze page and have a chance to opt in.
There are many free WordPress plugins that you can use to create a squeeze page. If you can code, you can create using HTML, PHP, or a page builder.
This is an example of a squeeze page that I built using HTML.
Here is how to build a squeeze page using HTML.
Final words
That is it, and this is how to turn your blog into a list building machine. List building is the most important task you need to do to build a long-term online business.
Do not go overboard, building one or two types of these forms, and use them to build your online empire.