List building is probably the most important part of internet marketing. Whether you have an online business or a brick and mortar one, you need to get a list of leads and a list of customers. Otherwise you’ll have no long term, sustainable business.
It helps a lot to have a blog before you start building an email list. If you missed my last 2 review posts of Blogging With John Chow which are about setting up a blog and blog content respectively, click on the links with the word blog in them in this sentence and read those posts.
Now we are ready to have a look at the fifth module of Blogging With John Chow course.
Module 5 – List Building
This module, as all the other modules so far, starts with a video with John Chow. In it John is talking about list building and the importance of starting to build your list right away. This video is over 4 minutes long.
Then, in text form, John in 5 paragraphs talks more about the importance of building a list. He cautions: “…your list needs to be built around the same principles as your blog -value, value, value.”
He also shares one of his emails sent to a fresh subscriber.
The Three Step Process
Step 1 – Bribe People to Join your List
Step 2 – Provide Valuable Information Regularly
Step 3 – Call them to Action
Note: I’d like to politely disagree with the word “bribe” John uses. I prefer to use the words “give incentive” or “give the reason why” instead.
The word bribe is short and to the point but it’s not really what transpires. Bribe is given in illegal and under the table activities. In honest and legitimate businesses people give free samples, free information or free estimate incentives. Those are good reasons why people are willing to give their contact information.
The note above is just to clarify the intent behind the word John uses. So, please, keep it in mind. It actually becomes very obvious what he means when you read what he says later.
First, the Bribe
In nine paragraphs of text John expands on this theme. He goes on to say things like: “…when you ask someone to sign up to your email list, they must give you information – usually a name and an email address – and for that, you’d better bring the goods.” …”You over deliver. Just like you do in every blog post you write, video you record or image you share…”
What a Good Freebie Looks Like
John lists and describes 6 different options some of which are:
Video Course
Templates
Free eBook
After that John shows a screenshot of his site where his freebie and opt in box are visible.
Provide Valuable Information Regularly
In 7 paragraphs John discusses this topic and makes statements like the one below:
“…once you have someone on your list, your number one job is to make sure they stay there.”
The Content Magnet
The key here is consistency. It’s covered in 3 paragraphs.
Reprint and Enhance
John covers some strategies about what kind of information you can send to your subscribers. One of them is to reprint your blog post and send it out with some extra content.
Other Great Content
Send them other content that is not on your blog. For example webinars, free reports, videos. The idea here is to create a relationship with your subscribers.
Call them to Action
John gives a lot of information and very useful points and examples in more than two dozen paragraphs under this heading. I cannot quote everything in this review for obvious reasons. I can’t give away the store. But you can get an idea from the excerpts below:
“This is where you start making your move…When you send an email loaded with content, it should contain at least one call to action. Here’s why. You don’t know how many emails one person will read. If someone only reads one out of every five emails you send, it’s very easy for them to miss a pitch. If you include a pitch in every message, they will see it no matter which message they read.”
There is an example of the kind of email that is likely to drive people away – the hard sell and of an email that is likely to be gratefully accepted – the easy going and personalized soft sell.
Strategies to Build Your List
After four short paragraphs John continues on with
The Squeeze Page
After covering in 2 paragraphs what a squeeze page is in general John says that the traditional blog has the following capture methods:
Sidebar Opt in
Popover Opt in
The sidebar opt in is easily ignored and often is. The popover opt in is harder to ignore but people can close it right away.
The third option which John uses and gives a picture example of from his blog is a squeeze page.
He concludes the text under this heading by saying:
“You can then link to this page from any of your posts. This is effective if you are discussing something directly related to the freebie you are giving away. Don’t oversell it…But don’t undersell it either…”
Email Suppression
Here John talks about the fact that you will not necessarily want all your emails to go to everyone on your list. Under a paragraph of text on this subject there is a near 6 minute video where John Chow is showing some of his AWeber tricks related to this. Since this is a YouTube video I decided to embed it here.
Watch John Chow’s AWeber Tricks in the video below:
How to Create a Squeeze Page in 10 Minutes
John points out that there are a lot of courses about how to create a squeeze page but if you are in a hurry it doesn’t have to be complicated.
The Headline
“Your headline is the most important part of the page…it should do three things.”
Introduce a Problem
Introduce a Solution
Define the Terms
“Remember, the goal is not to tell your readers what your page does, but to describe to them why they should care…They want to know what’s in it for them.”
The Video
To John Chow making a video seems very simple. He recognizes that to other people it may not be so, which is why he devotes 3 paragraphs to making sure that he points out what is most important to keep in mind and to do when making a video to ensure it’s effective. He also tells you what is usually the best length for this type of video.
The Opt In
After one paragraph of text there are screen shots from setting up the opt in in AWeber autoresponder.
Growing and Monetizing
Ad Swaps and Solo Ads
A squeeze page works if you can drive traffic to that page. However, if you don’t yet have the traffic coming to your blog, consider these two methods to generate subscribers fast, says John Chow.
He explains in 7 more paragraphs what they are and how they work. While Ad Swaps are not costing money the Solo Ads have to be paid for with your hard earned cash.
Instant Monetization
John is describing a way to cover the cost of Solo Ads which has worked for him in the past in 3 steps.
Step 1 – Create Your Squeeze Page
Step 2 – Create a Thank You Page
Step 3 – Sell Something
Freebie Promotions
“…create a sales page (a bigger and badder version of your squeeze page) and send people there with active promotions.”
The Importance of a List
In different words the importance of building and having an email list is touched on again is four short paragraphs.
That concludes Module 5.
What are your thoughts and views about list building and email marketing? Do you think that it’s as important as everybody seems to be saying?
Comment on this blog post, like it on Facebook, tweet it, google+ it and bookmark it on your favorite bookmarking sites to enable others to find it and to join the conversation.
Update September 06, 2017: This product on blogging by John Chow reviewed above is no longer available. However, there is a suitable alternative course on blogging by a famous blogger. Check it out by clicking on the banner below.
Filed under: Internet Marketing Course Reviews
Hi Vance
Building a list is a must as we are told by everyone in this business and you have covered a lot of how to do this within this post, it will help a lot of newbies understand it more.
It is important in email marketing to build a relationship with your subscribers first before you start trying to sell to them, give them a lot of free information first and gain their trust.
Thanks for sharing, hope you have a great weekend
Pauline
Pauline´s last blog post ..Forum Marketing
Vance Reply:
January 6th, 2013 at 4:50 am
Hi Pauline,
Thank you very much for the nice comment. Welcome to my blog. List building is so important and often neglected. Building a relationship with subscribers is just as important. There is a significant number of freebie seekers who never stick around no matter how well they are treated though. Being afraid to email subscribers once in a while with an offer is a mistake that many people make and that I’ve made myself too. It’s important to be helpful and give a good service to your subscribers. Pounding them with offers constantly is not good but not letting them know of good products that they may be interested in is not good either. Those who expect everything to be handed out to them for free and who get offended by an occasional offer which is not free but covering a subject which they showed interest in in the past probably don’t belong on your list anyway.
Have as nice weekend too, whatever is left of it.
Cheers,
Vance.
Steve @ CrashCloud.com Reply:
January 6th, 2013 at 3:28 pm
Vance, I couldn’t agree more with your reply about “pounding them with offers”. The ratio is heavily debated, but most believe you should only “pitch the sale” 1 in every 7-10 emails.
A lot of people are trading in traditional website blogs for email blogs. Rather than creating a website with hosting costs etc., they instead find other ways to market and squeeze people for their email addresses, and then they market to them through a series of marketing emails with the above stated sales pitch ratios.
Hope I didn’t spoil what part 5 will be about, eagerly awaiting your next post in this series.
Steve @ CrashCloud.com´s last blog post ..Do Year End Performance Appraisal Reviews Matter?
Vance Reply:
January 8th, 2013 at 5:29 am
Hi Steve,
I tend to agree with John and what he says about offering something that people can buy in every email while at the same time giving good value in every email you send. Giving them good value and not just a sales pitch is a balanced approach. Any fixed ratio of emails in which you include a link to a paid offer and in which there’s no such link makes very little sense. If you are in business you need to make sales. Any serious subscriber will understand that. Give value first and then don’t be afraid to include paid offers. Serious subscribers won’t get offended and will choose the offers that make sense to them. By including a link to a paid offer you are not forcing anyone to buy anything. Serious subscribers will choose and appreciate the offers that are valuable to them and will ignore those that aren’t. It’s up to them to decide which are which.
Thanks for commenting.
Cheers,
Vance.
I am running two blogs but one of the big problem I am suffering with blogging is that I do not get visitors to my websites. I have tried sharing over social media platforms, but can not have a better impact. May be I am not doing that effectively. I want you people to make me understand that how can I drive more traffic to my blogs. Is there any thing which I am missing?
Vance Reply:
January 8th, 2013 at 5:37 am
Hi,
Since you didn’t include your name it’s hard for me to address you properly. That could be one of your problems. You seem to be looking for free traffic. That doesn’t come by itself unless you have a good and in demand original content. If what you write about on your blog is not something people are interested in reading then sharing it on social media won’t be of much help. Make sure that you write about what people want to read first.
Vance… First of thank you for such a nice reference on list building. We do have a content platform where we generate a good list of subscribers too. The conversions using the list work well when we are giving out freebies, but when we try to sell our services to them, they just want to unsubscribe rather than taking action. Any tips? We were sending out personalized newsletters on our services to these people.
Vance Reply:
January 8th, 2013 at 5:07 am
Hi Glenn,
Thank you for commenting. There are perpetual freebie seekers who get offended when they get a paid offer. I wouldn’t worry too much if they want to unsubscribe from your list. If you are giving them value all the time and once in a while offer them to buy something that may be good for them based on their interest it will be no real loss to you if they unsubscribe unless you are intent on collecting email addresses of people who will never buy anything and who are collectors of free offers. Just be sure that you give value to your subscribers. Let those who aren’t interested in your services go and focus on serving those who appreciate what you have to offer.
Cheers,
Vance.
Glenn Paul Reply:
January 8th, 2013 at 10:06 pm
That’s right Vance. I think it’s time I filtered the entire list and fish out potential leads out of it. Thanks for the advice
Vance Reply:
January 8th, 2013 at 11:55 pm
Hey Glenn,
I’m glad to be of help. Anytime. I appreciate your visits and comments.
Cheers,
Vance.
hello,
i totally agree with your top most post, i am getting better ideas about online blogging because i start review the different blog just before some days, so this post is very helpful for me to improve my blogging knowledge.
thank you for this nice post, i am looking for your further post.
Vance Reply:
January 10th, 2013 at 12:52 am
Hi David,
I’d prefer if you commented on the actual content of the post and what you got from it etc. How about some of the points that were most important to you? I look forward to your next comment being more in that vein.
Cheers,
Vance.
David@Rehearsal Studios London Reply:
January 10th, 2013 at 9:32 pm
Hello,
I am new comer in this blogging world, so i refer your blog, as per your blog “Three step Process in List Building” point is very important for me. Yes, of course we have to make us self active and regularly provide latest information and getting connect with them.
Thank you for reply me.
David@Rehearsal Studios London´s last blog post ..Video-Studio-rent-centre-London
Vance Reply:
January 14th, 2013 at 12:18 am
Hi David,
You’re welcome. If you think I can help you with something, with some questions or whatever, please do ask away.
Cheers,
Vance.
Hi Vance,
It’s Donna, thanks for stopping by and commenting on my blog!
This is a great review! List building is a must and a key area for successful online businesses.
Using a squeeze page to get subscribers is one of the best ways to get started building a list. Then to build a relationship with the list it’s important to provide consistent value. Otherwise there will be no need for anyone to remain on the list.
I enjoyed the video of John explaining email suppression with Aweber’s service. I was not aware of this feature but will consider using it with my future email communications as a way to filter who receives the message.
It sounds like this course is packed with lots of value. Great review Vance, thanks!
Donna
Donna Ragland´s last blog post ..Overrated Success? Time to Step It Up
Vance Reply:
January 14th, 2013 at 12:07 am
Hi Donna,
Thank you for your nice comment. I love comments like yours, comments that really have something to say. The email suppression was new to me too. There’s no end to learning new things even if it seems like we have learned everything about a particular tool. The course is a good value in my opinion too. It is very reasonably priced as well. But as I keep saying in the review, buy it only if you really want it and if you think you’ll benefit from it.
I look forward to your next visit and comment.
Cheers,
Vance.
awesome tips for new bloggers. Everyone will benifit from this review
Excellent tips! Thanks for sharing!
Vance Reply:
January 27th, 2013 at 10:09 am
Comments like this are too generic and add nothing of value to the readers. Take a hint and add value in your comments the next time. If you don’t, keep in mind that comments like the one you made now are generally put into trash where they belong.
Nice one bro.
Vance Reply:
February 4th, 2013 at 12:45 pm
Hi Khotikor,
I need you to comment in more depth if you want me to keep your comments and not errase them. You need to add some value when you comment, OK?
My list currently stands at 17,000. I found the best way to build a list fast is by giving away something for free that has a good bit of value. Once you have a large list you are sorted for a few years
Vance Reply:
February 4th, 2013 at 12:43 pm
Hi Jason,
I would add to your comment that you need to care for your list and keep in touch with the people on it. To say that you are sorted for a few years may be true but you can’t just let them sit there and expect the’ll be ready to respond after a few years.
Thanks for commenting,
Vance.