The hardest part of list building.. (MJBiz#2)
The truth is the hardest part of building an email list is just getting started and knowing HOW exactly to get started.
I’d like to solve that for you right here in this email today. Let’s take this in simple steps, and you feel free to print these out if needed.
Step 1) Get yourself an autoresponder - I prefer aweber, as they are reliable, consistent, have good overall deliverability and have been around for many years.
I’m not going to get into what an autoresponder is or how to use it, because they are all very similar and it’s easy enough to find that information on youtube.
That’s beyond basics and to succeed here you have to have a little bit of self-reliance.
Okay so once you have an autoresponder…
Step 2) Commit to the weekly email - Next I want you to commit to putting out a weekly email in your niche via your autoresponder. You can schedule several emails ahead if you want or you can just wing it and fire one off on a specific day every week.
If you do just send out a simple broadcast message once a week, I want you to go ahead and add that message to the autoresponder sequence as well for future subscribers. (right now you have none)
What’s the email about? It’s niche related. Ideally you want to have a little story, and some actionable content. You can usually get the actionable content via PLR if you are drawing a blank.
Don’t get too bogged down in the details of the weekly newsletter. It’s something that can evolve as you go. Don’t worry about length. Worry about saying something that is helpful and or entertaining.
Okay now that you have an autoresponder and a plan for a weekly email let’s move on…
Step 3) Manual Outreach PT1 - I want you to put a list together of all the people you can think of off the top of your head that might be interested in the niche you are going to write about every week.
Friends, mothers, fathers, family, work associates all would go on this list. Now reach out to them all via phone, text message, personal email whatever…
...and let them know you are starting a weekly newsletter on the topic of your niche. Ask them if you can add them to your free newsletter. Many of them will probably say yes. Get their email and add it manually.
Also ask them if they know anyone else who might also be interested in the subject, and you can get a few more referrals this way. When you reach out to these referrals you might not know them as well but that’s okay.
Just let them know you guys have a mutual friend and they thought that you might be interested in this new weekly newsletter you were starting on this subject of your niche. Let them know that your mutual friend joined as well.
Alright, fantastic. You have now overcome one of the most difficult obstacles of starting an email list, getting started. What next?
Step 4) Manual Outreach PT2 - Next what we want to do is move on to your social media with manual outreach. Reach out to your friends privately on facebook, instagram, snapchat...
...whichever social media platforms you frequent often and have made connections with people. Ask them if they would like to join your weekly newsletter on your niche. Again you can add their emails manually.
Okay that is the first 4 steps to this thing. In our next email I want to dig deeper into how to get more people on your list and on the way to making you money. Manual outreach can only get you so far.
For now though, I’ll end this one here and remind you to take action on this stuff. It’s easy and you will feel so much better with your new email list well under way and ready to earn for you.
~Michael Johnson
p.s. I love helping people in this business. I spend part of every day
answering email questions. So feel free to email me and ask a question if you are stuck or need help.