Build an Email List Fast – 32 Proven Ways

When you build an email list, you can have a ready source of clients and customers. That’s why it’s so important to build an email list.

Not building an email list is one of the biggest mistakes many bloggers, businesses, and freelancers make.

Bloggers, affiliate marketers, product creators, and authors get excited about their next product release but sales aren't happening because they don’t have a captive audience to sell to.

Imagine that your readers are just waiting to buy each time you released a new product, course, or book!

Do you realize that you have to work a lot harder when you DON’T have a list?

Wouldn’t it be much easier if you already had a mailing list of potential clients?

Check out these proven strategies on how you can build a list and make it easier to grow your list.

1 – Offer a useful free gift to build an email list.

Offering a freebie is one of the most popular tactics for building a list. Consumers won’t sign up if you don’t give them incentives. Give your visitors something for free if they sign up. It could be a report, checklist, worksheet, video, or anything that is useful to your audience.

Do you need lead magnets to build your list?

Check out my Fill-in-The-Blanks Canva Templates you can use to easily create Checklists, Worksheets, To-Do Lists, and Lead Magnets to build your list.

2 – Include a graphical representation of your freebie.

Visual elements such as a mockup of your freebie, checklist or workbook image, ebook cover, or DVD cover can draw the eye to your offer, give your freebie a higher perceived value, and increase your opt-in rates.

3 – Create focused opt-in or lead magnet pages.

Want to grow your email list with ideal customers?

Use lead magnet pages! The purpose of your opt-in page or lead magnet page is to entice your ideal customers to sign up for your list. You should drive most of your traffic to your opt-in page to grow your list quickly.

There are several ways to create a landing page.

1 – Use a landing page builder. A landing page builder makes it super easy to create landing pages and opt-in pages. 

When using a landing page builder such as Leadpages or Landing Page Monkey, you can create beautiful, high-converting landing pages in just minutes without using a single line of code.  

You don’t need your own website to start building a mailing list with Leadpages or Landing Page Monkey. You can use your own hosting, or theirs.

2 – Use your autoresponder service. Some of the leading email service providers such as ConvertKit and GetResponse are now including opt-in page templates too. And you’ll save money when using one of these powerful email services because you don’t need Leadpages to create landing pages. 

Read my Review of 4 Popular Autoresponders here or go to their sites directly: ConvertKit, Aweber, GetResponse, and MailChimp.

3 – Canva templates also make it super easy to design great-looking lead magnet pages.

Bluchic is a great place to get feminine-looking Canva lead magnet templates, funnel templates, sales page templates, and WordPress templates.

4 – You can also design your landing page from scratch with WordPress.

4 – Add an email sign-up box on every page.

Make sure your email opt-in box is visible throughout your website. You can add it on your sidebar, at the top, in the middle of your pages, at the bottom of your pages, or in several places.

Are you struggling to build a list?

5 – Mention the benefits of being on your list.

State clearly what the benefits are of being on your list. This goes beyond the free document you’re offering them. You must also tell them the benefits of continuing to get emails from you.

6 – Tell them how often they’ll receive mail.

People hate spam. Telling them how often you’ll be emailing them helps alleviate those fears and they’ll be much more willing to sign up.

Example: “We’ll email you twice a week with easy-to-apply blogging tips.”

7 – Link to a sample newsletter issue.

Link to an issue of your newsletter that people can look through.

8 – Give discounts to list members.

If you sell products or arrange for special offers, give the best deals to your subscribers. Use this as leverage to get new people on your list.

9 – Share testimonials.

If you’ve received feedback about your freebie or other feedback from happy subscribers to your list, publish it. This kind of feedback is an important element of social proof that makes people want to sign up

10 – Get attention to your opt-in form with a lightbox.

You can use a regular pop-up, a timed lightbox popup, a floating bar, a page footer, and other tools to display your opt-in offer to your visitors.

Popups work well to get subscribers. Keep them simple and easy to fill in by just asking for an email address. And make it easy for people who don’t want to subscribe to close the pop-up.

A timed lightbox popup on your posts and pages works well to convert visitors who have been reading your content. A lightbox is a popover that greys out the rest of the screen when it pops over. It’s one of the most attention-catching ways to build an email list. 

OptinMonster provides one of the best tools to create opt-in forms. You can create lightbox popups, floating bars, slide-in scroll trigger boxes, sidebar forms, after-post forms, and in-line forms. You can set time triggers, scroll triggers, or page targeting to display at the right time and place. It also gives you the ability to A/B test, add page-level targeting, and much more.  Check out OptinMonster here.

11 – Install an exit popup to build a list.

When your visitors are leaving, they may never come back. An exit popup is your last chance to stay in touch with them. Install an exit popup on every post and page to convert abandoning visitors. An exit popup can have a huge effect on your income. OptinMonster’s exit intent modules can be used for both cart abandonment and lead generation.

Check out OptinMonster’s  popup options here

12 – Use social media to build a list

Post relevant responses to popular hashtags in your industry. Get your friends to share your content too.

There are several ways to promote your list on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites. For example, invite Facebook and Twitter followers to join your newsletter and add a link to a targeted landing page. 

If you’re not using Tailwind to boost your Pinterest traffic, you’re missing out on one of the best methods to get free traffic. Try Tailwind with the free Tailwind trial.  Read some of my Tailwind traffic-boosting strategies here.

13 – Add a signup form to your list on your Facebook page.

Facebook makes it easy to create a “sign up” button on your page and most email marketing providers, including ConvertKit, Aweber, GetResponse, MailChimp, and others provide tools to integrate their system with Facebook.

14 – Use Pinterest, Facebook, Google Adwords, and YouTube Ads to build your email list.

Free content and offers are perfect for creating successful ad campaigns.

15 – Create a viral video.

Have a link to your signup page on the video (you can do this easily with YouTube’s editing tools) and also include it in the video’s description.

16 – Write a guest post around your freebie.

For example, if you have a free report about how to succeed with Pinterest, write a guest post about “10 Mistakes Pinterest marketers make.”

17 – Launch a podcast.

Promote your list in your podcast or have them opt-in to receive instant notifications of new episodes.

18 – Host a free webinar.

Host a free webinar to collect names and email addresses at registration. Or you can charge for the webinar and grow your list of customers instead.

19 – Offer a secret blog post.

Tell your blog audience that you’re going to release a blog post to your email list only. Give them hints on what it will be about. What problem will you solve? What secret will they learn?

20 – Do a solo ad mailing.

Buy solo ads from other people with mailing lists to promote your list.

21 – Do an ad swap.

Mail a promotion to your list, then have someone else do the same with their list.

22 – Answer questions on your list.

Answer questions on your list instead of answering them privately. Answering questions privately takes up too much of your time and benefits only one person, but when you can turn that answer into content for your list, everyone wins.

23 – Build an email list of your customers.

A customer list is even more valuable than a subscriber list because satisfied customers are more likely to buy again. Make sure to have a mailing list of customers. You'll want to send different messages to your buyers than to subscribers.

24 – Segment your email list.

Segmenting your lists will help you write more targeted messages and increase your open rates.

Rather than sending the same marketing messages to all your contacts in your email list, your messages will be more effective if you are sending very targeted messages. You’ll get better open and click-through rates, you’ll gain more trust, and your offers will convert better.

To get the best results from your email marketing, you can segment and tag your email list by unique interests, preferences, and behaviors. This makes it possible to send even more targeted messages and provide custom-tailored offers for each list.

Some of the more powerful autoresponders such as ConvertKit and GetResponse and Aweber offer sophisticated features for automated segmentation. Here are some examples of what automated segmentation features can do.

• A subscriber can be tagged by an action or event. An action can be a purchase of a specific product. Buyers can then be added to complementary product funnels and new product launch funnels.
  
• Another action can be subscribing to a form on a specific blog post. This action can be tagged with the post category. You can then add it to a complementary posts funnel and add to a sales funnel for related products.

In addition to being able to send more targeted and effective messages, these automation features can save you a lot of time.

Not sure which email marketing system to choose? Read my review of 4 Popular Autoresponders: ConvertKit, Aweber, GetResponse, and MailChimp.

25 – Wall off long content.

For example, on a 5-page article, make people sign up for your mailing list address after 2 pages before they can continue reading.

OptinMonster provides a “content-locking” feature. See what they say about it below.

26 – Encourage subscribers to share your information.

Encourage subscribers to forward your emails to their friends by including a “Forward to a Friend” button at the bottom of your newsletters. Add a note to the end of your emails to encourage sharing. Encourage your website visitors to refer a friend and share articles.

Install a “refer a friend” or “email this article” plugin.

Include social sharing buttons and an “Email to a Friend” button in your marketing emails.

27 – Pay your affiliates for email leads.

Pay your affiliates for every email signup they generate rather than for sales. If you know what your short-term or lifetime customer value is, you can come up with a cost-effective amount to pay your affiliates.

28 – Make it mandatory to sign up to get your free online tools.

Give away free web tools but make sure they sign up before using them.

29 – Have sweepstakes or giveaways on your site.

Encourage entrants to claim their free gift and subscribe to your mailing list.

TIP: Don’t automatically add sweepstakes entrants to your main list as it’s not likely they’ll remember you or be particularly responsive. Have them opt-in directly to hear more from you.

30 – Use press releases to build a list.

Distribute press releases to online and offline media. Encourage press release readers to get your free offer. Your press release must be newsworthy to be successful.

31 – Be a sponsor.

Sponsor sweepstakes or giveaways on other sites by offering a prize. Have the website link back to your free opt-in offer on their sponsor page.

32 – Get interviewed to build an email list.

You don’t need to be on a big TV show to get exposure. Get interviews on targeted podcasts and webinars, and have them share your free offer.

Building an email list and growing your list is all about sharing great content. You should include email list-building tasks in your schedule to grow your business. Do this consistently and your email list will continue to grow and give you a steady stream of new potential customers.

Email Resources

• FREE Canva Checklist, Worksheet, and Lead Magnet Templates.
• Fill-in-the-blanks Canva Templates you can use to easily create Checklists, Worksheets, To-Do Lists, and Lead Magnes to build your list.
• Write Winning Email Messages Fast With 950 Ready-To-Use Email Samples.
• Want to learn how you can get more out of your email marketing? Head over to Email Marketing Beyond the Basics.
• My review of autoresponder/email automation services: GetResponse, Aweber, ConvertKit, and MailChimp. 
• Landing page builders: Leadpages – Landing Page Monkey.

List Building Resources

No clue what to say to your list?

Get 950+ email swipes to help you write high-converting email messages faster and easier.

Do you need lead magnets to build your list?

Get my free Canva Templates to easily create checklists, worksheets, to-do lists, and a variety of lead magnets to build your list.

Recommended Reading

• 32 Surefire Ways to Build and Grow Your Email List Fast.
• 62 Opt-In Freebie Ideas to Grow Your Email List.
• How to Create Lead Magnets.
• Use PLR to Build Your Email List Fast.
• How To Build a Profitable Email List on Autopilot and Turn Visitors Into Buyers.
• How to Promote Your Opt-In Freebies.
• How to Create an Email Mini-Course to Build Your List
• My Review of the Most Popular Email Marketing Tools.
• 7 Email Marketing Mistakes You Need to Avoid
• How to Write a Welcome Email.