GROW UP GUIDE HOW TO LAUNCH A PROFITABLE LIST FROM SCRATCH

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Muriel Owen
5 years ago
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1 GROW UP GUIDE HOW TO LAUNCH A PROFITABLE LIST FROM SCRATCH

2 READY FOR YOUR LIST TO GROW UP? I ve made many mistakes over the course of building may business, but if there was ONE mistake that I could erase and take back it would be this one: I didn t start my list right away. It s hard to understand the value of an list when you re just trying to get blog post out and find a way to stay relevant on social media. But not fully understanding the power an list could brig to my business cost my thousands and thousand of dollars! There are a lot of things we can do to grow our businesses, but building and using your list effectively is at the very top. I m going to give you credit, because if you re seriously taking strides to grow your list, you probably realized the importance of having an list sooner than I did... And that s why I am so freakin excited that you are here! My list is the #1 way I put money in my bank account and successful bloggers know that the real profits are not in how many followers you have on Instagram, Facebook or Pinterest. The real way to profits is through your list. People may or may not be on Facebook but they re checking their s everyday People may or may not be on Instagram but they re checking their s every day People may of may not be growing YouTube but you got the point! So if you re one of those business owners who knows you need an list but aren t quite sure how to get started, I ve got you covered. Today is the day you learn how to grow a profitable list without spamming or feeling the need to crank out complicated marketing campaigns. We keep it simple around these parts and The Grow Up Guide will give you the simple steps to help you level up your list!

3 STEP 01 CHOOSING YOUR SERVICE PROVIDER Setting yourself up to capture subscribers If you want to grow your list, having an service provider is one tool you just can t do without. So, if you don t yet have an autoresponder service and want to compare some of the most popular providers, here s a cheatsheet for several of the best service providers in the game. IDEAL FOR BEGINNERS WITH SMALL LEARNING CURVE MAILCHIMP Mailchimp is one of the most popular choices for bloggers, marketers and creative entrepreneurs. Its user friendly, budget friendly and ideal for newbie marketers since they offer a free account with limited features (e.g. no autoresponder function) but available for up to 2,000 subscribers. Free plan up to 2000 subscribers, paid plans start at $10/month and increase based on # of subscribers MAD MIMI Mad Mimi is best if you re technically challenged. It provides easy Drag + drop design features with less templates, but awesome designs. Mad Mimi is more budget friendly than Mailchimp once your list grows above 2,000. Free up to 100 subscribers ($10 - $27/month 101-5,000 subscribers) IDEAL FOR BEGINNER TO ADVANCED WITH MEDIUM LEARNING CURVE CONVERTKIT ConvertKit is the new marketing tool on the block that's making major waves. It provides sequencing, segmentation and visual automation features that will allow you to build an list that scales with your business. Paid plans start at $29/month up to 1000 subscribers and increase based on # of subscribers. AWEBER AWeber used to be my go to provider and is considered the industry standard for online marketers. It is easy to use, has tons of great features, the customer support is awesome and the price is reasonable. 30 day trial. Paid plans start at $19/month and increase based on # of subscribers. FOR ADVANCED BLOGGERS WITH HUGE LEARNING CURVE INFUSIONSOFT Infusionsoft is the Bentley of service providers that takes marketing automation to new heights. It s as close to an all-in-one solution as you can get, including a shopping cart, membership plugins and more. Now while Infusionsoft does have all the bells and whistles, it has a very steep learning curve and price due to all the features it provides. Set up Fee $1999 and paid plans start at $199/month and increase based on# of subscribers

4 STEP 02 CREATING A HIGH CONVERTING WEBSITE Being the brand-obsessed entrepreneur I am, I can tell you first hand that your blog and more specifically the way your blog looks, can have a HUGE effect on your list. No, you don t need to drop thousands of dollars on a custom website. You can easily set up a professional and pretty site using WordPress or Squarespace, but trust me when I say this. First impressions matter! But more than just creating a pretty or professional website, you want to create a profitable and purposeful site that makes it easy to grow your list. Here are a few things you ll need to do to make that happen: STEP 01 HAVE AN OPT-IN FORM ABOVE THE FOLD Above the what? So, above the fold is anything that your blog readers see before having to scroll down your site (which is considered, you got it - below the fold ). Grow Up Tip: I have an opt-in form right at the top of my site on just about every single page. STEP 02 INCLUDE 3-5 OPT-IN FORMS ACROSS YOUR SITE The mistake I see a lot of marketers make is that they only include one or two opt-in forms on their site (usually in their sidebar or footer areas). Here are the opt-in forms I have on my site at the moment: Above the fold/header. (Feature box) Navigation menu. Below all blog posts Within my blog posts.. Popup In my featured freebies section right below my header In my sidebar

5 STEP 02 CREATING A HIGH CONVERTING WEBSITE One of my all-time fave tools is LeadBoxes (from LeadPages). This tool alone is a total game changer! It makes it super easy to add opt-in buttons wherever you want. The lead boxes are easy to set up and look amazing! It s really important to tackle these foundational website creation steps before you move on to the list-building strategies so when you do start bringing people to your site, you already have a website that is set up and optimized for conversions. The last thing you want is to bust out all this amazing content to grow your traffic only to have folks slip through the cracks because your site is not set up to convert casual scrollers into subscribers. Some examples of where you can put an opt-in form include: In your website header above the fold. In your navigation menu. Within you featured content area. Below your blog posts. Within your blog posts. As a pop-up. In your sidebar. A hello bar. In your footer. Welcome mat (Sumome) Social media pages As your URL on Instagram Action items in blog posts and social media posts signature Some great programs for adding clean and high-converting opt-in forms to your site are LEADPAGES and SUMOME.

STEP 03 GETTING PEOPLE EXCITED TO JOIN Creating the perfect magnet Your email list starts with the perfect lead magnet! A lead magnet is an incentive that encourages someone to join your list.

6 STEP 03 GETTING PEOPLE EXCITED TO JOIN Creating the perfect magnet Your list starts with the perfect lead magnet! A lead magnet is an incentive that encourages someone to join your list. Offering opt-in incentives or lead magnets is a win-win because it gives your reader extra value and it helps to grow your list. Opt-in incentives and content upgrades have set my list on fire! After revamping my blog, I wanted a way to keep track of what I was doing on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis. I had huge blog goals and knew that I could not reach them if I was not organized and tracking certain metrics on a consistent basis. I knew I needed a blog planner but for the life of me I could not find one that had everything I wanted. So, in true Andrea fashion, I created one myself. BIZ +BLOG PROFIT PLANNER 2018 ANDREA BOLDER I had noticed inside a few blog and biz groups I was in, that what seemed like every other day, someone would ask about planning their blog content or where to find a blog and biz planner or how to keep track of their marketing and promo. So ding ding ding! Yes, major light bulb moment. I thought why not offer the planner I created for myself as a freebie or content upgrade. So, I whipped up a blog post, created a lead page with an attention-grabbing graphic and I shared what I had created in just one group to see how it would be received. I had 45 opt-ins in less than 12 hours and this ONE opt-in grew my list by over 1000 subscribers in less than 30 days. Why? Because it solved a problem my target audience was having. They wanted a way to plan out their blog content, organize their promotional strategies after they hit publish and keep track of their success. So that s what I gave them and it worked like gangbusters! Wanna grow your list? Give tons of value!

7 STEP 03 GETTING PEOPLE EXCITED TO JOIN Creating the perfect lead magnet Your list starts with the perfect lead magnet. Now, you may be asking the question - Well, what can I offer as the perfect lead magnet on my blog? Here are a few examples: Worksheets ecourse Course or Challenge Templates Checklist or Cheatsheet Spreadsheet Printable Access to Private FB group List of tips Planner Swipe files Video training or tutorial Webinar or audio recording Ebook Resource library with many worksheets/ebooks/etc Tickets to a live event Consultation Discount codes or coupons Free stock images Calendars Prompts + Scripts Your opt-in offers should be HIGH value (as in you could put a price tag on it type of value) and they should be actionable.

8 STEP 03 GETTING PEOPLE EXCITED TO JOIN Creating the perfect lead magnet I typically create two types of lead magnets: OPT-IN TYPE 01: BRAND BASED LEAD MAGNET These are opt-in offers that aren t attached to a particular piece of content but attract a general audience that would be interested in the topics I teach on my site. These are usually more in-depth opt-in offers - like a free course or a Resource Library such as my Prep For Profits Resource Library - and an offer that can be shared anywhere on your site and still be received well for your audience. OPT-IN TYPE 02: BLOG BASED LEAD MAGNET (CONTENT UPGRADE) These are opt-in offers that are tied to a very specific piece of content, like a blog post or podcast. These offers, also called content upgrades, are specific to one piece of content. For example, in the blog post titled Fix My Brand, How To Rehab Your Brand in 24 Hours I share tips that are essential for building a profitable + pretty personal brand for your business and blog. I offer a Fix My Brand Checklist that helps people keep track of their brand elements. This opt-in offer was created JUST for that blog post. And since launching that particular content upgrade, it s proven to be one of my most popular, generating upwards of 50+ subscribers a day. Now just imagine if you had multiple content upgrades working for you like this one does? The key is to be consistent! You want to continue making lead magnets and content upgrades, then adding them to your new blog posts. If you are just getting started, then I suggest creating a new content upgrade for each pillar post you create. Then as your blog grows, aim to create a new content upgrade at least once a month. You can certainly use your content upgrades on multiple posts or crank out more if you like.

9 STEP 04 GETTING PEOPLE EXCITED TO STAY Nurturing your list You ve done the foundational steps to growing your subscribers, now this is where the werk comes in. It s time to take care of your list like it s your baby, because it is. It s the lifeline to your business. The biggest mistake people make when building their list is neglecting their subscribers. They either too much, don t enough, or the wrong content But not you. right? Having someone give you their address is a privilege. So, show them you care by creating beyond amazing content that is beneficial to them. Whenever you create a new content upgrade shoot it to your current list as well. No opt-in required. Whenever you get awesome results share them with your list. Whenever you have a breakthrough, share it with your list. Whenever you re hosting a free webinar or publish an amazing piece of content, share it with your list. Don t be afraid to get personal, be transparent and show vulnerability. This is how you build credibility with your audience. You don t have to be perfect, but you do have to be real! EXAMPLES OF S YOU CAN SEND A welcome series An course Opt-ins + Content Upgrades Upsells after a purchase Motivational s Podcast replays Your newest blog post Weekly tips + Strategies Weekly roundup Survey Personal story Video tutorial

10 STEP 05 NEXT STEPS Now that you know exactly what to do to get started you officially have no more excuses for not being able to grow your list. All you have left to do now is EXECUTE. Building my list is my #1 priority and the number of engaged, responsive subscribers is the key to a profitable business. Ready to get to work? 01 Write down a date that you will commit to starting your list: 02 Brainstorm five pieces of content you can send out to your list (i.e. blog posts, new offerings, product promos, top tips, personal stories, etc.) and put a date on when you want to make this happen. 03 Brainstorm five list builders or content upgrades you can pair with the content you re creating above to make signing up for your list irresistible:

The Wellness Business Academy

The Wellness Business Academy Semester 2 - Program Development & Design Class : 3 - Lead Magnet Development & Design Section : 1 - Create The Lead Magnet What Is A Lead Magnet? A lead magnet an irresistible bribe offering a specific