I’m sure you’ve heard this a ton of times already – that the gold in your business is in your list. And what this means is that if you’re going to run a successful business then you need to have people who are ready, willing, and able to buy your products, programs, and services. And you need to have this information all stored in one place, i.e. a list!
So, let me ask you, how is your list doing? Are you getting new subscribers to your list every single day, or is your list stagnant and not growing?
One of the areas I teach my clients about is creating an online marketing flow – that is having a series of list building strategies in place that draw new people into your list on a daily basis, and automating as much of this as possible. But if you find that this isn’t happening for you and you’re not getting new subscribers on a daily basis, it could be down to one of these five problems here:
1. No clear call to action. You attract people to your website/blog but once they get there it’s not clear what you want them to do. Obviously you want them to sign up to your list, but are you ASKING them to do that? And is your sign-up box in a prominent position on your website? Research has found that the best place for your sign up box is top right-hand corner of your website.
2. Not utilizing a squeeze page. People get to your website and there’s so much information there that they simply don’t know what to do – it’s too confusing. One way to streamline this is to create a ‘squeeze’ page – that is a page where your website visitor can do one thing and one thing only – and that is to sign up to your list. Then in all your marketing activities you will direct your visitors to your squeeze page.
3. Requesting too much information. Are you asking your visitor for everything except their shoe size? If you are then maybe you’re asking too much from them. Typically you want to get their first name, last name, and primary email address. If your visitor feels that you’re asking for too much information in exchange for a free report then they may leave your website all together.
4. No opt-in box on EVERY page of your website. This is another classic mistake I see many business owners make – they don’t have an opt in box on EVERY single page. If you have a blogsite then it’s really easy to make sure you have this on every page simply by adding your opt in box to your sidebar. Remember: not every visitor will enter your website via your home page – there are many different ways in for them.
5. Not asking your current subscribers to forward your ezine to their friends. This is one of the easiest and quickest ways to grow your list – simply use a Tell-A-Friend service to make it easy for your current subscribers to let their networks know about your ezine. You can set it up so that the more friends your subscribers forward your ezine to they are then eligible to get some kind of bonus. This could be a free report, tip sheet, checklist, or audio … anything that is easy to deliver and will make a great ‘special bonus’ as a way to say thank you to your current subscribers.
If your list isn’t growing then you’re going to have real problems maintaining a long-term successful business. Review the five areas I’ve shared with you above, and see if your lack of new subscribers is down to one (or more) of the above areas. And then set about creating a plan to rectify this problem.
