How to build a list of amazing subscribers & keep them engaged

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2 How to build a list of amazing subscribers & keep them engaged Building your list is one of the most important things you need to do as an entrepreneur no matter what kind of business you run. Whether it s offline, online, service-based or product-based. Why? Because it s a powerful way to build a deeper relationship with your audience; your potential customers and your existing customers, communicate with them and build the know, like and trust factor. How much would you and your business benefit if you had an list of hundreds or thousands of targeted people who were getting to know, love and trust you through your s? How powerful would it be when you re looking for feedback or opinions on upcoming products/services you have coming out? How powerful would it be when you have a marvelous and valuable new product or service launching? How powerful would it be for getting recommendations and people spreading the word about you and what you do? In this training I m going to be covering: Getting started with list building: picking your topic & knowing your audience Creating your offer how are you going to add value? Setting up your mailing list & creating your opt-in Marketing your offer Nurturing your list - how to know what to say and when to say it and how to know know how much you should give for free. By the end of this training you should have an amazing process set up for growing your list. It would be sooo powerful. I know, because I ve experienced it. Over the past few years I ve built a big list from scratch and it s been one of the best things I ve ever done. Through my s I ve got to know some amazing people, I ve been able to share things that I really care about with those people and it s also helped me to build traffic to my website, make meaningful sales and create successful launches. So in this month s bundle I want to take you behind the scenes and show you how I ve built my list. 2

3 PART ONE Getting started with list building So the first thing I want us to do is to lay the foundation for building your list and for engaging with your audience and how you re going to delight them. It s so important to have this information at the forefront of your mind when crafting your s, because the more you can tune into the heart and soul of your business and share messages that your audience will love, the more success you ll have with it. So, let s get started. We re going to start by getting really clear on: What s your core business message and mission? 3

4 What are the top 3-5 core values of your business? Who specifically will be receiving your s? What are they like? What problems do they face that you can solve? What are their interest? What do you have that they are interested in? 4

5 What kind of relationship do you want to have with your readers? This may seem like a strange question, but I think it makes a difference. Do you want to be the sister, the best friend, the aunty, the teacher? David Siteman Garland does this really well, he often refers to himself as Uncle David and he takes on the role of the uncle in his s. He s not like a parent that s telling you what to do, he s the fun uncle that is there for you and can help you. I often find that when people haven t dug deep into the relationship they want to have with their subscribers their s can be a little off, or too formal, or too wishy washy. So dig deep now and decide... I m not saying you have to go this far, but it can really help! Whenever I send out my weekly s, I m sending them to my friends, my business besties. I m the person that s right there with you - I m next to you, not really ahead of you. I m definitely not as good as David, but knowing what kind of relationship I m trying to have with my subscribers really helps me when I m writing. what kind of relationship you want to have with your readers What do you want people to experience as a result of being on your mailing list? What transformation do you want people to have? How do you want to make them feel? (When you re thinking about this, go back over your core values and message and think about the problems and interests of your audience and make sure it all aligns and resonates well.) Here are some Examples: I want people to feel inspired to build successful businesses. I want people to feel excited about their health and show them ways they can be the healthiest person possible. I want people to feel like they re becoming a marketing genius after reading the powerful marketing strategies I m going to share with them. Their business is going to fly. I want busy mums to feel like they re not alone and that they can juggle raising children with building a successful business. I want to empower them. 5

6 I want people to experience... All of these questions will help you to build an engaged list of subscribers who connect and resonate with you. You can t just leave it to chance, you have to be so intentional with how you want to make people feel and how you want to connect with them. Building a solid list means digging deep and creating value that people will rave about. Once you re clear about this foundation piece, the next thing you need to do is get clear on what you re going to offer them to sign up. My Experience When I first got started I didn t really consciously think about this stuff much and it left me feeling really confused kind of like I didn t really know what my purpose was with sending s! I think that s how a lot of people feel when they start out. That being said, the one thing I was clear on was that I wanted to send s to inspire my audience and I wanted to add value. Just attaching the core purpose (heart and soul) of your business to your list is a really good start. You don t have to have everything figured out, because it will all evolve over time. 6

7 PART two Your offer The questions you answered in part one will really help when it comes to deciding what you re going to offer in order to get people subscribed to your list. You want to make sure your offer is aligned with your core message and values, and the problems and interests of your audience. If you do that your audience will be delighted to subscribe! If you don t already have an list yet then my tip would be to just get started - even if you just have a box in the sidebar of your website that says, Sign up for a weekly dose of XYZ here. A lot of people put off creating an list, because they think they have to have something to give away. You don t need anything to give away as such, if you re offering amazing value to your audience and building a relationship with them via blog posts, videos or maybe just mingling in online and offline groups, then people will want to get more connected with you because of what you re creating with your business. Once they re signed up you can send them a great welcome and then you can them updates and tips, weekly, monthly or whenever you can, as you re getting started (more on this later). For now let s craft out the text you can use for your sign up. What would people want to sign up for? Tips? Inspiration? Strategies? Offers? To help you here are some of the one-liners others use to get subscribers Sign up here to receive a weekly dose of inspiration - this was my original one Get free tips to create a business and life you love - Marie Forleo Get updates (it s free) Learn how psychology helps you get traffic and sales with the Social Triggers newsletter. - Derek Halpern, Social Triggers Do what you love full time (I ll teach you how) - Lewis Howes Let s keep in touch. Get exclusive offers, sneak peeks, and insider tips delivered straight to your inbox - Birchbox [PRODUCT] Make sure you don t copy any of these, you need to put your own magic touch on whatever you use. Become a Stripe Insider. Sign up to receive updates, exclusive offers, and behind the scenes peeks into all things The Stripe. - The Stripe [PRODUCT] Add me to the VIP list, baby - Nikki Elledge Brown 7

8 Nikki originally got people to sign up to find out more about what was coming soon - a brilliant thing to do, you can read all about how Nikki got her first 1000 subscribers here. These people aren t giving anything away as such (like a worksheet or some kind of freebie), but they re giving their audience a chance to connect further. So if you ve been putting lots of effort in to spreading the word about your business and what you re doing in Facebook groups, on social media, at networking events, then people will want to connect with you (if you re offering value to them). I think we ve all probably been a little brainwashed with the idea that we need an list in order to make more money by selling to our subscribers! But that is not true. First and foremost your list is a way for you to build a relationship with your audience. It s a way for you to connect more and to get to know each other. So don t worry if you ve not got funnels set up to turn your subscribers into customers yet! Just focus on adding value and building a strong relationship first. By doing that, a lot of your subscribers will naturally want to become your customer, because they ll really like you, know you, and trust you. Whereas if you go about all of this with the mindset of selling, selling, selling, your audience and subscribers will feel that, and so might not be as interested. The value is in the relationship. Better to have 100 subscribers who are totally engaged and love your s than 1000 subscribers who are totally disengaged. Creating Something to Give Away All that being said, there s nothing wrong with creating a freebie as an incentive - just don t let this stall you! I now create freebies all the time for my audience and they work well, because it gives people more of a reason to sign up and join me (notice that I said now... when I got started I just gave people the chance to join the mailing list). The truth is, creating amazing incentives to get people to subscribe will definitely help you to build your list faster. Here s the big question to answer: What could you create and give away that would add massive value to your audience and resonate with your core message and values? some ideas to help you Access to a membership/private Facebook group A guide An online conference Webinar Free template Workbook/worksheet Video/video series Top tips Something inspirational Advice or tips by other experts A weekly/monthly Access to opportunities Checklist An series A list of amazing tools and resources An audio 8

9 Brainstorm some ideas that you think your audience would love: I find that when the freebie is short, sharp and sweet it goes down really well - one page worksheets, top tips, top resources, free templates - things that are actionable and fast to implement, because then your audience will realise how valuable what you re sharing is and they ll tell their friends about you, share what you re doing and want to stay connected. Alternatively, webinars work really well too. Back in 2012 I started hosting webinars with other experts and that helped me to add thousands to my mailing list. If you could create your own webinar then great, if not, which experts could you reach out to that you d love to collaborate with? Or do you have any business friends you could collaborate with to create a fun hangout for your audience? When I did my very first webinar with Amy Porterfield I had 2,419 subscribers. That webinar added 1,702 subscribers to my list, because I was able to promote it more via social media (more on this later). 9

10 Creating your freebie If you would love to create a freebie to increase sign ups then here s my plan of action for you: What are you going to create? (A worksheet? Checklist? Resource list? Top tips list?) What is the purpose of your freebie? What will the subscriber gain? Why will they love it? What are the core messages/points you want to get across in your freebie? What do you want to include? Break it down: 10

11 Schedule a time(s) for when you re going to create it: Once you ve written it all out, it s a good idea to ask someone else to check over it for you, to make sure it all makes sense. Top tips for creating your freebie: Make sure it adds lots of value to your audience - you want them to love it! How it looks and feels is important. You want it to represent your brand well, so use your brand colours, fonts and make sure it looks good. For help with this, go back over The Graphics Bundle, where Michelle Rohr shares how you can create worksheets, checklists and graphics that align with your brand. Keep it simple - less is more. Here are some examples of the freebies I ve created in the past that have gone down really well: You can do it printable My focus for February Reading checklist Make your website amazing worksheet Affirmations Make sure your company name is on each page of the printable (something I ve forgotten to do in the past!) 11

12 PART three Creating Your Opt-In Once you ve decided on your offer to get people to sign up, now you need to get everything set up, so that people can subscribe. There are four core parts to this: As there are lots of different options, I m going to focus on sharing what I do. Step One Open an account with an marketing provider & get set up For an provider I use Mailchimp. I picked it originally because it s free to use if you have less than 2000 subscribers and it s also easy to use. If at some point down the line you need a more comprehensive solution for creating funnels you can move all of your contacts over to a solution like Infusionsoft or Ontraport, but they re expensive, so if you re just getting started then I would recommend going with a solution like MailChimp. Once you ve opened your account you will need to create a list - this is where you re going to add your subscribers to. So my main mailing list is called Female Entrepreneur Association. You can find lots of tutorials online, which will show you exactly how to do this. 12

13 Step Two Creating your signup Next you need to create the sign up, there are two main options for this: You can create a signup page using your provider - this will just be a basic page where you can add a header image, a little bit of text and the boxes for people to fill in their details. This option is free. You can use a piece of software, like LeadPages, to create a landing page or pop up box. This option is paid. You can also ask me any questions you have on this in the Facebook group - use #AskCarrie, so I can find your question easily. 13

14 Step Three Setting up your thank you page confirmation and welcome Once someone has subscribed, you ll want to make sure that your s are set up and ready to go out! Here s what you need to think about: 1 // The Thank You This is the page they ll be sent to straight after they subscribe. It s an important page, because it s the first experience they ll have with you once they ve decided to become part of your tribe. This is your chance to make them feel welcomed, make them feel like they made a good choice and tell them what happens next. It s also an opportunity to tell people more about what else you have going on, lots of people will use their thank you page to present an offer, because the person who has just signed up has shown interest in what you do, so maybe they d love to buy what you have to offer too. Here s an example of my thank you page for when people sign up to FEA. It includes: Pretty image, which aligns with the brand and reinforces the benefit behind signing up. A sentence to tell them what s going to happen next, so that they know to confirm their subscription. A few sentences to welcome them into the community and again reinforce the core message/benefit. Details of the good we re going to send their way (to encourage them to check their inbox for an from us) Information on how they can get more involved with FEA - if someone has just shown an interest in what you do, they ll probably want to know what else you can offer them, so make it easy for them. Because FEA is a community, I encourage people to leave a comment and introduce themselves - makes them feel part of something Your thank you page doesn t need to follow this formula, but really take some time to think about what an amazing thank you page would be for your subscribers. This is your chance to wow, don t let it go to waste. Craft your thank you page copy on the next page, or write down some ideas for it: 14

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16 2 // The Confirmation Most providers get you to have a double opt-in, which is where someone subscribes and then you send them an asking them to confirm that they want to receive your s. Even though this will lower the number of subscribers you get, it is important to have, because that way the people who are on your list are the people who really want to be on it. Again, this is a chance to build your relationship with your subscribers more, by coming across really well. Here s an example of one of my confirmation s: Your worksheet is nearly here... Please confirm that you d like the Create An Amazing Brand Strategy Worksheet. We re so excited that you d like us to send you the 30 day tracker worksheet we ve created, all you need to do is hit the button below and the clever people over at MailChimp are going to send it right over to you :) This doesn t need to say much, but why not take the opportunity to share your excitement with them? So many people s confirmation s could have been written by a robot. It s not like having an amazing confirmation will make your business a roaring success, BUT we you take time to put your heart, soul and personality into each message you craft, it starts to add up. Once someone has hit the confirm button they ll often see a confirmation thank you page. Again, take some time to think about what you can see on this page. Take the opportunity to build the relationship, reinforce your brand. Here s a page I created not long ago that I started testing as the confirmation thank you page for a few opt-ins I created. 16

17 The page says... Check your inbox, because the goods are on their way to you right now :) I hope you enjoy them and find them helpful! Thank you for being part of the Female Entrepreneur Association, we re so happy to have you on board. Carrie xx It s not much, but have a read of the comments on the page - there aren t that many at the moment, but look what people are saying Thanks Carrie! You always provide great value with each episode. I love being a part of Female Entrepreneur Association! Also, your website is so pretty...it s just relaxing to be here. Nice Job! Have a beautiful day! Amy Carrie, you are so adorable! I just love your videos. Many thanks for reminding me/us that how we think creates our world. With gratitude, Elena How you interact and engage with your audience at every step of the journey makes a difference. I just received the download! I can t wait to get going. 17

18 Step Four Your welcome This is what they ll receive in their inbox once they ve confirmed their subscription. Everyone deserves a warm welcome + whatever you ve promised to send them. I know I m probably sounding like a broken record, but again, this is your chance to deepen the relationship and engage with your subscribers. Here s an example of a welcome I sent out for one of the specific opt-ins we created: Your Financial Abundance Guided Visualisation Script + Money Book Reading List is here! * FNAME *, I m so excited to share these with you! This visualisation helped me so much and I hope it helps you just as much. So download it and get recording your very own visualisation and then make sure you listen to it daily! If you want to share yours with us or any results you get, just reply to this -we d LOVE to hear all about it :) May money flow into your life quickly and easily! With love, Carrie xx P.s. enjoy the books too, they re wonderful! 18

19 Here s the breakdown of what I included A pretty image, that s consistent with the brand A headline letting them know their goods have arrived Images of the goodies - this gets people excited Actual text links to the downloads - remember, most images don t show up for people, so you need to include text links too. A paragraph or two about what I ve sent them to deepen the relationship When someone subscribes to the main FEA mailing list, we send them an which is more about them joining our community: example 19

20 Welcome & Goodies You re all signed up * FNAME *, and we re so excited to have you here. You ve now become part of one of the largest online communities for female entrepreneurs and we re delighted to have you on board. We re a collective group of like-minded women, who are passionate and determined to build successful businesses, incredible friendships and to support each other along the way. Here s what you ll get access to now that you re part of this association: Every Tuesday you ll receive a 10-Minute Masterclass to help you succeed in business. You ll get access to opportunities to guest blog and get your story featured to our network of over 200,000 women (so keep a look out in your inbox). We frequently host live hangouts, where we ll invite experts to come along and answer your questions and you re invited to all of these. You ll be the first to get access to our latest goodies. + much more We ve also got an amazing supportive Facebook group and lots of resources for you over in our Members Club, which you can find out more about here >> We ve also got a little something to welcome you on board too You can download them here >> Leave a comment on the download page and share the #1 thing you want to make happen! You can also find out more about what s going on over at the Female Entrepreneur Association and download more goodies we ve created at our Getting Started Page >> That s all from us for now, if there s anything we can do to help you, please let us know - we re here to help support you to build a successful business. Love, Carrie & the FEA Team xx 20

21 Here s the link to the goodies they can download, so you can see how we ve created it. You want to get people involved, give them something they want, make them feel part of something. Note: you don t need to create your s and pages like I have done for FEA, in facts it s probably better if you don t - you want to come up with something that is right for you and your audience. But take inspiration from it all and come up with ideas that would work with your style and brand. What could you add to your welcome that will really make your subscribers feel welcomed? 21

22 PART four Marketing Your Offer Now that your signup page is all set up it s time to get your offer out there! This is ultimately a numbers game - the more traffic you drive to your opt-ins, the more lovely subscribers you re going to get. Don t worry if you have zero traffic at the moment, luckily there are a few ways round it. Getting Subscribers via Your Website You don t want to be missing opportunities to get your visitors to become subscribers. Here are several things you can do to increase your chances of converting your visitors: Add a signup image to your sidebar Add a signup banner Add a signup banner to the bottom of every post you write Add text at the top of every post saying, Looking for more help with X, Y & Z? Click here to sign up for our Promote your freebies in your blog posts Add a pop up box (I use SumoMe App, it s free) 6 things to add to your website to get more subscribers Remember, if you don t ask, you don t get! All of these subscribe options are really easy to add. You don t have to necessarily try all of them, but try at least 3 to get going. In order to create beautiful images to get people signed up on your website, check out The Graphics Bundle (in particular the masterclass, Michelle Rohr shares how to create beautiful sign up images for your site). 22

23 Getting Subscribers via Social Media Again, there are so many different ways to do this, but the main point is this: add value and delight your audience and they will want to subscribe if you make it easy. Firstly, if you don t have anything to give away as such, you can still drive signups from social media. I do it every day by sharing a blog post that my audience will love. My aim is to get them to my website, where I make it easy and obvious for them to become a subscriber. This alone can generate 100+ subscribers a day (but remember, it s a numbers game). Here are some ideas for how you can generate subscribers from social media: Create great images to promote your offer via your social media - Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram etc. (Watch back over the tutorials in The Graphics Bundle to learn how to create amazing images.) Share what you ve created in groups you re in - make sure you do this in a fun, friendly, giving way, not a I just want you to subscribe way, basically put your personality into it and think about what you d love to see if you were in the shoes of the audience you re sharing your message with. Set up Facebook ads and promote your offer (make sure you re using a conversion tracking pixel for this and watch the masterclass with Julie Lowe on this, so you know exactly how to do it). There is no magic wand you can wave to generate traffic and subscribers, it takes time (and patience), consistency and lots of effort to add value, connect with your target audience and delight them. So many people starting out just want 1000 or 10,000 subscribers NOW, but it takes time, and you know what? THAT S OK. You ve just got to put the building blocks in place consistently, day in, day out. 23

24 My Experience In my experience the fastest way to get subscribers is to proactively put yourself in front of your target audience by advertising to them. When I started my first business back in 2005, Facebook ads didn t exist, so I got in front of my audience by using Google Adwords. I had a small budget and I did lots of testing and that s how I began to build it all up. When I started the Female Entrepreneur Association I focused on leveraging Facebook ads to grow my list and fan base. Again, I had a small budget and I tested like crazy and I was consistent about it all, so that I got results. Thanks to Facebook, you can get yourself in front of your target audience for very little. People who are building big lists are doing this. There s nothing special about them, let me rephrase there s nothing that they re doing that you can t do. That being said, you will definitely see results without paying for adverts, but it will take longer. Here are some examples of how other people have grown their lists and how long it s taken them: Michelle Rohr Secret Owl Society I have grown my list to 3000 subscribers over a period of 15 months. The process has been fairly simple and organic. I would offer access to free printables in return for someone trusting me with their address. Half of the sign-ups have come through the Hello Bar installed on my blog while the other half has come through sign-up links within blog posts, promoting a particular free printable. The biggest key to my success has been sharing pictures of my printables on Pinterest. This has brought me lots of traffic and new subscribers every day. My #1 tip would be to make sure that the freebie you re offering in exchange for someone s is designed to attract your ideal customer and leverage the power of Pinterest to get a constant flow of subscribers. Heidi Thompson Evolve Your Wedding Business I have grown my list to 3100 and this has taken about 2 years I have grown my list via a mix of opt-in offers, live events like webinars, mini trainings leading into a product offer, guest posting. A strategy that has worked the best for me would definitely be guest posting and webinars. My top piece of advice to others would be, if you re going to be doing guest posting (and even if you re not) make sure you have goals set up in Google Analytics so that you can see where your opt-ins are coming from. You ll find that some guest posts are more valuable than others! Traffic doesn t always equal opt ins and it s important to track what matters. 24

25 Tips for Product-Based Businesses The lovely Andreea Ayers, founder of Launch Grow Joy shared some great ideas for how product-based business owners can grow their lists. If you have a product line definitely check out Andreea s website, she teaches business owners how to get more traffic to their online stores using PR. Focusing on growing your list as a product-based business owner is crucial to your business growth! Why? Because allows you to start and grow a relationship with your subscribers that you can t have with your web visitors. Sending regular s (whether it s weekly, every other week or monthly) to your subscribers is a great way to connect with them on a deeper level, to share things that you might not be able to share on your website or social media and to invite your subscribers to reply and tell you what issues they re looking to solve by using your products. Here are a few ways to increase your subscriber list: Offer a special offer or discount to anyone who signs up for your list as an incentive. Run a contest and require people to give you their address for a chance to win one of your products. Install a nicely designed popup on your site and ask visitors to subscribe to get an insider s look into your company. Action to Take Create an image to promote your offer and share it via social media and test out running an ad - even if you have a tiny budget. Just take consistent action to get yourself in front of your audience. 25

26 PART five Engaging Your Subscribers Ok, so now your subscribers are growing, yippee! But now what? You don t know what to say, how much to give away, when to etc. etc. Don t worry if you feel like this, because we re going to create a plan of action for you! Before we get started on making your plan there are a few important things to cover that will help you to get the best results. How Frequently Should I My List? A lot of people feel confused as to when they should their audience and so they keep putting it off. Here s the thing, how often you your audience is totally up to you! If you want to once a week or once a month, great! Nothing is set in stone - you can always change it up. It really does help, however, if you know when and how often you re going to , because when you get intentional about it and have it planned out, it will help you to stick to it. So, how often are you going to your audience? What should I say in my s? (and how much should I give away for free?) Now you know how frequently you re going to your audience, you need to decide what you re going to say in your s. A lot of people get hung up here - they re not quite sure what to say, so they just put off ing. Another hang up people often have is, how much should I give away for free? A mentor of mine once said, you have to fire your big guns first. Don t worry about giving away too much, you have to wow your audience with what you ve got, don t hold back. If you re worried that you ll give it all away and then have nothing left to give, think about Pat Flynn He produces so much amazing content and always shares that whenever he creates new content, he strives for it to be epic. He s always going above and beyond to share his experiences and knowledge and that s why people love him. The result of this isn t that no one buys from him, because he gives too much away. The result is that lots of people can t wait to get closer to him and buy his products and go on his masterminds, because they already know how amazing he is. I am one of those people. I love everything he shares, he always adds so much value. That s what we all need to do - add real value, in a way that is authentic and feels good. 26

27 If you re still unsure as to what to share and what not to share, then there s a good tip you can follow... Often people will give lots of value sharing that what, and then the how is what people pay for. This is usually what happens during webinars - experts will share great insights and tips for what people need to be doing, but they won t necessarily spend time showing them exactly how to do it. So get really clear on distinguishing between your what and your how: What How 27

28 Getting back to your s though, here are some other important things to consider when ing your list: Set goals and objectives for each - what transformation do you want your subscribers to have? What do action do you want them to take? Decide what you re going to say in your s - make sure it resonates and aligns with your core business message (the heart + soul). Make your s compelling - I ve found that short, compelling s get a much higher rate of engagement. For example, I once sent out an that said: 3 steps for managing your social media & how we schedule our FB posts Hi << Name >>, I m going to keep this short... If it weren t for these 3 things we ve shared in this week s video, about managing social media, I would have gone insane. No joke. Have a watch here and make sure you do them >> I hope these 3 things help you as much as they helped me :) As we re talking about social media, why not leave a comment at the bottom of the post and tell us which your preferred social media platform is and leave the link to your profile? Have a wonderful week! Carrie xx 28

29 It was short and I gave people a compelling call to action and so the click through rate on this was higher than average. Here s another example of an with an above average click through rate: Challenge & printable to kick start 2015 Hi << Test First Name >>, I m so excited to share this week s video with you! I m sharing the one thing I started doing that helps me to make progress, faster (simple, but ridiculously effective!). AND, I ve created a 30 day challenge & printable to go along with this video to help even more! Watch the video & download the goods here >> When you re writing your s, read over them and ask yourself whether the message, the style and the tone resonate with your brand. You want to make sure that you re really writing as YOURSELF. When your personality shines through, people will love you even more. I find that great images in the help to increase engagement - especially when people see what they re going to access (whether it s a screenshot of your video or a screenshot of a freebie you have for them). That being said, you can use pretty styled/stock photos too (like in the first image above). 29

30 Structuring Your mails I follow a similar style for each weekly I send out, which is: Hi *name* Intro line Tell subscribers what I have for them (benefit driven) Include clear call to action, Watch here >> Include pretty image, which will compel people to want to click through Sum up & say about leaving a comment (with another link to the post) Sign off This makes it easier for me to write my weekly s, because I have an formula I m following. I don t necessarily stick to it every time, but it s there to guide me and to help me. So come up with some kind of structure for your weekly s - create a style that feels right for you. Your s don t need to be like anyone else s. 30

31 Subject lines A great subject line is the difference between getting lots of people to open your and getting very few people to open your , so it s really important you do your best. So to help you write amazing subject lines every time, here are some tips from the wonderful Lacy Boggs, she works undercover as a ghostblogger and teaches the tricks of the trade to DIY bloggers. Check out her own blog at lacyboggs.com. I like to follow the 4 U s. Subject lines should be: Useful Urgent Unique and Ultra-specific Your subject line is a promise that the /blog post fulfills. It needs to tell the reader how the /article will be Useful to her. You need to add a time element if possible, to make the article Urgent. It should be as Unique as possible, so you stand out from the crowd, and it needs to be Ultraspecific, so people can tell right away if the article is what they re looking for. So, How to Write Headlines is not as good as Before You Write Another Blog, Get These 4 Tips for Better Headlines from a Pro-Blogger Finally, make it part of your process to write lots of versions of your headline. I like to use the CoSchedule Headline Analyzer to compare different versions of my headline to see which I like best. When it comes to writing amazing headlines, Lacy is the best, so definitely take your lead from her. In my experience, writing subject lines and headlines is tough, because you have to get them right so often I ve found myself going backwards and forwards, not really knowing what the best subject line/headline is! That s why I started to follow a formula. My formula consists of thinking about the benefit people will get from reading my . 31

32 Here are some of my subject lines that have worked well: Behind the scenes of my business hub Reaching a big goal (that you keep putting off!) + printable :) 3 tools to save you massive amounts of time + printable Challenge + printable to kick start 2015 :) As you can see, they re all benefit driven to some extent. You know your audience the best, so what would compel them to open up and read? Avoid anything that sounds spammy Don t come up with a headline that s misleading, it ll annoy people Give yourself time to come up with a subject line, if you rush it last minute, chance are that your subject lines will be a bit hit and miss. Try to keep them fairly short (under 50 characters, if possible). Ok, so now let s create a plan of action for you... Creating your content plan Being consistent with ing your subscribers can get a little overwhelming, so the best way to stay on top of it all, effectively, is to make sure you create a content plan, so you know what you re going to people about. Content plan for your s Subject line CTA Type of content Goal 32

33 Continued... Subject line CTA Type of content Goal Engaging with your audience through a welcome campaign Another thing you can (and should) do to keep engaging with your subscribers is to set up a series of welcome s. This could be as short as 3 s or it could be a welcome series that goes on forever! Pat Flynn has lots and lots of s he sends out as part of his subscriber campaign - I would highly recommend signing up over at Smart Passive Income and pay attention to his s. your welcome campaign could consist of the following types of s Sharing tips Sharing opportunities Sharing content (blog post/video - some people will repurpose their blog posts and add them to a nurture campaign, so when new people sign up they see previous content) Sharing freebies Asking for feedback Trying to get to know the subscriber on a more personal level Telling your audience more of what they can get from your - what you can offer them/help them with Invite to a hangout/workshop/webinar Give them a coupon 33

34 Again, you want to focus on over delivering and adding lots of value. This is about building the relationship with your new subscribers. So for example, when someone signs up to the main FEA mailing list, here s what they get initially: Immediately after sign up: Welcome + goodies + sharing what FEA is about and what we provide and how they can get started. (this is included earlier on in the workbook) Day 3: Let s connect :) Day 5: Share your story + get more involved Day 10: Do you have any questions? Day 20: Invite to guest post Day 30: How have you been getting on? Also, throughout this time they ll also be receiving our weekly s with our latest video in it. So, how are you going to welcome your subscribers? Plan out your welcome campaign in the space below: 34

35 Types of content you could use in your s: Blog post Video Survey Tip Quiz Quote/ inspiration Question Opportunity Offer Webinar Freebie Personal story, with significant message to it Action to take Plan out the next 4 s you re going to send to your subscribers. 35

36 Hopefully by now your head should be buzzing with ideas and ways to build more subscribers and engage with your list. If you have any questions about anything please head over to the Facebook group and ask away, Use #AskCarrie so I can find them easily. Now the challenge is for you to put everything into action, so you can start seeing results: Create your opt-ins (freebies and just signup options with no freebies) Optimise your website to get more conversions Use social media to get new subscribers (Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) Use Facebook ads Keep your subscribers engaged with an amazing welcome campaign and regular s Go out of your way to add value and delight your audience! Good luck! There is an template for you to use below Be YOURSELF. Make sure you add lots of value. Make sure your message resonates with your brand - keep it all aligned. Be compelling. Make sure the reply is correct (no one likes the noreply@ s) Make sure your name is formatted correctly, so people can easily see who the is from. 36

37 Template What s the key benefit of your to your subscribers? Amazing subject line: Summarise what you want to say: What is the action you want people to take once they ve opened your ? How are you going to get them to take that action? 37