Building Your Email List Part 1 The Basics

Building Your Email List Part 1 The Basics Before social media became the communication vehicle of choice, many of us had email lists. Now that policy changes at Twitter, Facebook and other platforms are making it harder to reach our fans without paying to promote, it’s time to dust the old list off and use it again. This week I’m going to give you some easy, immediately actionable ways to start growing your email list and next week I’ll tell you how to start using those names to drive sales. Set up some sort or organizational system for any information you already have. I recommend signing up with an Email Management System (EMS) immediately. Aweber, MailChimp, MyEmma and Constant Contact all have great low- and no-cost options. Create a simple privacy policy and post it on your website. A few sentences are fine. Mine is â€Å"I will never sell or share your information. And I wont spam you. Neither of us have time for that.† An email address is valuable. Create an exclusive thank-you offering for those who opt-in. A free story or book, or a short video course; there are no limits. Think of an item that will grow your brand and be of value to your fans. Now you’re ready. Using the tools provided Post the sign-up widget in the sidebar of your website or blog, where it will be available no matter what page someone is looking at. Post a link to it on Twitter (no more than once every few days, and don’t forget to stagger posting times). If your EMS offers Facebook integration, set it up. If not, post your link there too, and add to the back of your books, your