I have a shortcut for you. Wouldn’t it be nice if we knew how to do everything right the first time? No such luck in this wonderful journey called life.
We learn by doing, and that will never change. BUT, we can certainly benefit from good advice from others who have already been down the path. Shortcuts help.
Now, I’m all about sharing what I know – the good, that bad, the ugly – anything that can help you make better decisions.
I want to share something that can really help you. It’s the one thing I would do differently if I had to start all over again.
You know I don’t like fluff, so I’ll tell you straight out, and THEN I’ll tell you the why.
Here it is…
The one thing I would do differently would be to start building an email list RIGHT AWAY!
This is crazy, because I was given that same advice when I first get started, but I did not follow through. It’s not like I didn’t try to get started… I did go through the motions, but that’s not good enough.
I subscribed to my first email system back in 2008, but I never made a plan for list building, I made excuses. It doesn’t matter what email management platform you use, as long as you get started using one (although I will provide my experiences with several that I used in just a moment).
The money is in the list.
I heard that phrase so many times before, it can make my head spin.
But I procrastinated… for many reasons (all of them pretty stupid). For example, I told myself:
- I told myself I didn’t know what to write in an email sequence
- I told myself that I was not well-known and people won’t subscribe
- I told myself that list building is useless until I had something to sell
What was I thinking? All of that was hogwash!
Now I look back see how silly I was.
I don’t want you to make the same mistake I made. The sooner you build your list, the sooner you’ll make money.
It can take time to build a list, and you should get started right now (even if you don’t have a website).
Your list is your audience… it’s your customer base… these are people who want to hear from you. Don’t worry about how big you are or whether or not you have products… just provide value with something that you know, and people will join your list… and they will look forward to your emails!
Engage them. Help them. There will be ways that you can make money by helping them, but don’t worry about that yet (I know it’s important, but stay with me here).
The money really is in the list!
Here’s why: People on your list are comfortable with you (or getting comfortable with you), and that builds trust. You don’t want to sell them everything in every email… instead, you want to help them as much as you can, and they will buy when they need something you are discussing or promoting. Sure, you’ll eventually learn to write more compelling copy that sells even better, but let’s start with providing value. The trust starts there.
Once they are on your list, they become a captive audience. You can reach out to them again and again. How cool is that?
Now compare that with visitors to your website. When someone finds their way to your site or blog, they might love the article they are reading (and bravo for you for providing such great content). But you probably won’t make a sale… you haven’t developed the trust yet. They’ll buy from you next time, or the time after that.
The problem is that most visitors will not come back. They forget where they were, so even if they wanted to return, they usually won’t… or can’t.
It’s easier to get them to subscribe to your list than to make a sale, and without list building you lost your opportunity to interact and bring them under your wing. This is why you want to start building your list right away!
Make sense?
Build you list!
What if you were able to capture them when they were reading your blog? Wouldn’t that be nice? When I say capture, I mean subscribing them to your list. Keep in mind that most visitors will not subscribe, but some will, and your list will begin to grow.
I had all the lame excuses and I am kicking myself in the butt for it now. Making money online is a business, and like any other business, the most challenging aspect is getting customers. Capture them when you can!
Your visitors are your customers. They start as browsers and become buyers. Give them an exceptional experience, and they will love you for it. So get started building your prospect list as soon as possible (like yesterday).
Choose a platform.
As I mentioned above, there are plenty of email list management platforms to choose from, and it really doesn’t matter which you choose as long as you get started.
With that said, some are better than others and provide features that can really make your life easier and more profitable. Think of it like buying a car. It really doesn’t matter what kind you get because any car will get you from point A to point B. Any car will get the job done when you need transportation. But different cars provide a very different experience.
Changing your car is a whole lot easier than changing your email system, so it is better to start with the right one. I say this because it’s not too difficult to import your list from one provider to another, but it sure is a pain in the ass to build all new opt-in forms, re-create your sequences, and change all the form code in your blog.
In 2008 I subscribed to 1ShoppingCart, in 2011 I switched to AWeber and also opened a GetResponse account, and in 2016 I switched to ConvertKit. I have nothing bad to say about any of these companies.
1ShoppingCart was primarily an ecommerce platform with an email system built in. I was paying for features I did not need, and so I switched to AWeber. I also tried GetResponse because I heard nice things about it and I needed to be sure because wanted to promote it as an affiliate. I was happy with AWeber, and it served me well. I only switched after finding out about some forward-thinking features provided by some company I never heard of before called ConvertKit.
The primary reason I switched to ConvertKit is because of how ConvertKit manages lists. In AWeber (and the other platforms I used), you create a list for each type of promotion or subject. For instance, I had a list for people interested in affiliate marketing, and another list for people interested in PPC marketing. I had a whole lot of lists. AWeber is very strict regarding opt-in policies, and I was unable to add someone from my affiliate list to my PPC list without having them opt-in again. That was a challenge for me… and not only that, when one person was added to another list, AWeber (and other platforms) count that as another subscriber. Since billing is based on the number of subscribers, that increased the cost. 500 people on 3 lists is billed as 1,500 subscribers.
ConvertKit manages subscribers by segmenting them and tagging them. This is revolutionary because it means there is only one list and no multiple billing for the same subscriber. It’s much easier to manage subscribers across all kinds of topic, niches, and even industries (I have subscribers for my real estate investing too).
Once I became a ConvertKit customer, I found a whole slew of things I really liked about ConvertKit. Some of them include the ease of making opt-in forms, built-in landing pages, and the simplicity of automations. Automations are like visual flow charts for mapping out how the subscriber moves through the system.
Tags allow you to provide a much better experience for your subscribers by honing their needs and desires, and automatically sending emails that apply while avoiding emails that don’t. This is monumental in providing a progressive experience, leading to more email opens and more sales.
It was also nice to see how easy it is to edit an email sequence in ConvertKit. The whole sequence is laid out in a way that I can get to any email in the sequence with one click. In AWeber, I had to click on the list, then click on the tab for the autoresponder sequence, then find the email, then click on the email. It was very time consuming to go between several emails that I wanted to update. The ease in ConvertKit was a huge unexpected benefit.
I think ConvertKit is the greatest thing to happen to email management, and I can’t imagine using anything else for my blogging needs. I recommend ConvertKit especially for bloggers. If you have an offline brick and mortar business with a single list, then AWeber may suffice.
Oh, and in case you are a total newbie and you were wondering if you could skip the email platform altogether, and just send email through your Gmail or Yahoo account, the answer is no, you cannot do that.
There are rules, regulations, and laws around sending email and what is considered spam.
First off, you can only email people (that you don’t know) if they give you permission. Email platforms handle that… that’s what the opt-in is for.
There must also be a one-click opt-out for people who no longer want to get your emails. Email platforms handle that too, and the opt-out is automatically added to the bottom of every email.
Email platforms (all of them) provide for peace of mind and compliance with regulations. Simply put, you need one.
I am a fan of ConvertKit, but I recognize that many of you may be on a very strict budget. There are free options out there, but the features and use are limited. The best free option, in my opinion, is MailChimp. I have used it extensively for a Real Estate Investors association I was leading. Keep in mind that you will pay to unlock some of the features, and also when your list grows over 2,000 subscribers. They also limit the number of emails you can send per month on the free plan. You will outgrow the free plan quickly once your list begins to grow.
Using a premium email platform is a wise investment, so only go the free route if you absolutely have no other options.
And by the way, in addition to the platforms I already mentioned, I also used Constant Contact and SimplyCast in my other businesses. What I am saying here is that I have experience in this area, so I speak from user experience.
In Conclusion
So let’s sum this up…
- The one thing I would do different if I were just getting started: Start building my email list from day 1
- And so my advice to you is to begin building your list NOW.
- Choose your email platform carefully. I recommend and use ConvertKit. If you have a budget of zero, start with MailChimp.
- You DO need an email platform. Never use Gmail, Yahoo Mail, or anything like that to email your list (they will shut you down).
One last thing… If you plan to use funnels (that’s just a fancy term for an automated sales process using email automation), ClickFunnels is an awesome option. I actually love ClickFunnels and the brilliant people behind it. Their system has an email platform, which I don’t use only because I’m so in love with ConvertKit. But I do promote ClickFunnels, and it may be a good idea for you to also. Even if you are not interested in funnels, you can learn a ton from co-founder Russ Brunson about making money online. He’s brilliant and knows his stuff. You can get a FREE copy of his best-selling book right here. I recommend it. I’ll probably write another post just about this, but if you want to share your feedback below, that would be great.
Get Russell Brunson’s book for FREE
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