Four Website Tips for List Building to Gain Subscribers

Email marketing is one of the most low cost and effective options available for organizations looking to grow their business. Building a viable subscriber’s list is important to getting the biggest ROI (return on investment) for any email marketing program. There is a lot of truth to the statement, ‘the money is in the list’!

If you already have a well built website with client-focused content and good traffic, building your list is usually pretty easy. However, if you haven’t seen good list growth, using simple optimization skills without compromising the focus of your content, or presenting it like a sales or squeeze page, your website visitors are much more likely to sign up, just by asking. Use these four website tips to help you build your subscriber list for email marketing purposes.

1) Make Sure Your Sign-up Shows Above the Fold

The first step to getting email marketing sign-ups is to let your visitors know the option exists. Make it easy for them to find your sign-up form. If possible, you should position it in a way that it is visible ‘above the fold’, which means that it’s visible without having to scroll down the page, and no matter which part of your site a visitor is viewing, the option to sign-up should be in view.

2) Provide Something of Value to Encourage Subscribers

All internet users have become wary of signing up with their email addresses because of the vast numbers of spammers on the Internet. This raises privacy concerns that need to be readily addressed. Creating powerful incentives in return for subscribing is one of the best ways to put potential prospects and clients at ease and willing to share their information with you.

Consider what would benefit your specific target audience and present it in a way that will not make them feel pressured. A free report, eBook, or white paper, are several options to consider. Experiment with different incentives until you find exactly what works for and attracts your target.

3) Minimize the Information You Require

Although getting as much information as you can from subscribers allows you to fully customize your email marketing campaign, asking for too much information may be a turn-off and cause prospects to avoid adding themselves to your list. Keep it simple, ask only for their name and email address.

As you build your relationship and value with the prospect, they will be much more willing to provide additional contact details.

4) Send an Email at Once

To immediately manage expectations, send a reply to everyone as soon as they subscribe. This should outline everything new subscribers can expect from you whether it’s a newsletter, free report, or something else. If you use a confirmation or opt-in system, this should also be included in the reply and helps make sure your mailing list contains only valid information and that they are genuinely interested in your offerings. Doing this will help you avoid statistical nightmares when tracking the results of your email marketing campaigns.

Don’t forget, visitors are less likely to subscribe to your newsletters or marketing emails just because a sign up form is presented on your site. You need to entice them with incentives, good communication strategies, and make it easy for them to participate. As long as you keep all these in mind, you can make good use of your website to gain subscribers for email marketing.