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You will need to have a Squarespace business plan or higher to use the embed code option outlined below.

An email list is a GREAT way to grow your online business. If you want to be able to make more impact (and sales) in less time and with less effort, then an email list is a must. But oftentimes, starting an email list can feel overwhelming. Where do you begin? How do you set it up? What do you need to know to build it effectively? 

Well, this blog post is for you, because we are going to cover all the steps you need to know in order to start and grow an efficient email list for your online business.

So, let’s dive in!

What we will cover in this post

Jump to the section you want to learn about by clicking the link below:

>> What is an email list?
>> What makes having an email list so great?
>> How to get people to give you their email address
>> How to create an AMAZING lead magnet
>> My FAV email marketing platform
>> How to create a landing page that converts
>> How to create a ‘Thank You’ page for your lead magnet
>> How to make all the moving parts work together
>> How to automate your first emails (including a complex ConvertKit segmenting tutorial!)
>> How to promote it all to begin getting those precious email subscribers on your list!

What exactly is an email list?

An email list is basically a compilation of potential client email addresses that you are able to send updates, promotions, and give value to regularly. The people on this list have given you their email address and have agreed to receive updates/emails from you. They are essentially “WARM” leads (this is what we want more of in business!!).

The general flow of this looks like this…

>> Someone views your landing page (<< There’s an example of my self-hosted landing page on my Squarespace website)

>> They sign up for your freebie or opt-in (<< Here’s another example)

>> They are automatically added to your list of email addresses

>> You can then send them updates, valuable content, and promotions straight to their inbox!

What makes having an email list so great?

Having an email list is a really great thing to have in your business because it gives you a group of people who are already interested in your business and what you’re offering. You are able to nurture this group of people by sending them tips, valuable content, information, and also promote your offers to them as well. Since the people on this list have given you their email address (typically in exchange for a freebie you offered) they are WARM leads. (Warm leads are people who are already interested to some degree in your business vs people who have never heard of you before.)

The more your list grows, the more people you have that you can put your offer in front of…

and we know the guaranteed way to grow your business in 2020…

is to get more offers in front of more people. The more qualified people you put your targeted offers in front of, the more sales you’ll make. Period.

Generally speaking, I’ve seen stats that say you can expect to sell about 1-3% of your email list if your products are higher priced (around $1,000 or more - keep in mind, this is just an estimated average). So, if you are offering a new product or service (and you have been nurturing your list by regularly sending valuable content AND you have qualified leads), then you can expect to make 1-3 sales per 100 people on your list.

Pretty great, huh?

SO, LET’S GET STARTED AT THE BEGINNING…

How do you get people to give you their email address?

In order to grow your list, you need to get people to give you their email address. But, how do you do that??? 

The best way to get people to give you their email address is to offer them something they want. This thing you offer them is often referred to as a “lead magnet”.

Your lead magnet should be something that you can give your potential clients that is free and that they find very intriguing. This will most likely be the first step that someone takes in learning more about you and your business, so I recommend that you over deliver with the value you give in this freebie. Don’t worry about giving too much away for free with this first step. You want the recipient to be in love with you and the content you give, so they are eager to open your next email that lands in their inbox. And ultimately… so they are eager to buy from you to get even more of that awesome support!

How do you create an awesome lead magnet or ‘freebie’?

1. You first have to know who your lead magnet is for. Know who you are trying to reach and a common struggle that they currently have. Your opt-in should help them solve a problem that they have. You should also be able to talk directly to this person in the copy that you write in your lead magnet. 

2. Make it value packed. Again, don’t worry about giving too much away for free. Make this awesome enough that your followers can’t wait to get more from you.

3. Make it easy to transfer electronically. Typically, lead magnets are exchanged in one of the following forms…

• A resource library - If you have a ton of resources that will be really helpful for them, why not bundle them all together and give them access to all your resources upon signing up for your email list? Here’s an example of this on my site. This is a landing page I’ve created in my Squarespace website and embedded my ConvertKit forms into (Don’t worry! I show you exactly how to do this below).

• A PDF document – printable, guide, workbook, checklist, etc.

• A video file – A pre-recorded training or webinar. This would contain helpful info they can learn from.

• An audio file –  Same as the video file except audio only. You can also bundle this with a PDF guide, checklist or worklist that they can work through while listening to the audio.

• An online quiz – There are quiz creation sites out there that allow you to compile questions that can give insight or answers to what your ideal client is going through by partaking in it.

• An excel sheet template – If you’re an excel formula junkie and can create something that will make your followers lives easier… then go for it!

• A free resource list – If you have a list of useful resources that solves their problems, then you can direct them to a pdf document that contains a list of resources with links to the resources or even direct them to a page on your website containing the links and info.

How do you pick an amazing email marketing platform?

Once you have your freebie created, you need a way to collect email addresses. I prefer ConvertKit because it is so easy to use and it has quite a few features that make it a really valuable option. 

Here’s some of my favorite features: 

Landing pages - Gone are the days of ugly landing pages that take forever to set up! ConvertKit makes it SO easy to set up a simple landing page that looks really good.

Here’s an example of one of my highest converting landing pages built with ConvertKit: 

(Want to grab this free checklist? You can download it here.)

Tagging - ConvertKit makes it really easy to keep track of who has clicked on links by letting you ‘tag’ someone. Basically, this means that when someone clicks a specific link, you can put them into a ‘category’ so you can go back later and send them specific messages. This is used a lot by people who want to ‘segment’ their list. You can ask a couple qualifying questions in the first email of your funnel, and this will allow you to send appropriate information to different groups of people. 

Conversion rates - You can EASILY see your form conversion rates (whether it’s an embedded form or a landing page). 

Subject line split testing - You can set up two different subject lines for a specific email and test the two. ConvertKit will automatically send the majority of emails with the winning subject line!

Subscribers at a glance - when you first log into your ConvertKit account, you can see a graph of your new subscribers (or unsubscribes) without having to search for it. 

Automation - You can set up multi step automation. So for example, if someone joins a list, you could have an automation set up for just that form that then sends that person to a sequence of emails… then once that sequence is finished they could be sent to another sequence. You can also set this up to take tags and different actions into account. 

How to create a landing page that converts…

There are two different landing page options that I like to use. 

A landing page built in ConvertKit (see below for tutorial): The first is a super short and simple landing page in ConvertKit (or another landing page platform). This is basically one that just has the title of your freebie, a supporting line of text, and the opt-in boxes. 

A landing page built in Squarespace (see below for tutorial): The second is to have a longer landing page that is set up more like a sales page. This will highlight the target market’s biggest stressors, their biggest desire (what the freebie will give them that they REALLY want), and list a bullet point list of what they can expect to get from the freebie. I usually self host these pages on my Squarespace website and just hide the header and footer (because landing pages shouldn’t have other links but instead they should only encourage action to opt-in). 

Here’s what you should consider having on your landing page…

• A captivating title – This step is HUGE. The title can make or break your freebie and whether or not people want it. you can test different titles to find the perfect one.

• It should be relatable - Your target market should feel like you’re talking directly to their biggest problems/frustrations and offering the solution they have been longing for. List their biggest struggles, show them that you know what they really are looking for, and offer a solution to that problem. 

• Make it easy to sign up – Don’t make someone scroll back up to the top of the page or all the way down to the bottom to sign up. One form should be above the ‘fold’ and one at the bottom of the page (unless you have a super short page where all the content is at the top, then one form is fine).

• Simple and to the point – Make sure your landing page is simple AND speaks to the freebie you are giving. If they have clicked onto your landing page from a Facebook ad or promotion, the landing page should immediately let them know they are in the right place and support the wording used in your ad. Also, a good landing page only has one objective… to get them to sign up for your freebie! So, it’s a good idea to turn off your navigation links and hide your footer. The ‘sign up’ buttons should be the only links on the page.

So when do you use a lot of copy vs a really short and simple landing page?

It all comes down to testing! You can always try them both out and see which converts better. If you find that the short page converts way higher, then get rid of the other page and just use the short option. 

On the other hand, if you’re providing a lead magnet that is covering something they may have never heard of or might be confused about, then having some copy to explain it might be good.

So once you know what needs to go into your page, you will need to actually create your page or opt-in form.

Here’s how to set up a ConvertKit hosted landing page

Here’s how to set up a landing page on Squarespace:

UPDATE:

You can turn off your double opt-in which would allow you to automatically send a subscriber to the thank you page. I’ve done this in the past, however, if you get a ‘hack’ or spammy bot targeting your form (I've recently had this happen which is why I don’t recommend doing this anymore!)... you may get hundreds or even thousands of fake/spam subscribers to your form within a short period of time. You would then have to go and unsubscribe each entry one by one… this is a pain! So I would recommend selecting “send incentive email” vs “auto-subscribing”. (shown in the image below)

Create your “thank you” page

I always like to have a specific ‘thank you’ page that the subscriber is redirected to when they subscribe or confirm their subscription. In order to do this, I just create a new unlinked page on my Squarespace website where I simply put a picture of what the freebie looks like, put a button where they can download the freebie right there (make it open in a new page!), and then have a tripwire or ‘learn more’ section at the bottom of that page. 

If you’re focusing on selling a tripwire upon signup, then you may want to leave off the instant download button and JUST market the tripwire on this page. 

Here’s an example of one of my thank you pages…

Embed your form into your landing page (if self hosting)

(skip this if you’re just using the ConvertKit landing page option)

If using Squarespace, you can easily embed your ConvertKit form or newsletter block by pasting the embed code from ConvertKit into a code block in Squarespace (you’ll need a Squarespace business plan or higher to use the code block). 

Just follow this quick video to embed your code. 

In order to get your form centered onto the page, just use the following hack (watch the video for full explanation on where to put this code)

Code:

<center> EMBED CODE FROM SQUARESPACE </center>

Set up your sequence and / or welcome email (plus automations, if needed).

Once your subscribers sign up, you will need to get the freebie to them. You can do this by setting up an automation in ConvertKit that sends their gift to them. This welcome email will deliver the freebie to them and introduce who you are and what your business does. Plus, you will outline what they can expect to receive from you as they move forward. 

Here’s how I’ve set up my automations and sequences…

1. I’ve set up my freebie welcome email (I set this up as a sequence with just one email). 

2. I set up a sales sequence or nurture funnel that drips valuable content + an offer to buy from me to my new subscribers when they join. 

3. I set up an automation that gets a new subscriber onto the welcome sequence for their specific freebie… and then the automation automatically triggers the sales funnel sequence after receiving the initial welcome email. 

Here’s a simple way to set this up if you’re just getting started and have only one (or only a few) freebies…

OPTIONAL:

Here’s a more complex setup of a sequence if you want to segment your list…

STOP… Make sure to test it all out first!

ALWAYS, always, always test your embedded forms to make sure they will actually work before promoting your landing page (otherwise you’ll be losing leads if people are signing up and it isn’t saving properly!).

Go to your live landing page and actually fill out your form like a subscriber would. Then make sure you actually receive the email in your inbox with the confirmation email and freebie.

How to promote your freebie now that it’s all set up…

Now that you have it all set up you will want to promote your landing page as much as possible! Here are a few ideas…

• Turn your Squarespace announcement bar on and link it to your landing page.

• Create a new blog post talking about how awesome your freebie is and embed a sign-up form (or just link to your landing page) in the post. Put some Pinterest ready images in the blog post and pin these images to Pinterest. If you’re serious about using Pinterest to grow your business, then I highly recommend the Tailwind app and getting some awesome strategy set up!

• Drop some ladder posts in Facebook groups to grow interest in your freebie.

• Promote your freebie on your Facebook business page.

• Promote your freebie in your own Facebook group (want help DIYing your website? Join my group here!).

• Promote your freebie on your personal Facebook profile.

• Promote your freebie on Instagram (and other social media platforms you use).

• Talk about your freebie in a live training or webinar and drop the link in the comments.

• Put a post online talking about your target markets struggle and offer the freebie as a call to action.

I can’t wait to see the lead magnet and landing page that you come up with!

Would you share it with me? Just drop a comment below or find me online and share it with me! You can follow along on Instagram at @iamsandrahouseman. Feel free to send me a DM and show me what you create. 

Here are some other resources you might love to learn about…

>> How to start and grow your email list with a quiz

>> How to QUICKLY launch your DIY website (New Template!)

>> 3 must have outsourcing tips for the busy entrepreneur

>> 8 resources that will transform your online business

Always cheering you on! 

Sandra