How to Build Your Email List Without Ads

Looking for ways to build your email list without spending a ton of cash on ads? Keep reading to learn 4 ways to organically grow your list!

Today we're talking all about growing your email list - because if you don't have an email list, you really can't do that much with email marketing. You got to have people to send emails to!

In this post, we’re focusing on organic ways to grow your list. These are some things you can do anytime, whether you're running ads or not to continually bring people on to your list and grow your reach organically.

Optimize Your Website for Opt-ins.

My first recommendation is to optimize your website for opt-ins. There are a lot of different opportunities that you can give people on your website to opt-in to your list.

First of all, you want to make it clear on your homepage how they can get emails from you. Joining your list should be a major call to action on your homepage. Once people visit your site, make it clear that the next step is to start getting emails from you.

You can also add your opt-in to other pages throughout your website. Feature it on your about page so once people learn a little bit more about you, they can take the next step and get on your email list. 

Include it at the end of blog posts so that when people read your content, they can continue seeing more from you. 

You can use a welcome mat so that when people first land on your website, the first thing they see is the chance to opt-in. 

You can use a slide in form so that when people scroll a certain percentage down your page, then the opt-in form appears. You can also use a pop-ups to ask people if they want to join your list before leaving your site.  

You want to make sure that you're optimizing your website by giving people multiple opportunities to join your list. This is the best way to capture the traffic that lands on your website before they bounce and forget about you forever.

Ask People to Share Your Opt-in

Another great way to grow your email list is to ask people to share your opt-in. You can do this in multiple ways after someone joins your list.

You can have something on the actual thank you page. So once someone has put in their email address and they get sent to another confirmation page or thank you, you can include some copy that asks them to share the freebie.

You can do this by having a pre-written tweet or Instagram post or Facebook status. This can be super simple. You can do something like a click to tweet that has a pre-written tweet that all they have to do is click to share it with their followers.

You can also do this in your welcome sequence. Once people have had a chance to download your freebie and check it out, you can send an email asking them for feedback and say - if you liked it, please share it. You can include some pre-written posts that they can choose from and share on their favorite social media platform. 

If you want people to share your freebie, you've got to be sure you're asking them and making it easy! 

Promote Your List on Social Media

Another great way to grow your list is to promote it on social media. Of course, you can include your landing page as the link in your different social media profiles. You can also share on Pinterest where it can be shared over and over again. 

But don't just leave that link in your profile and never speak of it again. Regularly create posts to talk about your lead magnet and share the benefits your followers get when they sign up. You want to be regularly promoting your email list on your social media as well.

Don't just drop the link and leave it there, hoping people will discover it. Give them a little help!

Get In Front of Other People’s Audiences

Another great way to organically grow your list is to get in front of other people's audiences. This has been the most effective strategy I've used to grow my email list.

There's a lot of different ways you can do it. You can guest post on someone's blog. You can be a guest on a podcast. You can be a guest expert on a summit. You can be a guest expert on someone's Facebook group. You could do a guest spot in someone's course is like a bonus training.

There are a lot of different ways you can collaborate with people that have a complimentary audience to you. It's a really great way to build your visibility, get yourself out there, and also get introduced to a lot of new people that you wouldn’t have met otherwise. 

Depending on the type of collaboration, it can be really beneficial both in the short term and the long term. If it’s something like a podcast episode, you'll usually get an immediate boost once the podcast episode goes live. But then it continues to live on in the archives and bring new people to you as that podcast episode continues to be downloaded and listened to. 

Now you may be thinking well, how do I get these opportunities? People aren't inviting me on their podcast. If people aren’t inviting you, go ahead and pitch them. That's what works for me. 

I've been invited to a few of these types of collaborations, but a lot of the ones I've done I've also pitched. So if you find someone that you think would be a really great fit, go ahead and send them an email. Most people are open to it and are welcome to bring on a guest expert they can really benefit their audience. 

Now, are you on my email list? If you're not, go ahead and sign up below!