#164 - 3 free (+ one crazy cheap) way to triple your email list

Hello, hello guys, it is Kate here from hello Funnels, and this is the Doing It Online podcast. Now today we are talking about one of those topics that just never goes away and that is list building. And we've got three simple and pretty much free ways that you can go out there and grow your list. This is whether you are just getting started, whether you are more advanced, and let's dive right on into them. Now.

This is the Doing It Online podcast with your host, cereal entrepreneur, 6 and 7 figure funnel strategist and super nerd Kate McKibben. Where every week we're here talking nerdy and sharing the things that actually work to help you do what you do online. But better, easier and with a ton more profit too. Are you ready? Let's do it.

So as I mentioned guys, at the start, creating your list, it's one of those things, not creating your list, building your list, growing your list, it's one of those tasks on the to do list that never goes away, that never gets ticked off. I mean, hopefully over time you have people who can help you with that. You have systems in place that do it, you know, mostly automatically. You've got, you know, front end offers or mini but mighty offers that come in and, and help to sort of put this on autopilot and make it so that you can scale it and, you know, have a lot of control over it and it's not costing you hardly anything. But that practice of list building never goes away. Like you need to be constantly growing your list whether you are just getting started or you are 10 years into this online business journey. It just, it just, it's, it's like eating your broccoli, brushing your teeth. It's something we've always got to do. Okay, so a lot of people, especially right now, I know, are sort of looking at their budgets, looking at what might have been their marketing budgets and going, look, I need to be able to do this, but I know that, but I, I need to be able to cut some corners somewhere. And quite often the good old ads budget is a place that people cut corners. Or maybe as I said, you're just getting started, you don't have much budget yet. So today I'm going to share three different ways that you can go out there and start growing your list. And they are, well, they, they're free, they don't cost you, they don't cost a thing, apart from potentially a little piece of tech which most of you will probably already have. So the very first way to do this and this Is something I actually love and I would recommend that everybody does this, as long as it's done in the right way is to go and add a pop up to your website. Now I know I can hear like I can hear a lot of you go oh my God, gross. Pop ups are terrible. I hate them. They're so annoying. You can do pop ups in a non annoying way. Like there is definitely a way that pop ups do not have to be super intrusive. They can be kind of cute, quirky and funny. They still, as long as they're offering someone great value and that they, when you click to close them, they actually close. They don't have to be this horrible annoying thing. And they are so effective at, you know, and these are people who are on your site already. Like these are the warmest of the warm. You don't have to pay a cent for them. What you will have to pay for is a piece of software that does the pop ups. That's the only not free thing about this strategy, but it comes with a lot of different page builders and stuff these days. If you want some more advice on how to do pop ups in a non annoying way, I suggest you scroll right on down to episode number nine. We kind of covered all of that and we've got a bunch of tech suggestions in there for you as well. Two of our favorite pop up software that you can go and use if you which aren't expensive. One is convert box, that is a lifetime license, so no monthly fees there. And the other One is called OptinMonster. Both really easy to use, really clever, really flexible. But like I said, a lot of these days, you know, different websites have them built in. Like if you use Showit you can have a pop up that gets triggered by people scrolling to a certain part of the page. You know, lots of other page builders as well have pop ups built in, so hopefully you already have. You know it as something you can just add in without any extra cost. But if you do have to pay extra then it's usually quite a small expense. And the beauty of that, as I mentioned is this is something that you can set up and then you just forget about it. And then you can be getting up to like 10, 15% of your website visitors being added into your email list at no extra cost. And that can really add up particularly as you grow. So that's number one, add an opt in, a non annoying opt in pop up to your website. As I said, go check out episode 19 if you want some more advice on how to do that the next way, and this is an oldie but a goodie as well, is making the most of Facebook groups. Now there are so many Facebook groups out there, guys, and they're not going anywhere. So this one is a little bit of a time consuming one, particularly at the start. Because I think the most time consuming part of this strategy is going out there, doing the research and finding those Facebook groups that have your potential customers in them that you are also allowed to join and also allowed to share links and recommendations in. Not all of them allow that. Some of them you have to pay to do that. Other ones, it's a bit of a free for all. So you're probably going to spend a bit of a time going, making a big list of potential places and then just trying some things out. And you know what I would recommend is that if you have a few different things to share, for example, you know, because you don't want to be just going in there and spamming them either. Just be like dropping a link and running. It'd be much better to find a handful of groups that work really well for you. And then what tends to work well as well as sharing, like your direct opt ins, as long as they're super valuable and relevant. So Whether you've got PDFs or some other freebie, a mini course, a webinar, free webinar, you know, anything that is really, really valuable and really, really related to that group's topic. If you're allowed to share, if there are moments when people are asking questions about something like hey, I've got a free resource, come check this out, you can do that. Awesome. But also sharing blog posts and things like that. And if you listen to tip number one or if you share a blog post and they jump in and then it has a pop up to get some kind of freebie, then you know you're going to get some opt ins there too. So Facebook groups, you know, as I said, it's a bit more time consuming. That big bulk is finding those groups that you are allowed to contribute to and you are allowed to share links in and have got the right people in them. And then once you know what those groups are, then you then want to make sure you've got it in your planner, in your calendar, that every week you are jumping in, you know, you're adding value. You're not just in there taking like you can't just, as I said, you can't just drop a link and run. You gotta be in there answering some questions. Things like that providing value to the group and then also sharing when you're allowed to share. So Facebook groups can be amazing. I've heard of people getting thousands of, you know, new subscribers from Facebook groups in very short periods of time as it's just about finding those right groups and finding that right way to make the offer and share your value in those groups. And as I said, totally free, just, just cost you your time. So the third option is another one I love and it's particularly good if you've been in business for a, and through that time in business you've made some Internet friends or some in real life friends, whether it's through being in masterminds or group programs or just people that you've been chatting to in DMs or, you know, we, it's. I always think it's amazing how we make friends on the Internet these days. But the third option is to do collabs or promo swaps. And one of the easiest and simplest ways to do this that doesn't involve setting up anything huge and complicated is to just find some friends who have complimentary businesses, complimentary audiences, and say, hey, would you be happy to share my thing if I share your thing? So you share to your audience that they've got some great freebie or they're running some free, maybe they've got a free challenge or something coming up for a launch, they share your thing. If you want to take it a step further, you can be affiliates for each other as well. And then you both make sales and everybody wins, but just in its purest form, just being like, hey, are you happy to promote this to your list? And I'll promote to my list and then it's a win win for everyone and it's super, super simple. So things like that, guys, this is like. And in my own experience, like when I was first getting started doing the promo swaps was one of the first ways because I had no budget at all. You know, I was working as a very badly paid journalist who also had a second job at a pet shop on the weekends to be able to afford my super high Sydney rent in the share house that I shared with like four other people, I didn't have a bunch of spare cash lying around. So when one of the ways we got traction so quickly was by partnering by with other people who were also in that growth phase, who also had similar size audiences and those audiences were complimentary. And then, you know, we did some group promo stuff together and everybody got to grow their list together and it was really, really great. So again, it depends on if you have those existing relationships. It can be a little bit more difficult to go up to someone completely cold and say, hey, would you share my thing if I share your thing? But it does happen as well. Everybody is, you know, as long as it's a win win and you're polite and friendly about it, most people are often happy to help. So don't be scared off if you don't have that network of people who you can potentially collab with. Get out there, start making Internet friends, start hitting people up, don't be GROSS in the DMs, please, please. But you know, start making these, you know, introducing yourself, saying, hey, I've got an idea that could work for both of us. Are you keen? See what happens? Worst they can say is no. So I also have a bonus little tip for you guys. It's a not free because you do need a piece of software. It's a piece of software called ManyChat. And this is probably a bit more of an advanced strategy. So you probably notice that with each of these strategies that they all probably benefit people who have different sort of assets going for them. So your pop ups, that's going to really benefit people who are already getting a bit of organic traffic already, but you know, still a win even if you're only getting a small amount. Facebook groups, that's really going to benefit people who've got a bit of time, who are able to find those, you know, some really great active groups for their communities. I'd say that pretty much everyone can do the Facebook group strategy. You just got to get creative and find those groups. The collabs, the promo swaps, those ones are a really good low hanging fruit if you have those relationships already. If you've got a big group of, you know, of online friends or business friends that you can reach out to and that you can, you know, potentially swap with. And manychat, this is an amazing strategy for people who have already got a bit of a social media following already. Get a bit of engagement, doesn't have to be huge at all by any, by any means, but this is a great strategy to help to convert those people who are on your socials into, to get them to join your email list as well. So you have other ways of communicating with them. And if you're the kind of person who has the odd real go viral stuff like that, then this can be really gold for you. So you've probably noticed and it seems to be the current cool kid marketing Strategy. There's a lot of people out there at the moment who are like, you know, they give some great value and they're like, hey, I've got an extra freebie on this if you want it. DM me a certain weird word and I'll send it right to you. And then you do that, or you comment below and you get, you know, you automatically magically get a comment back. And then you'll start getting maybe some links or something sent into your, into your inbox. So that is using a tool called ManyChat. And it's really, and it's, at the moment it seems to be one of the best ways to be converting people from a social media platform into, into, you know, into an email subscriber. And the reason works so well is you're not sending them off the platform, like Facebook, Instagram, all that stuff. They love it when you keep people and get them to do actions within their platform. That's how they make money. They don't want people leaving. So if you're out there going, go click my link in the bio or go remember this URL and type it in somewhere, or click the, you know, you're putting a little sticker with a link or whatever on a story. It's just one, it's a bit more difficult for the person watching it. And two, the platforms don't like that. So they actually, and this is, you know, what I've been hearing on the grapevine, but they actually reward accounts that use this strategy because, like the algorithm likes it anyway. Because you're getting extra comments, you're getting extra DMs, and those are seen as sort of like the best forms of engagement that you can get. So that means your content sees more. So it's kind of a bit of a win win this strategy. In one, it's easier for your actual followers to be able to take that next step. They're not having to click away. They don't really like that either. And two, it's your, the platform loves it and they reward you because you're keeping the people there and engaging with them more inside your DMs, inside your comments. So that's going to help your organic stuff to be seen more as well. So as I said, guys, it's a really simple strategy. You have to sign up for the platform manychat, you have to then go and set up a simple automation that gets triggered off a word being put either in a comment or being sent via dm and then you'll send them a Little sequence. It's like sending an email sequence where you know, you're introducing yourself, you're saying how excited you are to meet them, you're sharing the whatever it is that they opted in for and then potentially you know, following up bit later and inviting them to a next step. If you want to go down the full on funnels route, but for just the list building route, you know, just hey, thanks for jumping in, here's the link. You know, keeping it simple or even asking people just for their email address and then you know, zapping it through and connecting it up. That way the conversion rates from that versus sending people off to a landing page are super high. It's really easy to set up. Trust me, it's really, really, really technophobe friendly. I think the manychat, last time I checked they have a free plan. You can't do all of this on a free plan, but it's just $15 a month once you're on the paid plan. So again, not crazy expensive, super simple to set up. It's a win win with all the algorithms and all of that good stuff and it's something you can literally go and implement in the next like 20, 30 minutes. So worth a try. If you're going to be trying out any of these strategies guys, whether it's the pop ups, the Facebook groups, the Collabs or the ManyChat, let us know DM us or send leave a comment below. Maybe you've tried them before. You know we love nerding out on all things list building. We're going to be talking about it a bit over the coming so hit us up, let me know and if you found this valuable, give us a like, give us a thumbs up, give us a share. It's so, so helpful to us when you do. We really, really appreciate it. I hope you've liked this episode guys. I hope it's been useful and I can't wait to share more with you next week. So until then guys, have an awesome week and I'll talk to you soon. Bye.

Thanks so much for listening to the Doing it online podcast. If you love this episode, don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review. And if you're ready to take your online course sales to the next level with your six or seven figure funnel, let Kate show you exactly how today at stealmyfunnel.

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