Email Marketing

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This year my daughter brought home a new kind of math. Common Core they call it. A new way to learn math that is supposed to make it easier to learn and faster to process. I like to call this the “fuzzy” math for kids and adults alike because I often look at it and think “What the actual heck is this?!”

Are you thinking, wait Jen, I am here to learn about opt-in offers. Not hear about Common Core which also stresses me out.

I hear you– stay with me for a couple more seconds. 🙂

Here’s the thing with Common Core math. These kids are learning it in school. They are learning the process and breaking it down step-by-step so it makes sense to them.

Now when I say the words “opt-in offer” do your eyes glaze over because you have no idea what I am talking about? Or do you feel anxious in your chest because you know you need one but you have no idea how to get there?

I get it. This is how I feel about Common Core. But just like our kids get ideas broken down for them in school, we bloggers need the same thing. We all want to learn more to grow our blogs and we all need steps on how to get there. I am going to start by helping you break down one of my favorite subjects: opt-in offers.

The Basics

What is an opt-in offer?

An opt-in offer is something that you offer your readers for free in exchange for their email address. An opt-in offer is also known as a freebie or a lead magnet.

Why do I need one?

You need an opt-in offer if you want to grow your email list. As a blogger, growing your email list needs to be one of your top priorities. Creating an opt-in offer is one of the best ways to grow your email list.

Why?

Because we don’t just hand our email addresses over to anyone. We get way too much email in our inboxes. Way too much. We don’t need another email that we have to open or delete. We don’t have time for all the emails we already get! This is why we aren’t going to just subscribe to an email list without getting something valuable in return.

Enter your opt-in offer.

Give something of value away to your readers and you will have people signing up for your list like crazy. Sounds like fun doesn’t it?! Yet if you have tried to create a freebie and had no success with it, you know it’s not that simple. It’s like Common Core math. A good idea in theory, but hard to do, unless you have the steps to do it right.

Let’s break down the steps of how to create a successful opt-in offer that converts like crazy. Let’s make this fun again!

Step 1: Listen to Your People

The number one mistake most bloggers make when creating an opt-in is not listening to their readers. They create an opt-in offer they think people want, not what they actually need.

In plain language, they assume what people want, instead of ask them what they want.

How do you avoid making this mistake? Get in there, talk to your readers, and listen to their answers!

The best way to find out what your readers want to learn more about is to ask them! Send out a survey, take a poll, or email with them and ask the following questions:

1. What are their problems?
2. What do they struggle with?
3. If they could wave a magic wand over _____ what result would they like to see?
4. What are their goals?
5. What are their dreams?

The best way to stop assuming what people want is to slow down and ask them what it is they actually want. Create a poll in a Facebook group or send out a survey to your current subscribers and ask them to help you. You are also welcome to post your survey in the Women Winning Online Facebook group!

Step 2: Analyze What Your People are Saying

Once the answers start flowing in, keep a record of what people are saying. I like to track all the answers in a spreadsheet. If you are sending out a survey, I suggest using Google Forms. It is free and easy to use. Best of all, there is a button that will automatically convert the answers into a spreadsheet for you.

It is important to keep track of what people are saying when they answer your questions. This is how you learn what people actually want to learn about instead of guessing. Create a list of responses and then start analyzing the data. What’s the common theme you see coming up over and over? Make a note of the top three things that people are struggling with. Group them together and highlight them. In that list is the answer to the perfect opt-in that will convert like crazy!

Bloggers often ask me, how many responses should I collect before I start analyzing? Obviously as many as possible would be ideal, but I like to start with a minimum of 20 responses before I start to analyze the data.

Step 3: Brainstorm Opt-in Ideas

I know I said this in step one, but it bears repeating. The best opt-in offer that converts is one that people want, not something you think that they want. Even after analyzing the data I see bloggers veer off and create something that is the opposite of what people want.

It is so important to sit with the data and really look at what it is telling you. This isn’t just data, these are your people, your readers. They need your help and are telling you exactly how to help them. Listen to them and create an opt-in offer that they want and that solves their problem.

Once you are done analyzing the data, brainstorm five new ideas for an opt-in offer. Write down each idea and then look back at your data. Does your idea match the data? Does it fit like a puzzle piece? If yes, start writing!

Step 4: Decide on a Format

Now that you know what you are going to write about, it’s time to decide how you are going to create it. There are so many options out there for opt-in offers!

You could create a:

• Free report
• Ultimate guide
• Resource
• Checklist
• Planner
• Mini course
• Video series

The key is to make it as useful as possible for people. Think about your audience. Are they busy moms that need a checklist to help them meet their goals? Then a freebie checklist would be perfect for them! Maybe your audience is people that work during the day, but can digest a video series over their lunch break. If that’s the case you could create a 5 day video course and market it as something they can easily accomplish over their 30 minute lunch break.

When you create your opt-in offer you want to deliver it in a format that works best for your audience. You don’t want to give them a book if they don’t have time to read it. If they don’t read it they won’t see just how helpful you are. You don’t want that! If you take the time in the first step to learn about your audience, you will have a good idea on the best format for your audience.

Step 5: Make It Look Pretty

Now that you have decided on the format for your opt-in offer you want to make it look good! We are a very visual society so you want to make your opt-in offer stand out!

When I am creating a freebie that people have to download I always make sure to make it look good with design and graphics. I use Canva to create all my freebies. Canva has awesome templates that I can manipulate to fit my style and my brand. This makes my life so much easier!

I also use two amazing websites for all my images that I use in my freebies: Haute Chocolate and Posh Stock. These are two paid sites that I love to use because they give me professional and good looking stock photos.

There are free options out there like Pixaby but I stopped using them for a couple reasons. First, I started to notice my images looked like everyone else’s. I wasn’t standing out at all and that’s not good in a crowded marketplace! Second, I don’t have time to come through thousands of bad photos to find the one great photo that will work for my freebie. With sites like Haute Chocolate and Posh Stock, I know I can find the perfect photo within a few minutes. As a busy mom of 3, anytime I can pay for something to make my life easier, I am all for it!

So for printed freebie I use a combination of Canva plus the two stock photo sites to make my freebies look good. I always include an image of what people are getting when they download my freebie. I include this image cover on my landing page for my freebie and in the photo that people see when I share the link. I think that has been one of the main reasons I have been able to build my list so quickly. People love to get a preview of what they are getting when they give you their email address. Plus it entices them even more to sign up!

Here is an example of how I did this with my social media opt-in offer:

 (Click here to see how I used this image on my landing page for it too!)

When it comes to making your opt-in offer don’t skimp on making it look good. The better it looks, the more sign ups you will get!

Step 6: Deliver it Automatically

The next step in creating your freebie is setting it up with an email service provider. You will want to use a good company that will automatically deliver your freebie right into your readers’ inboxes. I have been doing email marketing for 10+ years and I have tried them all. From free ones like MailChimp to paid ones like AWeber and ActiveCampaign. After much time spent on all of these platforms, the one that I love the most is ConvertKit!

ConvertKit is a blogger’s dream come true! It is easy to use, so user friendly and is affordable. I love their reporting features. I can easily tell if people are signing up for my freebies and how many are opening my emails. I love that I can schedule when my emails get sent. I especially love that I know my freebies are getting delivered. I had issues with this with all the other providers I used and it has not been an issue since I joined ConvertKit.

I especially love that ConvertKit is for bloggers by bloggers. The team at ConvertKit knows exactly what we need to grow our email lists and our blogs. They have put together an email marketing system that is just perfect for us bloggers.

To sign up for ConvertKit, please check them out here: https://womenwinningonline.com/ConvertKit

I also want to talk about the elephant in the room. No I don’t think the free email services like MailChimp and MailerLite cut it when it comes to growing your email list. Why? Because you get what you pay for. I know for a fact that MailChimp has huge issues when it comes to delivering the email that you first send out with your freebie. If people are signing up for your list and not getting your freebie, that’s not good! I have also heard as of late that people are seeing the same issues with MailerLite.

I recently made the switch from ActiveCampaign to ConvertKit after having huge delivery issues with my emails. I know hindsight is 20/20, but I wish I would have started out with ConvertKit. It took a lot of time to switch everything over to ConvertKit. It was worth it, don’t get me wrong, but it took a lot of time.

I know that spending money isn’t always easy when you are first starting out. But I truly believe that investing in a good hosting company and a good email company are a must for all new bloggers. Your email subscribers will be the lifeblood of your blog. This is why signing up with the right email service from the start is so important!

For tips on what to send out in your first email to your subscribers, check out my post about Welcome Emails here! 

Step 7: Get Eyes On Your Freebie

Alright you are on a roll! You have surveyed your niche to learn how you can help them. You have written an awesome opt-in offer that you are ready to show the world. Your email system is up and running. There’s just one question remaining for your freebie.

How do you get people to see it?!

Here are my top 11 strategies for getting more eyes on my freebies:

1. Facebook group promo days
2. Putting my opt-in offer on a landing page
3. Pinning it on Pinterest (my board and group boards)
4. Doing a content upgrade in a blog post
5. Placing it in the header of my blog
6. Adding it to the end of my blog posts
7. Sharing on my social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
8. Asking other bloggers to share it
9. Using it as a URL when commenting on other blogs
10. Doing a Facebook ad (only if it’s converting super well!)
11. Guest posting on other blogs

Basically I take my freebie and I put it EVERYWHERE! I want people on my email list. The more people on my list, the more people I can help. It truly matters to me more than pageviews or any other blogging metric.

Conclusion

Creating opt-in offers that convert is a lot of work, but when they start to convert, it’s a lot of fun too! The key is to follow a simple plan to create the best opt-in offers for your audience. This plan looks like this:

Step 1: Listen to your people

Step 2: Analyze What Your People are Saying

Step 3: Brainstorm Opt-in Ideas

Step 4: Decide on a Format

Step 5: Make It Look Pretty

Step 6: Deliver it Automatically

Step 7: Get Eyes On Your Freebie

The best way to implement a plan to create the perfect freebie that converts is to schedule time to make it happen. Take 30 minutes out of your day and work only on your freebie. It will be done in no time and you will be on your way to building an awesome email list for your blog!

Did this post help you? If so please pin it to check out again and share with others. Thank you so much for your support! Click here to pin this post!

Looking for more information on opt-in offers? Check out the video I did here: https://womenwinningonline.com/create-opt-offer-converts/

What has been your experience with creating freebies? Have you had luck creating ones that convert or are you stuck? Please share your thoughts with us in the comments below! Thank you!

What if I told you there was a marketing tool out there working every single day on your behalf to bring you new email subscribers? What if I told you that once you set it up all you have to do is promote it and it will automatically work for you?

Well I have good news for you. That marketing tool is called a landing page. A landing page is a single page on your website. It is a distraction free zone without a navigation menu, sidebar or footer. The goal is to convert your website visitor into an email lead.

Landing pages are my favorite marketing tool. They work for me every day to generate email subscribers and connections for my blog. They are what helped me to grow my email list to over 800 subscribers in just a few short months. The reasons above are just a couple of my favorite features about landing pages. Here are seven more that will show you why as a blogger a landing page is a must to grow your email list!

1. Always Working

Your landing page works for you even when you aren’t working on your blog. That is the beauty of a landing page! You set it up for one niche and advertise it. Then people will come to your website to download your freebie opt-in offer. This all happens automatically without any extra work on your part. It happens while you are working on blog posts, spending time with your family, and even sleeping. It is not unusual for me to wake up to 10 new subscribers that signed up for my opt-in offer while I was sleeping. It feels so rewarding when that happens!

2. Ongoing Lead Machine

Your landing page is an ongoing source of email subscribers for you. These email subscribers can and do turning into paying clients. When you create a quality landing page you will generate leads from it all the time. If you want more potential clients, do more advertising for your landing page. If you have more clients than you can handle dial back your advertising. A landing page isn’t something you put up once and only get subscribers from it one time. It is your prospect machine working in the background to bring you clients every single day.

3. Credibility

Your landing pages give you instant credibility with your website visitor. When you build a landing page you base it on solving one problem for one niche. Your website visitor will notice this and you will earn their trust up front. They will see you as a trusted resource that understands their problems. This gives you credibility and is the beginning of a relationship with your new email subscriber.

4. You’re the Boss

On your landing page you are the boss of your visitor. You are in charge of where they go on your website. They aren’t poking around on your website looking for information and then clicking away. Instead the website visitor is following a clear path you laid out for them. They see your headline addressing their problem. They realize your opt-in offer is the exact solution to their problem. They give you their email address to get the solution delivered to their email. You have now told your website visitor exactly what you want them to do. You have led the website visitor down the path to give you their email address. You are the boss of that lead.

5. Increase Your Odds

Your landing page will convert more visitors into leads than any other page on your website. You may worry that not giving a website visitor access to your entire blog that you will lose the lead. The exact opposite is true! When a visitor is looks around on your blog there is a good chance they will get information overload. Or worse they won’t find any information that relates to their situation. At that point they will leave your website without bothering to give your their email address. This is a wasted opportunity for you.

A landing page does the exact opposite for your website visitor. When they visit your landing page they can quickly see that your solution is for them. That you are catering to their needs. The website visitor won’t be on information overload and will see you as a solution to their problem. They will gladly give you their email address at that point. Your landing page will convert more website visitors into real leads. More than your home page, about page or contact pages combined.

6. Improve SEO

As a blogger you are always looking for ways to improve your SEO. An intrinsic benefit of landing pages is they give your blog an SEO boost. Landing pages improve your SEO rank with Google, Bing, Yahoo and the other search engines. The search engines’ goal is to give relevant content in their search results. They favor organic content that is not used on other websites. Landing pages do just that. Adding landing pages to your site with good content will increase your search engine ranking.  I have a few of my landing pages that put me on the first page of Google. Isn’t that something we all want so bad?!

7. More Opportunities

Landing pages give you more opportunities that you may not get through your traditional website. Landing pages show that you are an expert in one niche area. By showcasing your expertise you could be asked to speak at local or even national events. You could be asked to present at local groups that need your expertise. You could even get picked up by local media and asked for quotes in their stories. Landing pages provide extra opportunities for you because you are standing out from the crowd. You are showing your expertise in your niche and doing it better than your competitors. You will get recognized for that!

Landing pages are a gold mine of opportunities for your blog. They take your normal website and kick it up a notch. Landing pages work for you and show that you are a trusted adviser for your website visitors. It is a way to stand apart from others in your niche who aren’t offering something of value for your niche. Give your website visitors what they want with a great opt-in offer and a dedicated landing page. Do this and you will have more email subscribers than you can handle!

Are you getting email subscribers from your blog? Have you tried landing pages and seen success? Or are landing pages a new concept for you? Please tell me about your experiences in the comments below!

Over the last year I have fallen in love with landing pages. They have changed the way I do business and more importantly the way I generate subscribers and clients from my blogs. I have generated thousands of subscribers for my first email list in only nine months using landing pages.

But I often get the question “what is a landing page and why do I need one if I already have a website?”

Good question. First let’s look at the differences between a website and a landing page.

Basics

First a website is a bunch of different pages that make up your site. These often include blog posts, about pages, product pages, testimonials, blog posts, contact pages, etc.

A landing page is one single page on your blog.

Goal

The goal of a blog is to educate your visitors  through your blog posts. Your blog also lets visitors get to know more about you and about the services and products you offer.

The goal of a landing page is to convert a blog visitor into an email subscriber. Why do you want email subscribers? Because email subscribers are loyal, will visit your blog and be the first to purchase your products and courses.

Focus

A blog is general and the target market is pretty generic. For example if you are running a blog that talks about parenting, saving money and blogging you have a lot of things to focus on.

A landing page is specific. A landing page is focused on one niche like paying off debt or getting kids to sleep at night. The entire page is geared towards one target market or idea.

Structure

A website is a group of pages under one domain name.

A landing page is a part of the main website but looks different from the other pages on a website. A landing page will not have a navigation menu or a sidebar. It won’t have the distracting items that will be on the main website pages.

Why do I need a landing page?

The next question I get is why do you need a landing page if you have a blog? The reason for this is simple. A blog alone will not give you as many email subscribers as a landing page.

I know that seems hard to believe because on a blog you are speaking to everyone. That reason alone should mean more leads.  But that isn’t the case.  A dedicated landing page will give you many more leads than your blog. Why is that? I think there are three reasons why this is true.

1. Direct Attention

When someone lands on your blog they click a few pages and then move to the next blog. Why is this? Because you aren’t giving them a reason to stay. You aren’t telling them what to do. They click on the posts they want to read and then leave. They aren’t drawn to a special opt-in offer so they leave without giving you their email address.

Research says that we have the attention span of a goldfish. That’s about three seconds long. You have three seconds to capture someone’s attention when they visit your blog. That’s pretty hard to do.

Instead with a landing page you have the opportunity to catch their attention immediately. You do this by creating an attention grabbing headline. A headline that speaks to their issue and the problem they are facing. Right away you solve the goldfish attention problem. Your headline draws them in and gives them a reason to keep reading. It’s this small action that leads to visitors filling out your email form.

2. Niching down is rare

Most bloggers want to capture every email subscriber that they can. I get it– so do I! But I also know that the more I cater to specific niches in the blogging world, the more email subscribers I will get. Most bloggers worry that if they don’t try to capture everyone they won’t capture anyone.

But the good news is that you will actually get more leads by targeting one market. Why is that? Let’s say you run a blog about parenting, getting out of debt and starting a blog. Well you will have parents that visit your site that don’t care about starting a blog. You will have bloggers that love your blogging tips but aren’t interested in personal finance.

So if you have an opt-in that is about parenting, the bloggers won’t sign up for it an vice versa. Instead you should have a landing page for parents, one for bloggers and one for personal finance. If they land on a page that is just for them they feel compelled to find out more.

Plus people are busier than ever. They don’t have time to search the internet to find answers to their questions. If you can give them all the answers and wrap it up in a nice guide they will give you their email address.

3. Look like a hero

When someone visits your blog do they have a reason to subscribe to your email list? More than just “Sign up for my email list to get blog updates!” People aren’t going to find value in that. Sure they like your blog, but we guard our email addresses with our life. We need to know if we hand them over there is value on the other end.

Landing pages are great because you provide immediate value to your niche. You solve one specific problem for one niche.  You create an opt-in offer geared towards first time parents or new bloggers. You speak to them, you speak their language. You find out what their pressing issues are and you write a solution. When you do that you become their hero.  You solve their problem and they trust you. They are happy to give you their email address in exchange for this information.

A Common Fear

Unfortunately most bloggers won’t take my advice. They won’t create landing pages for one niche. The main reason for this is fear of losing out on leads. Fear of not capturing all the people that visit their website. Fear of alienating potential followers by not including them on the landing page.

If this is you, I have great news for you–you can do more than one landing page!

In fact I recommend that you do many landing pages on your blog. For this blog I plan on having 5 landing pages about different topics. I also plan on adding more as this blog grows!

The key is to market them to different niche groups. Create a landing page for first time parents and then advertise it on Baby Center or in Facebook groups for parents. Or create a landing page dedicated to home DIY’ers and add it to your Pinterest boards.  The great thing about landing pages is you can have as many as you want as long as you are niching down to a target market!

To get email subscribers from your blog you must direct your traffic. You don’t want to direct them to the home page of your website and give them too many options. You don’t want them clicking around and reading posts without ever giving you their email address. Instead be the boss of your website visitors. Use your marketing to show the visitor where you want them to go on your site. Even better give them the exact information they are looking for. This is how you to can generate an unlimited amount of your own blogging. This is how to make your blog actually work for you!

Where are you directing people to on your website? Are you just doing a catch-all method on your home page and hoping that people will give you their email address? Please share with me how you are getting leads from your blog in the comments below! Thank you!

What is the number one mistake every successful online marketer says they made? Not starting an email list right away.

Why?

Because email marketing is a powerful tool in converting leads to clients. No other tool allows you to connect more personally to hundreds of people at the same time. Not even social media.

Email marketing allows you to connect with your subscribers on a deeper level. It is your chance to show them who you really are and why they should work with you. It is your opportunity to get to know your prospects better and stay in touch with your past clients.

Email marketing is alive and well which I know is hard to believe in our social media world. I am one of those people who loves email marketing more than social media. I have built more personal relationships with my readers and clients through email than I have social media. It allows me to have a one-to-one conversation instead of a one-to-many conversation. Finally whenever I send out a new blog post or launch a product my email subscribers show up for me in a big way! My email subscribers are the most loyal people on the planet. I am blessed!

Is it possible for bloggers to build an email list? Is it worth it? The answer is yes and absolutely you should build an email list! As a blogger you want to build a loyal following and email marketing does this. You can develop deeper relationships with your readers through email marketing. When you need to survey your audience you can reach out to your email subscribers. When you want to launch your own product your email subscribers will be the first ones to purchase it. As an added bonus email marketing is a pretty inexpensive marketing option for you to pursue.

Does the thought of starting an email marketing campaign overwhelm you? There is so much to do and you want to make it a success. Here are six steps to create the perfect email marketing campaign that will get your emails opened and read!