In this blog post, I will talk about email subscribers, how to get them and how to make money from your email list.

I’ve said it before, and it’s worth saying again: your email list is one of your most valuable assets for your blog business and should be part of your marketing campaign.

That’s because you can use it in multiple ways:

• To help drive traffic back to your blog
• To generate and nurture leads
• To promote your products, your services and your affiliate products and boost your sales
• And finally, you can use it as an asset when working with brands: for example, when getting product review clients

First, you’ll need the right tools to help.

Here’s what I use to create my email campaigns (where possible try to use a professional email address):

• Optinmonster – this is one of the most powerful (and very easy to use, too) opt-in and lead generation tool. Their templates look great and are highly customizable and easy to add anywhere on your website, and they have a plethora of templates to help you generate as many leads and subscribers as possible (plus, they also have a WordPress plugin which makes things even easier)
• ConvertKit – an email marketing tool built for bloggers, which you’ll need to manage all of your subscribers and send them email broadcasts as well as personalized email sequences

The first thing you need is a primary lead magnet/opt-in. We’ve already discussed this at length in the previous blog posts, though, so I won’t spend too long on it here.

But here’s what you need to keep in mind:

• Your main lead magnet needs to provide a lot of value to your audience and potential customers: how-to guides, e-books, online courses, email courses, templates, etc.
• It needs to target a large portion of your audience.

Another highly effective tactic is to create two different lead magnets and test them both to see which generates the most subscribers.

Once you have your lead magnet/s ready, you’ll design your opt-in.

This should be featured:

• On your homepage, displayed as prominently as possible.
• As a popup after a visitor has stayed on a specific period on your website (for example, 60 or 90 seconds)
• On your sidebar so that it’s visible throughout your blog/website.
• On your blog pages – for example, you can position them either at the end of your blog posts, inline, or even in the middle of your blogs, as a popup.

With Optinmonster, you can create several types of campaigns, including popups and full-screen opt-ins:

Plus, you have access to dozens of templates, for all kinds of purposes, even based on specific goals (such as growing your email list and redirecting your traffic to an important landing page you’re promoting).

Now, I want to show you how you can leverage all of these templates and opt-ins to boost your lead generation/number of subscribers (beyond, of course, the strategies above):

Email marketing strategies to grow your email list

• Use exit-intent technology: basically, Optinmonster can tell when a visitor is about to leave – and then displays a popup designed to get them to convert (this is a handy feature as it helps you capture leads that would otherwise be lost unless they keep coming back to your website) – you can use it to promote your main lead magnet, a special offer like an online course or webinar, or even an affiliate product that you’re promoting (in other words, it can also help boost your sales!)
• Add “downloadables” to your blog posts: this tactic has helped me generate thousands of new subscribers in just a couple of months. And it’s SO easy to do: turn that article into a PDF and add an inline opt-in in the body of your blog post using Optinmonster. You can also include useful related resources, such as templates and checklists, to sweeten the deal. Here’s an example from my guide on how to make money blogging:

*Quick tip: Use Canva to pretty up your PDF and add your branding throughout

• Gate your content: another easy and quick way to generate more email subscribers is to “gate” certain content (a blog post/piece of content that is very popular and provides a lot of value) the idea is that you’re blocking access to that piece of content with an opt-in so that only people who subscribe to your list can access it
• Create a 2-step opt-in: in other words, you get people to click on a link which then takes them to the actual opt-in. For example, you could have a call to action button urging people to access your amazing opt-in and then take them to the actual opt-in so they can sign up. The reasoning behind this strategy is that once people click that link, they’re more likely to go through with it and sign up – it’s a simple psychological tactic
• Experiment with A/B tests: Optinmonster allows you to easily and automatically test different wording and colours on your forms and call-to-action buttons to see which versions generate the most conversions. This is something that I recommend you do with all of your opt-ins because you’re likely to discover variants that perform A LOT better. This allows you to constantly optimize your opt-ins and generate more and more subscribers for your list.
• Don’t ask for too much information: the more fields you add to your opt-in, the fewer conversions you’ll make; why? Most people don’t want to give out too much information online. So keep it simple: only ask for the information you need. For lead magnets, it’s probably best to keep it at two fields only: name and email address.

Now, let’s talk monetization:

Strategies for making money from your email subscribers

Getting people to join your email list is only the first step.

What do you do once you have them? And most importantly, how do you monetize them?

First of all, you need to get Convertkit or an email marketing platform or email service.

As I mentioned, it’s an email marketing tool for bloggers that connects with your Optinmonster account so that as soon as someone sign-ups into your email list, you can start reaching out to them and converting them.

Here’s what you can do with it:

• Manage your subscribers, grow your list and segment your list (try and get as much customer data as you can) so that you can send them personalized messages – this simple strategy can make a massive difference to your success, as you’ll be able to convert more people when you send them personalized messaging and offers that are highly relevant to them (for example, you’d send different emails to business owners vs bloggers, or other offers based on their location, and so on)
• Schedule and send email broadcasts to all of your subscribers (or specific segments)
• Set up email sequences, whereby you’re sending your list a series of personalized emails at specific moments (for example, once you’ve signed up to my opt-in, I used Convertkit to help me send you the introduction email, as well as this email course at specific times – one new email every day)
• Set up automated emails: for example, if someone clicks on a specific link, you can then send another personalized email to move them along your sales funnel

Once you’ve set up your email marketing tool, you can start monetizing your list.

Email marketing tips

• Start with a thank you/introductory email: set up an automation so that every time someone signs up to your list, they get an introductory email where you thank them for signing up and introduce them to yourself and your blog; for example, you can link to your most important pieces of dynamic content to direct them there, tell them a little about yourself, and explain what they’ll be getting in your future emails (but don’t overdo it with the selling yet!)
• Create an email sequence designed to convert: it isn’t easy to sell to someone who only just joined your list and (probably) isn’t that familiar with you yet. That’s why you should set up a drip campaign for your new subscribers, designed to help nurture them and build their trust in you. And the best way to do so is to offer them lots of value: send them valuable tips, link to other helpful free resources, and generally, try to offer them as much value as possible to get them to trust you and want to work with you
• Use A/B testing: like with opt-ins before, you should leverage A/B testing to see what performs best; luckily, it takes seconds to set up A/B testing with an email marketing software In terms of what to test, start with your subject lines to see which ones generate the most opens; then, you can also test the body of your emails to see which variants get more click-throughs and responses.
• Promote a low-ticket offer: once your subscribers get to know you better and start to trust you, you can begin to monetizing them by promoting one of your low-ticket products (for example, an online course or webinar, your e-book and so on)– to sweeten the deal for them, make a special offer for email subscribers only
• Upselling: once someone buys one of your low-ticket items, you should try to upsell them and get them to buy your other products or services; for example, if someone bought one of your webinars, you can then send them a sequence of emails to get them to pay for your online course series
• Promote your affiliate products: are you using affiliate marketing to monetize your blog? In that case, you can leverage your email list to grow your sales: send your list emails with valuable tips and tricks, how-to guides and the like (basically, you want to provide them with real value!) and promote affiliate products wherever relevant.

Ready to grow your email list and get thousands of new subscribers?

Then follow these email marketing campaign tips:

• Get an email account and an email marketing tool to generate email subscribers and send them personalized emails
• Create lead magnets that offer value to your target audience and add opt-ins in strategies places throughout your website
• Once someone signs up for your list, send them an introductory email + an email sequence designed to help them convert.
• Start monetizing your email list with a low-ticket offer.
• Upsell your list once they buy from you
• Promote your affiliate products and services to your list to generate more sales