10 tips to grow your list

Your list is the people who have said ‘I’m interested’; the fact that people have signed up indicates that.  They may not be ready to buy anything today, but they have shown an interest.  Now it’s up to you to impress the socks off them so, when they are ready to buy, they think of you first.

So here are my top ten tips to grow your list:

1. Offer something of real value as your lead magnet or ethical bribe.  A document that shares your expertise to genuinely help people with their health, business, state-of-mind, family - or whatever you are an expert in.
2. Ensure you have a robust data collection system that enables you to deliver your lead magnet without having to do anything once you’ve set it up.
3. Put the sign up form in more than one place.  On your home page, on a landing page, on your Facebook page, etc.
4. Ask people to join your list.  This seems obvious, but few people do it.  When you meet people networking and they give you a card, ask them if they’d be interested in being in your community and tell them what they get for joining.  You can either leave them to join or actively send them the link to your sign up form.
5. Add the link to your landing page or home page with an invitation to sign up to your email signature so it shows up just under your name.
6. When you make connections on LinkedIn, invite them to get their free document and give them the link to sign up.
7. Put the form in a sticky post on your Facebook Page so new people to the page see it first.
8. Post an image - I suggest the cover of your report - on Instagram.  As you can only have a link to your website, make sure the sign up form is on the home page.  I suggest you repost this regularly.
9. Post an image on Pinterest (and don’t think nobody on Pinterest will be interested, you might be surprised).  Pinterest allows you to write a 500 character description so you can outline the benefits of learning what’s in the document and link directly to the sign up form.
10. Add the link to the foot of every newsletter or blog you publish.

You may decide to run Facebook or Google ads to grow your list faster.  To do this you’ll need to be really clear about who you’re trying to reach and what they’re looking for.  This will ensure your ads targeted to get a good return on your investment.

13 barriers to smash between your message and your audience

Some websites are style over substance - and often feature lots of barriers that actually make it hard for your target audience (or anyone else) to read your message.

That makes no sense, so open up your website and review it alongside these 13 barriers - and make sure you tick all the right boxes.

1. A smart website looks good and is easy to read - so text should NOT be smaller than 10 point (some of us have dodgy eyesight, don't make it too hard for us).
2. Use clean, sans serif fonts (that means Arial, Gill, Helvetica, Verdana, not Times New Roman, Palatino and Garamond).  With the screen resolution being relatively low (72 dots per inch or dpi) in comparison with printed media (a minimum of 300 dpi), lots of little lines just contribute to the dazzle effect.
3. Don’t use capital letters for whole words – anyone using a screen reader will find they are being shouted at.  If you need to highlight a word use bold.
4. Don’t use capital letters for every word in your headline – it interrupts the flow of the reader, and it’s an American habit.  Newspapers don’t do it – why should you?
5. Stick to light coloured backgrounds - white or pale yellow are best, but if your corporate colours are dark blue, don't be tempted to use a dark blue box with light coloured writing - it might look pretty, but it's impossible to read easily.  This is because your eye will pick up the dark colour first. Normal text then cuts this up and creates a dazzle effect.  The problem is that your conscious mind doesn’t register this, your brain just doesn’t get the message. The most you can get away with in ‘reversed’ writing is a headline in big fat bold letters.  People with dyslexia find pale yellow or pale blue easier to read from. However, we are talking PALE here! Just a tint that takes the white glare off.
6. Don’t have whole paragraphs in bold.  It creates a similar effect to reversed writing – more black than white (or dark than light) which hinders reading.
7. Don't have text justified on both sides - it just makes it easy for the reader to lose their place.  If you’ve ever read the same line twice, or found you’ve skipped a line, it’s probably because your eye has lost its place in a block of text.  Left justified is fine - leave the right hand side unjustified.  While centred text is ‘fashionable’, for anything more than a paragraph, it’s better not to centre text – except for headlines – it looks untidy and is even harder to read, the eye needs somewhere to anchor the start of each line.
8. Don't have moving images on your site.  They just distract people who are trying to read your message.  If they MUST move - then they should move ONCE and then stay put.  Constantly changing images are really irritating!  Flash media and whizzy graphics are now very old-hat.
9. Videos are great, but put control in the hands of the user so the video doesn’t just launch itself.  A big play arrow is all that’s needed.
10. Don't overload the reader with text - short paragraphs with lots of white space will encourage them to carry on reading.  Big blocks of text will stop them from trying to read - break it up.
11. Do use bullet points - they are much easier to read and often are read where traditional paragraphs are not.
12. Don’t have more than one column of copy on one page. If I have to scroll back up to the top of the page to get the rest of the message you have to ask ‘am I bothered?’ The answer is probably ‘no’. That mouse/finger is on its way to the back button.
13. Don’t use colours that are of a similar tone – they will often compete with each other on the screen. Also be careful of colour combinations like red and green – a considerable proportion of the population have red/green colour blindness.

This isn’t just good practice (and talk to a qualified usability expert and they’ll tell you that it definitely is), but it’s common sense if you want to get your message across with the least resistance.

What can you automate?

People buy people - and that means you need to be a real person and communicate directly with your customers and potential clients.  But we all have just 24 hours in any day and you need to use them wisely to avoid burnout or finding you haven’t earned any money this week, because you’ve been so busy communicating with people!

Automation - in its place - can do a great job in keeping interested people interested and funnelling them into your direct communication system when the time is right - for them and for you.

Autoresponders are an excellent way to do this job.

How to use an autoresponder effectively

• A nice ‘thank you’ message when people sign up to your list.
• A message explaining how to get their free download.
• A series of tips around your area of expertise to give great value.
• An online learning programme - a lesson a week, a day or a month - depending on how in-depth the learning is.
• A nurturing series of messages for people who have shown an interest in your product or service - to keep them engaged.
• A sales series offering people something ‘just for them’ - and make sure it is just for the people who have signed up to your list.  This can be a limited time offer, a discount, a two-for-one, or introduce a friend offer.
• Follow up information after an event they’ve attended, whether that’s online or offline.

The possibilities are endless - and these different ways of using an autoresponder can be combined, so someone who gets your free download could also get your tips or your offers too.

The three important steps to take

ONE: Write every message as you would if you were just emailing one person.  This may take a while (or you could outsource it to a copywriter who can get your voice authentically) - but you only have to do each series once.  It’s important that every message sounds authentic.

TWO:  Be clear about what you want people to do when they’ve read each message and put it where people can easily see it.  If you want them to visit your website, give them the link to the correct page; if you want them to phone you, put your phone number in the call to action.

THREE:  Find a data management tool that is reliable and get to know how it works properly.  This may be MailChimp, AWeber, Constant Contact, SendFox or something else.

You’ll also need a follow-up system for replies.  Who will answer enquiries?  What process will people follow - e.g. will you set up a phone call, ask them to complete a form, redirect them to your website, send them a standard reply for their particular query?  It all depends on what outcome you want and the type of reply you get.

Get these things right and you’ll have more time to spend on the things that will make your business profitable - and also grow a community of interested people who could become potential clients in future too.

Share your specialism

Pinterest is a platform that’s totally focused on images - but when it comes to it - what kind of images work best?

Infographics 

These are very popular.  Basically, they take your expertise and break it down into small bites.  They’re great for sharing statistics or doing comparisons or outlining a process.

Do:

• Use your branding
• Use your company colours
• Add appropriate images, especially graphics
• Make sure each piece of information makes sense in isolation.

Don’t

• Write too much
• Get too creative if you’re not trained in graphic design (software like Canva.com provides some good templates for you to edit)
• Put lots of white writing on a dark background (makes it MUCH harder to read).

Background image with a headline

These are great for quotes or short facts or even tips.  Choose your background image carefully, it needs to be:

• Relevant to the headline (not just a pretty picture you like)
• Be suitable for having text over it that still shows up (so it needs either a light area or a dark area to superimpose the text onto - or fading enough so the text stands out.

Your message needs to be short and to the point.  Ideally a single line of text, big enough to read easily - two lines at most.

Remember why you’re posting - is it to get people onto your website, or just to attract attention and get followers?  Keep your post relevant to what you want to promote.

Targeted promotions

Unlike Instagram, Pinterest allows you to attach specific web URLs to each post. 

• You can promote your lead magnet with a link to the sign up page,  
• You can promote your latest blog linked directly to the post.
• You can promote special offers or deals and link right to the relevant web page where the details are.

Do make sure your image features WIIFM (what’s in it for me?).  If you have a good lead magnet or blog title this will probably be enough.

Don’t forget to add your hashtags for keywords that people search on in the description too.

Be creative, take a look at Pinterest’s home page for inspiration.