Building a mailing list is a very important and highly effective way to increase your reach, engage subscribers and your sales from your website. By having a free incentive on your website which will then engage visitors to subscribe to your website, you will then gain direct access to engaged subscribers and raving fans.  A raving fan is someone that is engaged in what you are saying and because they are so engaged they want to read the information that you send to them. You can then regularly but not too regularly keep them informed regarding updates or even just remind them you exist and keep your brand awareness up. Be consistent with what you are sending to your subscribers to keep them engaged and wanting more!

But how do you go about getting people to sign up and what free incentives should you have on your website? Here are some of the ways that you can engage subscribers to hand over their email address. For instance…

Ebook

Giving away a free informational product is a great way to get visitors to hand over their details. People love the idea of getting something for nothing and if you can make your ebook sound genuinely awesome then you will likely get a lot of subscribers signing up quickly!  Remember: people will regularly spend hundreds of dollars on quality ebooks so it is a great incentive to get them to pass over an email address! You can get someone to write you an ebook on the topic of your choice at a good value.  Make sure it is compelling to your subscribers.

Videos

Videos have one of the highest engagements on the web so you could provide a small video course or webinar on a topic that will get them subscribing for more.  You can drip feed the video course via autoresponder emails or you can arrange the full mini course on your website ready for your subscribers viewing.

Discounts / specials

Another common bonus that site owners offer for members is promised discounts or specials. If you let your subscribers know that your newsletters are going to contain vouchers and codes that give them a discount off then you’ll again find that this encourages a lot more signups. As with free things, subscribers love getting a bargain!

Events

Of course anyone who signs up for a mailing list will essentially be getting information but you can make your form more enticing by pointing out specific information. A common option is to get someone to sign up to ‘be informed about our next event/webinar/workshop/training day/signing day’. This can provide engagement on where you will be so that they can receive further information and join you at the event.

Membership

Have you thought about a membership site that provides access to a VIP area or a subscription to a special area when they pass over their email address. If you have an online service, you can simplify this with an opt in or opt out or make it more exclusive by having them open an account on your website.

Book a free consultation

You can set up a free consultation appointment and engage subscribers to pass over an email address with an automated calendar service that they can book a mutually convenient time with you.  Vcita is a fantastic online booking system for this and there are many more available too.

These are just a few simple ways in which you can leverage list building on your website and really engage subscribers to pass over their email addresses.  By engaging them in your expertise first with one of the above they will be more inclined to hand over their email address.  Now it’s up to you to keep them engaged once you receive their email address.