How To Build A Thriving Email List

Personal use only! You do not have resale rights to this product.

How to Build a Thriving Email List

Build A Premier Online Brand Profitably With These Email List Building Strategies.

By Matthew DeYoung

www.InboundImpact.com

Copyright 2012 10-Spaces Consulting, Inc. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to copy or reprint portions for any noncommercial use, except they may not be posted online without permission.

Page 2

How to Build a Thriving Email List

Table of Contents

In this report.
1) Debunking the myths and challenges of email list building 2) 7 Steps to THRIVE in email list building 3) Creating an attraction device to get email opt-ins 4) Building a simple email machine

Page 3

How to Build a Thriving Email List

Welcome, and thanks for downloading my report! What your about to learn is my THRIVE Process for building an email list. (I call it THRIVE because it helped me transform my results from surviving to thriving). In order to succeed in creating a premier, profitable online brand, there are two key things you need to do first (read on, I explain below). Most people struggle with these initial steps. They get stuck before they get started. They try to avoid these steps thinking theres a better way. Sadly, they never get their ideas off the ground, or they never get profitable, or they cant figure out how to compete in a market. The #1 reason this happens is THEY DONT KNOW HOW TO BUILD A LIST, OR EVEN GET TRAFFIC TO GET A LIST. If you put traffic-getting and email list building first, your brand moves forward. Skip it, and youll just be running in circles. Youll be destined to REPEAT to steps 1 and 2: building and converting traffic to an email list. Its a simple, yet powerful lesson! In total there are 7 steps to THRIVE at email list building. This report focuses on the first two steps most marketers try to skip. Believe me, I used to struggle with this stuff too (Ive been at this since 1998, so Ive had plenty of time to make all the mistakes). After trying to market my own products and services, as well as for paying clients, I needed to come up with a system; a system that could work regardless of what product, service, or market. All the strategies Ive foundand used--are in this quick report. I hope my THRIVE process helps you overcome the typical startup challenges by putting all the individual steps into my THRIVE process. The THRIVE process can help you get unstuck. Below are the exact steps you need to start building or growing your email list. This report is especially helpful if youre a Business owner Online marketer

Page 4

How to Build a Thriving Email List

Solo-preneur Expert (consultant/author/seminar leader)

Some of the most common phrases I hear clients say that prevent them from building a premier brand profitably online are I dont know how to build a list. OR I dont have enough traffic. OR I dont have time or money for marketing (Do those sound familiar?) Lets get some mindset stuff out of the way These arent REAL obstacles. Theyre just to-do items to be crossed off your list. Not knowing how is no longer an issue. This report shows you the strategies youll need to make list-building work. Getting affordable traffic isnt a problem. Cheap traffic is still available. You just have to know how to find it. If youre willing to focus on building a few relationships, theres still a flood of traffic to be found. Who wouldve thought Internet marketing would largely be about relationship building! (Dont worry about this partits easier than you think with the THRIVE process.) As for having too little time, too much to do Flip that around. Having too much time is a disadvantage when it comes to email list building. You can overwork. Simply working hard is not a guarantee of success. Instead, the secret sauce is working hard on simple things, which can be leveraged and repurposed later. Having very little (if not zero) money is a non-issue too. Your energy and time are the most valuable resources here. Having the right relationships will help you get past this obstacle.

Barely surviving to thriving with 20,000 email subscribers

Most inbound marketers say, having an email list is everything. And, you know whattheyre right. But, why do they say that? Having an email list puts you in control. A list gives you freedom. It gives you leverage. Best of all, it drives profits.

Page 5

How to Build a Thriving Email List

I learned this first hand when I built a 20,000+ email list to market a physical product in the supplement market. I was able to take the product from zero to hero in just a few months. Was it hard work? Yes. But, only up front. Doing the upfront work was worthwhile. For me, email list building was responsible for over $1.8M in sales on a single product. Keep in mind, I did this without a known brand, or large marketing budget, and I did it in a space that was competitive, expensive and government regulated. (Veteran marketers in the supplement industry have told me my results were nearly impossible. And, Ive watched others try and fail sincebecause they could see the simple steps). Do you want to know how I did it? Lets look at the exact process I used.

7 easy steps to THRIVE in email list building.

I created a process called THRIVE. Its a sequence of seven steps. The order of these steps takes the guesswork out. And, each steps builds the success of the next. 1. Get Attraction Device 2. Get Simple Email Machine 3. Get Traffic Using IF+P+P+V+G 4. Get Increase Opt-in Rates 5. Get Surface Sequence 6. Get Subterranean Sequence 7. Get More Eyeballs Using DO Map Chunked into 7 major steps, and set to your timeline, the THRIVE Process is a virtual roadmap to rapid launch your traffic and email listing building campaigns.

Page 6

How to Build a Thriving Email List

If you dont overcomplicate the steps, you can do this in 90 days. Lets quickly break down what each step is about

Step 1 - Get an attraction device:

Create an attraction device involves intersecting what you know, with a very specific problem, for a very specific audience, and turning this in to training. A special report or video is used to attract the prospects onto your list. Without it, theyre uninterested.

Step 2 - Get the tools to create a simple email machine:

Use free or low-cost tools you can create landing pages, opt-in forms, and marketing automation. To bootstrap and automate, blend all these tools together and you have a simple email-building machine: a funnel with pre-sequenced steps to get consistent list- building results.

Step 3 - Get traffic using IF+P+P+V+G strategy:

Use this mnemonic to remember how to sequence your traffic techniques together to get more bang for your buck. The power is in sequencing these strategies end-to-end. IF+P+P+V+G stands for (IF) - Instant Feedback Traffic: Get traffic from day one while boosting the attractiveness of your offer. Use laser targeted Pay Per Click campaigns to get started. Leverage the keywords that converted in the next step. (P) - Partner Traffic: Promote your attraction device to related businesses using your content. For your target keywords, find high-ranking partners. Share your attraction device with their audience. (P) - Promoter Traffic: Get others to promote your attraction device. Let affiliates profit from your attraction device to grow your exposure. (V) - Viral Traffic: Grow traffic geometrically with a social media hook. Offer backend incentives to get your list to promote your attraction device.

Page 7

How to Build a Thriving Email List

(G) - Guest-ing Traffic: Build traffic and credibility at the same time. Create content that helps other blogs grow their audience and promotes your attraction device at the same time.

Step 4 - Get higher opt-in rates:

Focus on improving a few key elements to in this order of priority to get more opt-ins from the same amount of traffic: offer, headline, filtering your keywords, re-segmenting your traffic, and simplifying your landing page layout.

Step 5 - Get a surface marketing sequence:

Boost front end and back end sales with dripped out email sequences. Create more opportunities to increase the number of active subscribers the same day they sign up, upselling and cross-selling while new opt-ins are in yes mode. (Studies show this tip alone could increase conversions 10% to 20%.)

Step 6 - Get a subterranean marketing sequence:

Increase responses to your offers, while lowering your unsubscribe rates by using segment and sub-list marketing to create a trunk and root system for email marketing. Put sub-lists and segments into new sequences to create one the deepest, hard-to- compete-with businesses.

Step 7 - Get more eyeballs using DO Map:

You need to get more traffic at the top of your funnel. Leverage your attraction device and simple email machine by repurposing it into new areas. Using the Decision Orientation Map, or DO Map for keyword research, you can identify at least 12 new target audiences to expand your traffic sources exponentially. So now you can see everything involved in building a list. To succeed, youve got to get steps 1 and 2 of the THRIVE process right. The focus of this report will help you with the first two steps in the process. And, this is the part everyone overlooks. ]

How To Overcome The Two Most Overlooked Steps In Email List Building.

If you dont have a list yet, there are two reasons why: 1) You dont have an attraction device, or 2) You dont have a simple email machine. Not to worry if thats you. Lets fix that today. Once youre done with these two steps, youll be ready to start generating traffic. (Yes, its exciting, I know!)
Page 8

How to Build a Thriving Email List

Remember an attraction device is what pulls emails on to your list. A simple email machine turns them in to raving fans and buyers.

STEP 1 to THRIVE - CREATING AN ATTRACTION DEVICE

First, you need an attraction device, like a report, or a video. In it should be how-to training. The device attracts prospects to sign up to your email list. If you dont have this, you dont have a list. Its that simple. To build an attraction device you need to figure out whom your target persona is, and exactly what questions they want answered (Ill explain personas in a minute). For the purpose of this report, an attraction device is going to be either a quick report (10 20 page PDF, sort of like this one), or a video, or a mixture of both. (There are other mediums you can use as an attraction device, but dont worry about that right now.) Figure out the exact way your target persona searches on the Internet; the words they use, and why they use them. Research is everything, but intentionally limit your research to 3-4 hours of research. Its easy to go overboard. You need to create limited to rapid-publish. You can make it better later. EXPERT TIP: Taking too long to your create your first attraction device is a fatal blow. For most people the project dies here. Dont make the same mistake. Limit your scope at each step. Quick start checklist for creating an attraction device: Make a list of the top 5 categories of you provide in your business. Pick one topic category you know the most about. Make a list of things people would want to know at each level of mastery (see below) within this topic category. Use the Listen Campaign technique below for uncovering the most common questions/problems. Chose one of the questions to address uncovered from your Listening Campaign.

Page 9

How to Build a Thriving Email List

Write your attraction device to your target persona by intersecting the level of mastery you chose, with the common question you chose. Dig a little deeper to find out what has and hasnt worked for your persona. Pick one question/problem you discovered you could answer. Intersect all the elements to create the most magnetic attraction device. Lets unpack some of the main steps Make a list of the top 5 categories you provide in your business. List the top five things your business is about, and put them in categories. For example, I do inbound marketing. The services I offer are consulting, training and management of paid search, SEO, social media, conversion optimization, and email marketing. These are my businesss categories. Pick one topic you know the most about. Next, you need to just pick one area that you feel you have the most to offer. For now, focus on where youve gotten the most results or and have the most experience. I picked email marketing for this report. Ive researched it a ton. I chose it because the results Ive gotten in this area could really help other small business owners. Make a list of things people would want to know at each level of mastery (see below) within this topic category. Each time you set out to learn something new, we go through these steps. You have to pick which level of mastery youre going to target. 1) Newbie I don't know anythingI dont know what I dont know. 2) Beginner Show me how to get better. I know what I need to know, but I dont know how to do it the right way to do it. 3) Intermediate I know what I need to know, and know the right way to do it. Help me fill in the gaps because Im stuck.

Page 10

How to Build a Thriving Email List

4) Advanced Ive been doing it for so long, I dont even think about what Im doing. I just do it. Im looking for something I havent thought of before. Im looking for tweaks and distinctions. Pick one of the four levels of mastery as your target. Pick one, and only one, of the four levels of mastery to address. Whether newbie, beginner, intermediate or advanced your attraction device can only be written for one learning level. Without this you wont know how to bring your how-to training in your attraction device to the right level. Most email list building campaigns will focus on level one or two, newbie or beginner. Create a Listening Campaign to uncovering the most common questions/problems. The real attraction between you and your target persona happens when they can see you understand them. Start by listening to what your target persona, and experts who already help your persona, talk about. I suggest making a research campaign out of this. Its called a Listening Campaign because you make a conscious effort to listen to what your persona is saying. Then you write it down to help speak their language later on. The Internet is an invisible focus group. Use this info to understand what EXACTLY what your prospects wants you to train them on. The Listening Campaign is about cataloging everything your target talks about when they mention the topic you chose earlier. For my example this people who are new to email marketing.

10 sources for your Listening Campaign:

1) Google SERPs (search engine results pages) What topics are getting websites to rank high? 2) Social Media discussions What are people talking about? 3) Forum threads with highest views What do people flock to?

Page 11

How to Build a Thriving Email List

4) Popular posts or comments on blogs What generates a lot of back and forth? 5) Blog permalinks to discover related topics What gets the most links, what to related sites right about? 6) Associations What do associations cite as their major concerns of their members? 7) Conferences What are the topics discussed at the conferences about your topic? 8) Amazon.com What are the comments talking about on the best selling books in your topic category? 9) Article Directories What are the most talked about subjects? 10) Google Analytics (GA) Stats What are the top keywords in your GA reports) Next, throw all your research results in a mindmap using Freemind like this

Page 12

How to Build a Thriving Email List

Using a mindmap allows you to catalog all your research without the distraction of interpreting it on the fly. After youve got it all in one place, you can start organizing it. Now, start organizing and grouping what you learned on the mindmap. Choose one of the questions to address from your Listening Campaign. Youre doing this so you can isolate one step of an overall process. Usefulness trumps completeness here. Your attraction device should focus on what before how. Going into great detail about how is hurtful. Youll overwhelm your prospect. Your goal here is what I call thin slicing. Take large slice of the broad topic (marketing email marketing). Then, slice it again and again until all thats left is a thin slice, or one aspect, of the problem (For example, my own thin slice process would be: how to build an email list how to build a simple email marketing machine). Create a single persona who will be your main audience for your attraction device Next, you need to create an Internet persona. An Internet persona narrows down your general audience to one person. This one persons lifestyle, behavior, and social interactions closely represent a larger group. Your target persona is a used to determine which questions and problems youll be addressing in your report or video. (Learn more about persona creation from Hiedi Cohen). The easiest way to create a persona is by intersecting elements from your research thus far. Topic category + level of mastery + thin sliced problem + exact person whod be interested. Dig a little deeper to find out what has and hasnt worked for your target persona. If you really want to attract your target persona to get on your list, learn about their ups and downs. Find out what they have tried and havent tried in the course of addressing their problem. You have to get below the surface here. The Dachis Group has a really neat way of digging deeper with their Empathy Map. Test your marketing research by filling in your answers to each of these questions: 1) What is your personas major preoccupation they are always thinking about? 2) What are your personas pains: fears, frustrations and obstacles?

Page 13

How to Build a Thriving Email List

3) What does your persona what to gain: wants/needs, measure of success, obstacles? 4) What does your persona see in the market place today? 5) What are they attracted toward or away from? 6) What types of things does your persona say and do? 7) Who are the people your persona is listening to for help worth their frustrations and obstacles, and what solutions are being offered? Now, heres your test If you know the answers to these 5 questions, then you can move forward with confidence. Youre ready to start writing your attraction device. If you don't, got back and dig a little deeper. 1) Problem - What is your personas specific problem they want solved now? 2) Thin Sliced Problem - What part of the problem do they wish they had a how to guide on? 3) Motivation - Why are they motivated to learn this? 4) Hope - What do they hope to achieve with this new knowledge? 5) Aspiration - What current situation are they trying to rise above? You need to know these five things. They will become the basis for everything you do from here on out. Write the report / Create the video Finally, write the report and get it ready for marketing. Go back to your mindmap. Organize the results into chunks. Create 3-4 themes. Once youve organized all your research from your Listening Campaign, you should have the makings of a report. Honestly, if you did you research right, and cataloged the results in a mindmap. Your report should be virtually written. Transfer the results to Microsoft Word, expand a little on each point, and there you goinstant report.

Page 14

How to Build a Thriving Email List

By now, youre probably wondering what report or video should say. How should it flow? Well, here ya gouse this. Template for Creating Report or Video Intro - Hi, Im ____ , creator of ____ program/book/etc State what youll be teaching - Today, Im going to teach you how to ____ State 3 points of struggle you have in common State 3 things you tried to address these problems Turning point main points of the solution you figured out Teaching / training explain 1-4 things that you want them to do to solve the problem Call to Action (CTA) say, If you liked what I taught you today, and youd like to know more about_____, then_____. Tell them explicitly what to do. CTA should start with a verb, then get instructions (Sign up for email to the right). Explain the exact steps, or path to take the action. Walk them through. Next, lets look at how to create a simple email machine that captures new emails and follows up with them even while you sleep.

STEP 2 to THRIVE - GET A SIMPLE EMAIL MACHINE

There are a few things you need to start building your email list: 1) A content management system to create web pages without touching HTML code 2) A way to quickly create landing pages to capture emails 3) An email system to automatically follow up with new subscribers with multiple lists, sub-lists, segments and autoresponders.

Page 15

How to Build a Thriving Email List

Ive narrowed down all the options to a few free, or low-cost tools. You can use these to bootstrap your way to building a simple email machine. What do I mean by simple email machine? I use the word machine here because I want you to create a system, not just a one-off email. That way it works even when youre sleeping. (Setting up infrastructure is where most newbies get derailed. This is the least important part compared to how to build an attraction device and get traffic. If youre just getting started this recipe will save you from being distracted by setting up technology. Just follow the steps.)

4 tool sets youll need to build your simple email machine

All the tools I recommend below I personally use, so I know they work.

Tool Set #1 Wordpress for managing your content

First, Id like you to go get a free version of Wordpress (WP) and install it. You will need to enter the prose you create for your opt-in pages. For years, Ive been advising clients to have their own content management system (CMS). Dont bother with HTML code editing. My recommendation is to use Wordpress. Wordpress is free. You can download the latest free version at http://wordpress.org. Click on the download tab (right most top navigation), then install it on your server (I show you an even easier way at the end of this section).

Page 16

How to Build a Thriving Email List

Wordpress is super-popular, so you may have already heard of it. Dont discount it as a simple blogging tool Theres so much more you can do with it. Itll do everything you need to create all the content and landing pages youll need to grow your email list; especially when you combine with the next tool set. There are lots of features in Wordpress. The only you need to know about to get email opt-in pages set up is the Pages feature. Use this to enter your prose for your opt-in landing pages. Heres an example

Page 17

How to Build a Thriving Email List

Just to make sure your Wordpress system never goes down, I recommend using the Backup Buddy plugin. Backup Buddy will create automatic backups of both your files and your database. Plus, if you have to move, or if anything happens, youll be able to do completely restore your site. Install Wordpress now. Then youll be ready to create content and start setting up your opt-in landing pages.

Tool Set #2 Optimize Press for creating email opt-in landing pages

Next, Id like you to purchase a license to Optimize Press (OP). This is the only thing you have to purchase right now. All the other must-have tools are free for now. OptimizePress transforms WP into an list builders dream. Its robust with features. The main benefit it offers you right now is access to a workflow to create email opt-in

Page 18

How to Build a Thriving Email List

landing pages. You dont have to touch HTML, or think about what you features your pages need. Download this and install it via your Wordpress admin panel. Upload the zip file like this

To build an email list youre going to need 3 key elements: 1) opt-in form, 2) landing page, and 3) download page. OptimizePress can do all of this for you with just a few clicks. OptimizePress has to be one of the greatest plug-ins/themes that has been created since Wordpress itself. When you combine Wordpresss ability to create content and store landing pages with OptimizePress it opens up a world of possibilities. Ive tested tons of tools, most of them a waste of money. Let me help you skip the idiot tax I paid already. OptimizePress (OP) is only $97. Thats cheap! You can purchase an OptimizePress license here. There are hosted solutions costing between $99 - $299 monthly. The only other solution you can purchase with a one time fee like OP costs $1,997. So, yeah, its cheap. And its built with information marketing in mind (building an email list is info marketing). There are 5 critical OP can do for your email list building 1) Squeeze landing pages
Page 19

How to Build a Thriving Email List

2) 3) 4) 5) Sales landing pages Build a sales funnel (evergreen, meaning always-on or time-sensitive funnels) Blog pages Membership pages

OPs whole feature set shows up in the left navigation of Wordpress. All the menus are designed with email list building in mind.

What makes OP so powerful is how it uses Wordpresss infrastructure to handle all aspects of information marketing. Lets talk about a few OPs features relevant to email list building. OP standardizes all the settings youll need, like header, footer links, common squeeze page elements. All of the settings can be made within the system, including uploading graphics.

Page 20

How to Build a Thriving Email List

Each content type has its own settings. Squeeze pages can have a different design than landing pages, including unique background graphics and headers. That means each of your landing pages can look unique, even if youre traffic to more than one attraction device (report/video)

OP fixes one of the other things that used to be a real hassle. Creating graphics and html pages. Instead of fussing with that stuff, youll just click an icon to pull up your graphic short cuts.

Page 21

How to Build a Thriving Email List

The graphics are both high quality and customized for information marketing. For now, use what comes with OP and dont mess with anything else. After all, this is about impact and results, not just working hard and looking pretty. Page layout and headline shortcuts included

Design block elements are included to help you call out certain content on your landing page.

Page 22

How to Build a Thriving Email List

Even buttons are included in the page design shortcut options. Again, dont reinvent the wheel. Testing has shown big, orange buttons work. Look at Amazon.comthey been using this color/style for years. And, they test everything! Clearly, these designs work!

Setting up email subscription forms on your squeeze page was also a hassle before OP. Now, all your have to do is log on to your email program, copy the sign up form code they give you after creating a new list, and paste it into the designated box. OP automatically figures out how to integrate it with the page template. How cool is that?!

Page 23

How to Build a Thriving Email List

The same goes for videos. Just copy the embed code into the appropriate OP field and youre done. Your video squeeze page will show the Vimeo, Youtube, or really any video type you can think of . Theres even a field that helps you make sure the video is iPad/iPhone compatible (Thats where a lot of people choose to watch web videos now).

Page 24

How to Build a Thriving Email List

Theres one critical thing I always make certain to do with my email marketing efforts: track with Google Analytics (GA). You can set up GA on each page, or globally in the OP settings. I also use this little box to set up A/B landing page tests with Google Website Optimizer. As you can see OP is more than happy to handle this for you.

Jumpstart your email list-building. Ive tried everything. This tool saves a ton of time. Go get OptimizePress now.

Page 25

How to Build a Thriving Email List

Tool Set #3 Mailchimp for creating forms, and managing and sending emails
Finally, Id like you to go over to MailChimp and sign up. Sign up for the free account here (Assuming you dont already have an email system. If you do you can skip this section.)

Now, heres a special bootstrapping tip Choose the free forever plan. Dont starting paying just yet. Bootstrap for now, then upgrade when its time. MailChimp is being incredibly generous with their freemium offer. You can add up to 2,000 email subscribers in your lists. You can send 12,000 emails a month. This is massive! Thats 6 email blasts to your to your full list. You wont even need that right now. Use the freemium plan to start to plan to build a list. After you get everything going, upgrade to the $15 or $30 plan. (Note, it does take a paying account to gain access to the autoresponder feature. Lets just focus on collecting emails for now, well worry about the rest in a little bit. Once its time, you can upgrade.)

Page 26

How to Build a Thriving Email List

Heres the pricing scheme. MailChimp is super competitive, even with the cheapest alternative, in terms of dollar-per-sent-email.

Ive used and reviewed every kind of email software out there. Some of them hosted, and some of them SaaS (software as service); Aweber, GetResponse, iContact, Constant Contact, and Interspire to name a few. All of these services are great, but MailChimp is the best bootstrap option (Awebers autoresponder system is better). MailChimp does a great job of keeping everything simple for the beginner, and still providing all the advances features youre going to need to build a huge list. Plus their deliverability is best in class. Mailchimp features youre going to need for list building: Creating multiple lists Creating sub-lists Tying autoresponder to a sub-list Sending campaigns to the full list Sending to segment of your lists and campaigns Creating new forms without HTML Hooking forms into OptimizePress easily

Page 27

How to Build a Thriving Email List

Heres a quick example of advanced segmentation features Mailchimp has. Notice how you can create multiple rules and conditions.

These features are critical to doing steps 6 and 7 in the THRIVE process (more on that later). Segmentation is the hidden secret of keeping emails on your list. Go and sign up for Mailchimp now. Create your first list. Then, create your first form.

Tool Set #4 Boost opt-ins for bloggers

Page 28

How to Build a Thriving Email List

This is a special section for bloggers. You have a built-in advantage if you have a blog started. You already have a way to attract traffic. Now all you need to do is to turn traffic into opt-ins. These are four must-have tools for increasing your email opt-in rates on your blog (you can use these on your general website too, but for this report Ill assume your blogging and are using Wordpress like Ive recommended). Im going to give you a tool for: new visitors, top of your blog, footer of your blog, and sidebar. By the time youre done, your visitors wont be able to escape your attraction device. This step also assumes youve created your attraction device. (If you havent, back and do it.) These tools will help you promote your attraction device, and increase your opt-in rate 10% to 20% (thats the minimum number of opt-ins your missing now. You may wind up getting a much better result). Install all four in various section of your blog. Since Im recommending Wordpress, these tools are strictly for designed for Wordpress. They are called plug-ins. At least install two of them. Popup/Overlay POPUPDOMINATION Wordpress Plug-in First, install Popupdomination. Its a plug-in for Wordpress. A few seconds after a visitor arrives to your blog, theyll see a little graphic overlay. Its not a separate window, just a quick overlay. Install this on your blog home page (index). You can create different popups for different sections too so your visitors dont get annoyed. Or, only show it on their first visit.

Page 29

How to Build a Thriving Email List

This forces visitors to stop and look at your attraction device and make a choice to act or not. Before you get going about how popups are bad. This is not a popup. Secondly, most major retailers and authors are using this on their ecommerce websites. So, this strategy has become mainstream. Theres no reason you cant use it too. Its $77 but it pays for itself with lower cost per email opt-in. You can purchase it here. This plug-in supports MailChimp specifically. Once the overlay appears, it would look something like this (thanks to Andy Jenkins for the example). This graphic and email form combo would hover over your blog content in the same window.

Header Attention Grabber Plug-in Wordpress Plug-in

Page 30

How to Build a Thriving Email List

Second, consider buying this low-cost plug-in to promote your attraction device and opt-in offer above your blogs header. This is an innocent way to call attention to your attraction device on your blog. Its called the Attention Grabber. Basically, its just a bar that sits above the top-most element on your home page.

AttentionGrabber is only $12. You can get it from CodeCanyon.net Michael Hyatt has an example over on his blog. Visitors can click on the arrow to make it disappear. But, most people dont. It become a constant reminder to check out the attraction device you created.

Even CodeCanyon, the AttentionGrabber reseller, uses this plug-in

If you theres a single thing Id like to see you do on your blog today, its to get AttentionGrabber installed. Its so unobtrusive, and effective. At $12.00, its no-brainer. Footer Optin Crusher Wordpress Plug-in Next, use this free plug-in to add an opti-in form at the bottom of your visitors browser window. Research shows you should have a call to action on the top and bottom of your page. Optincrusher can help you with this. Its free to download from their site.

Page 31

How to Build a Thriving Email List

It creates an opt-in form in the footer of your page. Actually, it hovers at the bottom of the browser window. Just like Popupdomination, its a graphic layer above all your other graphics. The overlay will appear at the bottom-most portion of the page. Visitors can close the window if they so choose.

Optincrusher even has instructions on how to integrate with Mailchimp. This is another no-brainer install. Visitors many not even notice your opt-in form if it only exists in one place. Having an opt-in form at the top and bottom of the page makes certain they will eventually notice your attraction device. Hopefully, theyll sign up. Sidebar Custom Graphic + CSS + Opt-in Form

Page 32

How to Build a Thriving Email List

Last, Id like you to have an opt-in offer promo in the sidebar of your blog. Visitors are sort of conditioned to look for an offer in the sidebar. Dont reinvent the wheel. Go with it. Admittedly, this is for advanced users only (Im still searching for an easier way to do this. One that even beginners could implement). If youre just starting out, dont mess with this. With a little smoke and mirrors you can make it look good. Open Photoshop, or the graphics software of your choice. Create a background graphic the same size as your blog sidebar (this is mostly a width constraint). Design the background. Something like the example below will do

To keep things relatively simple for now, I suggest you do two things: 1) Create a use MailChimp to create a solid color background 2) Create a custom graphic header and upload it to MailChimp. Heres the smoke an mirror part... Everything above the email form field would be your header. This way you can keep the technical side of things simple. Its a hack of what MailChimp meant by header, but it totally works.

Page 33

How to Build a Thriving Email List

Custom Graphic

MailChimp generated with solid color background to match custom graphic To do this, youd simple In MailChimp, go to List Forms Design It Page Header

Next, hover over the header. Click design header when the option appears.

Page 34

How to Build a Thriving Email List

Click upload a header image once the popup menu appears.

Finalize and save your header in Mailchimp. Hosting (if you dont have one) If youre truly at square one, and you dont have a website host yet, here are some quick suggestions. These were chosen because they are reliable and cheap. You should only have to be $10 a month for a good plan. And domain registration should never be more than $12/year on the high end. Bluehost Media Temple HostGator
Page 35

How to Build a Thriving Email List

Whats most important about each of these hosts is the offer Wordpress one click installations. Its like a software install wizard. This means you click a button that says, I want to install Wordpress. You tell the wizard where to install it, and youre done. If you already have a host and still want the ease of a one click Wordpress install, use SimpleScripts.com (one install for free, after that you have to upgrade to a paid account).

Congratulations!

If youve made it to the end of this report, it means youre prepared to address the two most common list-building hurdles: not having an attraction device, and not having a simple email machine. You also got an overview of the 7 steps of the THRIVE process. THRIVE showed you the entire roadmap for list building, from beginning to end. My experience from focusing on email list building is it can help you go from surviving to thriving. Over time, I was able to build up an email list of over 20,000 people. That same list helped me drive over $1.8M in sales to a single product. I did that while on the same learning curve youre on how. If I can do it, so can you. Takeaways from this report: Focus on creating an attraction device. You CANNOT build a list without an attraction deviceDO NOT PASS GO. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP. Most marketers efforts get killed here. Do the smart work here and youll succeed. Attraction devices are simple how-to training put into a PDF report or video. Map out what you know and care about to determine what would be easiest training for you to create. Create a target persona: one person that represents a your larger audience. Listen to what your target persona wants using the Listening Campaign method. Build a simple email machine using the bootstrap method A simple email machine blends free and low cost tool together to create an automated way to turn traffic into opt-ins Get the basics of your simple email machine ready and youll be prepped for traffic-getting.

Page 36

How to Build a Thriving Email List

Whats Next For You?

By now, you probably want to know more about getting traffic to your opt-in pages. You want to know which strategies will jumpstart getting names and emails. The THRIVE Process can show you how to start getting traffic today. Watch the THRIVE traffic video here:

Page 37