When you think about building an email list, it can get overwhelming thinking about all the technology you need to work together to make it all work. Keep in mind that some of the systems are redundant, and you may not need all of these, but you will need the following:
- A website – What platform will you use to build the site? You can choose self-hosted WordPress, or you can build your website another way. Know how all the technologies work together. For most needs, self-hosted WordPress will work great.
- A website host – Pick a website host that will work with you based on your needs. Remember that bigger is not always better. But you want the host to have a good reputation and provide excellent customer care. If you’re a newbie, you may need hand-holding ñ in that case, a good choice is a host called Mom Webs.
- A social media presence – Create social media accounts on platforms your audience likes to use. Update it often with relevant information and content for your audience. Choose at least the top three that your audience likes to use. Consider using automation via software like Hootsuite.com too.
- A targeted and compelling freebie – You may need or want more than one freebie that you create based on where your targeted audience member is in their buying cycle.
- A landing page or sales page – Treat your freebie as you would any product you’re going to sell to your audience. Create a sales page for it so that your audience knows the benefits of getting it. While you can build a landing page using a standard WordPress new page, using software like Leadpages.net is also very helpful and makes it quick.
- An email autoresponder service – You must have an autoresponder such as ActiveCampaign, Drip.com, or MailerLite (or others) to deliver the messages to your subscribers. Don’t be tempted to use your own website and private email because these services are more secure and work better.
- A place to store downloads – You may want to use your own server, or you might want to invest in a better system that is more secure like Amazon S3 to store your freebies and products safely. I use Membervault for a freebie hub that integrates with my email marketing technology.
- A way to deliver the freebie – You don’t want to attach your freebie to the email. Instead, you’ll want to create a download page or use an automatic system to help deliver it, track it, and segment your audience with it. This is where Membervault does a great job to store and deliver a freebie!
- An email marketing sequence of messages – You’ll want to create an email sequence to welcome your subscribers based on the freebie they download or the product they buy and add information to guide them in their choices in the future.
To choose which technology you’re going to use building an email list, it’s essential to understand what your business stands for, what your budget is, and what you plan to do in the future too. Choosing systems that can grow with you is important.
