If you want to build a serious online business, you need an email list.

It is the one channel you truly own. Social media platforms can change their algorithms, limit your reach, or disappear entirely. When someone joins your email list, however, you have a direct and reliable way to communicate with them whenever you choose.

The challenge is that everyone starts at zero. No subscribers. No audience. Just an idea and a blank dashboard. The good news is that building an email list is not complicated when you understand the right steps.

Here is how to build it properly from the ground up.

Useful Episode Resources

FREE list of the top 10 books to improve your email marketing

If you want to write better emails, come up with better content, and move your readers to click and buy, here's how. We put together this list of our Top 10 most highly recommended books that will improve all areas of your email marketing (including some underground treasures that we happened upon, which have been game-changing for us). Grab your FREE list here.

Join our FREE Facebook group

If you want to chat about how you can maximise the value of your email list and make more money from every subscriber, we can help! We know your business is different, so come and hang out in our FREE Facebook group, the Email Marketing Show Community for Course Creators and Coaches. We share a lot of training and resources, and you can talk about what you're up to.

Try ResponseSuite for $1

This week's episode is sponsored by ResponseSuite.com, the survey quiz and application form tool that we created specifically for small businesses like you to integrate with your marketing systems to segment your subscribers and make more sales. Try it out for 14 days for just $1.

Join The Email Hero Blueprint

Want more? Let's say you're a course creator, membership site owner, coach, author, or expert and want to learn about the ethical psychology-based email marketing that turns 60-80% more of your newsletter subscribers into customers (within 60 days). If that's you, then The Email Hero Blueprint is for you.

This is hands down the most predictable, plug-and-play way to double your earnings per email subscriber. It allows you to generate a consistent sales flow without launching another product, service, or offer. Best news yet? You won't have to rely on copywriting, slimy persuasion, NLP, or ‘better' subject lines.

Subscribe and review The Email Marketing Show podcast

Thanks so much for tuning into the podcast! If you enjoyed this episode (all about the psychology of marketing and the 9 things we use in all our email campaigns) and love the show, we'd really appreciate you subscribing and leaving us a review of the show on your favourite podcast player.

Not only does it let us know you're out there listening, but your feedback helps us to keep creating the most useful episodes so more awesome people like you can discover the podcast.

And please do tell us! If you don't spend time on email marketing, what do you really fill your working days with? We'd love to know!

00:00.95

Speaker

How do you start an email list absolutely from scratch? Look, in making more than $3 million dollars online, my email list is by far the thing that makes the most sales. Yes, I build my audience different places. I have influence in other things. But for actually making sales, nothing even comes close to email marketing. Because look, I can flip my laptop open from anywhere in the world.

00:27.10

Speaker

Type an email, hit send. ah can literally close the laptop lid, go out for a walk, enjoy the beach, whatever, and be bringing in thousands of dollars in sales. But how do you build that email list from scratch?

00:43.67

Speaker

Good news. We all start from scratch. We all at some point get a brand new email marketing platform and we get our first email subscriber. So this is my complete guide of what to do if you're starting with building your email list.

01:01.25

Speaker

The Email Marketing Show. The very first thing we've got to do if we're going build our email list is we've got to get an email marketing platform. What I mean by that is please don't be sending marketing emails, promotional emails from your Gmail account, from your Outlook account, or from your Apple Mail account. I see people doing this. And even today, which is just amazing to me because I'm so in the email world, but don't be sort of sending a bunch of people's email addresses into the to field in your Gmail account or be CCing people in.

01:31.89

Speaker

Don't do that because, look, if you use an email marketing platform, what it actually does, i'm gonna give you some suggestions of of some in a second. A professional email marketing platform that's designed for email marketing, for sending marketing emails, it allows people to join your list and leave your list online.

01:51.29

Speaker

all automatically without you having to do anything without you having to remember to do anything or any manual work it also means you're not going to get yourself into any trouble so i've got two recommendations and it depends on what your plans are with your particular business so Let's take a look at these business at these these ideas. the The first option is completely free. It's this free package of a system called MailerLite. MailerLite is very much the replacement, I would say, for what a lot of people used to start off on, what used to be MailChimp. And MailerLite's really taking the marketing world by storm, and it has over the past... quite a few years. And for up to 500 email subscribers, you don't have to pay a penny, which is great. You can send a bunch of emails and you can get it all managed absolutely beautifully in there. It's got all the basics and it has a free plan, which is great. Now, the second option

02:48.57

Speaker

is what's called high level. And I'll make sure there's links to the exact packages and these exact things right below this this content, this video. But here in high level, they have a a plan, which is $97 a month. Now you might be thinking, when would I need to pay $297? What about $497? And would I even want to pay $97 if I can go and get MailerLive for free? Here's the thing.

03:10.65

Speaker

We run a multi-million dollar business selling courses, coaching and memberships and we are only on the $97 a month package. We don't have a need for these other packages. We run the whole business at $97. But why am I not doing it for free on the free plan?

03:26.36

Speaker

So it's good question. Should you go for the free one? Should you go for the paid one? Look, if you plan... on keeping this what you're building as a side hustle and you plan on keeping ah under 500 email subscribers then absolutely mail a light is the one for you if this is what if you're what you're building is a side hustle but if you plan on starting off as a side hustle but actually building it into something where you're going to start making so something like 10 grand a month or even more Basically, if you're trying to make an extra $500 or more a month, I would say just pay $97 a month for the very lowest high-level account. If that $97 a month allows you to make an extra $500 a month, there's not many things in life that you can get ah you know like a five times return on investment for. Right. So and the reason I say that is just from experience. When people come to me and they're on one email platform and they say, hey, I want to move to something like high level. It is a real massive job. It's an expensive job to move platforms. It's slow. It will cost you money and lost sales because you have to have this sort of period of time where you're moving from one platform to the other and you can't mail anybody and you can't do promotions. So the moving from one platform to another is a royal pain in the ass. So if you are like, i'm gonna make i want to make at least $500 a month from this business, I would say suck it up.

04:54.74

Speaker

and There are not many businesses you can start for $97. And if you can make just an extra $100 a month, you're at breakeven. Let that even be your accountability. Let that even be your motivation to do this stuff, right?

05:11.45

Speaker

So we've got that next. Once we've chosen our email platform, which is the platform which all of our contacts, all the email addresses, all the people are going to be in, so we can now send emails out to them. Once we've chosen our platform, we've signed up for an account. Like I said, I've put some links below to to the ones that I like, the ones I've mentioned, and the exact configurations that I like. The next thing we need is some bait, something a dangle in front of people to attract new subscribers onto our email list. And that's called a lead magnet. It's called a lead magnet because the idea is is it magnetically attracts

05:47.93

Speaker

potential leads for your business to join your email list. It's the carrot that you're dangling in front of people. It's the piece of bait. So how do we do that? Well, I've got a really specific way of doing that, and there's lots of different ways you can do Before we get into that, do you know what's amazing about this, about this content I make? Only about 25% of you who watch these videos are actually subscribed to the channel, which is wild. So right now, if you're enjoying this, please hit subscribe, hit the like, hit the bell to get notifications when new content like this is released, which is a couple of times a week. When do you do that, it means you don't miss out on any of this content, which will really help you to grow your online business. But also, it lets me know that you're enjoying the content so I can keep making more content like this that you can enjoy and get loads of value out of.

06:37.41

Speaker

I've just finished putting together a brand new course. It's called Email Marketing Sorted. And it's all about the three psychological principles that I used to take one of my offers from $27,000 up to over half a million dollars in sales of the same offer. just using three psychological principles. And I thought for tuning in, going to give it to you for free.

06:58.46

Speaker

So go to emailmarketingsorted.com and check that whole program out. It's a five module course with everything in it. Emailmarketingsorted.com and it's yours for free. So back to this lead magnet.

07:11.10

Speaker

What is in this lead magnet? Well, the lead magnet is the reason that people join your email list. No one's thinking, oh I wish I had got more emails, you know, because they feel like emails are like Pokemon and they're going to catch them all, right? No one's thinking they wish they had more emails. They're not addicted to reading emails, most of us, right? So what they need is a damn good reason to join your email list. And that is a piece of value which you put in front of them that usually solves a specific problem.

07:40.63

Speaker

OK, this is why you've seen it on websites before where you show up to the page and says, hey, do you want to get this recipe? Give us your email address. if you want to get this guide, put your name and email address in. If you want to download this video or a tutorial or a quiz or register you for a webinar or get this audio download. So you're going to choose something which solves a specific problem to your audience.

08:03.45

Speaker

And you put it in front of them. In fact, I've done a whole video on lead magnets. I'll put the link right above here and and in the description as well. So you can go and watch some more detailed tips on lead magnets. So now you've got your email platform. You've got a lead magnet to dangle in front of people and get them excited. Like, hey, I want to join your email list. That's good. The next thing we need is a landing page. That's ah a web page on the internet where...

08:29.34

Speaker

which is it's also sometimes sometimes known as a squeeze page or an opt-in page. And basically, that is the page where you offer your lead magnet. You say, hey, would you like my lead magnet?

08:40.54

Speaker

Now give me your name and email address. And I'm going to show you some examples of landing pages because really important thing about landing pages is that You remove everything off the landing page apart from the information about your lead magnet and how they get it. A mistake I see all the time is people have a landing page, but it has all their menu across the top of their website, like contact us, about us, and their shopping cart, and their shop, and their store, all the different things, and how to get your podcast.

09:10.71

Speaker

On a landing page, you want no distractions. Notice this landing page, which is for my GPT trained to be pro copywriters. It's my subject line AI. You notice the only thing that's on here is what it is. I've got a visual representation to make it feel much more real, right? I've got a headline that says this is what it is. And the and I've got a little demo here of me actually using it. nas I shot downstairs in my in my living room. And then the only other thing we can do is put my name and email address in to actually get access to it.

09:43.57

Speaker

That's all there is here. There's no menu. There's no website navigation, nothing else. Another example of one. Here's one. Obviously, it's a little it's a little bit out of date, but... um from like a few months ago but uh this is for a chat an online challenge this is another type of lead magnet let me just shut this down but then notice like all of this even though it looks like navigation it's all just driving people to register to click and put their details in another example here of of a challenge right and again the only thing you can do here there's no website navigation The only thing we can do is read what this free thing is, in this case, it' a free challenge, and register for it. Put your name and email address in. That's the only things that we can do. So just to summarize what should be on that, there should be no menu and no website navigation.

10:35.22

Speaker

There should be a headline that explains the exciting benefit of your freebie, of your lead magnet. There should be a visual representation of it, a preview, so a little screenshot of the of the PDF or a little screenshot of the video or whatever. And then some maybe there could be some text, which also explains a bit more about how good the thing is, how different it is, how it's really going to help. And then the only other thing is a place for them to leave their details. to join your email list to put they literally put themselves into your email marketing platform by typing in their name and email address that's how it works all right that's that next element once you've got that in place the next thing we absolutely must have is some emails the first thing we have to make sure is that when someone puts their name and email address into that landing page and

11:29.50

Speaker

that they get an email which is automated that actually delivers the lead magnet, that delivers your freebie. I call that the automated lead magnet delivery email.

11:39.63

Speaker

You don't want to have to wake up every day or check in multiple times a day and go, right, who signed up for my freebie? I'm going to send it to them. I've been there. I've done that. I did that about 20 years ago when I first got online, and that's how I had to do it.

11:52.28

Speaker

But these days, because of these amazing systems, like MailerLite, like GoHighLevel, you can do it automatically. Someone signs up in the middle of the night or when you're on holiday or when you've taken your family for a lovely trip because you've built this fantastic business.

12:06.07

Speaker

When they sign up, they immediately get an email, an automated email that delivers that lead magnet. And after that, you want to make sure you don't just leave your subscribers high and dry. You want to make sure you introduce them to your world. So after the lead market delivery email, make sure you've got an automated welcome sequence.

12:25.46

Speaker

I call it the trust accelerator sequence. I actually made a whole video on this psychologically stacked welcome sequence called the trust accelerator. Again, I'll put the link right above and in the in the description below so you can go and check out exactly what's inside of mine. But needless to say,

12:41.34

Speaker

You need to have this welcome sequence, which which says to people, here's who I am, here's what to expect, here's why it's different, here's why you should keep reading my emails, and here's how I'm going to help you out. All of that is automated.

12:54.10

Speaker

The final thing you need to do there is then have some emails which introduce your paid programs, your products, and your services. Make sure at the very beginning of your relationship with a new subscriber, they actually know all the ways that you can help them.

13:10.62

Speaker

Don't keep it a secret because if they don't know how you can help them, one, they're going to be stuck continually having that problem, which you actually got to help them with. And secondly, you're not going to make sales. You're not going to bring in clients. The final piece of this is we've got to promote.

13:28.28

Speaker

Right? We've got to promote. We've got to get this landing page so that in in front of people so they can actually opt in and join your and sign up for your email list. Right? We're going to get in front of people. So how are we going to do that? Well, the first thing you can do Let's go over here again. It's do what my friend Natalie over at Boss Babe, the massive female entrepreneur brand, really doing good stuff. What they've got on their homepage of their website is they've got a place right here where you can join 400,000 plus weekly readers and get all the resources.

14:00.98

Speaker

What can you do? You can sign up to get their lead magnet. Absolutely fantastic. So make sure that on your website, there is a place for people to get your lead magnet. Have a little pop-up that pops up and says, hey, do you want to get my lead magnet? Have something on the website like Natalie, your boss babe, has got on her website. So put it there.

14:22.52

Speaker

Put links to your lead magnet in your social media bios. Even if you've got the tiniest, tiddliest following ever, you never know who's not following you, but who's coming and checking out your profile because they found a bit of your content. They've been searching for certain things and you've popped up because of words in your bio and your content.

14:41.05

Speaker

So put the lead the link to your lead magnet landing page right in your social media bios. You can do that on your YouTube channel. You could do that on your podcast. You could do that on your LinkedIn. You could do it on your in your Instagram bio. You can literally do it everywhere. And speaking of social media platforms, also go and share the link to your lead magnet on your LinkedIn, in your Instagram stories. Do a reel about it. Do a TikTok about it.

15:09.37

Speaker

share it all about. And here's the final ninja thing, which I learned when i I interviewed Cody Sanchez about, oh my God, five or six years ago, about really growth hacking your email list. And one of the things she shared with me, which no one talks about, which I've got to share with you today, because it's absolutely legendary. And she's obviously blown up since then, right? And she was like, basically very, very um understated back then. But now she's an absolute massive name, Cody Sanchez. And this is what she said to do. and I think we should all be doing it. Literally go through your personal email inbox, your Gmail account, your Ymail account, your your Outlook, your Apple Mail. Go through that account and just go and sit go through all the contacts you've got and just think, would each of any of these people find benefit in my lead magnet? Would any of these people actually benefit from my help? Can I help these people? And if you can, send them an email. Just say, hey,

16:04.50

Speaker

Long time no speak. I've just put together a new free resource. It's about XYZ thing. Here's a link for you to go and download it for free. Hit me back with a reply and let me know what you think. Because when you are starting, it's about being in the hustle.

16:18.68

Speaker

When you are just starting with building your email list, that's when we need to do these unscalable things of just saying, hey, what do you do you like this? Another great thing to do is join communities. Join school groups, Facebook groups, circle communities. Join these different communities where your ideal people are. Go and be helpful. And then if anybody wants the kind of help that you offer in your resource, drop them a link to it.

16:44.47

Speaker

There is one final thing you've got to do. And that is once people have joined your email list, because they're now joining through all these things we've talked about, we've got to make sure that we don't just ghost them. We've got to make sure that we're showing up in their email inbox regularly so that they don't forget who we are, and by the very virtue of them receiving our emails, they get to know us. They get to trust us. They get to really understand how we can help them and what position they should be in when they actually engage with our programs. So you need to be emailing at least, and this is to be really controversial, at least...

17:18.97

Speaker

Three times a week. Oh, I know, right? Because if we email less than three times a week, there's a great chance people are not going to remember who we are. The reason people on our email list don't buy from us is because they've forgotten who we are or they don't understand what we do. Now, one of the things we need to do to make all of this work is really create the most irresistible bait, the best lead magnet possible.

17:44.66

Speaker

We talked about that earlier. And i want to make sure we have a lead magnet because if you have a lead magnet that's so irresistible that everybody wants it, it just brings in more and more people. like an unstoppable, almost like a bloody stampede. It's amazing. So watch this video next and I'll show you exactly how to put together a lead magnet that is irresistible to the kind of people who want to buy from you.