How To Build A Responsive List

February 7, 2013 | By Adrienne Smith

So how is that list coming along? I mean you are building one right!

Oh come on, you know the old saying, “the money is in the list”. No matter how much I hated hearing that, it’s so true.

Now don’t laugh okay but I bet I’ve tried building a list at least 8 different times since I’ve been online.

Back in the beginning it was in affiliate marketing.

I was taught to send an email every single day for the first seven days because no one bought anything the first time around. They had to see it at least seven times before making a decision.

I really just don’t think that works anymore, do you?

I probably started building a list another couple of times when I started blogging and pretty much failed at that too. I didn’t know what to say!

Watch out because I can hear all of you smarty pants right now saying girl, then why were you blogging? What were you promoting, why are you here?

Okay, I was doing a lot of affiliate marking back when I started blogging so I was promoting all of that stuff but my list wasn’t very receptive. Want to know why?

I only emailed them when I wanted them to buy something.

Pretty stupid right!

Building Your List On Your Blog

Before you can start to build your list, you have to have something to offer your readers for free.

Let’s use me as an example.

Let’s say you’re new here and you just stopped by today. What are you going to see?

Lots of helpful posts on subjects most bloggers want to know about, lots of comments on all of my posts and lots of interaction going on in the comment section.

Because of all the attention that my blog receives, people are curious to know how the heck I did that right!

I write a LOT about relationship marketing and since I was named the Engagement Superstar a year ago people want to know more.

That’s when I decided why not give my subscribers a report instead of a blog post sharing all of my little secrets that I’ve learned about building relationships online.

It’s an area that others consider me to be an expert in although I hate that word. I mean who is really an expert in anything since things change so often. Let’s just say I’m a natural so of course I can share with you what I know.

Once you opt-in to my list and as you’ll see I do ask for phone numbers, the first email you get will be a link to my report. I also will share with you what you can expect to receive from me in my emails.

I created a template with my header so when you open my email you definitely know who it’s from. No surprises there.

What Do You Share

I definitely send an email out every Monday and Thursday letting my subscribers know that I have a new blog post.

Do not use your blog post title as your subject line. Make it different, make them curious, make them interested to see what you have for them today.

I always start off by asking my subscribers how they’re doing. If they had a fun weekend or perhaps a good productive week.

I may share a little about what I’ve been up to and I’ll throw some personal stuff in too. Like once I wrote about the new office chair I bought and how I was salivating sitting in it. Recently I shared about having our family portraits finally taken after so many years.

The fun thing is that in the comments, a few of my subscribers will make a comment about what I shared with them. See, they are getting to know me and we’re interacting.

I may ask them specific questions and a lot of them will reply to me through my newsletter email. Yep, they respond which is exactly what I was after. We get the conversations flowing.

I do my best not to tell them what my post is about. I leave them curious to click over and see what I’ve got for them that day.

Want to know why my open rate is so high? Because I leave them curious. Okay, I do tease them a little so you guys who are on my list will have to let me know in your comment whether or not you think I do a pretty decent job of that or not.

It’s About Building Relationships

You know I blog about this and I even shared all my tips in my free report.

It’s about building relationships with your readers, your prospects and your list. When you share a little of you with them then they’ll get to know you better.

When you actually pick up that phone and call them just to say Hi and can I help you with anything, they definitely appreciate the heck out of that.

People want to know you care. People want to know there is someone out there that just wants to help because they want to. People want to know they are appreciated.

Blogging and building a business online is about people connecting with people. Make them feel important and wanted and they’ll continue to come back for more time and time again.

Don’t believe me?

Try it, I dare you! Oh and one week won’t do it guys. I mean try it and be consistent with it and then come back to me in about six months and let me know your results.

Seriously, I want to know.

Let’s Get Started Now

We are still very early into this new year so if you haven’t started building your list you need to get started now.

Keep building up your readership, connect with new bloggers, keep commenting on other blogs and let’s get you some serious traffic.

Start building those relationships, have a cool opt-in gift and let’s start connecting with your subscribers. If you’re brave enough, pick up the phone and give them a call or make a time to have a Skype chat. One way or the other, reach out to them and let them know you’re here to help and for goodness sakes, done try to sell them anything.

You have to build up that trust first. Once you’ve done that then they’ll support you.

Seriously, you can do this. Heck, if I can do this you sure can.

So, ready to get started? I want to hear what you have to say in the comment section now. Come on, you can tell me. Oh and don’t forget to share this post with your friends too. They may have had issues in this area also. This is the year for lots of breakthroughs guys!

I’m excited for you and can’t wait to hear how you’ve been doing.

Business Developer
Skype: missadriennesmith
Email: Adrienne@AdrienneSmith.net

{ 122 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Harleena Singh Twitter: harleenas February 7, 2013 at 8:08 AM

Couldn’t agree more Adrienne!

This is such a timely post, as I too am on the verge of finalizing my email list and finally getting started with it. And your tips are always handy, which most of us follow for sure.

I agree, such lists shouldn’t be about always trying to sell your things, rather they should be interactive and more personal. In-fact, sharing a little of yourself with your readers is what does the trick. It IS about building those relationships, and no is better than you in that regard – once again – you keep inspiring us to keep at it and we learn such a great deal from you and your posts.

Oh yes…I am on your list right from the time you started it, and look forward to the little something, that little extra you share with all of us in your newsletter before the link of your posts. So, I am in the learning phase where building an email list is concerned, and there can be no better teacher than you.

Thanks so much for sharing this with us.
Harleena Singh recently posted..6 Steps to Have Loving and True Friends in Life

2 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 7, 2013 at 8:39 AM

Hey Harleena,

That’s fabulous news, congratulations. I’m so thrilled that you’ll finally be starting your list. I know your subscribers will be so excited to hear from you too.

Thank you for saying that and I did learn a pretty hard lesson. My list would be really huge by now had I stayed on the same course and known this years ago. That’s okay though, it’s a lesson learned.

So glad you’re on my list Harleena so did you grab my PDF today? Check out those photos and tell me what you think.

I appreciate you sharing this with me and you have a fabulous ending to this great week.

~Adrienne

3 Harleena Singh Twitter: harleenas February 7, 2013 at 8:44 AM

Oh yes…I loved those wonderful family photos, and just emailed you about them too. It’s such a pleasure to see all of you together.

God Bless all of you.
Harleena Singh recently posted..How to Express Love to Your Loved One

4 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 7, 2013 at 8:59 AM: Oh good, I’ll check my email. Thank you Harleena!

Reply

5 Julie Barrett Twitter: aclear sign February 7, 2013 at 8:11 AM

Hi Adrienne, I finally got a couple of things set up so that not only do I have a list, I can see what’s going on with it…as well as some interesting analytics such as what people type into Google to find me. THAT kind of blew my mind, actually. I got a ton of numbers from my Readers after using your suggestion (who doesn’t want a little intuitive help, plus I will intuitively know when to call them )
Julie Barrett recently posted..What Scenes Will They Show You At Your Life Review?

6 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 7, 2013 at 8:42 AM: Hey Julie,

I’m smiling from ear to ear here Julie. I love knowing what’s going on with my list and I remember always falling on my face before. My open rate is huge and I continue to even surprised myself but that’s a very good thing. Now what people type in to find you, I hear you on that one. I check the keywords often and I love it when I see my name has been Googled.

Oh good and just chatting with them up front and perhaps answering one question for them will definitely get them interested in working with you more. I’m so happy to hear that. That’s really pretty cool that you know when to call them. I’m jealous!

Thanks for sharing that Julie! Now, enjoy your day!

~Adrienne

Reply

7 Chrysta Bairre Twitter: livelovework February 7, 2013 at 8:15 AM

It is all about relationships and I’ve often found in networking I get the most when I give before I get.

Just yesterday I received an unsolicited email from an author asking me to read and review his book. I’d never heard of this guy before! He contacted me because he’d read a comment I wrote on another blog and because I commented on a similar topic he thought I’d be interested in his book. I don’t know this guy from anything and didn’t feel very motivated to read his book and review it.

The thing is if he’d even bothered to leave just one comment on my blog, or send me a friendly introductory email first, I might have been more inclined to check out his book! But, sadly, because we have no relationship, being asked a favor by a complete stranger came off as nothing but spam.

Relationships are key! It’s not just about what I want to get out of my list- it’s about the mutual benefit of building positive, helpful, and friendly relationships that make my life, and theirs, more awesome! And when the time comes to sell a product or service, well my friends are usually happy to support me.

Thanks for showing us how it’s done, Adrienne!

Have a great day!

Chrysta
Chrysta Bairre recently posted..Don’t have another bad day!

8 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 7, 2013 at 8:47 AM: Hey Chrysta,

I’m so thrilled to hear that Chrysta and it’s so true. Give to others and the getting will come.

That happens to me a lot. I get these emails from people who have seen me around asking for support and helping them promote whatever they’re doing yet they haven’t taken the time to stop by my blog once and leave a comment. I would have definitely checked out what they were doing had they taken that time. I don’t blame you one bit Chrysta and too bad for him. Big loss here.

I had a fabulous conversation with someone yesterday from my list and it ended up with me giving her a few suggestions so now she’ll run with those to get her business started. In return, I’ll help promote her because of what she’s willing to do for me. Win win my friend.

Thank YOU Chrysta for sharing that with me because I love hearing stories like this first hand. The power of relationships is huge.

Enjoy your day young lady.

~Adrienne

Reply

9 Donald Twitter: donaldmacleod1 February 7, 2013 at 8:22 AM

Hi Adrienne,

Constructive post as usual. I have to admit that my massive list of 12, I think don’t get enough from me to be honest. I will start sending out mails as you suggest, not always offering products etc, talk in general. I try and blog hop, will do more than I do now. I use Skype on a regular basis. I have tried contacting a certain lady on a couple of occasions with no answser on both occasions. Wonder who that was???? lol.

Thanks again for the advice. Will be back soon.

One last thing. What plug in do you use for commentators?? I was talking on Skype last night. I was asked about how many visitors I had coming to my blog, didn’t have a clue. I was happy with the folk that were leaving comments. He suggested JETPACK…..

That’s me.

Regards

Donald
Donald recently posted..Why Not Start With eBay!

10 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 7, 2013 at 9:28 AM: Hi Donald,

You sound like how I use to be. I didn’t know what to send them so I just didn’t. Then I decided with this new list to just continue to be plain old me and share some things about what I was doing and then entice them into opening my blog post. Make them curious and then in between Donald you can share other posts with them that you think they might find helpful. Information they might want to learn. They’ll appreciate that very much.

Yeah I know, we keep missing each other. The time difference has me doing things and not being able to connect. We need to set up a time my friend, I’d love to chat with you.

You are so very welcome and glad you found this one helpful. Now, get on the ball Donald and start wooing them.

I don’t have a plug-in on my blog to check my stats now other then CommentLuv Premium. Yes, you can check your stats with them but other then that I use Google Analytics. I used Jetpack for a short while but I had issues with it. Made my load time that much worse.

Enjoy what’s left of this week Donald and hopefully we’ll talk soon.

~Adrienne

Reply

11 Donald Twitter: donaldmacleod1 February 7, 2013 at 8:23 AM

P.S.

I like your email page….good idea.

Donald
Donald recently posted..Why Not Start With eBay!

12 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 7, 2013 at 9:29 AM: Why thank you, glad you enjoyed that! Yay!!!

Reply

13 Pauline Twitter: PaulineBennett2 February 7, 2013 at 8:29 AM

Hi Adrienne
You have written about my favourite subject, as you know my blog is about helping newbies to build their list, I hate it when all I get after I sign up to a list is promotional emails about this product or that product that I “must” buy or “need”.
It is very important to build up a relationship with your subscribers and let them know what you are going to do for them, it is difficult enough these days to get anyone to sign up without scaring them into unsubscribing before the first week is over!
I have yet to pick up the phone yet (or skype anyone like you suggested) but I will do it soon, it works for you and it is another way to connect with people.
I love your photos of you & your family, thanks for sharing them
Have a great day
Pauline
Pauline recently posted..Is Social Media Driving You Crazy?

14 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 7, 2013 at 8:52 AM: Hey Pauline,

That’s why I’ve loved your series you’ve had on your blog. Like I had mentioned to you there are so many new people coming online and they don’t know what to do. If they venture into affiliate marketing of course they’re being told to sell sell sell. But it’s not just about that so if they can understand what it really takes to build a captive audience, their business will explode.

I know you live in another country but perhaps as you connect with your list you can reach out to them individually either in an email or on a social networking site and have those conversations. Then plan a time to chat and that will help make it more personal. I know the time difference can be a big issue but you can plan this and when you’re reaching out to help someone, who doesn’t want to accept that?

Oh goody, you saw the photos. They’re good aren’t they! We haven’t had one done since my Dad was alive and he’ll be gone 10 years this month. The kids are grown now so it was time. Thank you for letting me know and glad you enjoyed seeing those.

Thank you Pauline and you have a fabulous ending to this already great week.

~Adrienne

Reply

15 sapna Twitter: h4hitech February 7, 2013 at 8:30 AM

Hi Adrienne

Great post!

I have been thinking for a while to start the list and I will do that very soon now. I want to offer freebies for sure and I was thinking what sort of freebies are really helpful to everyone, this has delayed the list from coming out.

For now I want to concentrate on building relationship through commenting as you have been suggesting, and as and when some idea strikes I will come up with the list. I will be discussing that with you very soon on that.

Thanks Adrienne for all your support and have a great week.

Sapna
sapna recently posted..How much Bacon Can you eat before Heart attack eats you? (An Infographic)

16 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 7, 2013 at 9:13 AM: Hi Sapna,

Why thank you, glad you enjoyed this one.

Think who your target audience is and create something that will help them. That’s who you want on your list right!

I think it’s a great idea to build those relationships through your blog of course but you can take that over to your list as well. Just make them feel more special because they took the time to sign up to get information from you. We’ll definitely discuss this further.

My pleasure and hope things are going well for you. I know you’re busy!

Enjoy your week.

~Adrienne

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17 Dan Sumner Twitter: danielsumner February 7, 2013 at 8:34 AM

Value value value! It’s all about value. However there is a fine balance between giving so much value and sending a promotional email! Sometimes when you give too much people are surprised to see you promoting something! I have had emails in the past asking what I was doing trying to promote a product and not giving free information. Sometimes you can appeal too much to people in search free info.

Depending on what the nature of your business is there is a fine balance between giving valuable info and sending promotional emails. The people who are on your mailing list should be aware that from time to time, you may want to promote something or sell one of your own products.

I try to stick to a rule of provide value from my blog posts each week to help my subscribers, but also alert them of worthy products and services which I purchased, use or have used in the past to build me business. This way you are not shamelessly promoting random affiliated products.

The churn and burn affiliate marketing method is not for me I’m a people person lol.

Thanks Adrienne.

Back to work

Dan
Dan Sumner recently posted..The New Look Subscriber Building Blog

18 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 7, 2013 at 9:18 AM: Boy will I agree with you on that one Dan. I’ve had a few people opt-out of my list because they told me I promoted too much. Me? Are you frickin kidding me? I had to ask them why they are building a business. That’s okay really, those aren’t the people who even cared to build a relationship with me in the first place. Had they done that, they would know better.

The one thing I’ve learned Dan is to not “sell” in your emails. That’s what sales copy is for. All you should do is entice them to check out what you have to offer. If they’re interested great, if not you will not be losing any sleep over it. Not everyone will want what you share.

Affiliate marketing can be a hard place to be but when you know how to give the goods and continue with the value, they will want what you share because they know you don’t stuff everything down their throats.

Thanks for sharing that, important stuff here from the man himself. A very successful affiliate marketer. I cherish your input Dan.

Now, enjoy what’s left of this week okay.

~Adrienne

Reply

19 Sylviane Nuccio Twitter: SylvianeNuccio February 7, 2013 at 8:40 AM

Hi Adrienne,

Well, this is just the kind of posted I needed. I suck with my lists and I haven’t shared anything but my blog posts for ages. I have to admit that I haven’t even tried to sell anything to my lists for ages as well.

The main reason for this? Time! I’m so busy these days, because while my businesses are picking up I still have to keep my side jobs so frankly if I could turn off my sleep need and work around the clock I will still be occupied enough.

So, the result of this is that some things I kinda neglect and my lists are one of those things.

However, thank you for the encouragement here and I will have to make more time for this part of my business.

Thanks Adrienne
Sylviane Nuccio recently posted..Interview With Life Coach And Personal Development Blogger Justin Mazza

20 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 7, 2013 at 8:55 AM: Hi Sylviane,

Oh girl, you’ve got to start chatting more because you’re the life coach and freelance writer. You have SO much to offer and I know that connecting with people individually can be a time sucker but think of how much more business you’ll get.

I truly admire you really holding down a full time job while doing two side businesses and three blogs. My gosh girl, you’re wonder woman. But seriously your business could really grow if you could put some time aside to connect with these people. This could be what helps you leave that day job Sylviane.

Just give it some thought and perhaps you can schedule time just for that.

Glad this one came at the right time for you. Now, go enjoy your day.

~Adrienne

Reply

21 Richard Petrillo Twitter: askrichardp February 7, 2013 at 8:41 AM

Hi Adrienne,

This has been a lesson I’ve had to learn the hard way. I was taught the same as you when I first began in the business. Sell, sell, sell…

I guess it depends what kind of list you’re building. The first list I ever started was with a program people opted in to learn all about generating leads etc. Looking back, it seems like all 20 something prewritten autoresponders did nothing but sell.

Needless to say, that was a pretty unresponsive list. You sure have taught us how to build a list the right way. I am currently working on segmenting my list. Its time to do some early spring cleaning. I’ve been trying to add more value to each email and do a lot less selling.

My plan is to finish my latest product, which I am going to offer my list for free, BUT, they will have to Opt-in to receive it. That will put them on a new main list, my “receptive” list. Then I can start deleting all the dead weight in my other lists. My goal is to come up with a community of great people as you have here!

Thanks for all the great advice.
Richard
PS: Oh, and yes, you do an excellent job of building curiosity! I look forward to Tuesdays and Thursdays!
Richard Petrillo recently posted..How To Prevent Your Twitter Account From Being Hacked!

22 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 7, 2013 at 9:23 AM: Hey Richard,

Yeah, that sucked didn’t it! I mean come on guys… That stuff does not work.

You are right, it depends on what kind of list you’re building. When given prewritten autoresponders in the past, every single one of them were all about promoting. And the guys having the suggest swear by them. What they failed to tell you is they had already built that relationship with their list so they were more open. Dah!

I’m happy to hear that you’re moving in that direction Richard and it sounds like a great plan. I do the same, I clean my list out pretty regularly which is why if someone were to ask me how large it was they would be disappointed. I don’t want dead weight so I’ve been know to remove you myself. Gosh, I’m so mean…

The best way to build lists are to have the separately. Something I’ve done sort of good in pertaining to the area. I need to do that more on my blog though.

You are very welcome and I appreciate you sharing that with me Richard. Thank you.

Happy to hear you look forward to my emails. Did you check out my PDF I offered you today? You’ve got to tell me what you think now.

Enjoy your day!

~Adrienne

Reply

23 Carolyn Twitter: wonderoftech February 7, 2013 at 8:42 AM

Hi Adrienne, I love your email notices about your new blog posts. I’m getting my hair cut today too!

But I have a tech question: how can you send out email notices to your subscribers that is other than the post with an excerpt? Is that Aweber or some other sort of service? I use Subscribe2 and I’m almost positive that isn’t an option.

I love the idea of getting your readers curious about the contents of your post. I know it works for me. Brilliant!
Carolyn recently posted..A Winter Wonderland of Tech Tips!

24 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 7, 2013 at 8:59 AM

Hi Carolyn,

Thank you, I appreciate that and I’m SO glad I get my hair cut today. I look like a bush it’s so full. lol… I’m serious too!

You can send out anything you want, I just set up a broadcast email the night before my post goes live to be delivered the next day. You can create a series of emails to send out in whatever order you want and however many days apart you want. That’s how autoresponders work so is that what you were asking?

Thank you for sharing that Carolyn and you have a great day.

~Adrienne

25 Carolyn Twitter: wonderoftech February 7, 2013 at 3:59 PM

Hmm…I see a how to post in your future! So you use Aweber or can anyone do that with WordPress?
Carolyn recently posted..Irresistible Tech Gifts for Valentine’s Day!

26 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 7, 2013 at 4:03 PM: Aweber is an autoresponder service that I use to send messages to my list. I just included my blog link in my message so that my readers will know that I have a new post live. I set up the template and create each email message as needed. It doesn’t matter what blogging platform you use because that has nothing to do with it.

Did that answer your question?

Reply

27 Sherman Smith Twitter: sks_success75 February 7, 2013 at 9:14 AM

You’re absolutely right about building an actual relationship with your list and not telling them actually the title of what your new blog post is going to be. Once you do just these two things your email open rate goes up and even your clicks. I’m experiencing this myself and you feel appreciated. It’s a win/win situation and this can definitely take you far!
Sherman Smith recently posted..How Staying In Rhythm Of Playing Music Is Similar To Staying Focused On Your Home Business

28 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 7, 2013 at 9:49 AM: Hey Sherman,

I’m happy to hear that you’re experiencing a great open rate as well as click through rate. You know once I finally “got it” everything started falling into place. I’m not jealous of all those other success stories out there because I know what it takes now.

I appreciate you sharing that with me Sherman, thank you so much.

Now, enjoy your day.

~Adrienne

Reply

29 babanature February 7, 2013 at 9:22 AM

Hello Adrienne,
I started building my list when i know the use and value of list building. It was really easy for me to build my list because i have already earn some trust from the time i was doing freelance and guest post (before i even created my blog). My list is being increased by the day and it is helping me for both in traffic and sales. Trust is hard to build but yet easy to loose…
babanature recently posted..Latest Hollywood Movies For 2013

30 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 7, 2013 at 9:51 AM: Hey Babanature,

I’m thrilled for you and thank you so much for sharing that. See, it’s about building those relationships and they’ll stick around if you have that going for you. That’s a smart move I think and I did the same when I started building this current list on my blog. I waited until I had a following and offered them something they really wanted more of.

Thank you again and enjoy the rest of your week.

~Adrienne

Reply

31 Robin Hallett Twitter: robinshallett February 7, 2013 at 9:52 AM

Adrienne! I for one am someone who ALWAYS opens your emails, and LOVES to hear your personal stories. I do appreciate you and this post is fantastic. Loved the photos – thank you for attaching them.

I started my list in March – I had 138 email addresses I submitted to AWeber to begin with. Not everyone opted in once I invited them to join. While my open rate is quite high, my list is at 160 today. (I’ve had about 15 unsubscribes). I would like to build my list – but a number is just a number, I am really interested in reaching people and making a difference.

I was advised in the beginning to offer my services in the email blasts but I quickly learned this is a turn off – and I also felt like a slimy seller. Yuk – so not me. Today, I write a very personal note –from me to you– and I share a story, or some healing tips, and usually a blog post. I invite people to write to me if they need support (just hit reply!) and I usually get 15 responses.

Very recently, I offered my first “special” for sale thing. And, it was a big hit – I feel I did very well. But as you say, I have had a relationship now with people and they were excited to buy a healing package with me.

I don’t have a “free thingy” to offer peeps (as of yet) when they subscribe, but I did start a page called “join” where I share the feedback subscribers have given me. This seems to be a good thing as several people subscribe from that page. I also have a personal letter (it is an autoresponder) that goes out once people subscribe – it’s short and sweet, but I tell them I am here to shine a light in their life, and ask them if they are needing anything to please write to me – almost every new subscriber does write.

I’d welcome your feedback on anything that stands out in what I am sharing!! And, as always I thank you Adrienne, I just sent you a Skype request. Looking forward to chatting!!

Love,

Robin
Robin Hallett recently posted..A Birthday Pledge

32 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 7, 2013 at 10:11 AM: Thank you Robin and I also appreciate your response to my email. You made me smile from ear to ear girl! Glad you loved my photos, you now have the inside scoop!

You have over 100 which is a great place to start Robin. You’re right, it’s not about the number but how responsive your list really is.

Sounds like you’re already doing what is working for you. And to get 15 replies is big. That’s awesome girl and you’re helping others. They will know that you’re there for them when the time comes to hire you on a more regular basis.

Bingo, you said it right there. Because you built that relationships then they’ll trust that what you offer is good and they’ll be eager to buy from you. I love hearing these stories. That’s awesome.

Sounds like you’re doing it just fine Robin and I have no doubt that your subscribers are very receptive to what you have to offer. I would think of a free gift though to entice them to sign up as well but the other things you have in place are working too so keep doing what you’re doing.

Thank you for sharing that and I’ll hop over later today to Skype and connect with you there. I’ve got a very busy day ahead of me.

Speak soon.

~Adrienne

Reply

33 Mys Palmer Twitter: myspalmer February 7, 2013 at 10:42 AM

Hey Adrienne!

Now the one thing I can say that I haven’t done yet is a free report. I’m still gauging what going to be received best. BUT, I am working (to implement by weeks end) to offer a Ask Me Anything sort of incentive.

That way I get the engagement, the subscriber and the relationship starts to build immediately.
What do you think?

And yes, I’m on your list! And yup, I enjoy the tidbits of you that shine through.

It’s a dandy lil “trick” to not actually talk about the post. You indeed do a fine job at that Adrienne.

Love your stuff!
Mys Palmer recently posted..You Scared:10 Nonsense Reasons You Won’t Write a Guest Post

34 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 7, 2013 at 10:52 AM: Hey Mys,

Well the Ask Me Anything incentive is a good idea but why not do that on top of what you offer? I mean that’s exactly what I do which is why I ask for phone numbers. It’s definitely a great way to get people to talking and asking for help without them feeling pressured. If you can’t come up with an offer yet you definitely can just run with that one for now.

Oh good, glad you like my little teases about my post. See, I want you to come over here and check it out. Now, did you see my PDF I had for you today? Hope you got a kick out of that one.

Thanks Mys and you enjoy your day.

~Adrienne

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35 Jennifer Kennedy Twitter: TheVideoMojo February 7, 2013 at 11:09 AM

I have a very tiny list right now!

And, I’ve struggled with what to write for my email blast. I’ve primarily put in most of my blog post and nothing too personal. And, this just hasn’t felt right.

I like the ideas you’ve shared about making it a conversation between you and your subscribers, which builds relationships. I struggle on what to say sometimes. But, as a Toastmaster, I’ve been good at collecting stories for my speeches — sort of a story file. So, I may use this technique to collect things to write about in my email blasts.

(And, I’m working on that opt-in, too!)

Cheers!
JK
Jennifer Kennedy recently posted..Women and Video + How to Get Into the Game

36 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 7, 2013 at 11:24 AM: Hey Jennifer,

I use to struggle too and one day I say to hell with it. Just start a conversation and it doesn’t have to be much. Want to know what I shared today? I’m SO happy I’m getting a hair cut today, my hair is so bushy right now. Dang, it’s embarrassing cause I feel like I’m fixing to just fly away. Stupid but guess what…most can relate. Then I shared some photos my subscribers have been asking to see.

Just start, that’s all and don’t put your posts in there. Tease them about what you’ve got for them and make it interesting enough they want to stop by. You’ll get the hang of it after awhile.

You’ll do great and you can create a great opt-in around video marketing. You’ve become quite the pro.

Thanks Jennifer and enjoy your afternoon.

~Adrienne

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37 Gladys Twitter: coachgladyscruz February 7, 2013 at 11:10 AM

Hi and Good Morning Adrienne

Truly you are a People Connector. I have enjoyed your posts and your email articles as well.

I am so glad you are working with me getting me on the straight and narrow road. (smile)
But I am looking forward to working on my list, as you guide me through this process.

Again, I appreciate all your information and the knowledge you have acquired through the process.
Thanks you

38 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 7, 2013 at 11:25 AM: Good morning Gladys, great to see you today.

Why thank you, I appreciate that. Glad my posts, emails and advice has been helpful.

I’m happy we’re working together too and we’re going to get you all set up. Your list is next so we have to work on that as well. Everything takes time though but it’s definitely going to be worth it.

Thank you for your lovely comment and be sure to answer my last email I set you yesterday. Let’s get that going girl.

~Adrienne

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39 Jess Brown Twitter: goldiebrown78 February 7, 2013 at 11:15 AM

Hi Adrienne,

You definitely keep your newsletter updates enticing and fun. I always enjoy reading them. You have such a great personality and sense if humor that I think the updates just lure people right on over to your blog.

I have to tell you too that I’ve been learning from your updates and have been doing my own for each post for 2 months or so and it has helped tremendously. I have had several people email me back and I’m slowly starting to build my list. Very cool.

Thanks for all your info and again for being such an awesome roll model.

Have a good one, Adrienne!

Jess
Jess Brown recently posted..The Secret To Finding MLM Prospects

40 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 7, 2013 at 11:29 AM: Hi Jess,

Thank you for sharing that with me and I’m so happy that you feel that way. I just decided why not be as personable in my email then I am on my blog and keep that connection going. Now if I give all the goods away in the email then you wouldn’t be interested in dropping by my post. It obviously works.

OMG, that’s awesome news Jess! Yay!!! Oh gosh, I love hearing that and see… People want to connect with you too, they need that person that will help them if they ask a question. Because you are attracting the right people to you, you won’t have a lot of people who will take advantage of your time. That’s why I’m never afraid to pick up the phone and call them.

You are so very welcome and I appreciate you sharing that with me. Here’s to you success Jess!

~Adrienne

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41 Mary Stephenson Twitter: maryjstephenson February 7, 2013 at 11:44 AM

Hi Adrienne

Happy Thursday! Yes, you are consistent. That has been pushing me also to get on board.

Loved your family photos and yes it does make a difference how you connect with other people. I have definitely been learning that here.

Lots of great ideas today and will have to start implementing them. I think I am like Donald with a little bitty list. Not sure why some even signed up, maybe out of curiosity awhile ago. I will either get their attention or maybe they will opt out, which is fine. I would rather have a genuine list that interacts, than one that rarely opens. So I shall up the “game” and see what happens.

Followed a lot of what you have taught and I don’t feel so much like a lone tree in the woods that falls and no one hears! lol

Mary
Mary Stephenson recently posted..Making Major Changes

42 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 7, 2013 at 12:00 PM: Hi Mary,

Happy Thursday to you too and yes mam…I’m here again.

Oh good, they did turn out pretty good didn’t they? I’m so pleased with them all and a neighbor actually took those for us. See, those little personal connections make a big difference.

You’ll do fine and we all fall on our faces in the beginning. The ones that want to stick around though will so don’t worry if people opt out. I’ve had a few leave my list but email telling me that they love my posts but are on too many lists. See, that was so nice of them to let me know. That’s okay with me because we only want the ones that want to be here right.

You are not alone Mary and you’ll do fine. You know you can always ask me a question if you need something. So, go get em girl!

~Adrienne

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43 Mayura Twitter: MayuraDeSilva February 7, 2013 at 11:46 AM

Hi Adrienne,

You know the only email lists I’ve subscribed to is yours and now Harleena’s too If you ask me I’m not fond of email much and mostly visit your blog directly or via Facebook as the way I does for others.

So far I haven’t thought much about building lists and you know my blog is about information and offering services Don’t promote stuff there but get requests on services through the relationships and people who trust on me. I’m just starting, okay?

I have been saving some useful content related to building lists especially from Pauline’s blog and now I gotta add this one for Pocket too. It’s just not now as I’m working on services mostly and I’ll come back here when I’m heading to start with bulding a list Adrienne

Thanks for sharing information on building lists and I hope many bloggers would love that

Have a fabulous day there Adrienne

Cheers…
Mayura recently posted..Easily Add Custom CSS to Your Template in Blogger

44 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 7, 2013 at 12:04 PM: Hey Mayura,

I don’t blame you not being fond of email Mayura because of the way we’re bombarded with it when we sign up for something. Or how people feel they have the right to add us to their list without our permission. I really don’t blame people who are leery at all. That’s why I like to be different, stand out from the rest. Be known as that person who truly wants to help you move forward, no strings attached.

You can start a consulting business through your list Mayura or just have an offer for your services or more education from you, whichever direction you’d like to go. Promoting you is the most important thing anyway.

I loved what Pauline shared and thought it was so important. So combined with her posts and this one you should do wonderfully. You have such talent and people want your services Mayura. Give it to them.

Thank you and you enjoy what’s left of this week too okay!

~Adrienne

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45 Lisa Twitter: lisapatb February 7, 2013 at 12:06 PM

Adrienne, I just love how you do your emails. I hope you share a picture of your new hairdoo later too. I’m building a list and ready to launch an eBook which I will giveaway to loyal readers. I have final edit and then formatting it is next.

Interesting about emails, I did one for my day job and did not push sales but provided info and received 2 new sales from it.

I may try this on my ebusinesses next. I always get retailers emails arounds sales/promos.
You got Mr thinking again, hope I don’t lose power during impending storm so I can work on these ideas you have given me. Thanks and enjoy the rest of your day Adrienne.
Lisa recently posted..WebMeUp Software for SEO and Much More

46 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 7, 2013 at 12:16 PM: Hey Lisa,

Thank you and the do is the same, I just need a cut really bad. I’ve had the same style for so long but I don’t know what else to do with it really. lol..

I know that sales are important but when you give away more to your loyal readers they will be more then eager to purchase from you without even promoting. I have them emailing me for links to things I promote so they can get it through me. That’s what I call loyal and I appreciate that so much. Just share with them and you’ll keep getting more and more sales as time goes by.

Hey, good luck with that power girl. I know you said you have snow heading your way. We’ve got rain but it’s warm again today.

Have a good one.

~Adrienne

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47 Lisa Magoulas Twitter: lisamagoulasi February 7, 2013 at 1:36 PM

Hi Adrienne, this post is perfect timing as I’m just taking an aWeber class on building a list. I love your emails, like today’s about getting your hair cut, it draws my attention. I haven’t started doing emails yet to build my list because I don’t have a free product yet. Trying to come up with one. Can’t wait to get started. Thanks for the info. Great tips.
Lisa Magoulas recently posted..Chopped Salad

48 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 7, 2013 at 2:26 PM: Hi Lisa,

An Aweber class, that’s interesting. It’s a great program, I love it myself. They keep improving it though so I’m sure taking a class will help you understand how to get started.

Glad you enjoy my emails so you’ll just have to think about what you can offer your list and then take it from there. You’re coming along on your blog so everything is falling into place. Yay!!!

Thanks Lisa and keep up the great work. Hope you’re enjoying your week and my hair looks a lot better now.

~Adrienne

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49 Tonya Stephens Twitter: gulfcoastbeauty February 7, 2013 at 1:46 PM

Hi Adrienne,
Great blog post! I do have a list going and it came primarily from Facebook PPC.
What would really make me happy are more opt ins from my blog.
I do send out an email at least once a week and have a few opened on every delivery. This has been a huge learning curve so you are a blessing to me!
I love your header, haven’t figured out how to do that in a weber yet.
I’m taking your advice on commenting and my traffic is definitely picking up. Heck a year ago I didn’t even know what a blog was so everything you share is awesome and I’m soaking it up!
I’m lacking in the free off department so I’m working on that one as we speak.
Thank you for your giving servant heart!
Tonya
Tonya Stephens recently posted..How To Drive Traffic To Your Website | Using Keyword Research

50 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 7, 2013 at 2:31 PM

Hi Tonya,

You need to give your list something for free. Right now your offer they have to pay for so that is turning people away immediately. You need to work on changing that.

I put that together back in 2011 and Ana Hoffman shot a video on teaching you how to do that. I know their layout has changed but it’s still pretty much the same. Check out her video and you can get yours set up like that too. I like my list knowing what email they’re opening just in case they forgot.

That’s wonderful Tanya and I’ve noticed you’ve gotten more and more traffic and comments to your blog. It takes time but if you’re consistent it does work. I’m happy to hear that.

You’ll come up with something, I don’t doubt that. Hang in there, it’s all falling into place.

Enjoy what’s left of this week and have a good one.

~Adrienne

51 Tonya Stephens Twitter: gulfcoastbeauty February 7, 2013 at 3:01 PM

Do you where I can find Anna’s video? Thanks Adrienne.
Tonya Stephens recently posted..How To Drive Traffic To Your Website | Using Keyword Research

52 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 7, 2013 at 3:43 PM: Absolutely, here’s the link. See, I’ve made it easy for you!

http://youtu.be/Nr_8jS_-Oqc

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53 Annie André Twitter: annieandrehacks February 7, 2013 at 2:05 PM

You are so right Adrienne.

I’ve ben studying your emails closely and when i open up your emails it’s like i’m reading an email from an old old friend. It just meshes with your content and flows really nice.

I do have a question for you. You use all text in your emails. No images. Is there a reason for this? I would love to hear your thoughts.
Annie André recently posted..Does Playmobil Toy Teach Children To Accept Racial Profiling? Security Checkpoint Playset

54 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 7, 2013 at 2:34 PM

Hey Annie,

Ah, so you’re getting the feeling that the emails are more welcoming then anything. That’s good to hear, thank you for sharing that.

So you aren’t talking about my header, my social icons or my photo at the bottom right! Just not including images in the body of my email. No, I don’t really see a reason for that or I haven’t yet. I already know that some programs won’t even accept emails with images so those get bypassed altogether so including an image might hurt me more in the long run. Interesting thought though.

Hope you’re doing well this week. Thanks for your comment Annie and have a great weekend.

~Adrienne

55 Annie André Twitter: annieandrehacks February 7, 2013 at 2:42 PM

Adrienne,
Yes, excluding the header and your profile picture at the end of the email.
I get some emails where the post is almost pasted exactly in the email like it is on the website. (ehem, i used to do that but stopped because i want people to click over to my blog). But i read somewhere that having all text is actually better than having a bunch of images because it looks like an email you would get from friends or family. No one gets a fully formatted beautiful email from family like that so our brains kind of reject that. But if it’s all text, our brains think this is from a friend and we must read it.
Annie André recently posted..Does Playmobil Toy Teach Children To Accept Racial Profiling? Security Checkpoint Playset

56 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 7, 2013 at 2:46 PM: Oh good cause I instantly thought oh no, she’s not seeing my images. How the heck did that happen then it started to click that you meant actual images in the body of the email.

I kind of think I have enough with the header and my image so adding more would be overkill. The only reason I set it up like I did with the header is because people are bombarded with so much email. At least when they open mine and they see my header they remember it’s from me and don’t click off and call me spam or something. I’m not going to let them forget me girl!

I’ve never heard that explanation but I have heard that some services won’t even deliver your email if it has text and I don’t know which ones those are or why so I’m sticking with what works. That’s why I attached the photos for you guys to see instead of embed them in the email. That would have been overkill don’t you think?

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57 Enstine Muki Twitter: enstinemuki February 7, 2013 at 2:55 PM

Hey Adrienne,
I just started list building about 2 weeks ago on my blog and in fact, I’m in a learning process. I have sent a couple of mails to my list also got a couple of interesting replies to my newsletter email. This is one exciting part of it. The few mails I have sent have just been to announce my blog post. I just learned a new trick from this post – not to use the title of my post as subject line

Now I have been on your list for a couple of months and I must confess each time I get a mail from you, I just know there is something worth checking on your blog. Often, I rush to the link and straight to your blog. I just realize in this post that this has not been a learning position. I’ll need to go through your mails to know how the relate to the blog post – I think that’s very important to me now.

I’m careful not to kick my subscribers off. I’m learning a lot these days so I don’t miss the point. Currently, I post thrice a week (Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays) I’m studying what happens if I mail to my list 3 times a week (After each post)

I’ll be creating more lists though depending on my strategies. Whatever the case, I’m bent on knowing the right thing to do. Others are succeeding in it so I will too
Enstine Muki recently posted..2 Key factors to make money blogging ~ A must read!

58 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 7, 2013 at 3:41 PM: Hey Enstine,

You just started building your list a few weeks ago! Well that’s great and I know you have your free offer which is enticing and you’ve run that contest to get people on your list too. Great job with that by the way.

I learned the trick of the subject line from one of the most successful bloggers online today and he was right. Change it up and make it interesting. Of course once you build that relationship with your list they’ll eagerly await your email which is what some of my readers do and that’s exciting for me.

Well that’s good to hear, thank you Enstine. I’m glad that I’m able to share something with you that will get you interested in heading over here to see what I’ve got. Well I only post twice a week unless I have something else to share so you’ll find my emails on Monday’s and Thursday’s. I’ve had a few people upset with the sales process but that’s okay, you can’t please everyone.

If you can share enough valuable information so that your readers will be learning or growing with each post you publish then they’ll eagerly await your email so they’ll know you have a new post live. Keep them guessing and curious to know what it is you’ve got for them.

I’ve got a few things up my sleeve as well Enstine so let’s make this year a great one for moving forward in that direction shall we!

Thank you for sharing that with me and hope you’ve been enjoying your week.

~Adrienne

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59 Bashir Ahmed Twitter: ajnabiicom February 7, 2013 at 4:14 PM

Hi Adrienne,

Very nice and informative post. I’ve been blogging from few months but I started list building about 1 month a go. I got 90+ awesome subscribers and I hope I’ll get more and more soon because I’m thinking to run contest/giveaways every month on my blog.

I don’t want to miss your “Content Gold” so I’m going to be in your list.

Thank you!
Bashir Ahmed recently posted..Effective Interlinking Tips For Blog Post

60 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 7, 2013 at 6:05 PM: Hi Bashir,

Wow, you’ve only been blogging for a month and already have over 90 people on your list. That’s amazing and I do know that contests and giveaways are the best ways to build your list quickly. Now to keep them on there and wanting what you share.

I saw that you opted in and I just sent you an email so welcome. I hope you enjoy what I share.

Now, have a great weekend and thanks again for your comment.

~Adrienne

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61 JanBierens Twitter: JanBierens February 7, 2013 at 4:48 PM

Hi Adrienne,
First of all you are a Engagement Superstar. Here is the proof, right here on your blog.
I have a few lists, but I find it difficult to keep it just t one. I end up having to many and then I’m lost… However… commenting on blogs is just great fun and I frequent quite a few blogs where the interaction is hot. It’s a slow process, but well worth it and fun to do!
JanBierens recently posted..Absolute Beginner Blogger

62 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 7, 2013 at 6:08 PM: Hey Jan,

Well thank you so much and I remember when they “notified” me that I had won. Me? Man oh man, how exciting is that. Heck, I just love people so interacting with others comes naturally to me. But I’m with you Jan, I love blog commenting and getting to know other bloggers. That’s the best part of this entire process.

I’ve built several different lists too before and they recommend that you build different ones for different things but then you have to keep the interaction going with all of them without it being duplicate stuff. That’s just hard to me. Maybe I’ll figure out how to get that done some day soon.

Thanks for sharing that and always enjoy seeing you. Hope you’ve enjoyed your week and ready for the weekend. Fun times my friend… I’m going dancing Saturday so I’m ready.

~Adrienne

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63 RobG Twitter: robgoss February 7, 2013 at 6:13 PM

Hello Adrienne we all know you are good at what you do my friend, it was a gift that I came across your blog and the people associated with it.

I have taken a lot of the content you have here in this post and use it with great results and I thank you. I am working on my list and a few other thing in fact I have a new website I’m trying to launch very soon.

Thank you so much for sharing what works for you that only tells me you are a GREAT friend to know on the web
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64 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 7, 2013 at 7:07 PM: Hey Rob,

Well thank you Rob and I’m happy to hear that you’ve been pleased with the content I’ve been sharing. I do my best to continue to help others in areas that I think we all need a little more support.

Now that’s what I love to hear. You know I had heard a lot of this before but never explained the way I’ve been explaining it and using myself as an example. I think it just really helps with you share what you’ve learned and have the proof to stand behind that it really does work. I personally find that so very helpful myself.

Thank you for sharing this with me Rob, I truly appreciate that. Great friends are fabulous to have aren’t they!

You enjoy what’s left of this week.

~Adrienne

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65 Angela McCall Twitter: angeld0ve February 7, 2013 at 6:50 PM

Okay, that telephone thang…I’m just gonna do it! BTW, what kind of Email Newsletter do you use? Should I sign up with AWeber?
Angela McCall recently posted..Focus on the Target

66 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 7, 2013 at 7:09 PM: Good for you, give it a go Angela and you’ll have good results too.

The autoresponder service I use is Aweber and to me it’s just the best. Get Response is less money but there is a reason for that. To me Aweber is just easier to use. I have a link on my Resource page if you’d like to take their $1 30 trial run. Just check them out and see for yourself. If you aren’t happy with them then they will even refund your $1. It doesn’t get easier then that.

~Adrienne

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67 Mary Kathan Twitter: TheHBGirl February 7, 2013 at 8:59 PM

Hi
Glad I found this blog!
I like your mindset on how to treat the people on your list.
It does make people look forward to opening the e-mail when they know there will be some personality included in it…

Mary
Mary Kathan recently posted..Kindling Is A Life Saver

68 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 8, 2013 at 8:40 AM: Hey Mary,

I agree because these people should be treated like your friends. Building a relationship with your readers and your subscribers is the best way to approach your business. Not everyone will purchase from you and that’s okay, but they may recommend you to their friends because they know the kind of person you are so that’s really how people need to view this.

I appreciate you sharing that Mary, thank you very much and I’m so happy you’re here.

Enjoy your day and weekend as well.

~Adrienne

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69 Sue Price Twitter: suejprice February 8, 2013 at 12:49 AM

Hi Adrienne

Great post as usual. Yes I do believe the money is in the list. When I was in the events business we built a huge list on the back of sales of Robert K’s books. That list served us very well.

Now you would think having had that experience that when I came online I would build one right away. But no! I am ashamed to say I still do not have my own offer. I had one for a while but it did not get many takers so I took it down.

I have built a small list through originally having Jonathan’s opt in and lately the MLSP one you used to have.

I so need one and still not sure which way to go.

I do agree with you that you should email helpful info and not sell every time. And relationships of course we buy from people we like, know and trust. I think most people feel like that about you.

Have a great weekend Adrienne.

Sue
Sue Price recently posted..Personal Development – Who Needs It?

70 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 8, 2013 at 8:43 AM: Hi Sue,

I can only imagine how that list served that business well Sue. Coming off of Robert’s sales was probably a gold mine.

Now I’m very surprised to hear that you of all people can’t come up with your own offer. What on your blog has gotten the most response that you know others are eager to know about? Write a report around that and offer that. Be sure that you remind people in your posts that it’s available and keep blogging consistently and connecting with others. They’ll get interested then.

Thank you for sharing that Sue and you have a wonderful weekend. I most definitely will myself.

~Adrienne

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71 Sue Neal Twitter: write_clever February 8, 2013 at 6:41 AM

Ah, Adrienne – I feel as if you’ve written this just for me! As you know, I’m preparing to start building a list, so I’m extremely interested in all the advice you have here in this post and I’ll be bookmarking it for future reference.

Your tips about what to put in your emails are very helpful – it definitely makes the difference, the way you make yours so personal – you make us feel you really want to engage with us and I think that’s so important. I feel like I’m more than just a ‘number’ on your list.

I’m still trying to get my give-away finished – then I’ll have to do some revision on creating opt-ins and all that, as it’s a while since I’ve done anything like that. I’m determined I’m not going to rush. This post will be a big help, especially when it comes to designing my email strategy – thanks so much for sharing all these tips – brilliant!

Sue

PS Your commentluv link seems to be on strike today!

72 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 8, 2013 at 8:48 AM: Hi Sue,

You are not alone because several people continue to have issues in this area as well. So I’m glad I wrote this one now as you will be venturing into list building this year.

You are definitely more then just a number Sue, everyone is. And everyone is special and unique. Everyone also just wants to know you care and that you are appreciated. Be that friend to them and you’ll have a supporter for years to come.

I’m happy to hear that things are coming along nicely. I’m excited for you to be venturing into this area and I have no doubt with the information I’ve shared you’ll get it right the first time around. Not like a lot of us that made these horrible useless mistakes.

Thank you Sue and you enjoy your weekend.

~Adrienne

P.S. I see we have another beta update so obviously Andy has something else we need to be checking out. I think it only went on strike for you. Sorry Sue but I still love you girl.

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73 Suzanne Twitter: prosperouscoach February 8, 2013 at 6:56 AM

Adrienne, what a great message to share with us. I have a list of about 1500 advisors (my ideal client). For about a year I did not send out my newsletter. I know what you’re thinking – not good, right? Yes, I was lazy and a bit too busy. But I have come to realize from reading your blog that I have a gold mine in my list. I just need to handle the relationship part of it the right way and the list can bear fruit. Thanks for the motivation!
Suzanne recently posted..Blog Topics Financial Advisors Can Write About

74 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 8, 2013 at 8:50 AM: Hey Suzanne,

Wow I can’t believe you haven’t been doing anything with that list Suzanne! You’re right, it’s a gold mind so now is a great time to bring it back alive. Even if you just start sharing some awesome tips that you feel your list would want to know. Start by sharing valuable information and it will come back alive.

Glad this came along right now then. Go get em Suzanne!

Have a great weekend!

~Adrienne

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75 Dee Ann Rice Twitter: deeannrice February 8, 2013 at 8:32 AM

Adrienne,

I really think that building a list only happens if you interact with the people on your list.

Like you I have tried building lists in the past and have abandoned my list several times.

I am making an effort this time to actually interact with the people on my list. Not sure I am doing a very good job of it but I am working at it.

Building a list really is about the relationship.

Thanks, Dee Ann
Dee Ann Rice recently posted..Does Your Theme Make The Grade?

76 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 8, 2013 at 8:53 AM: Hey Dee Ann,

Thank you for stopping back by and I apologize for that inconvenience. Urgggggggg

We’ve all been in that situation where we didn’t know what to say besides selling something. It is about the relationships. It’s kind of like you meet someone online, you may that initial connection and then you just share good stuff with them you’ll know they will appreciate. From there they’ll start interacting with you asking you questions or perhaps setting up a time to chat on the phone.

It really is about building relationships and I have no doubt you’ll do just fine.

Thank you Dee Ann for your comment and enjoy your weekend.

~Adrienne

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77 Carol Lynn Twitter: carollynnrivera February 8, 2013 at 9:30 AM

I really like the idea of being conversational with your readers. I actually don’t really do that with my blog list, because I mostly just send them the blog posts but it’s a really good idea that I want to try out. I just haven’t had the time to do what I want to do!

We do more with our business list, we send them newsletters about what’s going on with some fun stuff. But also not as much as I would like I seem to be so busy doing everyone else’s stuff that I never do my own. But you wrote this at a good time because it’s something I’ve been thinking about and it’s been bugging me because I really want to do it!
Carol Lynn recently posted..The Art Of Writing For The Web

78 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 8, 2013 at 9:40 AM: Hey Carol,

I love that you’re busy and of course your business is helping others with their marketing. But just think how much successful it could be if you took that extra time to be more interactive with your own subscribers! You have the gift for making conversation Carol and I have no doubt that the information you share in your newsletters is fabulous. Take that up a notch girl and watch out.

Glad I could put that little bug in your ear. Yay!!!

Enjoy your weekend Carol and don’t work too hard.

~Adrienne

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79 Praveen Rajarao Twitter: techivy February 8, 2013 at 2:47 PM

Adrienne – Yes, I have heard a lot about building lists, but i really never paid much attention to it until recently when one of my fellow blogger and writer friend asked me to promote his book to my list. He was certain i had a pretty big “list” of subscribers, while I really had none, zilch

So, what I did was signed up to Mailchimp and put up the subscribe option on both my websites. To my surprise, today, after about a month of 2, there are 1000 people in my DMC list, and zero subscribers in my techivy list. I am sure all these 1000 are junk spammers or something. So how do we avoid such spam bots from subscribing to the list?

Please do share with me if you know a way…
Praveen Rajarao recently posted..The Nokia Lumia 920: Beauty or Brains?

80 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 8, 2013 at 2:53 PM: Ouch! I bet you could have done really well too but if you aren’t building a business then it’s not very important. If you are, it’s the most important thing.

Wow you have 1000 people already within just 2 months of having your opt-in box up? That’s amazing Praveen.

Here is the thing with lists… Now MailChimp is a free service but with Aweber if your list grows over 500 people then you have to pay extra. So we don’t want people on our list that are just sitting there never opening any emails. We have reports that will show you how active your list really is. So for those people who haven’t opened one of my emails in over three months, I delete them from my list. I’m not paying for someone to sit there who isn’t interested in what I share.

I’m sure that MailChimp has a feature like that so that you can make sure that your subscribers are at least opening your emails. Now with MailChimp you can’t promote to your list because they don’t allow affiliate links so you can’t check the click through rate. I’m sure they have something for just regular links though.

That’s how I handle my subscribers Praveen! Hope that was helpful.

~Adrienne

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81 Barbara Charles Twitter: BarbaraCharles February 8, 2013 at 2:59 PM

Hi Adrienne,
As usual you inspire me to start doing the things I need to do. I’ve been putting off the list building mainly because I didn’t feel I had the time to send out emails all the time, but you’ve brought clarity to this in that I don’t have to do it daily. That’s actually what I thought but I see you only do this twice a week. That’s doable to me. Thanks for all the neat tips. I know we’ve discussed them before. I too have tried to build a list many times. Now I’m just starting to understand how all the pieces fit together and that’s why this article strikes home. Thank you. I’m ready…set…time to go!
Barbara
Barbara Charles recently posted..What Is Triberr and How I Increased My Website Traffic in 30 Days

82 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 8, 2013 at 3:36 PM: Hey Barbara,

I’m happy to hear that and you know we sometimes make this much more difficult then it is but that’s just because we’ve all been taught the wrong way to do it with no luck and then we’re fearful to even try it again. Trust me though, it will greatly benefit you for what you’re here to accomplish so the small amount of time that it takes is truly no big deal at all.

Now remember, I’m here for you so you’re ahead of so many others Barbara.

You’ve got so much to share so give it to them.

Thanks for your comment and enjoy your time playing with Aweber!

~Adrienne

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83 Andrew Stark Twitter: andrewstark February 8, 2013 at 4:30 PM

Hi Adrienne

What you have here is the perfect example of pull marketing.

People want to hear what you have to say, and will look forward to your messages. Much better than having a list of people who can’t remember who you are, and why you are trying to sell them some product you have no real interest in.

Stick to the same thing for 6 months and when people trust you it’s much easier to have success with email marketing.

Andrew
Andrew Stark recently posted..Top Technical Tips For Website Owners

84 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 8, 2013 at 4:56 PM: Hi Andrew,

Well that’s a good term for that but I think that’s the way everyone really should be. You want people to look forward to your emails instead of shake their heads because they know you’re just going to try to sell them on something else. I hate those myself.

I appreciate your comment, thank you for sharing that.

Enjoy your weekend.

~Adrienne

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85 Yeremi Akpan Twitter: yeremiakpan February 8, 2013 at 4:34 PM

Hi Adrienne,
This could not have come at a better time for I am packing up my old list for the reason that I do not feel the pulse of it.

I get good open and click through rates, just that when it comes to converting offers, my list is cold. I know this is a big decision, but I believe it is one I should make, and the earlier I make it the better.

No point building on a shaky foundation, right?
Yeremi Akpan recently posted..The Strangest Secret in the World

86 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 8, 2013 at 4:42 PM: Hi Yeremi,

Well I’ve been there before so I totally understand what you mean. So, back to the drawing board right!

I have no doubt you’ll find what works for you and build from there. I hate that you have to do that but your list really isn’t any good if they aren’t converting when you need them to.

Good luck with that and thanks for sharing.

~Adrienne

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87 Heru Prasetyono Twitter: hprasetyono February 8, 2013 at 9:39 PM

I am a newbie. I started my blog last month. It is about a month of age. I don’t build my email list but I want to learn how to manage an effective email list. Here I find a good topic of how to build a responsive list. I like reading it. Thank you Adrienne. It is very worth reading it.
Heru Prasetyono recently posted..PushButton SEO, WordPress Optimization and Content Creation

88 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 9, 2013 at 11:53 AM: Hi Heru,

Well welcome to blogging and to my blog in particular. You’ll find a lot of really great information that I learned while on this journey and list building is definitely something everyone needs to be doing if you’re building a business.

I hope this information I shared was helpful for you.

Thank you again and hope you’re enjoying your weekend.

~Adrienne

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89 Donna Merrill Twitter: donna_tribe February 8, 2013 at 10:26 PM

HI Adrienne!

Well, you said it all! The way to build a list IS to engage those people. I like your idea of keeping them guessing what is on your blog. I haven’t done that one yet, but am mindful now to put that one into action.

I agree that an email every day (as I learned early on too) is just overkill. Who the heck has the time to read them? I never applied that despite what I was “told” to do because it just didn’t sit right with me.

Two to three times a week I think is great! And of course, sharing little pieces of our selves, like you mentioned you had purchased a new office chair….things like that make people feel more comfortable. They want to know little personal things we do besides just business.

One of the greatest responses I have received is when I talked about my dog. Hey, who can resist reading about our pets! It was sort of an analogy and people loved it.

Thanks for bringing up this subject because yes…the money is in the list.

Donna
Donna Merrill recently posted..What’s Your Why?

90 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 9, 2013 at 11:57 AM: Hey Donna,

I learned that one probably early last year and once I started doing that my click through rate increased. Plus, never use the title of your blog post as your subject line. Change it up a bit but make it something they definitely want to read.

Obviously in the past it worked because we weren’t so overwhelmed with being on too many lists. I never did that either because I don’t like getting them myself. Especially if all they’re doing is selling.

I think by adding some personal things they feel like they have an inside take on me. I don’t share that stuff on my blog nor the social media sites. It’s just between us so that give them an opportunity to get to know me better. I am a real human being just like them doing some not so exciting things at times.

I agree about that one Donna, I have a lot of dog lovers I know too. Who can resist!

You are most welcome and thanks for the visit. Sorry I’m a little later in replying.

Enjoy your weekend and tell David hey for me.

~Adrienne

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91 Neamat Tawadrous Twitter: nkeriakos February 8, 2013 at 10:43 PM

Hi Adrienne,

This is a timely post for me Adrienne.

I didn’t start to build a list yet and these information are really helpful. I don’t know what gift to offer when people opt-in or what to write in the follow up emails. I have been thinking for a while to start the list and I will do that very soon now.

Relationship building is key in our kind of business and I think the list is the best to start building those relationships. I will definitely bookmark this post and refer to it and I will subscribe to your list right now to learn how you do your emails and followups. I always like to learn from you Adrienne.

Thanks Adrienne for all your support and have a great weekend.

Be Blessed,

Neamat
Neamat Tawadrous recently posted..5 Strategies To Develop The Skill Of Effective Communication In Business!

92 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 9, 2013 at 12:00 PM: Hi Neamat,

Oh good, I love hearing that.

The opt-in gift is what hangs most people up. Think about what you mostly share on your blog and then piece some of that information together in a post that gives a little more detail. By making those connections on your blog, your readers will want to subscribe so they can get more scoop.

I saw that you had opted in so thank you for that. I certainly don’t mind you learning from me, that’s what I love. Be sure to read through my free report now cause you’re going to get the goods there girl.

Thank you for your comment and your kind words. You have a great weekend too.

~Adrienne

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93 Viola Tam Twitter: ViolaMLMTam February 8, 2013 at 10:56 PM

Hi Adrienne,

I could not agree more!! You rock, Engagement Superstar!

You are so right! Relationship is the key, especially there are so much hype around. “People want to know there is someone out there that just wants to help because they want to”. Excellent perspectives! Givers win not because their agenda is to win. They win because they help! I am appreciative of the way that you answered my questions, Adrienne

One great thing about genuine relationship building is that people can feel the love and care. Before long, people would just flock to the person who helps. I remember I was first directed here from Tosin’s review about some great bloggers!

You offer so much value that I love coming back! Simple as that!

I do appreciate you, Adrienne!

Viola The Business Mum
Viola Tam recently posted..Stay at Home Mums – D for Desire

94 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 9, 2013 at 11:43 AM: Hi Viola,

Why thank you so much Viola, that’s so very kind of you to say.

You so SO right Viola and I spoke to two ladies yesterday on the phone and just offered my help. I truly care about people and I want them to get the best advice they can. Now you also know that I do consulting as well but that’s for people who need more assistance then a short phone conversation can bring.

I love to make thing simple to understand because that’s how I learn as well. I hate having people talk over my head.

I’m glad you found me from Tosin’s blog. Wow, I haven’t been by his place in awhile now. He was coming in spurts there for a good while.

Thank you Viola for your kind comment. Just so happy to help.

You enjoy what’s left of your weekend.

~Adrienne

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95 Jonathan okanlawon Twitter: Okanjo February 9, 2013 at 1:59 AM

I totally enjoyed every bit of this. Superb write up, this is the How to, taking another by the hand and showing him the way based on past experiences. I had to share with my circle, because a lot of people are looking for breakthroughs out there. I am definitely looking for a major breakthrough this year. Thanks Adrienne for sharing. Have a wonderful weekend.

96 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 9, 2013 at 11:48 AM: Thank you Jonathan and glad you found this one helpful.

I think we all need that “how to” that really works you know. This whole thing is a process but once you really understand that you’re going to have a much more responsive list when you just really be yourself and add more value then anything. They’ll be eager to purchase what you have when that time comes if it’s something they need at that moment. Will that get you fast quick buck? No but it will bring you consistent buyers in the long run.

Thank you for sharing this and glad to hear you also shared this with your circle. I truly appreciate that.

Enjoy your weekend.

~Adrienne

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97 Bill Dorman Twitter: bdorman264 February 9, 2013 at 7:15 AM

I’m a very strong proponent of relationship building, if you build it, they will come…:).
Bill Dorman recently posted..Without a reader, there are no words…

98 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 9, 2013 at 11:49 AM: I know you are Bill and you are very personable so they flock!

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99 Dakota Adelphia Twitter: pianolessongirl February 9, 2013 at 3:33 PM

Hi Adrienne!
Wow, has it been a while! I’ve just been getting back into the swing of things online, and this post was right up my alley. We have just started working on building targeted traffic to my site, and I will be adding a subscribe button as well, so that I can start building a list.
You may be interested to know that we just finished a cross-country bike trip (yes, as in bicycles), from Florida to California. Now the idea of building a list doesn’t seem quite as difficult as it did before. Besides, I have a good tutor!

Thanks Adrienne!

~Dakota,
Pianolessongirl

100 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 11, 2013 at 8:26 AM: Hi Dakota,

Wow, it’s been a long time since we’ve connected. How are you? Wow, a cross country bike trip. I’m impressed. Did the entire family participate? I bet that was challenging yet fun at the same time.

Glad you hear you’re back into the swing of things with your site. Also happy to hear that this post will be of help to you as you move forward. You definitely want to build a list that is eager to hear what you share.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful week. Great to hear from you.

~Adrienne

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101 Theodore Nwangene Twitter: NwangeneTheodor February 9, 2013 at 4:38 PM

Hi Adrienne,
It seems I’m late, lol.

I quite agree with you on that word that says…. The money is on the list, but I’m afraid that majority of bloggers these days are misunderstanding that quote. They think that its all about having some money making machines as a list there by always forcing different craps down their throat.

You need to see some of my email accounts that I’ve abandoned. I left them because of this same issue, heck, the disturbance is four much Adrienne.

But, i thank God that you also understand the true meaning of the money being in the list Just like you said, its all about building that first relationship and trust, then they will be eager to purchase whatever you recommend on trust.

I first learnt about this from Pat Flynn and I’m you’re inn too.

But I’ve not been very serious with my list building though, just being lazy. But will have to start ASAP.

Thanks and do enjoy your weekend.
Theodore Nwangene recently posted..I Hate Writing Articles| What else can I do?

102 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 11, 2013 at 8:31 AM: Hi Theodore,

Ah, don’t worry about it because I’m late responding. I actually took the week off if you can image that.

I couldn’t agree with you more Theodore. And that was what I was initially taught too. But what the people fail to tell you that are teaching you is that the messages they sent to their list that they had already build that relationship with them. Ah, the little things they always leave out. You’ll never make any money if all you do is sell.

So we have that in common Theodore, abandoning some of our other lists. They aren’t any good if no one opens them are they!

Pat is a great example of someone who has had success because of what he teaches. Glad you learned that from him so now you have to get busy with this and stop being lazy. Start with just letting them know you have some new posts live. Add a little of yourself in there and you’re well on your way.

Thank you for your comment Theodore and you enjoy your week.

~Adrienne

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103 Cararta Twitter: ArtaGene February 9, 2013 at 6:12 PM

Hi Adrienne,
Glad you kept your old picture on the Blog! Kept seeing your comment about getting
a haircut….then maybe redo the gravatar with the new hair do?
You look like you have my sister in laws problem….Thick and bushy if not kept
under control! Know a lot of people who wish they had that problem.

Need to find your “Help” site again….very useful to me when working.
My goal today is to set up Last Password, work on my Diabetes site and Read Adrienne’s latest post. You always give.
Thanks, C.
Cararta recently posted..Burn Stomach Fat by Eating Vegetables?

104 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 11, 2013 at 8:37 AM: Hi Cararta,

Here’s the deal with my hair cut Cararta. It’s just a hair cut, it’s not a new do. The picture in my header is from three years ago but the recent photo I changed in my gravatar, I look exactly the same. I haven’t changed a bit and my hair isn’t the easiest thing to control so I stick with the hair style that works best for me. My hair dresser gets so upset with me at times because I’m always complaining about how thick my hair is and then I see all those women in there getting theirs done who hardly have any. It really does get so bushy at times which is why I get it cut every four weeks on cue. I feel for your sister-in-law.

My free training site? There is a tab at the top of my blog that will take you to that site. I think that’s the one you’re talking about.

Ah, sounds like you had some work to do and I’m sure by now you’ve accomplished all of that. Thank you Cararta for your comment and I do hope you have a good week.

~Adrienne

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105 Tim Bonner Twitter: timbo1973 February 9, 2013 at 6:17 PM

Hi Adrienne

I recently started a new list on my blog for the same reason as Yeremi.

I got lots of opt-ins based on a post I wrote a number of weeks ago and the popup I had installed at the time.

The trouble was, those people weren’t really interested in being on my list as far as I could tell.

I started out doing a weekly newsletter but it became a little too time-consuming with everything else going on.

So, I now send out an email whenever I’ve written a blog post and have a conversation with my subscribers. The open rate certainly shot up since I started doing that.

I’ve taken down my giveaway since I bought the Hybrid Connect plugin, mainly because I want to write something new.

The one thing I’m not going to do though is give up. I just need to get the giveaway written and make it as good as I possibly can.

Thanks for some great tips Adrienne. I hope you’re having a great weekend.

Tim

P.S. CommentLuv didn’t work again for me on this comment but it sounds as though Andy has something in the pipeline maybe?

106 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 11, 2013 at 8:45 AM: Hi Tim,

Whenever you do a particular post eager to get subscribers, make sure you put them on a separate list. I mean whatever you were offering them at that time was the kind of information they want to continue to get. When you combine them with your regular list then you’re probably not going to have as much success. That’s why they recommend having different lists for the different thing you promote.

A regular newsletter can get time consuming and I use to have one too. I think it was too long though even though I only sent it once a month. It didn’t get much attention so I kept trying new things.

Sending an email when you have a new post and then occasionally when you have something else to promote is the best way to go about it I believe. You’ll have built that relationship with your subscribers and they will be more receptive. It’s the people who just promote things and quit doing the connecting part who will not have any success.

Thank you for your comment Tim and I hope you have a great week. My weekend was wonderful.

~Adrienne

P.S. I’m not sure what’s going on with CommentLuv. Andy had some issues with updating to get the messed up coding out of the links when you put hyphens in your titles. He was working on that but as far as pulling in the links I’m not sure. So far I’ve only noticed a couple that haven’t pulled in but everyone else’s has. Will have to get with him on that today.

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107 Colleen Kelly Twitter: ColleenFKelly February 9, 2013 at 10:25 PM

Hey Adrienne,
Boy if one of thes days you see me spell your name wrong don’t hate me! LOL I always have to check I always type faster than my brain is working I always type the “e” before the “i”.. LOL
Anyway, I don’t know anything about this list stuff. I don’t really have enough readers to make a list..lol I just put up my other blog and I’m doing different kinds of posts there. Still feeling it out. Thanks for helping us all the time. Especially we Newbies…Me! lol
Colleen Kelly recently posted..3 Reasons You Should Join Twitter.. Now!!

108 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 11, 2013 at 8:49 AM: Hey Colleen,

I know what you mean. I’ll even type my name and find that I’m on the wrong letters. I get so mad at myself and only once have I hit publish. How embarrassing. I totally understand.

I know you aren’t building a business online Colleen but you know that the posts I write are geared toward those people. So some of my posts won’t necessarily help you but if you ever do decide to venture into that direction then you’ve at least learned a lot from me.

Hope the new blog is going well. You have a great week and thanks for the comment.

~Adrienne

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109 Kapil Twitter: latestcrunchs February 10, 2013 at 6:41 AM

Hello Adrienne
I told you I would be back This is a timely post as I’ve been trying to think of a generous offer to entice my readers to opt-in. The most common freebie is an eBook or report but what are your thoughts on offering a free skype consultation? Being a relationship expert (I know you don’t like being referred to as one but deal with it hehe) do you think this is something which would work?
Oh and kudos for the great post
Kapil recently posted..How to Add Google Adsense to Your Blog or Website and Make money from ads on your website – Part 2

110 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 11, 2013 at 8:55 AM: Hi Kapil,

Well welcome back!

I love hearing that, just what the doctor ordered. I know that the free gift is something that everyone has difficulty with the first time around.

If you have enough traffic to your blog and you’re clear about what you’ll be sharing with them it could work. Usually though people want to get their hands on some information they can absorb immediately. Something that can help them learn and implement. So I would consider going the free report route or a video series and a lot of times it doesn’t even have to be your own. Just think about that one.

Yeah, that expert title creeps me out! lol…

Thank you for your comment and hope that helped. Great to see you again and you have a great week.

~Adrienne

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111 Ruth Zive Twitter: rzive February 10, 2013 at 11:39 AM

A year later Adrienne, and it’s still ALL about engagement. Free stuff that isn’t meaningful or engaging isn’t going to help build a responsive list. But when you ENGAGE your readers and address their pain points and challenges with solutions and advice that actually resonates – well, there’s the proof. I’m not surprise that your readers are so engaged Adrienne – you’re the expert in that realm!
Ruth Zive recently posted..10 Ways to Use Content Marketing for Landing Page Success

112 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 11, 2013 at 8:57 AM: Hey Ruth,

Yep, I guess I’ll continue to sound like a broken record Ruth because it works. You are so right, address their pain points and give them the solutions all while engaging with them and they’ll be back time and time again. Yep, it really does work.

Thanks Ruth for your comment, always great to hear from the expert herself.

~Adrienne

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113 Barry Overstreet Twitter: b_overstreet32 February 10, 2013 at 9:50 PM

Hi Adrienne!

As usual, another excellent post!

You’re so right, the money is definitely in the list. And I, too, hate being on lists the do nothing but sell you daily. It’s aggravating to say the least. I don’t have enough time to get to all of the email that I want and need to attend to, let alone read another sales pitch from somebody that’s constantly throwing fastballs.

I’m actually in process of reworking my opt-in and freebie. I’m looking at writing something about the area that I’ve kind of narrowed my focus on, USPs. It’s coming, I’m just waiting for a couple of things to fall into place. I’m actually pretty excited about it.

As for your list, as much as I’ve been around here, I’ve never opted in for some reason. That’ll be changing today!

Thanks for sharing all that you do!

I hope you have an outstanding week!

~Barry
Barry Overstreet recently posted..Unique Selling Proposition Tip #3: Create A Club For Your Market

114 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 11, 2013 at 9:15 AM: Hey Barry,

Glad you enjoyed this post.

I think everyone hates being on lists that do nothing but sell. To be honest with you, that’s been about 90% of the ones I’ve ever opted into. I think that’s why I got real gun shy after awhile. I don’t mind being sold to if that person has been sharing some great information with me. If I’m looking for what they’re offering at that time then I’ll buy it. If I’m not I won’t but I won’t jump off their list because they try to sell to me a few times. It’s the ones who doing nothing but that drive me insane.

Oh good, sounds like you’re going to have something really cool in the works soon. I’m excited for you and I have no doubt you’ll do really well. I love the new direction you’ve taken your blog.

I saw that you opted in but twice actually. The opt-in below my posts is to the same list. It’s just another route in case they miss the box at the top of the blog. So you’ll want to opt-out of one of those. And by the way, I will be calling you today so be on the lookout!

Thank you Barry for the comment and the subscribing. I appreciate them both and you have an exceptional week yourself. I most definitely will.

~Adrienne

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115 Ray February 11, 2013 at 1:55 AM

I tried to setup an email subscription list thing a while back. Well OK maybe more like 6 months to a year ago now. I am pretty good with technical things, but after messing with it for about 2 hours and getting nowhere I finally gave up. Maybe it was just not very good or something. I see others sites with an email subscription all the time. One of these days I will have to give it another try and see if I can get it figured out.
Ray recently posted..Can You Really Unplug?

116 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 11, 2013 at 9:21 AM: Hey Ray,

Which autoresponder service where you using? I use Aweber and it’s really pretty easy. They have video that will walk you through it.

I had a woman that opted into my list about a year ago. I called her like I do with the people who leave their numbers. I asked her if I could help her with anything in particular and she started crying. She had been trying to get her opt-in box on her blog for two days and was about at the end of her rope. I told her to go into her autoresponder service right then and there and within two minutes we had it on her blog. She was crying hysterically because she’d been trying to get that thing up for so long and we did it together in two minutes. Sometimes you just need a little help.

You can do it Ray, I have faith in you.

~Adrienne

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117 Jens P. Berget Twitter: berget February 11, 2013 at 3:00 AM

I have been building my list for some time now Adrienne, but what I have done hasn’t been always such a good idea. I have given away lots of stuff, and the only reason why people have joined my list was to get their hands on the things I have been giving away. Like you said, this is not how I get a responsive list. The list is about relationships, and I can now see that the people who joined my list because of my blog and because they already know me, that’s the people I really want to keep on my list.
Jens P. Berget recently posted..What is search engine marketing

118 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 11, 2013 at 9:24 AM: Hey Jens,

You definitely need to keep those relationships in tact. Most of the people who visit your blog if they like what you share will join your list if you have some goodies to entice them with. Now you want to be sure to continue adding value and I know you give away a lot of really good stuff. I hope that when you do start promoting that they are just as responsive to purchasing from you.

It’s all a lesson we have to learn along the way right Jens!

Thanks for your comment and you have a great week.

~Adrienne

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119 Corina Ramos Twitter: wfhconcepts February 11, 2013 at 2:41 PM

Hello Adrienne,

I’m kind of in a funk when it comes to my email list but as I was reading your post it sparked a couple ideas that might help me land new subscribers

Right now I send one email a day which has a little of both. I start by personalizing it and even inviting them to reply to keep the conversation going or if they had any questions.

And you are so right about being persistent and patient. I’ve had to make some adjustments and I might even consider switching providers because the one I have now isn’t working out the way I had hoped. My point is you just have to keep at it until you find the right formula that is getting the most response.

My list is slowly but surely growing and I agree with Harleena, you are the one to go to for great list building advice

Great post Adrienne! Hope you’re having a great day, enjoy your week!
Corina Ramos recently posted..The Valentines Day I Discovered Two For One Dining

120 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 11, 2013 at 3:47 PM: Hey Cori,

Sounds like this sparked some ideas so you’ll be out of that spunk soon enough, I don’t doubt that at all.

I’m happy to hear that you are adding a bit of yourself in your emails along with value. That will be very helpful but perhaps you should back it off so that you’re not sending one a day. That could be a little much because we are bombarded with so much email as it is. Just a suggestion.

You definitely have to be persistent because the more relationships you build online, the more people will want to opt-in to your list. They’ll want to interact with you and it will grow from there. It definitely won’t happen overnight.

I appreciate you and Harleena saying that, I’m touched.

Glad you enjoyed it Cori and you’ll get it girl. I’ve got faith in ya!

You have a fabulous week.

~Adrienne

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121 Mandy Allen Twitter: learn_to_blog February 20, 2013 at 11:27 AM

Hi Adrienne, this is a really good topic that seems to have sprung up into everyone’s consciousness recently. There is an art to helping your list to become responsive through your emailing schedule. In fact it is the topic of my first workshop I am hosting in April here in the UK – email marketing. It’s all about how often to email, what to send, how to encourage your readers to participate in your offer. At the end of the day we all find that magic forumla that works for us, but you can be sure I’m off a list as quick as possible if they email me every day, so I don’t do it to them!

Enjoy the journey.

Mandy
Mandy Allen recently posted..Action Is The Foundation For Success

122 Adrienne Twitter: adriennesmith40 February 20, 2013 at 11:45 AM: Hi Mandy,

Well I have a feeling that’s going to be a successful workshop and one I know a lot of people need. It took me years literally to learn what works for me and how to make it successful. Sure, you’ll have people opt-out all the time still because they have either just overextended themselves with too many email notices or they aren’t right for what you share.

I hope everyone is able to find that magic formula for them.

Good luck!

~Adrienne

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