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Creating a lively email list is a huge part of growing your online business.

It's great because you can both grow and cultivate an audience that loves you and generate a consistent income.

In this blog post, we'll go over how to build an online audience, how to grow an email list, what is a freebie and how to make one, the importance of making a website (even if it's small!), creating and selling digital products to your email list, and making newsletters your audience loves.

How to Create an Email List From Scratch

Before you can start building your email list, you first need somewhere to collect emails and send your newsletters to multiple emails at once.

Please do some research into budget-friendly platform options for this and set yourself up before starting to grow your email list.

If you have a website, the platform you designed it on may have an option for this too!

How to Build an Audience

Building an audience who genuinely loves your message and frequently tunes into all your new content feels great.

Growing and creating a community is not only good for your business but also for you financially.

So, how can you generate an income from your audience?

By bringing them over to your email list of course!

But before you can do that, you need to have an active audience first.

Here are some of the best ways to grow your online audience:

• Podcasting

• Blogging

• Social Media (Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, YouTube, etc.)

• Online Events (Such as a virtual summit or webinar)

I chose the blogging path because of my love for writing.

If you're not sure what to do, start by thinking about your strengths and passions.

If you love talking on camera, podcasting or YouTube can be great options.

If you enjoy creating multiple short videos or making graphics, you might really enjoy social media.

How to Get Your Audience into Your Email List

Here comes one of my favourite parts of the online business-building process!

You need to move your audience from one place into your email list.

We do this through a freebie.

A freebie is some sort of free digital item you automatically send to people who sign up for your newsletter.

Tell your audience to go and check out your freebie, then have a link to your website where they can find it.

Here are some of my favourite freebie ideas:

• Checklist

• Planner

• Webinar

• Course

• ebook

• Journal

Some are definitely harder to make such as the course, but they all have their perks.

This needs to be automated to send your freebie to a new email list subscriber immediately after they sign up.

How to Make Newsletters your Email List will Love

I usually give the same advice for most business copy: It's about them, not you.

Your newsletter is about answering questions they (the people in your audience/email list) have, solving problems they face, how you can relate to them, and how you can help them.

So please don't write about you, your day, your opinions, or other things solely related to you because they usually won't be interested in it.

You can also add links to digital products to your newsletter and explain how it can help them solve a problem they may have.

Also, your newsletter should have your voice.

If someone else (or AI) writes it for you, the tone and vibe of the copy will lose your touch. Only you can make copy that truly sounds and feels like you.

When writing, going for a more casual tone can make the overall email feel more personal.

At the end of the day, be yourself and give your email list interesting info that can help them.

Making a Website is Vital to Your Business' Success

It doesn't have to be a huge website either, even a single landing page would work.

The purpose of a super small website is to have a place where people can sign up for your newsletter and get your freebie.

It can be directly on the page or in a pop-up style, but it needs to be there to collect emails.

Make sure your website's copy doesn't sound like you're trying to sell something, instead, it should explain how you can help the reader solve their problems/pain points.

You should also add a small about section, a section about what you do, and a place for people to see your digital products.

Speaking of digital products...

How to Make Digital Products to Sell to Your Email List

Digital Products are one of the best ways to make money online.

You can sell them to your audience anywhere, whether it's your email list, blog, podcast, social media, or wherever else you have an audience.

Instead of selling your time with services such as coaching, you can make money in your sleep using this.

Digital products are much like freebies but have more substance or a better design.

Prices can also vary from a few cents to thousands of dollars or more.

Here are some ideas for digital products:

• Checklist

• Planner

• Webinar

• Course

• ebook

• Journal

They really are all the same as the freebies.

Digital products should bring value by solving a problem your entire audience has in common.

For example, if you have a business centred around fashion, you could make a digital product like a list called "150 different ways to style jeans".

Are you Looking to Build a Successful Email List?

Thanks for reading this far!

I get what you're going through. Building an email list can feel like a huge task that is going to take way too much work to set up.

But once you have it set up you really only need to nurture your email list with newsletters and continue to grow your audience in different parts of the internet.

If you want to chat about anything I mentioned in this blog post, I'd love it if you DM me on Instagram!

See you soon!

Isabella