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If you’re an online business owner or blogger looking to grow your business without being glued to your screen 24/7, then building an email list should be right at the top of your to-do list. Seriously – it’s a game-changer.
Not only is it one of the most effective marketing strategies out there, but it also supports a more sustainable, life-first approach to running your business.
In this guide, we’ll walk through everything you need to know about email list building for online business owners, from why it matters to the best tools and strategies to get started.
Expect practical tips, friendly encouragement, and no fluff.
Why Email List Building Matters
Let’s be real: social media is great, but it is rented land. Algorithms change, platforms go down, and your audience can disappear overnight.
Your email list on the other hand? That’s yours.
It’s direct, personal, and powerful.
And studies show over and over again that far more people buy from emails than they do social media.
You will also reach a much larger proportion of your audience with a newsletter than you would ever achieve with social media!
Key Benefits of Building an Email List
Higher conversion rates: Emails convert better than social media posts.
Audience ownership: No algorithms. No random bans.
Build relationships: Emails let you connect with your audience on a deeper level.
Automate & scale: Email marketing can run while you sleep (hello, life-first business!)
Building an email list with perfect-fit subscribers
Before you start list building, get crystal clear on who your target audience is.
This helps you attract the right people – the ones who want what you offer and are likely to be potential customers. (This could be for your own offers or services or it could be something you promote as an affiliate.)
Know Your Ideal Subscriber
Think about:
What do they struggle with?
What are their goals?
What outcome or transformation do they desire?
What kind of content do they love?
What little problems or frustrations do they have that you can help fix?
Create a quick avatar or persona to guide your content and offers. Keep your avatar in mind every time you create content, map out a new lead magnet or write an email!
This is especially important when you are creating your lead magnet to attract new people to sign up to your list. You only want to attract those perfect-fit subscribers/potential customers that share goals and frustrations with your avatar!
Tools You Need to Get Started
You don’t need fancy tech to start building your email list, but there are a few essentials.
An Email Marketing Platform (or Email Service Provider)
Some popular, beginner-friendly email service provider options:
Kit (formerly Convertkit): Great for creators and solopreneurs. There are lots of automation and time saving features you can grow into whilst also being easy to use for beginners.
MailerLite: Simple and affordable but lacks a lot of features Kit offers. I started with Mailerlite but switched to Kit.
Flodesk: Beautiful templates, very easy to use but also has limited automation features which could get frustrating long term.
Landing Page Builders & Opt-in Forms and Pop Ups
Many email platforms offer built-in forms, but you can also use tools like:
Elementor – use this free page builder for WordPress for building your own landing pages so you have more control over the design, the destination and you can track stats.
Convertbox – use this pop up tool for generating user-friendly eye catching notifications whilst retaining more control over who sees what and when. It’s brilliant for list growth but I also use it for all sorts of purposes in my business from affiliate marketing to selling my own offers to recruiting testimonials and affiliates!
Make sure your opt-in form is mobile-friendly and easy to find! Usually these forms would be embedded within your content towards the beginning and the end.
However you can also use pop ups which are more eye catching and get much higher conversion rates, growing your email list much faster.
Ideally any pop ups that you use to gather people’s email addresses should show on exit intent so they do not disrupt the reading experience. This is one of the reasons I recommend Convertbox as you have a lot of control – you can even show lead magnets to non subscribers and show existing subscribers something else like a special offer!
Creating an Irresistible Freebie to Attract your Ideal Subscribers
People guard their inboxes fiercely, so you need to offer something juicy in exchange for their email address.
That’s why most online business owners will offer something free when someone joins an email list. This free gift needs to be something that helps your ideal subscriber solve a small problem or achieve a small goal that most of your target audience will have.
You can have more than one lead magnet but I recommend starting with one lead magnet that will be appealing to most people in your audience.
You can then start creating more specific lead magnets for individual blog posts or categories that get a lot of visitors. These may get higher conversion rates but creating a lead magnet for each category is of course more time consuming.
You may also hear lead magnets being referred to as content upgrades.
Lead Magnet Ideas for Online Business Owners
A private podcast feed
A webinar or free training
A free 5 day challenge delivered via email
A free mini course or workshop
A swipe file or template
A cheat sheet or checklist
A value-packed eBook
Access to a private community
Keep it super relevant to your niche and your audience’s needs.
The best lead magnets not only attract your ideal audience but also warm them up to you so they start to know, like and trust you.
That’s why I always prefer lead magnets that contain more of YOU in them. Private podcasts, video trainings, webinars, challenges, mini courses etc always achieve this more effectively than sharing something like a PDF!
Crafting High-Converting Opt-In Forms to Grow your email list faster
This is where the magic happens. A well-placed opt-in form can boost your subscriber numbers quickly.
Tips for Better Conversions for your lead magnet forms
Use clear, benefit-focused copy (focus more on the transformation rather than just the features. But keep it snappy, a line or two is enough.)
Keep forms short and easy to fill in (name + email is plenty)
Place them strategically throughout your website (home page, blog posts, about page)
Use exit intent pop-ups or slide-ins that are eye catching
Use mockup images to make your forms more eye catching and show people what they are getting to increase desire.
Where to Promote Your Lead Magnet
Now that you’ve got a freebie as a lead magnet and a form, it’s time to share it everywhere.
Smart Places to Promote your Freebie or Content Upgrade
On your high traffic website pages such as your home page, shop page, about me page, category pages etc
At the end of blog posts
Towards the start of a blog post to capture those who don’t complete the whole article.
On your social media bios
In your Pinterest pins
Inside Facebook groups but check the rules first!)
On pop ups that either slide in without being obtrusive (for desktop users,) or on exit intent (best for mobile users.) Choose a tool that allows you to control this like Convertbox.
Nurturing Your New Subscribers
You’ve got subscribers – yay! Now what? Time to build trust and connection.
Set Up a Welcome Sequence
A short email series (3-5 emails) that:
Welcomes them
Delivers the freebie
Introduces you and your brand
Shares your best content
Invites them to take the next step (read more, follow you, buy something)
Email Content Ideas for your email newsletters
Behind-the-scenes of your biz
Helpful how-tos or tutorials
Personal stories with a lesson
Subscriber-only tips or discounts
Try to email your subscribers frequently so they get used to hearing from you and opening your emails and start looking forward to them. Start with once a week and build from there.
Growing Your List With Evergreen Funnels
Want to really grow on autopilot? Set up an evergreen funnel that automates the process of selling your offers to your new audience when they are at their warmest and most engaged with your brand.
Email automation will help you to save a lot of time and to make more passive income.
What Is an Evergreen Funnel?
It’s a pre-written email sequence that:
Starts with a freebie
Builds trust
Softly pitches a paid offer
Perfect for digital products, online courses, memberships, or services.
Funnel Tools You Might Use
A tool to add a time sensitive discount such as Deadline Funnel.
A tool to deliver your product – I recommend Thrivecart as an all-in-one solution.
Read more about… how to build an evergreen sales funnel
Growing your list with social media
Being active on social media platforms is not a necessity to grow an email list but it can be helpful.
Make sure you are frequently mentioning your freebies in most of your posts and make it easy for them to find with a link in your bio on all your social media profiles.
You could even consider using a tool like ManyChat which helps you automate DM’s when people comment a particular trigger word. So for example, if you ask them to comment ‘free gift’ you’ll offer to send them a DM with the freebie.
This is a great social media strategy because it is fully automated!
Social media paid ads are a very fast way of growing your audience – especially Facebook and Instagram ads. However, I only recommend using ads when you have a tried-and-tested evergreen funnel set up and you are making sales. That way, you can earn back the money you spend on ads.
Email list building strategies without social media
You don’t need to be glued to Instagram to grow your list. There are plenty of other ways to grow an email list beyond social media marketing and I personally, rarely use social media.
Alternative list building strategies to grow an email list beyond using social media channels
Search engine optimisation: Optimise blog posts for SEO so that you will attract your ideal audience of potential customers via Google and other search engines. If you create valuable content on your blog, people will want to learn more about you and access your other exclusive content that only subscribers can access (aka lead magnets!) Make sure your blog posts are targetting low competition keywords with high search volumes and that you use lots of other relevant keywords to attract the right people to your blog!
Click here to learn more about SEO for beginners
Pinterest: Create pins that link directly to your freebie. You can also direct people to your blog posts where they might sign up to your email list via a form.
Speak at virtual summits or do a guest expert session inside someones membership. Usually you can pitch a call to action at the end of your session when you would promote something free
Submit a digital offer to a bundle or giveaway. This does mean giving away one of your paid offers for free but in return you’ll get a big surge of new people on your email list who might be likely to purchase one of your other offers!
Set up a list swap. This involves promoting someone else’s freebie to your list on the agreement that they also promote your lead magnet to their list!
Guest blogging: Include your opt-in in your author bio.
Podcast interviews: Share your freebie as a call-to-action.
Make your freebies an affiliate link and encourage your affiliates to promote your free content in order to lock their cookies so if someone purchases something inside your email funnel, they’ll get the commission.
Offer to do a free training inside someones Facebook group and pitch your freebie at the end.
Run a live event such as a challenge, webinar, workshop, debrief or private podcast series.
Set up a giveaway where someone can earn more entries into the giveaway if they share your giveaway on social media.
Offer a discount coupon or free shipping if you sell physical products
Tracking What’s Working
If you know whats working, you can do more of it and stop spending time on strategies that don’t get results.
Metrics to Monitor
Sign-up conversion rates (on landing pages or forms)
Email open rates
Click-through rates
Unsubscribe rates
Use these numbers to tweak and improve your offers and emails over time.
Final Thoughts: Keep It Simple, Keep It You
Email list building doesn’t have to be complicated or sleazy.
Start with where you are, create something helpful, and speak like a human. Your email list can be one of the most supportive, sustainable tools in your online business.
Remember: the goal isn’t just to grow a list. It’s to build a relationship. One that supports both your business goals and your life-first values.
You’ve got this!
