Or for those who’ve taken a bit of a break and think they’ve entered some new universe. I get that!

Optins, mailing lists, wait lists, welcome letters…. Good grief!

Here’s what you probably want to do;

• create an optin (more about that below)
• a form to capture names and email addresses (this sits on your web page – you know the one – put your name and email in here and press submit)
• a way to keep all of those names in one place so you can continue to talk to those interested people.

If you’re just starting out that can sound a bit like a foreign language, so before I start adding application names, here’s how it works.

You create an optin – a free tool or eBook that people can download and use. If you know my stuff, I am passionate about making all teaching tools highly relevant and useful for your clients. This teaching tool is your opportunity to make a promise to a prospective client…

I understand you and your situation. I understand where you want to be. I’ve got the goods. Here’s a tool you can use right now that will help.

Don’t give away too much because it’s overwhelming. Most of the optins created end up printed and in a folder never to be seen again. Make yours useful. Save it as a PDF for a document or MP4 for a video (I wouldn’t load a video directly on your website. They slow everything down. Host it elsewhere like Vimeo or Wistia. YouTube is fine for free content.)  Seriously a simple little two page PDF is excellent if the tool is really relevant and useful. Don’t sweat it. Use this article to create a powerful, action focused optin. https://sassyowl.biz/content-shortcuts-convert/

Ok. So once you’ve got your optin, what next?

You need to send it out into the world. I’m going to show you two ways to do that. This blog is part one of a two-part series.

Part 1 – Using just an email marketing program – create a;

1. list – a place where all of the names and emails are collected
2. thank you message with optin attached (optional – the optin, not the thank you. Remember your manners J)
3. signup form for your webpage

Part 2 – Using a Sales page and signup form with Leadpages. That’s in the next blog. Why do I use Leadpages? Because they look really professional. Someone else has created great templates and I just have to customise them. I can add great sales copy on a separate page without distraction for the reader and I really like the two part signup. The Leadpages team says these create better conversion rates. I only use the two part sign up and I have a healthy 50 – 60% conversion rate (people who open it who actually compete the details). PS – I’m not an affiliate. No $. Just like it.

Part 1 Email Marketing Program only

You will need a tool to collect and automate your email lists. This means a person can sign up anytime and anywhere and you don’t have to be involved. So if I sign up to your list the mailing application checks I’m a human (usually by sending an email where I confirm I’m a human), then I will receive any emails you have put in a follow-up email stream to stay in touch.

I use AWeber but there are loads of options out there. No budget? Try Mailchimp. It has a free version which is great when you’re just starting to build your list. You can have up to 2000 subscribers and 12 000 emails a month. It gets great reviews and plenty of really successful online marketers use it.

Step 1 Create a mailing list.

Both AWeber and Mailchimp have great online tutorials for building a new list.

Things to remember;

1. Give the list a really specific name so that you can match the activity back to the way you are going to reach new people with this tool.

Eg Design Checklist (tells me the people were on Sassy Owl and signed up for the Design Checklist optin rather than my eBook optin). This is critical to tracking success with different methods.

We are all just testing and adjusting. Perfection is an illusion. Just give things a go and make changes based on what you learn.

2. Create at least one customised email to the person so that you;
   • properly thank them for signing up
   • tell a little bit about how to use the product/tool and how it can help (WIIFM)… well actually you’re going to quickly identify What’s In It For Them.
   • Hint – In AWeber you do this by making sure you’re in the right list and you’re creating a ‘follow up series’.
3. Use this first email as an opportunity to ask for some information about them.

‘I’d love to learn a little bit about you. What are you working on? What are you struggling with? What do you love to do most in the world?’

This is a great way to connect. Take some notes about each person who replies and have those notes stored somewhere you can easily retrieve them in the future. Very few people will reply, but those who do will make you feel great and this is the real reason you build a list – to build relationships.

Be real.

4. Make sure the thank you email goes out immediately after the confirmation email.
5. Follow-up emails. Once a client signs up to your list you can send more than one follow-up email.
   • One of my products introduces a series of steps in an eBook. I use the follow-up emails to engage the learner and remind them of the each of the steps. I send them out a week apart. I love it when people respond and tell me how they’re going. They excitedly send me bits of their work and I love it. I add back and we build more of a relationship. This is engagement and it’s really fun. This person may never buy from me, but they know me and like my work and will definitely refer me to others. I find out when another person contacts me.
   • You set up the emails when you create the list. There will be a follow up message option. Create each email and then set when they will be sent. I do it once a week for 6 weeks after sign up.
   • BIG HINT – your list will not automatically get an email when you blog or post to your website. If you want your list to know you’re doing something, you have to go back to your list, in the mail app, and send out a broadcast… I’ve seen some people misunderstand this part.

Step 2 Create a signup form

Step one done – created a list. Think of it a bit like an excel spread sheet.

Now you have to create a tool that will collect that information for you. You know when you go to a website and sign up for an eBook or webinar or whatever. You enter your name and email. You need to create that form.

Both AWeber and Mailchimp have built in form builders. The AWeber form isn’t very detailed but it can capture names and email addresses. You have to create the sales copy to invite people to sign up within your webpages. This is just a really basic form.

How it works in AWeber:

1  Make sure you are in the right list. See the tricky little pulldown list at the top right hand corner? If you have more than one list, make sure you are in the right one or the names you collect will go to the wrong list. Not useful.

2  Choose ‘Sign up forms’ menu and press ‘create a sign up form’ button.

Aweber ‘Signup Form’

3  Choose the template that matches your business webpage and style. I only collect names and email addresses.

AWeber Form template

4 You can make changes by pressing on the fields. Save the form after you’ve made any changes. Then go to the next step.

AWeber form step 1

5 Name the form something relevant to this tool and the list where you will keep the names. Save the form. Go to the next step.

AWeber form step 2

6 You will be given some options about how you want to load it on your site.

AWeber form step 4

1. If you use a web developer and can’t make changes yourself, chose that option.
2. If you’re like me and manage your own site, just press that button and it will give you some code.

AWeber form code

1. Copy the code and put it into your website where ever you want to remind people to grab your optin and sign up for your list.
2. Hint – Put it everywhere!!! At the end of a blog. On your home page. On your about page. Everywhere. Check your web statistics. Visitors do not ‘shop around’ on a site. At best they look at a couple of pages, depending on how they got there and why they’re there. SO put your sign-up sheet everywhere.

BUT what about your optin?

Up until now you’ve created the list, an email to say thank you and even a form for people to use to get onto the list… but I’ve forgotten something. Where do you load the optin so people can get it?

When someone signs up they will get;

• an email asking them to confirm they are who they say they are – no Donald Duck email accounts.
• The customised email we talked about above to say welcome and invite them to talk more. This is where you can sit the opt-in. MAKE SURE IT GOES IMMEDIATELY once the person has confirmed – check you save and setup instructions for timing.

AWeber has a restriction of 1mb in an attachment. That’s OK. Your optin shouldn’t be War and Peace. The optin can be attached to the welcome email.. When you draft the email or if you’ve already created it, go back to the email and look for the symbol at the bottom of the page.

AWeber doesn’t really recommend this method as some email providers will block emails with attachments from sources they don’t know but I’ve never had any problems. They have a partner app now Digioh which you can integrate with AWeber to deliver your attachments. I haven’t done that but it’s up to you.

So the method above will get you a simple signup sheet, a mailing list and deliver your optin. Of course, if you don’t have an optin, that’s cool. You can use the same method to just collect people’s names. Write some compelling copy and flag a coming event. The examples I use the Leadpages example in the next post uses the Leadpages copy and signup sheets I created for my Teach FAST Strategy course. No optin. It’s a waitlist for those who want to stay informed and get special bonuses.

Still got questions? Fire away. Consider me your crash test dummy for working out how to teach online.