3 Ways Building a Framework Built our Email List

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If you've tried to start and grow a blog, you know just how daunting it can be.  The process feels oh-so-slow.  I still remember our first handful of readers and podcast listeners.  The first few comments on our site were absolute treasures!  We couldn't believe that people were reading and responding to what we put into the world. When we added our MailChimp subscribe box on the site, we obsessively checked Mailchimp for each new subscriber.  New subscribers weren't a guarantee back then, so we often checked on a list that hadn't changed.

We cherished those early adopters of the Brilliant Business Moms brand, and we still do!  But in order to turn our podcast and blog into a business, we knew we'd have to grow our email list at more than a turtle's pace!  If you're not convinced that growing your email list is a powerful tool for your business, you should know that when we launched our Brilliant Business Planner a few weeks ago and assigned special tracking links to our emails, Instagram posts, Facebook posts, and Pins, our email link won by a landslide when it came to generating sales!

Our email list would still be growing at a trickle if we hadn't followed the advice Abby gives in Building a Framwork: The Ultimate Blogging Handbook.

3 Ways Building a Framework Built our Email List

1. Create a Freebie Your Audience will Love.  Abby taught us that simply offering to send “updates and new content” to your subscribers isn't enough to get them on your list.  Everybody in the world promises that for their email list.  You have to give an offer your audience can't refuse.  When Abby decided to get serious about her email list, she looked over the posts that were most popular on her site and discovered that her audience loved her posts on creating labels and graphics in Word.  She got to work creating a tutorial on how to create organizational printables in Word.  When we got serious about our email list we noticed that our audience loved connecting with other moms in business, so we created 52 weeks to a better business to connect and encourage each other.  Since then, we've created freebies for pinterest planning printables, a mileage tracker, and a guide to Etsy SEO.  Again, these were based on what our audience responded to and the blog posts that were spreading quickly on Pinterest!  Abby noticed a sharp jump in her subscriber numbers as soon as she offered a great freebie.  Sarah and I noticed the same thing!
2. Guest Post on a Popular Site.  One of the best ways to accelerate your subscriber rate is to guest post on a much larger site and link back to a page on your site that has an irresistable freebie just for them.  When we published a guest post on the Etsy Blog, we linked back to a landing page with related content and offered up our Guide to Etsy SEO as our freebie.  Our subscriber rate for the next few weeks was at least triple its regular rate!  It was so fun to see the emails pour in!  We never would have thought to use this strategy if Abby hadn't told us about guest posting on MoneySavingMom.com.  Crystal Paine featured Abby's budget binder on her site and when Abby linked back to her post on creating her budget printables, she made sure to link to her great tutorial on creating those printables in Word.  This, combined with offering such an enticing freebie caused Abby's email list to grow from several hundred to over 4,000 subscribers in just 3 months!  Wow!
3. Don't Rely on Sign-Up  Boxes.  Abby loves to include little blurbs in her posts that mention the great freebie her email subscribers will receive.  She does it in a really fun, conversational way and just includes a subtle link to her email sign-up form.  In this way, her invitation to subscribe feels more like a friend giving you an inside tip than an impersonal form that you have to fill out.  I never would have thought to approach email sign-ups in this way if I hadn't learned this from Abby.  She also taught me to include a little blurb in the caption section of my first photo when a post goes viral on Pinterest!  You need to grab people's attention, but in a casual fun way so you can capture every possible new subscriber who's out there waiting for you.

Now that I've shared the 3 incredible ways Abby's book has helped us to grow our email list, you're probably thinking, “why should I buy the book?  I just got some killer advice right here!”

If you loved this post, you're going to love Abby's book, because there's so much more in store for you!  Whether you're brand new to blogging and need to know how to set up your site or whether you've been blogging for years and need some new tricks, Abby's book has you covered, and she teaches you everything you need to know in a fun, conversational way!

My favorite part about Abby's book is that it's no longer just a book!  Abby has just relaunched Building a Framework and now offers 3 different packages.

Package #1:

• Newly Updated eBook
• Newly Updated Blog Binder Printables

Package #3:

After seeing the growth Sarah and I have had in our first year of blogging and podcasting by following Abby's advice, I'm so excited to grab all the new tips she has to offer with the upgraded packages.  I'm snatching up my own copy today, and I can't wait to keep you posted on how we grow as a result!

~ Beth Anne

To learn more from Just A Girl and Her Blog, head here!

• How to Write, Edit, & Launch an E-book with Abby + Donnie Lawson

• Everything She Learned her First Year of Blogging – an Interview with Abby Lawson