How to build an email list without a website or a blog?

[CyberAlchemist]

Hi everyone,
I would like to start working on building a list in my chosen niche. It is possible to build an email list without a website? if so how to do?

 

[Developer]

Absolutely, however, a bit more tricky. Most email campaign companies offer
"hosted" forms. You could simply lead people to the "hosted" form rather than
your own website. I have to admit, I am kind of curious, but feel free to tell
me NUNYA (as in NUN of YA business) but why would you not have a website
as it would make everything so much easier, even if only to post the landing
pages at the very least.

 

[nesito29]

Yes, there are many ways to build an email list without having your own website or blog.

For example, you could use Lead Pages to create your opt-in page and capture leads.

Also, many autoresponders give you the ability to create landing pages right there and they host them for you (some may charge you extra, so be careful).


After that, it's just a matter of driving targeted traffic to your landing page and start getting subscribers.

For example:

• You can drive traffic from YouTube making helpful but very insightful videos about a specific topic.
• You can run Facebook Ads, however, you need to learn how to do proper targeting or your ads will be very expensive.
• Another great way to do it is with Solo Ads which is paying people that already have an email list to broadcast your "bribe" (your pdf, cheatsheet, ecourse, video, etc.) to their email subscribers.

Those are the most common ones and easiest to use

 

[rrodica6]

You can use free services from mailchimp com i use this one and is working very well for email marketing

 

[HCFGrizzly]

Hi everyone,
I would like to start working on building a list in my chosen niche. It is possible to build an email list without a website? if so how to do?

As RD told you, yes you can. (was that an Obama quote? :ertery But why would you do that? Why do you want to complicate your life?
What are you planing to do with that email list? I suppose you have an IM angle in this. If so, if you are indeed interested in IM why aren`t you willing to invest a few dollars in your business?

 

[Developer]

You can use free services from mailchimp com i use this one and is working very well for email marketing

Thank you for your input Rrodica6. You are correct, you could definitely use MailChimp, however, the downfall is that if you receive just 1 complaint, MC has been known to shut you down instantly. They're not known for being too IM/AM friendly.

As RD told you, yes you can. (was that an Obama quote? :ertery But why would you do that? Why do you want to complicate your life?
What are you planing to do with that email list? I suppose you have an IM angle in this. If so, if you are indeed interested in IM why aren`t you willing to invest a few dollars in your business?

No one said he wasn't willing, however, there are many factors which may be in play. Since we do not know his current situation, we can not simply assume that he can afford even just a few bucks each month. (Please understand I am not barking at of flaming you in any way. I am simply saying there could be a plethora of reasons he may not be able to invest even the smallest of amounts at this time.)

 

[HCFGrizzly]

No one said he wasn't willing, however, there are many factors which may be in play. Since we do not know his current situation, we can not simply assume that he can afford even just a few bucks each month. (Please understand I am not barking at of flaming you in any way. I am simply saying there could be a plethora of reasons he may not be able to invest even the smallest of amounts at this time.)

But why would you do that?

I asked him why would he do that, before stating my opinion.
I know you aren`t flaming me, and I don`t want to sound arrogant, but shouldn`t he be searching for a 9 to 6 job first if he is in such a poor financial situation that he doesn`t afford a 2$ a month hosting?
When I started with IM, I had a 9 to 6 job and I worked at night and in the weekends to learn everything that I could.
Again, not trying to be arrogant or anything, this is a honest advice: If OP doesn`t have 2$ a month to invest in IM he should first find a 9 to 6 job and after that he should be going into IM.

 

[Developer]

Developer

You do NOT sound arrogant, you are merely asking a question and that is how we all learn.

When I said he may not be able to afford... blah blah blah... and then you asked "shouldn`t he be searching for a 9 to 6 job first" -- my point is merely that perhaps he is in a situation that he can not work either, perhaps he is disabled, or even cares for a disabled family member, (which can be hell by itself, lol) or WHATEVER...

There are MANY reasons and factors that could keep him from being able to sustain a regular JOB, know what I mean...

I was just stating that everyone's situation is different and not everyone can just "afford to do this and afford to do that" EVEN IF it is "just $2" or "just $10"... that's all.

Thank you for your post and your advice HCF. Keep it coming. Nothing arrogant about anything you said, suggested or advised.

 

[jeffhowell]

You can do email swaps - a pretty popular thing used by email marketers...

 

[HCFGrizzly]

HCFGrizzly

You could do that but the problem is that in order to do email swaps you need to FIRST HAVE AN EMAIL LIST built.
If you don`t have any emails what are you going to swap?
Another thing about the email swaps is that you should find a person in the same niche as you (basically one of your competitors) because you need targeted emails (no point in sending an email about car parts to people interesting in growing flowers).

 

[Developer]

Developer

Well, duh! Flowers and car parts of course, HCFGrizzly, LOL. I think the poster of that message was just attempting to increase his post count. Looking over the various posts by Jeff, most are quick one line responses. I was going to delete his post, as well as a few others of his, however, I will leave it alone now, so that your post, HCFGrizzly, doesn't look out of place.

That being said, another method for building a list is to join some "safe lists". I can't believe I am actually suggesting this as it is usually full of spammers* or others who are simply looking to blast their email ads out to others, however, I AM suggesting this ONLY because, I have actually had some success with safe lists in the past. I have even tested out a few to see what type of results I would get and I actually had a decent number of valid email subscribers to my other lists, so, it was not a major loss... If joining the ranks of safe lists, I strongly suggest setting up a separate gmail account (or at least using the "+####" trick) to be able to filter out the massive amount of emails you will be bombarded with.

(* DISCLAIMER: You can't really call them spammers as that is what safelists are all about)

The trick to using safelists, in my experience, is that you should use them to build your list, NOT to sell your products.

As I said above, I have actually had a bit of success with safelists, so, they are not as bad as some may say... Set up a landing page and send your safe list traffic to that. Being consistent and mailing every time it's available will give you results.

Also, if using safelists, (I would definitely start out slow, until you know whether it is something you would want to invest more time into), when you have some free time, actually read some of the emails you'll receive. Find all the emails from people within the same niche as you and contact them personally. Because of the bad rep that safelists have, most of those that use them are newbies themselves, BUT, they are still every day folk like you and I. They may actually prove to be a valuable asset in your contact book if you simply take the time to get to know some of them....

When I first started out many years ago, I started with safelists, and I was actually able to quickly build lists with members in the thousands. It proved very profitable at the time. Now a days, just like ANYTHING ELSE ONLINE, it is not so simple, however, with a little work and a little "outside the box" thinking, safelists can still be very valuable...

 

[Ron Killian]

As always mentioned, yes there are ways, but here is something important to think about... what if you spend all this time and effort building traffic and links to something you don't own or control, and then something happens? All that work down the drain. A waste of your time. Maybe they shut you off, delete your account, or you just want to, or need to move to another provider?

If you have your own website, hosting your own squeeze page or landing pages, you are in control and you can easily switch things out if you need to. All that marketing and promotion will always be going to your website, a website you control.

Same reason's it's not a good idea to use free hosting. Too risky and you are not in control, they are.

Just a thought

 

[rrodica6]

Is no need to be so obsessed in sending daily .........let say 1 millions emails... you are allowed to have 2000 subscribers , and to send daily emails.. i forgot how many you can send ... but anyway is need more sources for sending emails for your business marketing to have success . Is very hard work.. but if you do have a good product to sell.... be sure you can succeed ...... i use my internet provider telus to can send 500 daily.. gmail.. yahoo email.... and others... but you need to do manual most of them ....... to dont get spam is very important

 

[Ron Killian]

Ron Killian

Such a bad idea to try and do email marketing using a personal ISP, or free email providers. That won't last long at all, they will shut you down or shut you off. Not mention it would be so time consuming. Sure can't do any volume.

Much better to pony up the $15 or so and get a professional autoresponder service.

 

[Developer]

Developer

I would have to agree with Ron, nothing wrong with using Mailchimp, especially if just starting off and
you don't have the $15 or so for a paid professional autoresponder account, however, managing a list
using your own ISP is a VERY bad business practice, right from the start. Tons of things can go wrong.

1. Spam Complaints (1 spam complaint (even if not legit) could risk your entire ISP account)
2. Your ISP CAN sue you for using a personal account for business reasons.
3. ISP shutting down your account because you're running a business from it (and they CAN do that)
4. Very time especially if doing manually
5. If you choose the BCC way to go, it looks very unprofessional
6. Changing ISPs can wreak havoc on a self hosted list.
7. Many ISPs are already blacklisted, even the more popular ones
8. LOW deliver-ability rate, (especially if your ISP is blacklisted)
9. No form of tracking integration
10. No double opt-in functionality

The list could literally go on an on an on... I would strongly advise AGAINST using your personal ISP, or
even a "FREEMAIL" (google, yahoo, aol, etc.) service for ANY size mailing list...

 

[rrodica6]

Arclab MailList Controller eXtreme that i purchase for $200 but like i said ... i can not send to many email using a list .. is missing something ........ that they write me on the ticket support answer :

"' I recommend to talk to your mail administrator and use an account from your own domain instead – this should have less limitations as the free gmail account. You dont need full access to the domain – you just need the email account data. Please contact your mail administrator and ask for the account data, like mail server, user name, password, email address and the required authentication/encryption.""

"" so telus wont give me i suppose theirs accept .... wont let me and the rest of them like you said they can spam me... and i don't want that .. what to do to can use the software ?

 

[rrodica6]

Can you please help telling me a good Professional Autoresponder Service to can use it ?? Thanks

 

[Developer]

Aweber.com and GetResponse.com are going to be 2 of your best bets...

They are comparable in pricing and features.

GetResponse offers a FREE month, I believe, and Aweber offers your first month for just $1.

 

[Ron Killian]

Am I missing something? They told you exactly what you need, your own domain. I must not be understanding. Just like what has already been said, and they confirmed it, that you can't use something like a free gmail account.

Buy a domain for $10 a year and you could be in business.

Can you please help telling me a good Professional Autoresponder Service to can use it ?? Thanks

I put in another vote for Getresponse, more features and options. Aweber is still good, but not as feature packed.

Course these are mid-level services, you can get even better services, but the price goes up accordingly.

 

[Julzwriter]

I can give an example of a situation where one may have
a mailing list but no website. I am currently working on a newsletter
project belonging to some missionaries. They do not want a website
but they want to send out newsletters regularly to their donors. They
have just set up a list with mail chimp. The major problem I see with their
list is that it is not possible for people to unsubscribe from the newsletters if they wanted to.

 

[Developer]

Developer

Of course there is. All emails must include an unsubscribe
link which leads to an unsubscribe form on the MC server.

 

[Julzwriter]

Julzwriter

Ok. If there is then it is not working. I tried to unsubscribe
but the messages still come through. Perhaps they keep
adding me back whenever I unsubscribe. lol

 

[Zack]

I tried to build an email list without a website and tried some different methods I found through some google searches and none worked out well.

I finally decided to just buy a domain and create a blog for the niche I wanted a mailing list for. That made the job a lot easier.

Sure some of the ways to build an email list without a website will work but they take longer to build enough names to be worth it than it would be with some kind of a site,

 

[freebird37]

Go to Mailchimp.com and start a free account. Once you have a new account you'll need to create a new list, it's pretty straightforward to set up, but if you have any problems, CoffeeCup. com has a great tutorial with pictures to show you every step of the process. Once you have your new list, copy the URL which you can find at lists>signup forms>general forms and save it for later. Go to Smore.com and start a free account. Then start a new flyer to convince people to sign up for your newsletter, give it a catchy title. Talk about the reader, not yourself. Let them know what they're going to learn, focus on the value they will receive. Write 10 article headlines that you plan on publishing.