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How to Build an Email List Without a Website (Updated)
7 List Growth Strategies for People Without a Website
JP Botero & Megan Smith
March 27th, 2024
Many marketers approach list-building as a vital component of web strategy. This article flips the script. What if you put list-building first, prioritizing the development of your most lucrative channel?
This unconventional approach can be powerful. Take iconic entrepreneur Tim Ferriss. His innovative strategies have earned him a large and engaged email subscriber base without relying on a traditional website.
You can do the same. Whether you're a small business owner, a budding entrepreneur, or a passionate blogger, these strategies and techniques will help you build a robust email list even without a website.
Table of Contents
The Power and Potential of Email Lists
An email list gives you direct access to your audience, fostering deeper connections and enabling personalized communication.
It provides a platform to share valuable content, exclusive offers, and updates, ultimately increasing customer engagement and driving conversions. Whether you have a website or not, an email list remains a powerful tool for expanding your reach and nurturing customer relationships.
The Basics of Email List-Building
Regardless of the specific channels you choose, your strategy should include these elements:
A strong email marketing platform: Choose the right email marketing platform as a partner in your journey. You need powerful tools to manage your list, create and send emails, and track performance metrics.
Opt-in forms: These are forms that visitors fill out to subscribe to your email list. Place them on various channels such as your social media profiles. Use best practices and draw inspiration from the top-performing opt-in forms.
Opt-in incentives: Give people a reason to sign up for your emails. This could be access to exclusive content, discounts, or promotions. Consider automating the distribution of valuable lead magnets with beehiiv.
Compelling CTAs: Your call-to-action (CTA) should be persuasive and encourage users to subscribe. Follow CTA examples and best practices such as visually highlighting your calls.
Multiple channels: Combine platforms to reach the broadest audience. The statistics on multichannel marketing prove that a multi-pronged approach is most effective.
These tactics allow you to optimize your email list-building across touchpoints, ensuring a steady stream of new subscribers.
Goal-Setting for Your Email Marketing
Defining your objectives enables you to build lists with an eye to their purpose. Maybe you want to increase paid subscribers or generate leads for your business.
Once you have your general objectives, set SMART goals:
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Time-bound
SMART-ness is the difference between "grow my audience" and "increase the number of paid email subscribers by 10% in the next quarter."
Building an effective email list is not a one-time task but an ongoing process. It requires consistent effort, testing, and optimization. Regularly review your performance against your goals and KPIs. If you're not meeting your targets, tweak your strategy and try different tactics.
7 Strategies to Build Your Email List Without a Website
There's more than one way to skin a cat... I assume— In other words, there are several approaches you can take when building an email list without a website.
Try one or more of these list-building strategies.
Social media was a cornerstone of Tim Ferriss's list-growth strategy. He leveraged his significant presence on social media platforms to connect with his audience and encourage email sign-ups.
Social media platforms are treasure troves of potential subscribers for you, too. Turn followers into subscribers with these tactics:
Include a "Sign Up" CTA: Add a clear call-to-action (CTA) in your social media bios. This can direct followers to a sign-up form or a landing page where they can subscribe to your emails.
Promote exclusive content: Tease exclusive content, discounts, or offers available only to your email subscribers. This creates a sense of exclusivity and can motivate followers to subscribe.
Run contests or giveaways: Host social media contests or giveaways where entry requires an email subscription. This not only boosts engagement but also helps grow your email list.
Actively engage with your connections: Comment on their posts, and respond to their messages. Building genuine relationships improves trust and loyalty, increasing the likelihood of connections joining your email list.
It's important to tailor your conversion strategies to each platform. What works on Instagram may not work on LinkedIn. Understand the unique characteristics and audience of each platform to optimize your approach.
For example, Ferriss's X (formerly Twitter) account shares thought-provoking questions and bite-sized wisdom, teasing content and starting conversations. On the other hand, his LinkedIn account provides insightful articles and career-oriented tips, building his status as an industry leader.
The right plan of action turns any of the major platforms into effective list-growth engines. That's why beehiiv has written a series of playbooks, telling you how to grow from 0-1,000 newsletter subscribers with each:
2. Engage With Online Communities
The internet is where people with similar interests can find one another, creating niche groups and forums. Find your tribe and turn it into a base of subscribers.
Keep an eye out for relevant threads on Reddit or Quora. Members frequently post questions about issues they face. Solving someone's problem demonstrates your expertise and nets you a fan.
Social media groups are also powerful resources. By participating actively, providing valuable insights, and occasionally promoting opt-in opportunities, you can leverage niche communities for your newsletter with Facebook and LinkedIn groups.
Attend digital networking events, too. Webinars, live chats, and other online events are opportunities to connect and find subscribers.
3. Create a Landing Page
Tim Ferriss didn't start with a traditional website. Instead, he leveraged landing pages to capture email addresses, maximizing their visibility and conversion potential by providing valuable content and promoting them through social media and other channels.
Here are some tactics you can use to create a landing page to grow your email list:
Use landing page builders: Landing page builders such as beehiiv or Leadpages create compelling landing pages without a website. These platforms provide user-friendly templates and customization options to capture visitor information effectively.
Craft a compelling opt-in offer: To entice visitors to join your email list, create an irresistible opt-in offer. It could be an e-book, a resource guide, a mini-course, or exclusive access to valuable content. Ensure that your opt-in offer aligns with your target audience's needs and interests.
Include social proof: Adding social proof, such as testimonials or user reviews, on your landing page can help build trust and credibility with potential subscribers.
A landing page is far less intensive than a website and can be developed in less than ten minutes.
Want more detail? Check out this guide to no-code page and email building.
4. Guest Post on Relevant Blogs
Before you have your own audience, you can borrow someone else's. Guest blogging is a proven strategy, letting you tap into the audiences you want.
Research industry-specific blogs and websites that align with your niche and pitch high-quality guest posts. Showcase your expertise and explain how your content can benefit their audience.
Incorporate opt-in opportunities within the post or your author bio to encourage readers to join your email list. Offer readers additional valuable content or exclusive updates to entice them to sign up.
5. Collaborate With Influencers and Thought Leaders
Collaboration played a pivotal role in Tim Ferriss's email list-building strategy. He identified influencers and thought leaders in his niche and established mutually beneficial partnerships.
Ferriss expanded his reach by co-creating valuable content. For one thing, he hosts multiple interviews on his podcast The Tim Ferriss Show, which acts as a powerful funnel, attracting listeners and converting them into email subscribers.
These collaborations also help him provide a steady stream of valuable new content for his subscribers.
Identify influencers in your industry who have a substantial online presence and a relevant audience. Connect with them and explore opportunities for collaboration. Promote opt-ins within these joint pieces, encouraging their fans to become yours.
6. Use Referrals and Recommendations
The beehiiv platform offers unique referral and recommendation features to help you build your list through word-of-mouth marketing.
Its innovative referral program was built by the brains behind Morning Brew, the newsletter with a referral program that helped it develop an audience of over six million subscribers.
Morning Brew's subscribers could easily refer their friends, family, and colleagues to join the newsletter. As a result, they gained exclusive content, early access to features, and entry into giveaways.
beehiiv's referral process is user-friendly, making it easy for subscribers to
participate and track referrals. It also offers comprehensive analytics and tracking capabilities, allowing you to monitor the program's performance, identify successful referral channels, and optimize its strategies.
For more details, check out our YouTube tutorial on how to set up a referral program with beehiiiv.
You can also cross-promote with your favorite publications with beehiiv recommendations. Find relevant publications your audience will love, and add them to your list of recommendations. The creator will be notified and may add you to their list, too.
7. Pay for Advertising
While most of these strategies focus on organic growth, paid advertisements can jumpstart your process, speeding up your growth.
The three most effective forms of paid advertising for email lists are:
Social ads: Target people with similar interests or professional backgrounds on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. These ads can reach a wider audience beyond your existing followers.
Google ads: Find the people already looking for you. Target related keywords and grow your newsletter with Google search ads.
beehiiv boosts: beehiiv boosts help you connect with other newsletters within the platform, targeting relevant audiences and paying the publication per active, engaged subscriber.
Email List-Building Best Practices:
As you start to grow, these list-building best practices will help you grow with or without a website.
Choose the Right Email Service Provider and Tools
Let's dive into how to select the right email service provider (ESP), set it up effectively, and launch your initial email marketing campaign.
Consider the platform's:
Features: Look for providers that offer features like automation, analytics, and segmentation.
Ease of Use: The provider should have an intuitive interface that allows for easy set-up and use.
Pricing: Decide how much you want to pay today and how much you want to pay tomorrow. When choosing an ESP, look at the extent of its free plan, the initial cost of paid plans, and the amount and extent of price increases as your brand grows.
Once you've selected an ESP, it's time to set it up and start using it. Create your first sign-up form and integrate the platform with your social media accounts.
Segment Your List to Increase Value and Relevance
Consistently deliver valuable content and relevant offers to your email subscribers. Tailor your communications to their interests and needs, ensuring that they find value in your content.
You can segment your list based on subscribers' interests and preferences. Choose your email segmentation strategy based on your brand and its publication process. For example, you could divide your list by demographic data or professional industry.
Email segmentation is a great way to increase subscriber engagement and foster long-term relationships.
A/B Test to Improve Forms and Emails
A/B email testing helps you maximize conversions, discovering the elements that best engage your audience. Continuously test and optimize your opt-in forms to maximize conversions. Experiment with different designs, copy, and placement to identify what resonates best with your audience.
Maintain Compliance and Ensure Subscriber Privacy
Protect your subscribers' data by stating your privacy policy, obtaining consent, and providing easy opt-out options. Respect your subscribers and build trust with transparent practices.
Automate Your Welcome Email Marketing Campaign
Email marketing automation is one of your best time-savers. It also ensures prompt follow-up or delivery, reaching your audience at the precise right moment.
Get started by automating your welcome email. Send new subscribers a message to welcome them to your community after they sign up.
Master the art of the welcome email to nurture your followers, ensuring that they stick around for years to come.
Ready to Start Building Your Email List?
There's no denying that websites are effective hubs for your online activity, but they're also time sinks. Optimizing a website requires constant maintenance and a continual stream of new content. Even after all that work, casual visitors may choose not to subscribe to a closer, email relationship.
beehiiv provides you with the tools you need to grow your email subscribers without a website. Combine these in-platform tools with some savvy online networking, and watch your numbers soar.
With beehiiv, you can link all of your social media channels, create your landing page, segment your email list, and create a referral program. beehiiv is the all-in-one tool you need to build your email list without a website. Sign up now!
Why Trust Us
Between the two of us, we combine years of digital marketing experience and multiple relevant, bylined articles. In addition, JP has been working with the Australian thought leader Nicholas Gruen, helping him to grow his email list to over 20k without any website.
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