We’ve come to the final post in the Email List Building Series, where we’ll up our game and delve into some of the more advanced list building techniques.

But before we do, let’s take a look at what we’ve accomplished so far:

In Part 1, The Power of an Email List (And Why It’s a Must), we discussed why building a targeted and invested email list of subscribers is hands down one of THE most important things you can do to ensure the long term growth of your writing career.

We pitted email vs. social media (email with the win!), and outlined the huge advantage of building your email list early.

And we discovered how creating meaningful relationships and sharing valued content with your subscribers builds trust and increases your influence – allowing you to create an army of book buyers and promoters.

In Part 2, Create a Sign Up Incentive That Knocks Their Socks Off, we looked at the psychology behind the right freebie, and if “bribing” people to sign up affected the quality of subscribers.

We recognized the need to know and understand as much as possible about the people we are trying to reach in order to design an opt-in that delivers.

And to get the creative juices flowing, I shared a monster list of incentive ideas for writers, as well as the tools needed to create and promote your shiny new opt-in incentive.

In Part 3, The Set Up, Start to Finish, I walked you step-by-step through the entire email list creation process using Aweber (an email marketing service).

I included a free PDF download of the flow from sign up to follow up message, as well as cautioned you about the importance of being legally compliant when obtaining email addresses from your subscribers. [Read more…]