15 (mainly free) Ways to Grow Your E-mail List

1. First and foremost, be specific, know who your target market are, where they hang out and what they want to hear! It’s much better to have 50 people who are fully engaged than 50k who will ignore you completely!
2. Make sure that you are covered legally to collect e-mail addresses – you do this by ensuring folks know exactly what they are opting in for, also have your privacy policy up to date. You can create on here.
3. Make sure your website is optimized for lead capture. Place prominent calls to action on every page and make it easy for people to sign up for your list. The free version of Mailchimp allows you to have 2,000 contacts and send 10,000 e-mails per month!
4. Make use of pop-ups or slide-in forms to grab attention and get more subscribers. Just be sure not to bombard people with them or they’ll likely unsubscribe!
5. Create valuable content that people will want to read, share, and subscribe. If you can get people hooked on your content, they’ll be more likely to want to hear from you via email.
6. Include a sign-up form on all of your social media profiles as well. This will help you grow your list from multiple sources.
7. Run contests or give away freebies in exchange for e-mail addresses. Freebies, also called lead magnets can be anything from PDFs, ebooks, training, etc., This is a great way to incentivize people to sign up. Don’t overcomplicate it – the fewer steps a person has to take the more likely they are to engage. An added step with value would be to set up a landing page where folks can also gain extra entries for sharing to their social media platforms.
8. Offer exclusive discounts or deals only for subscribers. This will entice people to sign up in order to take advantage of the savings.
9. Include subscriber-only content such as bonus tips, excerpts from new blog posts, or sneak peeks at upcoming projects. This is a great way to keep people engaged and coming back for more.
10. Create a Facebook group on a topic of interest to your readers and require an e-mail address to enter the group. As part of entry into your group – ask folks if they want to receive e-mails/promotions from you outside of the Facebook group.
11. Make use of social media platforms like and Facebook to drive traffic back to your website. Place links to your sign-up form prominently on your profile/business pages.
12. Join Facebook groups which allow you to promote your product.
13. Segment your list into different categories based on interests or demographics. This will help you target your messages more effectively and increase the chances that people will find something relevant to them.
14. Promote your e-mail list offline as well. Print out flyers and post them in public places, or hand out cards at events or trade shows.
15. Utilise an autoresponder series to keep subscribers engaged with your content. This is a great way to provide value and build relationships over time. Don’t overdo it though – otherwise, you will quickly be seen as ‘another spammer’..

As you can see, there are plenty of ways to grow your e-mail list! By using these strategies, you’ll be well on your way to building a valuable database of contacts who are interested in what you have to say. So get started today and watch those subscriber numbers start climbing!