Your long-term marketing will live or die with the strength of your email list.

I love hearing that “email is dead.” It makes me laugh every time. Email has and will likely continue have the highest ROI of any digital marketing channel, according to Direct Marketing Association.

Here are 7 simple steps to grow your email list:

1) Be consistent – “Do things you can sustain.”

I would love to post every day like Seth Godin, or even twice a week like James Clear. But I just can’t sustain that pace right now.

It’s better to post once or twice a month, rather than 4 posts in 5 days and then nothing for 3 months.

Creating more content on a consistent basis will help you get in front of more potential subscribers.

2) Reach out to your 100 closest friends/connections.

Send a personal message to 100 of your closest connections/friends. It can be something simple like a text or Facebook message. Like Noah Kagan says, if your own family won’t subscribe to your list, then no one will.

This may not be your exact target market, but it’ll surprise you to see how personal connections can spread your content.

3) Include a link in your email signature

This one is easy, but effective. Especially since it takes about zero effort beyond setup. I recommend creating a trackable link (I use Bit.ly) to see exactly how it’s working. Test a few different versions until you find one that works the best.

4) Give something away

Offer a piece of premium content in exchange for subscribing to your email list. For example, an ebook or a whitepaper works great here. Create a landing page with a sign-up form that they must fill out to receive the content.

5) Promote on social media

Share links to your giveaway or opt-in page via social media. I have a few “evergreen” posts that I share multiple times that drive traffic to my subscription pages. Include it in the descriptions on all your profiles as well.

6) Use a call-to-action (CTA) tool

I’ve dabbled with several different CTA applications in the past. They include:

• SumoMe
  • Probably the most comprehensive, with almost a dozen tools available. This is the closest thing to an all-in-one suite of list building services.
• Leadin
  • Owned by HubSpot, this free plugin works as a poor man’s marketing automation tool. It not only helps drive signups, but it tracks user behavior in an easy-to-view timeline.
• Leadpages (light boxes)
  • This option has the least room for customization. For some this is frustrating, but the positive is that there is very little room for error. They’ve split-tested each template to optimize for the best possible conversion rates.
• HelloBar
  • The simplest option. It’ll take about 10 minutes to create your first HelloBar. It also has split-testing capabilities that make improving your conversions simple and easy.

These have all worked well for me, but I’m starting to come back to SumoMe. I just love the Welcome Mat feature.

7) Write valuable content

Perhaps this one belongs in the “duhh” column. Regardless, I cannot overstate the importance here. If the quality of your content is poor, nothing is going to help.

I recommend creating a daily writing habit to improve your skills. Reading a lot is helpful, too. The more you read quality writing, the more elegant your writing will become.

Note: A good editor is worth his/her weight in gold. In fact, my rule is that you aren’t allowed to do your own editing. You’re going to miss things. Get a second pair of eyes on your content before it goes out.

Try these steps to begin growing your email list. If you need help, we’d love to talk about how you can grow your business with digital marketing.