With the 2019 Academy Awards around the corner, the time is ripe for awards season content. Whether you’re shooting a video from the red carpet, interviewing Oscar nominees, or reviewing nominated movies, here are some fantastic broadcast packages and titles you can use for your project.
The post Best 15 Awards Ceremony Broadcast Packages & Titles appeared first on Envato.
These 5 steps will help guide you through the discovery phase, identify your audience and the channels you should be using, build a video creation process, and measure the results.
The post Video Marketing Guide: 5 Steps to Success appeared first on Envato.
When was the last time you created the perfect UX design for an enterprise application? For most (if not all) of us, the answer is “never”. There’s always something we’d like to go back and fix after we design enterprise applications, if only we had the time.
And let’s be honest: perfection is a high bar to reach for any development team, especially when building applications that enterprises rely on for day-to-day operations.
But it is worth aiming for perfect UX for enterprise apps every single time. Why? Because research shows every $1 invested in UX brings a return of $100, and 90 percent of users have quit using an application because of poor performance. (Other issues harming app retention rates include too many ads and slow load times, but that’s to be discussed another day.)
Aiming for the best UX design your team’s capable of is crucial, for the good of the application and its users. And the best way to do this is to understand the biggest challenges you face—and identify how you can fix them.
Here are the top 3 to help you get started:
Challenge 1. Giving Users What They Need
When you design an enterprise application, it’s too easy to focus on the aesthetics and flashy features rather than an intuitive, user-friendly UX.
But while good looks are important (especially with UX for enterprise apps aimed at brands willing to pay for the most cutting-edge, trendy designs), it shouldn’t be the core focus.
You want users to enjoy exploring the app and find its aesthetics pleasant, but it’s vital to remember that functionality is paramount. Users may spend hours upon hours interacting with the app every week, whether it’s a CRM, a billing system or anything else.
part of achieving outstanding functionality means giving users what they need rather than what they want.
And part of achieving outstanding functionality means giving users what they need rather than what they want.
Speaking to existing or prospective users about what they’d like to see in the final product is a good idea in the early design of an enterprise application. They’ll provide you with clear pointers to aid effective enterprise information architecture and identify what they don’t want, but they also can suggest features that seem appealing yet only go to waste.
So, how do you fix this? By analyzing user behavior and determining which functions prove most beneficial or necessary during hands-on tests.
First, invite users to try the application and provide them with a list of tasks to complete. Study them. What features do they use most? What functions do they seem to miss when trying to find a solution?
Test the app with users from different backgrounds or departments, to see how user-friendly it is for those who may not necessarily have used a similar product before. Do they find navigation easy within seconds? Can they understand how to locate certain features?
Ask how the design of the enterprise application impacts the user’s experience. Are the colors in the enterprise dashboard design too garish and causing them to strain their eyes? Does the layout and button placement allow for smooth performance and fluid navigation? Try to find a way to make the app’s presentation eye-catching without being a distraction.
Challenge 2. Putting Pride Before Good UX
A strong skill for UX designers to have is being a “feedback wrangler,” according to this post by Suzanne Scacca. And that’s true: embracing user feedback is essential when trying to design high-quality SaaS applications. But it’s not always so easy.
The best-designed SaaS products are built on a thorough understanding of the user’s goals, pain points and expectations. That means performing comprehensive testing and inviting users to address issues that could cause problems down the line. The same is true whether you’re focusing on SaaS web design or SaaS products for a small business.
The best-designed SaaS products are built on a thorough understanding of the user’s goals, pain points and expectations
But building enterprise applications is hard work. Lots of hard work. And hearing someone tell you it’s not right is incredibly tough.
You might feel as if the problems being highlighted “don’t really matter” or “won’t really affect performance too much”. And if users can find a workaround that adds a few seconds onto a task, what’s the big deal?
Sadly, that’s putting your own pride above the product’s quality. And the standard of UX for enterprise apps affects the users’ work in one way or another. Leaving glitches or clumsy design elements in the final app just because you don’t want to fix them is a big mistake that could prove costly.
How can you fix this?
Recognize that creating the best enterprise application with the strongest UX you’re capable of is an ongoing effort. Right from the start, tell yourself (and your team) that you won’t get it right first time.
Encourage collaboration and transparent communication in your team, to ensure nobody feels too intimidated or shy about raising issues before a user does—this will save everyone time and may reduce frustration.
Try a lean approach to UX design, which incorporates real-time feedback and adapting to necessary changes more than traditional design processes
Remember: if a user struggles with an aspect of your application, this creates a valuable opportunity to make it better—and that means you’ll make a bigger impact on the market
Challenge 3. Giving Users Too Much Choice
What are the elements of good application design?
All the right ones.
Apologies for such a vague (and, frankly, frustrating) answer, but it’s true. Good UX for enterprise apps hinges on equipping users with everything they need to accomplish their respective goals (managing customer communications, staying on top of billings, etc.).
Good UX…hinges on equipping users with everything they need to accomplish their respective goals
That’s why the two fixes we’ve covered so far are so important: You create only the most practical, necessary functions and take user feedback on board. Without doing either of these, you run the risk of creating a product with more elements than it needs. And that can lead to poor UX.
Here’s your fix:
Validate all additions you make to the enterprise application: analyze user behavior to see whether new features and options are actually used.
Identify why any unused elements aren’t necessary and try to determine if they can be tweaked to offer the user more value.
Remove aspects of the application that don’t add to the user experience and ensure their extraction doesn’t affect the product’s performance elsewhere.
Quality function and performance both have the power to aid users in a wealth of tasks, but failure to overcome the above challenges will result in a sub-par experience. Follow these tips and take action to deliver a higher standard of UX design in enterprise applications.
We typically start the month with a roundup of new tools and resources for designers, but with the start of a new year (and new decade), we thought a roundup of things to help you get more organized would be appropriate.
Some of these tools have been around for a while with features you might not be using. Other tools are on the new side and offer great functionality. How many of these tools are part of your kit? Which ones will you resolve to use this year?
Here’s what you need to get organized this month and start 2020 off right.
Dropbox
Dropbox is one tool that’s hard to live without. Not only can you use it to manage files and share, you can also use it to run presentations directly with Zoom conferencing or in Slack. Free plans are enough to get started and upgraded plans provide greater storage capability for individuals or teams.
Working from multiple locations with desktop sync and sharing client files are features that make this tool something I use every day.
Feature you need to be using: Shared link expiration dates. When you share files via link, set an expiration date to ensure files aren’t hanging out with access indefinitely.
Slack
Slack is probably a tool that you are already using, but are you making the most of it? Channels, hashtags, and integrations are the key to ensuring that Slack works for you in the way you need it. Take the time to set these up for an efficient, and organized, workflow across multiple teams.
Feature you need to be using: Sync Slack and your Google Calendar for real-time away statuses that work for you.
Cloud Libraries
We all work from a variety of locations—home, work, on desktops and laptops—so cloud-based libraries are a must. Save common files in a location that you can access from anywhere.
Feature you need to be using: Adobe Creative Cloud comes with a place to save libraries, but you can save and connect library files from any cloud-based tool.
Trello
Trello is a free organization and collaboration tool for just about any project. Think of it as a giant project checklist that allows you (or other team members) to keep an eye on how anything from a website build to planning a trip. It works cross devices and isn’t hard to figure out.
Feature you need to be using: Workflow automatons with due date commands and rule-based triggers to make tedious processes happen on their own.
Google Keep
Google Keep is the notetaking app you always wanted. Take notes from any device—sync across all devices—and share or keep notes to yourself. You can take notes by typing, with photos or audio (and it will transcribe messages for you). The best part is this notes app is free and pretty much makes anything else you are using obsolete.
Feature you need to be using: Location, and time-based reminders help keep you on task just when you need it.
Grammarly
Grammarly saves time and effort by checking your messages, everything from documents to website content to emails or social media posts, as you type. Use it to avoid embarrassing mistakes in your writing.
Feature you need to be using: Emojis help you track the tone of your message so that it’s on point and audience-appropriate.
ClickUp
ClickUp takes all your other apps and merges them into a single location and dashboard for easy organization. You can use it to manage your own workspace (free) or collaborate with teams (paid plan). There are multiple views—I’m a big fan of the list option—and templates help jumpstart using the tool.
Feature you need to be using: Use the messages option to create tasks or comments. Boom!
Filing System
Nothing beats a solid filing system. The key benefit of a system is that you store files and folders in the same way every time, making it easier to find things later.
I keep folders first by year. Within annual folders are folders by client name. Then by project name. When projects are complete, I end up with two folders: WORKING and FINAL. Use the same format for naming files. (I use Client Name-Project-Year.)
Feature you need to be using: Date project files. Relying on “date modified” settings isn’t enough if you resave an old file by mistake.
Invoicely
Invoicely makes it easy to work as a freelance designer. The platform is made for sending invoices, managing clients, and allows you to accept online payments. It’s secure and offers a free plan (as well as a paid option).
Feature you need to be using: If you are trying to get organized, time tracking tools help you know just what an individual client costs. You can enter time, expense per client, and mileage so you can get a realistic picture of revenue by project.
HelloSign
HelloSign is for anyone dealing with documents that need signatures. Send and sign online with a platform that’s secure and easy for users to understand. Plus, you can sign items right from common tools such as Gmail or other G-Suite apps.
Feature you need to be using: Store all your signed documents in the interface so you can find them later. (HelloSign will also automatically send reminders if someone hasn’t signed a form.)
Traditional Planner + Online Calendar
Pair a paper planner with your online calendar to keep track of tasks (paper planner as a checklist) as well as events and appointments (online calendar). Daily deadlines are best managed when you can jot them down and check them off throughout the day. Plus, that note is right in front of you to stay focused.
Feature you need to be using: Try a weekly paper planner, tear off sheets, or a dry erase board for task management that doesn’t seem overwhelming.
WeTransfer
WeTransfer makes sending large files a lot easier. There’s nothing worse than a file getting lost in cyberspace because it’s too big for email. WeTransfer allows you to send and receive big files with just a click. (And you don’t have to have an account to download files.)
Feature you need to be using: Integrate WeTransfer with other tools such as Slack, Sketch or Chrome for direct sharing from wherever you are working.
JotForm
JotForm is the ultimate tool for creating any type of online form, from simple surveys to signups to payment collection or image uploads. The service has free and paid plans, depending on usage and everything is customizable, so forms can be branded with ease.
Feature you need to be using: PDF Templates are ready-made forms for everything from a simple invoice to contracts or photo waivers. Start with a PDF and tweak as you need. Plus, you can set it up to be filled out digitally and returned to you. This is a huge timesaver, and you can save custom forms in your account to use over and over again.
Featured image via Unsplash.
In our increasingly global world, people travel by airplane…a lot. With rapid turnaround times, unpredictable weather, and unexpected delays, airlines both domestic and international frequently adjust their flight schedules to keep us moving.
If you’re building a website, a progressive web app, or even a native app that involves any kind of travel, the last thing you want to do is give users out-of-date information, and when it comes to air travel, information is out of date almost as soon as its published. Turbulence en route to Bangkok, can have a devastating impact on queues in Denver. A reliable flight tracker should be one of the first must-haves on your feature list.
aviationstack is an incredibly powerful API that delivers comprehensive data about flights worldwide
Of course, any flight tracker is only as useful as the data that powers it. The minimum standard is access to a dataset that covers the information you need, reports data accurately, and boasts a solid uptime.
For those reasons, if you’re looking to introduce flight data to your site, then one of the best ways to go about it, is integrating with aviationstack.
aviationstack is an incredibly powerful API that delivers comprehensive data about flights worldwide, in a simple-to-use format.
Why Track Flights
Let’s say you’re building a ride-booking app, you absolutely want to be able to track flights in order to minimise disruption, coordinate with drivers right across the fleet, and maximise your profits. Or imagine you’re building a website for a train operator, wouldn’t it be nice to let passengers know whether they’re going to make their connecting flight. And of course, if you’re operating an airline it’s common sense that your users will benefit from this kind of rich data.
But companies that service airline customers aren’t the only ones that benefit from tracking airplanes. If you’re running any kind of business that people may travel to, whether that’s a hotel in Madrid, or a tech conference in Las Vegas, showing people their flight options is one way to remove friction when potential attendees are deciding whether to purchase a ticket.
Sometimes, people need to travel at a moment’s notice, and on unfamiliar routes. It may be that there are unexpectedly great waves off the coast of Big Sur; it might be that a bird, previously thought extinct has been spotted in Iceland; it might be that you’ve accidentally left your son Kevin at home in Chicago while you flew to Paris for the holidays. Whatever niche-interest your site or app caters to, if travel’s involved, then a flight tracker is essential.
Why Use aviationstack
If you’re comparing flight data APIs, then here are a few of the reasons we think aviationstack deserves to be at the top of your shortlist:
more than 13,000 airlines are represented across over 10,000 airports
Firstly, aviationstack’s data is amongst the most extensive available, because it’s drawn from high-quality sources. Using aviationstack you can easily look up flights across airports, cities, and countries; you can check historical flight data; you can even check live flights in real-time. The API covers over 9,000 cities in more than 250 countries; over 19,000 airplanes are divided into more than 300 different types; more than 13,000 airlines are represented across over 10,000 airports. For comprehensive data, aviationstack is hard to beat.
Secondly, aviationstack’s data is accurate to the minute. Many of us get a little anxious when we travel, not least when we’re rushing to catch a connecting flight. When your app or site is providing advice and information to potentially fraught customers, accurate information is invaluable, and can often transform a stressful situation into an exceptional user experience that wins you a loyal customer for life.
Thirdly, aviationstack is built on an incredibly reliable infrastructure. It’s owned and operated by apilayer, one of the best-known names in APIs, which means you can be confident that the API won’t buckle under the pressure. The API is incredibly simple to access, with code examples provided in PHP, Python, Go, Ruby, Nodejs, and even jQuery. It’s so simple that even novice front-end coders will get it up and running quickly, without any difficulty.
Last, and by no means least, aviationstack offers an entirely free plan that grants you 500 requests to the API per month, with full aviation, and real-time flight data. Which means you can try it out with zero risk. Once you’re happy, subscriptions start from just $39.99 (billed annually) and you can cancel at any time.
Head over to aviationstack.com today to see the API in action, and claim your free API key.
[– This is a sponsored post on behald of aviationstack –]
An email list is an important asset for any business, regardless of whether it is a traditional business with a physical location or an online business like a blog or ecommerce website.
Your email list will allow you to communicate with your most loyal followers and keep your brand in front of them on a regular basis. Through your email list, you can get exposure for sales and limited-time offers, launch new products and services, drive traffic back to your website, and provide subscribers with content and information that they want, which builds more loyalty.
Although most entrepreneurs and business owners recognize the value of an email list, actually getting people to subscribe and growing the list is often challenging. Most of us already get far too many emails everyday, and we’re not that eager to sign up for more email lists unless we have a specific reason.
As a result, many website and business owners find that it’s more challenging than expected to build an email list. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some specific ways to can encourage more people to subscribe to your list.
Related: The Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing for Designers
1. Make It Easy to Subscribe
Over the years, many studies have show that email optin rates are going to be highest when you require very little information in order for people to subscribe. Asking for too much information is going to kill your optin rates.
To get the best optin rates, only ask people for their email address. Some business owners and marketers prefer to also ask for the subscriber’s first name, which allows emails to be personalized. However, even just asking for a first name will slightly decrease optin rates compared to only asking for an email address.
Don’t ask for additional information like mailing address, phone number, or any other personal information, unless it is vital to your purpose for the email list. Make it easy and quick for people to subscribe and they will be far more likely to do so.
2. Prioritize Your Email List
How important is your email list to your business? If you use (or plan to use) your email list as the primary method of making sales or landing new clients, growing your email list should be at the top of your priorities.
If growing your email list is a priority, that means that it should be a major factor in the design and layout of your website. This means that you should be dedicating the most important visual real estate on your site to growing your list.
For example, when you visit the homepage of Backlinko, the first thing you’ll see is an email optin form. Backlinko’s founder, Brian Dean, obviously places a high priority on growing his email list because he’s dedicating this valuable real estate on the homepage to an email optin form.
But prioritizing your email list is more than simply putting an optin form on your homepage. The process will involve a general approach to growing your business through the email list. Generating optins is only the beginning of the process, so you’ll need to set up an automated sequence of emails to be sent to new subscribers.
3. Give Your Newsletter a Name
What do you think of when someone asks you to subscribe to a newsletter? Chances are, it probably sounds kind of boring. Most people don’t want to subscribe and get more emails that won’t interest them.
You may be able to make the concept of an email newsletter far more appealing to would-be subscribers by giving it a name and making it sound less like a boring newsletter.
At Do You Even Blog, Pete McPherson asks visitors to “join the tribe” instead of asking them to sign up for an email newsletter.
If you click on Pete’s “join the tribe” button, you’ll be led to a landing page that aims to convince readers why they should subscribe (like exclusive content just for subscribers).
4. Make the Offer Irresistible
Why will visitors subscribe to your email list?
Don’t count on people signing up just because they don’t want to miss out on your emails or new content. Give them a reason to subscribe, and make it as irresistible as possible.
The most common way to do this is through a lead magnet, which is a freebie that is offered to encourage people to subscribe.
There are all kinds of different ways you can do this, and many different types of freebies that you can offer. You may think that your offer needs to be something that takes a lot of time or money to create, but that’s not really the case. In fact, sometimes simple offers are much more appealing.
For example, you could write and offer an entire ebook for free as a lead magnet, but most people don’t have the time or interest to read a long ebook. You may get much better conversions with something simple like a case study or checklist that takes only a short time to create.
These simple offers are often easy for subscribers to implement right away, which makes them more useful and more desirable. So rather than spending months to write an entire ebook on the subject of weight loss, why not spend just a few hours to write a much shorter report “3 Simple Exercises That Will Help You to Lose 5 Pounds This Week.” It promises quick results, seems like it would be easy to implement, and would be very enticing to the right visitor.
It’s also important to keep your lead magnet as closely related to your products and services as possible. You could offer a chance to win a prize like an Amazon gift card or an iPad. Those types of prizes will appeal to a wide range of people and you may get a lot of subscribers, but most of them probably won’t be interested in your content. But if your lead magnet is highly-relevant to the products and services that you sell, people who are interested in the lead magnet may also be interested in the products and services that you offer.
For example, Loaded Landscapes is a photography blog that sells downloadable products like Lightroom presets, which help photographers with editing their photos. The lead magnet offered by Loaded Landscapes is a collection of 5 Lightroom presets, which is a smaller version of a product that they sell on their site. The lead magnet appeals to their target audience and people who subscribe to their list are also very likely to be interested in the products that they sell.
5. Make Your Optin Forms Highly Visible
One of the easiest, and most effective ways, to increase email optin rates is simply to make the optin forms and offers more visible. Don’t assume that people who would be interested in subscribing will make the effort to find your optin forms and join your list. Instead, place it right in front of them so they can’t miss it.
There are several different ways you can do this, including the use of:
popups
full-screen welcome mats
slide-ins
sticky header bars
after-post optin forms
in-content optin forms
Designer Chris Spooner uses a popup to get maximum visibility for his lead magnet, a free bundle of design resources.
Chris also has an email optin form at the top of the sidebar and another one at the end of each blog post. He’s obviously prioritizing his email list and he’s making sure that visitors see his lead magnet to maximize signups.
Although popups and full-screen welcome mats are usually the most effective, there’s no doubt that they can also be a bit intrusive to visitors. You’ll have to determine if increasing the optin rate is worth potentially annoying some of your visitors.
If you decide not to use a popup or welcome mat, a sticky header bar can be another way to get high visibility while being slightly less annoying to visitors.
Keep in mind that people who are reading your content are very likely to be interested in the content that you share with your email list, so you’ll want to make your lead magnet visible within your post content as well.
You can add optin forms throughout your content and/or at the footer of your pages and posts. The footer may sound like a low-quality placement since it will be well below the fold and visitors may have to scroll down a long way to see it, but the end of your pages/posts can actually be a great place to promote your email list and lead magnet. People who have read the entire way through one of your blog posts will be very interested in what you have to say, so this can be a great place to get more subscribers.
6. Create a Strong Brand
Think about the email lists that you subscribe to. I’m sure you subscribe to some email lists because you are a big fan of the brand. Maybe it’s a store that you like to shop at, or a website that you visit frequently, or your favorite restaurant.
My inbox fills up every day and I try to avoid joining new email lists unless I have a strong reason, but I rarely unsubscribe from lists of my favorite brands because I don’t want to miss out on something important in the future. Even if they send a lot of emails, I typically stay on the list because I know I’m going to be interested in something in the future.
The key takeaway here is that you want to develop loyal followers that care about your brand and want to get your emails.
This isn’t something that can be done or implemented overnight. Creating a strong brand takes a lot of time and effort, but the long-term results can be significant. Obviously, growing an email list is only one of the benefits of effective branding, but it’s important to recognize how people’s perception of your business or website will impact their likelihood of subscribing to your email list or staying subscribed.
7. Offer Subscriber-Only Benefits
One way to encourage website visitors to subscribe to your email list is to mention any special perks or benefits that are only available to your subscribers. This can be anything from content that is not published publically on your website, to exclusive sales and promos that aren’t available to the public, to special discounts on products and services from other companies who want to reach your subscribers.
It’s human nature to not want to miss out. If your website visitors feel like they will be missing out if they don’t subscribe to your list, you’re likely to get more subscribers.
These special perks can also be really helpful for keeping subscribers. If they don’t want to miss out on exclusive content or special promotions, they won’t unsubscribe.
8. Maximize the Impact of Your Highest-Traffic Pages/Posts
Most websites and blogs have a few pages that account for the majority of traffic to the entire site. You may have some pages that rank well for a Google search, and those pages can produce a nice ongoing flow of traffic each day.
Make sure that you are fully utilizing these high-traffic pages on your site. They get the most visibility, so they are the most important for attracting new email subscribers.
What can you co with these high-traffic pages? Be sure that there are optin forms that are highly visible within the content of the page and/or create and offer content upgrades.
9. Offer Content Upgrades
A content upgrade is essentially a lead magnet that is created based on the specific content of a page or blog post. While a lot of blogs use lead magnets to increase subscribers, most will use the same lead magnet on every page/post.
A content upgrade takes the content of a page and goes one step further. If someone is interested in the content of the blog post, they’ll probably be very interested in the content upgrade, which means you can get a very high conversion rate if it’s done right.
For example, OptinMonster has a blog post on the topic of creating the perfect optin form. That post includes a content upgrade, which is a checklist that you can download and use when you’re creating your own optin forms. Anyone who is interested in the blog post is very likely to be interested in this PDF checklist (see it here).
10. Use Social Proof
Social proof can help to demonstrate your authority and make people realize that they should be following you. There are a few different ways to do it, but two of the most common approaches are:
An “as seen in” section that showcases or lists media or websites that have featured you.
Testimonials from real people
Many websites will showcase the logos of websites, magazines, or other media/publications that have featured them, quoted them, or even linked to them. You can see an example below from Young and the Invested.
Establishing credibility can be extremely effective for getting new visitors to trust you, and for growing an email list.
Likewise, testimonials from customers, email subscribers, and website visitors is another way of showing that your site is worthy of the visitor’s attention.
11. Leverage Other People’s Influence
If you want to get more email subscribers, you’ll need to get exposure to more people. Things like highly-visible optin forms and enticing lead magnets can certainly increase your conversion rate, but if your site has low traffic, you’ll need to get more traffic in order to really grow your list.
One of the best ways to increase traffic is to leverage other people’s influence and audience. You can do this a few different ways, including:
Publishing guest posts on other blogs
Getting other people to share your content through their social profiles
Getting others to link to your content
A lot of blogs accept guest post submissions, and this can be one of the quickest ways to get yourself and your lead magnet in front of more people. In the author bio that goes along with your guest post, instead of simply linking to your homepage, mention your lead magnet and link back to a landing page on your site where visitors can enter their email address to get access to the lead magnet.
And there are several different ways that you can get other people to share your content through social media or to link back to you from their site. One of the easiest ways is to interview people and publish the interview on your blog. Most people who are interviewed will at least share the link with their social followers, and some will even link back to it.
Aside from an individual interview that features only one person, you can ask the same question to many different people through an expert roundup. After the roundup is published, email everyone who participated and ask them to share the link with their social followers.
Even with your regular blog posts there is an easy way to leverage other people’s audiences. It’s a good idea to link out to a few other blogs in each post, and after your post is published, send an email to the people you linked to and let them know that they’ve been mentioned or featured in your post. Some of them will share the link through their social profiles, and it’s an easy way to get exposure to some new visitors.
12. Locked Content
Locked content or gated content is content that will only be visible to visitors who have joined your email list. If you use OptinMonster to grow your email list, setting this up is easy.
In most cases, you’ll want to leave some or the majority of the page visible to everyone, but then you’ll lock a certain part of the content so it can be seen only by subscribers. This is a great way to encourage visitors to subscribe and you can grow your list quickly.
13. Webinars
Webinars can be useful for growing an email list, in addition to selling products or services. You can set up a free webinar, and when your website visitors register for the webinar, they’ll be added to your email list.
Not only will webinars help you to land more email subscribers, but they’re also extremely useful for developing a stronger connection with your followers. A webinar can be a lot more personal than simply reading text from a website, so it’s a great way to build trust and help visitors to feel like they know you.
14. Giveaways, Contests, and Sweepstakes
Services and apps like Contest Domination make it very easy to use a contest, giveaway, or sweepstakes to grow your email list. People love the chance to win something for free, and you can require people to subscribe in order to enter the contest.
These contests can also be effective because of the viral nature. You can set up the rules to give extra contest entries to people who share a link to the contest through their social profiles, which can significantly increase the exposure and grow your list even more.
Earlier on in this article, I mentioned that any incentive (in this case, the prize) should be relevant to the audience that you are targeting. If you want to target web designers, don’t run a contest to win $100 in cash, or else you’ll attract a lot of people who won’t fit into your target audience.
Instead, offer a free app or some resource that is relevant specifically to web designers. This way you’ll avoid building a list full of people who don’t really care about your emails after the contest is over.
15. Run Ads
When it comes to generating traffic, most of the attention usually goes to free methods like SEO or social media. But advertising and paying for traffic can be extremely effective if you know the value of the average subscriber. Facebook ads are popular and allow you to target just the right audience to grow your list. If you know the value of a subscriber, you’ll know how much you can spend to generate each subscriber.
Putting It Into Action
We’ve looked at 15 different ways to grow your email list in this article. Don’t let all of the different possibilities become overwhelming… You don’t need to implement everything at once.
Pick something that seems like a good starting point for you and start to implement things one-at-a-time. The very first point, make it easy to subscribe, is a great place to start.
