15 Minute Craft Website Tips  

What's THE most important thing that your website must do?

• Showcase your best art? Nope....
• Get ranked on Google? Nope....
• Sell your work? Definitely important...but nope.

What can possibly be more important than getting people to buy your work?

You must use your website to help build THE LIST

• People may not buy the first time they visit your website
• Once they leave, they probably won't come back...no matter how much they like your work.
• It's critical that you collect the names and email address of as many people that visit your website as possible so that you can contact them after they leave your website.

Don't use Outlook to manage your list

• Mail programs like Outlook or Apple Mail aren't built to manage an email list of any significant size. You'll simply waste your time, effort, and possibly lose subscribers.
• Don't scrimp on the expense of getting a list management service to help you maintain your mailing list. Most services start around $10 per month.

Make signing up easy

• Put your sign up on every single page of your website. You don't need to make people look if they want to join your mailing list. Make sure that your sign up is easy to spot and toward the top of the page.
• Don't ask for a ton of information. Just starting off with a name and email address is just fine. If you need more information, either get it from your subscribers after they get to know you or provide a really good reason why you need that information.
• Provide a privacy policy. Give people the reassurance that signing up for your list is not the gateway to spam.

Give incentives and benefits of joining

• People will join your list if you provide them with reasons why it's worth their while. They're not going to sign up to be nice. You have to give them some real value
• Give extra incentives. A newsletter isn't incentive enough. Provide coupons, advance information, free gifts...anything that your customers will find valuable.

Mention your list everywhere

• Place your sign up form on your blog if possible
• Add a link to your list in your email signature
• Tell everyone you have a list and ask them to join

If you've liked the tips you've read in these show notes and heard on show and want more information on how to shoot, edit, and post your video online, get a FREE copy of my article series "How to Plan and Start a Great Email Newsletter".