Build or buy? That is the questions you need to ask when you’re thinking of promoting your business through email marketing. Do you build your email list from scratch or do you buy a list from one of the many online list broking services?

Some clients want to dive right in and that means they don’t have the time to build a mailing list, others are happy to start small and build a quality list through website traffic and networking. Even if you do choose to start with a bought list, it’s important for you to collect email addresses on your website to start growing subscribers organically. These connections are bound to be more valuable, as they have actually searched for your information before.

Tips for attracting email subscribers to your mailing list:

• Write keyword-based content! Find your industry’s highly searched key phrases and write content in the form of blog posts, news, tweets and factsheets based on those phrases.
• Ask for a subscription. Many content marketers are divided on the subject, but if you’re content is worth reading it won’t hurt to ask for an email address before your leads can download your content. Making some content exclusive will incentivise the subscription.
• Ask for a forward. If your content is providing valuable information then your subscribers will be happy to share it with their friends and colleagues.