How Procrastination Cost Me 72,800 Email Subscribers

 

The artistic creations of deception often start with the perfection piece. It’s got to be just right. It then can move onto what if I stuff up. Fear also often creeps in as we go into the psycho babble of other people’s judgment.

 

The other reason  that we don’t often own up to is “just plain lazy”.

 

We all make excuses why we don’t get things done. The reality is that it will cost you money, opportunity and even relationships. Sometimes we don’t start a blog, a book or that business because the priorities are the wrong way around.

 

 

We live in a freemium economy. It starts with offering something of value for free online to display snippets of your knowledge. Then the steps are asking for $9.99 for a book and we can move onto selling an online course, a paid online webinar, or even a monthly subscription to a membership site.

 

Give away free content that adds value and solves problems and you start building trust and credibility.

 

 

It was about two years ago that I offered a free ebook. To download it you had to enter your name and email address and agree to receive my daily blog articles and other updates. It worked well for a while but then I had some technical issues and I pulled it.

 

For two years I didn’t do anything. Excuses were varied. Fear of technology. It requires some technical understanding of your email platform and I had struggled with that. (I could have easily got someone to do it for me). I needed to write a new ebook which takes time and it needed to be designed well. I could have used Elance to find myself a designer or even used 99designs.com.

Instead, I just put it off.

 

Finally I got around to it. I now offer a new 57 page ebook titled “8 Key Steps to Blogging Mastery” and between 100-120 are being downloaded  every day. If I have my maths right, that is 72.800 subscribers (using the conservative 100 a day) that I could have signed up and would have been on my email list if I hadn’t procrastinated 104 weeks ago.

 

Does the word “idiot” cross your mind?

 

 

So what are the steps to creating and publishing the ebook and building an email list that will provide a solid foundation to your blog and business?

 

So what should you use as the topic for your book? A great place to start is to ask yourself this question: “What are the biggest problems that face people on my topic or industry category?” Then write several headlines to make the title for the ebook and pick the best one. Don’t wait to get this perfect. Just start.

 

The next step once you have selected your title is to create an outline for your ebook. There is no black and white answer to this. Here is a simple 5 step formula that works for me that comes in various colors, shapes and sizes:

 

1. An introduction: This could include a personal story to build credibility, or the current landscape of the sector that you are covering that provides context for the book.
2. The challenges: What are the problems that you know you have faced and others will also face along the way? You will also identify with your reader by doing this.
3. The opportunities: What will the reader gain from reading the rest of the book? What fun, fame and fortune will they receive should they follow your instructions?
4. The steps to success: This is where you lay out a framework for your readers to follow. Take them by the hand and show them the way to the promised land.
5. Key takeaways: This is where you distill the book and highlight the priorities that your reader should focus on. It could even include providing a fast start option to get them out of the starting gate.

 

You may find an another outline formula that works for you. Whatever you do don’t get sucked into the “paralysis by analysis” syndrome, where nothing happens because you want to know the perfect approach. Pull your running shoes on and hit the road.

 

Now you have to sit down and write the words. It’s also called “doing the work.” Some ebooks are a compilation of blog posts woven together. What is vital is to write with your voice and put some passion and personality into it especially at the start. This is “Finding Your Writing Voice.” Don’t make your brand bland, but give it some heart and soul.

 

Finally you need to make sure that it looks and reads like a professional wrote and produced it. This means includes editing and proof reading in your process after the first draft. Editing is important because when we write we often fill it with fluff. These are the redundant words, sentences, and paragraphs that can be removed. An editor will cull and cut these and make it a tighter read. Don’t edit yourself because, as Stephen King said, it is like killing your own children. You need an outside and pragmatic person to do this as you will be too attached.

 

A design is important as it will include your branding and make it something that you will be proud of. It doesn’t need to be complicated but it needs to be well structured and easy to read and consume. I used a designer from Elance and that included the following.

 

• Cover
• Internal design
• Formatting
• PDF format

 

The price for that was only $219. We are all busy, so give this to a professional. They will leverage your time. Do what you are best at.

 

We all have email platforms of choice. It might be AWeber (which I use), MailChimp, or Campaign Monitor. You can do it yourself if you are so inclined or you can give it to your web developer and get them to do it. I have done both and I know what I prefer.

 

So how should you set it up? There are two schools of thought on this:

 

1. Place the “Opt in” for your ebook in a visible and obvious location on your site (top and right) and let people sign up. 
2. Place the “Opt in” for your ebook in a visible and obvious location on your site (top and right) and also provide a light box with an email subscribe “call to action” that pops up after a few seconds that darkens the blog/website.

 

Option two can annoy but it will increase your conversion rate (sometimes as much as 500%. Your call—whatever you are comfortable with.

 

 

That is the instruction, and now is time for you to start the construction.

 

The learning and magic happens when you start the work. Have you started building an email list? Are you offering a free book or some premium content that offers an incentive for people to hand over their email address and name?

 

Look forward to hearing your stories and insights in the comments below.