Home > The Newbie Zone > Questions and Answers

---

What is your favorite traffic source to build an email list? (17)

---

I know this is one of those classic noob questions. But I am really struggling with it.

I asked around and some people in my network suggests to go for FB ads, Google ads, YT ads, solo ads, safelists, email drops, etc.

...or if I am looking for a free option, to build a blog or create YT videos.

Now, creating videos is not really easy. I am not one of those camera-friendly people. Blogging takes too much time.

I am lost here. Is the paid option the way to go?

What are the ways you guys build an email list fast and easy? Your favorite traffic sources? Your unique approach?

Any advice will be much appreciated.

---

What vertical are you interested in?

Depends a bit on that too.

---

I am in the ecommerce niche, physical products mainly.

---

That's really broad because someone interested in cooking and kitchen tools won't be interested in pet items too (for the most part).

You have to narrow it down more first.

Then you have to decide what you offer people to sign up to your email list.

Then you have to decide what content you share regularly with your subscribers and how you monetize this list.

And only after that you really have to think about how to get subscribers.

Without deciding on the above first, all the options you've been given are equally viable. Asking a broad question gets you a broad answer, it's how it is. You have to narrow it down yourself and then you get a much better answer, tailored for your needs.

It's also kind of impossible to suggest the best option when there's no info on the way you wish to monetize and your revenue per subscriber. Literally, any of the options you were told already can work but it's about the details and starting with the lower hanging fruit first for your specific case.

---

Manu is right, the niche you are in does influence your strategy a LOT

But, based on what you wrote so far:

Since you are looking for a quick/fast option, then yes, paid traffic is the way to go. In terms of speed, there is nothing that would beat paid traffic, at least to jump start things.

Based on my rather limited list building experience, FB ads and google ads delivered the best (most responsive) leads.

The easiest way of getting subscribers is to offer some lead magnet (free ebook ...) and to get some additional traction, you can offer 2 levels of freebies, the ebook at the initial subscription and then some bonus item when the new leads share your campaign on social media. Dropbox used this very effectively some time ago, read about the system they used here: https://viral-loops.com/blog/dropbox...erral-program/

---

It's not so much about deciding on the niche but rather more about dealing with multiple niches.

So, I am a freelance copywriter (a service-oriented niche) and I also in the beginning phase of an eCommerce site (selling board game products, especially chess).

Although I know it would depend on my niche as well as on a number of other factors.

But, the question was rather broad because I was looking to pick your brains (from your experience). Just trying to get ideas or what you guys do for your niche.

---

Yes, more and more people say that search engine ads (including Bing) and Facebook and Instagram ads are the way to go when building a list.

Do push, pop (over or under) or such don't work well? They are a lot cheaper. :-)

---

FB is certainly the most flexible one then and can be treated similarly for more than one niche.

In my case, we've been testing FB Ads for WHAT THE AFF recently to try to prepare for a bigger campaign next year. It's certainly very powerful if your target audience is on FB (and not on Snapchat and TikTok). So for us, it's been quite good. We're not using any sort of lead magnet (ebook, webinar, etc.), we just ask users to sign up for our newsletter.

For board games, I think you are good with starting on FB and testing multiple interests and age groups. Then you can perhaps check out a younger demographic on Snapchat and TikTok.

---

Push, pops and everything with no interest targeting can work for super broad topics. I doubt it can work for something as specific as board games, chess, etc. It's definitely not worth the time for the long term either way, because you want to create a predictable subscriber acquisition strategy. Pretty much impossible when you cannot do target your typical buyers/readers/subscribers.

---

You will definitely be able to collect leads from push, pops or whatever... I mean, every traffic type can be converted to some extent, the problem will be the quality of such list.

If you offer something for free, for example, some people will signup but they won't be really interested in what you have to offer so they won't become responsive list members.

In order to really build an engaged community/list, you need to target the right people and that's what isn't really possible with push or pops... the targeting simply isnt there. So large part of the leads you collect that way will be "dead" and unresponsive. With FB, you can target very precisely, so you can build your audience from the people you need and that changes a lot.

But you could still use the cheap push/pops traffic in order to test your funnels... if this traffic converts, chances are that better targeted traffic will convert much better

---

Exactly! That is what I am focused upon. To develop a steady acquisition strategy. Push and pop traffic seems to be too broad. I can't even convert a simple "free" iPhone offer with them. How the heck am I going to convert them to buy a chess board or course, for God's sake? :-)

You are talking about the WHAT THE AFF newsletter, right? If you are using the home page as the landing page, I think it is pretty neat. I signed up myself. I think I have to start with FB ads only. Google ads might cost a little more per click as of yet.

---

This is a great idea. Will have to test it out.

To both Manu and you, what are some of the offers that have worked really well for push and pop for you guys? Just curious. Because a part of me is trying to crack that code with AdMaven. Still struggling.

---

With push, sweeps worked the best for me, CC submits specifically. I could also make dating profitable on PPL, but the lead quality was quite erratic and I lost most of the offers after a while. Based on the info I have from the networks, large part of push traffic works like this with dating... quite easy to convert, hard to reach decent lead quality. As for POPs, the situation was similar for me, though the lead quality seemed to be a bit more stable, not better, but once I optimized the campaign, I didn't get kicked off the offers that often as with push.

---

Yeah, the home page is the landing page. We're still improving things, some less visible (like load times) and some design changes, testing more ads, etc.

The reason we started with FB Ads is because I don't think there's that much going on when it comes to people searching for newsletters to read, haha. Not impossible but I'm much less familiar with Search ads that FB seems like the natural start.

If I were to do Search ads for WHAT THE AFF, I would probably have to research popular marketing news related terms then build custom angles for them to make sure that we are a solution for the query.

For Facebook, it's more like people interested in marketing see a cool ad that promises to save them time or make their job easier, they see the page, see some social proof and that they have nothing to lose so they check it out. Then, of course some will unsubscribe quickly, but most stick and enjoy it. So once they are on your list, it's about the product or service you provide them with.

Not sure how that translates for your purpose. Just saying that email is a medium, not something magical that has value if it's not used.

As for pops, I used to run that quite a few years ago. Never tested push.

---

Thanks for breaking down the inner workings of your approach. Yes, it's not really magical. Ultimately, the product needs to be good for people to stick to it.

To be honest, FB advertising seems easier to deal with than push and pop. Good targeting and lots of spying options. Push and pop is mostly "hit or miss", IMO.

---

By kicked-off, you mean the offers stopped converting, right?

Push and pop are erratic indeed. Last campaign I ran, 25k+ views, around 25 clicks, no conversion. Yes, it is not much compared to what you guys are probably running, I guess. Yes, it depends on the creative. Yes, I didn't have a prelander. However, the landing page of the offer was really professional and I would have expected those 25 people were really interested in the sweepstake offer. So at least one lead was expected.

I am keeping with the "1 source and 1 vertical" motto for now. But push seems to be a hard nut to crack. I saw William Souza's video where he rakes $700 (if I remember correctly) in a matter of 30 mins. He seems to know some "magic" I guess.

---

Actually it's about advertisers kicking you off the offers, so telling you to stop, since the lead quality is not good enough for them and they are not able to turn profit.

Well, we can expect whatever we want, only the data will tell you the truth though 25 clicks is nothing, and without a prelander, it's pretty much wasted money. I'm not surprised you didnt get a single lead, not at all

I would say push is actually quite easy to run, not much to setup, ads are very easy to create, the best verticals for it are known and there is plenty of them out there... it takes a while to optimize the campaigns for sure, and the volatility doesn't make it easier but it can be done by following the general simple rules and cutting under-performing zones aggressively.

There is no magic to this, its all about a good ad, good LP and good offer

---

Home > The Newbie Zone > Questions and Answers