Gathering and maintaining a solid list of subscribers for your email newsletter is one of the most important aspects of a powerful email marketing campaign. Once you have acquired a good subscriber base it is much more easier to increase your list through word-of-mouth, social media and “email to a friend” features.

1. Collect emails through your website and social media profile. Your website is the first place to start for building your email newsletter subscriber list. Let your customers and visitors know about your email program and how it can benefit them. The best place to place your newsletter sign up form is at the left area of your website. Also, give your customers and visitors a good reason to sign up by providing freebies and promotional offers.
2. Use networking and events to find new subscribers. If your business is participating in a networking event through a chamber of commerce or a trade show use this opportunity to have people sign up for your newsletters. Having a way to physically sign up through a paper form can make your list grow.
3. Get customers to sign up when they make purchases. Ask your customers if they’d like to sign up for your newsletter after they make a purchase. Provide a quick and easy sign up form that will provide them with savings and free information.
4. Create a list building campaign. Offer free giveaways like e-books, white papers and case studies so that customers and prospects have a good reason to sign up.
5. Promote your website. You can have the best website in the world, but no one is going to care if they don’t know it’s there. Make a serious effort to promote it through your newsletter. Update your website with new content and let your subscribers know that they should check your website to see what’s new.
6. Keep your content fresh. To get new subscribers to your email newsletter is only the beginning when it comes to building your list. You also need to do everything possible to keep them from unsubscribing. This means providing quality newsletters and giving away freebies or providing links to free and helpful resources. Your subscribers will want to stay subscribed to your list so that they can see what new valuable thing you’ll be sending them next.
7. Don’t advertise in each newsletter. An important facet of email newsletter marketing is to send content that contains quality information that people will want to read. Your subscribers will quickly opt out if the content is not interesting and advertising dominates each issue.

A combination of these different strategies can help you move from only collecting a few subscribers each month to collecting hundreds or even thousands of emails each month. All it takes is a little bit of time, effort and enthusiasm in your email campaigns so that they become a powerful force in your marketing efforts.

Paul C. Stokes founded eNewsletterSolutions, an email newsletter service for small businesses and organizations, in 2003. He has more than 15 years article writing and nearly 10 years online marketing experience, including email newsletter marketing.