One of the best techniques to grow your list is to create and maintain a blog on whatever subject you are promoting at the moment. More people now subscribe through my blog than my original opt-in page.

Get a free one at Wordpress or Blogger. You can host it yourself or have them do it for you. Sorry guys but there’s no excuse for not having a blog anymore!

When you create a blog and invite subscribers and reader’s comments on your current posts, you are actually setting up a virtual community of people interested in what you have to say or offer for advice. While your blog’s community may not be as large or powerful as any of the wildly popular social networking sites, it will be loyal and responsive to your personal recommendations for products that might help them.

That community of loyal subscribers will eventually start interacting with each other and posting answers or casual jibes in response to posts by other subscribers. Promote that process whenever you can. It is absolute gold to your marketing efforts and conversion rates.

Your posts have to be consistent and on some regular basis or you will lose your subscribers. A lack of attention on your part will be received as your lack of real interest in your subscribers. If you are dealing with a family crisis, the flu or just going on vacation, tell your subscribers and mention when you will return. That way, they will continue to feel like they are valuable to you and part of your business.

Make sure you have an opt-in box on your blog. Offer a free download in return if you like. From personal experience I’ve found that if you write an interesting blog, people will want to read more. Once they’ve read all your back posts then they’ll start looking for more info. If you offer a newsletter – a free one – in exchange their email address they’ll opt in.

Importantly you should make sure that your opt-in box is in a prominent position on your blog. Mine is at top right, so it’s one of the first things they see whenever they visit my blog.

The free download that you offer could be something related to your blog. For instance, if you are running a blog devoted to the exchange of recipes, have a collection of hard to find recipes, or recipe secrets from your grandmother’s kitchen to offer to your subscribers…or from somebody’s grandmother.

You could also offer a free collection of recipes focused around a holiday, season or activity to your members on a monthly or quarterly basis as a free benefit to them for maintaining their subscription to your blog. Do not let your subscribers feel like you are only interested in getting them to buy something. They will feel discounted and leave your blog in droves.

Other ideas to maintain interest could be contests. Using the recipe subject again, you might ask your members to submit their best personal cookie recipe or summer salad recipe for your recipe-of-the-month contest. Winners would get something you created, like a collection of recipes culled from any of the 100 or so PLR recipe collections available on the Internet or those found in the public domain.

Put a new face on them, reformat and change the language some and you have a new recipe ebook to give to your winners. Another possibility would be to compile the recipes submitted for your contest into an ebook and send a free copy to your contestants. Just get their permission to use their name and maybe a bio of a few sentences. Talk about viral marketing! How fast do you think that would get around the neighborhood and the entire family?

There’s another product for you to market or use as a giveaway. Think outside the box!

Surveys and asking for opinions on topics of interest are always big attractions with subscribers. Make your questions mysterious enough to create real curiosity and require an opt-in sign up from readers who have not registered as a member of your blog. Increasing your list by providing value and stimulating interest in your blog should be in the back of your mind 24/7.

Download this ebook for FREE now.