I've been publishing an email newsletter since 2000, and have to admit I wasn't very attentive to the whole process at the beginning. Hindsight is 20/20, and I could kick myself for not taking this strategy very seriously, as my email newsletter list is my gold mine because it's filled with subscribers who already know something about me.

Each week after I send out my ezine, I receive several emails that begin, "Hi Donna! My name is ..., and I know you don't know me, but I know you, as I've been reading your newsletter for a couple of years now." I love those emails, as I know that my reader has begun to like, trust and respect me -- all the characteristics that need to be in place for them to decide to buy something from me.

Many of you may be asking, "Well, Donna, isn't the email newsletter dead? Everyone is blogging now." True, blogging is quite an effective way to publicize your business. However, I believe in the power of doing both. There are people who don't have the time/energy/desire to read a blog and would rather have the info delivered directly to them in their inbox, with no additional clicking required.

How can you grow your own list? Or, if you're just starting an email newsletter, how can you get subscribers to the list? Here are 15 strategies I've used over the past 5 years to get subscribers to my email newsletter list:

1. Tell your clients, colleagues, friends and family. Just like a birth announcement, tell everyone you know about your new "baby" -- your email newsletter. Because you want a list in which subscribers have opted in, don't add people directly to the list. In fact, many ezine distribution services don't permit you to do that. Instead, provide them with an email sign-up link, or send them to the form on your web site where they can subscribe to your newsletter.

2. Have a sign-up box on every page of your web site. You never know on what page someone will land in your web site. As I look at my web site statistics, I am amazed at some of the search terms that visitors use that make them land on an internal page of my web site. Don't take a chance that you might lose them -- offer them the option to sign up for your newsletter on every single page of your web site.

3. Make your sign-up box compelling. Don't have a simple sign up box that says, "Join our mailing list." Yuck--who wants to voluntarily receive more email? Not me! Give your visitor a reason to sign up for your newsletter, i.e. "Join over 2000 other solo business owners who receive weekly advice on how to get more clients online."

4. Create one clear call to action. If you have too many options for action on your web site, your visitor will become overwhelmed and leave. Conversely, if you don't ask your visitor to take an action, you potentially lose that person forever. Make your primary call to action on your web site a request to subscribe to your email newsletter. It's short, simple, to the point, and will help you build your contact database gold mine.

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