I’ll be honest, I still haven’t implemented an email newsletter or any type of email marketing for my blog yet, but it’s absolutely on my high priority list. If you’ve noticed, the majority of “big” bloggers out there have an email newsletter! There are plenty of reasons why you need to start using email marketing for your blog (if you want to see it grow) and I’m here to go over a few of those with you.
1. Social media isn’t enough - You can have a ton of followers on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. and be advertising your blog and posts through those outlets, but let’s face the reality. All social networks are bombarded with post after post, picture after picture, and surely your own additions will be lost in the sea of social media. Not everyone who follows you will be seeing what you post. This is especially true for Facebook. For me, this in particular is very frustrating because I have the most followers through Facebook, but unfortunately Facebook only shows your posts to a very, very small percentage of those people. Since social media is growing larger and larger every day, you need to find another way to reach your blog’s audience (while still sticking with social media, of course).
2. Newsletters let you share more than one post - The great thing about having a blog newsletter is that you’re able to share more than just one post. You can have a weekly newsletter or even just a bi-weekly newsletter. You can share all the posts you’ve made or just highlight a few of the best ones. This is your chance to captivate your audience with an enticing headline! People will open your email and maybe just quickly scroll through it, but if you have a list of blog posts, there will likely be something that catches their eye.
3.You can find your true fans - For the most part, people who sign up for your email newsletter or updates are more than likely people who are really interested in your blog. It’s easy to like or follow on social media, and if you’ve ever done a giveaway you know how quickly that can happen (and then just as quickly fall through). When people give you their email address, they’re giving you permission to send them emails, which is something much more personal than any social media account. Sharing your blog posts and updates through email is a great way to build a loyal following.
4. It doesn’t take much time - Thanks to automated programs, all you have to do is set up your weekly newsletter once and it is set to go out to all of your subscribers. You want to make sure you keep your email pretty short and includes lots of links to your blog.
5. Track activity - While you can also do this with social media, email programs make it much easier to track the activity of your subscribers. You can see how many people opened your email, how many unsubscribed, etc. This allows you to improve these emails and make any necessary changes in order to increase the effectiveness of what you’re sending out.
Tips for Starting a Blog Newsletter
1. Let people know what they’re getting. Create a page on your blog that lists what they can expect when they sign up for your blog’s email newsletter. Ensure them that you will not share their email with any third party. Let them know how often to expect emails from you.
2. Do not go overboard. People don’t want to see a ton of emails from you all the time. This will likely get you a lot of unsubscribers. Don’t send more than one email a week (unless you have something important to promote, such as a giveaway).
3. Start off small. Creating a newsletter can be a lot of work, especially if you’ve never done it before. Many bloggers create weekly newsletters, but if you’re just getting into it, why not try doing a bi-weekly newsletter? This is even better if you’re someone who doesn’t post that regularly.
4. Offer them something for signing up. This can be a great incentive for having people subscribing to your newsletter. Of course, we all want to be able to grow our email list organically, but sometimes you need that extra little push. Many bloggers offer free e-books, a coupon for their Etsy shop, free PDF files, etc. It may be hard to figure out what you can offer, but don’t let this hold you back from starting the newsletter. If anything, you can start it and then figure out later on what you may be able to offer people.
5. Test out a “pop up” sign up form. Yes, this is a little bit annoying, but it’s a good way to remind people that you have a newsletter. Also, it’s easy to just exit out of it and continue reading, so it shouldn’t be too bothersome for your readers. Try to set up a form that pops up after a few seconds of them being on the page and also have it pop up only once per certain amounts of visits or so (because if that keeps popping up, people may not want to stay on your blog…)
If you're interested in starting up an email newsletter for your blog, I recommend using MailChimp! It's free for up to 2,000 subscribers. There are plenty of other email programs out there, some free and some you have to pay for. If you're just starting out though, I definitely recommend using the free MailChimp plan.
What do you think of email newsletters?
If you already have a newsletter, did you see your page views go up because of it?
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