Inside: The process of building an email newsletter that will be successful.
Now that you have a blog, it’s time to start shifting your focus to ways that you can grow it. The more engagement your blog has, the more successful you will be. But how do you get more engagement, you may be wondering. I can help you with that.
Building an email newsletter is something that every blog should do. There are so many benefits to it; I cannot see why you wouldn’t want to. It keeps your readers coming back, gives you the opportunity to sell more products(if that is what your blog does), and so many more things.
If you have been thinking about building one for a while now, this is your final push: Do it! I am going to walk you through how to go about it, as well as offer up some important tips to ensure that your newsletter is as successful as it can be. Take a look!
Building An Email Newsletter
I am going to walk you through this process step by step so you don’t have to feel overwhelmed or like you are missing a thing. Carefully read through the tutorial below to get started. You can write down the tips and tricks that you want to keep in mind as you go forward.
Step One: Pick a Platform
If you are just starting out, then MailChimp is the perfect platform for you. It’s what I even use! Eventually, if your newsletter grows to be too big, you may price out of MailChimp, but you can cross that bridge once you get there.
There are a few different plans that you can choose from that vary in price, so pick the one that best fits your needs. As you will see on their site, the price will go up based on two things: how many people are subscribed and how many features you want.
Don’t let the high price scare you. You won’t need room for more than 500 people for a while, and by the time you do, you’ll be able to afford the price.
Step Two: Build Your List
You need to be doing one thing every week to build on the list of people who are signed up for your newsletter. There are lots of ways that you can do this, but some of my favorites are below.
- Add a pop-up to your blog
- Put your link into a blog post
- Share your stories
- Make it a highlight
The more people that you get to sign up for your mailing list, the more people are potentially seeing your blog. I think this is not spoken about enough on the web when people are brainstorming ways to get a consistent reader base. This is the way!
Step Three: Brainstorm
You are going to want to take some time to brainstorm juicy topics to include each week. You want your readers eager to open your email, so consider teasing it beforehand on your socials.
Step Four: Learn the Layout
You need to learn what layouts work best for you. You are going to want to spend some time zeroing in on what makes a great subject line. Subject lines are the first thing that your reader will notice, and they will be the deciding factor on whether or not your newsletter is opened. If they don’t open it, there is no point in any of this.
- Always have something exclusive in the email
- Always have 2-3 links back to the site in each letter
- Always include 2-3 affiliate links
Step Five: Create a template
- Subject Line:
- Topic/Body Paragraph:
- From the Archives:
- Loving These:
- Q&A:
- One to Follow:
Step Six: Pick Your Newsletter Schedule
It is important that your newsletter be sent out on a schedule so that your readers know when to look for it. This means you need to pick a weekly/monthly time and STICK to it. For example, you could send it on Thursdays at 11.
Your consistency will lead to more of your readers coming back to your blog. It is also a way to build an actual fanbase that will support you on whatever endeavor that you are doing. These letters are like little direct messages to the people who care enough about what you are doing to sign up for an update. How sweet is that?
Building an Email Newsletter: Topics to Consider
I wanted to include a list of topics that you can include in your newsletter to give you a head start. The list below is full of some awesome ideas that are really important for you to include. You obviously don’t have to include this whole thing into just one newsletter, but you can make it a goal to pull from it as the weeks go by.
- Links to recent social posts
- Weekly updates
- Affiliate links from the week
- Something inspirational from your week
- Exclusive announcements
- Sales/exclusive discounts
- A pre-sale of a product or service you offer
- A free download
Building an Email Newsletter: Newsletter Analytics to Track
It’s helpful to note the top and lowest performers out of every ten newsletters or so. This can give you insights into what content your readers liked, which layouts did better than others, and which kinds of newsletters resulted in traffic back to your site. Below is a list of analytics that you can track.
- The date & time sent
- Total Emails Sent
- Total Emails Delivered
- Open Rate
- Click Through Rate
- Unsubscribe Rate
So there you have it. Why building an email newsletter is so important and the tips and tricks you need to get started. I hope this got you excited about starting your newsletter because it is such a handy tool to boost your blog’s traffic!
If you are thinking about other ways that you can boost your blog traffic, might I suggest learning how to rank higher on Google? I will walk you through how & why to do this here.
Your blog has the potential to be your full-time business. With the proper care and energy, you could absolutely be successful at it. Do not sell yourself short!
