Bloggers: You NEED an email list. I have been blogging almost three years and am just now realizing the importance of an email list. Here I’m sharing how to grow your email list now.
Did you know that every person on your email list is worth $1-$2 in revenue per month? If you have 2,000 subscribers, that means you can expect to make $2,000-$4,000/month just from your list.
I hovered below 1,000 subscribers for a while. Then, I made a few changes two months ago and am now nearing 2,500 subscribers! My traffic is the exact same, too.
How to Grow Your Email List Now
Use a User-Friendly Email Provider
I used MailChimp up until a few months ago when I switched to MailerLite. You guys, I cannot rave about MailerLite enough. It is especially ideal for people who are not tech-savvy (:::raises hand:::).
MailerLite is free for the first 1,000 subscribers, so don’t worry about having to pay for a plan now if you’re just starting out. Once you have over 1,000 subscribers, the plans range from $10-$35/month. Compared to other providers who charge well over $100/month, this is a fantastic deal.
MailerLite makes it so easy to create landing pages and popups to get more subscribers. My blog is proof that this is working. I’m offering the exact same products for free (I’ll explain more on the below), but because my popups and landing pages are more appealing, I’m getting more people to sign up.
You can view my landing page on my free guide to start a blog here >>
That landing page required absolutely no tech skills. I uploaded a photo, chose font colors and sizes, and voila!
But What About ConvertKit?
I’ve never used ConvertKit, but I’ve heard it’s also a really good service! A blogging friend of mine uses it though and it IS more expensive (it’s $79/month for 3K-5K subscribers and goes up from there) and she did say she had to do some coding to get the forms how she wanted them.
MailerLite took me a solid day to learn the ins and outs and get all my forms set up, but I don’t consider that much time at all! Overall, I would absolutely recommend this service.
Offer Free Products to Gain Subscribers
When I first started a newsletter/email list, I simply created a popup that said “Sign up to get exclusive blogging tips delivered straight to your inbox!” While that did get a few subscribers, it wasn’t enticing enough to get more.
Now, I offer two free products to get readers to subscribe to my newsletter.
The first is my free guide on how to start a blog. I offer it as a popup when new readers come to my blogΒ andΒ on my landing page that I inserted the link to in many posts.
My second product is geared to helping bloggers make money on their blogs. It’s a guide called “5 Blog Posts That Will Make You Money” (you can access it below). This guide consists of five specific blog post ideas that will hopefully make you some money! If nothing else, it will get you thinking of ways to monetize your blog π I created the opt in form you see below to get people to sign up and have inserted it across all of my posts on blogging.
Also, you should know that these products did NOT take me forever and a day to create. They are free and are designed to get people on my email list! Of course I want to help the reader in the process, but there’s no way I’m going to spend months on a free product. Figure out what your audience wants, create a product or printable you think they’d be interested in, and start marketing it!
Promote Your Pages and Blog
If you want to get subscribers, you have to market your blog and, more specifically, the pages that offer your free product / opt in. I’ve been spending a good amount of time promoting my pages on Pinterest through various group boards. Feel free to follow me here and join some of the group boards I am apart of!
I’ve also been dabbling in Facebook ads. Has anyone tried those yet?! It’s sort of confusing, but I won’t learn if I don’t try. I did one ad that promoted my landing page and that got decent results; but I do still find Pinterest to be the best source of traffic for me. Right now, I’m spending about $100-$200 per month on ads. I hope to provide some insight on this in the future, so stay tuned!!
What Should I Email My List?
Back to my point above about how studies show your list is worth $1-$2/month in revenue per subscriber. That’s fantastic, but how do you generate income from your list?!
Ok, this is still something I’m working on, but here’s what I do:
First, I email my list as if I’m emailing a friend (which really is what I’m doing!!). So many people respond and we chat back and forth for a bit; I love this part of my list!! I get more personal in my emails than I ever would on my blog and I find my emails to be much more relatable. You should do the same!! If you think your email would better serve as a blog post, do that instead. You can always email your list later with a link to that blog post in addition to other things.
I recommend products I think they would be interested in. Since most of my subscribers are either new bloggers or they’re interested in blogging, I look for blogging-related products that I can promote (both my own products and products I am an affiliate for). A recent example was Ultimate Bundles Genius Blogger’s Toolkit (I wrote a post on this too which you can see here). This kit was only available for two days, so I emailed my list twice in that time period discussing the bundle and showcasing what my readers could get out of it. Just as I suspected, my readers were interested in this and I made quite a few sales!
But, for the most part, I’m not emailing my list with a specific affiliate sale or product sale in mind. Instead, I’m emailing as a friend and letting them know what’s going on in my life and providing some information that I think would be useful to them.
After this post is published, for example, I’m going to send my list a link to this post plus some additional tips on getting subscribers. I’ll also share a link to my start a blog page in case any subscribers haven’t taken the plunge yet and started their own blog.
How Often Should I Email My List?
I aim for once a week! If a flash sale is going on (like the Ultimate Bundles one above), I might email 2-3 times over the course of a few days, but I try not to do that too often. I definitely do not want people getting sick of my emails and unsubscribing!
Also, I didn’t start sending emails regularly until I had been blogging for TWO YEARS. So, if you just started a blog, don’t feel obligated to send emails immediately (though you certainly can!). You can always just focus on growing your list and then sending out emails when the desire strikes! This is what I love most about blogging – you can do it exactly how you want. No two bloggers are successful in the exact same ways, so take time to figure out what works for you and go from there!
What questions do you have about email lists?! Again, I’m by no means an “expert,” but I’ve learned a lot recently and am happy to share!!
Trying to build an email list before I start publishing new content again. I think I want to create a resource library, but I’m worried about how much time that will take. I know you said in this post that neither of your freebies took too long. How long would you estimate? I also have a bit of fear that no one would want what I’m thinking of offering! Ever overcome that fear yourself?
So one of the reasons I don’t have a fear of people not liking my freebie is simply because I didn’t spend a ton of time on it, so I don’t get offended, if that makes sense?! My first freebie on how to start a blog probably took one hour. I basically condensed my “Start a Profitable Blog” page and turned it into an email. Since I was going off of that, it was pretty quick!! My other freebie – 5 Blog Posts That Will Make You Money – took about three hours total. So, still not too long!! That one actually doesn’t do as well as I’d hoped, but that’s ok. I’m currently brainstorming other freebie ideas!
I definitely think a resource library is a fantastic idea!! Maybe start with just one resource and offer that, see how it does and then go from there! I’m sure you’ll get loads of subscribers as it builds, though. Good luck!!! π
Thank you for these tips! They are so practical and helpful, especially because I am working on my email list right now π
Super helpful post. I’m super new to the blogging world and have been in the process of setting up my email list through mailchimp. I’ll have to take a look at mailerlite though, maybe it will make things a bit easier!
Yes go with MailerLite!!! I promise you will end up wanting to switch from MailChimp at some point. Since MailerLite is also free for the first 1,000 subscribers, there’s no reason not to just start with them. Plus, their landing pages and popups are SO much prettier!! Had I done this sooner, I’m sure my list would be double what it is now!!
Hi Sarah,
I love your writing and am learning a lot. Totally agree with you about the importance of growing an email list. This has definitely always been one of my biggest challenges. I focused on growing my email list from the start.
While I don’t have nearly as many subscribers as you do, I only have 35 people on my list. It’s definitely a slow process. I didn’t actually start taking the time to promote my offer till last month.
I haven’t quite figured out how to use Pinterest to drive the most traffic. Right now, Facebook is my biggest traffic source. I am working on upping my Pinterest game and using some of the tips that I’ve picked up from your blog.
As for emailing my list, like you, I don’t really send them offers to affiliate products. I instead am trying to send them emails of what’s going on with my list.
Do you actually write an email every week or do you have an auto-responder set up? I currently have an auto-responder set up, but am thinking about changing it to where I actually write an email every week.
Just not sure if I would have time to do it. There’s always so much going on and so much to do, not sure if writing an email every week would fit into my daily tasks.
Thanks again for sharing this information and I’m going to use it to help me grow my email list. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Have a great day π
Susan
Hi!! So I usually write it and send it out either immediately or within the next 12 hours!! I’m the same way with blog posts – I typically post it as soon as I finish it π
Emails are quick!! I would aim for one every 1-2 weeks to start. Don’t stress about it though; again just pretend like you are emailing a friend! Usually I can write and send an email within 30 minutes (assuming I’ve already chosen a topic and thought about it / done an outline in my head lol!).
You are doing great!!! I really believe with blogging that slow and steady wins the race. By going slow, you’re less likely to get burnt out. And don’t compare yourself to others!! I’ve watched a lot of bloggers start after me and are making more money than me!! I used to get down on myself for this, but then I realized that we are ALL in different life phases and struggling with different things. Just do your best! Success absolutely will come π
I actually ‘stuck’ with MailChimp ever since I started learning about email lists. So far so good, plus I got used to using it.
I’ve also been dipping my toe into Facebook ads lately. At first, I only budgeted a few bucks /ad, to see how they work. Apparently.. I still have a lot to learn!
I also believe offering freebies works best, but the problem with new blogs is.. what can you offer that hasn’t been offered already by others in the same niche? I’ve always pondered on this question with every new blog I launched , while offering updates on latest articles. Seems to work π
I only spend $5/day on Facebook Ads!! Definitely still learning and I don’t want to spend significant money on this yet!! How many subscribers are you getting per day? I was getting 7-10 with MailChimp and now I’m at like 30/day!! It’s a crazy difference; and I really attribute it to simpler and more visually appealing landing pages and opt-in forms!
As far as freebies, you can definitely offer something that’s already out there assuming it’s yours, of course! I offer a free guide on starting a blog, which many bloggers actually offer! My more unique opt-in is “5 blog posts that will make you money,” but that one doesn’t do near as well as the other one. Remember – if someone likes your blog (and therefore, you!!), they are going to want to subscribe to your list!
This post will be the turn of my e-mail list! I know that this is something that I need to be working on, and need to create a freebie in the next couple of days to offer. I know I am missing the ball though on my e-mail list, and I am excited to get started on it after reading this post! I have a question though. I have a wordpress blog, and I have people who have registered as users, then I have a few subscribers. Is there a difference, or should I be consolidating all of these e-mail addresses for my newsletter?.