At a time when social media and search engine algorithms are making it more difficult for bloggers to grow their blogs, email marketing is a smart strategy to focus on. But where do you start – there are so many questions! This beginner’s guide to email marketing for bloggers gives you the insights you need.
You’ve started your blog, are growing your content and blog traffic, and the next step is creating an email newsletter.
As a blog coach with over 5 years of experience working with beginner and intermediate bloggers, I know you’re going to have questions.
I can tell you that the initial confusion about email marketing for blogs is quickly overcome when you understand the content marketing possibilities. Additionally, learn how the tech works and how to create workflows.
Email marketing is a powerful blog promotion and community-building tool. You own your email newsletter subscriber list. These are people who want to hear from you for a reason: you give them value that helps build trust and your credibility.
In addition to this, email marketing for bloggers is a way to grow your blog into a business. Email newsletters are a marketing tool for many things, including selling services and products.
In this guide, we’ll explore a few key topics:
- What is email marketing,g and why should bloggers use it
- Key email marketing terms you need to know
- Best free email marketing platforms: how to choose the best one for you to start
- Getting set up on MailerLite (my recommended email marketing platform)
- Tips for creating a lead magnet for your email subscriber list
- Growing your email subscriber list: creating opt-in forms and landing pages
- Tips for your first email
- Creating a welcome sequence for your lead magnet
- Weekly/Bi-weekly/Monthly emails: what to send to your followers
- How to grow your email subscriber list organically
- Email newsletter analytics: how to determine what’s working and what’s not
- How to stay compliant with email marketing rules
- Monetizing your email newsletters and your subscriber list
- Email marketing tips to avoid
At the end of this post, you’ll be feeling more confident as you start applying these email marketing tips for bloggers to your own blog:
- Showcase your personality and knowledge
- Share curated finds and tips
- Create a sense of community
Things you’ll need for email marketing success:
- An email marketing platform
- Free offers (lead magnets)
- Email address using your professional domain (not Gmail email or Yahoo, etc.)
Let’s get started – learn about starting an email newsletter!
DISCLOSURE: This post contains affiliate links, meaning if you click on a product or service, and decide to purchase it, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. All recommended products and services are based on my positive experience with them. For more information, please read my Disclaimer.
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Email Marketing For Bloggers: Why Should You Care?
Yet another blogging skill to learn! You’re just getting into the swing of things with blog content creation and SEO, and now I’m recommending you learn email marketing.
It may sound complicated at first, but that’s what everything related to blogging sounds like.
You’re doing OK, aren’t you?
When you learn about email marketing, you’ll feel like you’ve got a whole new blogging skill to add to your resume.
I’ve done email marketing for both my blog and in the professional world as a digital marketer, working in agencies. Once you know the basics, it becomes easier to understand.
OK, let’s talk about email marketing for bloggers, the top reasons for starting an email newsletter and why you need to focus on it.
What Is Email Marketing?
Email marketing is the act of sending emails to a list of people who have decided they want to hear from you.
You can be a big e-commerce brand or a lifestyle blogger – who you are doesn’t matter.
In addition to this, email marketing is a communication strategy. You use it to share information, insights, and promotional content, like product and service information and sales, with your blog readers and potential customers.
The key purpose of email marketing is to:
- Nurture relationships
- Drive traffic to your website
- Sell products and services
It can also be a powerful personal branding tool for building authority and credibility.
For example, I use my email newsletters as a marketing tool and personal branding tool. I share my thoughts, opinions, what’s working for me, blogging tools and resources that I recommend and promotions on my digital products.
The result is that I grow my blog coaching services and digital product business.
Why Does Email Marketing Work As A Blog Marketing Strategy?
Bloggers who shy away from starting an email newsletter list are missing out.
Email marketing for bloggers does several key things:
1. Email Marketing Strategies Create A Personal Connection
Showing up in somebody’s inbox is a privilege.
How many times have you unsubscribed from newsletters from those sending an incessant amount of promotional content? If you’re like me, you’re hitting the unsubscribe button often.
If people continue to be subscribed to your email newsletter they see value in them and like your personal brand.
Email newsletters are different than blog content. They can be more personal with your insights to the latest trends, news as well as products (think affiliate marketing links).
This is where you build credibility and trust. The best email newsletters from bloggers are those that are 80% value, 20% promotion.
When you master this mix, with newsletters that are full of your personal brand voice, it’s like being a friend sending a tip to another friend.
Your goal: having email marketing strategies in place where your subscribers are responding to your newsletter content. This means your information is truly resonating with them.
2. Protects You From Algorithm Changes: Email List Ownership
When you start your email newsletter list, you are in control. There is no algorithm that dictates how much of an audience your content gets.
As long as you have a good engagement rate and have made sure your email won’t be sent as spam (and stuck in the the spam folder), you are going to get visibility.
You have direct communication with your subscribers. There is no middleman preventing you from reaching them with your messaging.
3. Starting An Email Newsletter Provides You With Greater Engagement With Readers
Many surveys and studies show that email marketing for bloggers gives you more engagement with your followers. Since your email subscribers voluntarily subscribed to your email newsletter, they are more likely to engage with your content.
Once again, they see value with what you’re sharing. Whether it’s clicking on a link to read your latest blog content, or purchasing a product you’re promoting, they have given you the privilege of being in your inbox for a reason.
4. An Email Newsletter Gives You A New Channel for Monetization
You can sell through your blog, social media or Facebook group, and most importantly through your newsletter. An interesting point: when done well, monetization through your email list can result in an average of $36 per $1 invested in your email marketing efforts. That’s a fairly high return-on-investment!
5. Include Email Marketing Strategies That Boost Blog Traffic
One of the things I always tell my blog coaching clients is to make sure they are including links to relevant new and old blog posts.
Newsletters are a very good way to boost traffic to blog content that Google is ignoring. It’s also fantastic for promoting evergreen and seasonal content.
Now that you have all the key reasons why you should be starting your email newsletter list ASAP, let’s look at the terminology first.
Here’s an example of where one newsletter that I sent out generated a nice bump up in traffic because I included links to blog posts:
Email Marketing Terms You Need to Know
Before delving into email marketing strategies, learn the email marketing jargon. It’ll make you more confident, learning all about it.
Let’s start with the basics and lead into the industry specifics. Almost all email marketing platforms will have these terms or similar ones:
Subscriber
A person who voluntarily signs up for your list, understanding that they will be receiving a regular newsletter in their inbox from you.
List
Also called an “email list”, “email subscriber list” or “email newsletter list”. Your collection of email contacts. You can send emails to your whole list or segment them based on your email newsletter content and automation emails.
Opt-In Form
This is the form that is used to collect email addresses. It’s often used with a free lead magnet offer. Typically, you want to include a space for the person’s First Name and Email. For compliance reasons, opt-in forms should have at a minimum a notice that speaks to the fact that they can unsubscribe at any time and to read your Privacy Policy. Opt-in forms are usually embedded within blog posts and pages or on landing pages.
Lead Magnet
Also called a “freebie”. This is a free offer in exchange for a subscriber’s email. People who sign up to receive a free product know that they will be added to your newsletter list. You can expect that some people will sign up for the free offer but unsubscribe immediately. This is OK – you don’t want uninterested people who will never purchase from you on your list.
Automation
Pre-set emails that go out based on a user’s behaviour (e.g. signing up in an opt-in form to receive a free lead magnet).
Welcome Sequence
Once somebody signs up to receive a free lead magnet, a series of automated emails is sent, including the freebie, information about yourself and your blog, and other tips. Some welcome sequences end with a special offer on a product you’re selling. ,
Open Rate / Click-Through Rate
Analytics that tell you how many people open and interact with your emails .The open rate tells you how many people are opening your emails. The click-through rate tells you how many are clicking links in your emails.
Groups
Some email marketing platforms use this term, for example, MailerLite.This is used for tracking the source of your subscribers. For example, you want to send emails to everybody who purchased a specific product from you.
Segmentation
Segmentation is when you split your list based on specifics, such as interests or behaviours (e.g. clicking open specific emails or links). This is used for target subsets in your subscriber list.
3. Getting Started: What Are The Best Email Marketing Platforms For Bloggers?
While there are several relatively inexpensive email marketing platforms for bloggers there are a few that are great for starting an email newsletter list.
The best email marketing platforms for beginners include:
Since you don’t want to be moving from one email platform to another (it can be a potentially painful process), start with one that you know will suit your needs and is perfect for regular use.
When choosing your email marketing platform, let’s explore key things you need to consider
1. Choose From The Best Free Email Marketing Platforms
Look for one that has a generous free options.
This is usually based the number of subscribers you have (e.g. MailerLite and Mailchimp are both free for up to 1000 subscribers).
Also, look at how many monthly emails you can send out. For example, Mailchimp is maximum 1000 emails a month.
Explore the best free email marketing platforms thoroughly and decide on the one you like best.
2. Affordable Tiered Plans
What happens after you outgrow the free plan? You need to make sure the paid plans are affordable.
While some have tiers, others like Flodesk have a standard cost (usually a bit pricier) no matter your number of subscribers or emails you send out. The downside is that they offer fewer features that you may need.
NOTE: When you’re ready to scale up, you should have monetization plans in place to cover the cost of a paid plan. Things like sponsored advertisements in your newsletters (sponsored brand collaborations) are a great way to bring in the budget to cover tiered plans. Learn more about sponsored brand collaborations.
3. Choose One That’s Easy To Use
Test each platform to see if they have an easy to use drag and drop editor for your emails. It makes designing your email newsletter easier.
Choose one that offers thorough support materials and video walkthroughs. This is why I chose MailerLite over Kit. I found it much easier to work with, and the terminology was straightforward.
While Kit may be powerful in some ways, personally I find it confusing for beginner users, especially if they are used to other platforms.
Some email marketing platforms are clearly designed for solopreneurs and content creators, such as us bloggers.
4. Find One With Built-In Forms And Ideally Landing Pages
To get people to sign up, you need an opt-in form and an automation that allows for the delivery of your freebie.
When reviewing email marketing platforms, make sure this is available in your free package.
A Bonus: For new bloggers, you may not be able to create landing pages on your website just yet. A landing page is a standalone page where you can promote your free offer. There are marketing platforms that offer this solution to this problem.
5. Easy Automation Features
Automation workflows can be confusing for beginners, so it’s great when your email marketing platform has pre-built workflows and templates.
The reason why I like MailerLite is that it has an easy-to-follow automation creation dashboard.
6. Mobile-Friendly, Responsive Emails
Test to see if the emails look good on your phone. This is important as people most often look at emails on their phones.
You can send a test email to yourself to check it out.
7. Easy List Management
It shouldn’t be complicated to manage your list. Check out to see if you like the dashboard and if it’s easy to segment your list members. This will be important as you grow your list and need more advanced features.
8. Integrates With Your Platform
Choose one that works with our blogging platform, and potentially others. If you are using Wix right now and eventually are thinking of migrating to WordPress, choosing an email marketing platform that works with both is the best solution.
9. Built-in Compliance Features
Make sure that GDPR and CAN-SPAM compliance is handled easily with checkboxes, footers, etc. Most good platforms handle this for you automatically.
10. High Deliverability Rates
Check reviews to see if your preferred email marketing platform gets emails into inboxes instead of spam folders.
Setting Up Email Marketing With MailerLite
I love using MailerLite and I use it on all of my websites, including our e-commerce shop, Spruce and Heron. It has easy-to-use templates for opt-ins, automation workflows and many other customizations.
The drag-and-drop template builder for newsletters is robust and easy to customize.
If you decide on MailerLite, here are the steps for setting it up.
1. Sign Up For MailerLite
- Go to MailerLite and click “Sign up free”.
- Choose the Free Plan. This gives you up to 1,000 subscribers and up to 12,000 emails per month.
- Fill in your details: your blog or business name, email address, and other relevant information.
- For your account to go live, MailerLite needs to manually approve it. To speed this up use your professional domain-based email address (e.g., you@domainname.com). You will also be asked to provide a real blog link and explain how you’ll use email marketing.
NOTE: It can take a few hours to get approved, which is completely normal.
2. Create Your First Audience List – Group
Once you’re approved, here are the next steps for creating your first audience list.
- Click on Subscribers and then Groups.
- Create a new group called something like: “General Newsletter” for your main newsletter list. You can also create extras based on your freebies and other sign-up forms. This gives you an idea of how popular your various opt-in forms and freebies are, and whether you need to adjust them.
NOTE: MailerLite uses groups and segments instead of “lists.” A single subscriber can be in multiple groups. I often send my general newsletter to “All Subscribers,” which is everybody from all groups.
3. Create a Signup Opt-in Form
- Head over to Forms > Embedded Forms
- Choose which group the opt-in form is for, or create a new group.
- Now it’s time to customize your form. On your right-hand side, you will see a pale form symbol and DEFAULT. You can change how this form looks. If you choose the ‘CARD” option you can add an image overtop the text and form. I like this one for embedding into blog content.
- When you hover over the opt-in form design, you can use the “pencil” to customize each section, including the headline, short description, button call to action, and what entry information you’d like.
- Hit Save and now you can click on SETTINGS on the right hand side to opt in for various form settings including, GDPR opt-ins, adding a Privacy statement (remember to add your Privacy Policy page link), a custom success page (like my Thank You page or a tripwire page that leads to a product offer) and the reCAPTCHA).
- Save your form.
- You will now see this. First, let’s look at the Double Opt-In
- At this point, you can click “Double Opt-in” and also customize how your confirmation email looks (this page is recommended for legal compliance and list quality). You can also customize the confirmation page.
If this is more than just a simple opt-in form for your newsletter, and you’re offering a freebie, the next step is to create an automation. Click on this in the Dashboard.
Make sure you choose it to be sent to everybody who signs up for that group, and as a result, for that opt-in). But first things first – you need to integrate the form with your blog.
4. Add Your Opt-In Form To Your Site: Integrate MailerLite with Your Blog
There are several ways to add MailerLite opt-in forms to your website. This depends on whether you’re using WordPress or another platform.
- WordPress users:
Option 1:- Install the free MailerLite plugin in WordPress (under Plugins / Add Plugins).
- Connect your MailerLite account via API key (found in your MailerLite dashboard under Integrations).
- Add forms to your posts, pages, or sidebar with shortcodes or blocks.
Option 2:
- For the first time, add the longer JavaScript code in your headers section. Then use the shorter JavaScript code in an HTML block.
- TIP: If you don’t know how to add code to a blog’s header, get the free WP Code plugin. It gives you an easy way to add code to your header without damaging the blog’s coding.
After this first time, all you need to add is the short JavaScript code. For some themes, like those with Elementor, for pages you may need to add a full HTML code.
NOTE: If you’re adding JavaScript code, any time you make a change to the design, it will automatically make the change on your site. This is because the code you’ve placed on your blog post or page is pulling the design details from MailerLite.
For Non-WordPress Bloggers:
- Copy the HTML embed code for your form and paste it into your blog where you want it to appear.
- Platforms like Wix, Squarespace, or Blogger allow you to add custom code blocks.
5. Verify Your Domain
To reduce the chances of your newsletter ending up in a recipient’s SPAM folder, you will need to verify your domain. Deliverability is important.
- In MailerLite:
- Go to Account Settings > Domains.
- Add and verify your blog’s domain (you’ll need access to your domain registrar – wherever it was purchased, either through your hosting provider or another domain seller).
- Follow the DNS setup steps provided (MailerLite walks you through it). If you get stuck and you have your domain through your hosting provider, customer service may be able to help you.
Once you’re done setting this up, you’re ready to create your first welcome email or automation!
PRO TIP: If you’re stuck, always look into the resources and video walkthroughs provided by MailerLite. They are excellent!
Creating A Lead Magnet Your Audience Will Love
Now that you know the basics of getting set up on MailerLite, it’s time to focus on attracting people to your newsletter list.
The next step in this email marketing guide for bloggers is learning about lead magnets.
A lead magnet is something of value that’s offered for free in exchange for an email address.
For the best experience by the recipient, it should be something that’s helpful, relevant to your niche and solves the problem quickly. Think of something easily transformative:
- Mini-guides (e.g. a chapter out of a longer book)
- Worksheets & workbooks
- Cheatsheets
- Swipe-files
- Google Sheet Trackers & planners
- Templates
Check out my ideas for lead magnets for lifestyle bloggers for inspiration.
What do you need to create a lead magnet? Tools like Canva, Google Docs/Sheets, Notion or Airtable are great options for lead magnet development.
NOTE: Always start with the question: How can I easily solve this problem for my readers? For example, I know that writing an About page is always a challenge for bloggers. So I developed this:
Designing Your Opt-In Forms
When it comes to email marketing for bloggers, one of the hardest things to learn is how to attract people to sign up to your opt-in form.
When you’re offering a lead magnet, you have to remember it needs to address the problem and entice with the benefit.
Here are the best practices for writing the copy and designing your opt-in form:
- Have a clear headline
- Text that speaks to the problem and benefit
- Eye-catching design (image or brand colours)
- Minimal fields (Name + Email)
PRO TIP: Think like a copywriter who’s writing an ad. Understand your audience, their pain point, and what benefit will make them want to sign up.
Here’s an example of one of my top performing lead magnet opt-in forms:
Where To Place Opt-In Forms
One of the mistakes I see bloggers make is to have an opt-in form on their homepage and that’s it.
When it comes to email marketing for bloggers, you have to realize you have so much real estate on your website for promoting that opt-in form!
Add your lead magnet opt-in form on your blog’s:
- Homepage
- About page
- Blog sidebar
- In the middle or end of blog posts
- In the footer (if you have the option of customizing with a full-width banner spot for one)
- Above your navigation menu, if your theme permits a custom message for your link.
- In your favourite products/tools page
- Services/Work with me page
What about pop-ups? I tend to avoid them as they are annoying and hard to close on mobile phones.
| RELATED: 5 Smart Ways To Grow Your Email Newsletter List
Creating A Landing Page For Your Free Offer
Landing pages can be created on your site if you are using a page builder like Kadence theme with it’s blocks, or Elementor. They are like a toned-down sales page to entice your reader to sign up to get the free offer.
Include visuals, and like an embedded opt-in form description, speak to the benefit of the free offer in solving your readers problem.
Remember to include your opt-in form on your landing page!
PRO TIP: If you’re using MailerLite you can build a landing page by clicking “Sites” in your left-hand side Dashboard. MailerLite has many existing templates in the pro version that make it easy to create beautiful landing pages.
What To Include In Your First Email
Now that you have people signing up for your newsletter, you need to send them a welcome email.
What should your first welcome email include? Remember, first impressions matter, so you will need to create a positive perception from the start.
Here are a few tips on what to include in your first welcome email:
- Thank them for subscribing
- Deliver your freebie (if this is how they signed up) – usually a link to a download or page where they can get the freebie.
- Share your “why”
- What they can expect from future newsletter emails (how often, what kind of information you’ll be sharing)
- Invitation to read your top blog posts (make it your cornerstone blog posts)
- Wrap it up with a genuine sign-off
- Include a PS to follow you on social media, or if you have a Facebook group, invite them to join it (this is partially how I grew my FB group to over 3,600 members).
Make sure your tone of voice aligns with your blog’s brand voice and personality for consistency. Be welcoming, authentic and personal – as if you were chatting with them personally.
Email newsletters are excellent at creating a positive personal brand. Use them wisely!
Build Your Personal Brand Via Newsletter
Creating a Simple Welcome Sequence – Automation Tips
Remember when we talked about creating an automation in MailerLite. When it comes to email marketing for bloggers, this is a must-have skill.
The goal of a welcome series automation is to nurture your news subscribers over a period of time. This time should be about 3 to 5 days maximum.
Here’s an example of a longer 5-day welcome email sequence:
Email 1: Welcome email + Freebie
Email 2: Intro to your blog story and mission
Email 3: Link to your best relevant evergreen content
Email 4: Personal tip or favourite resource
Email 5: A soft pitch with a recommendation for an affiliate or your digital product
Read more about what to include in your email welcome series.
PRO TIP: If you’re using MailerLite or an email marketing platform that has an automation feature, make sure to create a day’s delay between these emails. Otherwise, they will all come at the same time.
Email Marketing Ideas: What Do You Send In Your Regular Newsletter?
Now that you’ve got people on your newsletter subscriber list, you need to regularly send something out to them.
Starting an email newsletter means producing content that can be informative, entertaining, personal and engaging.
Give your readers something to maintain the connection with them.
Here are some email marketing ideas for your newsletter:
- Your thoughts on trends, latest news
- Tips & tricks that are working for you
- “What I’m Loving This Week” list
- Product or book recommendations
- Blog post round-up on a topic category
- Reader Q & A
- Interview somebody
Newsletters seem like an extra content generation task when you may be feeling pinched on time already.
Try to keep to at least once a month to start, and keep your emails short.
PRO TIP: Create a content idea bank for yourself when you find that you’re not inspired to write anything. I keep a list in Google Sheets to keep the ideas and newsletters flowing.
Growing Your List Organically
You’ve started your email newsletter list and you’re sending newsletters out, but your subscriber list is not growing quickly.
Despite placing it all over your blog, you’re just not seeing a bump up in subscribers. It may be that your opt-in form needs tweaking.
However, it also means you need to look at additional ways to promote your lead magnets. Start thinking like a marketer and your product is your lead magnet!
Some of the best places to promote your freebie lead magnet are:
- Making sure every blog post had an embedded opt-in form for a relevant freebie (this is why you need more than one lead magnet)
- On Pinterest via pins for your lead magnet landing page
- Promote your lead magnet on social (Instagram posts, Stories – with the link sticker, Facebook page)
- Add a link in your Instagram bio or Linktree
- Promote it in Facebook groups that permit promos (like my Blog It Better Society’s Facebook group thread on Sunday)
- Collaborate with other bloggers (shoutouts or newsletter swaps)
- Run a challenge (great for engagement + growth)
What about ads?
The best time to run a Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest ad for your free offer is when you have a solid welcome series that is doing well converting with your soft offer.
There’s already success there – an ad will expose it to more people, boosting your sign-ups.
Email Subscriber List Grow Expectations
How much can you expect your blog’s email subscriber list to grow? Realistically, you can expect your email newsletter list to grow by about 10 to 50 new subscribers per month.
Staying Compliant With Email Marketing Rules
You may have heard of GDPR and CAN-SPAM. As a blogger, you need to make sure your email marketing activities and legal and ethical. This is to avoid penalties and potential lawsuits.
It also builds trust with your audience.
While it may seem difficult, staying compliant is fairly simple when you know the basics.
Always Get Permission To Email People
The simple act of signing up via your form on your blog to request a freebie is getting permission to email the person. The best practice is to use a double opt-in. After somebody signs, they get an email confirming their subscription. This makes sure that you have their consent to send them your content.
Be Transparent About What You’re Sending
When somebody signs up for your list, be clear about what you’re sending to them. Let them know how often you’re emailing them, and what content you’ll be sending (e.g. newsletter, blog updates, promotions, etc.).
You can do this in your first welcome email to set clear expectations and reduce future unsubscribes or spam complaints.
Include An Unsubscribe Link In Every Email
Make sure that every email you send has a clearly visible, working unsubscribe link. Email marketing platforms like MailerLite add this automatically to the footer of your emails, but make sure it’s always there.
The presence of the unsubscribe button helps you keep a clean and engaged email list while also showing your subscribers that you respect their time and inbox space.
For CAN-SPAM, you need to have your physical mailing address in the email folder. This can be:
- Your business address
- A P.O. Box if you want to keep your personal address private
MailerLite provides a space to enter this information, and it will be automatically added to the footer of all your emails.
Protect Subscriber Data
Your subscribers’ privacy is important. This means you should never share or sell your subscribers’ privacy. Choosing a quality email marketing platform is important in this case: make sure they are secure and GDPR-compliant if you have subscribers in the EU.
Make sure that if you’re collecting personal data such as names and preferences that go beyond simple email addresses, and store and handle that data responsibly.
PRO TIP: Never buy an email list. Ever. Doing so violates most email marketing laws, including GDPR and CAN-SPAM, and will likely get you banned from platforms like MailerLite. You’re welcome.
How To Analyze Your Email Marketing Strategies
What should you be looking for to see if your email marketing strategies are working?
You’ll want to check the following to see if your email marketing for your blog is effective:
- Subscribers: Are your opt-ins getting subscribers regularly? Check to see if those blog posts are getting traffic. If they are, and your subscriber rate is low, it may be time to update your messaging or the free offer.
For your newsletters, check:
- Newsletter Open Rate: Did the subject line work?
- Click-Through Rate: Did the content interest readers enough for them to click through the links?
- Unsubscribe Rate: Did something turn people off?
Check If Your Email Marketing Strategies Are Working
If things aren’t working, it’s time to try new email marketing strategies:
- Different subject lines – see if a personalized one (that includes their name) grabs their attention, or if another style works better.
- Send days/times – check which days are best for your opens. In many case,s your readers may be North American, opening remains Monday through Thursday, early in the mornings.
- Content types (personal stories vs. blog roundups) – test to see what resonates the most with your readers.
PRO TIP: Keep track of your analytics in a simple spreadsheet or use the internal reports provided by your email marketing platform. MailerLite has excellent, in-depth reports. Keep a simple tracking spreadsheet or use MailerLite reports.
Clean Your Email List Regularly
Sometimes people sign up to receive a freebie and forget to unsubscribe. Sometimes they subscribe, but over time ,no longer need to receive your emails. That’s fine!
Unsubscribes are good, as you want to have interested people on your list. Interested subscribers have a greater potential of being customers.
But what about those who don’t open your emails? When your open rate starts to drop, it’s time to do two things:
- Conduct a revival campaign, where you send enticing emails to inactive followers to get them to click on your content again. This keeps them on the active list.
- If, after the revival campaign, they still aren’t responding, you delete them from the list.
It’s OK to have a smaller list with a great open rate and click-through rate.
This keeps you in the lower tiers for subscribers (meaning you pay less), and you’re actually reaching your audience. The stats are also more impressive for potential brand collaborations.
When And How To Monetize Your Email Subscriber List
Probably the most important question in this guide about email marketing for bloggers is – How do I make money with my email list?
Let’s first look at when. With a new email subscriber list, it may take a bit of time before your readers consider purchasing anything from you.
With a new email list, give it a few weeks before introducing affiliate links or products. You need to build the trust first!
A great way to look at newsletter monetization is to follow the 80% (provide value) / 20% (sell) rule.
Here are some easy monetization ideas to get you started:
- Affiliate links (related to your niche)
- Promote a low-cost digital product (printables, mini-courses)
- Offer brands sponsorship of a newsletter, for example, “This email newsletter is sponsored by…”
- Tease and launch larger digital projects, services, and courses
TIP: Experiment to see what works with your audience. Remember, you can always do surveys in your newsletters to get a better idea of what they want to see from you.
What Are Top Email Marketing Mistakes Bloggers Make?
The most important thing to remember is the subscriber experience. Make sure you deliver on a promise or risk having them unsubscribe.
Here are common mistakes bloggers make with email newsletters:
- Sending too rarely (people forget you)
- Sending too often (people get annoyed with you in their inbox all the time)
- Sending only promotional content with little value (e.g. teasers that lead to an offer)
- Not delivering on the promised lead magnet (test to see if it’s working!)
- Ignoring mobile formatting (do a test email to see if it looks good on phone email apps)
- Keeping it impersonal, without your unique stories and tone of voice
Your email newsletter is where you build trust, credibility and likeability. Make it easy for your readers to identify and remember you for your niche expertise.
Commonly Asked Questions About Email Marketing For Bloggers
Include personal stories, updates, your latest blog posts, trending news, seasonal tips, curated links, product recommendations, affiliate links and exclusive content or freebies. Make sure your content aligns with your blog’s niche.
Send your email newsletters once a month or bi-weekly to start, to keep top-of-mind with your subscribers. As you grow your audience and become more confident, send it weekly. Consistency is important to build trust and credibility.
The best way to get more subscribers is to offer a valuable freebie (lead magnet) like a checklist, guide, or template. Place opt-in forms in high-traffic areas of your blog, such as your homepage, About page, and at the end of posts. Use pop-ups occasionally and promote your freebie on social media.
4. What is the best email marketing platform for beginners?
MailerLite is a top choice for beginners. It’s free up to 1,000 subscribers, easy to use, and offers automation. Kit is another option if you want more advanced tools later; however, it’s quite pricey and can be a bit of a challenge to figure out. Choose based on budget, ease of use, and features.
5. What do bloggers need to know about email marketing laws?
You must get permission before emailing anyone. Use double opt-ins, include an unsubscribe link in every email, and never buy email lists. Follow GDPR and CAN-SPAM rules to stay compliant and build trust with your audience.
Your Next Steps: Start Simple, Grow With A Strategy In Place
Email marketing is going to take some time getting used to and you’ll learn many skills along the way.
Start by exploring the range of email marketing platforms. Then, begin the process of starting an email newsletter. Create a free offer, opt-in and welcome email series. At this point, you’ll have some email marketing ideas as a starting point.
Once you’ve got one going, think about others you can offer throughout your blog. Don’t go overboard with them, but certainly do try to have one relevant embedded opt-in in each blog post.
Remember that consistency wins. Over time, you will find your email list is generating traffic and sales. Tweak and adjust as needed.
QUESTION: What’s the most challenging thing about starting an email newsletter for you?
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It’s wild how comprehensive of a post this is- thank you so much for taking the time to put it together! I have a successful travel blog of 4 years but have been putting of email marketing until now. I’m looking forward to using your other email marketing posts soon!
I’m glad they can be of help!
Thank you Margaret, this post has encouraged me to finally start email marketing. I’ve signed up with Mailerlite and created an opt in offer, now to work on my welcome sequence!