Tips for Promoting Your Blog through Email Marketing

This is may be the post calling the kettle black, but email marketing is one of the best ways to gage new business. I have opted out of using that feature here because what I write here is purely personal. I do, however, have a mailing list for Chic Darling in case you’re inclined to go ahead and sign up for emails with beauty and fashion advice. Men, I know you’re all over it 😉

I wanted to write about email marketing because we use it every day at work. I’m not a marketer by trade, but I do understand the value it provides new ventures. In fact, we’ve had 1 company blow our launch expectations out of the water because their email list was so eager for their new product.
If you aren’t already using email marketing to promote your blog, then you’re leaving money and visitors on the table. Not only is an email list a great tool for keeping your readers updated, but is also ensures that your blog stays relevant and fresh in their minds. However, it’s crucial to treat your subscribers like you would want to be treated. Don’t limit your emails to promotions – that just comes across as spammy. Instead, regularly send out useful information that will make them want to keep visiting your blog to see what you have to offer.
The following are tips to help you make the most out of the email accounts:

  1. Use your blog to build a newsletter. Although stating the obvious, it’s very important to use your blog posts to your advantage. Always include a sign up link at the bottom of each post that allows readers to join your mailing list if they would be interested in reading similar content. In time, you’ll find that if they were interested enough to read to the bottom of your post, then they will most likely want to keep hearing from you!
  2. Regularly send out emails to contacts. If you don’t contact your subscribers on a regular basis, then they will forget why they are only your mailing list. This is especially true if they signed up to your list because you offered an incentive to do so, like a free report or a coupon. However, this doesn’t mean that you should abuse their permission and blast them with a barrage of emails, either.
  3. Segment your list. It’s very important to make sure that only interested contacts receive broadcasts, promotions and newsletters. The better you section out your list, the more interest you’ll receive in the emails that you send because they will be tailored to the interests of the recipient.
  4. Don’t forget to sign your emails. If you signed up to an email account, you can use the signature function provided to provide your contacts with a way to find you on the web. For example, you can list your name, blog tagline, and a link to your homepage. I believe gmail also has this signature feature.
  5. Don’t hold your email list hostage. Aside from being required by law, giving your email list the option to unsubscribe without making them jump through hoops is just common courtesy. In other words, prominently display the unsubscribe link and make it easy for people to leave if they want to. After all, there’s no reason to have uninterested contacts one your email list; it only leads to increased spam complaints and a nonexistent click through rate.

On a final note, it’s important to remember that just building a list isn’t enough; there’s more to promoting your bog successfully through email marketing than getting people to click a sign up link. With the email accounts from most hosting accounts that are offered after registering your domain name, it’s never been easier to stay on top of your email marketing plan. In fact, the hardest part is just finding the time to start building a list. Once you have it, staying in touch is simple – and most of all, rewarding if done right.

25 Comments

  3. I don’t have an e-mail list currently, but it’s something I’ve been thinking about doing. At first I didn’t really understand why it was important, but I think not having one, even if I don’t use it regularly is probably a bad move. And I totally agree on number 5. I hate it when I sign up for a list and they spam me and I can’t figure out how to get myself off the list.

  4. Email subscribers are so valuable. I send out at least one email newsletter a day at work, so even if my blog WASN’T a personal blog I think I would definitely struggle to get in the headspace to manage yet another email platform.

  5. I really like receiving newsletters from blogs/sites I’m interested in. Sometimes there is “extra” content, something more than what it’s on the blog already, another topic, etc, sometimes they just let me know there is new post available and it’s ok too. But I use Google Reader most of the time and what I don’t like is when somebody made this effort to build this newsletter BUT it’s impossible to read his/her posts in a reader. So when I get the email (without full post, of course) I have to click to go the website. I can understand sometimes people want to get more traffic to their blogs in this way but it can be really annoying because then I wonder if I should leave my comment there: maybe only statistics are important, not readers. Thanks fot his post! I’ve already realized I haven’t signed to your newsletter yet! Shame on me, I’ll do that in a minute! 😀

  7. I was six months late on starting my e-mail newsletter, but damn do I wish I had started it right out of the hop. Having your e-mail newsletter does not only build your on community (a loyal one), but also gives you greater income/advertising potential, and increases the value of your business significantly – in case you decide you want to sell one day.

    1. Have you done a survey to see what types of content they like? Are you sending them the same stuff?

  8. Great tips Marissa. I have a basic email list setup with Feedburner but I’ve often thought about setting one up with Aweber and putting a free ebook out there to help pull in new subscribers but I’ve yet to get to it. I feel this would be the more professional way to go and it would help me track the stats a lot better to see what people are actually doing with my emails when I send them.

  9. Great tips Marissa! This is something I have been meaning to do, but it’s fallen by the wayside of being busy. I just need to sit down and do it. I know the results can be very beneficial.

    1. It depends on what your goals are, BUT from what I’m hearing, a lot of people love having the list.

  12. I’ve been hearing a lot about direct marketing through email, so this was an interesting and timely post for me. I wholeheartedly agree with #5 – some sites (and not just blogs!) make it nearly impossible to unsubscribe. Usually, those are the sites I didn’t know I’d “subscribed” to in teh first place!

  13. All great points! I’ve got a few hundred subscribers, but haven’t pulled the trigger on a newsletter yet. Probably won’t until after tax season so I can fit it into the schedule.

  14. Marissa, you have a really good point with email marketing. That’s something that I haven’t paid enough attention to but I really need to ramp up. I’m still trying to drive traffic but it’s still for me to leave potential traffic on the table by not using email marketing to my advantage.

    Do you have any tips for people just starting out? What are some good starter topics to email about?

  15. I just started an email sign up and newsletter on my blog (a few months ago) but have neglected to actually send something out because signups have just been so few. I get plenty of traffic and bounce rates are better than the average but getting people to sign up is slow. Is this relatively normal? How many do you guys wait for before you actually start sending out emails?

    I am considering putting together a contest very soon. Just a simple one that gives a prize like an Amazon gift card should work. I am also starting to think that my email signup button is not prominent enough or noticeable. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Comments are closed.