Do you send emails to your blog's readers regularly: Best reasons to you should add a newsletter to your blog

Do you send emails to your blog's readers regularly: Best reasons to you should add a newsletter to your blog

Do you send emails to your blog's readers regularly

Maybe you have put 'set up email newsletter' on your 'someday' list a long time ago, but you have not done it yet.

Or maybe you have a list of bulletins, but you have not sent one in months.

You might think it's optional, something you can do once you finish everything else on your to-do list.

You even think that email is dead (or at least it is out of fashion), and that it is better to establish connections through social networks. (Which is nothing new, by the way, nine years ago I was talking about bloggers who have similar concerns).

The truth is that email is still one of the best ways (if not the best) to connect with the readers of your blog. And if you're not using it, you're really missing it.

But before we start talking about the benefits of using an email list to connect with your readers, let's eliminate a misconception.

Does it have to be a 'newsletter'?

In the world of blogs, you will hear people talking about "email lists" and "email newsletters" as if they were synonyms.

You can think of an email newsletter as a content-rich weekly email with the main article, links to your recent blog posts and maybe a summary of what's happening in your niche.

But that's just an example, and there are many other ways to run an email list.

Some bloggers send their newsletter once a month. Others may send emails irregularly: an email every few days before launch, but otherwise only every one or two months.

You can decide to send your blog posts by email, maybe as a weekly summary as we do at. (I'll talk about that, as well as other options for your newsletter, in the post next week).

Whatever you decide, here are a couple of suggestions:

Email at a frequency that suits you and your readers.

If you want a weekly newsletter, and can handle it comfortably, then go ahead. But if you can only manage one per month, make it a monthly newsletter. It does not make sense to send one a weekly bulletin that is full of mistakes because he had to hurry to finish on time.

Regardless of the type of email list, you run, make sure your emails are not too infrequent.

If you do not send an email for six months, many readers (especially those who have just joined) will forget who you are. They can even mark their emails as spam, which can have a big impact on their delivery.

Why sending emails to your readers is so important?

Some bloggers, especially newer bloggers, find it hard to see why sending emails to readers is so important. For them, attracting traffic through good SEO or building their social networks makes more sense.

But here are six crucial reasons why email is still important.

# 1: Emails give you control over your own traffic

With a large email list, you can easily direct a large amount of traffic to your publications by simply sending an email. If you trust Google, you are competing against many other blogs. And if Google decides to change its search algorithm, it could lose a lot of traffic very quickly. (This happened to me in 2004, about which I wrote a couple of years later).

Social networks are not much better. You probably already know that only a fraction of the followers of your Facebook page will see a certain post. To reach many people, you need to "increase" your publication (which costs money) or publish a paid advertisement.

But with email, you have total control. Although they can get caught in people's spam filters, most will do it. And even if only 25% of your subscribers open their emails (which is not a terrible opening rate), they can still attract a lot of traffic to your blog.

# 2: Emails are an excellent way to establish relationships and interact with your readers

Emails feel personal in a way that blog posts rarely achieve. They are also private. Your readers can answer you, and only you, very far from a comment that everyone can see.

Then, when you write your newsletters, try adding some personal information that you would not share on your blog. Emails are more ephemeral, so they are a great place to say some things about your life and what happens around you. (You can talk about those things in your blog, but the publication can be found and read years later).

# 3: Email drives sales of your products and services

While social networks can be a great place for conversations, it's usually not a good place for sales. You can help people to know your blog and connect with you, but email is an excellent place to request a sale. Brad Smith's post on why social media sales suck (and what to do instead) on AdEspresso explains how you can use social media to get people to subscribe to your email list.

The cost of an email list can be a bit unpleasant when it is starting. (We'll see the costs involved in a couple of weeks). But the power of email to boost sales should make it worthwhile.

# 4: Emails allow you to point readers to where you want them to go

Email is a brilliant way to direct readers to where you want them to go. For example, you can:

Link to your blog. Not only recent publications but also publications in your file readers may have been lost or forgotten.

Link to your Facebook group, Twitter account, etc. If you have set up a new Facebook group in which your readers may be interested, you can promote it in your newsletter.

Link to a survey or survey. This can be a great opportunity to discover more about your readers and ask them what kind of content they would like to see more. I've been doing this since 2010, and it's been an invaluable way to find out what readers want.

# 5: Email lists allow you to target different groups of readers

When you publish a post on your blog, it is sent to everyone who has subscribed to receive updates, via RSS or email.

But with an email list, you can "segment" the list into smaller groups.

For example, you can create segments to:

People who are not subscribed to another list that you have. This can help you avoid sending too many promotional messages to the same people (eg, those who have enrolled in your list of "newsletters" and their "waiting list" for a course).

People who joined your list at a specific point in time: in the last month, more than a year ago, etc.

People who joined from a specific page on your website. If you are using social media ads or guest publications to push subscriptions, you can direct your messages or promotions to the interests of each segment.

People who have not opened their emails recently (or not at all).

People who have visited specific pages of your site or who have purchased a particular product.

# 6: Email can guide readers on a trip

You can design a series of emails to take readers on a trip, either by teaching them something new or by helping them get to a better place in their life.

It could be something quite simple and practical, like teaching them to play basic chords on the guitar. Or it could be something more personal and profound, like teaching mindfulness and meditation.

You can use automatic responses to send a sequence of emails, for example, one every few days for two weeks. (If you are not sure what an autoresponder is, I explain what they are and the benefits of using one in this episode of the podcast).

Most bloggers use an automatic response at the beginning of their relationship with a new reader (that is when the reader first registers). But you can also create different lists that readers can choose separately.

It can be an excellent way to accustom readers to open their emails (they will not want to miss a step in the trip), and link them to their blog posts or even to payment products and services, as appropriate. For example, it could "increase the sale" to the reader in a course or product related to the end of the series.

In summary

If you have not yet set up a newsletter, or if you have never seen the value of having one, I hope this publication was useful. And if you already have a list of newsletters, but you have not sent anything in a while, I hope you now understand how valuable it can be to send an email to your readers.

I know it can be easy to concentrate on a blog at the expense of your newsletter. A blog is more visible and public, which can make the publication more motivating. But your newsletter can be the key to driving greater commitment and, ultimately, more sales.

8 reasons to add a newsletter to your blog

8 reasons why I use newsletters and the benefits they bring

Before continuing, let me tell you that I am not talking about RSS to send newsletters by email that simply convert your RSS feed into emails. I'm talking about creating a list of subscribers who receive a weekly or monthly newsletter (or some other period). You can direct people to your blog and the publications you have written, but their purpose is written and often includes other material exclusive to subscribers to the newsletter.

1. Newsletters create loyalty.

Most readers of your blogs never come back.

The sad reality is that, despite our best efforts, in most blogs, there is a lot of traffic. People come from a search engine, another blog or website or a social networking site: they stay for a few moments, consume what they can and then continue.

Unless you find a way to "hook" people to come back to your blog, most of your readers will not. It is not that they do not want or that their site is bad, they just forget it and/or they do not have the means to remind themselves of their blog.

A newsletter is a way to give those who come to your blog a way to accept being reminded to return to your blog. The same can be said for RSS, but a newsletter reaches a different group than RSS (more on this later).

2. Newsletters develop relationships and trust

After two years of sending weekly newsletters to my readers at DPS, I am now starting to get some interesting interactions from subscribers. They are sending me an email as if they had sent an email to a friend.

What I am discovering is that the weekly bulletins (in which I have a photo of myself and share occasional fragments of my life, including the birth of children, the trips I make, the things I am doing) are being published. I very familiar to my subscribers. They seem to feel that they "know" me. It's hard to explain, but I guess when you get as many emails from someone as these people get from me, they really "know" me (at least on some levels).

Emails not only create relationships and intimacy with your readers, but they also build trust. Subscribers to my newsletters respond to affiliate promotions much more than regular readers of my blog. They seem to follow the recommendations I make and try the things I suggest.

RSS and only blogs can create relationships and trust too, but I suspect that adding email newsletters in the mix adds to this.

3. Newsletters Drive Page Views / Traffic

My most trafficked days are the ones I send newsletters. I use newsletters to highlight new blog posts and key discussions in the forum I'm running. The more useful and thematic the publications and discussions, the greater the traffic of the links in the newsletter.

Interestingly, if you need a burst of 'explosive' traffic for a particular publication, a bulletin can be excellent for this. For example:

If you are launching a new product or service and want to start well, do so with a newsletter and a blog post.

If you are launching a new affiliate campaign, do it the same day you send a newsletter.

If you want a publication to be successful on a social bookmarking site such as Digg, put a Digg button in the publication and a few minutes later send your newsletter pointing to the people in the publication.

These sudden bursts of traffic can really help generate momentum around the projects you are starting.

4. The bulletins are familiar

Most of your readers do not know what RSS is, and unless you offer them a subscription option via email, they are unlikely to "subscribe." Although RSS awareness is growing, some research shows that it is slowing down and even reaching a maximum in its use. Personally, I feel that it will continue to grow and be used by people (even when they do not know they are using technology), but email will continue (at least in the short term) as one of the most used forms of communication on the planet.

This depends a little on your subject and audience. Some of your readers will be more tech-savvy (and familiar with RSS) than others and, in those cases, email newsletters may not be as effective, but I suspect that in most of the niches that offer newsletters will be effective.

5. Newsletters create a central community and improve readers' commitment

One word that keeps popping up when I interact with the subscribers of my newsletter is "membership." I do not use the word, but I have noticed more and more that the subscribers refer to themselves as "members" or that they have registered as "members". I find it interesting that these subscribers do not see themselves as simply receiving an email (as a subscriber), but that they joined something or are members of a community.

I suppose that registering for something is a reader that shows a certain level of participation and commitment to a site; in doing so, they are investing something in their blog and feel like participants.

I use the words "core community" earlier because I find that those who subscribe to a newsletter are usually among the most loyal and committed members of their blog community. These are people who want the internal word on their site and are telling you that they want to know what happens as soon as possible. They have given him permission to communicate with them; As a result, they are a powerful group of people who can meet and communicate (and can really help your blog grow even more since they can be effective evangelists for you).

6. Bulletins can track and target groups of readers.

The use of a tool such as Aweber to publish your newsletter gives you access to all kinds of interesting tools, statistics, and opportunities. You can track which links in your publication get the most clicks (this can be used as a form of research on what readers respond to), but you can also segment readers into different groups and direct them with individual messages.

For example:

You can send special newsletters only to new subscribers; for example, you can send an email every month only to those who have registered at that time, highlighting the key publications in your files.

You can track who clicks on the affiliate links in your publications and send them emails with special offers

You can send special emails only to subscribers who never open emails (checking subject lines with different strategies in them)

Heaven really is the limit as to what you can try and how you can address readers.

7. Bulletins help build Momentum

I use my newsletter not only for the promotion of content and affiliate products, but also to create a sense of momentum in my blog. Every few weeks in my photography blog, I will give the subscribers some additional information about the milestones we have reached as a community, the mentions we have had in the mainstream media, the new features we are adding, etc. those who subscribe feel that they are part of something that is growing and exciting.

I find that by doing this, the readers respond very well and inform me about how they have helped the site grow (promoting it to their friends).

8. Bulletins open possibilities for monetization.

The newsletters open another way of profit for those of you who develop online businesses.

I've already mentioned several times that newsletters can be effective when it comes to affiliate programs, but they can also be good when it comes to advertising revenue.

The sale of advertising space in our newsletter can be quite lucrative when you accumulate readers. I discovered that advertisers may be willing to pay fairly good CPM rates because they know that the subscriber base of a newsletter are usually very committed and loyal readers (and very focused on a niche as well).