How to Start an Email List for Your Blog
Albemarle PR may earn a small commission for our endorsement, recommendation, testimonial, and/or link to any products or services from this website. Your purchase helps support our work.
An email list is one of the few ways that you can turn website visitors and social media followers into loyal subscribers.
With educational and promotional emails that you send directly to your subscribers, you can build an audience of people that want to hear from you.
Opt-in Forms
This is the form that your subscriber will use to enter his/her name and email address. You can place opt-in forms under your blog posts, on the sidebar, and in the footer area. Depending on your blog theme, you can also place them in the header area by your blog title.
Choose an Email Service
This is the service we recommend to teachers that will be communicating with parents and students. Their free plan allows you to have up to 2,000 subscribers and you can send 12,000 emails per month. You will only need to upgrade if you plan to expand your blog audience to more people.
ConvertKit is designed for anyone that offers digital or physical products, services, or uses affiliate links to earn money through their website. Their email list service integrates with popular e-commerce solutions and services such as WooCommerce, Shopify, Gumroad, Teachable, LeadPages, WordPress, and Gravity Forms.
One of my favorite features is the option to tag subscriber profiles based on their interests, activities, or other details. You can send emails to specific groups.
They also include landing pages for lead magnet deliveries and course sign ups.
*Update* ConvertKit now offers a free plan with unlimited landing pages and forms so you can begin to grow an email list without paying. For each friend that you invite to join ConvertKit, you can unlock the feature of sending emails to 100 subscribers. As you invite more friends you’ll get an additional 100 subscribers for every person who joins. Inviting 10 friends means up to 1,000 subscribers completely for free.
When Should I Start an Email List?
Now! Even if your blog is brand new, you should start collecting email addresses using an opt-in form. It’s less intimidating to send a few emails to a small list, right? You don’t want to miss an opportunity to promote a product or service because you haven’t worked on building your list.
How Can I Increase my Subscribers?
In addition to writing quality content, you can offer free lead magnets to your subscribers. You should also post new content to your blog on a regular basis.