A newsletter is one of the best ways to connect with your audience and grow your blog. Newsletters have a high conversion rate and are a great way to connect with your audience on a personal level. Just as with your blog content, your next step is to grow your audience and your email list. In this article, we will discuss the best way to grow your email list and use it to grow your sales this year.
Why email newsletters?
A newsletter and email list are something that every business and blogger should consider in their marketing mix. Newsletters have higher conversion rates than social media channels and many other forms of direct marketing. For one, emails are targeted marketing because the recipient has chosen to sign up and receive regular communications from you. They are more likely to purchase whatever products, books, guides, or services you offer because they are looking forward to receiving your information.
Here are a few more reasons why you should start a newsletter.
- Keeps your brand fresh in your clients minds
- Delivers relevant information on your products and services
- Gives your customers new ways to use your products and services
- Improves conversions with targeted sales and promos
- Generates click throughs to blogs
- Lets your customers know about your business news
The best way to grow your email list
Now that you know many reasons why you should start a newsletter, your next challenge is how to grow your email list. Here are a few suggestions that have been tested over time that are proven strategies for growing your email list and your newsletter subscriptions.
1. Opt-in forms
Opt-in forms are one of the most popular ways to capture emails to include in your marketing campaign. We have all seen them on websites where a pop-up asks you to sign up for the newsletter. Some of them offer a promo or offer for signing up. (Authors often offer a short story or sample chapter from a recent book.) These offers are an excellent method for capturing emails because the person is the one taking the action, which means that they are likely to be more interested in receiving emails and as a result, emails are less likely to end up in their spam folder.
Best practices say that you should have more than one opt-in form on your website. Readers should have an opportunity to sign up for your website somewhere on every page, but not all of them should be a popup. Using an email capture service will be necessary for this strategy, but there are many affordable or free versions available.
2. Offer Content Upgrades
One popular way to increase email captures is to offer content upgrades. For instance, you could offer show notes for your podcast, offer a long-form informational post as a PDF, or offer a checklist or cheat sheet to use the information in the article. You could also offer a free ebook or similar offers. People are more likely to sign up if they feel that they are getting something for free.
3. Contests
Offering entry into a contest for everyone who signs up for it your email is another excellent way to entice readers to subscribe to your newsletter. You could offer free products or upgrades to products and services. People love to enter contests and win free stuff. This method has been around for a long time, but it is still an effective way to gain subscribers because it works.
4. Promos and Coupon Codes
Offering promos and coupon codes might be the best way to gain subscribers. The reason is that people who sign up have the intention to use a promo or coupon code to purchase from you. This method has a high conversion rate and is an excellent way to attract a highly targeted sector of your market. You can keep your audience engaged by occasionally offering email-only promos and coupon codes throughout the year.
5. Use Your Contact Form
You should have a checkmark where anyone who uses your contact form can sign up for your newsletter. Many sites have this box checked by default, but you must make sure that it is clearly indicated that they will be receiving emails regularly from you. Otherwise, you might violate anti-spam laws. This is an excellent technique because once again, the reader is contacting you with further questions and is more likely to be turned into a customer.
6. Encourage Shares and Forwards
It should go without saying, but many newsletter authors tend to forget to ask the reader to share and forward the newsletter to a friend who might be interested. This builds trust because the newsletter will come from a trusted friend who the person knows. Forgetting this line is like forgetting to close the sale. Make sure to ask for it at the end of every email or newsletter that you send.
How to Market a Newsletter
In the previous section, we talked about things that you can do on your website, blog, or in the email or newsletter itself. Next, let’s talk about ways that you can promote your newsletter or email list off-site to gain more subscribers and brand awareness. Here are a few suggestions on how to grow your newsletter list and places where you can advertise to grow your newsletter email list and grow your blog.
1. Include call to action on Facebook page
If you have a Facebook page, you should have a prominent call to action to visit your blog and sign up for your newsletter. It should be placed above the form on top of your cover page so that visitors do not have to scroll to find it. The call to action should be one of the first things they see. Adding the button is easy, all you need to do is go to your page and click on the button that says, “+ Add a Button.”
2. Use Twitter Lead Generation Cards
Twitter ads also offer a way that you can boost your lead generation efforts. They now allow you to use lead generation cards that allow users to sign up for your email list without leaving the platform. You can also drive traffic to your website and encourage sharing of your tweets. You can also tweet special offers to your followers quickly and easily, which allows you to turn your social media following into loyal fans.
3. Use YouTube Call to Action Cards
YouTube is now one of the largest social media platforms and the second most popular search engine in the world. You can add action cards to your videos that allow viewers to click through to your blog and sign up for your email directly from the video. YouTube has many opportunities for promoting your blog and newsletter, and this is one social media channel that you cannot ignore if you are trying to build your audience.
4. Test Different Opt-in Forms
Building the right opt-in form that encourages people to sign up is not all guesswork. You can try different opt in forms and perform A/B testing to see which one works best. Placement, color, design, and copy all affect whether the person will be likely to click on the call to action or not. Also, you need to be aware that different tactics and choices might work on different platforms, but the key is to try something new to see if you can increase leads with a few simple tweaks.
5. Segment Your Email Lists
One of the best pieces of advice for growing your email and newsletter subscriber is to target your content to different buyer personas. If you do not have a good handle on who your target audience is and the segments they occupy, then it is time that you do some research and learn who they are and what they want. Many email services allow you to segment your readers into different sections. You can build different emails for different sectors of your target market to increase your conversion rates even more.
6. In-Person Opportunities
If you participate in a conference, trade show, or offline event, don’t forget to take cards and collect an email list of potential subscribers. These people know you on a personal basis and are more likely to become your loyal fans and customers. If you hold a webinar, this is another opportunity that you cannot miss for growing your email list and promoting your newsletter. Also, don’t forget to promote your email and newsletter using signage if you have an in-person working space or storefront.
7. Include Links Everywhere
The final tip is to never miss an opportunity to include a call to action or opt-in form for your email or newsletter. You can now capture leads directly using many social media platforms like Pinterest, Instagram, and any other method you use to promote your blog. Another idea is to guest blog on other sites and ask if they will allow you to include a call to action to your newsletter. If you choose your guest blogging correctly, it can be an excellent way to build both of your audiences. The bottom line is to develop a good opt-in form that works and share it often.
There is no single best way to grow your email list, but now you have a few ideas for promotion. Promotion only works if the content that you provide is high quality and gives your readers something that they cannot get anywhere else. You need to start with content that is something that interests them, gives them a new angle or perspective, and that is written in an engaging way that keeps them coming back. A combination of high-quality content and promotional efforts will help you grow your email and newsletter list so that you can grow your business and take it to new heights this year.
