5 Tips for Making a More Efficient Email Marketing List for Your Blog
Anyone can start a blog, but not everyone can build a successful one. In order to succeed as a blogger, you need to get your readers to come back to your blog. To do this, you need to utilize multiple channels to let them know when you’ve posted new content. Email is one of the most vital tools you can use to grow your blog. Most bloggers place an email subscription box somewhere on their page. But if you want to be more efficient in building your list and effective with your email marketing, you need to go beyond that. Here are five tips for getting more from your email marketing efforts.
Tip #1: Use Proper Formatting
Did you know that 64% of users (according to Hubspot) prefer HTML email? Did you know that simple text based emails outperform fancy ones? What about the fact that adding images hurt open rates? If you want to reach your readers, it’s important to use the right formatting. There’s no point in building an email list if most of your emails get unread.
The reason why tests favor simple HTML emails is probably due to delivery rates and flagging. Images are seen as a higher risk for email platforms. They are also flagged as spam and promotional emails. Users find simple text messages to be more personal than slick templates. So if you want your email to be opened and read, use these test results to guide your campaigns.
Tip #2: Optimize Email Campaigns
Another important aspect of email marketing is maximizing the effectiveness of your campaigns. The first thing that your readers will see is the subject line. In order to get the right subject line, simply come up with two to three that you can test. You can test these subject lines on a small sample size of your subscribers. Once you figure out which subject line results in the most opens, you can roll it out to the rest of your subscribers.
You can also test different opening paragraphs in your emails the same way. Test out different openings with a small sample size and see which one results in the most click-throughs. Repeat the same process if you’re going to use a headline in your email. Through this process, you’ll be able to find the right combination of elements that yield the best results.
Tip #3: Set Up Different Subscription Offers
When building your email list, you have to accept the fact that some people just won’t want to sign up. But what you can do is to give them a strong reason to do so apart from being able to receive your blog updates or newsletter. You can set up small whitepaper reports, videos, or audio interviews as bait to bring in new subscribers.
Make sure you do a great job in selling the information and value that’s inside the content. Don’t make it seem like it’s just an everyday piece of content. It also helps to bring up the email subscription offer in the right context. For example, if you’ve made a blog post on the benefits of organic gardening, place an email subscription box that offers a free beginner’s guide for organic gardening.
Tip #4: Break Up Your Content into Multiple Parts
If you’re creating long-form content, you can use it as a tool to generate more email subscribers. Simply break down the content into two parts. Deliver half of the content in your blog post and get readers to subscribe to your email list to get the other half. Make sure that your content is long enough to justify the subscription or else it will just seem like an annoying trick to your readers.
The key to making this tactic work is making sure your content blows your readers away. Make sure it’s engaging, interesting, relevant, and valuable. Use psychological devices like promising a valuable piece of information on the other half or hinting at something surprising in the first half of the content.
Tip #5: Use Pop Overs Effectively
Reminding your readers to subscribe to your email list goes a long way in building your email list. It will help reel in new visitors as well as users that have been on your blog multiple times already. By using pop overs on your site, you will bypass pop-up blockers and bring attention to your email list. As usual, you’ll want to offer something of value in return for the subscription.
The problem with this is that it can be quite annoying to users that come to your site regularly. In order to tackle this problem, you want to use a pop-over tool that only displays a specific number of times. The tool should track each user based on the person’s IP address or cookies.
The bottom line is that you need to work on building a following after you start a blog. These email tips should help you maintain and grow your audience. While email is a powerful tool, make sure you use other channels like social media, forums, and YouTube to stay engaged with your audience. Every reader has a specific list of channels that he prefers, so you need to make sure that you utilize every channel possible for maximum reach.
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