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Every new blogger strives to reach that coveted 50,000 or 100,000 monthly page views. After all, the whole point of blogging is so that others can read what you have to say. The million dollar question, however, is how? Here are five reasons why you should start building an email list for your blog today if you are looking for a reliable way to grow your blog following long term.
What is an email list?
First things first – what is an email list? An email list is a list of names and email addresses you collect through your website or through a product or offering. These people have given you permission to contact them with news, updates, and promotions pertaining to your blog. You can maintain regular contact with them through weekly newsletters or through a series of automated emails.
Why you should start building an email list for your blog today?
Did you know that there are around four billion email users worldwide, which is about half of the world’s population? Or that for every $1 you spend on email marketing, you can expect an average return of $32? If these statistics aren’t enough for you, check out these five reasons why you should start building an email list for your blog today.
1. Everyone uses email.
Well, everyone except maybe your great-grandmother. Seriously, though, half the world uses email, and a large portion of the half that doesn’t use email also doesn’t have electricity. So you do the math.
But what about social media? Social media is great, but the number of users on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter pales in comparison to the number of users on email. Think about it: what is the first thing you’re asked for when you try to make a new social media account? Your email address. That means every single person who is on social media is also on email, so anyone you would potentially reach via social media could also be reached via email.
2. Email is targeted.
Whether someone signed up for your email list through a pop up box on your blog home page or through a freebie offer, they signed up because they were interested in your content and wanted to consume more of it. This fact alone makes it much more likely that an email subscriber – compared to a social media user – would click through and spend time on the content you’re promoting. Because email is targeted, you will usually see more clickthroughs and higher engagement on content you promote through email than through any other channel. The amount of time you can save on marketing and promoting your blog through email is a compelling enough reason for why you should start building an email list for your blog today.
3. Email is personal.
In contrast to social media posts where you blast out a piece of content or promotion to your entire audience, your emails speak directly to your subscribers. When an email subscriber receives an email addressed directly to them, they are more likely to spend the time to read it than they would a Facebook post in their newsfeed. Almost all email marketing services today allow automatic name customizations that allow you to insert an email subscriber’s name into the subject line or body of your email. That way, when your subscriber receives your email and sees that it is addressed directly to them, they instantly feel more connected to whatever content you’ve chosen to send them.
4. You own your email list forever.
One very important reason why you should start building an email list for your blog today is because your email list is the only list of followers you own forever. Instagram, Facebook, and even Pinterest are constantly changing their algorithms. One month, the leading advice for Instagrammers is to use all of the allotted 30 hashtags in each post. The next month, it’s ideal to use only 10-15 hashtags. Trying to keep up with social media algorithms is a full time job. Not to mention, who knows if the leading social media channels today will still even be in existence in 10 years?
With an email list, however, you’re not afraid of these social media changes. As long as you have your email list, you will always have a steady stream of followers to promote your content to. You own your email list forever, so you’ll want to start investing your time and efforts into building an email list for your blog today.
5. Email subscribers are more likely to buy.
If you’re planning on selling any products or services through your blog in the future, you’ll want to start building an email list today. Email subscribers are more likely to buy than your casual readers and social media followers. When you follow someone on social media, they might show up in your home feed once in a while. You might take the time to “like” their post, but more often than not you’ll just scroll past it and not even read it. However, when you give someone your name and email address, you know their emails are going to end up in your inbox and you’ll have to take some affirmative action to make them go away. That’s why people are so much more protective over their inboxes than their social media following.
Since people are so protective over their email inboxes, if they decide to give you their email address, they likely already have a pretty high interest in your product or service. No one casually gives away their email address online. By starting to build an email list for your blog today, when you are ready to open your e-commerce shop or sell your online course, you’ll already have a base of interested followers to promote your new product or service to right away.
Stay tuned for our step by step guide to building an email list from scratch and our best ideas for growing an email list quickly!
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