How to Start a Mailing List

Do you have a mailing list?

If you’re reading this, chances are you either don’t have a mailing list, or the one you have isn’t as active as it could be. In either case, you’re missing out on significant opportunities. I’m here to show you why having an email list is just as crucial as having your blog and how it can transform your online presence.

Just as important as having a blog?

Yes, I said that right. Having a mailing list is just as important as having a blog. Most bloggers don’t even realize this, and they miss many opportunities because of it.

Continue to read this guide so you can start upping your blog growth and not missing out on important milestones and opportunities.

What is a Mailing List, and Why is it Important?

A mailing list is simply a collection of names and contact information used to distribute information in a batched distribution.

In the case of this article, it’s an email list. An email list is a collection of primarily email addresses to which you send email content. Email lists have been around for a long time and still work very well.

An email list has a lot of importance even to this day where social media is dominating everything.

With an email list, you have a direct line to your audience. No social media algorithm or search engine can interfere. This gives you the power to sell your products or market your services directly to your contacts without any middlemen.

The ROI of having an email list is being able to retain direct contact with your target audience without anything else getting in the way.

You can drive engagement and profit with your email list. You do this by sending newsletters to your subscribers. You can put your profit makers in between valuable content you use to keep them hooked to the content.

You should be creating a mailing list alongside of your blog right when you create your blog.

Step 1: Create a Mailing List Strategy

Just like your blog, your mailing list needs a well-thought-out strategy. This will keep you focused, organized, and prepared for the journey ahead.

Your strategy should consist of goals and objectives. These goals and objectives should be achievable without becoming overwhelming, so try not to set them too high of a standard. They should also reflect something consistent in terms of what you want to get out of your newsletter, such as selling your product or service.

You can do quite a bit with an email list.

You can use it to create a community so that you can develop a loyal audience. You can promote your blog content with your newsletter so that you can keep your engagement levels up. You can also use it to drive sales.

You can also use your email list to generate leads and funnel subscribers into purchasing your products and services as long as you nurture their interests.

Like in blogging, you need to know who your target audience is for your email list. It might be different from your blog audience, too. Your newsletter and your blog may have different end goals, even if they’re related, so it’s important to consider that during your strategic planning process.

Try to keep your newsletter specific to your niche and narrow it down to your target audience.

You can also use your mailing list to segment your audience for messaging. This means you can break up your audience and send different things to different groups of people based on different characteristics. This can help you sell to one group that is likely to buy rather than waste your effort on everyone.

Like with any business or project, you have to create a strategy if you want it to actually be successful.

Step 2: Choose an Email Marketing Platform

Try to take some time to choose a good email marketing platform for your mailing list.

There are many different factors to consider. You should consider creating an account on each platform and looking around to find your perfect one. They all do the same thing, more or less, but the experience will often be different on each platform.

Different platforms will have different usability, the ability to scale plans as your list grows, integration features with other services, and, of course, different pricing, which is important to note for your desired budget.

MailChimp provides a free plan with up to 1K subscribers and can also be integrated with many different services. However, ConvertKit is said to be geared more towards creators and offers a free plan with up to 10K subscribers. There are even more platforms available that offer different features and plans worth looking into before you choose.

Once you determine what platform is best for your mailing list, you should set it up according to your needs before you do anything else.

Your initial setup will include editing your profile, customizing your list to meet your needs, and integrating your blog and other services you desire. You might also want to go through the newsletter creation feature and send a test to yourself before you start using it. Get to know the controls before you start actively promoting your list.

Before you do anything else, make sure you set up your mailing list to meet your demands so you don’t run into problems later in the process.

Step 3: Create a Lead Magnet to Get Subscribers

One of the most important methods of attracting new subscribers is offering a high-value lead magnet in exchange for a subscription.

A lead magnet is your offer to gain a lead. The offer is something free that is extremely valuable to the potential subscriber. The lead is actually getting the subscriber, which is often a requirement to access the lead magnet.

A lead magnet might be something like an eBook, checklist, template, exclusive content, courses, or even an app.

Whatever type of lead magnet you offer, it needs to be of extremely high value. You’re asking people to subscribe to get something valuable for free, and if the offer isn’t that good, subscribing might seem like a waste of time.

It’s typically very easy to create a lead magnet, especially if it’s going to be a piece of content.

You can create your lead magnet using tools like Word, Google Docs, Canva, and others. You just need to make sure it’s good enough to get leads and visually appealing to those who see its offer for the first time.

Make sure the delivery of the lead magnet is automatic and includes a CTA.

Some people will get the lead magnet and then unsubscribe, but don’t let that scare you away from continuing to build your mailing list.

Step 4: Create High Converting Opt-In Forms

Opt-in forms, which are CTAs that persuade readers to subscribe to your newsletter, should be used on your blog in every circumstance where they can be useful.

When designing your opt-in forms, remember the art of persuasion. Your headline should be a hook, and the copy should persuade people to join your list. But include a lead magnet offer or CTA in there as well, so they know they can get something for subscribing.

Put your opt-in form on every blog page post, and make it where it will pop up, encouraging readers to subscribe.

Test your opt-in form. Use A/B testing to analyze the results of using different forms, different form placements, and different lead magnets if you have more than one. This will help you make the best possible decisions to utilize opt-in forms more successfully.

Be sure to track your metrics and determine, based on activity from your opt-in forms, how many subscribers are actually subscribing to your newsletter.

Step 5: Driving Traffic to Your Mailing List

It’s important to drive traffic to your mailing list, which can be done by creating a dedicated page explaining why people should subscribe and including an opt-in form to promote that page.

Try to use your blog posts in a way to lead subscriptions. You can do this by mentioning stuff you’ve talked about on your newsletter as a way to encourage subscriptions. You can also end with a CTA asking readers to subscribe to your newsletter.

You can also post content previews that require readers to subscribe to your newsletter to get the full article.

Use social media to earn subscribers. Don’t just post links asking people to subscribe, either. Add your newsletter page to any link fields on your bio.

You can’t just launch a mailing list and expect to get instant subscribers without promoting and marketing your list first.

Step 6: Onboarding Your Email Subscribers

It’s important to onboard your new email subscribers, and you can do that by automatically sending them a welcome message once they subscribe.

First impressions really do matter when it comes to a newsletter. Make sure your welcome message impresses upon the subscriber. Most importantly, make sure the welcome email is packed full of value and the highest quality possible.

Introduce your newsletter, provide some value, and then nurture your subscribers by addressing their needs, wants, and pain points in the welcome email.

Be sure to throw in some sort of conversion tactic. If you’re trying to sell something, add it to that email. Don’t make the whole email about trying to make a sale, but at least make it known that something is for sale just in case subscribers are in a buying mood.

Ensure that all your newsletters are of the highest quality possible and that each email you send provides a lot of value.

Consider using copywriting techniques in your welcome email and in your newsletter issues. This is when you write in a way that engages a reader emotionally. I recommend looking into the PAS, AIDA, and storytelling copy strategies.

Make sure your onboarding process is as perfect as possible. This is where you will retain and lose many of your subscribers.

Step 7: Monetize Your Mailing List

Use your mailing list to promote and sell your products and services. You have a direct line to potential customers.

You can also use affiliate marketing in your newsletter. Make sure you put up a disclaimer and clearly state when you are using an affiliate link. You typically get paid if someone buys something after clicking on your affiliate link.

You can also sell sponsor spots on your newsletter or even partnerships in which a company solely sponsors the full newsletter issue.

Consider segmenting as a way to make more money. You can determine who are buyers and who are not. Split these groups up into segments and then offer a different value and sales proposition to different segmented groups.

You’ll want to create different segments based on interests and behaviors that you observe from your subscriber audience.

Segments allow you to send targeted emails to different groups. This feature is often overlooked and ignored because it seems complicated. In reality, it is easy to use and extremely beneficial for monetizing your mailing list.

Take every opportunity to monetize your list. As it grows, you will need to pay to keep it alive.

Step 8: Consistency and Analytics

It’s important to get into a habitual groove with your mailing list and pay close attention to the data to keep it healthy and alive.

Consider your consistency in the frequency you send your newsletter. You might send it once a month, once a week, or even once a day. It’s important not to overwhelm yourself because you need to remain consistent to start building trust and loyalty among your subscribers.

Consider the different content formats, such as articles, reviews, resources, external links, memes, tips, and promotional items.

Don’t overpromote your products and services, and don’t underpromote them, either. Try to promote something every two slots between the actual native content on your newsletter.

Provide significant value between each promotion; otherwise, you might drive your readers to unsubscribe quickly.

Pay attention to important mailing list metrics. These metrics are open rates, click-through rates, and unsubscribe rates. These three metrics alone can help you create a better newsletter that will retain its loyal subscribership.

Audit every sentence you write to ensure that it provides value to your subscribers or leads to providing value.

If you make a change, be sure to A/B test it. Testing the effectiveness of a change can help you build a stronger and more desirable mailing list. You should also change things frequently and don’t be scared to experiment and try something new; otherwise, you’ll likely miss big opportunities.

Keep setting goals and encouraging growth as you continue to build your newsletter so that you have something important to work towards.

Final Thoughts About Your Mailing List

If you haven’t started a mailing list yet, you’re missing out on a lot of opportunities as a blogger. Use the guide above to get started so that you can start enjoying the significant benefits of having an email list with your blog.

Please share this post with others who you think would enjoy it. In the comments, tell me if you’ve started a newsletter yet or if you plan to start one after reading this post.

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About the Author

Shawn Gossman has created content, blogged, ran online communities, and shared a passion for digital marketing for over twenty years. Shawn believes the best way to help content creators, businesses, brands, and marketers is to give away more than you sell. The same advice is recommended for the readers who follow this blog. Shawn also offers various services for extra help in content creation and blogging.