The Biggest Email Marketing Mistake All Bloggers Must Avoid!

Huge New Blogger Mistake To Avoid!

Everybody tells you, you need an email list.

If you’re reading this then you probably already know you need an email list but you may not completely understand the benefits of having one.

This is day 3 of my Write 31 Days challenge where I will be diving deep into email marketing, growing your subscriber list, email autoresponders and building relationships with your readers and subscribers.

In this post, I’m going to tell you my single biggest blogging mistake to illustrate just how important building an email list is and knowing what to do with it when you’ve got one.

 

My Single Biggest Blogging Mistake And What It Cost Me

 

I in no way am new to blogging. I have blogged off and on for some years although it’s probably been more off than on.

The thing is, I was mainly doing it to make money. That was my main focus. Of course, I wanted to help people but my blogs (yes plural) definitely didn’t have a Christian focus.

I heard over and over that I needed to have an email list. This is the thing. I didn’t understand what the email list was for.

I’m the kind of person who if I don’t understand what or why I’m doing something I either won’t do it or I’ll do it for a while and then stop or neglect it.

So even though I heard all the time that I should get an email list, I didn’t truly understand why I should have one.

The blog that I had that I’m referring too is a blog about flat irons. I wrote flat iron reviews and had affiliate links to the flat irons that I reviewed.

I managed to get on the first page of Google for the term flat iron reviews which was major!

I was so excited.

Despite not knowing why I needed one, I did have an email list. I built it up by doing giveaways.

I was able to get about 100 subscribers but I had no clue why they mattered. I had no clue what to with the list. The list just sat there in the dashboard collecting dust.

I was more concerned about being on the first page of Google.

I didn’t put much emphasis on the list because I was getting so much traffic from Google and it felt so awesome.

I basically thought I had made it and that my page would always be there.

I was making money through my affiliate sales and as far as I was concerned I would just scale up my blog and I would quit my job and do this full time. 

 

 

Then, one day, I went to check on my ranking like I frequently did to see if my blog had moved up any.

And it was gone.

I thought, ok don’t panic.

Sometimes what happens is the so-called “Google dance” which is defined as “the period when Google is rebuilding its rankings, and results fluctuate widely for a 3 to 5 day period.”

Surely that’s what was going on right?

So I waited a few days and checked again. My page was still nowhere to be found on Google.

My ranking disappeared literally overnight.

I was heartbroken.

All my hard work went down the drain. I couldn’t believe that one day my blog could be on top of the world and the next day it was gone.

What I found out later was that Googles algorithm update had repositioned the top ten rankings for lots of different search terms.

It was either their penguin update or the panda update, I’m not sure which.

And I wasn’t alone. Lots of people lost their rankings overnight forever, just like me.

This Was My Biggest Email Marketing Mistake As A Blogger

Since Google was my only source of traffic, my readers were gone.

And because I didn’t know the importance of an email list and I didn’t really grow it that much, I now had no audience.

Not understanding the importance of my email subscribers is my single biggest blogging mistake and it cost me everything.

My blog was dead…overnight.

After finally tasting success (financial), to have it be gone just like that made me want to give up.

So I did, for years.

Fortunately, the Lord has called me back to it and I answered the call but I put Him off for a long time which I’m ashamed to say.

I procrastinated starting another blog because I was scared and this is one of the reasons why.

I didn’t want to fail again.

However, all in all, this experience taught me some vital lessons and I want to share those lessons with you tomorrow because I know they will help you.

I want to make sure you don’t make the same mistakes that I made so be sure to check back tomorrow.

And if you’re needing a blogging strategy guide then may I present to you my blogging roadmap that you can download here for free?

 

Okay, guys, that’s all from me, I shall see you on the morrow where I will tell 5 things I learned from my blogging mistake. 

God bless!