5 Major Reasons You Need An Email List As A Blogger & Business Owner! Learn From My Mistakes!
Do I Really Need An Email List? That’s A Resounding Yes!
We all make blogging mistakes but some are way more costly than others. Yesterday, I told the story of my biggest blogging mistake which you can read here.
Today I’m going to talk about what I learned from those mistakes and show you that you really do need an email list because I know they will help you know and understand what NOT to do as a blogger.
This is day 4 of the Write 31 Days challenge where I will be talking about email marketing, list building, and building relationships with your subscribers.
If this post doesn’t convince you that you need to start an email list, I’m not sure what will.
Key Takeaways
- Having an email list is crucial for connecting with your audience and building a relationship with them.
- There are many benefits to having an email list, including increased engagement, more targeted communication, and higher conversion rates.
- To build a successful email list, you need to provide value to your subscribers, use lead magnets, optimize your opt-in forms, and provide them with subscriber only content.
7 Benefits Of An Email List: Why Email Is Important To Your Business
1) Email has higher returns on engagement than social media
Even though social media marketing is far more exciting, email has a much higher engagement rate than email, typically.
According to a study, the average open rate for emails is 15 to 25%, while the average engagement rate for Facebook posts is only 0.58%.
This means that email marketing is a more effective way to reach your audience and get them to engage with your content. Convinced yet?
2) You have ownership of your email list
When you have an email list, you have complete ownership and control over it (USUALLY).
Yes, I have heard of horror stories of people losing their email subscriber account but if you download a CSV file of your subscribers, you still have the ability to transfer those to another email service provider.
So in this way, unlike social media platforms, where your account can be suspended or deleted at any time, your email list is yours to keep forever.
This means that you can continue to reach out to your subscribers even if your social media accounts are shut down.
3) You can control the experience your audience has with emails
With email marketing, you have complete control over the experience your audience has with your content.
You can personalize your emails, segment your list, and send targeted messages to specific groups of subscribers.
This allows you to tailor your content to the specific interests and needs of your audience.
4) You’re not putting all of your traffic eggs in one basket
By relying solely on social media for traffic, you’re putting all of your eggs in one basket. Super scary and not recommended!
If When a social media platform changes its algorithm or your account gets suspended, you could lose all of your traffic overnight.
With an email list, you have a more diverse traffic source and can continue to drive traffic to your blog posts even if social media platforms change and provide high quality content and products to them as well.
5) Makes your blog Google algorithm proof
Did you hear about Google’s Helpful Content Update? If not, look it up because it affected tons of blogger’s traffic…in a negative way.
Having an email list can make your blog Google algorithm proof. By sending out regular emails to your subscribers, you can drive traffic to your blog without relying on solely on the whims of Google.
This means that even if your blog’s ranking drops in search results, you can still drive traffic to your blog through your email list.
6) Email Is Personal
Email is a personal form of communication that allows you to connect with your subscribers on a deeper, more spiritual level like I talk about in this post. By sending personalized messages to your subscribers, you can build stronger relationships and foster a sense of community around your blog.
And isn’t this what we want as Christian small business owners?
7) Everyone has an email address
Finally, everyone has an email address…even my 98 year old grandmother although she doesn’t know how to check it.
This means that by building an email list, you have the potential to reach a much larger audience than you would through social media alone and thus bring in new customers to your business.
With email marketing, you can connect with your audience in a more personal and effective way, and build a loyal following for your blog.
Now if you still are on the fence about the benefits of email marketing, then maybe learning about the mistakes I made as a blogger and the lessons I learned from them will convince you.
5 Lessons I Learned From Ignoring The Power Of An Email List
1) Don’t do “get rankings” quick scams
Do y’all remember Paul Harvey? He was famous for his radio show called the Rest Of The Story.
Well, I’m going to give you the rest of the story of my biggest blogging mistake because there’s a very important part that I left out of yesterday’s post.
Confession time!
I talked a little about how the blogs I had before were mostly started so I could make money.
I wasn’t trying to make an impact. I wasn’t trying to really change lives or anything inspirational.
I was concerned with profit. When you’re concerned with profit then you might be willing to do some things that in hindsight are spammy.
What I did wasn’t wrong as in sinful or anything but it was definitely a kind of “get rankings overnight” technique that blew up in my face.
I can’t for the life of me remember what website I was using but it was some sort of article spinning website that helped you get a lot of links back to your site very quickly so that you could get your website to the first page of Google quickly.
Well, let me tell you, it worked... for a while. I was on the first page of Google for a while until Google's Panda or Penguin algorithm update took place.
Moral of the story: Don’t look for shortcuts. I wanted results fast and I got them but they came at a price.
Google viewed these links that my blog as low-quality links and so they dropped my blog from their rankings.
This was years ago and my blog never recovered. Basically, if a site is promising to help your blog do something that seems too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true.
Don’t fall for get-rankings, get-rich, or any other get-something too easy or too fast scheme.
It’s not worth it in the long run. By the way, this was another blog that I’m talking about, not this blog. Trust me I’ve learned my lesson!
2) Concentrate on your mailing list (yes you need one!)
Something else I learned from this fiasco:
Do Not, I repeat do NOT neglect your email list.
Your email list is the most vital asset you have as a blogger!
Did you hear me?
Your email list is the most important asset you have as a blogger.
You own it.
You don’t own the pins you put on Pinterest. I mean sure they are your creation and you own them but Pinterest can delete them at any time and then what are they worth?
You don’t really “own” the followers you have on any social media platform. If you’re Facebook or Instagram account was shut down, your followers are gone.
But with an email list, you can back up your email subscribers list into an excel spreadsheet and you can take it with you to another email autoresponder if you needed to.
If Google delisted your blog, Facebook said you violated their terms of service or Instagram said sayonara to you because you did something they didn’t like, your following is gone.
When my blog dropped off the face of Google earth, if I had built an email list, I wouldn’t have missed a beat.
I could have just emailed my list and started building my blog again.
That’s the beauty and the power of an email list.
I wish I had known that then but I totally get that now I want to make sure you get that as well.
If we are trying to build businesses and get to know people on a deeper level, we need to build an email list, period.
When my blog dropped off the face of Google earth, if I had built an email list, I wouldn't have missed a beat. I could have just emailed my list and started building my blog again. That's the beauty and the power of an email list. Share on X
3) Make your blog Google algorithm proof
With that being said, if you do use Google as a source of traffic, then try to make your blog algorithm proof.
Meaning being, no matter what changes Google or any other search engine makes you want to try to make your blog impervious to those changes.
You want your blog to steel-like and able to withstand anything the Google bots throw at it.
Of course, this really is impossible but we can get close by always keeping the reader’s needs first.
This means keeping tabs on our blog’s loading speed, making our sites secure, creating valuable content, using keywords that attract readers, and making the content readable/scannable.
Having social shares from real humans doesn’t hurt either.
4) Don’t put all of your traffic eggs in one basket
Another lesson learned. Don’t put all your traffic eggs in one basket.
Just recently I was in a Pinterest Facebook group and someone said they got banned from Pinterest and that Pinterest wouldn’t even reconsider giving him his account back.
If Pinterest is your only source of traffic than that is a major blow!
And that’s the nature of this business because we don’t own Pinterest, Facebook, or any of these platforms except our own.
Do not put all of your traffic eggs in one basket. Focus on building that email list by driving traffic to your blog from multiple traffic sources.
5) Don’t blog just for money
Proverbs 28:20 says “A faithful man will abound with blessings, but whoever hastens to be rich will not go unpunished.”
Could there be a verse that’s more applicable to this situation? I can’t think of one but if you do let me know.
I hastened to be rich and I did not go unpunished and I’m grateful really that it happened because if I had continued to make money like that then I never would have started blogs that actually had true purpose and meaning.
It was a blessing that I couldn’t see or understand at the time. Blogging only for money, as a Christian, is definitely wrong because it takes so much time and effort.
There needs to be some deeper reason that we do it or else we are not being good stewards with the time God has given us.
It was a blessing that I couldn't see or understand at the time. Blogging only for money, as a Christian, is definitely wrong because it takes so much time and effort. Share on X
Email List Building Strategies to Try
As a Christian email marketer, building a targeted email list is essential for successful email marketing campaigns. Here are some strategies that you can try:
- Offer a free resource: Offering a free resource such as an eBook, guide, or checklist can attract potential subscribers to your email list. Make sure the resource is relevant to your target audience and provides value.
- Use social media: Promoting your email list on social media platforms can help to increase visibility and attract potential subscribers. Share your sign-up form on your social media pages and encourage your followers to sign up.
- Host a giveaway: Hosting a giveaway can be an effective way to attract subscribers. Make sure the giveaway is relevant to your target audience and requires participants to sign up for your email list.
- Optimize your sign-up form: Make sure your sign-up form is easy to find and fill out. Keep it simple and only ask for necessary information such as name and email address.
- Provide exclusive content: Providing exclusive content such as discounts, early access to new products, or behind-the-scenes content can incentivize people to sign up for your email list.
By implementing these strategies, you can build a targeted email list that can help to increase engagement and drive conversions for your Christian business or organization.
Can You Relate? What Blogging Mistakes Have You Made? Do You Feel You Need An Email List Now?
Looking back on this mistake, as big as it was, it taught me some valuable lessons.
Plus, it gives me a cautionary tale to share with you all in hopes that you don’t do something like this that could cost you everything.
You are working hard on your blog I know and I’d hate to see it all go to waste. Trust that the Lord is leading you and your blog in the direction it should go.
Learn from the mistakes of others. I’ve made enough mistakes for you to learn from that you don’t need to make your own.
Okay, that’s all from me today, I’ll see you guys tomorrow where I will show you how having an email list can earn you money!
