I have flirted with the idea of sending out a newsletter to my blog readers and subscribers for the longest time and finally I found the courage to do so. I sent my first ever newsletter earlier this week and that for me is a huge achievement. I only have a handful of subscribers because I didn't really understood the importance of newsletters before. I signed up for RSS feeds but I doubt it had any impact of the increase in my readership. And so I did my homework and sent out my first ever newsletter and it felt unbelievably amazing - I felt like I am a legit and responsible blogger.
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I used Mailchimp to send out my newsletter and currently I am still subscribed to the free option. Once I hit 2,000 subscribers then maybe I will consider the paid plans. My goal is to accurately identify my audience and actively track engagement. I feel like I need to write more blog posts with real value to my readers at this point. Gone are the days that you just publish anything that you feel like writing at that moment. I want to have a blog content that is worthy of being read. I've embedded sign-up forms in the homepage, my sidebar and some of the published articles that are performing better in terms of Google searches.
So maybe you will ask me why did I feel the need to send my blog newsletters?
1. Email is more personal.
Based on conversations with my friends, they actually check their emails more than they do with their social media accounts nowadays. They also don't just check once a day but several times in any given day. People's inboxes are more important to them than their bookmarked sites or your promotions on social media. I personally enjoy reading newsletters that go to my inbox from bloggers and business professionals that I follow. It also gives me the chance to go back to posts that I may have missed. My end goal is to build a personal relationship with my readers as well as connect with them and understand what sort of blog posts they would respond more to as well as provide value and trust along the way.
2. Email trumps social media any day.
I once asked myself if I wasn't a blogger would I use social media as much as I do now. My answer was no but I was so sure that I will be checking my emails everyday. Apart from email seems more important that what your online friend ate for lunch or dinner, email is easier to manage than the hundreds of social media updates that flood your feed. Thus, it's good to note that when you have a newsletter there is a higher chance that your content/update will be seen, opened and read.
3. You own your email list and nobody else has access to it.
You may not be Mark Zuckerberg but you are the sole owner of your email subscribers list. Nearly everyone who uses the internet has an email address and people who provides you their email address means that they allow you to send them something that they would read. Having your blog readers on your email list keeps you in control of your exposure to them. This means, you can opt to send a quarterly, monthly, or even weekly newsletter.
Apart from the items I listed above, I also feel that emails can be forwarded easier than shared to social media. You can provide a call to action in each of your newsletter even. I can't believe how long I have put this to the backburner and did not even pay a good deal of attention to how it could grow my reader base. I know I have to market my blog better in order to attract, keep and connect to my readers.
I am beyond grateful to everyone who reads my blog and for those who leaves sincere comments and appreciations. I love what I do and I don't think I will ever stop blogging. I'm thankful to everyone who has stayed even when I had bouts of hiatus from time to time, when I just can't seem to string cohesive sentences and just leave posts inside the drafts folder. I am determined to bring this blog to a whole new level next year and I hope you will all stay with me in this endeavor.
If you are a blogger reading this, do you have a newsletter? What do you include in it? I would love to know. If you are one of my dear readers reading this post, let me know what you want to read or receive in my newsletters. If you haven't signed-up yet, please feel free to click the image below. I would love to connect more with you.
![]()
I used Mailchimp to send out my newsletter and currently I am still subscribed to the free option. Once I hit 2,000 subscribers then maybe I will consider the paid plans. My goal is to accurately identify my audience and actively track engagement. I feel like I need to write more blog posts with real value to my readers at this point. Gone are the days that you just publish anything that you feel like writing at that moment. I want to have a blog content that is worthy of being read. I've embedded sign-up forms in the homepage, my sidebar and some of the published articles that are performing better in terms of Google searches.
So maybe you will ask me why did I feel the need to send my blog newsletters?
1. Email is more personal.
Based on conversations with my friends, they actually check their emails more than they do with their social media accounts nowadays. They also don't just check once a day but several times in any given day. People's inboxes are more important to them than their bookmarked sites or your promotions on social media. I personally enjoy reading newsletters that go to my inbox from bloggers and business professionals that I follow. It also gives me the chance to go back to posts that I may have missed. My end goal is to build a personal relationship with my readers as well as connect with them and understand what sort of blog posts they would respond more to as well as provide value and trust along the way.
2. Email trumps social media any day.
I once asked myself if I wasn't a blogger would I use social media as much as I do now. My answer was no but I was so sure that I will be checking my emails everyday. Apart from email seems more important that what your online friend ate for lunch or dinner, email is easier to manage than the hundreds of social media updates that flood your feed. Thus, it's good to note that when you have a newsletter there is a higher chance that your content/update will be seen, opened and read.
3. You own your email list and nobody else has access to it.
You may not be Mark Zuckerberg but you are the sole owner of your email subscribers list. Nearly everyone who uses the internet has an email address and people who provides you their email address means that they allow you to send them something that they would read. Having your blog readers on your email list keeps you in control of your exposure to them. This means, you can opt to send a quarterly, monthly, or even weekly newsletter.
Apart from the items I listed above, I also feel that emails can be forwarded easier than shared to social media. You can provide a call to action in each of your newsletter even. I can't believe how long I have put this to the backburner and did not even pay a good deal of attention to how it could grow my reader base. I know I have to market my blog better in order to attract, keep and connect to my readers.
I am beyond grateful to everyone who reads my blog and for those who leaves sincere comments and appreciations. I love what I do and I don't think I will ever stop blogging. I'm thankful to everyone who has stayed even when I had bouts of hiatus from time to time, when I just can't seem to string cohesive sentences and just leave posts inside the drafts folder. I am determined to bring this blog to a whole new level next year and I hope you will all stay with me in this endeavor.
If you are a blogger reading this, do you have a newsletter? What do you include in it? I would love to know. If you are one of my dear readers reading this post, let me know what you want to read or receive in my newsletters. If you haven't signed-up yet, please feel free to click the image below. I would love to connect more with you.
