How to Grow Your Email List as a New Blogger

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It’s no secret that all new bloggers should make building an email list their number one priority! From building community to converting sales, email is the superpower of bloggers everywhere. But how to get from point A to point B? Let’s discuss the top proven methods of how to grow your email list as a new blogger.

Avoid Newsletter Opt-Ins

It’s 2020, ya’ll, and newsletters are not half as enticing as they used to be. The truth is, most people instinctively do not want to sign up for more emails. Getting weekly emails from you doesn’t sound great to them. You need to think bigger, offer more value, and create freebies that you would want to download if you were reading a blog post.

Create Awesome Lead Magnets for Your Opt-Ins

Freebies are more often referred to as “lead magnets” in the digital marketing world. That is because your freebie is what draws in potential clients to sign up for your email list! Your email list represents your most substantial sales leads. Thus, the term lead magnet.

Creating value-packed lead magnets is precisely how to grow your email list as a new blogger. The more value you offer in your freebies, the more email sign-ups you are likely to get.

A freebie can be any digital product relevant to your niche. You can create templates, checklists, cheat sheets, eBooks, handbooks, 21-day guides, and more! For a full list of awesome lead magnet ideas, check out this article.

Lead Magnet Tips to Grow Your Email List

Pack In the Value

You might be thinking, “Wait, so I’m giving away a whole eBook just for someone’s email??” And I totally understand. That seems like a lot to give away for free! The answer to the question is both yes and no. I’ll tell you why.

YES. Many bloggers give away eBooks, product libraries, guides, programs, and boot camps as lead magnets. They do this because they realize just how important it is to grow your email list. Remember that the bloggers who do this are very experienced and might have a team that helps create huge lead magnets as freebies. Do not put pressure on yourself to do this. Just keep in mind that the more value your lead magnet offers, the more often it will convert.

NO. Many effective freebies are lite versions of a full program or eBook. Plenty of bloggers give away the first chapter of their eBook as a lead magnet or trim down their signature program from 31 days to just 7. Work smarter by adapting the materials you already have!

Keep it Niched

This might seem like it goes without saying, but you want to keep your lead magnet related to your niche. If your blog niche is beauty and fashion, it will make no sense to give away a productivity cheat sheet. That’s not why your readers come to your blog!

As you reflect on how to grow your email list, look at what other bloggers in your niche are doing. No, I’m not saying steal and plagiarize their content. But do gather inspiration from what top bloggers are doing! See if you can find patterns in what kind of freebies other blogs are giving away. That might be a clue as to what is popular with your type of audience.

Funnel to Your Affiliate

The goal for most bloggers is to earn money through affiliate marketing. This is when you sell a product for another brand and earn a commission. Most six-figure bloggers make money blogging mainly through affiliates!

Perhaps you’ve already researched affiliates you want to apply for as you start your blog. Maybe you’re just thinking about it for the first time! Whatever the case, keep in mind possible affiliates as you plan your email opt-in freebies. It is best practice to create a lead magnet that helps you sell an affiliate product.

Let’s say you are a travel blogger, and you want to get into the Booking dot com affiliate program. A good lead magnet to create might be “Cost Cutting Travel Planner” or “Cheap Travel Cheat Sheet.” Any reader who downloads your freebie is a subscriber who might be interested in using your affiliate code to book a hotel. You can now follow up with them through an email funnel to promote your affiliate code. See how that works?

Make Beautiful Opt-Ins on ConvertKit

Nearly all bloggers are huge fans of ConvertKit. I could give you about one hundred reasons why ConvertKit is better than MailChimp, but we’ll just stick to how to grow your email list with ConvertKit for today. 😉

ConvertKit is a user-friendly and super powerful email tool. You can design beautiful opt-ins that showcase your freebies. Each opt-in is entirely customizable, and there’s no limit to the number of opt-ins you can create!

These opt-ins can be added to your sidebar widget or embedded directly into your post! I have done both, but find embedding to be more effective.

Figure Out What Works!

As you embark on your journey to grow your email list, know that it’s a lot of trial and error. In your first months of blogging, you will cycle through lead magnets like crazy. This is normal, so don’t second-guess yourself!

ConvertKit will show you which of your email opt-ins are getting the most conversions. A good percentage to aim for is 2-3%. If your lead magnet is getting way less than this, take it down and try something else!

I went through about twelve different lead magnets before figuring out what types of products got the most conversions for my audience. Each blogger has to discover the sweet spot for themselves. Prepare to grind!

Drive Traffic Like Crazy

Obviously, there’s no way to test your freebies and opt-ins with no blog traffic! Driving tons of traffic to your blog is a step in how to grow your email list. Luckily, I wrote a post all about getting your first thousand page views for brand new bloggers so you can start your blog the right way.

Final Tips to Grow Your Email List

Create Landing Pages for Your Freebies

Aside from opt-in forms, you can also create landing pages. Landing pages are stand-alone web pages whose sole purpose is to collect an email or sell a product. You can create Pinterest pins that link directly to your landing pages to maximize subscriber conversions!

Nurture Your Email List Often

Once you’ve signed up readers to your email list, don’t forget to build a further relationship with them! Send tips, ideas, article round-ups – anything that establishes you as an expert to your audience. This is good for both branding and sales.

Promote Your Freebies on Social Media

Who doesn’t love a good freebie? Lure your social media followers over to your blog by promoting your lead magnet instead of the blog post. You’ll be surprised how much more engagement you will get with this little hack.