This is a guest post by Paul Cunningham from Blogging Teacher.
To your subscribers, your mailing list is like a cup of coffee. Too hot and they can’t drink it. Too cold and it loses its appeal. But when you get the temperature just right they will enjoy what you serve up to them.
Subscribers will find your mailing list too hot if you send them new messages too frequently. On the other hand, if you go months or even years without sending them anything then your list will go cold as their attention shifts elsewhere.
Keeping your list at just the right temperature doesn’t need to be a lot of work. In fact with the right systems in place it can be very simple, and allows you to efficiently leverage your efforts by reusing content in multiple ways.
Here are three methods you can use to keep your mailing list warm.
Publish Your Blog Posts to Your List
When you are already writing blog posts it makes a lot of sense to deliver them via email to your mailing list subscribers. You might think that all blog subscribers would prefer to use RSS, but in reality RSS is not a heavily adopted technology and many of your readers will not have even heard of it, let alone understand how to setup an RSS reader and check it daily.
Email on the other hand is familiar to almost every person who is on the internet today, and your subscribers are already used to using it every day.
The leading email marketing service providers like Aweber have features that let you send your RSS feed via email to your list. Aweber calls this a Blog Broadcast. It is easy to set up the feed, a nice template, and a schedule, and then all you have to do to maintain it is keep writing your great blog posts.
If you are a frequent blogger then you can set the Blog Broadcast to only send once or twice per week on certain days, to avoid annoying your readers with too many emails.
Autoresponders
Autoresponders are simply automated messages that are sent to your list on a fixed schedule. Mailing list subscribers will appreciate getting bonus content from you via email at regular intervals. This content can be the same style as your blog posts, but by keeping it exclusive to your mailing list if acts as both a signup incentive as well as a way to keep your list warm with original, valuable content.
It is perfectly fine use autoresponders to promote products or services to your list, but try to keep a high ratio of free content to promotions so that your subscribers don’t feel like they are just constantly being pitched to buy something.
Newsletters
The final technique I will mention is newsletters. A regular newsletter can be very valuable to your list subscribers if it efficiently delivers good information that they can fit into their busy schedules.
An example of good newsletter usage would be a monthly email in which you include:
- 1 short personal message
- 1 piece of original content such as a short article, tip or tutorial
- Links and summaries of your best blog posts from that month
- 1 advertisement or product promotion
Newsletters take a little bit more work to put together because each one is unique, but you can still get good long term value out of them by including a link to your newsletter archives so that new subscribers can look back through your previous editions if they want.
Pulling It All Together
Once you have decided to use these techniques to keep your list warm it is important to take a step back and look at the overall picture. Trying to do too much at once can turn away your subscribers, or worse burn you out and make your list marketing inconsistent and ineffective.
Aim for a steady, reliable pace that you can maintain in the long term. My suggestion is to use a combination of those three techniques that will result in:
- 1 blog broadcast per week
- 1 autoresponder every second week (middle of the month, but on a day that your blog broadcast doesn’t also go out)
- 1 monthly newsletter
This type of schedule sees you making contact with your list at least once per week, delivering lots of valuable free content, and keeping them at just the right temperature so that they stay subscribed.
Paul Cunningham writes articles, tips and tutorials at Blogging Teacher to help bloggers overcome the many challenges they face building a successful blog. Follow him on Twitter at @paulcunningham.
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{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
Great tips Paul. You are recycling your blog posts. Maybe you can publish a blog post through your email subscribers and a few months down the track, publish them on your blog.
In your putting it all together section, I think you are sending to many emails out per month. 6 emails per month is more than 1 a week. Some readers may think that is too many – but it differs on all blogs. So its best to do trial and error to see what works for you.
Apart from that, I agree with everything else.
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Paul Cunningham Reply:
March 12th, 2010 at 3:39 pm
Hi Jack, I agree that it differs between blogs and audiences. How often to send, how much to include each time, how often you can “sell” to your list… These are all factors that people need to assess based on what they know about their own audiences.
And test, test, test. If you’re not getting the results you want, try varying one of those factors and keep on testing. Eventually we find the right system for our blog.
Paul Cunningham´s last blog ..Blogger Interview: Henry Ferdiansyah of Time as Wine
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I agree with all of what you have said. I am trying to build an email list myself. But I think it’s important to not only send excerpts from your blog posts to your readers. I think you have to go further than that and provide them with other excellent information. What do you think?
Julius Kuhn-Regnier´s last blog ..The 3 Unwritten Rules of Blogging
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Paul Cunningham Reply:
March 12th, 2010 at 3:40 pm
Hi Julius, definitely your list should provide *more* value than just your blog. Sending unique content in your autoresponder series, and including unique content in your newsletter, are two ways of achieving that.
Best of luck with your list building. Never to soon to start.
Paul Cunningham´s last blog ..Blogger Interview: Henry Ferdiansyah of Time as Wine
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Paul,
A clear strategy on newsletters etc is something I’ve not really defined very clearly. i’ve tried a number of different tactics and i’m still undecided about what I’m sending out is what I should be doing.
I’m working on. Work in progress I think it’s called.
Regards
Paul
Paul´s last blog ..When the time is right!
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Paul Cunningham Reply:
March 12th, 2010 at 3:41 pm
Hi Paul, as long as you are measuring your results and testing different ideas you should quickly find out what works and what doesn’t.
Paul Cunningham´s last blog ..Blogger Interview: Henry Ferdiansyah of Time as Wine
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Paul – thanks for a really useful post. I send out a monthly newsletter. The best feedback I get is when I share lots of personal information so that is something to consider. It helps my list get to know who I am and that increases responses. I’ll try to keep the list simmering nicely!
Phil
Phil – Less Ordinary Lliving´s last blog ..Discover 5 ways to have an amazing day
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Paul Cunningham Reply:
March 12th, 2010 at 3:42 pm
Phil, great to hear you’re using your newsletter to build a more personal connection with your readers. That is a great strategy.
Paul Cunningham´s last blog ..Blogger Interview: Henry Ferdiansyah of Time as Wine
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I would also like to mention that you can set up your rss to be automatically sent every time you published 5, 10, 15, etc new posts on your blog in Aweber. They will email your list with these RSS feeds in newsletter form. It’s such an awesome feature!
Jack@Online Marketing Blog´s last blog ..Monetize Your Site – Not The Same Old Mumble Jumble
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Paul Cunningham Reply:
March 12th, 2010 at 3:43 pm
Hi Jack, yes thats a good tip especially for people who blog every single day. I like the weekly schedule for some blogs when you aren’t sure whether you’ll post once or 5 times that week. Either way at least one weekly update goes out to your list.
Paul Cunningham´s last blog ..Blogger Interview: Henry Ferdiansyah of Time as Wine
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It is surely important to not annoy the people on your list, but at the same time you want to get something in return from them. Whether it is visits to your site or trying to get them to buy a product, you must do so in a way that naturally appeals to the average personality on your list.
Vince@Pro Wrestling Moves´s last blog ..John Cena Moves – Finisher Moveset etc.
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Paul Cunningham Reply:
March 12th, 2010 at 3:45 pm
Hi Vince, thats right. At the end of the day most of us are building lists so we can market to them in some way. Keeping them at the right temperature really improves conversion rates when you do eventually pitch something to them.
But even if you have no marketing plans in mind, building a list sooner rather than later is best. When the day comes that you have something to sell, you’ll already have a nice big list of warm prospects.
Paul Cunningham´s last blog ..Blogger Interview: Henry Ferdiansyah of Time as Wine
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Thanks the for the opportunity to guest post Tom, much appreciated.
Paul Cunningham´s last blog ..Blogger Interview: Henry Ferdiansyah of Time as Wine
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Tom Reply:
March 14th, 2010 at 4:59 pm
Thank YOU for such a great addition to my blog and the way that you nurtured the conversation that has developed from it! I really hope that a lot of my readers have made the transition to your blog and subscribed.
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Paul Cunningham Reply:
March 14th, 2010 at 8:01 pm
My pleasure Tom, great community you’ve got going here.
Paul Cunningham´s last blog ..Blogger Interview: Henry Ferdiansyah of Time as Wine
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Never thought about this.
I’m just syndicating my blog post via Aweber, but then again, I don’t have a big list to begin with.
I guess I have to think about it again.
But I have to agree with Julius here – just sending out your posts isn’t enough – you have to come up with a special gift that only your subscribers get !
Mars Dorian´s last blog ..Whatever you think, think the opposite
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Paul Cunningham Reply:
March 14th, 2010 at 8:05 pm
Hi Mars, sorry I missed your comment sooner. I would not worry about the size of your list (or the size of your blog subscribers, or the size of your Twitter following, etc). Act big and start putting in place the content and the systems that are of high value and your list size will grow before you know it.
Paul Cunningham´s last blog ..Blogger Interview: Henry Ferdiansyah of Time as Wine
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Paul,
I have been using Aweber fro about 2 years now. I actually send out blogs in the form of email at least 2 times a month. I will then send little personal messages every 4-6 days. It will basically show them the recent post on my blog. However, once I have sent about 10 messages I seem to chill out a little and keep it to one time per week. What are your thoughts on that? Is that to much or to little?
Everyone in great while I send out a broadcast if there is something really news worthy.
Garen @ Best Web Hosting Service´s last blog ..Sitemeter vs Google Analytics – Got Sitetracking
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Paul Cunningham Reply:
March 13th, 2010 at 9:53 pm
Hi Garen, whether its too much or too little really depends on what your goals are for your email list. If you have no specific goals then there is no way to measure whether its too much or too little.
So start by defining your goals. Is it to draw readers to your site? Market products? To get more comments or feedback?
Paul Cunningham´s last blog ..Blogger Interview: Henry Ferdiansyah of Time as Wine
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Nice tips. Will be helpful when I start my own Newsletter.
Agent Deepak@Blogging, Marketing & Success´s last blog ..Interview with Melvin Dichoso – The Versatile Young Blogger
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Paul Cunningham Reply:
March 14th, 2010 at 8:07 pm
Thanks Deepak, would love to know when you launch your newsletter.
Paul Cunningham´s last blog ..Blogger Interview: Henry Ferdiansyah of Time as Wine
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I love the title and coffee analogy. Lists do take a bit of work to monitor the temperature — unlike a coffee shop customers don’t say ‘warm it up a bit.’ Your approach for pulling it together is a sensible starting point. The only part I dislike is getting blog posts when I already have an Rss feed or decided I want to get the email RSS. I’d just mention & categorize the past month’s post (title, one liner only) with links in the newsletter. Let me add the amount of sugar…
SBA´s last blog ..3 Easy Ways to Improve Your Blog Design
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Paul Cunningham Reply:
March 13th, 2010 at 9:56 pm
Hi SBA, you’re right, subscribers who use both RSS and email risk double ups. Fortunately you can set Aweber blog broadcasts to only show a summary of your blog posts if you want.
For those people who want to subscribe to your RSS feed *and* be on your list, you should be able to keep them happy as long as the mailing list has enough *extra* content that they wouldn’t receive as just an RSS subscriber.
Paul Cunningham´s last blog ..Blogger Interview: Henry Ferdiansyah of Time as Wine
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nice tips…surely helpful when i start building my list. its is used by people i am subscribed to and it sure works…
thanks
mk akan´s last blog ..Choosing a Blog Topic:4 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Start a Blog on Topics You Don’t Know
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Paul Cunningham Reply:
March 13th, 2010 at 10:00 pm
Never too soon to start building your list
Paul Cunningham´s last blog ..Blogger Interview: Henry Ferdiansyah of Time as Wine
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Love it Paul! I am in the process of getting a newsletter and really have not figured out how I want it to work. This has been really helpful.
Alex´s last blog ..Shane DeRolf Interview, Exhilaration & Guidance At Its Finest
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Paul Cunningham Reply:
March 13th, 2010 at 9:59 pm
Hi Alex, starting a newsletter is pretty tough sometimes (I still don’t have one for all my own blogs yet). I spotted this blog post that gives some clues as to how to start a basic newsletter:
http://www.divinewrite.com/blog/copywriting/simple-email-newsletter-tempate-dinosaurs-drink-bottles/
But other than that, my best tip is to just sign up to a bunch of free newsletters for different sites and see what they do. Find the bits and pieces that you like the most and incorporate those techniques into your own newsletter.
Paul Cunningham´s last blog ..Blogger Interview: Henry Ferdiansyah of Time as Wine
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Thanks for the tip on the timing Paul! I was re-considering auto-reponders for one of my projects, thinking I might be over doing it. But to send it out once a month interspersed with the newsletter & blog broadcast sounds good.
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Paul Cunningham Reply:
March 14th, 2010 at 8:08 pm
Check out Pat Flynn’s http://www.smartpassiveincome.com blog. He is a good example of using his list to deliver extra valuable content. Sign up to his list and experience it yourself, you might find his method will work well for you too.
Paul Cunningham´s last blog ..Blogger Interview: Henry Ferdiansyah of Time as Wine
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Stupendously timely information for me. My list is currently lukewarm. I’m sure I can warm it back up fairly well, but I do need to be thoughtful about it.
Dave Doolin@Website In A Weekend´s last blog ..Top 10 Traits for Finding Your League of Extraordinary Bloggers – Saturday Morning Surfing
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Paul Cunningham Reply:
March 15th, 2010 at 5:04 am
Hi Dave, glad you found it useful. Definitely something you should plan. And I decided to sign up to your list to see you warm it back up first hand
Paul Cunningham´s last blog ..Twitter Clubs: Nathan Hangen vs Jordan Cooper
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Dave Doolin from Website In A Weekend Reply:
March 23rd, 2010 at 3:19 pm
Thanks, I’m up for another round of ebook sales.
Don’t want to hit a lukewarm list with a hot pitch!
Dave Doolin@Website In A Weekend´s last blog ..The Starfish Principle – Trying counts as success
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First things first. Hats off to the caption of this post Paul. Perfect Temperature for your Mailing list, with the coffee analogy. Brilliant. Now coming to notify the readers about new posts, I think RSS and newsletters takes care of these things, but I have so many friends who add the blog’s feed to their RSS reader and never go back to their subscriptions. For such people I think emailing is the only solution, but at the same time we should know the line which separates deliberate spamming and just notifying. If we are good on that part, then all looks ok chief
Melvin@Rental Properties Auckland´s last blog ..Otahuhu, Auckland City
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Paul Cunningham Reply:
March 15th, 2010 at 7:54 pm
Hi Melvin, you can make it clear in your opti-in what the average frequency is you’ll be sending emails to subscribers. Eg, “You will receive weekly blog post updates, monthly newsletters, and one or two special articles each month”.
The other thing you can do (and should do) is just ask them. Either by sending an email directly to a few hand picked subscribers asking them how things are going, or by including a little snippet in your emails along the lines of “If you have feedback about our emails please let us know…”
Paul Cunningham´s last blog ..Twitter Clubs: Nathan Hangen vs Jordan Cooper
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Paul,
Solid post… And for me it couldn’t have come out at a better time. I’m planning on doing a newsletter and to use it to build my list… Over the past couple of days I’ve been going over other bloggers’ and IMers’ newsletters trying to figure out how my newsletter should be structured… Then low and behold, you laid out it in this post… Thanks…
BrianJ | Online Business Blogger´s last blog ..Is Your Blog Carbon Neutral?
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Paul Cunningham Reply:
March 15th, 2010 at 4:52 pm
Glad you found it useful Brian. Sounds like you are already on the right track analysing other newsletters to work out how to construct your own.
Paul Cunningham´s last blog ..Twitter Clubs: Nathan Hangen vs Jordan Cooper
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I’m a sucker for a great analogy – if my email list is like a cup of coffee then I’m in trouble
Thanks for this truly engaging article.
Kiesha @ WeBlogBetter´s last blog ..What’s your blogging story?
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Paul
Great site!
I’m customising my aweber broadcast template but don’t know much about HTML.
I want to include a list of previous posts in the sidebar of one of the templates. Can you tell me what bit of code would insert the previous posts from my RSS feed. So it looks something like:
PREVIOUS POSTS
[description of post from previous week]
[description of post from week before that]
[etc]
Many thanks!
Ed.
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Paul Cunningham Reply:
March 22nd, 2010 at 5:19 pm
Good question Ed. Not 100% how, if at all, it can be done automatically with he HTML templates. I’ll see if I can find out.
Paul Cunningham´s last blog ..The Blogger’s Guide to Eating Elephants
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