Bloggers’ New Email Marketing Dilemma

When you run a blog or have a website for your small business where you feature your skills and talents through blog articles, it’s a good idea to provide your readers with an opportunity to request to receive emails from you. This might feel like an exhausting additional step to take, or perhaps you believe your readers hear from you enough already. Regardless, email frequency for bloggers is an important strategy to consider when seeking to connect with your readers.

Here’s Why Email Frequency for Bloggers Matters

Email Connects with Readers on a Different Level

When you send an email you individually connect with someone who has asked to hear from you. When readers sign up for your email list they often do so because you offered them an initial incentive, but they continue to receive your content even though they can unsubscribe at any point. Every email reminds your subscribers you offer value beyond your blog articles.

Take advantage of the opportunity to connect with your audience by sending them the thing they already confirmed they want to receive. There is a lot of noise on the internet as well as social media. Even your most loyal fan needs a reminder that you have a new blog post to read.

Additionally, when you use segmented lists, you can personalize your emails to specific sections of your audience, intentionally offering content that aligns with their journey.

By creating email content that offers valuable tips, insights, and behind the scenes peeks into your business or niche that you don’t publish anywhere else you let your reader know you value your relationship with them and don’t want to waste their time or fill their inbox with spam. Knowing the content is unique also offers an additional incentive for the receiver to open and read your email! If you’re only sending out alerts about new blog articles you’re missing an opportunity to develop a deeper relationship.

This doesn’t mean you need to write dozens of emails each week. It’s important to create a consistent strategy that works for you. You can set up an automated system to provide a weekly update of new blog content and a monthly “insider’s scoop” email that you craft.

Frequency Matters

When determining how often you will send emails to your readers, timing and frequency matter. It’s fine to offer your subscribers options so they can have control over their inbox. For example, they can select to receive an email every time you post new content, a weekly summary of blog articles or a monthly email. If you only post a few times a month, you may want only to provide a monthly email. There isn’t a hard and fast “rule” as to how often you send emails, but if you compare the bloggers you read you will likely notice, most people communicate weekly.

One thing to keep in mind when scheduling automated emails is the day and time you send them. If you send weekly blog summary emails on Mondays, as we do here at SMA, then you shouldn’t schedule any other emails to go out on Mondays. For example, let’s say you have a new offer you want to personally notify your readers about. Schedule the email for a Wednesday or Thursday so there is space between communications.

Regardless of the number of emails you send, it’s important that you are consistent with your frequency. If you say you are sending your readers one email a week, then that’s all you should send. If you say you will send one email a month with occasional special communications, then you have more flexibility, but be mindful; occasional is not weekly.

Leverage Email Communications with Automation

So, we know that emails provide an opportunity for a frequent, personal connection with a subscriber, but it can take a lot of time to create high-quality blog content and emails! The great thing is that there are many free tools you can use to schedule emails to send automatically.

Automation allows you the freedom to run several offers concurrently or with different frequency. You could offer a short-term daily e-course teaching a new skill that runs for seven days and also provide an additional ongoing options for readers to receive a weekly email recapping recently published blog articles.

For more information about automation read: What I Learned from Sending 25,000+ Automated Emails.

MailChimp

MailChimp offers a free platform to create and schedule emails that will automatically send to your new readers. This is a great way to connect with new readers when they sign up without having to keep track of new subscribers constantly.

You can set up a one time offer where new subscribers receive a download in exchange for signing up for your monthly newsletter as well as more extended email series.

HubSpot

HubSpot also offers free automated lead generation options. This set up will allow you to create a pop-up collection form for your website to advertise an offer and collect emails. While their platform is more user-friendly, email marketing isn’t free making MailChimp a more attractive option for many bloggers.

Boomerang

This Chrome plug-in is a very low-tech way to schedule email ahead of time. If you want to send an email to a group of subscribers without going through the hassle of building an email in a template, give Boomerang a try. One caution; when you are sending an email to more than one person make sure to BCC (blind carbon copy) the email recipients.

Need ideas on email content? Check out our post Finding Your Email Marketing Voice.

We Can Help

Are you ready to get started sending emails? Are you having a hard time figuring out which content to highlight? We’ve created a content marketing calendar to help you plan. Tying your emails to current blog articles is a great way to make sure your readers see your newest content.

As a small business, we understand that sometimes you need a little extra help to meet your goals. Our content team is available to help you develop an email marketing strategy as well as develop personalized emails. Send us an email for more information.